by Brent, Cora
He gave me a funny look. “What’s it like then?”
“We’re good friends. I guess we’re also technically roommates. We’re not screwing.”
“You told me you guys already hooked up. It’s not like you’d be breaking new ground.”
“That was ages ago and the circumstances were very different.” I crossed my arms and leaned against the driver’s side door. My new hobby was trying not to think about Taylor naked. My new hobby was already an abject failure.
Derek was perplexed. “So what the hell is holding you up now? From the way you talk, you can cut the sexual tension between you two with a knife. And she lives with you for crying out loud.”
“Exactly. She lives in my apartment. And I’m very aware that if she had anyplace else to go she wouldn’t be sleeping on my couch. I’m not going to do anything that would make her feel even more obligated to me than she probably already feels.”
Derek’s expression turned serious and he nodded. “You’re right. I should have thought of that.”
“I’m no saint,” I grumbled. “It’s not like the idea hasn’t crossed my mind.”
It was crossing my mind more times than I cared to count. Maybe if I’d been having sex more regularly these days then I wouldn’t find myself turning into a drooling fool every time Taylor squeezed past me in the kitchen or casually twisted her long hair up in a loose knot. This morning she’d still been asleep when I left the apartment and I got a nice view of her long, bare legs that had kicked free of the covers. Then she let out a soft, low moan in her sleep and I had to grit my teeth. If I hadn’t been running late to my seven a.m. class then I would have visited the bathroom to do something about the sudden rush of heat between my legs.
“She’s still welcome to stay at the house,” Derek said. “Feel free to tell her that. Paige is dying to go meet her but she won’t say anything about the room offer if you don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Taylor might still be feeling a little vulnerable after her recent struggles. I didn’t want to make it seem like I was eager to pawn her off the first chance I got. And I had other reasons. Selfish reasons. Even though I had no plans to lay a hand on that girl in the near future, I liked being around her. I wanted to keep being around her. Even if I couldn’t have her in the way I wanted to have her.
“Let’s play it by ear for now,” I said.
Derek decided to show mercy and didn’t bust my chops anymore about Taylor. Once he was finished tweaking my car on the inside he insisted on giving it a good wash and wax, which was slightly hilarious since the thing was just this side of the scrap heap. I helped him finish up, took the keys, got my cash thrown back in my face one more time and then had to leave for work.
The pizza trade was booming even though it was a Monday. With all the kids officially back in their school routines, it was standard practice to run in between classes or on the way to work and grab a couple of slices on the go. Paige wasn’t working tonight, but then again she had so many other things going on she hadn’t been picking up many shifts lately. A few of my classmates from the business school stopped by and I had time to shoot the shit with them for a little while when I took a break.
Interestingly, Aimee and Franco opted to saunter in for a romantic dinner. They plopped down at a center table and I could only assume that was for my benefit as Franco kept shooting me smug looks while he kept his hand on Aimee’s thigh. I couldn’t have cared less. Aimee seemed a little embarrassed by the situation so I gave her a nod to say that we were cool as far as I was concerned. Actually, I was really glad we hadn’t done more than kiss that night or any other.
Thomas texted to tell me he’d found time to swing by Closet Exchange and check up on Taylor. Maybe I was being a little bit of a paranoid, overprotective pseudo-boyfriend. Taylor was obviously more resilient than anyone would give her credit for. Otherwise she couldn’t have made it so far before hitting her breaking point.
Still, somehow I couldn’t shake the idea that her troubles ran deeper than she let on. The short summary she gave about her family believing she’d secretly run off with her father’s stolen fortune didn’t sit well with me. They were probably just spoiled trust fund babies who didn’t know how to make it on their own so they were lashing out. I didn’t believe for a second that Taylor knew a thing about any money. Yet I was still uneasy.
My shift ended at ten and I didn’t linger around and chat for a few minutes like I usually would have. Funny thing, I felt my pulse speed up the closer I got to The Palms.
Taylor was bound to be awake. Probably sitting there in the living room. Maybe wearing some of her skimpy sleepwear that tended to expose a lot of skin.
Perhaps she was just anticipating my walk through the door so she could smile and say, ‘I’ve been waiting for you,’ before slowly rising and pulling her shirt over her head, dropping her shorts to the floor, sliding a finger down into her panties and-
STOP!!!
I turned off my imaginary pornography and willed away my hard-on before I turned the key in the lock.
And there she was.
Sprawled out on the futon.
Barefoot. Wearing a plain white tank and short pink shorts while one hand played absently with her long hair.
But she didn’t immediately rise and conduct a striptease. Not even close. Instead she was reading a book and didn’t even notice that I’d walked in.
I shut the door and she flinched, finally looking up.
“Hey.” She swung her legs around and gracefully planted her feet on the floor.
This girl. She had legs for days.
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Sorry, I was so occupied that I didn’t even hear you come in.”
I dropped my keys on the coffee table and sat down in the spot where her legs had been stretched out. “What are you reading?”
She flipped over to the cover of the book. “One of the books I got at the library. Thanks for letting me use your card by the way.”
I surveyed the illustration of a drooling wild-eyed zombie getting ready to devour a very well dressed and very terrified couple.
Taylor flipped the cover open and closed it repeatedly. “I love that noise. The crackle of the library binding. You can’t get that in a bookstore.”
She must be feeling more comfortable. This was the first time I’d seen her without a bra underneath her tank top. Not that I was staring.
“It’s a cool sound,” I said, averting my eyes.
She threw me a puzzled look, probably because I didn’t usually say such brain dead nonsense. But then she smiled.
“How was your day?” she asked, pulling her knees up to her chest and setting her book aside.
“Awesome. I successfully contradicted my professor in my World Markets class, no doubt endearing myself to his good graces. I retrieved my car from my mechanical genius of a brother. And then I fed hungry legions at the pizzeria.”
“An epic sounding day if ever I heard one.” She gently touched the bridge of her nose and winced a little. I wondered if it was still painful. Aside from some light discoloration that would probably fade in a few days she looked fine. “I thought about dropping in there at Esposito’s tonight to say hi.”
“You should have. You would have been a welcome sight.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Fucked up nose and all?”
“Come on, you can hardly tell anything happened. What did people at work say?”
“They expressed appropriate shock and horror. I left out a few details. Like how I’d been sleeping in my car for over a month. But my surrogate boss felt sufficient pity to cut me a check for an advance against my salary until the bank mess gets sorted out.”
She leaned over to grab the handbag that sat on the floor. When she did, her shirt rode up enough for me to glimpse a wedge of skin across her lower back. I had a powerful urge to lick it.
Taylor retrieved a handful of cash from her wallet and proudly tried to hand it over. “Here. I know i
t won’t cover everything I owe you, with the car battery and the food and everything else, but it’s a start.”
“There’s no need for that. You can pay me back after you get everything straightened out. I’m not in any hurry. Hold onto your money for now.”
Taylor’s hand fell into her lap and she stared down at the money. “I feel bad. I’m taking so much from you.”
“You’re not taking anything that I’m not offering. Don’t feel bad. I forbid it.”
She carefully replaced the money in her wallet. “If you say so.”
I was looking at her legs too much. I was picturing them wrapped around my waist.
I cleared my throat. “Where’s the youngster?”
“Thomas?” She let her handbag drop to the floor again and settled back, this time crossing her legs. “He came home about an hour ago. He said he had some studying to do and then he planned to go to bed.”
“Good boy.”
“He sure is.” She examined me. “Why’d you send him to the store to check up on me today?”
I’d told Thomas to play it casual, to act like he was just coincidentally passing by. He must have failed.
I searched for an explanation that didn’t sound weird. “You said something about how I was your best friend. I’m just trying to take my new job seriously.”
Her mouth twitched. Then a shadow fell over her face. “He wasn’t the only one who paid me a visit. My sister swooped in to remind me that evil thrives. At least she didn’t bring Petri Dish with her.”
“She didn’t bring what with her?”
“Her husband.”
“His name is Petri Dish?”
“His name is Peter. I call him Petri Dish.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s a collection of disgusting things.”
I snickered. “So what did your sister want?”
“To throw gauntlets and cackle. I didn’t take the bait and soon she got bored and left.”
I tried to imagine having a sibling I despised. I couldn’t.
“So what’s wrong with her husband?” I asked. “This Petri character?”
“Yes, Petri Dish. Dear boy. Has this really neat habit of brandishing his penis when you least expect to see it.”
“Come again?”
“I was fourteen the first time he showed it to me. I was stepping out of the pool and there he was in the cabana with the striped yellow curtains open and his member hanging from the front of his red bathing trunks. He smiled like a serial killer and stroked himself in front of me.”
“Son of a bitch.”
“That wasn’t the only time. There were others. I’ll spare you the details. Eventually I learned he was a smaller specimen than average. When I was sixteen, Petri Dish and Sierra threw a raunchy party for all their friends at my father’s house when he was away on business. Later than night, he broke the lock on my bedroom door. His pants were down and he was trying to slither inside but I threw my Beauty And The Beast snow globe at him before he got very far. I’d never played sports but I had good aim. He ran away. The next day he played it all off with a laugh and a garbage apology. ‘Gee, so sorry Taylor, I thought that was my room I was breaking into.’ Hahaha.”
I was outraged at the idea of teenage Taylor exposed to such depravity. “Fuck. Wasn’t there anything done about him?”
“Like what? I suppose I could have cut the thing off the next time he tried something disgusting but that would have been awful messy. And I was too embarrassed to tell anyone who could help. Except I did tell my friend Laney. She gave me an idea that involved adding an over the counter laxative to his drink in order to induce diarrhea. Petty revenge, but sometimes you have to take revenge where you can get it. I had my opportunity the next Thanksgiving. But it didn’t turn out as expected because my sister picked up the drink instead. Luckily I didn’t mind giving her diarrhea.”
I tried to suppress my horror over the cast of characters in Taylor’s family. “Well, you did warn me that your relationship with your sister was somewhat adversarial. Now I understand why.”
“She’s Lex Luthor and I’m Lois Lane.”
“Love the comic reference but wouldn’t you be Superman?”
“Superman’s a guy in a cape. By the way, why does he need a cape? Does it help him fly? Anyway, he’s a guy in a cape who always shows up at the last minute to save the day. Lois puts in her time. She takes risks and doesn’t have the strength of a hundred men underneath her cape to back her up.”
“That’s probably because she doesn’t wear a cape. Anyway, didn’t Superman need to save Lois once or twice?”
She elbowed me. “Shut it.”
There weren’t many people around who could verbally spar with me the way Taylor could. It was exciting. I could have stayed up all night just to hear what would come out of her mouth next.
“Are you afraid of them?” I asked her suddenly. “Your sister and Petri Dish?”
She already had an answer. “Sometimes, but not really. I just want to keep my distance from them and hope that at some point they’ll learn to stay out of my life.”
Taylor really didn’t have anyone. No parents. Hateful siblings. And her upscale friends had deserted her.
I knew all of this already. And yet as I watched her sitting on my couch clutching her library book I was reminded of just how badly she needed me to be her friend.
Taylor yawned and rolled her head back on the couch, closing her eyes.
“I should let you get back to your zombies,” I said. The couch creaked as I stood up. “I’ve got some school shit to do anyway.”
She opened her eyes and smiled. “Oh, school. I really miss school. I can’t wait to get back there next semester.”
“What’s your major?” I asked, suddenly realizing I’d neglected to ask her sooner.
“Meteorology. I want to predict the weather.”
“Impressive. I’ve never met a meteorology major.”
She stretched out once more. “I don’t know why there’s not more of us. I can’t think of anything more useful than figuring out what’s going to happen next, can you?”
“No, I can’t,” I said, again staring at the perfect shape of her legs and understanding this was going to be another night of Jerk Off Till You Drop.
She locked eyes with me all of a sudden. I hoped my poker face was better at keeping a secret than my dick. I would hate for Taylor to know what was running through my mind at that moment. She might think I was no better than Petri Dish.
But she didn’t look alarmed. She cocked her head and seemed almost wistful. “So I guess this is where we say good night?”
“Looks like it. Good night, Taylor.”
“Good night, Kel. I’m glad we got to talk for a few minutes. And you smell really nice. You smell like pizza.” She picked up her pillow and fluffed it before shifting to her side and laying her cheek against its cool surface. “Will you do me a favor and turn off the light?”
“Sure.” I flicked the table lamp off and picked up the blanket that had fallen on the floor. “You want this?”
She propped herself up on one elbow and reached for the blanket. Her shirt strap slid over one bare shoulder. She was the sexiest goddamn thing I’d ever seen and if I stayed out here for too much longer I might unwisely do something about it.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, right?” she asked as she settled the blanket over her body.
“Count on it,” I said and hustled to my empty bedroom where there was absolutely no possibility of temptation.
Chapter Seventeen
Taylor
“You’re not working late tonight, are you?” I asked Kellan as I poured a cup of coffee. I’d grown to love this simple Mr. Coffee machine. It was as basic as could be and did nothing except brew coffee the old fashioned way. I didn’t even miss the high tech platinum model espresso machine with its pulse extraction process and fine foam technology that used to take up room on my kitchen counter. It was one of the firs
t things I’d sold off.
Kellan looked up from his phone and the startling blueness of his eyes knocked me back a step. Sometimes I failed to remember how hot he was until he looked straight at me and then it was like someone hit me with a two by four. He wore a black polo with the Esposito’s logo and his hair was still damp from the shower.
“I’ll be off at six,” he confirmed. “Since it’s Sunday and all.”
“Any other plans?”
“None.” He raised an eyebrow, obviously wondering where this was going.
“Thomas is free tonight too. If it’s all right I’d like to make dinner.”
“Normally I require a formal application with a processing fee before I allow someone to cook a meal in my kitchen.”
“Kel.” I rolled my eyes.
“Of course it’s all right. I guess someone ought to cook in here once in a while.”
“Good. Because I already invited Paige and Derek.”
Derek’s girlfriend, along with her friend Samantha, had shown up at Closet Exchange one day to introduce themselves. Paige was a little shy at first but she was a doll and luckily I could do more than enough talking for everyone. We all ended up going out to lunch together. Paige opened up and was obviously very eager to get to know me. I’d already met Derek after he recovered my car and replaced the battery. My early impression of Derek was that he was a slightly gruffer, more serious version of Kellan. He had the Gentry genes, that was for sure; I could have picked him as Kellan’s brother out of a crowd of a thousand. Paige and Derek had been together for about a year and a half. She was very cute and very sweet and it was easy to make her laugh. I had no trouble imagining her and Derek together.
Paige’s friend Samantha lived here somewhere in The Palms and knew the Gentry brothers fairly well. She was in med school and by a quirk of coincidence, her boyfriend and I had gone to high school together. I vaguely remembered him as a quiet kid who ran with a different crowd and graduated near the top of our class. I got the feeling Sam was a little skeptical about me but then again if all she’d heard were high school stories then I couldn’t blame her. By the end of the lunch we were all laughing together so I took that as a sign that I’d successfully won her over.