by Sky Corgan
“Nope, he hasn't,” I confirmed.
“Besides, what straight dude writes romance?” Victor commented.
“Nicholas Sparks, to name just one. There's also Sylvain Reynard and a slew of other guys who write under pen names. You'd be surprised how many men write romance,” Carmen told us.
“I don't like romance,” I said.
“What girl doesn't like romance?” She arched an eyebrow at me, sounding offended. “Are you sure there's not a penis under that skirt?”
“I don't like romance either.” Victor shrugged.
“Well, you're a boy. You're not supposed to like romance. Kim is a girl. Liking romance is in our blood.”
“I mean, I do like romance.” I blushed. “Just not romance novels.”
“What's there not to like? Hot guys, heart-warming story lines, steamy sex scenes.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“For the love of God, can we just get back to work?” Victor groaned.
“Yeah, back to work,” I laughed at them.
Carmen wanted to follow me out to Dominick's car again after school. It irritated me, but what could I say to my only potential friend. Besides, if she took enough of an interest in Dominick, then maybe she wouldn't mind if I pursued Victor. At least, I hoped she wouldn't mind.
This time when we approached the car, Carmen was a lot more subtle. She simply smiled and waved at Dominick, though she still shifted her weight and had the starstruck look in her eyes. I couldn't help but grin. Would I ever get used to someone seeing Dominick that way? It reminded me of how I used to look at him when I was a little girl.
The rest of the week went on as normal. Carmen continued to follow me out to the car every day after school just to say hi to Dominick. I wasn't sure what she was hoping for, but at least she was becoming less and less annoying with each visit. His magic powers were wearing off on her.
On Friday, Dominick was in a better mood than normal when he picked me up. I was so used to him having deadpan expression that it almost concerned me to see him smile.
“What are you so happy about?” I asked while we pulled out of the campus parking lot.
“One of my books got optioned for a movie,” he told me, and I could hear the excitement in his voice.
“That's awesome!”
“Yeah. I thought we could celebrate.”
“Sounds like fun. What do you have in mind?”
“I figured we'd go out to eat and then come home and have drinks afterward.”
“Does that mean you're actually going to let me have alcohol?” I gave him a suspicious look.
It sounded too good to be true. Tammy never let me drink. Sure, I had a few drinks with friends in high school, but she never knew about it. If she had found out, I would have been in big trouble, so I always made sure not to drink too much.
“Only if you want to.” He glanced over at me.
“Heck yeah. The week hasn't been too stressful, but I could definitely use a drink.”
“I don't think it will hurt too much to let you have a few drinks. You're almost an adult.”
“I am an adult,” I corrected him, frowning.
“Well, you're not of drinking age yet. But the point is that it's Friday. You don't have school tomorrow. You're not going anywhere, so I don't have to worry about you. If it's supervised, I think it will be okay.”
“Oh Dom, don't be so lame. You sound like my father.”
“Well, I am in charge of your well-being until you transfer to another college or leave this state.”
“No, you're not. You're just my roommate.” I shook my head at him, quickly becoming annoyed.
The rest of the car ride was spent in tense silence. It seemed like I had struck some nerve with Dominick. He wasn't smiling anymore, but I didn't care. Hopefully, once he got a few drinks in him, he'd loosen up. Things had been a bit awkward between us since I had arrived. Maybe this was just what we needed to break the ice.
Dominick took me to eat at Charleston's. The food was good, and the atmosphere was casual enough. When he had first told me that we were going out to eat, I pictured somewhere ridiculously fancy. I was glad I was wrong. If anyone looked overdressed, it was Dominick in his suit and tie.
After dinner, we stopped by a liquor store so that he could pick up some bottles of wine. You'd think he was buying for a party, considering he came out of the store with six different bottles. Surely, he didn't expect us to drink all of them.
“That's quite a selection,” I said as he stepped back into the car and placed the bottle carrier on my lap.
“They give you a ten percent discount if you buy six at a time,” he told me.
I smirked at him. Rich and still a thrift shopper.
While we drove home, I read the labels on the bottles. Most of the names, I couldn't pronounce. It didn't really matter. I wasn't a wine connoisseur, and it was so rare I got a hold of alcohol that I would drink pretty much anything you set in front of me.
“You want me to make anything to go with this?” I asked him when we got home.
I was so excited about drinking I was practically wiggling. There was some strange exhilaration in knowing I was far away from home without the protective hand of my sister. Plus, this was the first time Dominick was truly treating me like an adult. At least, I took the fact that he was going to let me drink as treating me like an adult. Maybe he just didn't want to drink alone. I didn't really care as long as I got to drink and have a little fun with him. Deep down inside, I secretly hoped the alcohol would bring back parts of him that I used to know.
“Make whatever you want,” he said before disappearing into his bedroom and closing the door.
I rummaged through the refrigerator, trying to think of what paired well with wine. Fruit, cheese, crackers, and chocolate sounded the most reasonable. When I went to find a platter to put it on though, I discovered that Dominick didn't own one. I scowled as I placed everything in a bowl instead, making a messy display of it. Obviously, he didn't care, so why should I.
A few minutes later, he emerged from his bedroom in a pair of gray pajama pants and a white muscle shirt. I blushed as I looked at his well-defined shoulders. Was he trying to seduce me? He had never worn anything so revealing in front of me before. Usually, he wore T-shirts around the house when he wasn't dressed up in a suit. Though, that wasn't much less revealing than what he had on now.
“Are you alright?” Dominick gave me a quizzical look.
I quickly turned my eyes down to the bowl, embarrassed that he had caught me staring. “I hope this is okay. You don't have any platters, so I had to put everything in a bowl.”
As he came around the corner, he mussed up my hair, turning my embarrassment into anger. Why did he have to treat me like such a child? Grrr.
“It looks good, Kimlet,” he said, adding insult to injury.
I thought about saying something but decided not to. This was supposed to be a good night. Arguing with him would only ruin it.
The first bottle he opened was called Opus One. I watched as he poured it into a wine glass, then sniffed it, swirled it around, and took a sip.
His nose crinkled a bit as he looked at me and said, “I hope you like red.
“I'm not picky,” I replied, waiting eagerly for him to fill my glass.
As soon as he did, I tried to mirror what he had done, wanting to look somewhat sophisticated. I think my actions had the opposite effect, because he smirked at me when I took a drink and nearly gagged from it.
“So bitter,” I commented.
“Don't be picky.” He grinned, picking up his glass and heading out toward the patio. I followed behind with my wine glass in one hand and the bowl of snacks in the other, taking another quick sip as I walked.
It felt like the wine was alive inside my body. The heat of it drained down my throat and winded its way through my intestines. It was such a strange feeling, definitely not what I was used to.
Dominick had a small table set up on his back patio
with two wicker chairs. It was quaint and comfortable, shaded by the unit above us. I settled down in my chair, popping a strawberry in my mouth before taking another sip of wine. The sweetness of the fruit seemed to make it taste better.
“I'll probably be gone a lot for a while,” Dominick said.
“Why?”
“Because I'll have to fly to Los Angeles to do some paperwork and talk to the film producers about the movie.”
“Oh. Alright.”
“I just thought I'd let you know.”
“Okay. I'll hold the fort down.”
“I'm sure you will.”
We sat in awkward silence for a moment before I spoke again, “It's weird how famous you are.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was just surprised Carmen knew who you were.”
“A lot of people know who I am, though not by sight. The great thing about being an author is that even though you can be well known, a lot of fans wouldn't recognize you on the street. Authors aren't in the limelight like actors are. I doubt your friend would have even known who I was had you not told her.”
“Probably not.”
We continued to make idle conversation until our glasses were drained. Then Dominick took them inside for a refill. Already, I was beginning to feel warm and fuzzy. The wine was going to my head, and I decided to take advantage of the situation, to give digging Dominick out of his shell the old college try.
“How'd you get so stuffy?” I asked when he brought me my third glass. The brand of wine had changed, I could tell by the taste, though I had no idea which bottle this new vintage had come from.
“What?” He turned to me, looking as emotionless as usual.
“From before you left. You weren't always like this. I remember you as being fun and sweet and smiling all the time.”
“I'm still fun and sweet, though I must admit I probably don't smile as much as I used to,” he said thoughtfully.
“There's nothing fun about you now,” I huffed. “You just hole yourself up in your office all the time.”
“What would make me more fun?” He grinned in amusement.
“I don't know.” I shrugged. “Maybe if you got out more. I remember that you and me and Tammy used to go to amusement parks a lot. You had fun there. We should go to an amusement park.”
“If it would please you.”
“If it would please me,” I mocked him. “What's with all of this proper speech? Loosen up a bit."
“People change, Kimlet. It's what happens when you get older.”
“Well it sucks. I'm never changing. I liked you better back then. And why do you still call me Kimlet? I'm not a little girl anymore.”
“You're still a little girl to me.”
His words stung like a slap. After all this time, he saw me no differently than he had before. It bothered me greatly, though I wasn't sure why. Why was it so important for him to see me as a woman now?
“I'm not a little girl,” I insisted.
“Oh really? What makes you think that?”
“Well, you're letting me drink. And I got taller. And I have these now.” I grabbed my breasts, pushing them together to make cleavage.
Dominick busted out laughing.
“What?” I growled at him.
“Sorry, I just wasn't expecting that.” He set down his glass and wiped his mouth with the back of his arm as if trying to erase the smile that was there.
Hearing him laugh, seeing him happy, filled me with a strange warmth. I had almost forgotten how sweet his laughter sounded. I wanted to hear more of it.
“Don't act like you've never seen boobs before,” I said, jiggling my tits crudely. They weren't big like my sister's, but I could still make cleavage in the right bra.
Dominick glanced at my breasts, then quickly looked away, blushing.
“Don't look away,” I told him. “I want to get it through your thick skull that I am a woman now.”
“Fine. Fine. You're a woman now. Would you stop already?”
“Making you uncomfortable, am I? Have a taste of how I've felt all week.”
“You've been uncomfortable here?” He turned to me, all amusement lost from his face.
Suddenly, I felt guilty. “Well, not so much uncomfortable. It's just not how I expected it would be.”
“How did you expect it would be?”
I shrugged. “I guess I was just looking forward to things being the way they were before you left.”
Dominick gave me a strange look. “Things will never be as they were before.”
“Because my sister got married?”
He tensed. “Because we've all changed. We're not children anymore.”
“You weren't a child back then either.”
“I know, but I was a different person.”
“Well, I think you need to learn to relax more. Life's too short to be uptight all the time.”
Dominick sighed, “I'll try to relax more if it pleases you.”
“If it pleases me,” I mocked him again, sulking.
He wasn't going to change. This was just the way he was now, and I was going to have to accept it.
“I know, let's play a game,” I suggested.
Dominick looked at my suspiciously. “What kind of game?”
“How about truth or dare?”
“You claim to not be a child, and yet you want to play child's games?”
“Shut up and get me another drink, and when you come back, we're playing. Maybe I could do with being more mature, but you could do with being more childish. Meet me somewhere in the middle tonight, yes?”
The smile returned to his face, and I melted again. Damn this alcohol. Despite the fact that I'm mad he's changed, I still want him. Carmen was right, he's incredibly good looking. Those muscular arms. That charming smile. His dark hair and gray eyes. I want him to be the man he used to be, but above that, I just want him.
Dominick went back inside to refill our glasses, and I puzzled over the strange desire running through me. Warmth wasn't the only thing that had taken over my body. I looked down and blushed to see my nipples pressing hard against the fabric of my shirt. There was a needy throbbing between my legs too.
When he stepped back through the sliding glass door, I zeroed in on his crotch, wondering what was beneath those pajama pants. Stop it, Kim. What in the hell has come over you? This is Dominick. He has no interest in you, and you shouldn't have any interest in him either. He's already made it perfectly clear he doesn't see you that way.
Dominick handed me the glass, and I chugged it heartily, trying to still my nerves. Nothing about me was still though. The world was becoming a confusing swirl the more I drank. The only thing that was clear to me was my desire. My body had been denied the pleasures of a man for far too long, and the one I had always wanted was only a few feet away. When he had originally left after the wedding, I never thought I would see him again. Now, here we were, sitting side by side. I was no longer a child. He had to see that. I would make him see that.
“Truth or dare?” I asked.
“I bet you want me to say dare.” He gave me a sarcastic look.
“I don't care which one you say as long as you play,” I lied.
“Truth.”
“Did you ever have sex with my sister?”
Dominick shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I don't want to play anymore.”
“It's too late.” I shook my head. “You picked one already. You have to see this through.”
He sighed, “No, I didn't sleep with your sister.”
“Why not?”
“I told you I wasn't playing anymore.” He frowned.
We sat in awkward silence for several moments before I spoke again, “I'm glad you didn't sleep with her.”
“Why?”
“Because I've always liked you.” My heart felt like it had climbed up into my throat. All the warm alcohol in the world wouldn't push it back down. While I was feeling bold, I was still scared of rejec
tion. This was the moment of truth—the best time to bring it up. If he said something that made me feel like crap, I could just pretend like I didn't remember anything tomorrow. Then we could go on like nothing had ever happened.
“Puppy love,” he replied, staring forward.
“I'm not a puppy anymore, Dominick.” I looked over at him, biting my bottom lip.
“No. You're a drunk little girl.”
Hearing him call me a little girl made anger rage through me. I rose from my chair and attacked him, flailing and slapping at him.
“I'm not a little girl, you asshole. Stop calling me that.”
He quickly went on the defense, laughing and cowering and covering himself with his arms at first to deflect my attacks. When he realized I wasn't going to stop, he tried to grab my wrists. I lost my balance and fell onto his lap, worming myself around into a sitting position. By that time, he had a firm hold of my wrists. Both of us were breathing heavily. He was smirking at me, looking gorgeous with those warm gray eyes. For a moment, I thought I saw the man he had been before, and I lost myself. My body bent forward, my lips zeroed in on their target. Apparently, my perception wasn't as good as I had estimated, because he turned his head just in time, and I missed. In that moment, my heart shattered into a million people. He had rejected me.
“Kim, you're drunk,” he said when I pulled away, and he turned back around to face me. The hurt was plain on my face. My eyes were watering, and I suddenly felt small and alone.
“I'm not, Dom,” I insisted, wiggling my wrists free of him. “I'm a woman, and I've wanted you for as long as I can remember.” I crawled off of his lap and returned to my chair, feeling ashamed of myself. Of course, he had rejected me. He would never see me the way I saw him—feel for me what I felt for him.
Suddenly, I was angry again, angry that he had rejected me, angry that I had been stupid enough to hope and try. “I'm glad my sister never fucked you,” I grumbled.
“I think you've had enough to drink.”
“And I think you need to realize that she never loved you. It was me. Always me. Do you have any idea how many times I daydreamed about you being my husband? How many nights I cried after you left because I missed you so badly? Did you even think about me when you left? About what it would do to me? No. Because you were too wrapped up in my stupid selfish fucking sister to notice. You never saw me. Never. I love you. Not her. I always loved you.