“And you have a tent in your pants.” I look down.
He heads into the bathroom as I open the door to Denise, Dean’s twin sister. She’s standing with her hip jutted to the left and her hand on her hip.
“Why does it look like you just gave an epic blow job?” She asks pushing past me and into the apartment.
“Uh,” I start.
“Hey D. What brings you here?” Dean says, coming from the hallway, not looking frazzled in the least.
“Hey D.” She returns, “what are you two doing tonight?” She asks as she looks between us.
“Nothing.” We both say in unison.
Denise looks between us, shakes her head, and then sits on the couch.
“I had a free night, and I missed my favorite two people. This one over here has been ignoring my texts and you—” She points to Dean, “you’ve been side stepping questions about what’s new.”
“I’ve been busy, you keep calling me when I can’t talk.” He defends.
“Why haven’t you been answering my texts?” Her head swings to me.
“My parents and sister are in town.” Good excuse, it’s true.
“Oh God. That sucks. Why?”
“Don’t know.” I shrug. “They’re here for a few weeks and we’re only a couple days in.”
“Ugh, that sounds absolutely dreadful.”
“Tell me about it.”
“They’re not that bad, they’re actually nice.” Dean says.
“Now can we talk about why your lips look like that? Were you experimenting with a hoover?” she laughs.
“I don’t own a hoover.”
“Well, experimenting on my brother would totally not happen, so that makes the most sense.”
Both Dean and I look at another quickly, Denise doesn’t miss it.
“Shut the front door!” She bellows and comes to a stand.
“What?” I gasp.
“Are you guys, you know?” Her jaw drops.
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about?” I say innocently.
“You know.” She eggs.
I take a deep breath and figure that I might as well come clean to her.
“You know my parents, they’re conservative. We are pretending to be together to make them be okay with us living together.” It’s the truth, even though I omitted the part about what we were almost going to do.
“That doesn’t explain why her lips looked like that.” Denise says to Dean.
“Nothing is happening, chill out, D. I’ve got a bunch of homework to do, so if you don’t mind, I’ll leave you two ladies to it.”
Dean walks into my bedroom and shuts the door.
I take a deep breath and try to change the subject to get her attention on something else by showing her a meme that I found on the internet that had me laughing.
My parents arrive at my apartment not too long later and are non-stop talking about how scared my sister was. While Maddie escapes to Dean’s room, my parents and Denise chat about what she’s been up to.
A few hours have passed, and Dean hasn’t come out of the bedroom once. I keep yawning to give the impression that I’m tired, and after the tenth one, everyone gets the point and stands to leave.
I get ready for bed and slowly enter my bedroom.
Dean is laying on top of the covers, a book open across his chest, his eyes are closed and he’s snoring lightly. Who knows how long he’s been sleeping, but he looks peaceful. I change out of my clothes and crawl into bed beside him.
Curious about what we would have done if we weren’t interrupted earlier. I look over to Dean, remove the book from his chest, and then lay down on my side of the bed facing him. Unsure if I should touch him or not.
I wake up with Dean spooning me this time, and I’m impressed with myself that I’m not freaking out.
I am attracted to him. I’ve always been, but we’ve been friends for so long. Can I handle not being friends with him, if this attraction doesn’t pan out?
What happened last night? Were we caught up in acting like we were together? What’s going to happen now?
Today is another day of holding hands and pretending we’re together. Can I do that without it crossing the friend's zone?
Today the plan is that we will take the ferry over to Bainbridge Island and do some sight-seeing. I’m excited because, since I moved to Washington, I’ve never taken the ferry over here so this will be a new adventure for me and something to tick off of my list of things to do.
My musings about the day are distracted by Dean’s thumb running circles along my hip. I adjust my head to show that I’m awake. He pulls me closer to him and nuzzles into my hair.
“I see you have a barrier now.” He mumbles with a laugh, acknowledging the sheet that is the smallest shield between us.
“Preparation is key.” I return softly.
“So, last night? I’m sorry that I abandoned you with Denise,” he apologizes.
“It’s okay. She and I needed some girl time. You would have just gotten in the way, you know, by not being female.”
“Did you guys talk about us?”
“Why would we?” I ask, unsure about how to approach the subject.
“Can we talk about it?” he asks, his chin resting on my shoulder.
“Sure.” I say meekly.
“Last night, I was serious. Something has changed between us, is changing between us. And I can honestly say that I didn’t see it coming, but I’m also not going to ignore it. That is, unless you want me to.”
I mull over his words in my head.
Is he feeling what I’m feeling?
“I don’t know what I want, honestly. But I agree, something has changed.” I admit.
“Is this too much?” he questions.
“Is what?” I lift my head, look over my shoulder and ask.
“Well, I woke up sporking you again.”
“Sporking me?” I try not to laugh.
“Well, I’m spooning, you but there’s a part of me that’s like a fork.”
“I see.” I smile.
“So, determination please ref?”
“Did you just call me a referee?” I turn my head to look at him. His face mere inches from mine. His hair is ruffled from sleep, his smile is lazy and he’s got pillowcase creases on his cheek.
“Answer the question, Kaley. I’m controlling myself and that control is about to give out unless you blow that whistle.”
“What if my whistle means ‘go’?” I whisper, turning around, facing him. Our lips are a breath away, our arms are around one another. My heart is hammering and I know now that there is no turning back.
“Fuck me.” He whispers as his lips meet mine. The sheet is still in between us, but knowing that he’s not wearing anything makes my stomach do somersaults.
I press myself against him fully, the sheet not allowing me to wrap my leg around his the way I want to. Our tongues mingle together, running along each other’s, exploring our mouths with eagerness. I pull my hand from his neck and start to lower the sheet. I want to feel him, I want him just as pressed against me as I am him. I’ve got the sheet to our waists before he pulls back.