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“Why, what’s so funny?” I manage to ask between gritted teeth.
Katrina scoffs at me, still clutching her stomach while wiping at her tears.
“I’m sorry, but that story is absolutely ridiculous! That can’t be true!”
I stare at the tiny brunette.
“Oh, so you taking on four guys in your parents’ house and Morgan banging her high school history teacher is realistic, but me screwing Santa Claus isn’t?” I snap. I’m so angry now that the top of my head is about to blow off.
“Um, yeah?” Morgan giggles. “Because we’re us and you’re…well, you’reyou, Cleo. I mean, who would want you?”
The two of them burst into another fit of laughter and I don’t even bother to reply this time. What was I thinking telling them something like that in the first place? I never should have said anything.
Instead, I merely turn and drag my suitcase the rest of the way to my bedroom before slamming the door shut behind me. I can still hear them cackling like a bunch of hyenas from behind the wooden slab, and I curse viciously. How can they be so mean? Seriously, what the fuck?
My heart is pounding as I throw myself onto my bed, shaking my head at myself. What in the world is wrong with me? Why did I tell Katrina and Morgan my deepest, darkest secret? A feeling of dread and foreboding fills my chest because suddenly, I realize the cat’s out of the bag … and there’s no getting her back in, no matter what I do.
4
CLEO
It’s been a few days since my interaction with Morgan and Katrina, and fortunately, the event seems to have passed. The first night, I was tossing and turning, re-living that terrible scene in my head, but now, I feel better. At least it helps to talk with Brody again, even if we can’t be together just yet. That’s for the weekend, and it can’t come fast enough.
“You haven’t said anything in the last five minutes,” Brody’s voice crackles over the speakers, a deep chuckle following soon after. “Are my pecs really that distracting over Zoom?”
I blush after realizing that after zoning out, I’d been staring at his chest the whole time. He does look incredibly handsome and my breath catches. His bedroom is dark, so he’s the only thing visible on screen, and he’s just out of the shower, that muscular chest bare and bronzed. Dang, I wish I could lick the water droplets off his sculpted torso, but as attractive as my lover is, it isn’t his looks that have me feeling distracted.
“I’m sorry,” I murmur, sighing. “I just miss you, that’s all. I wish I was with you at your house instead of here, trapped on this stupid campus, stuck in my stupid suite with two stupid suitemates,” I grumble.
My life sucks, after all. I don’t even know how to describe what I’m feeling right now. My classes are okay, I suppose, and I study and do homework. But more than anything, I just want to see Brody again in person. I want him to hold me as I fall asleep, and to nuzzle up against that big body in the middle of the night. I feel physically ill when I remember that instead of waking up in the morning to Brody’s handsome face, I have to wake up and shuffle out of my room to be met with the sight of Morgan and Katrina instead. FML.
The older man frowns, his expression creasing with concern. “Is something wrong, honey? Aside from you missing me, I mean, because we’ll see each other this weekend. Is it school? Are your classes starting to get a little tougher?”
“It’s not the classes,” I groan, rubbing my eyes with the palms of my hands. After a few moments of silence, I look at him again, swallowing thickly before murmuring, “It’s something else.”
“What is it?” he asks in a soothing tone, blue eyes concerned. “You know you can tell me anything, sweetheart.”
I nod and swallow hesitantly, but then decide to go for it.
“Well, I told my suitemates about us getting together over the break.”
Brody goes still with shock, his eyebrows beetling with disapproval.
“What? Why? What did you say exactly?” he demands, leaning forward into the camera.
Tears blur my vision before I can do anything to stop them, and I shrug weakly, sniffling.
“It just happened! Katrina and Morgan were bragging about their conquests over winter break and trust me, these girls are bad. It was like a game of one-upmanship too, and when they first asked me about my vacation, I told them nothing. But then they started being really mean.”
Brody looks positively furious now.
“What did they do?” he asks in a low voice.
I sigh.
“They started saying that I was a virgin and they were being super condescending and making it seem like I couldn’t possibly find anyone that would want to have sex with me, so I just—well, I told them that Ididactually have sex, with Santa Claus, in a department store,” I explain quickly. “I’m sorry, Brody. I didn’t mention anything else! Don’t be mad at me, okay?”
He’s still for a moment.
