“Regret buying the bike?” Chloe quips, nodding to her helmet.
“Never,” Alex fires back. She turns to me. “We should talk.”
“About what?” I ask innocently.
A flash of annoyance crosses over her face before it’s quickly replaced by something akin to pleading. “Come on. I’m sure we can find an empty room.”
Haven’t you had your fill of empty rooms?But that isn’t fair. She hasn’t done anything wrong. How many times did Tyler and I take advantage of an empty house? Just because Alex doesn’t talk about her sex life doesn’t mean she doesn’t have one.
“I’m not leaving Chloe.” It’s a lame excuse. We’ve ditched each other plenty of times to go hook up or hang out with someone else. That’s why it doesn’t surprise me when Chloe rolls her eyes and pushes me away.
“Just go talk. It’s weird when you two are fighting.”
I want to tell her we aren’t fighting, but even I know that I’m acting like a brat. I place my cup on the closest table and follow Alex up the stairs and into one of the bedrooms.
Alex sits on the foot of the bed, and I sit beside her. We’re quiet, the only sounds coming from the party downstairs and the giggles of a couple of girls looking for the upstairs bathroom.
I wait for her to start. To say something to break the sudden awkwardness and silence between us. Plus, she’s the one who wanted to talk. If I had my way, I’d avoid this conversation for the remainder of my life. But she doesn’t say a single word. Instead, she stares at her hands in her lap, looking completely unbothered.
And for some reason, that frustrates me even more.
“Why didn’t you lock the door?” I blurt.
“In my own house?” She laughs, but I don’t find the humor. “To be fair, people usually wait until someone says ‘come in’ before they actually, you know, come in.”
“I texted you so many times,” I continue, pretending she isn’t one hundred percent correct. “You said you’d be ready, then you just disappeared. I called you and texted, and when I got to your house, I yelled for you, but you didn’t answer.”
She stares at me with an unreadable expression, and I rub my eyes, already tired of this fight. Especially when it’s clear that I’m the one in the wrong, and all of this could’ve been avoided if I had just fucking rung the doorbell.
I sigh. “I’m sorry. I thought you were napping. I didn’t think you would be doing…that.”
She arches a brow. “You act like you’ve never seen people have sex before.”
“I’ve never seenyouhave sex before,” I confess without thinking.
Alex gives me a strange look, and I can’t say I blame her. I should’ve said “No, I haven’t seen two people have sex before.” Well, outside of that one time Chloe and I curiously checked out that website. And then the time I…never mind. Not the point.
“What if you’d walked in on me and Tyler? Wouldn’t you be freaking out a little?”
Her face scrunches, and I wish I could takethatback as well. “I’d probably be more grossed out than anything.”
Just like that, embarrassment shifts to insult. “Hey!”
Alex laughs. Again. “We weren’t having sex. I mean, obviously, we were getting there.” She runs her hand through her hair, exhales deeply, then bumps her shoulder with mine. “Until you killed the vibe anyway.” Her tone suggests she’s teasing, but I can tell she’s disappointed.
My guilt expands tenfold. “I’m sorry I cooch blocked you.”
“Cooch blocked?”
“I don’t know. What else would you call it?”
She rubs her chin and makes a show of thinking about it. “Cliterference, clam jam, beaver impeder, bushwacked…”
“Okay, okay!” I cover her mouth to get her to stop talking. “Jeez,I’m sorry I asked.” I can feel her smile against my palm, and my stomach flutters. “I thought you’d be more of a top,” I tease, removing my hand.
“Oh, I am,” she assures me. “But in this case, it’s more of a power bottom kind of situation.”
I blink. “I don’t know what that means.”
