Clark Mia - Stepbrother_With_Benefits_16_T_-_

Stepbrother With Benefits 16 (Third Season) Mia Clark

Published by Cherrylily, 2016.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental. STEPBROTHER WITH BENEFITS 16 (THIRD SEASON)

First edition. January 14, 2016. Copyright © 2016 Mia Clark. Written by Mia Clark.

Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Foreword Stepbrother With Benefits 16 Bonus ~ Caleb and Scarlet Make an Ex Tape (Teaser) A Note from Mia About the Author

Foreword Check here for all of the currently available Stepbrother With Benefits Season Three books on Amazon: Stepbrother With Benefits (Third Season) Make sure you don't miss any of my new releases by signing up for my VIP readers list! Cherrylily.com/Mia You can also find me on Facebook for more sneak peeks and updates here: Facebook.com/MiaClarkWrites ~*~ You can find all of the books in my Stepbrother With Benefits series on Amazon Stepbrother With Benefits series

Stepbrother With Benefits 16 *** Ethan It's getting late and I'm tired as fuck. Not sleepy tired or anything, but I just kind of want to sit down and do something mindless. Maybe watch an action movie with a lot of explosions or look at porn or something. It's not like I actually want to look at porn, but you have to admit it's a pretty mindless activity, right? There's not a lot to it. Go to your website of choice for that kind of thing and there's a bunch of naked people having sex. The thing is, actually having sex is hard sometimes. Or I'm hard while having sex. One of those. Maybe both. It's a lot of fun, but then you get tired after, and that's what cuddling is for. There's no cuddling after looking at porn. I don't even know why I'm thinking of checking out porn, because I don't think I could get an erection if I tried. Unless, uh... this is for science, alright? I'm doing a scientific experiment here. Leave me alone. I pick up my phone and go to my saved pictures, then find the one that Ashley sent me earlier. I'm not sure this is going to work. I'm going to admit to you right now that I don't have high expectations for this science experiment. I'm... Alright, yeah, I was wrong. Maybe this isn't my proudest erection ever, but it could definitely do the job. Fuck. Why did I do that? I just got done watching Ashley play with herself in the shower, which was real fucking nice, and now I'm sitting in my dorm room with an erection I don't even want. Holy fuck, did I just say that? Well, the problem is that I do want this erection, but I just want to thrust it hard into Ashley's perfect as fuck pussy, but she's hours away from me. Also, I don't think I can convince her to help me out with this one. She already went out of her way to do the shower thing, which... yeah... fuck, I loved that. I don't know why it's seriously fucking erotic watching her sexy wet body, slick with soap, just shiny as fuck, while she teases her hands and fingers around every fucking gorgeous inch of her soft skin. Yeah, I mean, I'd rather be the one doing the teasing and touching, but I'm willing to let Ashley do it herself now and then. Also, it's kind of fun to watch. It's like homework, but sexy homework, right? Seeing where she goes, what she does, what she likes to do. It's like gaining some secret as fuck information about the inner workings of the girl I want to give orgasms to. There you go. Shit, I gave it away, didn't I? I can't tell Caleb about this. Don't you even fucking dare tell anyone. This is like... my absolute biggest fucking secret in the world. I guess it's not that big of a secret. Tell whoever the fuck you want. What do I care? If you want to please a girl, the easiest way to do it is convince her to play with herself while you watch. And you have to really fucking watch, alright? Sit your ass down, and pay attention. What's she doing? Where's she touching herself? Is she lingering somewhere specific, or is it just a brief and fleeting tease? Teasing is fun sometimes, but we all know there's a time for it and then there's a time for getting down to business. Yeah, it's going to be sexy as fuck. I get that. It's going to be hard. You're going to be hard. You're just going to want to fuck the shit out of her, but if you can just hold back for like... two fucking minutes. Just two minutes, I swear. She'll show you what she likes. She might be nervous, but you just tell her you like it. Whisper soft words into her ear or whatever you want. Be a nice fucking gentleman, because, look, if she's going to do

this for you, I'm pretty sure you're about to have sex no matter what. Don't be an asshole if a girl's going to have sex with you. Wait, shit, I got sidetracked. This information is for guys only. No girls allowed. It'd blow our cover. Fucking A... I'm done. I am completely fucking done writing this sex education essay in my head. Yeah, I don't know why I like to do that sometimes. It's just interesting, I guess. It's interesting how many guys don't even care, and they're just like, hey, I've got a cock, and you have a vagina. I want to put my cock in your vagina. Uh, duh... I mean, look, I get it, that's nice, but if you use some finesse it'll be nicer. I promise. I wouldn't lie about this. I need to get out of my room before I write all of this down and try to send it to Cosmo as a magazine article or something. Or Maxim. Fuck, which would I send it to? Maybe both? Ethan, stop. Alright, that worked. I get up and thankfully I don't have an erection anymore. I pull my pants on, zip them up, grab a shirt, and head to my door. Do I bring my phone? Yeah, I guess I do. Need to be prepared in case my beautiful fucking Princess wants to talk or something. I hope it's sexy talk. I can handle just regular talking and niceness, but I just had an erection, so, uh... I head out of my room and walk down the hall. Some people just like to be alone, and that's cool. I like being alone sometimes, too, but I like doing it where there's other people. Fuck you if you don't think that makes any sense. It makes perfect fucking sense. I head to the common room, maybe to play pool or watch TV or something. I just don't want to do it with anyone else at the moment. The double doors are wide open, but the lights are off. I flip them on, then check out what I'm working with here. Not all common rooms are created equally. This one is pretty good by most standards, though. They're all wide, which is nice. This one has a couch about halfway into the room in front of the door, just sitting there. Pretty big couch, too. Against the wall is a big TV. To the left is... fuck if I know. Oh, shit, I know what that is? Why the fuck...? It's those damn cheerleaders, man. They did this on purpose. This is a guy's only floor, but the cheerleaders like to set up these little fucking study areas in some of the common rooms, which is basically a table and some chairs, then bean bags, and a shelf with some books. It's like a miniature library, except it's in the common room, so that makes no fucking sense whatsoever. The common rooms aren't known for being quiet. I'm pretty sure they did this after they found out my room is on this floor. I don't mean to be a cocky bastard with an ego or whatever, but, yeah, I'm pretty fucking sure that's what they had in mind with this whole "let's make a study spot on a guy's only floor." No guys do that shit. Thank fuck the other side is regular, though. Except it's got a ping pong table. Fuck my life. I don't hate ping pong tables. They're fun for uh... beer pong, which, if you couldn't have guessed, is not going to happen in the common room in the dorms. Kind of against the rules, actually. I hop over the back of the couch and land on the cushions like I own the place. Technically, right now I think I do. I'm the only one here, so I'm the official Common Room King or something. Look, let's just go with it, alright? There's a coffee table in front of the couch with a pair of remotes on it, one for the DVD player and another for the TV. I grab the TV one, turn on the TV, and then flip through the channels. First, there's a commercial with a girl in a bikini running slow motion down the beach. My cock twitches a little, but honestly I don't think this girl is as sexy as Ashley. I saw my Little Miss Perfect

Princess in a bikini quite a few times this summer, and each and every one of those was sexy as fuck. Also, holy fuck, do you know how amazing it is to fuck her while she's still in the bikini? Like... alright, let me set the scene here. Ashley and I were at the beach this one time. We were about to go get some lunch. Just us, no one else there but other random beach people. She tells me she's going to the bathroom to use one of the public showers. They've got these little shower stalls at one side of the bathroom so you can clean off and then change into regular clothes if you want. I'm supposed to pack up our stuff while she does that, but... I did not pack up our stuff at that exact moment. I did pack it up later, but I had other things on my mind. Female restroom, so female showers, but seriously the way she was shaking her ass at me as she walked away. Also, she did it on purpose. It's your own damn fault, Princess. I saw her looking over her shoulder at me, and she even winked and blew me a kiss. She thought I wouldn't, but I have a reputation to uphold, and I am most definitely a bad boy, so... When she went into the showers, I followed after her. You can't do this kind of thing while being sneaky, though. Then you look like a creep. You just have to waltz right in, don't even give a fuck. So I did that, found Ashley in her shower stall, just cleaning off, rinsing away the ocean water and sand from her sexy as fuck body, and... She stared at me open-mouthed at first. I shut the stall door quick, locked it, and moved in for the kill. Which, uh... yeah, so that involved me pushing her against the back of the shower wall, lifting her thigh, pulling her bikini bottoms aside, and slamming hard into her. This was kind of a quickie moment for the both of us. What the fuck do you expect? I was in the women's bathroom in a public place. Fuck, man... I liked it, though. Pretty fucking sure she liked it, too. The way she kept blushing at me afterwards, even while we were ordering food at a beachside restaurant, uh... yeah. That day was kind of perfect. The entire summer was perfect. And now here I am, sitting on a couch in the common room, looking at... what the fuck am I even watching? Bowling? Uh... yeah, there's bowling on TV. Some local thing, I guess. I have no idea. I have nothing against bowling, but I'm not exactly a fan of watching people bowl. I guess I don't understand the appeal of something like that. Also, there's someone behind me. I can see the shadow looming across the couch and towards the TV. I'm being stalked. Fuck. "Bowling?" she asks. "Really? What the fuck?" "Fuck you," I say, turning around. "What the fuck are you doing here, Scarlet? I'm trying to relax." "Coming to find you, Mr. Moneybags," she says. "You weren't in your room, though." "How would you know? I locked the door when I left." "These locks suck," she says, just shrugging. She walks around the side of the couch, then plops down right next to me. "I picked the lock after you didn't answer, and then when I saw you weren't there I came here. I'm disappointed, though. Bowling?" I change the channel to... some B horror movie where some barely clothed girls are making out. That's how they get you, though. They're both about to die. I'm pretty sure that's how this works. I've watched enough trashy horror movies to know how it goes. "Better," Scarlet says with an approving nod. "Fuck, they're breasts are huge, though." "Yeah," I say. "You jealous?" She gives me a dirty look and refuses to answer. It's not like she really has anything to be jealous about. Her breasts aren't huge or anything, but she's small as fuck, almost dainty or some shit, and they're

pretty nice for her body. Don't tell Ashley I said that. I'm just giving Scarlet credit where credit's due. "Stop thinking about my breasts, you creep," Scarlet says, staring at me. "What the fuck, are you psychic now?" "I know that look. I've seen it plenty of times before." "Get the fuck out of here. I'm trying to watch a movie." "It's almost over," Scarlet says. "Also, you weren't even watching a movie. You were watching some old guys bowl. Lame." "Whatever," I say. "You said you were looking for me? What do you want?" "Well, old buddy," she says, putting her arm over my shoulder like we're best friends. What the fuck? "I wanted to let you know about one of my classes and their initiative this year. It's a creative art experiment. Very modern and chic." Alright, hold up. This reminds me of something, and it's... "You don't even fucking go to this school," I tell her. "How'd you get into the dorms?" "I'm an art major," she says, like this explains everything. "I have no fucking clue what that means," I say. "I do art and shit," she says. "What the fuck, man? I paint and draw and everything." "Fuck you, I know what an art major does," I say. "I meant how's that important to why you're here? Did you break in or seduce the guy at the front desk or something?" "Oh," Scarlet says, grinning. It's an evil fucking grin. She does this shit sometimes, and you can always tell she's doing something evil. Or maybe she just did something evil. It's one of those. "Painting and drawing is cool," she adds. "It's not like it's going to pay the bills, though. The real money is in graphic design work. Photoshop and stuff like that. I borrowed Caleb's school ID, then scanned it into my computer, screwed around with it quick, and made a copy for myself." She flips out a school ID from her pocket and tosses it at me. I catch it and look at the thing. It's... Well, holy fuck, it's pretty realistic. I pull my own school ID out of my pocket to compare. Scarlet's has her picture on it, her name, all this junk. Some made up school ID number, but whatever. They don't even bother looking at those most of the time. She grabs it away from me and pockets it quick. "Yeah, don't tell anyone, though. Our secret, alright?" "What do you even need that for?" I ask her. "Um... just hanging out," she says, elusive. Her cheeks turn red. Is she blushing? No fucking way. This is Scarlet and she can't blush. It's impossible. "With who?" I ask, suspicious. "Caleb?" "Wait, did he say something to you?" she asks, panic in her voice. Oh, what's this? Scarlet and Caleb have a secret? Hmmm... "Maybe," I say, shrugging. "Liar," she says. "Shit, I almost thought he'd told you." "Told me what?" "Nah, not telling you now. Maybe later," she says. "Alright, well, cool, so you're going to be stalking me with your fake school ID, and you won't tell me what you and Caleb talked about. Why are you here again?" "Oh yeah, the art experiment," she says. "We're doing a multimedia type of thing. It's supposed to get us ready for real world deadlines. Kind of an experience type of thing. Almost an internship, but we get

to make everything up as long as it fits some general guidelines. We're going to a bunch of different schools. Basically a new one every weekend, with different events and exhibits. Like a traveling art museum, but there'll be music, acting, plays, whatever." "Sounds kind of cool," I say, muttering. Not sure I should admit this to Scarlet. She'll try to con me into doing something dumb with her. I can do dumb shit on my own, Scarlet. I don't need your help doing more. "The best part is... guess where we're going this weekend?" she asks. "What the fuck, you already have this all planned out? This weekend is this weekend." "Yeah, that's kind of the meaning behind 'this weekend,' Ethan," she says, rolling her eyes at me. "Fuck you. You know what I meant." "We've been planning it since the summer. Just an email chain kind of thing, but we broke into groups and set some stuff up. I'm showcasing some of my art, but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." I stare at her, pointed. Where are we going with this? "The first one is at Ashley's school," she says, grinning. "Just thought you should know, Mr. Moneybags. In case you wanted to enact some revenge against the ex-boyfriend. I could sneak you in with us or something." "Yeah, hold on for a second," I say. "How'd you and Caleb even know about that website?" I thought it was kind of strange at first, but I figured maybe Ashley texted them or something. After talking with Ashley, though... yeah... nah. Scarlet and Caleb just fucking knew somehow, and it's kind of been bothering me. "Some email," Scarlet says. "It was on Facebook, too. People forwarding emails and sharing Facebook posts. Oh, I saw it on Twitter, too. Tumblr... someone was asking about doing an animated version there." "Uh, what the fuck?" I say. "Animated? It's a fucking picture, Scarlet. It doesn't move." "It's the power of science and computers, Ethan. You can do anything if you put your mind to it." I don't know if she's serious or not. I stare at her. "Are you serious?" I ask. Yeah, that's it. Just ask. "With that picture it'd be kind of hard, but yeah, it's definitely possible," Scarlet says. "Fuck," I say. This coincides with one of the almost naked, huge breasted girls in the horror movie getting slashed. Why the fuck am I still watching this? I change it back to bowling and toss the remote onto the coffee table. "It's cool," Scarlet says. "I like Ashley. She's nice. I'll help you out. Why's she dating you again, though?" She laughs and I give her a dirty look, pushing her away. Unfortunately, uh... fuck... Her arm is still around my shoulder, all friendly as fuck over here. I'm on the right, and she's on the left. I can't push her with my left hand, so I do it with my right, except... I basically just touch her breast. I was going for the shoulder, but she tried to dodge me, and yeah, now I've got a handful of Scarlet's breast. I've seen her in a bikini before, while we were camping and a few times when we all went to the beach together this summer: her, Caleb, me, and Ashley. Nothing amazing, but now that I've got a handful, uh... Yeah, they aren't so bad. A pretty nice handful. Wait, what the fuck am I thinking here? Scarlet gives me a look, all nonchalant, trying to blow it off. My hand is still groping her breast, though. Fuck, man... "We going to fuck or are you going to stop feeling me up?" she asks.

"Fuck off," I say, pulling my hand away. "That was an accident." "Yeah, well, you owe me one," she says, making a face at me. "Go right the fuck ahead," I say, pushing out my chest. "Have fun." Yeah, I accidentally grabbed her breast, so I guess this is fair? Fuck if I know. She reaches out, but she doesn't grab my chest. I have no fucking clue what's going on. Scarlet reaches between my legs, puts her palm on my crotch, and then wraps her fingers under my balls while her thumb stays near my shaft. It's just so fucking straightforward and unexpected, and holy fuck I don't know what's going on. My cock twitches. Not for Scarlet. It's just, uh... yeah, the memory of the picture Ashley sent me, the one I looked at right before I came here, uh... "What the fuck are you doing?" I ask her, trying to play this off. "Nice cock," she says, smirking at me before pulling her hand away. "Now we're even," she adds. "Asshole." "Fuck you, Scarlet." "You wish," she says. "What was, uh..." Think, Ethan! Think about... not about erections. Think about anything besides erections. "What was the point of the art shit you were telling me about?" "The final event," she says. "It's supposed to be a secret, but I think it could help you and Ashley out a lot. I'll tell you about it later." Then she just fucking vanishes. Walks out of the common room and heads down the hall. Fuck her. Scarlet's insane. I guess I knew this before, but I don't know what the fuck just happened. Right then my pocket starts to ring. It's my phone. Shit. I check to see who it is, and it's Ashley. I pick up quick. "Hey," I say, smiling, trying to act normal. "What's up, Princess?"

*** Ashley After my shower disaster involving Jake, I don't know what to do. I feel like the entire day's been a disaster, and this is just the rotten cherry on top. Tomorrow's bound to be better, right? That's what I want to tell myself, but I'm not sure if it's the truth. When I get back to my room, my mom and Jacky are talking about something. I'm kind of in a daze. I don't know if Jacky notices, but my mom seems to. She smiles at me, reassuring me, and pats the side of my bed. I go and sit next to her and try to join in on the conversation, but I don't know what to say to either of them. "Hey, I think I'm going to go to sleep soon. Just need to use the bathroom quick," Jacky says. "It's been a rough day, you know? Packing, unpacking, registering for classes... ugh!" I laugh a little. Oh, if only my day was like that. I had to deal with all those things, and more. I don't blame Jacky for being tired, though. I guess we're just different right now. Honestly, I hope she never has to go through anything like what I've been through. "I'm going to go brush my teeth, too," my mom says. "Do you want to call Ethan and say good night, honey?" "Yeah," I say. "I'll do that while you two are gone." "Should we stay gone extra long?" Jacky asks with a not-so-sly wink. "Leave a sock on the outside of the door?" "Um... I don't think this is going to be that kind of good night," I say, grinning. My mom and Jacky leave to do their thing, and I pull out my phone from its hiding spot in my shower essentials case. Careful, I open the plastic bag and pluck out my phone, making sure not to get it wet. There's only a little water left on the outside of the bag, but better safe than sorry, right? I don't even know what I'd do without my phone right now. I feel like it's my lifeline in more ways than one. After tomorrow, it'll be one of the only ways I can talk to my mom, and right now it's one of the only ways I can talk with Ethan. We can talk over webchat, too, but that takes planning. Sending someone a text message is easy. I could even send him a text message while I'm in class... hm... A lot of it's just lecture hall things, and we get handouts with notes after class, plus there's book reading and other assignments. I don't know why I'm even considering this, because it's decidedly not a good girl thing to do. It's pretty bad, actually. Text my boyfriend during class? Um... nope! I might. Just once? Just once isn't so bad, right? Maybe...? It doesn't matter right now, because I'm just going to call him to say good night. Yup. That's it. Just that. Ethan picks up the phone after a couple rings, but he sounds weird at first. "Hey," he says. "What's up, Princess?" "What's wrong?" I ask him. "Uh... nothing? What are you talking about? You're the one who called me." "You sound weird," I say. "You sound like you've been getting into trouble..." I don't even know what trouble sounds like. I'm kind of going out on a limb here and suspecting he's getting into trouble, because when has Ethan Colton ever not gotten into trouble? I don't mean to be that kind of girlfriend. I really hope I'm not. I don't expect him to tell me every single thing he does all the time, every day, forever, but... I don't know. I miss him. I don't even mind if he's getting into trouble. I just want him to tell me about it, because it makes me feel like we're closer. We got into a lot of trouble this summer, but I think it was

the good kind of trouble. I want to remember it. I want to feel like it's the summer for us all over again, even though our summer vacation is over now. "Can you hold on a second?" he asks "I'm in the hall. Heading back to my room." "Oh," I say. "Um... sure?" I listen to him walking down the hall. This isn't very exciting, but I guess what he has to say is private, so that's kind of exciting? I want to hear it. No matter what it is, no matter what he says, I'm excited to hear about his day. Uh huh. "So, I don't know what just happened," Ethan says. "I'm telling you this because I want to, uh... you know, be serious here. This is serious, Ashley. We're in a serious relationship, right?" "Ethan, we've been dating for a little over two months now. I'd say it's pretty committed." "Yeah," he says. "That's it. It's committed. I'm committed to you. So..." He trails off like he's about to say more, but then he doesn't. "What?" I ask. "Really, what happened? Did you get into a fight in the dorms or something?" "What? No. I don't fight people, Princess. I mean, if I have to, I would, but it usually doesn't come up." "Alright, so..." "Don't take this the wrong way, but I accidentally grabbed Scarlet's breasts. Actually, just one breast, so that's only half as bad, right?" I take it back. I don't think I'm excited to hear about Ethan's day anymore. "Why?" I ask him. This seems like a dumb question to ask, even to me, but I don't know what else to say. "It was an accident, Princess. She had her arm around me, and I was trying to push her away, but the angles and shit... it's like physics or math or something. You know how that works, right? Angles and stuff..." "Her arm was around you?" I ask him. "Around your shoulder, you mean?" "Yeah. Uh... wait. Fuck. That makes it sound worse. She was doing some bullshit buddy buddy friend thing, because she's fucking insane, and..." "And then you groped her breast," I say, brow furrowed. "Just one." "Yeah, but that's just for context, alright?" "Context for... what, exactly?" I ask. "So, it was an accident, right? And I pulled my hand away. No big deal. She said she owed me one, like... an accident or whatever the fuck. I thought she was going to touch my chest, but she reached down and grabbed my cock, and—" "Ethan, what the heck!" I say. "Just fucking swear, Princess," he says. "You can be angry with me. I didn't mean for this to happen, but I get it. Tell me to fuck off or something." "Um... alright," I say. I didn't expect that, but I've been given permission, so... Wait, why do I even need permission? What the heck, Ashley! I mean, what the hell, Ashley! "I don't like that you did that," I say. "I don't like that she did that, either. I'm upset." Ethan pauses, presumably unsure how to take this. "Yeah," he says, agreeing with me. "I don't fucking like it, either." "What are we supposed to do about it?" I ask him. "Uh... what?" "I don't know. I don't know how to have an argument with you," I say. "Not a real one, at least. It's fun to play argue with you sometimes, but... I mean, you said it was an accident, right? And then she was

just doing it back as payback?" "Yeah," Ethan says. "I didn't think she'd grab my cock, though. I had pants on. We were in the common room. It's not like we were naked. It was like... two seconds. Listen, I swear she's fucking crazy, Princess. She grabbed Caleb's crotch earlier, too. Caleb was trying to sneak a peek at the, uh... shit... you know... the website..." He says the last part very hushed. "Scarlet was glaring at him, telling him not to do that, asked if he liked it, but he denied it, so... yeah, she checked. Weird as fuck if you ask me." "So, Caleb and Scarlet have seen me naked now?" I ask him. "Great..." "Yeah, but if it makes you feel better, Caleb didn't get a hard-on from it," Ethan says. "Actually that doesn't make me feel better, Ethan. That kind of makes me feel worse." "Well, it's Caleb. He probably gets hard from stupid shit like flowers and unicorns." "He does not!" I say, laughing. "Shut up. That's not nice. He's our friend." "I think he just needs to get laid," Ethan adds. "Scarlet, too. They just need to go at it together, fuck the shit out of each other, and then they'll be fine. That's the real problem here, Princess." "You just think sex can fix everything, don't you?" I ask him, smirking. "Nah," he says. "Blowjobs can fix some things that sex can't." "I think blowjobs are basically like sex," I say, shaking my head at him through the phone. "Sex things happen during blowjobs." "Whatever," Ethan says, grumbling. "Maybe you're right. I don't know. Scarlet seemed weird earlier, like she was trying to... fuck if I know. Prove herself? And Caleb's been weird the entire time, so I don't know if he's weirder now or what." "You're changing the subject, you know?" I tell him. "You still need to apologize to me for grabbing Scarlet's breast on accident and then letting her grab your crotch." "I didn't let her!" Ethan says, defiant. "But... yeah... fuck. I'm sorry. It really was an accident, Princess. I don't know why this shit keeps happening to me." "Because you're cute," I say. "And handsome... and you're fun, and funny. You're very attractive. But you're mine now, so..." "Damn fucking straight," he says, practically growling into the phone. "You're mine, too. Don't go letting guys cop a feel on you or anything, alright?" "Ethan, I don't think that sort of thing happens to anyone but you," I say. "I have actually had absolutely no accidental 'feel coppings' happen today. Um... my roommate and her friend saw me in my bra and panties, though. My mom just opened the door randomly when I was changing and they were outside, so..." "Whoa, and you're just now telling me?" he asks. "It was embarrassing! Before that they came in the room after we... you know... on the phone? And I was naked under the blankets, so... they didn't see anything then, but they knew what I was doing. Today's just been horrible." "I know what you mean," he says. "I'm going to try and help, alright? My dad said I should let you tell me what you want to do, though. We need to knit this thing in the butt, whatever the fuck that saying is." "Nip it in the bud," I say. "Oh," Ethan says, contemplative. "Like weed? Marijuana?" "What are you even talking about?" "Bud? Listen, I don't smoke the shit, but I know words, Princess."

"You better not be smoking anything," I tell him. "It's not that, though. It's like flowers, I guess? I don't know. It's just a saying." "Yeah," he says. "Makes sense." We're quiet after that. I can't remember the last time we were randomly quiet while talking to each other. It doesn't seem like a thing that can happen, but I guess it's happening right now. Usually we fill our silence with cuddling, or smiling at each other, little quick kisses, or even just some nice eye contact. Now, though... I don't know. There's just nothing. It's quiet. "Ethan?" I say. "Yeah, Princess?" he asks. "After the shower, when I hung up with you and I was finishing up on my own, Jake called me. I thought it was you at first, so I picked it up and was about to tease you, but then, um... it was him." Ethan sounds angry, which I can definitely understand. "What the fuck did that asshole want?" he asks. "I don't know. He was just being a jerk like always. I yelled at him and hung up on him. It really bothered me, you know? Why is he doing this?" "Fuck if I know, Princess," Ethan says, soft. Ethan's rough and hard most of the time, but he can be soft and gentle when he wants to be. I like that. I think it's good that he knows when to be a bad boy and when to be a boyfriend. They aren't mutually exclusive or anything. "I can kick his ass if you want," Ethan says. "Just say the word." I laugh. "I know you can," I say. "I just... I don't know if that's enough." "Yeah," he says. "My dad and I were talking about it, and I can see how maybe kicking his ass isn't the best solution." "Did you really just say that?" I ask, giggling. "What kind of bad boy are you?" "Hey, listen, Princess," Ethan says, authoritative. "I'm not just a bad boy anymore. I'm your stepbrother and I'm your boyfriend. With benefits, too. That's a lot of stuff, and they're all a little different. Bad boy solutions are cool and all, but stepbrother solutions and boyfriend solutions are a little different sometimes. There's like... finesse and all that, right?" "Finesse," I say, rolling my eyes. "Right. Of course." "Don't get me wrong, I'll kick his ass if you want, but I think he deserves more than that. A lot more." "I think so, too," I say. "I just don't know what yet. I... maybe this is dumb, but I don't want him to hurt anyone ever again. It's not just about me. He's already done it to me, and it still hurts. It's embarrassing and humiliating, but I don't want anyone else to have to deal with that, either." "Yeah, I get it," Ethan says, somber. "No one deserves to be treated that way, and if the little fucking ass-penguin thinks he's getting away with it now, he's probably going to do it again to some other girl in the future." I frown into the phone, trying not to laugh. "Can you come up with a different insult? I really like penguins. They're cute. Jake isn't as cute as a penguin. He's more like, um... maybe he's a buffalo. Assbuffalo." "Whoa, what the fuck do you have against buffaloes?" Ethan asks, teasing me. The door opens, or it's been open. I've been kind of distracted talking to Ethan. My mom stands there, smiling at me. "Who's an ass-buffalo?" she asks me. "Jake is," I tell her. "Ethan says he likes buffalo, though. We need another animal." "It's not like I love the fucking things, but buffalo burgers are pretty damn delicious, Princess."

"What about a mosquito?" my mom asks. "Jake can be an ass-mosquito, because he's a pain in the butt and a pest." "What about ass-mosquito?" I ask Ethan. "My mom suggested it." "It doesn't really roll off the tongue, but I like it," he says. "Let's swat that fucker down." "Alright," I say, grinning. "Deal." "Sounds good," Ethan says. "You going to bed soon? Your mom is back?" "Yup, um... we can talk for a little more if you want, but I'm getting kind of tired." "I get it," Ethan says. "Don't worry. I wish I was there to cuddle the fuck out of you, though. Sorry, Princess." "Is that all you'd do if you were here?" I ask him, blushing at my own words. "Nah... I'd do a lot more than that, Princess. I just don't want to get you too worked up since—" "Ashley, need I remind you that I'm your mother and I'm in the room with you right now?" my mom says, shaking her head at me. "Really!" "—Yeah, that," Ethan says. "You go to sleep, Princess. I'll talk to you tomorrow, alright?" "Alright," I say. "Good night, Ethan. Sweet dreams." "You too, Princess. I love you." "I love you..." I don't think either of us hangs up the phone. I know it's silly, but I don't want to hang up the phone first. I just listen, waiting. I hear him breathing on the other end, and I think he can hear me, too. I sit there, blissful and happy. I like listening to Ethan breathe. I guess that might seem weird, but it's nice. When we used to sleep together, basically all this summer, I liked waking up to the sound of him breathing, or falling asleep to it. It was comforting. It reminds me of everything we have when we're together. We still have it now, we just... we have to be apart for a little bit. It's actually kind of a lot of time apart, but we'll see each other often. Right? I want to believe it. I do believe it. My mom takes the phone from me and smiles. "Good night, Ethan," she says into it before hanging up. She hands it back to me with a knowing nod. "Thanks for being here for me, Mom," I tell her. "Of course, dear," she says. "Tomorrow you're going to have to hang up the phone on your own, though." "That's not what I meant!" I say, laughing. "I know. I'm just teasing you. You and Ethan are cute together. Keep being cute together. That's how relationships work, honey." "I think there's a little more to it than that," I tell her. "Maybe a little," she says, winking. "Not much more, though."

*** Ashley I'm pretty sure the agreement with my mom was that she'd sleep on the floor. I remember her adding "or we can share a bed" at the end of this, but when we all decided to go to bed, my mom was definitely on the floor. It's not like I forced her to do it or anything. I helped her set up a nice and cozy spot down there, too. I gave her my best blanket! She had a pillow and everything. It should have been good. Why, then, when I wake up in the middle of the night to something stirring beside me, is my mom pushing her way into bed with me. I grumble, because it's not like this is a huge bed. It's just a college dorm room, so the beds are intended for basically one person. I wouldn't mind sharing the bed with Ethan, but that's more because we'd be cuddling and cuddling makes it easier to sleep in a small bed. I don't even mind, I guess, except we had a deal. It was an agreement, Mom! At least she brings her pillow with her and doesn't try to steal mine. I make a loud noise, like a harrumph or an ugghhh, or maybe both, and she just laughs. My own mother is laughing at me while stealing half of my bed. "Oh, shush," she says. "Can you move over a little, honey?" "Ugh," I say, but I scoot to the side, too. She settles into bed next to me, and it kind of reminds me of when I was little and it used to rain and thunder. I would tell my mom I was scared of the sound and the lightning, but I wasn't really. For some reason, I used to think maybe she was scared of them, but she wouldn't tell me. I don't know why I thought that. It seems kind of silly now. My mom's always been wonderful and nice, but I remember when I was younger and she used to stare off at nothingness for a couple of minutes at a time. She only did it when she thought I wasn't looking, but I saw her now and then. She looked lost and alone, like she needed a friend or some company or... She'd brighten up whenever she saw me, though. I don't think it was because she thought she had to. I honestly believe it was because she felt less alone when I was with her. I still think that, too. I can't always be with her, though. I'm glad Ethan's dad is with her when I'm not. It makes me feel better. I want my mom to be happy. She'd laugh at me when I snuck into bed with her during thunderstorms, but she always seemed happier then, too. Sometimes before we both fell asleep, she'd switch on the TV and we'd watch cartoons together, with the rain and the thunder crashing all around us. It was like our own little safe haven, protected from everything, the two of us, together. It's quiet in my dorm room again. We're supposed to be going back to sleep. I turn around quick and sneak over to give my mom a quick kiss on the cheek, though. "I love you, Mom," I tell her. She smiles at me. "I love you, too, Ashley." "Just don't steal my blankets, though," I tell her, sticking my tongue out. "Oh, I wouldn't dare!" she says, grinning at me. "Good!" We settle down again and it's quiet once more. It's warm and nice, even though my mom stole half my bed. I close my eyes and drift back to sleep.

*** Ashley The next day is kind of a blur. I guess I never really thought about it before, but there's a lot to do at college. Or, I should correct that and say there's a lot to do at college that precludes having a boyfriend. I'm pretty sure college isn't exactly about having a boyfriend, so this makes sense, but... Now that I have a serious boyfriend, I am distinctly sensitive to just how much time away from him I have to spend. My mom and I wake up a little early to go get breakfast in the cafeteria. It's nothing fancy, but it's nice to have a hot meal before starting the day. They have pancakes today, but I decide to go with eggs and sausage instead. I love pancakes so much, but I'm pretty sure they can't make them as good as Ethan does, so... "Do you have a busy day planned for today?" my mom asks. "The first day shouldn't be too bad," I tell her. "It's more about settling in and setting up a plan for the rest of the semester." "Sounds good," she says with a smile. "Call me when you're done with classes for the day, alright?" After breakfast, my mom leaves. I'm kind of in a hurry, so I don't get to spend as much time with her as I want. I can come home on the weekends, though, right? That's how I try to rationalize it, but it's still kind of lonely once she's gone. I don't have Ethan, I don't have my mom, and, yes, there's people here that I know, but it's just not the same. Also, remember when I said the first day shouldn't be too bad? Um... yes... about that... Everything is crazy. I don't know how this happened. I guess I picked all of the crazy classes or something, but they start right into it, never giving us a break. There's lecture after lecture, notes after notes, and a few even have homework assignments due for tomorrow. Um... wow... I keep thinking about Ethan, but every time I think about him, it's mostly to think that I can't talk to him. I don't have time to text him, because I have to listen and take notes. What was I thinking about before when I thought I could secretly text him during class? I don't even know how that'd be possible now. I glance to the side sometimes and see a few other girls toying with their phones where the professor can't see, but I'm not sure they're very good role models for this kind of thing. This is what I get for having a good girl reputation, I guess. Am I supposed to be a role model? I don't know if I'd go that far, but I don't feel like I can slack off much, either. The notes are finished, though. Lectures are done. I can relax... for a second. I still have homework due tomorrow. Should I do it now, or can I talk to Ethan for a little? He doesn't have classes today, so he's mostly free, but he told me he had to show up for some football thing. I don't really know what this means. "It's just a football thing, Princess," he told me. Is that like practice? A few hours? Or just showing up and registering? I don't know how that works. Do you have to register for football? Getting football gear? Um... I grab a somewhat late lunch from the cafeteria and bring it back to my room. I can multi-task! If anything, I'm definitely good at multi-tasking. If I eat while I read some of the assignments, I'll be ahead of the game for homework, which should give me some time to talk to Ethan, and... When I get back to my room, I check my phone for any missed messages. I don't have any missed calls, but I have two text messages. The first is from Ethan. What's up, Princess? Doing the football thing, but I promised Caleb I'd hang out with him or something maybe. I'll text you when I'm done. Talk to you soon. Miss you, babygirl. I love you. Alright, so that means I have time. If I can eat and study and do my homework before Ethan texts me, then I have the rest of the afternoon to...

To what? I haven't really planned this far. We can't just stay on the phone the entire afternoon, can we? I guess we can, but that seems weird. What would we do? Talk, I guess, but what else? We could watch a show on Netflix together, sort of. If he streams it at the same time as I do, both of us watching it on our laptops, it's sort of like watching it together. No, not really. It's not even close. The thing is, watching Netflix with Ethan isn't about watching the show, it's more about cuddling. And kissing. Sometimes touching. And becoming warm. Oh, Ethan, I'm getting hot... I'm going to take my pants off. Oh yeah, Princess? I hope you see where this is going. Is that where the phrase "Netflix and chill" came from? I know "chill" can mean hang out, but if you're hot, and you want to cool down by taking your pants off, that's kind of like "chilling down" and, really, "Netflix and cool down" doesn't roll off the tongue as well. I guess it doesn't matter, because the end results are the same. Watch Netflix, which is nice, and then get naked and have sex. Basically it's perfect, but there's no cuddling or pants coming off, or sex of any kind if we're talking on the phone and watching Netflix. This is an incredibly disappointing revelation for me and I don't like it at all. Oh, right, I had another text message. I check that and... Ugh. What the heck! Really? It's Jake. I have a deal for you, Ashley. I can make this all go away if you just come and talk to me. We can be adults about this, right? Meet me at the coffee shop across the street later this afternoon. I'll come by when classes are done. Let's make a deal. First off, I need to get this out of the way and say I don't like it. I don't like Jake texting me, but I also don't like this "let's make a deal" game of his. He thinks we should be adults about this? Um, yes, I sort of agree! Adults don't make malicious websites about other people and post private, intimate pictures of someone all over the internet. That's pretty immature, Jake! Second, I don't want to meet him at the coffee shop. I like that coffee shop a lot. I go there sometimes just to study and have coffee and these cute little Russian tea cakes they have, which are basically chewy dough balls covered in sugar. Sugar is good for studying, I swear. Sugar and caffeine keeps you awake, so I'm going to say yes, it's perfect for studying. If I see Jake at the coffee shop, I feel like it'll be ruined and I'll never want to go again, though. Maybe he'll say something horrible to me, because he has a tendency to do that. It's a public place, though, so maybe it'll be fine? He can't exactly do anything too horrible there, right? I don't know. I do want this to all be over with. I want to get back to my life. I want to be happy, and I want to be with Ethan. I can't be with Ethan right now, so I at least deserve to be happy, right? It's not like I'm unhappy. I think I'm more frustrated than anything. I've gotten used to cuddling and kissing on a daily basis, and guess how much cuddling and kissing I've been involved in today? Basically none! I'm not counting the hug I gave my mom before she left. I'm sorry, Mom, but that doesn't count. Ethan's cuddling is entirely different. I close out my text messages and turn off my phone. I'm just going to eat my lunch and study. It's pad Thai, though I question the authenticity. It's still good, but I think an actual Thai restaurant would do it better than the cafeteria. They just like to do a cultural thing where they have different ethnic offerings every meal alongside the standard cafeteria fare. I'm going to eat lunch. And I'm going to study. And also wait for Ethan's text. That's all I'm going to do, I swear. I'm not even going to begin to think about accepting Jake's dumb text message offer of a

ceasefire, because he's stupid and a jerk. Jake is the epitome of a douche-weasel and an ass-mosquito, whatever those two things are. They aren't good things, let me assure you! I really don't like him.

*** Ethan Yeah, so, my day has pretty much sucked so far. I woke up in bed alone. How fucking weird is that? I mean, yeah, I used to wake up in bed alone. For most of my life, waking up in bed alone has been my standard daily routine. It's just that I got used to sleeping with Ashley during the summer, and I've only just realized that waking up in bed without her kind of fucking sucks. I got up, though. I went to get breakfast. Breakfast is nice. They had pancakes, so I got those. Reminds me of Ashley, you know? Except these pancakes are not very good. Don't get me wrong, they're not the worst. I've had some horrible pancakes. I wouldn't give these to Ashley, though. I'd make her some real fucking nice, fluffy as fuck, whatever the fuck flavor pancakes she wanted. Half the fun of making Ashley pancakes is watching her eat them. I swear she has an orgasm or something. The look on her face is amazing, and every bite is like another climax. Fuck, man... I just want to watch her eat pancakes, but I'm stuck in the college cafeteria with some boring pancakes on my tray. Caleb comes and hangs out with me, which is cool, I guess. And Scarlet. There's some other people here. What the fuck do I care? The person that I want to be here isn't here, so whatever. When Scarlet goes to bring her empty tray to the trash, Caleb stares at me. "Ethan," he says, whispering. "Are we still on for later? What we talked about?" "What we talked about?" I ask him, playing dumb. I know what he's asking, but I want to see him ask it in front of Scarlet. I just kind of want to make him squirm. I don't know why. Caleb's a nice guy. I shouldn't be such an asshole to him. I'm a bad boy, though, remember? That's kind of my thing. I'm an asshole. Maybe not. If Ashley were here I wouldn't be an asshole. That doesn't mean I wouldn't tease the fuck out of Caleb or anything, but I guess in my head there's a difference between friendly screwing around with someone and being an asshole. "Are you serious?" Caleb asks. "Ethan, you—" Scarlet is getting close. Do I continue to be an asshole or do I let him off the hook? Really, he should just ask her to fuck. I don't necessarily suggest this in most cases, but I'm pretty sure if Caleb just waited for Scarlet to sit down and then asked her to have sex with him, it'd go well. Maybe not the best, but she'd laugh. She wouldn't hate him. They're both way too fucking weird. I don't understand it. "Yeah," I tell him. "I've got to register for classes and then go meet the new freshman football players for sign ups and initiation stuff, but after that I should be free. My room, alright?" "Sure!" Caleb says, sounding way too happy about this. It's kind of cool, though. I like his excitement. Scarlet sits back down and stares at me. "What's up?" she asks. "Why are you even here?" I ask her. "Breakfast?" she says. "It's the most important meal of the day, Mr. Moneybags." "Do you have to fucking call me that?" "Are you forgetting the time you called me Scarlet the harlot?" she asks me. Oh, yeah. Uh... fuck. I did do that, didn't I? "Look, I didn't mean anything by it. They rhyme, though. The word 'harlot' is classy as fuck, too." "A harlot is a whore, Ethan. You were calling me a whore, asshole." "Yeah, but I did it privately. And it was only after we almost got arrested for doing some stupid as fuck breaking and entering shit at wherever that place was."

Caleb stares at us like we're both crazy. Look, kid, I admit that letting Scarlet convince me to break into some place wasn't the most sane thing to do, but she's the real crazy one here. "It wasn't just some place," she says, defiant. "It was a small private art gallery and they were charging something like three-hundred dollars a ticket. I called and asked if I could just look quick, since there was a painting I really wanted to see in person, but the manager was a douche and told me to pay." "I could have just fucking bought you a ticket," I tell her. "I feel like that would have been easier than breaking in and almost getting arrested, don't you think?" "It's true," Caleb says, chiming in. "Fuck off, Caleb," Scarlet and I say at the same time. Yeah, sorry, Caleb. You're not winning this one. "That would have ruined the experience," Scarlet adds, turning back to me. "Money can't buy everything, Ethan. Sometimes you need to experience art in groundbreaking new ways." "Yeah," I say, sarcastic. "Groundbreaking, breaking and entering, same fucking thing. Who's keeping track?" She gives me a dirty look and sticks her tongue out at me. Hey, hold the fuck on here. Only Ashley's allowed to stick out her tongue at me. Fuck you, Scarlet. She gets up before I can keep arguing with her, too. What a bitch. "See you guys later," she says. "I've got class today. Have fun or whatever." Caleb watches her leave. I'm pretty sure he's staring at her ass. I watch him staring at her ass, because I'm trying to figure this out. I really don't get it. I guess Scarlet has a nice enough ass. It's not really the spankable sort, but she's small and, uh... lithe or whatever the fuck you want to call it? Like a fucking ballerina or something. You could pick her up and grab her ass in one hand, her hip in the other, while slamming her down on your cock hard, just fucking her in the air like that. Not me, alright? I'm just running hypothetical situations in my head. This is some next level science shit or something. Caleb should pay me for this. I'm helping him figure it out. He's not exactly the biggest guy ever, but I saw him working hard at the campground this summer. His muscles weren't made in a gym, they were created by pure outdoorsmanship. I can give credit where credit is due. If Caleb was on the football team with me, I'd let him guard me from the front line while I stepped back to make a game winning pass. "Hey," I say to him. "You ever think about joining the football team?" "What?" he asks me, distracting himself away from staring at Scarlet's butt. "Uh... actually, I played some in high school. Mostly just Junior Varsity. The head coach played favorites a lot so I never got to play in any Varsity games, even as a senior, but it was fun." "No fucking way, really?" This is new. Caleb is getting cooler by the minute. "What was your winloss record like? For JV, I mean. Who the fuck cares about Varsity. Your coach sounds like a dick." "Uh... pretty good, but they never really kept track, you know? It wasn't official." "Just fucking spit it out, Caleb. Tell me." "Ten wins, one loss?" he says, like he's asking me if this is acceptable. Don't fucking ask me, just own it, dude. Also, fuck, that's a good record. "Holy shit," I tell him. "That's really great. Why have you never told me this before?" "It was just high school," he says, shrugging. "I didn't really play senior year, either. Seniors can't play on JV. There's rules and stuff." "What position?" I ask.

This is twenty questions right here. I'm going to find out all the awesome as fuck stuff about Caleb that I never knew before. "Defensive guard mostly," he says. "Do you do anything now?" I ask him. "Like, uh... extracurricular shit?" "I'm in the camping club," Caleb says. "Uh... I didn't even know we had a camping club," I tell him. "What's that?" "We just go camping a couple times a year. It's not a real club, I guess. I mean, it is, and we make sure to rough it when we go. Mostly my dad lets us use the campground during the off season. There's four trips a year, to experience the outdoors in all its seasonal glory. That's what our club advisor says. One for spring, summer, then fall and winter." "You go camping in the snow?" I ask. "That's kind of badass." "We go ice fishing, too!" he says, cheering up. I guess that's the secret to Caleb. Just call him a badass and he gets excited. I'll have to keep that in mind. Mainly I need to figure out a way to get Scarlet to call him a badass. Hmmm... "So, that sounds cool and all," I say, "but I think you should join the football team." "They already did tryouts this summer, though," Caleb says, giving me a funny look, eyebrows all furrowed and confused. "There's the incoming freshman with football scholarships, too." "Caleb," I say, staring at him. We're about to have a real conversation here. Man to man. "What?" he asks. He's not really staring back at me. What the fuck? I'm trying to be manly here, Caleb. Fuck you. "That's mostly for starters. There's second string backups and some positions have a third string, but that's not really important. It's still fun, you know? I'm not even fucking around with you here. It'd be cool to have you on the team. Also, you know how fucking badass that is? We have private parties and shit. Scarlet's been to some. They're cool." Caleb perks up at the idea of being fucking badass, but then he gives me a strange look when I mention Scarlet and the private parties. What's the look for, dude? "Second string?" Caleb says, mumbling. "So I wouldn't even play, and I'd just practice and look like an idiot in the background while everyone else became football heroes." "Caleb," I say, being straight with him. "Who the fuck do you think I am? I'm going to answer that for you. I'm Ethan Colton. I'm the starting quarterback. I'm kind of a big deal." "I don't really know where you're going with this," Caleb says. Fuck, he looks kind of depressed, too. Like a sad puppy dog. Cut that shit out, Caleb. "Look, bro," I say. "Can I call you bro for a second, Caleb?" "I guess?" "Alright, I'm just going to be bros with you here. Football is like a brotherhood, right? That's what I mean. Fuck all the fraternity bullshit. What do they even do? We do all of that and more on the football team. And a part of that is making sure you've got everyone's back. I've already got your back, Caleb. You don't need to do this if you don't want to, and I'll help you out. I'm helping you later, right?" "Uh... yeah?" "Yeah. So you know this is the real deal. I think you're a kind of cool guy. Not super cool yet. We'll get there later. I happen to know for a fact that we have a second string defensive guard position open, too. There'll be some competition for it, maybe, but I'll vouch for you. And if you're as good as you say, then I'll even see if we can have you switch in with the starter defensive guards." Caleb's still staring at me, but he doesn't look like a sad puppy dog anymore.

I keep going with this. "I mean, yeah, I can't guarantee you'll play a ton early in the game, but a little in the third quarter, maybe even the entire fourth quarter depending on how things are going? I'll stick up for you. If you earn it, and you don't let me down, I'll be there for you. That's what brothers are for, right?" "Ethan, you aren't even my brother, though," Caleb says, laughing. "Fuck, man... you're making this difficult. Like... stepbrothers or something? Give me a break and just go with it. You know what I mean." "Stepbrother?" Caleb asks me, this mischievous fucking smirk on his face, one eyebrow raised. "I'm not too sure about that. I've seen how this stepbrother thing works with Ashley, Ethan. I'm not really into that. No benefits for me." "I'm going to kick your fucking ass," I tell him, laughing. "You don't get any benefits. Those are strictly reserved for Ashley." "What about a pat on the ass?" Caleb asks, trying not to laugh. "Football camaraderie, right?" "I'll tell you what," I say. "You smack Scarlet's ass sometime. I need to be there as a witness. You do that and I'll give you some football camaraderie ass pats if you do good. Deal?" "I don't even know if she'd like that," Caleb says, getting all pouty again. "You said she goes to the football parties? Do guys hit on her a lot there? If I'm just second string, she won't even be impressed. The starters will be cooler." "Are you fucking kidding me?" I ask him. "Seriously, are you fucking kidding me?" "Er... no?" "Scarlet's like my new stepsister. I'm adopting her, alright? She's adopted. And you're my new stepbrother here. Only if you join the football team, though. Do you get where I'm going with this?" "So if I'm your stepbrother and Scarlet's your stepsister, then I'm Scarlet's stepbrother, too?" Caleb asks. "Stop giving me that goofy as fuck look of yours," I tell him. "But, yeah. Take it from me. Stepbrother with benefits? Pretty fucking good deal. You've got a week, though. If you don't turn it into more by then, you're done. You have to cut her off, no matter what." "What, a week? When? Now? Ethan, I haven't even talked to her about this. She's going to think it's weird. I... I mean, we did talk about... something..." "Yeah, what's that something?" I ask him. "Scarlet said something last night, but she wouldn't tell me." "It's... it's nothing!" Caleb says. He's defiant, too. Awkward, kind of nervous defiance, but whatever. After I stare at him for a couple seconds, he tries to pound his hand on the table, even more defiant. It's kind of half-assed, but I'll let it go. He gets points for the attempt. "Not now," I say, "but whenever. You get a week to impress Scarlet. For a relationship, I mean. Dating or whatever the fuck. If you can't impress her in a week, you're probably never going to impress her. It'll be a lost cause. I want you to think about that, alright? I'm not saying you have to start right now, but as soon as you do start, I want you to go all out. Don't fucking half-ass this. This is serious. This is love we're talking about, Caleb. You don't go halfway with love, dude. You go all the fucking way or you die trying." "I don't think you really die," Caleb says, backtalking me. "You fucking die," I tell him. "This is hardcore dating. The people who don't die are the ones who obviously were just screwing around and trying to half-ass their way through relationships." "Oh," Caleb says. "I think I get it now?"

"Good. Now I'm heading to the football field. You coming or what?" I ask him. "I want you to come." "Really?" he asks. "Or are you just being nice?" "Are you serious? When the fuck have I ever been nice?" "I've seen you be nice to Ashley," Caleb points out. "Caleb, why the fuck are you sassing me?" "I'm not! I'm just saying you're nice to Ashley!" "Listen, are you coming with me so I can introduce you to the coach or what? Are you going to come to our private parties and then smack Scarlet on the ass, or are you going to sit at home and watch Dancing with the Stars or something?" "Wait, if I'm on the football team, I can't watch Dancing with the Stars?" Caleb asks. "I usually try and record it or check it out on YouTube if I miss it, but I like that show." "It's not a bad show," I say. "I like Julianne Hough. She's pretty hot. I was trying to attack your masculinity, Caleb. You're supposed to want to prove your manliness to me now. Stay with me here." "Oh," Caleb says. "Sorry." "You can still watch Dancing with the Stars, but if we're having a private football party or a game that night you're going to have to record it and watch it later," I say. "This isn't even about that. I don't know what the fuck you're doing to me, Caleb." "I don't know if I can smack Scarlet's ass, though, Ethan," he says. "You're going to smack her fucking ass so damn hard, Caleb. I promise you." "She told me once that she was kind of into that," Caleb says. This is more like musing. I don't know where the fuck it came from, but that's alright. "Like, uh... you know, domination... submission... spankings and... wait, I didn't mean to say that." "When did she tell you this?" I ask him. "Where were you?" "It was the summer before we went to college. Scarlet snuck out of her house and climbed onto my garage and I let her in my window." "Your bedroom window?" I ask. I need to clarify this. It's important. "Uh... yeah? She stayed over that night. She's, uh... I don't know. I can tell you about it later. She used to come over a lot." "So, an attractive girl snuck into your window, secretly stayed overnight in your bedroom, and told you that she likes having her ass smacked, and... you...?" This is a question, sort of. I mean, it's a rhetorical question, because it happened in the past, but still. I hope Caleb understands what I'm saying here. "I... went downstairs and got popcorn and we watched a movie?" he says. "I'm done. I can't talk to you anymore. I need to stop." I start walking away. I have to go. I have football stuff to do, but it's more than that, too. I just can't. "Wait, Ethan!" Caleb says, following after me. "Can I still come with you to the football sign ups?" "Yeah," I say. "Just don't talk to me for a few. I need to calm down. I'm so fucking angry at you, Caleb." "What! What did I even do?" "Please... just please stop... this is hard enough as it is."

*** Ashley I don't know why I'm at the coffee shop. I feel like I should have a reason for being here, don't you think? It's like when you're taking a test and you read one of the questions, and you're pretty sure you know the answer, except for whatever reason you can't verbalize it or make complete sense of it. This is kind of like that, but in my case it's more like there's a multiple choice answer to the question. I'm still trying to figure out which answer is the correct one. First, maybe I just came here to study? I mean, I am studying, so it's not like this is incorrect, right? I brought my laptop with me so I could go through everything, and I have my notebooks and a few of my textbooks. I finished up one of my homework assignments shortly after I got here. It wasn't too hard. Mostly I just had to read a chapter in the book and write a short essay about it. I typed it up on my laptop and I'll print it out when I get back. And... yes, I'm doing homework, but I don't think that's the reason I'm here. I think it's one of the reasons, though. I kind of want to be defiant and strong. If I've learned anything after spending the summer with Ethan, it's that I'm a lot more than just some Little Miss Perfect good girl. I kind of like when Ethan calls me that, though. It makes me want to be really bad with him. Naughty, even... I'm getting sidetracked here. Ugh. Alright, so the second reason I could be here is to meet Jake. I admit this has a strong possibility of being true, but there's a few angles to this that need to be taken into consideration. This isn't just one answer, it's a couple side answers on this multiple choice test of my life. One, I'm here to prove to him that he can't get to me. He can't just text me and expect me to show up at his beck and call or anything. Yes, I did show up, but not for him. I showed up to prove to him that he has no effect on me, and that I can just do my homework and ignore him. What if he sits in my booth with me, though? I think that's where option two comes into play. I can confront him about everything. I can yell at him and shout and tell him off. I don't think I'd yell too loudly, though. I'd really like to, but I'm in a coffee shop and I don't want them to kick me out. I especially don't want them to ban me from ever coming here again. I really like studying here. Sometimes they give me free refills, too. Alright, so the third option is... I can listen to what he has to say, I guess. I don't think this is a very good option, but it doesn't exactly hurt to listen, right? I can sit here and listen and hope he screws up. Maybe he'll be the one to yell and shout at me, or maybe someone will hear him and tell the manager, in which case they might kick him out instead of me. Maybe they'll even ban him from coming in ever again. Wouldn't that be nice? It's not like this is going to solve my problems with Jake, but it'd be a small victory. Sometimes you need a minor triumph before you can win the war completely. For morale, you know? I think there's something about that in Sun Tzu's The Art of War. I like that book. Maybe I should read it again and see if he has any insight into how to deal with an asshole ex-boyfriend. The next option in this line of thought is... well, I guess I could just do what Jake wants. I think this is the wrong answer, because I have no way of knowing whether he'll stop harassing me after I do what he wants. It's still an option, though. Sometimes you have to understand the problem completely in order to solve it. By figuring out the wrong answers, you can more easily decide on the correct ones. The process of elimination, right? The last option I have right now is that I can just leave. First and foremost, I came here in order to study. Yes, Jake wanted to meet me here, too, but it's not like I'm going to sit in a coffee shop doing nothing for hours at a time. He mentioned he'd come by after classes were out for the day. Mine ended

earlier, since I prefer to schedule all of my classes in the morning, but there's some afternoon classes, so I think Jake was talking about those. I've been here for about an hour. It's probably just about time for the afternoon classes to get out. If I leave right now, then Jake will never know I was here. Yes, that kind of feels like running away, but maybe I should never have come here in the first place. It just feels safer, I guess. More public. I don't know why, considering Jake practically dragged me through an airport when he was going to blackmail me before and that was pretty public, too, but this is different. It's not as crowded here, and also I think I was a different person back then. I'm stronger now. I don't have anything to hide. I... Well, if I wanted to walk out and leave before Jake showed up, it's a little too late right now. Ick. He walks in the front door, just swaggering on through, looking like a complete jerk. He glances to the side and spots me sitting in my booth, but he ignores me for now. Instead, he goes up to the counter and orders a coffee. While they make it, he stands off to the side, looking over at me now and then. I have my own coffee. I ordered one when I got here, along with a muffin top as a special treat for myself. I got another coffee after I finished slowly sipping at the first, and that second one is still warm and half full. I take another sip now and decide I'm just going to ignore Jake and go back to my homework. Maybe if I ignore him enough he won't even bother coming over here. What do you think of that, Jake? I am extremely sad to say that my plan doesn't work. After the barista at the counter hands him his coffee, he immediately comes over to my booth and sits across from me. Ugh. I continue to ignore him while I finish reading from one of my textbooks. He clears his throat and smirks at me. When he reaches out to try and close my book, I snap it shut on his fingers. That wicked smirk of his vanishes pretty quick after that. He winces and flinches, pulling his hand back. "You're more feisty than I remember," he says, sizing me up. "It's feistier, Jake," I say, correcting him. "Also, feisty has the connotation of being playful or cute somehow. If you meant fiery, you'd be correct, though. I'd say furious works, too. As in, I'm furious with you." Jake doesn't say anything for a second. I glare at him. Then... he laughs? Yes, Jake is laughing at me like I'm nothing. I thought I sounded kind of awesome right then. Maybe even, um... badass? I think Ethan would have said I sounded badass, but I'm not sure how that works. I don't know exactly what attributes make someone a badass. "Thanks for the vocabulary lesson, Ash," Jake says. He lifts up his coffee and takes a sip, looking down his nose at me. "I didn't come here to fight with you, though. I came to see if we could put this whole thing behind us." "Sure," I say, sugary sweet. "Just take down that website and publicly apologize to me for everything you've done. Tell everyone you're sorry and that it was wrong of you to do that. Then we can try and put this all behind us, except I never want to talk to you again, Jake. Never." "Listen, beautiful," he says. Somehow he makes the term of endearment sound vulgar. "Yeah, I can take down the website. I can even apologize. Publicly? Uh... let's not get too carried away here. I'll do it in front of a couple of your friends, but I'm not going to go in front of an assembly of the entire school or anything." "I can do all of that," he continues. "But what are you going to do for me?" "I shouldn't have to do anything for you, Jake," I tell him. "You're the one who keeps trying to hurt me."

That's basically what this is about, right? I never did anything to him. He's the one who has always hurt me. Even before all this, when we were dating, he never wanted to stay with me. He never wanted to cuddle or hold hands with me. The... ugh... the times we had sex, he didn't even think about me. He only thought about himself. I thought we were being closer, but I guess I realize that maybe I didn't even know what close was back then. Yes, we were touching, and, yes, we were technically physically close, but physical closeness can't even compare to the complete and immense satisfaction of being emotionally close with someone. Or being mentally close to them. Of just being able to look at them and see happiness in their eyes. I tried to see happiness with Jake, but I don't even think he knows what happiness looks like. I see happiness with Ethan all the time, no matter what. It's like Ethan can't show me anything but happiness. I don't think he even wants to try showing me anything but happiness, either. While I'm trying to think of a good way to explain this, because for some reason I feel like if I can explain it Jake will understand, um... I don't even know why I think that. It's just ingrained into me, I guess. With class and school, you have to explain your reasoning, and then you get good grades, right? I know this isn't class or school. Jake is not even remotely close to being like one of my professors, either. It's just a bad habit of mine, I guess. It's a bad habit that has currently put me into a bad predicament. While I tried to think of a way to explain this to Jake, he snakes his way out of the booth and comes to sit beside me, pushing me into the corner and away from my only means of escape. I'm trapped now, confined in a booth in this coffee shop with a complete jerk, and to make matters worse I picked the absolute worst place to sit, too. This is my usual spot, and my usual booth. I like it because it's a little quieter. It's further back in the coffee shop, far in the corner. It's easy to ignore things back here. It's harder to notice someone back here, too, because it's not as bright and it's quieter. I guess instinct and familiarity led me here, but if I'd stopped to think about it for a second, I would have realized how bad a spot this was. I should have sat at one of the small tables at the front, so I could have easily gotten up and left if I wanted to. I just... I don't know... I never expected Jake to do something like this. I don't know why. Jake tries to sidle closer to me, but I scoot away. I don't have a lot of room to scoot, though. Eventually he gets as close to me as he wants. I try to push him, but it's hard in this confined space. When I still try to push him, Jake slides his coffee cup closer to my open laptop, making a show of partly tilting it over. "I'm trying to be nice to you here, Ashley," he says, glaring at me with a fake smile on his face. "If you keep it up, I might accidentally spill my coffee all over this nice laptop of yours, though. I don't think either of us wants that to happen, do we?" "Why can't you just leave me alone, Jake?" I ask, frustrated. "Honestly, don't you have better things to do with your life than harass me?" "Harass you?" he asks, laughing. "You would see it that way, wouldn't you? I don't, though. I'm not harassing you, Ash. I'm trying to get what I deserve. You were holding out on me the entire time we dated, don't you think? I tried to be slow with you, because I figured it'd work out in the end, but when summer came and you only put out, like... what... twice? Yeah..." "Just because we dated doesn't mean I was ever obligated to have sex with you," I say, narrowing my eyes at him. "You weren't nice to me, either, Jake." "Waah waah," Jake says, making some fake crying sounds. "Oh no, Ashley doesn't think I was nice to her. Poor baby. Do you need a pacifier? I'd rather give you something else to suck on. Apparently you

just send sexy texts to your brother about sucking his cock, so why not give me a sample for old time's sake?" "No," I tell him, trying to push him away again. He grabs my hand and squeezes my wrist hard. It hurts, but I try not to show it. I try not to flinch or wince or show him that he's hurting me, because I feel like if I do that then he'll win. He pulls my hand down and hides it under the table. He forces my palm onto his knee and slides it up his thigh. I try to clench my hand into a fist in defiance, but he's squeezing my wrist too tight and I can't close my fingers completely the way he has them pressed against his leg. He pushes my hand into his crotch, my palm touching against his pants-covered cock. He twitches beneath me, excited, then looks over, grinning at me. I try to slap him with my other hand. I'm about to scream out, too. I am not going to let this happen. I'm stronger than that! I can't slap him the way I'm sitting, though. I don't have to scream, either. "Hey, Ashley," someone says next to us. "Sorry I'm late for our study session." I don't know when he showed up, or what he's doing here, but it's Kevin, my roommate's friend. I guess maybe he's my friend, too? Maybe not close friends, but I did know him in high school, so... Kevin's sudden appearance surprises Jake, who lets go of my hand before looking over to glare at Kevin. "She's busy," Jake starts to say. He only says part of that, though. With my hand free and Jake distracted, I clench my hand into a fist, lift it up slightly, and then slam it hard back down. So basically what ends up happening is Jake says... "She's bussseeee—ahhh, fuck!" While he's attending to his... problem... I push him halfway out of the booth with my arms, and then kick him the rest of the way out with my feet. Jake slides across the smooth seat, then slips off the edge, landing on his ass on the floor. Kevin makes a show of helping him up. Jake's too confused and disoriented to realize what's going on, though. Kevin does help Jake up, but then he pushes him away towards the door. The coffee shop barista behind the counter looks over at us, unsure what to do about the sudden commotion. I smile and wave at her. "Don't worry. He fell when he was getting up!" I tell her. "He was just leaving, though." Jake turns around to glare at me. It looks fierce, except for the fact that I can't help but laugh. He's bent over slightly, clutching at his balls, trying to yell at me but he can't seem to get more than a gargled noise out. This is kind of what I imagine a rabid animal looks like. "This isn't over," Jake finally manages to say. I shrug, feeling much better now. I take Jake's mostly full cup of coffee and pick it up, then scoot out of the booth and toss it into the trash closest to me. I feel like that's the cherry on top, you know? Not only did he get a punch in the balls and fell on his ass, but now he doesn't even get to drink the coffee he paid for. It serves him right! Jake gives me one final glare before shuffling off. He tries to act cool, playing it off and standing tall, but he staggers and sways on his way to the door. He kind of reminds me of a penguin, except penguins are adorable and Jake's just a huge asshole. Kevin laughs and sits down with me. He sits across from me, though. Distant, but close. Friendly. "You looked like you could use a little help," he says, smiling. "Sorry if I overstepped my bounds."

"No, um... thanks," I say. I don't really know what to say right now, but I'm definitely thankful. "Jake's just a jerk. I thought I could handle him, but... I think I made a mistake coming here." "Hey, you can go wherever you want," Kevin says. "It's a free country, right?" "I guess," I say, shrugging. "He sent me a text saying he wanted to talk to me about putting this behind us, but I just don't think I should have come. I shouldn't have believed anything he said. I didn't actually believe him, but I thought maybe there was something I could do." "Yeah, well, hindsight is twenty-twenty," Kevin says, with a sort of 'What are you going to do about it? Stuff happens' look on his face. "Why were you here?" I ask. "I don't think I've seen you come into the coffee shop before." He gives me a goofy look, like, really? "Um, not that I'm not grateful!" I add. "I am. I was just wondering. Um..." "It's cool," he says, smirking. "I'm just teasing you. Nah, I don't come in here often, but I jog by a lot. I used to be on the track team in high school. Our school doesn't really have anything like that, though. I still like running, so I usually jog past here when I go for a run. Was just going for a walk today, though. Wanted to make sure I could keep the same route as last year. You never know when something's going to change, you know?" "Like those cartoons where they fall into potholes in the street," I say. And... wow, did I really just say that? Yes. Yes, I did. Kevin laughs, but he's not mean about it. "Yeah, something like that. Or construction, you know? Having to dodge around burly guys with jackhammers really isn't my thing." Without thinking first, because apparently I'm not very smart right now, I blurt something out that I just realized. "Oh! Wait! I think I've seen you! You usually jog by shirtless, right? When it's not too cold, I mean." "Yeah," he says, giving me a weird look. He smiles, too, though. "That's me. Unless there's another shirtless jogger around. I haven't see any, but I always keep an eye out." "Yup, um..." I need to explain this! I don't even know how to explain this? "I study here a lot. Sometimes I would come with someone else, and... we used to see you. Your behind, I mean. Um... I mean, from behind. You were jogging past. Er... I mean, we could see your butt, but you were wearing shorts. Without a shirt. So that's why I asked. You have a nice back. I mean, my friend always said that. You do, though." As if all of this isn't enough and I haven't buried myself in deep, I finish with, "Don't worry, I have a boyfriend." Silence. Everything is silent. Kevin looks at me. I look at him. I try to look at him, at least, but then I blush, flustered, and look away. Then I look back. He raises one eyebrow at me. A slow grin creeps across his lips, filling out his cheeks. Finally, he laughs. It's loud and silly and it makes me laugh, too. "It's cool," he says, winking at me. "I totally get it. A shirtless guy running by the coffee shop might attract attention. Thanks for the compliment about my back. Thank your friend for me, too." "You're welcome," I say, before I realize what I'm saying. I feel like this is better than what I said before, though. "I'm glad I can keep running by here, though," he says, smiling at me. "I love the smells. You're in here a lot studying? Maybe I'll stop in sometime. I'll bring a shirt with me, don't worry." "It does smell really nice," I say. "You've really never been here? It's just a small place, but they have the best coffee. They do all the flavoring on their own. You should go get one." "Right now?" he asks, smirking at me.

"Yup!" I say with a nod. "Do you have any money? I can lend you some if you want. You can just bring it by later or give it to Jacky or whatever." "Thanks," he says. "I brought my wallet. I should be good. Yeah, why not treat myself? You want to help me pick something out? That menu looks intense." "It's not so bad," I say, laughing. "Once you get used to it, at least. It's just a bunch of flavors, but you can get a regular coffee, too." Kevin gets up. He comes to my side of the table and holds out his hand, helping me up like I'm a princess. Which, I am. I'm Ethan's Princess, aren't I? It's a nice gesture, too, and Kevin's not too overbearing or anything. We walk up to the counter and the barista smiles at us. "You need a refill or anything?" she asks me. "Oh, no, I'm fine for now. I'm helping him pick something," I say, gesturing to Kevin. "This is his first time coming in here." "Oh yeah?" she asks. "You look familiar, though..." "Apparently all the regulars in here know me," Kevin says, grinning. "I'm the guy who jogs by shirtless all the time." I blush and mumble. Really, why did I have to say that? The barista laughs, then she winks at me. "Oooh, you brought me a minor celebrity? I'm excited!" Kevin strikes a pose for her and laughs before turning back to me. "What's your favorite?" he asks me. "I'm ready," the barista says. "Give me your best shot." "Alright," I say. To Kevin, I add, "Extra caffeine or no?" "Sure," he says. "I've got some studying to do, so why not?" "You should get... half coffee, half hot chocolate, with a melted caramel drop, and then a shot of Irish cream espresso," I say while the girl behind the counter nods, mentally taking the order. "I'll take one of those," Kevin says. "Coming right up!" she says, cheery. "This is your favorite?" he asks me, smiling while she goes to make the drink. "I really like it," I say. "I like a lot of the stuff here, though. I like this one because they make the caramels themselves and then melt it in, so it's a little different than a regular caramel flavor. With the hot chocolate and the Irish cream espresso, it tastes like you're drinking a candy bar." "I'm in," Kevin says, laughing. "I think this is already my favorite." "You haven't even tried anything else!" I say, teasing him. "I'll come in more often," he says. "I'll make this the last stop on my run. If you're here studying you're going to have to help me figure out what else to try, though. That caramel hot chocolate Irish cream thing isn't even on the menu." I nod, covert, like I'm a spy. "It's a secret," I say. "The secret menu. Don't tell anyone." "Ooooh," Kevin says, smirking. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. Wait, what about Jacky?" "Alright, you can tell her, I guess." The barista finishes up, then brings Kevin his coffee mix. "Here you go, Mr. Shirtless Celebrity," she says, winking at him. She rings him up and he pays her for the coffee, then he comes back to sit with me in my booth. "You going to be here studying for awhile?" he asks me. "I don't know if it's a good idea," I say. "I guess I should go back." "Nah, you've still got your coffee and all your stuff is here, right? You should stay if you want." "It's just, um... with Jake..."

I don't want to seem like I'm scared of Jake. I just don't want to deal with him. I don't even know if I can deal with him. I know that sounds bad, and believe me I'm more than a little upset about it right now, but... well... I think we all know what just happened barely ten minutes ago, so... "I've got to do some homework and reading tonight, too," Kevin says. "I was going to go to the library, but this place looks nice and quiet." He takes a sip of his coffee and his eyes widen. "And... yeah, wow, this is amazing! How about I go get my books while you watch my coffee and I'll come back and study with you?" "Alright," I say. "If you really want to." He grins. "Sounds great," he says. "It's a date, then." He slides out of the booth and stands to leave. "I'll be right back. Don't worry, I'm fast. I'm the Shirtless Jogger afterall." I roll my eyes at him and laugh. He feigns jogging out of the shop, but it's mostly just him being silly and moving his arms back and forth fast while he walks out. It's only after he leaves that I realize what he just said. Um... it's a date? Just a study date, right? I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. It's not a real date. It's just a thing people say. I did tell him I have a boyfriend, so... It's just a study date, Ashley, I tell myself. Stop overanalzying it.

*** Ethan This is way too fucking complicated. I was just supposed to show up for a quick orientation, but then with my bright idea to have Caleb join the football team, that turned into, uh... Fuck, how long have we been here? It shouldn't even be this long, but everyone's just fucking around now. Caleb's new and no one's ever seen him before, so he's the star of the show here. I guess it doesn't hurt that he's pretty good, too. Yeah, he's kind of awkward and clumsy with girls, but he's not so bad at football. The problem is that there's tryouts, right? Except Caleb missed them, so he's got his own personal tryout session at the moment, which basically involves everyone on the team except for the new guys testing him. It was entertaining at first, and I knew this would happen. I kind of wanted to get in on it, because harassing Caleb is fun sometimes. It's just that Caleb is probably our best new recruit this year. Don't get me wrong, he's not the most amazing player ever, but he's good, and it shows. I'm willing to give credit when credit is due. I'm not that much of an asshole, alright? First, he ran laps. That's kind of a basic one. Running is sort of important for this. The entire game is based around running across a field, and the field is pretty fucking huge compared to other sports, so yeah. After ten laps, we gave him a break, though. Most of the other new recruits only had to run four. Then we found him some gear, and did some walkthroughs of a few of our plays. The only thing I'm really willing to say there is that Caleb isn't as much of a wimp when he's in football gear. He's a... fuck, this analogy won't work. What am I even supposed to say about him? You know how they say someone's a lover, not a fighter? Except Caleb's not a lover and he's not a fighter, so I don't even know what the fuck that makes him. He's just Caleb, I guess. Whatever. Way to fuck this up for me, Caleb. Thanks a lot. He can take a hit, though, which is great. And I'm pretty sure if he manages to press his way through the offensive line as a defensive guard, he could knock a quarterbacks on his ass real fast. Not me, because I will lay him the fuck out if he tries, but not everyone is as amazing as me, either. Listen, I said I gave credit where credit is due before, and I'm giving myself the due credit that I deserve. This isn't cocky or arrogant. I guess it's a little cocky and arrogant. I'm just real fucking confident in my abilities here. Yeah, let's go with that. Anyways, it's been like... three hours. I texted Ashley after the original orientation was done and told her I was helping Caleb out with some stuff. She didn't text me back, but whatever. We took a break after hour number two, and I checked my phone, but... nothing. I don't want to be some obsessive boyfriend here, but what the fuck, Princess? I want to talk to you. I think this is going to go on all day if I don't put a stop to it, so... yeah, Caleb, we're done. You did good. You're on the team. I'll allow it. "Can we just take a fucking vote or something?" I say to everyone. "I'm pretty sure he's proven himself by now. I have things to do, guys. For real." Everyone looks at me. I look back at them. I don't know what's going on, but I think we're having a moment. Some real connection or something, like in those cheesy football movies, right? "I vote yes," I say. "Caleb, you're not the worst ever." "He's pretty great," Joe says. "Once he learns our defense, I think he'll be good. Might even replace you, Allen." "Fuck you," Allen says, laughing. "Nah, you're good, Caleb. What are you, a sophomore?" Caleb nods and says, "Yeah."

"Cool," Allen says. "This is my last year, so... we're definitely going to need someone to take my place next year. I'd be happy to share the field with you, too. Ethan told us what's up, and it sounds cool to me. You think you're in for it?" Caleb looks at me like he needs to confer with me or something. This isn't a team decision, Caleb. You've been running your ass off on the field for a few hours now. This choice is all on you. He just can't seem to say what he's thinking, though. Fucking... ugh... seriously? Alright, I know what to do. "Hey, Dave, you remember that chick, Scarlet?" I ask our starting receiver. "She came to some of our parties last year?" "That girl with the tattoos?" Dave asks. "What the fuck were those again?" "What'd you think? Maybe not cheerleader quality, but she's one hot piece of ass, huh?" Caleb is staring at me like I just threatened to kill his entire family. Good. Grow some fucking balls, kid. "Yeah... I wouldn't mind seeing what else she's got tattooed if you know what I mean," Dave says, grinning. "You think she's into piercings? Girls like her have all sorts of fun shit to play around with. Clit piercings... fuck, man... I'd lick that pussy all damn night and the next morning." "Don't talk about Scarlet like that!" Caleb says, first looking at me, then at Dave. "Oh yeah?" I ask Caleb. "Why not?" Dave shakes his head and laughs at me, suddenly realizing what my angle is here. I'm actually pretty sure at the last party of ours she went to Scarlet showed absolutely no interest in anyone on the football team. She gave the cheerleaders these really cool henna tattoos, though. The ones that wear off after a couple weeks, so nothing crazy or permanent, but the girls all loved her after that. Also, Scarlet got to do her art stuff she loves. She's not so bad when she's not being insane and crazy. "Um... because, Scarlet is a nice person," Caleb says. "What the fuck, Caleb? Is that all you've got?" I ask him. "I don't care if she's a nice person," Dave says. "I want to know about whether she's got a clit piercing or not." Without thinking, because he's Caleb, he says, "Uh, no, she doesn't." Half the football team is intrigued now. The other half is in the locker room taking a shower or something, but I'm pretty sure they'd be intrigued, too. "Ooooooohhh," like... fucking everyone out here says. "Yeah, how would you know?" I ask Caleb. "You dating her or something?" "Ethan, you know I'm not," Caleb says, giving me a dirty look. "So you're like her girlfriend or something? You friendzoned or what, kid?" "I'm not even a kid! We're the same age!" "You're focusing on the wrong thing. If you've got no intention of getting with Scarlet, then why can't Dave have a piece of her ass?" "I have intentions," Caleb says, firm. Alright, now we're getting somewhere. "To get a piece of that ass?" I add for him. "I don't want to rush anything," Caleb mumbles. "Hey, I get it," Allen says. "Tattoos aside, Scarlet seems like... alright, so she doesn't seem that nice, but I can see how she'd be girlfriend material, bro." "Yeah, exactly," Caleb says. "Hold on a second," I say to everyone. Then, to Caleb, I add, "Caleb, how long have you known Scarlet?"

Caleb frowns at me, almost like he's pouting or something. Look, only Ashley is allowed to pout at me. Cut that shit out, Caleb. "Uh... I think maybe sixteen years? She was my next door neighbor for longer than that, but I don't know if we met before then." "Do you even remember when you first met her?" I ask him. "Seriously, you've probably known her since you were two days old or something. I don't think anyone will ever accuse you of rushing things with Scarlet, Caleb." "Yeah... if you don't make a move soon, uh... you've gotta do it, man," Dave says. "We've got football rules and everything. No one will fuck with her if you want. If you join the team, that is. That's just us, though. What about all the other guys out there?" "Yeah, I guess so..." Caleb says, mumbling. "I want to, I just don't know how." "You just walk right the fuck up to her," I say. "Just walk right up and tell her... 'Scarlet, you, me, naked, now. I'm going to fuck you hard and you're going to love it. Let's go back to my room.' It's as easy as that." "It's only as easy as that if you're Ethan fucking Colton," Joe says, laughing and rolling his eyes at me. "I love it when you use my middle name like that, Joe," I tell him, grinning. "Keep it up." "Yeah, fuck you, too," he says, laughing even more. "Is that really your middle name?" Caleb asks me. "Fucking?" That makes everyone laugh. I don't even know what to say. I stare at Caleb, trying to say something, but I just can't. This is two times today that he's left me completely speechless. Way to go, Caleb. Way to fucking go. "Might as well be with all the girls he's with," Allen says, rolling his eyes at me. "Yeah, yeah," I say, shrugging. "Well, he's got a girlfriend now, so I don't think he'll be doing that anymore," Caleb says. "Wait, what? Ethan's got a girlfriend?" someone asks. I don't even know who, because the question is passed around like some fucking pop song chorus, and then everyone wants to know if it's true. Who is she? Is she hot? Why is that that's question they immediately ask, too? Is she hot? Are you guys for real? Fuck you. Also, fuck you, too, Caleb. I was trying to get us out of here. I mean, it was mostly for myself, but whatever. Now we're going to be stuck here for another hour while I field bullshit questions about my recently discovered love life. I've already fielded bullshit questions about my sex life before, and I don't want to do this right now. Because I'm trying to get them to calm the fuck down so I can leave, I take out my phone and show them a picture of me and Ashley together. Everyone passes it around, then scans through more of my pictures because they're idiots. Thankfully I hid the picture of Ashley naked, so I don't have to worry about them finding that one. The rest are basically safe. "Holy shit, she's cute," someone says. "Yeah," another guy agrees. "I'd buy her flowers and take her to a nice restaurant." "Fuck that," Joe says. "I'd take her to meet my parents." Oh yeah? I've already done that, guys. I mean, I guess I technically did that before we were even dating. How does that work? Isn't that a serious relationship milestone? Going to meet the parents? I don't know what's after that. Are we skipping that one, or do we have to do something else? What the fuck else is there to do? Fuck. I need to consult with Ashley on this one. I finally get my phone back, and because they're all rambling about my cute girlfriend, I decide to call her. This is for me, not them. I called her about an hour ago, but she didn't call me back, and there's no

response to my text, so... The call goes to her voicemail. Motherfucker. Ashley, you're killing me here. Where the fuck are you? "Alright, let's just calm the fuck down about my girlfriend and vote on Caleb joining the team," I say. Finally this is easy. Finally they just vote. It's unanimous. There's guys in the locker room, but fuck them. They left already, so they're voting in favor, too. If anyone has an issue, they can bring it up with me. But they won't, because Caleb is pretty good, and he's not an asshole like me. It's easy to like him, I guess. Unless you think he's trying to flirt with your girlfriend, and then your dad, who doesn't know that your stepsister is your girlfriend now, is trying to get him to date your girlfriend. That's a long story. I'm kind of guessing you know it. What the fuck was that all about, though? Seriously, Dad, I'm never forgetting that. I'm still a little pissed about it. "Good. Now I'm getting the fuck out of here," I tell them. "Don't do anything stupid." Everyone laughs and they're all screwing around. If the cheerleaders were here, they'd try to show off, but this was just orientation. The cheerleaders have their own orientation, but it's more like some, uh... trust exercises? Like falling backwards into someone's arms or something. Team building and all of that. You can't do that in football. Some of these guys weigh three hundred pounds. You want me to fucking catch someone like that? I like those guys, and I want them on the team, but no fucking way in hell am I going to do some cheerleading team building exercises with them. It's just not happening. I'm still in regular clothes, since I wasn't planning on doing anything crazy today, so I just walk off the field and plan on heading back to my dorm. Plan being the key word there. I plan to do it, but Caleb comes chasing after me. "Hey, uh... Ethan?" he asks. "Yeah, what's up?" "Remember the..." he quiets down, whispering the end of his sentence. "The lessons you talked to me about?" "Yeah?" "Can we do those soon? I want to ask Scarlet on a date." "I guess we can do them soon," I say. I don't know why I tell him this, because it's not even that fucking hard. Here, I'll include a mock example for you: Pretend I'm Caleb, alright? "Hey, Scarlet, want to go on a date?" Now pretend I asked this to Scarlet. She'll say: "Yeah, sure, of course! I'd love to suck your cock, Caleb." Maybe she wouldn't say that exact thing, but you get my meaning, right? I think she'd go on a date with him. Maybe there's more to it than that, though. I don't think asking a girl on a date is too hard, but then when you're actually on a date... Fuck, I just realized I don't even know what to do on a date. I've only dated Ashley, and I can't say our first date was even a date... does deciding to drink in order to forget her shitty ex-boyfriend, eat pizza and junk food while watching a movie, and then her daring me to fuck her, which I happily obliged... yeah, does that count as a date? Pretty fucking sure it doesn't, but whatever. I'd do it again. I can still remember the look of confused bliss in her eyes when I gave her an orgasm during sex. Like, holy shit, this is an orgasm during sex, that kind of look. Yeah, that was intense. I fucking loved it.

I love all her orgasms, and all her looks, but that one will forever hold a special place in my heart. I should probably stop thinking about Ashley and her sexy as fuck orgasms with Caleb walking right next to me. I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea. I also don't want to be that asshole that checks his phone fifty times to see if someone called him back, so... "I guess I have some free time right now," I say. "You want to do it in like... fifteen minutes?" "Oh, now?" Caleb asks. "Yeah, sure. Uh... you said I could invite some people, right?" "You can't invite Scarlet," I tell him. "That's completely fucking... what the fuck is that word? Counterintuitive? Yeah, I think that's it." "It's not Scarlet," he says, wrinkling his nose at me. Why can't you just fucking glare at me, Caleb? Why do you have to wrinkle your nose? Fuck, man... "Yeah, it's fine," I say. "No girls, though. Girls aren't allowed. This is Ethan Colton's Bad Boy Club. Girls are denied entry. That's how this works." "Oh," Caleb says. "It's a club? Do we get membership cards?" "Get the fuck out of here, Caleb."

*** Ashley I didn't actually have much homework left to do, so my impromptu study date with Kevin turns into us hanging out and talking. I guess that's what we're doing, but Kevin is trying to do some work, too. I lean over the table to help him with his homework now and then, but eventually he just kind of shrugs it off. "It's not actually due until next week," he tells me. "I was only doing it to help you out. I'll probably just do the rest later." "Oh," I say. I'm not really sure what to say to that. "Thank you." That seems like the best and safest place to start. I don't really know what I'm doing right now. Instead, um... the conversation veers towards something else entirely... "So..." Kevin says, leaning closer to me, kind of whispering. "I don't know if this is presumptuous, but... you're dating Ethan?" Wait! Did I tell him this? I'm pretty sure I didn't tell him this. I sort of told Jacky, but that was a secret. Did she tell him this? Ugh! "Just a guess," Kevin adds. "The look on your face says I might be right, though." "How'd you guess that?" I ask him, confused. "The flyers," he says. "The whole thing about you... with your brother, except I went to high school with you so I know you don't actually have a brother. Then I realized maybe it was about your stepbrother, which made a lot more sense. And who else could that be but Ethan Colton, jock and lady's man extraordinaire." "Oh," I say, laughing. "I almost forgot. You know Ethan, too. Um... did you know him? Were you two friends?" "I don't know if you could call us friends," Kevin says, somewhat evasive. "I knew him and we talked sometimes, though. How's he doing?" "He's alright, I think?" I say. I don't really know how to answer that. "He's not the same, just so you know. Um... we've been dating for about two months now, I mean. He used to be... well, you know. He's changed a lot, though. Since we started dating. I know a lot of girls always thought that, but this is different. It's actually different, I mean. I know most girls used to think it was different, but..." I'm just talking myself in circles here. Also, this sounds really bad, doesn't it? Yes, every girl thought they were the one with Ethan. They were the different one, and they were the one that would get him to change. To be completely honest, I never even thought I was that different, though. I kind of thought we were only going to be in it for a week. That's how this all started, right? Rule number one? I don't know exactly when that changed, but I'm glad it did. Maybe we were deluding ourselves by saying it'd only be for a week. We went on a date our first day of that week, even when Ethan said that this wasn't a dating kind of thing. I specifically remember that. I thought he was teasing me at the time. It's just a movie, Ethan! It's not a date. So what if lots of people went to the drive-in movies as a date? That doesn't mean we have to. I do not know if a lot of people had sex in their cars at the drive-in theatre, though. We definitely did that. Was that a date thing, or a stepbrother with benefits thing? Because I kind of wouldn't mind doing it again... Ugh. Why am I distracting myself here? I'm trying to explain this to Kevin. "I never thought Ethan was a bad guy, I guess," Kevin says. "He hurt a lot of girls, though. Maybe not on purpose, but it happened."

"I know," I say. "I was kind of worried about it, too. We have these rules, though. Um... the first was actually a weird one. It was just supposed to be for a week." "What was supposed to be for a week?" Kevin asks. "Our stepbrother with benefits thing," I blurt out before I can realize what I'm saying. "Stepbrother with benefits?" Kevin asks, lifting one eyebrow. "Hm..." "You're not going to judge me about that, are you?" I ask him. "I know it's kind of weird. I get that it's not exactly normal, but it's not like we're related or anything. It's not a bad thing or illegal or whatever, not like what Jake was trying to say with his flyers and the website, and..." And here. And all the time. Jake keeps making it into something awful. I don't know if that's just how he feels, or if other people agree with him. I'd like to think no one does, but I saw a few girls giving me weird looks during some of my classes today. I'm not sure why. It was just quick glances when I saw them out of the corner of my eye. They didn't look long, but it was enough to make me question myself. On the other side of that, more than a few guys were giving me looks, too. Not really the sort I'd ever want, and I'm pretty sure they were just thinking of me naked. I mean, I guess that's flattering in a weird sort of way, but... I'd really prefer they didn't. To be fair, some looked at me in a weird way, probably the same as the girls, and so if they weren't imagining me naked, they were probably disgusted and thought I was gross. "I don't think it's weird," Kevin says, pulling my mind back to the coffee shop. "I'm kind of jealous, actually." Wait, um... what's that even mean? He's jealous? Is he flirting with me? He knows I have a boyfriend, and yet he's saying he's jealous of Ethan? It doesn't sound like he's flirting with me, though. I know I'm not very good at this whole "is someone flirting with me?" thing, but I think I'm getting slightly better. I now know that Caleb was definitely not flirting with me over the summer, he was just being nice. Maybe Kevin is being nice, too? "I think I'm running out of coffee," Kevin says, shaking his nearly empty cup. "Do you want another? I'll grab it. My treat for helping me with some of my homework. Actually, I think we're in a few of the same classes later in the week. I saw your name on the roster." "Oh?" Alright, so this is definitely starting to sound more flirtatious. He's offering to buy me coffee, and also telling me we have some classes together. I've seen a few movies about college students, and this is usually how some of the flirting goes. "Just an English class and a Literature class, I think," Kevin says. "Popular Contemporary Fiction?" "Oh! Right. That's neat," I say. "I think that class will be fun, but I've already read all the books we're reading, so I was thinking about asking for extra credit so I can read something new." Kevin laughs and shakes his head. "That's the Ashley Banks I remember," he says. "What's that supposed to mean?" I ask, wrinkling my nose at him. "Nothing," he says, grinning. "How about that coffee?" "Sure," I say. "As long as your intentions with me are pure." I belatedly realize that, um... while I thought that this was a good way to stop flirting, what I just said sounds kind of flirtatious. Like a challenge, you know? Ethan would totally consider it a challenge and do everything he could to impurify me, if you will. Pretty sure he's already done that enough, but who's counting? "The purest of intentions," Kevin says, laughing and shaking his head at me. "Any secret coffee flavors I should know about?"

"Yes," I say. "You should ask for a shot of gingerbread syrup and one of Irish cream syrup. When they mix together, it tastes kind of like banana bread." Kevin gives me a look of utter disbelief. "Gingerbread plus Irish cream equals banana bread?" he asks. "Really?" "I wouldn't have believed it myself, but it works out, I swear!" "I don't know... I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I hope this isn't some sort of trick." "Nope! It's not a trick!" "That's what someone trying to pull something over on me would say," he says, smirking. I make a face at him and stick my tongue out. He laughs and leaves to go get us some coffee. This is fun. I don't think I've really ever studied with anyone before, but it's fun. I've studied around people, but we never did it together. Maybe we can do it more often? I mean, not with just Kevin... with other people, too. With Jacky? I don't have a lot of friends at school, so studying is kind of my safe haven sometimes. It's a way to focus without... I don't know. Feeling like I don't belong? The thing is, studying doesn't exactly make you many friends, either. Which came first? Do I study because I don't have a lot of friends at school, or do I not have a lot of friends at school because I study a lot? I'm not sure, but I'd like to make friends and still study. I think the two can work. They don't have to be mutually exclusive or anything. We should definitely do this again, though. I need to talk to Ethan about it, too. I think he'll understand, but we're going to be open with each other, right? I'll just say... yes, Ethan, I was studying with a boy. You know him, actually. Kevin. He went to high school with us. Maybe I'll text him right now and tell him. I reach for my backpack, intending to do just that. That's about the time I realize the severity of my situation, though. I forgot my phone. I didn't bring it with me. To be fair, I didn't expect to be here this long. How long have I even been here, though? I glance outside and it's starting to get dark. The sun is setting, and the sky is a light purple, turning darker by the second. Oh no. Oh, no no no. This isn't good. This is very very bad. I know where my phone is. It's on my desk in my dorm room. I don't know why I left it there. I really meant to bring it. Quickly, I start packing all of my things away, starting with shutting down my laptop. I haven't even used it for awhile now, so I don't know why it's still on. I wait for it to power off, then toss it in my backpack, then throw my books in, too, and by the time I'm almost done, Kevin is back with the coffee. "Something wrong?" he asks, placing my cup down in front of me before sitting opposite me in the booth. "I need to go," I say. "I... I forgot my phone in my room. I was supposed to talk to Ethan, and he's probably worried and wondering and, um... I need to go." "Are we talking about the same Ethan?" Kevin asks, laughing. "We promised each other!" I tell him, perhaps a little too huffy. "It was just a joke," Kevin says, holding up his hands, admitting defeat. "I was kidding. It's cool. I'll walk back with you. I should go back now, too." "You don't have to," I say. "You can stay. They're open for a few more hours, so you don't have to leave if you don't want to." "It's fine," he says, packing his things up, too. He didn't bring as much as me, so it doesn't take long. "I don't mind. Really." Well, if he says it's fine, I guess it's fine. We leave, bringing our coffee with us. The barista smiles and waves as we go. I wave to her. She's really nice. I don't know why I never thought about it before,

but she's around my age, and I come here a lot. I used to see her all the time last year. Maybe I should ask her to hang out sometime? Is that how you make friends with someone? My mom and Ethan make it seem so easy, but I don't know if it is. I guess the only way to find out is to try. Right now, though, I need to go. I hope Ethan's not worried about me. Or upset. Would he be mad? If he could get mad at me about something, I think this would definitely be it. It's our first full day back at college and I've already screwed this up. Ugh. I'm so sorry, Ethan. Please don't be mad at me?

*** Ethan I'm in my dorm room, staring at my phone, trying to figure this out. My phone is definitely working. There's nothing wrong with it. If that's the case, then what's up with Ashley? Is she busy? Doing what? Why am I even asking myself this? If she's busy, she's busy. Whatever. Who cares? She's got class and maybe homework or something to do. Fuck. Starting tomorrow I'm going to have classes and homework to do, aren't I? Yeah... This is probably my least favorite part of school. I guess you could say that's the entire point of school, but there's a ton of stuff to do at school that is completely unrelated to classes and homework. Football, for example. I mean, yeah, I need to get decent grades to stay on the football team, but that's about it. Then there's parties, which are cool. Just hanging around the campus. Screwing off in the dorms. Going to the common rooms, and watching old guys bowl or whatever the fuck. Fuck you, Scarlet. I'll watch old guys bowl if I want to, and if you have a problem with it you can just go fuck yourself. I don't want to watch old guys bowl, or hang around the campus, or go to parties. Maybe later, I guess. Right now I just kind of want to talk to Ashley. Like... just a little, you know? Say hi, ask her how her day is. What's up, Princess? I miss you. I love you. But... nah. I've already called her a few times and texted her. I thought we had an agreement here, but I guess something came up. I don't know how I feel about this. It's only our first full day being apart, and already something's coming up? I know it happens, and I shouldn't be worried, but it's just... I don't know. I'm not used to this. I don't know how to have a girlfriend, alright? Get off my case about it. I'm figuring this out as I go. Someone knocks on my door and I go to open it. It's Caleb and two other random guys. I don't recognize them, but whatever. They're here for bad boy lessons or something. Let's do this. "Hey," I say to them. "Come in. Grab a seat." They all shuffle in and I close the door behind them. They're just standing there, looking confused as fuck. I don't even understand. I step past them and go to my bed. That's going to be my seat, because I really don't want any of them sitting on it. I feel like that's sacred ground, you know? I'm planning on using that bed for very special purposes that involve Ashley without clothes on, and I'd rather they didn't ruin it with their confusion and awkwardness. I mean, listen, these guys are probably nice or whatever, but they're completely confused and they're standing there awkwardly so I don't think it's a stretch to think that they could fuck up my game if I'm not careful. The trick to not being awkward is to just not be awkward. It's not that hard. Caleb sits in my desk chair. The other guys just stand there. "Um, where do we sit?" one of them asks. "Can I sit on the bed, too?" the other asks me. "No, you can't sit on the bed," I tell him. "This bed is off limits." "I bet you'd let Ashley sit on the bed," Caleb says, sassing me. "I bet I can kick you out of my room," I tell him. That shuts him up. He's in this for a greater cause, and he can't afford to get kicked out of my room. Don't worry, Caleb. I'll help you. You will have your penis in Scarlet's vagina within, uh... Fuck. How long? I need to figure this out. There's no scientific calculation for that. Or mathematical equation. Whatever the fuck. It's not science or math. This is entirely different, and I can only work in estimates, but... Let's go with a month.

"You two," I tell the two random guys still standing in my room. "Just sit on the floor, alright? It's not that hard. If you have nowhere else to sit, then sit your ass down on the floor. That's your first lesson. It's an easy one. Also, don't do it all weird. Don't sit crosslegged like your at yoga, or on your knees like you're hanging out at a Japanese restaurant. Just sit the fuck down, ass on the floor, feet down, knees up, hands at your sides. Take that space and own the fuck out of it." Before I can finish talking, one of them sits down. And, guess what? Yeah, he's crosslegged. The other one isn't much better, but at least he listens and tries to get into a good position. "Fucking..." I say, mumbling. "Alright, one time only. Just watch." I show them. I get off my bed. I sit on the floor. Legs bent, knees up near my chest. I lean back so my shoulders rest against the edge of my bed and I put my hands to the side, taking up all the space around me and making it mine. It's really not that hard. You just have to look confident as fuck. I guess that's the issue here. We're going to need to work on this. The other two try to copy me, and they do an alright job. It's fine for a first try. I didn't think sitting was that hard, but I guess you should always start with the basics. I get back onto my bed and check what I have to work with. I know Caleb, so I don't even bother. He seems alright. He's sort of sitting in my desk chair like he owns it. Not too much owning, because, fuck you, Caleb, that's my chair. I own it. I'll allow the amount of owning he's doing to my chair, though. The other guys, uh... where the fuck did he find these two? One of them has glasses, which is fine, but his hair is shaggy as fuck and it's just all over the place. His hair curls around his glasses like it's some living entity grabbing onto them and holding them in place. He's wearing a long-sleeved button down shirt with shorts, too. Ugh. Really, dude? The other guy is sort of better, I guess, but he's got this like... fuck if I know. It's a t-shirt, which is fine. It's probably better. But it's got some math equation or something on it that I think is supposed to be funny? There's a meme or something at the bottom, and I don't understand it. I don't care if I don't understand it, but I don't think wearing funny math shirts is the best choice for anything. Unless he wants to flirt with some nerdy math girl, and then go right the fuck ahead. We'll get to that later. Caleb is just Caleb. He looks fine. He could be a little cooler, but whatever. He's fine for now. "Alright, lesson number two," I say. "Don't let anyone sit on your bed unless you plan to have sex with them. This is important. You need to understand zones, and realize where you are at all times. If you let whoever the fuck just sit on your bed, it fucks up your zone, alright? There's other zones, too, but we'll get to that later. The bed one is an important beginner's zone that you need to understand." Caleb nods emphatically. I didn't know someone could actually nod emphatically until I just saw Caleb do it. He also reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out a pencil and a pad of paper, then starts writing something down. "Caleb, what are you doing?" I ask him. "I'm writing this down," he says. "Taking notes." "Can I see that for a second?" I ask, holding out my hand for his notepad. He hands it to me. I look at it. He really did write that down. With a graph and everything. Holy fuck. He made sure to draw little stick figures of him and Scarlet, also. I'm pretty sure Scarlet is the stick figure with a dress, but just in case, Caleb wrote her name above the girl stick figure, too. She's sitting on the bed zone with stick figure Caleb, holding hands. I lean back on my bed, open up my window, then toss Caleb's notepad outside.

Caleb stares at me, lip quivering, eyes narrowed. "What was that for!" "Please don't take notes," I tell him. "This is a no notes class." "What if we forget?" one of the other guys asks. "If you forget, then you obviously weren't paying attention and you don't think it's important," I tell him. "You said this is a class," the other guy asks. "Are we going to have quizzes and tests?" I stare at them. Then I look at Caleb. Seriously, what did I do to deserve this? "Caleb, who the fuck are these guys?" I ask him. "Uh... that's Ronald," he says, pointing to glasses guy. "And that's DJ Scotch Tape." I thought Ronald was pretty bad, but, uh... "Did you just say that kid is DJ Scotch Tape?" I ask. "DJ Duct Tape was taken," the kid says to me. I don't know if he's serious. I want to believe he's not serious, but I'm pretty sure he's serious. "Alright, listen. You're getting new names today. Caleb, you can keep your name. These other two guys are getting new names." "I don't need a new name," Mr. fucking... Scotch Tape over here says to me. "You're getting a new name," I tell him. "This isn't up for debate. What the fuck is your real name anyways? Enough of this DJ Scotch Tape bullshit. Seriously, man... do you think girls are going to go for that?" "Girls like music and DJs, right?" he asks me. "Like, um... going out to a club and dancing." "Fine," I say. "I'll give you one chance to impress me. Tell me what kinds of music you mix up. Where have you played at? Anything original?" "Prepare to be impressed!" he tells me, whipping out his phone. "I mostly do mashups of old 8-bit video game songs. I've actually been branching out into the Super Nintendo era recently, though. There's a little more to work with there. My favorites are roleplaying games, but sometimes you can get really good music from side scroller adventure games, too. You can find all my mixes on the video game remix forums. I'm kind of a minor celebrity there." He hands me his phone, but not before hitting play on some music. The clinky, pinging sound of old video game music fills my room. I listen to it for five seconds before I promptly hit the pause button on his phone and then turn it off and throw it at him. I don't throw it hard or anything. He catches it. I'm not trying to be a dick here, but, really, what the fuck? "No," I tell him. "Never do that again. You're getting a new name. What's your real name, kid?" "Donald," he says, dejected. "Donald Jefferson. Jefferson's my middle name, though. That's kind of where the DJ came from, but also the music thing? It's like a double meaning." I stare at Caleb. Caleb looks like I'm about to kill him. I kind of feel like that would be an appropriate response, but I'm trying to be nice and restrain myself for the moment. Seriously, though... "Did you really bring me Ronald and Donald?" I ask him. "It's technically Ronaldo," Ronald says. "Everyone calls me Ronald for short, though." I blink. A lot. I don't know what the fuck else to do but blink and stare and wonder how my life has come to this. I need to stop. I need to take control and get this bad boy class rolling again. These guys are seriously probably the worst. If I can teach them how to find the girls of their dreams, then I can probably do anything. I'm pretty sure this will be my greatest achievement ever, or at least the start to one.

I mean, if anything, they're probably not bad guys, right? I think that's the most important part. I don't want to work with a bunch of assholes who just want to find a girl to screw around with and then be an asshole to her. I get how this sounds hypocritical, and to that I'm just going to tell you to shut the fuck up please. "Ronald, we're going to call you Ron for now. But if you prove your worth, I'll up your status, alright? You could become Don Ron. Cool, right?" "Whoa," he says. "Don Ron." "High five, Don Ron!" Donald Jefferson says to him. "You put your goddamn fucking hand down right now," I tell him. "No calling him Don Ron. That's reserved for the future Ron who is a badass. I don't want to get your hopes up, kid, but right now none of you are badasses." "As for you, fucking... Scotch Tape? Seriously, dude. Maybe it's cool on some internet video game music forums, but it's not going to work for most girls. And by most girls, I mean, like... there might be two in the entire world and they live in some obscure country in Africa with a name you can't pronounce." "I've been flirting with a few girls on the forums, actually, and I think it's going well," he says to me. "Have you had sex with them?" I ask him. "Have you even met them in real life? Have you physically touched them? Do you even know what they look like?" "What would you define 'sex' as?" he asks me. I'm done. I turn to Caleb. "Caleb, why do you hate me?" I ask him. "What? I don't!" he says. "Ethan, I told him it was dumb." Ugh. Just... fucking, ugh. "Alright, look, I'm going to try and help you here, but you need to calm down with this video game music stuff, alright?" I tell the kid who wants me to define 'sex' for him. "We're going to lose the first name. You're going to be Jefferson from now on. It's got a smooth ring to it. Kind of classy, but approachable." "Don Jeff?" he asks me. I stare at him hard, saying nothing. He mumbles an apology. "Sorry." "What about me?" Caleb asks. "I don't get a new name?" "Caleb's a fine name," I tell him. "Also, I already know what you're going for. The girl you're interested in seems to like your name, so it's cool. You're good, Caleb. Don't worry about it." That seems to work. Caleb puffs up his chest like he's accomplished something amazing here. I don't have it in me to tell him that his parents just didn't pick a dumb name. I mean, not that Ronaldo or Donald are dumb, don't get me wrong, but... listen, I just need some better names to work with here. I don't want these guys fighting against the odds. It doesn't even matter, either. First impressions are everything, but then when a girl likes you she'll call you whatever the fuck she wants. And you let her, because that's how this works. Don't ever fucking question it. It's just one of the rules of engagement or something. "Now that we've got all that settled," I tell them. "We're going to work on our introductions. This is the hardest and easiest part. It's hard because you can't always just go up and introduce yourself to a girl without doing some extra work beforehand, but it's easy because you're going to make it look smooth as silk. For now, we're just going to follow the three second rule. Anyone know what that is?" Caleb holds his pencil in one hand, looking seriously disappointed that he can't write any of this down.

Ron raises his hand, until I glare at him, then he puts his hand down and talks like a regular person instead of waiting for me to call on him. "Is that like the five second rule?" he asks. "Where if you drop food on the floor you have five seconds to pick it up?" "No," I say. "Actually that's not even close to the same." "Oh," he says, frowning. "The three second rule is this," I say. "When you see a girl you want to talk to for the first time, you count to three, and then you go do it. That's it. No waiting. You don't sit there and think about what to say. You don't wait for an opening, or a better time. You don't think about it too much. You just go up and do it. Got it?" "What do you say when you go up to her, though?" Jefferson asks me. "That's the thing," I tell him. "You just say whatever you want. Say something nice. Don't use cheesy pick up lines. Every attractive girl has heard them five times over. Unless you can say it in a fun and interesting way, just stay the fuck away from anything like that." "So I can ask her if she likes video game music?" he asks. Why? I don't understand. What did I do, Caleb? Why are you doing this to me? Why did you bring these guys here? "No," I say, after calming down a little. "You can say anything except that. Unless you happen to be somewhere that this would make sense to mention. I don't know where the fuck that would be. Even then, I'm pretty fucking sure you could say a million other better things, so I really don't recommend fucking around with that kind of first line. This is your first impression, kid. Do you understand what that means?" He looks at me, unsure. "Do any of you understand what that means, actually?" I ask. "This is important. We should get it out of the way now before it's too late." No one does. They all stare at me like I'm some sage full of wisdom and wonder. "First impressions are important, because it basically decides everything. Yeah, you can change a few things later on, but the first impressions are the easiest ones. They make or break you. In this case, with girls, it basically means she's going to consider sleeping with you within the first few seconds of meeting you." "That can't be true," Caleb says. "Not every girl has one night stands like that, Ethan." "I didn't say a one night stand, Caleb," I say. "I said she's going to consider it. She's not going to act on it, at least probably not. I mean, yeah, if you're really smooth, then you could get it to work. That's not what we're going for here. If I ever find out that any of you guys use any of this shit to fuck around and be an asshole, then I'm going to kick your ass myself. Understand?" They gulp and nod. Except Caleb, who probably couldn't be an asshole if he tried. Also, I'm pretty sure he couldn't have a one night stand if he tried, either. It's cool. I don't really recommend them. They're not the worst ever, but the really good sex comes later. Like... maybe the third time? No one ever has a three night stand. That doesn't even make any fucking sense whatsoever. "I'm not saying you can't just enjoy yourselves," I add, for, uh... clarification or something. "Just don't go out somewhere with the intent of being a dick. If you're having a good time with a girl and she invites you back to her place, and things progress, but then you find out later that she doesn't really want anything serious, and maybe you realize it won't work out for either of you, then, whatever. It happens. Don't expect it to happen, though. Let it be like, uh... a happy little surprise or something. Like the toy in your box of cereal."

"Wait, I think I know what you mean," Ron says. "Is it like when you buy a box of Lucky Charms, but then there was a mistake at the factory, and you open it up and it's just all marshmallows?" "Yes! Ron, you're fucking amazing. I'm glad you understand. That's exactly how it is. You don't expect an entire box of marshmallows, right? You were just in the cereal aisle having fun and getting some cereal, but then, BAM! You bring it back to your place and it's an entire fucking box of marshmallows." "What if we want to have relationships, though?" Jefferson asks me. "That's a good question," I tell him. "I'm glad you guys are taking this seriously. If you want to have a relationship with a girl, then my main advice is that you don't have to have sex with anyone. I get that sounds weird, but hear me out. If you just want to go out dancing or whatever the fuck and you meet a girl and she invites you back to her place, you can go if you want. Or not. You don't have to go, alright? Even if you do go, you don't have to have sex with her." I don't know how to explain this, so, uh... fuck... let's just give it a shot. "You can talk to her or something," I say. "Let's try this. I'll tell you guys a story. My girlfriend now, we kind of had a one night stand thing going on. It was more of a dare. We were screwing around and we'd been drinking a little. We kind of used to fight before. Just fucking with each other, you know? She thought she had the upper hand that night, so we're talking about stuff, and then she dares me to fuck her. I was entirely not opposed to fucking her, so I took her upstairs and we did exactly that." "This is Ashley you're talking about, right?" Caleb asks me. "Caleb, who the fuck else would I be talking about?" I ask him. "I don't know! I'm just making sure!" "Shut up. I'm telling a story," I say to him. I clear my throat and continue. "Alright, so, the next day she's like, oh, fuck, we shouldn't have done that. And I'm like, what, you didn't like it? And she's like, nah, I loved your cock, so many fucking orgasms, but it doesn't matter because we can't do it again. And I tell her, why not? So then she's thinking about it, but you can tell she's not too sure. I get it. It happens. Anyways, long story short, she decided we could, and so we did, and now we've been dating for a little over two months." "I don't get how any of this is related," Ron says. "Can you go back a little and start over?" "It's related, because..." Fuck. How do I explain this? "It was a one night stand, I guess, but in the morning when I woke up, I realized that... holy fuck, I need to have sex with this girl more than once. Also, maybe I kind of want to cuddle the fuck out of her. When you not only want to have sex with a girl, but you want to cuddle the fuck out of her, you've really got to think about what's going on and evaluate your situation, then you need to tell her what's up. In my case, I told her it was a shame we couldn't do it again." "Sometimes you have to be a little backwards," I add, so that this all makes sense. "You can't always just go up to a girl and say something like 'Holy fuck, I want to fuck the shit out of you,' because it doesn't usually work. But if you go up to her and say something more like 'It's a shame we can't have sex,' then it's a little better." "Because she'll wonder, you know?" I say to my now captive audience. "She'll ask herself why you can't have sex? And then she'll think of reasons for why you can have sex, or even why you should have sex, and... that's all for later. First impressions are first, and you don't go up to a girl and tell her you want to have sex with her as a first impression. Say something about her eyes or her shoes. Girls love when you notice little things about them, so notice the little things and then tell her you noticed. It's not that hard."

Caleb looks extremely annoyed that he doesn't have a notepad right now. Well, you know what? Fuck you, Caleb. You're just going to have to remember this on your own. I'm about to figure out what else to talk about, except my phone rings. I'm confused at first, because I'm not sure who would be calling me. Also, I promised Caleb I'd help him out, so... But, yeah, uh... who would be calling me? Guess. It's not that hard. "Hey, we're done for today," I tell them all. "Get out of here." They start to get up and leave, but not without moaning and asking me when they can come back for more lessons. We haven't even gotten to the good shit yet, so I can sort of understand. These bad boy lessons have not even begun to delve into true bad boy awesomeness. To be honest, I think these guys need some work before they're ready for that, though. One step at a time. I don't even know how I'm going to manage this, but whatever. I'll figure it out. Maybe I'll bring them around the cheerleaders and see if they sink or swim. I've got more important things to do right now, though. I get them out of my room, then close and lock the door behind them. It's just me now. Me and my ringing phone that I still haven't answered. Fuck. I run to my desk, grab my phone, hop on my bed, and answer the call. "Hey, Princess."

*** Ashley It felt like it took forever to get back to my room, but I finally made it. There was a line at the front desk of people being checked out in the dorm registry. I guess a lot of parents or friends stayed until tonight, even though today was the first day of classes. It shouldn't bother me or anything, but the longer I had to wait for them to finish, the longer it took me to get through and back to my room. It's not like I needed to do much. Just show my school ID to a man waiting at the desk at the front of the dorm building, but still. I don't know why I left my phone in my room. I didn't mean to. It just kind of slipped my mind, I guess. Maybe I should have tried something else? I was at the coffee shop, so I could have, um... emailed? I don't even think Ethan and I have ever emailed each other. I guess I could have sent him a message on Facebook, but it's not the same. No, a phone call is the only thing that will do right now, and even then, I don't know if it's enough. I want to apologize to him in person, to hug him, to kiss him, to, um... I mean, they say actions speak louder than words, right? And if you're going to apologize to someone, you should do it in a way that they'll appreciate. I think Ethan would appreciate an apologetic blowjob, and this isn't a strange thing to think at all, because. I don't know why. Just because. When I get back to my room, my roommate is missing. A handwritten note on my bed says she's going to be out late tonight. She's got some club meeting or something and it's also a gathering or whatever to celebrate everyone being back at school. Oh, really? Well then, why don't I just... I go to get one of my socks. It's nothing fancy, but it'll do the trick. Tiptoeing across my dorm room like I'm some sneaky ninja, I open the door quick and look out into the hall. I don't know why, but I just don't want anyone seeing me do this. It's private, alright? I fit the sock on the doorknob, then close the door quick. Good. I did it! I'm, um... I'm being sneaky and... I don't even know what I'm doing. Ethan and I don't have any plans for tonight. I kind of just want there to be the possibility of plans? I'm actually pretty upset that I can't give him an apologetic blowjob, though. Mostly, I'm more upset that I can't give him a blowjob until this weekend. I don't know why I'm stuck on the blowjob idea, because I like plenty of other things, too. I just really like Ethan's cock. In my mouth. There. I said it. I mean, I like it in other places, too, but there's something exciting about being on my knees in front of him, his throbbing erection right in front of my face, while he looks down at me with eager anticipation. The first lick of the head of his cock always sends him into a wild frenzy, and his cock twitches and bobs in excitement. It's really just a lot of fun and I don't think I have to explain myself, but there you go. Yes, I like giving my stepbrother boyfriend with benefits a blowjob. I think Ethan would definitely agree that a blowjob is a benefit, so it works. We're not doing that now, though. I'm just... Oh my God, I completely spaced it. I'm late! Call him, Ashley! Stop distracting yourself! I find my phone quick, then run to my bed, hop on top of it, and dial Ethan's number. The phone rings. It rings again. It's ringing a lot, isn't it? Is he there? I hope so. Maybe he didn't notice that I didn't call him, except that can't be true because before I called him I saw a bunch of missed text messages and voicemails. I guess I should have listened to those first, but I didn't want to wait. Finally Ethan picks up the phone. Oh, good. I breathe a sigh of relief. "Hey, Princess," he says.

"Um... hi," I say, shy, not sure how to talk to him now. I know how to talk to him, but I don't know what to say at this very moment. "Where were you?" he asks. "Did you get my messages?" "Oh," I say. "Yes, um... I didn't listen to them yet. Or read them. I just got back to my room." I don't know how much I should say. I don't want him to think I forgot about him, or that this'll be a common occurrence. It won't be, I promise! "So... you were busy?" he asks. "That's why you couldn't check your phone?" "Ethan, I'm so sorry!" I say, all in a rush. "I forgot it in my room, and then I got distracted, and when I realized it I came right back, and... I'm really really sorry, I swear." I didn't mean to say that. Or, I didn't mean to say it all like that, at least. I wanted to be a little more circumspect, I guess. I want him to know I'm sorry, but I don't know if either of us will be busy again in the future, and what if this happens again? It could, couldn't it? He has football, so he can't talk to me then. And I'll have to study, so I can't talk to him then. Oh no. What if this really does happen a lot? What if it becomes a very common occurrence and we barely even talk to each other anymore? I've ruined it, haven't I? I've started a horrible cycle of us not being able to talk to each other, and I didn't even mean to. It doesn't matter what I meant to do, though. It's begun. It has started. I... "It's cool," Ethan says, laughing. "Don't worry about it. It happens. What were you doing?" Oh. He doesn't hate me. The cycle hasn't started. I can fix this! Or not. "I was at the coffee shop," I say. "I had a study date." Ethan stays silent for a second, and it takes me a moment to realize why. Eek. Did I just say that? Yes, um... I just told my boyfriend that I had a study date. That doesn't mean anything, right? It's not a date date, it's a study date, so... "...You were on a date?" Ethan asks, his voice alarmingly void of emotion. "No," I say, trying to correct myself. "It was just studying. That's what you call it, right? Study date?" This made a lot of sense in my mind when I was rationalizing it earlier in the coffee shop, but now that I'm trying to explain it to Ethan, I feel like this can't be explained properly. A date is a date, Ashley. Maybe I should have said it was a study correspondence. Correspondence sounds a lot more formal and less intimate and cozy. "You don't have to worry," I tell him after he hasn't said anything for a few seconds. "He knows I have a boyfriend, so it was just friendly." "He?" Ethan asks. His voice was previously emotionless, and now it's full of emotion. Emotionful, I suppose you could say, except these emotions are not happy emotions. Nope, um... pretty angry sounding ones, actually. "Ethan, I promise it wasn't a real date!" I say. "We were just studying. That's it." "Alright, Princess, let's go through the 'Is this a real date?' checklist, alright?" "I don't even know what that means," I say. "What are you talking about?" "No one calls a date a date anymore, Ashley. It's all just... hey, you want to hang out sometime? Or, hey, I'm going to do this thing, want to come with me? Or, hey, I'm going to watch Netflix, want to come over and chill?" I nod. This makes sense. "Netflix and chill. Got it." Ethan just called me Ashley. I think this means he's serious. I have to take this extremely seriously. I have to assuage him and calm him down and make him realize I understand the severity of his thoughts right now, but that he has absolutely nothing to worry about.

"Fuck. Did he ask you to come over and watch Netflix with him?" I'm doing a really bad job at this whole 'Don't worry, Ethan, you have nothing to worry about' thing, aren't I? "No," I tell him. "There was no Netflix and chilling going on. Is that what you say? Netflixing and chilling? I don't know. We didn't do that. We didn't even talk about that at all. I think he might have mentioned a TV series that might be on Netflix, but that's it." "Holy fuck, this is bad," Ethan says. "Ethan, it's not bad! I'm sorry! Just... go! Tell me the checklist! I bet we didn't do any of them. Like I said, it wasn't a real date. We were just studying." "I don't even fucking know if I can handle this right now, Princess," he says. "Please?" I beg him. I use my best begging voice, too. With a little bit of a whimper. I wish I could bat my eyelashes at him and make a pouty face, too, but we're on the phone, so that's not going to work. "Wait!" I say, excited. "Hold on, alright? I have an idea." "Fuck," Ethan says. "Fucking fuck." "Quiet. You'll like this. I promise." I move my phone in front of me and switch to the camera while Ethan is mumbling and grumbling on the phone. Quick, because time is of the essence right now, I hit the button to record a short video. In the next five seconds, I take the cutest, poutiest video I can, with prominent eyelash batting. Also, I finish by kissing my phone. I text Ethan the video and then I go back to talking to him. "Are you still there?" I ask him. "I'm still fucking here," he says. "You're killing me, Princess. I think I'm dying." "No," I say. "You can't die. Check your text messages. I sent you something." "Is it a naked pic?" he asks. "Um, no?" "Holy fuck, you go on a date with some other guy and now you won't even send me naked pictures? This is how it starts, isn't it? I can't fucking believe this is happening to me." He says this, but he's just being a jerk and sarcastic. It comes out kind of funny, actually. I start to laugh, but I stop myself. I can't laugh! This is serious. "Please just check it?" I ask him. "Fine," he says. "I'll fucking check the—" He stops talking, because presumably he's checking his text message. A few seconds later he comes back to the phone. "Why are you doing this to me? Being all pouty and sexy as fuck. What the hell?" "I batted my eyelashes a lot, too," I say. "I know you like that." "No lower lip biting, though," he notes. "What's up with that? I don't know if I can accept your apology." "Ethan, you can't bite your bottom lip while pouting. It's impossible. Go ahead, try it." I think he does, because a second later he says, "Fuck. Alright. I guess you win that one." "It really wasn't a date, either. I swear. I'll even send you naked pictures if you want, but..." "But what?" he asks, his voice perking up. "Wait, stop that. You're trying to distract me. We have a checklist to talk about. I get that maybe you don't think it was a date, and I totally understand what you're saying, Princess, but... guys are fucked up sometimes. Even if you told him you have a boyfriend, we need to figure out how to handle this."

"I really don't know what you mean," I say. "Shhh," he says, shushing me. "Question number one. Did he buy you anything to eat at the coffee shop? Did he pay for it, I mean." "He bought me a coffee," I say. "What's that have to do with anything?" "Fuck, how long have you known this guy?" Ethan asks. "Um... he went to to the same high school as us, so I guess since then? I never really knew him well, or talked to him much, but I talked to him a little. I didn't talk to him much last year, though. I think he was in the library at the same time as me sometimes." "Double fuck," Ethan says. "This is really fucking bad. Alright, did you make plans to hang out again? Did you talk about studying only, or other stuff, too? What happened after you two left the coffee shop? Did he go with you or go somewhere else?" "This is stupid," I say. "He said maybe we should study again, but it was just studying. We talked about a few other things, but that's because I finished studying quicker and he still had some stuff to do. We didn't go anywhere after we left. He walked back with me, but then when we got to the dorms he had to go to his locker at school quick so he didn't come in with me. That's it." "Alright, uh... Princess... I know this isn't what you want to hear, but that sounds exactly like a fucking date to me. I get that maybe you didn't think it was a date, but, holy fuck, you basically covered every single fucking thing people do on dates. You do realize this, right?" "I did not!" I protest. "I didn't kiss him, and I didn't have sex with him, either." "What the fuck?" Ethan says. "Yeah, kissing on a first date, whatever. But sex? Uh... who the fuck does that?" "Um, I'm pretty sure you do," I say. "Actually, I'm pretty sure we had sex before we even had our first date, and again later. And during. And after." "Listen," he says. "That's an exception to the rule. No one else is allowed to have sex on a first date. Like... a one night stand, alright, I get it. But if you're really into a girl, then, yeah, you wait until... I mean, after, at least. You finish date one, and then you start date two immediately right after with sex. That's how this works. I think that's how it works. Fuck if I know. I don't fucking like this, Princess. I can't even believe you brought this up." "I brought it up to say that we didn't do those things, so it wasn't bad," I say. "That's what I meant. I promise, Ethan, it... it wasn't... I..." I don't know. I know our conversation sounds kind of silly and funny, but I'm worried now. I don't want to even talk about this. I want to talk about fun things, and I want to spend time with Ethan the only way we can right now, and it's just hard. I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Then I remember exactly why and how the study date happened. Which, it really was just studying. I don't care about Ethan's checklist. I get why he thinks the checklist is important, but he doesn't have context to the situation. "Kevin was just helping me out," I say to Ethan. "Because, um... so I was in the coffee shop studying on my own, right? And then Jake came in. He was trying to harass me. He kept... ugh... he... he was touching me, and he tried to make me touch him, which was gross. I was in a corner booth in the back, and I was about to scream, but then Kevin showed up. Jake got distracted, and my hand was there, so I punched him in the balls." "Wait, uh... what?" Ethan asks. "Did you just say you punched that asshole in the balls? Like, straight up punched him?" "It wasn't a real punch, I guess," I say, shrugging. "It was more like I made a fist, and then I slammed it down. I pounded him?"

"Well, fuck," Ethan says. "Huh." Ethan doesn't say anything else after that. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing? Are we apologizing now? I know I made a mistake, and I guess I shouldn't have left my phone in my room, nor should I have, um... I mean, really, it was just studying and Kevin being nice, so while I don't think I shouldn't have done it, I can see why Ethan would be upset. I don't think he'd be upset if he was here with me, but since we're apart it's a little different, isn't it? I know everyone says that absence or distance or whatever makes the heart grow fonder, but to be completely honest, it just makes my heart hurt. Psychologically, I understand the point that the common saying is trying to make, because if you have too much of something, you'll possibly inevitably grow sick of it, but... That's not always true. I will never grow sick of pancakes, for example. Also, there's so many different kinds of pancakes, right? There's different things you can put inside them, or on top of them. You can have blueberry pancakes with the blueberries cooked in, so they're warm and gooey, or you can have the blueberries on top, so they're cool and crisp. You can have maple syrup, or just butter, or honey, or chocolate syrup, or... And that's how I feel about Ethan, too. Yes, he's just one person, but there's so many parts to him and I don't think I'll ever grow tired of any of them. He's fun to be with, but he's also funny. He's sweet and cuddly, but he's rough and rugged. He's playful, but he's also fiercely competitive. And... alright, so maybe this is too much, but I used to wonder how married people did it, you know? Sex, I mean. Do you get bored of it after awhile? Because it's with the same person, and you're kind of just doing the same thing, so it's like... the same? I can now assure you with complete certainty that it's not the same. It's... it's basically never the same. I don't know if this is an Ethan thing or what, but, yes, oh my God, I don't think it's even remotely possible I'll get bored of sex with Ethan. I don't want to say it's impossible, because, um... science and theories, you know? You should always leave that infinitesimally small fraction of a chance, just in case, but... Nope! It's impossible! I'm one-hundred percent sure of it. "What are you doing?" I ask Ethan, because he still hasn't said anything for a little bit. "I'm thinking about you pounding your fist into Jake's balls," he says. "I didn't realize how satisfying these thoughts would be, Princess. Thanks." "What? Really? I would have thought thinking about me naked would be more satisfying." "Look, don't get me wrong, that's satisfying as fuck, too, but it's entirely different. So... hold up... this Kevin guy helped you out with the ball pounding? How hard are we talking? Is that asshole going to be talking in falsetto for the rest of his life or what?" I laugh. "Oh, now you're alright with Kevin?" I ask. "You probably even know him, Ethan. He went to the same high school as us." "Eh, maybe. I don't remember. I was too busy back then." "Too busy being an asshole," I say, teasing him. "Holy fuck, you forget your phone and don't talk to me the entire day, and now you're calling me an asshole? Wow. Thanks a lot, Princess..." "Well, what I was going to do was call you, apologize, and then tell you that I wish I could give you an apologetic blowjob, but I can't, because..." Wait, why can't I? I think I just had an amazing idea. It's... I don't really like this saying, but I think it's just crazy enough to work. I had other plans for some of what's involved in this new idea, but... "Wait," Ethan says. "Apologetic what?"

"Blowjob," I say. "To apologize, you know? I thought that if actions speak louder than words, and you should always give something a present that they'll enjoy, then apologizing for forgetting my phone by giving you a blowjob was the best option." "I like where this is heading," Ethan says. "Go on?" "You're so far away, though," I say, whining. "Also, you're mad at me for studying, which I completely understand, because maybe it wasn't a good idea, and I'm really sorry about that." "Nah, I get it," Ethan says, and he actually sounds really nice and sweet right now, which kind of catches me off guard. "Princess, I understand, and I don't blame you or anything, but, it's like... some guys are just trying to get in your pants, alright? I know you probably don't realize it or see it that way, but it's true. You're sexy as fuck, and smart, and basically you're perfect, so... and, fuck, I'm so far away, I feel like I can't, uh... protect you or anything, you know?" "I'm not worried about what you'll do," he says. "I'm worried about what other people will try to do to you. Why were you even with Jake to begin with? What's the story there?" "It was stupid," I say, annoyed. "He asked me to meet with him at the coffee shop so we could talk about putting this all behind us, and for whatever reason I thought he actually meant it. I know that's dumb, but I was thinking that it's a public place, and I did have to study, too, so I'd show up and study and maybe I'd even just ignore him or throw coffee at him or something, but it didn't really go as planned." "You said he tried to do something to you?" he asks. "Yeah, um..." I swallow hard, because the memory still leaves me feeling disoriented and confused. "I tried to slap him, but he grabbed my wrist and then pushed my hand against his leg. It hurt, but, um... I'm not bruised or anything. He was going to try and make me touch his crotch, but then Kevin came, so nothing really happened." "Except you pounding the stupid fuck in the balls," Ethan says. "I can't fucking believe what a prick he is. I'm seriously going to fuck him up when I visit you. I know I said I'd try to let you handle it before, but I don't even fucking think I can anymore. I'm mad, Princess. He thinks he can do shit to you just because I'm not there? That's what I was talking about. That's the kind of thing I'm worried about." "I know..." I say softly. "I really do, Ethan. I know I should know better, too, but... I don't know. This is all kind of new to me. I've never had to worry about this before. I don't know if I'm stupid or naive or what, but I feel bad. I feel stupid for letting any of this happen." "It's not your fault," Ethan says, firm. "It's his. You're not stupid, Princess. You're intelligent as fuck. It's just stupid shit like this that's happening to you, and to be completely fucking honest with you, I don't think anyone knows how to deal with it until it happens to them. It's not something a lot of people go through." "Oh, aren't I lucky then?" I say, sarcastic. "You're lucky in a lot of ways," Ethan says, surprising me. "You've got a mom who supports you in everything, and she's probably the best. You've had that for forever, and I think you've grown up really strong because of it. It's just that everyone has their weak points." "Why do you say the sweetest things sometimes?" I ask him. "I have you, too, you know? You have my mom, too. I know things have been a little strained between you and your dad before recently, but we have him, also, and I think he's really nice, Ethan. And there's Caleb and Scarlet, and I know, um... please don't touch Scarlet's breasts again? I don't like that. But I think she's nice still, and I think she's our friend. I know you say she's insane, but I still like her except... ugh... I'm not mad, but I'm the only one that's supposed to touch your penis, Ethan." Ethan laughs. "Yeah, that's true. We do have everyone, and we have each other. I'm here for you, Princess. All of me. I don't know how you got back to talking about my cock, but it's all yours. Even for

apology blowjobs or whatever the fuck you were saying." "It's apologetic!" I correct him. "An apologetic blowjob!" "Yeah, and you know what?" he says, pretending to be angry. "I'm pretty fucking upset that I'm missing out on your apologetic blowjob right about now. Holy fuck, why are you doing this to me?" "You know... I put a sock on the door," I tell him. "My roommate isn't going to be back for awhile." "Fuck," Ethan says. "I miss the fuck out of you, and I kind of want to ask you about your day and have a nice talk and whatever the fuck, but..." "Oh, really?" I ask, giggling. "A nice talk and whatever the fuck? Seriously, Ethan, could you be any more romantic? Wow." "Sometimes you make this so fucking difficult for me," he says, playful. "Fine. How was your day, Princess?" "My day was fine," I say. "How was yours? Do you have your headphones? Can you take your pants off and turn your computer on?" "My day was—" he starts to say, but finishes with "—what the fuck?" "I'm going to give you an apologetic blowjob first, and then we can talk and cuddle under the blankets, and be cute together," I tell him. "Cuddle under the blankets alone," he says. "Because you're hours away. I don't think this blowjob thing is going to work all that fucking great because of that, either." "Nuh uh, it is," I tell him. "Now get naked and accept my chat request when you go online. And put your headphones on! This is important, Ethan!" "Holy fuck, you're so fucking demanding," he says, laughing. "I'm doing it, but it's kind of hard while we're talking on the phone." "What's hard?" I ask, grinning. "I got hard basically the second you started talking about giving me a blowjob, Princess, but that's not what I'm talking about." "Alright," I say. "Good. We can hang up now, but make sure you're quick, alright? I had a really good idea and I want to play with you..." "You don't have to tell me twice," he says, and then he hangs up on me. Wow. Really, Ethan? You just hung up on me! It makes me laugh, though. I'm excited. I like that he's excited, too. This is a good apology. We won't forget about each other. We're not going to stop talking to each other every day. We won't become too distracted or bogged down by everyday life, because we're a part of each other's everyday lives. It's important, and he's important to me. I'm important to him, too.

*** Ethan I don't know what Ashley has in mind, but to be completely fucking honest, do you really think it matters? Real talk right now, but whatever she's up to, I'm pretty sure it's going to be sexy as fuck. That's the entire point of this. We've also got webchat stuff going on, which is amazing, too. I mean, yeah, I'd rather be there with her, experience the real thing, pinning her to the bed while she squirms and giggles at me, then sliding my cock against her thigh before finding my way inside her. I think you should realize by now that we can't do that at the moment, so... let's just go with what we have. Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in life. I'm willing to make a sacrifice for you, Ashley. Instead of actually having sex with you, I'll screw around with you via webcam instead. I know, I know, I'm such a saint, right? It's probably because Ashley's good girl ways are rubbing off on me. I can't even say that with a straight face, so probably not. Whatever. Let's do this. I turn on my computer and it seems like it takes forever to load. I think everything takes forever when you have an erection that's about to be taken care of. It's like time stands still and the only thing that matters is that throbbing pressure right between your legs. I wonder if it's the same for Ashley? Are we trapped in some sort of time loop of sexual excitement right now? Holy fuck, this is getting way too philosophical for me. The computer is finally on, and my webchat program opens up automatically. I set it like that so I didn't have to waste time. Also, you never know, right? What if Ashley's around and I'm around and we didn't have any plans to talk to each other, but then it's like... hey, why not? She sends me a webcam chat request. I set everything up there, too. She's automatically whitelisted or whatever you call it. Her webcam comes into view on my screen and mine is in view on hers. I'm not sure how I feel about this, though. She's still got her clothes on. Uh... what the fuck, Princess? I thought this was going to be sexy? Don't get me wrong, alright? She's pretty fucking sexy no matter what, and I don't think I could stop staring at her even if she was wearing ski pants and a huge winter jacket, but... Yeah, I don't know. I kind of want her naked right now. "You're not naked," I say, for the sake of saying it. Sometimes you just have to say something to get it out in the open, you know? "No, I'm not," she says, sticking her tongue out at me. "Are you naked?" Fuck. She's got me there. I'm not naked, either. Well, I can fix that pretty fucking quick, and... yeah, don't mind if I do. While she watches me on her end, I pull my shirt up and off in one smooth motion, then I stand up and take my pants off. She laughs at me at first, but when I peel my underwear off and show her what I'm working with over here, she stops laughing. She licks her lips and smiles at me. Yeah, Little Miss Perfect Good Girl Princess over here has some really dirty ideas right now. I can tell by the look in her eyes. Also, fuck, is she drooling? Whoa, calm down over there, Ashley. "I want to try something different," she says to me. "You have to put your headphones on, too! Don't forget." "Fuck," I say. "They're uh... where the fuck are they?" I go to find them quick, doing my best to ignore the bouncing, throbbing obstacle between my legs. Erections are nice, but not when you're looking for stuff. They get in the way, you know? You really need to find a safe place to put them, but the safe place I usually put mine is currently shaking her head at me while I look for my headphones. I finally find them, plug them in, and toss them on.

"I don't really get it, but... now what?" I ask her. She picks up her laptop and holds it in her hands, then lays down on her bed sideways, her legs dangling off the side. I know all of this because she shows me everything exactly. Also, I was wrong. While she's not naked, she's got no pants on. Fuck, man... panties and no pants, but with a t-shirt... pretty fucking sexy. The only thing slightly better than that would be thigh high stockings, no pants, panties, and a soft sweater. If I ever see Ashley wearing something like that, I'm pretty sure I'd die. My erection would kill me. "Lay on the bed like this," she says. "You need to get the chair from your desk, though. Put it between your legs and put your laptop on it, alright?" "I can do it," I say. "Don't even fucking worry about it, Princess." Yeah, so... chair, by the bed, laptop on it, facing me. I sit on the edge of the bed, then lay down. For good measure, I grab a couple pillows and toss them behind my head, propping me up a little so I can keep an eye on my laptop easier. I pull the chair closer to me so it's right between my legs, and then... I'm good to go, right? Ashley seems to have made some adjustments on her end, too. This is intriguing as fuck. Her laptop is facing the opposite way as mine, meaning she placed it on the edge of the bed. She's on her knees next to her bed, facing me, so it's kind of like she's in my room, kneeling at the edge of my bed, or that's what it looks like. Yeah, it's actually her bed in this case, but the webchat stuff gives me the, uh... illusion or something. It's like when you go to the movies, right? Suspension of disbelief, I guess. I think that's a movie term. I took some film appreciation class last year because it was an easy A and we just watched movies in class half the time, so I kind of know what I'm talking about here. Ashley crawls over to one of her bags, shaking her ass at me as she goes, and then crawls back, carrying the weirdest fucking thing I've ever seen. "Uh... I'm down for kinky shit, but I'm not sure how I feel about this," I tell her. "Shh," she says. "I've been testing it! I want to try it. Please?" It's ears. I don't know how to explain it besides that. She's got this stand that's maybe the size of a smaller soda bottle, and at the top end of it it's got two ears on either side, facing outwards. Like someone's regular ears, except these are fake ears, and they're attached to the stand. It's got a cord coming out of it, too, which Ashley plugs into her computer while I watch her. Things start to sound weird after that. I'm not entirely sure why at first, but I get a better idea soon enough. She hides the ears below the edge of her bed where I can't see them, then she leans down to whisper something. It's the left. Left ear. Holy fuck. Uh... "See?" she says, and it's like she's whispering right to me, like she's right fucking next to me. "What do you think?" She makes a kiss sound after that. Two delicious as fuck lips puckering together and then she licks her bottom lip. I can hear it so fucking vividly, though. I can practically feel her lips on my ear as if she's licking and kissing me. My brain fucking melts and I shiver. My cock grows harder. "Oh, fuck yeah..." I say. "Alright, I changed my mind. I don't know what this is about, but I'm in." She whispers again, her voice shivering through my ear, the vibrations going straight to my cock. "I'm going to suck your cock, Ethan... alright? Do you want that? I want to apologize for earlier because I was bad. Will you forgive me?" I nod. Fast. Holy fuck, there's a lot of nodding going on.

"You've been a real fucking naughty girl," I tell her, practically growling. "I'll forgive you, though. Apologetic blowjob, right?" "Uh huh," she says, whispering in my left ear, then "I'm your bad girl" trembles through my right ear. "Don't be mad at me..." Going to be real fucking honest right now and say I don't even know what mad is. My cock is hard, pointing straight up, I've got Ashley's voice whispering into my ear, like a fucking siren luring me to some serious fucking sexual temptation, and I don't know what else she has in mind, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't involve me being mad. I will forgive the fuck out of her. It was just a study date, right? Not a real date. Fuck that guy if he thinks he can go on a date with Ashley. She's mine, and she's about to show me exactly what that means. I thought the rest of this was good, but Ashley's perfect. She doesn't screw around here. She goes big or she goes home. Perfect grades, Little Miss Perfect, and she's about to show me pure perfection in another way, too. I see her fishing around for something out of view. I watch her, because I'm kind of curious. So far, everything's been sexy, but there's no nakedness except for me laying on the bed with my cock bobbing and begging for attention. I kind of want to give it a hand if you know what I mean, but this is Ashley's stage and I'm letting her direct the scene. She grins wide when she finds what she's looking for. She brings it into view, placing it right between my legs. It's mine, my cock. Ethan version 2.0 is propped up and on display in front of Ashley's webcam while she licks her lips and looks me straight in the eye. It's real fucking crazy, because my real cock is basically in the exact same place. She pokes out her tongue and then teases it against the tip of the realistic dildo in front of her. My cock twitches in anticipation. I can't actually feel her tongue, but who the fuck cares? This looks amazing. It's about to get even more amazing, too. She licks and kisses down the side of my cock. The kiss sounds reach her crazy microphone thing, the seductive noise traveling hundreds of miles through the internet, to my headphones, and... Holy fuck, this is amazing. I close my eyes, listening to the sexy as fuck sound of her giving me a blowjob. It's always sexy as fuck. I seriously fucking love it. This is different, though. It's up close and personal, uh... sexier as fuck? I don't want to get too carried away, but I think this is a real contender for the sexiest as fuck thing ever. She whispers to me. "Put your hand around your cock for me," she says. "Do what I do, alright? I want it to be like I'm really giving you a blowjob. Do you think that'll be fun?" Uh, yeah. Fun? This is more fun than fun, Princess. You don't even fucking know. I don't even know if I knew. I sort of wish I did, but I'm just living in the moment right now. "Yeah," I tell her, grinning. "Where the fuck did you come up with this? It's sexy as fuck. I don't even fucking know how to describe how amazing this is, Princess." "I'll tell you later," she says, blushing at the compliment. You have no clue how erotic it is watching her blush while kissing my cock. "After, but right now..." She doesn't say the rest. She shows me instead. She licks around the crown of my cock on her end, the sound shivering into my headphones, and then she bobs down. She's holding the base of the dildo with one hand and stroking it with the other, her lips wrapped tight around the head. Her head shifts up and down, slow at first, bobbing and sucking me. I follow her movements with my hand, trying to mimic her. It's kind of amazing. Usually when I do this on my own, I just, uh... you know, do whatever? Sometimes slow, sometimes fast, depending on the

situation and the mood. I like letting Ashley take some control, though. It's kind of cute. She gets so into it, like she's trying to figure me out, almost as if this is some quiz in a sex class of hers. If I'm the teacher, she'd get a perfect grade, too. Holy fuck. I stroke my cock while I watch her licking and sucking it. She pushes her head down further this time, moving her hand out of the way. I go further, matching her. Quick, probably to tease me, she comes back up fast and then goes down further, up again, down, bobbing like that a few times. I follow her speed. It's not just the feeling of my hand and watching her suck my cock that's amazing, either. I can hear the sucking sounds rushing straight into my brain. I saw some sex motivational quote once that said, "The sexiest part of your body is your mind," and I'm not sure I ever fully appreciated what exactly that meant before now. The subtle sucking, occasional slurp, each tantalizing fucking lick, and even the sound of Ashley swallowing hard when she's got my entire cock in her mouth... yeah... I can hear all of that, every fucking little noise, pounding through my ears and into my mind. It's intense. "Princess, uh... I don't know how to tell you this, but..." I don't want to be an asshole here. This is an apologetic blowjob, right? You should usually let people apologize on their own terms, for as long as they like. I think that means it's sincere or something. Her eyes widen, practically fucking sparkling, and she giggles. She takes my cock out of her mouth and leans down low, whispering into my ear. "Are you going to cum, baby? I want you to cum for me, Ethan. Please? Do you want me to go faster? Do you want me to suck your cock really fast so you can cum deep in my mouth? Can I swallow it all? I want it so bad..." I'm pretty fucking sure she already knows the answers to all of these questions. I grunt, lost in ecstasy. She slides her hand up and down my cock, using the slickness left from her tongue and her mouth and her lips to make it easier. I watch as she licks and kisses at the tiny slit at the end of my cock. I'm holding back. I'm following everything she does, but I'm holding back. She asked me to cum deep in her mouth, didn't she? She wants to swallow it all? "You better fucking shove every inch of my cock in your mouth right now if you want me to make your wish come true," I growl at her. Oh, and she does. Holy fuck does she do it. Her lips widen in a devilish smirk, then she parts them slightly and takes me in. She pushes her head down, taking all of me. I can hear it, basically fucking feel it. She forces as much of my cock into her mouth as she can, swallowing and struggling, gasping, almost gagging. That's it. I'm done. I was matching her movements before, but this is too fucking much, and it's completely fucking over. I go fast, stroking myself hard. It doesn't take long. I'm done, my life is over, I think I'm dying here, and everything is just a huge orgasmic overload. My cum shoots up and out, but I can't even see what's going on. My eyes are clenched shut. I'm imagining her sucking my cock, my cum shooting into the back of her throat while she swallows jet after jet. That's what you get for teasing me and begging me to cum in your mouth, Princess. This is your own damn fault. Are you happy now? I'm not entirely sure what happens after that, but I'm laying on my back on my bed, my legs over the edge, straddling the side of my chair. I slowly open my eyes to see what's going on. I kind of feel like I don't even know what's real anymore, so I should probably figure that out, don't you think? Instead of bothering with discovering reality or whatever the fuck I thought I was going to do, I see Ashley again. We're still doing the webchat thing, except she's decided to, uh... do her own thing? By that, I mean she moved the camera angle a little. She's no longer sucking my cock. My cock still plays prominently in what she's doing, though.

She's laying on the floor, shirt pulled up over her breasts, pinching her nipple with one hand while she uses the realistic dildo I gave her. With her panties shoved to the side, she slides my cock in and out of her, fast. As if this wasn't sexy enough to watch, apparently her crazy microphone thing is somewhere nearby, and I can hear the sounds of slick, rough sex reverberating through my ears. I'm pretty sure I just had an amazing orgasm, but my cock kind of has a mind of its own right now. I was growing softer, but I'm hard as fuck and ready to go again. Ashley winks open her eyes and stares at me through the webcam. She gives me a lazy smile, her face too scrunched up from pleasure to do much more than that. "Fuck me," she whimpers. "Fuck me, Ethan. I want you so bad. Please?" Yeah, well... When I start stroking myself again, aided by my previous orgasm, sticky slickness coating my cock and my fingers, Ashley moves her hand from her nipple to her clit. She thrusts the realistic dildo in and out of her while she slides her fingers across her clit. And... yeah... Sometimes sex isn't all magical and amazing and lasts for hours. Sometimes you just want to fuck hard for a few minutes and give it everything you've got. This is what we're going for right now. It's what we need. It doesn't take that long for Ashley to start to cum around the replica of my cock. She shoves it hard into her, holding it there while her fingers play roughly with her clit. I stroke myself faster, watching the beautiful fucking art in front of me. Seriously, watching her orgasm is one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Her leg twitches, body spasming, and her lips widen into a perfect fucking O. My hips thrust up, wanting to shove hard into her, and my muscles tense and tighten. I cum for a second time in probably the same amount of minutes, going two for two here. Ashley gasps and whimpers, whispering something to me. I can't make it out, but I don't even know if she's actually saying anything coherent. She loves to do this, just fucking... whisper nothing when she's caught up in sensation. It's kind of amazing, actually. When she's done, her body slumps onto the floor. I think that's it, but then she decides to one up herself. Pushing the dildo as far into her as she can, despite having just climaxed, she then stretches her panties back in place, covering the base of my fake cock with them. Then she pats her pussy and grins at me. "Mine," she says. "This is where it belongs." "Oh yeah?" I say, grinning at her. "You just going to walk around like that all day? It's not even all the way in, Princess. I think I'm too big for you." "Shush, you," she says, rolling her eyes. "That's how it's supposed to be, I think. That's how dildos usually are. I don't think I can put pants on, but if I just have panties, it's fine." "So if you could put pants on while my second cock over there is tight inside you, you'd walk around like that all day?" I ask her. "Um... hmmm..." She taps her lips with one finger, thoughtful. "I don't know if I could. I'd get too distracted. I think it'd be sexy to try, but... maybe on the weekend? When I'm with you?" "This weekend?" I ask. She laughs. "Maybe... I don't even know if I could do it. I'd probably walk funny." "Makes sense," I say, grinning. "It's difficult to walk when I have an erection, so I guess it would be difficult for you to walk with my erection inside you." "They have these balls, though," she says, excited. "We could try those if you want? I think they're for that kind of thing."

"You want to?" I ask her. She bites her bottom lip and nods. "Uh huh... only if you put them inside me, though. Also, if they get to be too much, you need to be the one to take them out and then fuck me to make me feel better." "What the fuck, Princess," I say, pretending to be annoyed. "You want me to do all that? That's a lot to ask..." "Pretty please?" she says, begging me with her eyes. She tops it all off with a kiss of her lips, too. "Yeah, well... when you ask like that..." She giggles and laughs at me. These things are different, so she can do them both. Not at the same time, but she giggles, then she laughs. I don't even fucking know. I'm worn out over here and I just came twice in two minutes. Give me a break. "That was fun," she says. "I think we need to clean up, though. You especially." I look down my chest and to my abs. "Uh, yeah, what the fuck?" I ask her. "I thought you said you were going to swallow all this?" "Sowwy," she says, giving me this cutesy little pout. "Next time?" She moves her panties aside and takes the dildo out of her finally. Setting it aside, she scurries across the floor towards her bed. I reach for some tissues on my desk while still laying down, because, uh... fuck, I'm too tired and lazy right now to get up. It works, I get them, and I start to clean up. Ashley doesn't make this easy, though. She starts kissing around the ears of her microphone or whatever the fuck it is while I'm trying to calm down, and basically every kiss makes my body shiver. Kiss, kiss, kiss... holy fuck, I'm going to die. Kiss, kiss, kiss. She watches me twitch and shiver while she does her kissing thing. "You like that, huh?" she asks. "Fuck, yes," I say. "What the fuck is that thing?" "It's a binaural microphone," she says. "It's for 3D sounds. It mimics how you regularly hear things, except it's extra sensitive, so when you listen while wearing headphones, it sounds like..." She kisses, as if I didn't already know. "...this." "It's kind of fucking amazing," I tell her. "Good," she says, smiling bright. "I'm going to unplug it now, though. Can we talk on the phone after? I want to cuddle in bed with you and talk. Do you have homework? I did all mine, so I can stay up as long as you want. If... if you want to, I mean..." "Did you have dinner yet?" I ask her. "I had a muffin top at the coffee shop," she says. "That's not even dinner," I say, rolling my eyes. "How about we clean up, go get some dinner, and then talk while eating? Through webchat first, but then when we're done we can cuddle in bed?" "Can I call you on the phone and talk while I'm waiting in line for dinner, though?" she asks. "I miss you." I pretend to think about this seriously. She starts pouting her lips and batting her eyelashes at me. Fuck. I can't handle this. "Yeah," I say, laughing. "Put some damn pants on, though!" "Of course I'm going to put pants on, Ethan! You put pants on, too. And a shirt! You can't walk around shirtless without me." "You're so fucking demanding, huh?" "Because I love you," she says. "You love me, too, right?" "I am so fucking in love with you, Princess," I tell her. "So fucking much." "I like that," she says, grinning. "I love food, too, though, so let's hurry the fuck up," I say.

"Oh, I see how it is!" She laughs and goes to stop our webchat. Before she does, she leans in close to her webcam and blows me a kiss. I push my chair away a little and shift off the side of my bed, then lean in close to my webcam and blow her a kiss, too. I think I probably look goofy as fuck and not even close to manly, but whatever. This is my goddamn fucking Princess, and I don't care what you think. She likes it, and that's all that matters. "Bye, Ethan," she says, waving. "Call me when you're leaving your room. I'll leave at the same time." "Alright," I say, smiling. "Talk to you soon, Princess."

*** Ashley I put my pants on quick, and then I'm ready to go. Before Ethan calls, I open the door to my room and sneak out to grab the sock. Unfortunately I'm not as sneaky this time, though. My roommate is standing out in the hall talking with Kevin. They're a little further down, not right outside the dorm room, but they still see me as I try to stealthily grab the sock and sneak back in. "Oooooh... you were having fun, huh?" Jacky asks, giving me a teasing smile. Kevin just laughs. I wave to both of them. "You can come in if you want," I say. "Um... I wasn't doing anything... I was just talking with Ethan. We're about to go get dinner together." "Oh, is he here?" Jacky asks, confused. "No, um... we were going to go at the same time and talk on the phone while getting our food," I say. "We were going to talk online with our webcams while we ate, too, but nothing sock-worthy. If you two wanted to come in, you can. Sorry if I took too much alone time in there." "It's fine," Jacky says, grinning. "I just got back, actually. I figured I'd wait a little. I might go get some food soon, too. Kevin, are you coming?" "Yeah," he says, answering Jacky but winking at me. "I could use something a little more substantial than coffee." "It's really good coffee, though!" I say. Jacky looks at the two of us like we're crazy, but she laughs, too. "Some secret I should know about?" she asks. "We were just studying at the coffee shop across the street," I tell her. "I'll tell you about it after," Kevin says to her. "Nice seeing you again, Ashley. Might see you again soon if we come back here with our dinner." "Or we could go to Kevin's room if you need more time?" Jacky asks. "No, no!" I say. "I don't. Really, I'm sorry if... I mean, it's the first day. Kind of the second day, I guess. And I did this yesterday, too. Um... I just miss my boyfriend, but... no, you two do what you were going to do. I don't want to intrude or anything." Ethan calls me then. I had my phone and my wallet in hand, ready and waiting. I also have the sock from the door, which I completely forgot to do anything with. I throw the sock into our room and onto my bed, then shut the door. "I'll be back soon," I say to Jacky and Kevin as I pass. I answer the phone quick, too. First I make sure it's Ethan, and... yup, it is. "Hi," I say to him. "Whoa, what's with the dreamy voice there?" he asks. "Did you just have an amazing orgasm or something?" "Maybe," I say, laughing. "Wouldn't you like to know?" "Damn fucking straight I would," he says. "I think I already know, though. Unless you managed another one while I was getting dressed, and then holy fuck, Princess, you're a freak." "Shush, you," I say. "Did you leave? I'm going downstairs now. I should be in the cafeteria in a few minutes." "Yeah. Just had to go to the bathroom quick. I'll, uh... meet you there? This is kind of strange, huh?" "Maybe a little," I tell him. "It's fun, too. It's different." We talk about little tiny things while heading downstairs. Ethan tells me about Caleb joining the football team, which is kind of weird to me, but I like it. I like that Ethan's looking out for Caleb. I know he acts kind of tough around him, but I think they like each other. It's just boys being boys, right?

I ask Ethan about Scarlet, too, though. We need to get Caleb and Scarlet together. I don't know how. Ethan doesn't know how, either, but he has some plans that he's working on. "What sort?" I ask. "It's a secret," he tells me. "Bad boy club members only. I can't tell you." "Um... bad boy club members? I don't get it." "I'm starting a club," he says. "So far it's me, Caleb, and these two other guys who are weird as fuck. Do you know anything about 8-bit video game music?" "Um... no? What, like... Sonic the Hedgehog or something?" "Holy fuck, Princess. Listen, Sonic the Hedgehog is for the Sega Genesis, which is a 16-bit gaming system. That's not even 8-bit at all." "Well, excuse me, Mr. Video Game Know-it-all!" "Hey, I'm not the one that wanted to name our dog after some anime character," he says. "He's not just from an anime," I say, informative, and perhaps a little like a know-it-all, but I refuse to admit that to Ethan. "He's from a classic Mesopotamian story. It's very well known." "Yeah, yeah, whatever." We finally get to our respective cafeterias while play arguing about silly things. It's fun. I like pretending to fight with Ethan a lot more than actually fighting with him. I hope I never have to actually fight with him. I know that we sort of fought over the whole Scarlet thing, and then the Jake and Kevin thing, but... I don't know. I just want that to be the end of it. I hope it is. "What are you going to get?" I ask him. "A couple of burritos," he says. "They've got barbacoa today. If you get two, you get a small side of chicken nachos, too." "You're going to eat two burritos and a side of nachos?" I ask, trying not to laugh. "Hey, fuck you, I'm hungry." Whispering, because I'm kind of in the middle of the cafeteria here, I say, "You can fuck me... you just have to come here." "You need to calm the fuck down over there, Little Miss Good Girl Gone Bad. I need my energy. That's what the burritos and nachos are for. What are you getting?" "Um... maybe I'll get some tacos. They're doing an authentic-style Mexican thing tonight. They're small, so you get three, I guess. And then rice and beans as a side." "Fuck, you're getting three tacos and you were making fun of me for my two burritos? Wow." "They're small, I said!" I tell him, laughing. "I'll show you when I get back to the room." So as not to be rude, we each kind of hang up the phone while we get our food and pay for it. And by that, I mean we don't actually hang up but we pretend we're not on the phone anymore. As soon as I swipe my school ID for the cashier, which takes money right out of my school meals account, and I take a few steps away with my boxed up dinner, I pick the phone back up again. "Ethan, are you there?" I ask him. He answers, but it's kind of muffled and... crunchy? Sort of a... mmmfff crunch mmff mmff crunch? "You're eating already!" I say, scolding him. "You're supposed to wait and show me what you got." "It's just a chip," he says after the crunching stops. "Uh... a chip covered in salsa and sour cream and melted cheese, with shredded chicken and refried beans." "Ugh. I should have got nachos." As I'm walking out of the cafeteria, I spot Jacky and Kevin walking in. They see me and wave, but we're kind of on other sides of the room now, so we can't do much besides that. I mime something to them

to try and tell them I'll see them back in the room. I know they already know this, but it seems like the polite thing to do, you know? I wave, too. This is all well and good, except who do you think walks in shortly after them, sees me waving, and smirks at me like a rabid idiot? Not that hard to guess. It's Jake. He waves back, mocking and toying with me. I shake my head and give him a dirty look, but this just seems to goad him on more. Really, Jake? I was kind of hoping he'd stop bothering me after I punched him in the balls, but I guess not. Maybe he feels safer now that we're further apart, though. I don't think this is a good thing. I don't want him to feel safe. I don't want him to think it's safe to keep harassing me, at least. I just... "You went quiet," Ethan says. "What's up, Princess?" "Oh, sorry," I tell him. "Um... I was just waving to Jacky and Kevin." I don't want to tell him about Jake. I feel like it makes everything uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable, but then it steals away from me talking with Ethan, too. I don't want to talk about Jake anymore, I just... I want this to be about me and Ethan. I want to enjoy my dinner with him, to talk with him through our webcams, to have fun, and laugh, and to be happy. I don't think that's too much to ask, but I think we're going to have to work at it. I think it's worth it, though. "You owe me nachos," I say to Ethan as soon as he takes another bite of his. He tries to hide it, but it's not hard to hear him crunching. "That's all you want?" he asks. "Easy. I'll do it." "That's just the start," I say. "I'm going to make a list." "Fuck," he says. "Wait. Do I get a list, too?" "No, because if I let you have a list, you'd just fill it with blowjobs and orgasms and sex all the time." "That's a lie," he says. "I'd put nachos on my list, too." "Ohhhh... blowjobs, orgasms, sex all the time, and nachos?" I ask. "No, you still can't have a list!" "What if I make it a rule?" he asks. I know he's smirking at me right now, thinking himself victorious. Ugh. "Maybe," I say. "What do you have in mind?" "Rule number twenty-five," he says. "We need to have a list of things we want. One that's separate and our own, and then one that's together. We'll share both lists, and then we'll know what we both want and what we like." "I know we kind of already know what we both want and like," he adds. "I just think it'd be cool to make it into something more. Like the rules we have, you know? I kind of want to make it into a book, Princess." "Like a diary or something like that?" I ask him. "Yeah," he says. "Just memories, I guess." "That... is actually a sweet idea," I say. "I'm impressed, Ethan. Your rules are usually not that sweet." "Hey, what the fuck, my rules are totally sweet," he counters. "Oh, right, like rule number eleven," I say, rolling my eyes at him. I know he can't see me, but I can't help it. "Pretty sure that's the sweetest," he says to me. "Your pussy is sweet and delicious as fuck." "That's not even what I meant!" We keep teasing each other and laughing. This is good. This is what I want and what I need. I can do this.

I still feel like the weekend is forever away, though. I miss him so much...

Bonus ~ Caleb and Scarlet Make an Ex Tape (Teaser) (Author's Note: This is the start of a potential new story involving Caleb and Scarlet. This scene takes place before the beginning of this book, but after some of the events in Stepbrother With Benefits 15, mainly after Scarlet, Caleb, and Ethan were in Ethan's room and Caleb and Scarlet "accidentally" saw Ashley's naked selfie on the website Jake made.) *** Scarlet "Oh, yessss, fuck me! Slam your cock hard in me! I love it so much! Fuck! Yesss..." How did I wind up in my best friend's dorm room, sitting on his bed, both of us side by side, watching a porno of a girl getting plowed from behind, her chest and face pressed hard against the mattress while some guy slams his cock into her over and over? Hold that thought for a second, alright? The movie's almost over and it's getting to the good part. He grabs the girls hips and slams hard into her again and again. Not too much longer, just a few times. His fingers leave marks on her pale flesh as he digs in deep. She whimpers and moans beneath him, her body spasming, legs twitching. He holds her tight, though; he keeps her in place. She tries to push down, her body too sensitive from the sudden orgasm and the rough thrusting of the man behind her. He pushes in one final time before arching his back hard. She arches hers, too, hips held up by his greedy fingers. A few seconds later he pulls out slowly, but slams back in. Once, then twice, and he's done. The girl squirms and fidgets on the bed, but she keeps her ass and hips up. When the man pulls out of her, he slaps her on the ass. "You came inside me!" the girl says, exhausted. A couple of seconds later, a stream of his cum starts dripping from her sated pussy. Wait, um... maybe now we should get back to the question from before? Why am I sitting in my best friend's dorm room watching porn with him? This isn't what it looks like, I swear. Let's rewind a little and start from the beginning...

*** Scarlet "Caleb, I need to talk to you," I tell him. Caleb's my best friend. I've known him since... fuck, I don't know? Forever, maybe. We've lived next door our entire lives. I used to sneak out of my house when my dad was away, or home, when he was being an asshole, or just when I wanted to. I doubt my dad even noticed. Let's not talk about that right now. I've got more important business to attend to. "Uh... sure?" he says. "Is this about before? The naked picture of Ashley on that website? I swear, I wasn't trying to stare at her!" "No," I say, but that's not entirely true. "Sort of. This is private. Here, let's go back to your room. Let's talk in private." I've been artfully maneuvering Caleb through the halls while we talked. I like to do everything artfully. I'm an Art major, so it makes sense. Life is beautiful and you should try to capture the true essence of pure existence whenever possible. That's what some of my teachers say, at least. I'm not sure what they'd think about the fact that sometimes I just like to draw cocks on things. Waiting for your food at a restaurant and you're bored? Just take out a pen and draw a cock on your napkin, who cares? It's not like I just draw penises on things. I paint, too. I do graphic design when I can, since it's easier to make a career from that. I've done a few amateur things for some small businesses, like logos and banners and junk, and I helped Caleb's dad out with some signs at the campground he owns and operates in the summer. Nothing huge yet, though. Until now. Maybe... "Is this that important?" Caleb asks. "I was trying to get a soda." "Caleb, this is more important than soda," I tell him. "A lot more important." "I guess, but I already put my dollar in the machine," he says. "Seriously, Scarlet, I was just about to pick. You didn't have to drag me away like that." "I'll pay you back," I tell him. "This is too important to wait. Not even one second. Please?" He gives me a look that says he's kind of annoyed. Lips pursed, nostrils flared a little, just looking down at me. I'm kind of short, so it's easy to do. I like that he's a lot taller than me, though. I don't know why. It's attractive. We're just friends. Stop trying to assume shit! Caleb caves and we go back to his dorm. I know where it is, so I rush ahead and stand next to the door. No one else is in the halls with us right now, but Caleb checks up and down the hallway just to make sure. "This is weird," he says. "I don't want people thinking I bring random girls back to my room." "What's wrong with that?" I ask him. "I'm not a random girl, either. I can't believe you said that." "No one else knows we're friends!" he says. "They're going to think that... I don't know... that I'm doing something..." "Do you want me to start moaning and bouncing on your bed?" I ask. Before Caleb can change his mind after what I just said, I scurry into his room. He stares after me, watching me jump onto his bed. As soon as I start to bounce up and down a little while kneeling on the mattress, the boxspring beginning to squeak, Caleb rushes in and closes the door fast behind him. "Scarlet, cut it out!" he says. "Ohhh, Caleb!" I say, exaggerated and moaning. I can't keep it up for long, though. I start to laugh.

He stares at me like I'm crazy. Well, you know what, Caleb? It's not the first time someone's looked at me like that. It's probably not the first time he's looked at me like that, either. "Where's your roommate?" I ask, looking at the empty other side of the room. "Do you have one?" There's just a bed over there, no blankets or pillows, only a frame, boxspring, and mattress. "He's not going to be here until next week," Caleb says. "I don't know what happened. They said it's a family thing, I guess." "Oooh, nice! You've got a single for the week like Ethan." "Yeah, uh... Ethan's got it for longer than a week," Caleb says, sitting down next to me on his bed. "A week's good, though," I tell him. "It gives us time to plan everything out." "You haven't even told me what we're planning yet," he says. "Seriously, can I go back to the machine and get my soda first, Scarlet? Hopefully no one else used my dollar." "Caleb, this is much more important than soda," I tell him. "This is about my entire college career. I've decided what I want to do for my final project, and I need your help. You're the only one who can help me with this." "We just started school again," he says, grumbling. "Your final project isn't due for months." "That's what everyone else thinks, too," I say, poking him in the chest with my finger. "And that's where they're wrong. If we don't start as soon as possible, we'll never have enough time to make a masterpiece, Caleb. This is art at its finest." "Fine," he says. "Wait, we? I didn't even agree to help you yet." I press my cheek to his shoulder and look up, pouting at him. "Please, Caleb? You're the only one I can trust to help me with this." "Just... just tell me what it is first?" he asks. "I see how it is," I say. I flop down dramatically and land with my head in his lap, staring up at him. He looks down at me and sighs, but then he does the worst thing ever. His fingers grab at my sides above my hips and he starts to tickle me. I laugh and squirm, but he keeps doing it. I try to get away, but Caleb's a lot stronger than me. I'd only admit this about Caleb! I'm pretty fucking tough, alright? I'm kind of a badass, and I have the tattoos to prove it. Yes, most of my tattoos are of Disney princesses, but who cares? Disney princesses are pretty fucking badass if you ask me. We'll talk about this later. I'm kind of dying of laughter at the moment. Caleb keeps tickling me. I can't get away. I shouldn't have just fell right in his lap like that. I just made it easier for him. Ugh. He traps me on his bed, pinning me in place with his knees. I'm on my back now, looking up at him, gasping for breath. "Caleb! Oh God, please! I—" He stops and grins down at me. I look up at him and smile. "What?" he asks. "Come down here," I say. "I'll tell you what I want to do for my project. I won't tease you anymore. No more tickling?" He falls to the bed and lays on his side next to me. We're side by side, our faces inches away. I sneak in quick and kiss him. On the cheek! Ugh. You're weird. Stop thinking weird shit. "For my final project, I wanted to do something classic but controversial," I say. "I want people to be able to relate to it, but I also want it to be something divisive and that people can't help but want to talk about."

"Alright," Caleb says. His cheeks are a little red, which I think is from us just wrestling and laughing together. "What did you have in mind?" "Caleb..." I say. I know what I want to say, but I guess I didn't plan this far ahead. Now that I'm about to say it, it seems kind of strange. It's not actually strange, though, right? He's my friend. My best friend. We've helped each other out in everything. This is just art. We'd be doing it in the name of art. It's for my final project, too. Also, I found somewhere that we could sell the finished product to for basically a year of our tuition if we split it, so that's good. Who ever said true art wasn't profitable? I clear my throat and start over. "Caleb, I want to make a sex tape." He stares at me as if he didn't hear what I just said. Then he says, "Wait, what? With who?" I scrunch up my eyebrows and give him a weird look. Really, Caleb? "You," I say. "Obviously. Who else would I do it with?" "Me?" he says, kind of squeaking out the word. "Uh... Scarlet... I don't think..." "What?" I ask. "We're friends, right? It's just sex. We've, um..." I'm not sure we're supposed to talk about this. I mean, I was the one who told Caleb not to talk about it. This isn't an admission or a confession. I'm not talking about it. "It's got a theme, though," I say. "This is supposed to be art, you know? For my final project. We can send it in to this website after, though. If they like it and accept it, they'll give us twenty-thousand dollars. We can split it, so there's something in it for you, too." "Uh... a theme?" he asks. "Like a plot or something?" "Kind of," I say. "I wanted it to be an ex-girlfriend tape. That's the story behind it. I'm calling it an ex tape in my mind. It's a working title: The Ex Tape. We can figure it out later." I thought it was clever! It's a sex tape, but this is more erotic, and the theme and plot is about exes, so... an ex tape? "An ex tape," Caleb says, giving me a funny look. "Scarlet, we haven't even dated." "It's about the experience," I tell him. "We don't have to date. You know how in movies they pretend to be characters? It's the same thing. We'll pretend to be dating in the movie." "I guess," he says. "That's kind of weird. Shouldn't we—" "Look, I can show you an example," I say, interrupting him. "Where's your computer?" He grunts and gets up off the bed. My side is suddenly cold, and I realize it's because we were just very close. I shiver a little and watch him go to his desk to get his laptop. "How did you even come up with this?" he asks. "I thought you'd do a painting or something. You spent almost all summer painting, didn't you?" "I like painting, but it's not very modern," I say. "I got the idea from that website. The one with Ashley's naked picture on it. Her ex-boyfriend put it up there, so... I thought we could do something like that, but nicer." "So I'm not going to be playing the part of the asshole who randomly filmed himself having sex with his girlfriend so that he could blackmail her with it afterwards," Caleb says. "That's good to know, I guess." "Ooooh, that could be a good twist, huh?" I ask. "Maybe we can add that into the plot of the story. The last scene of rough and emotional blackmail sex." "I don't even understand how this is an art project," he says, handing me his laptop. "It's an independent movie, Caleb," I say. "Obviously."

I click through his computer and bring up a web browser, then type in the website address for my favorite porn site. Um... I didn't mean that. It's not like I do this often, alright? I just like this one because it's artistic and I think it's beautiful. I browse through some thumbnails until I find a preview for the one I want to show Caleb. "Here," I say. "Just watch this." Yes, so, we're sitting side by side, Caleb's laptop half in his lap and half in mine, and we're about to watch a porno. I think it's erotica, though. Erotic video art? Ugh. Stop judging me! If Michelangelo can create a realistic sculpture of David, cock and all, and people consider that to be art, I think this can be art, too. Really, the filming is wonderful, the lighting is exceptional, the angles are... Sorry, I got distracted. The girl on the screen is taking off the man's tight underwear, his bulge popping into view before her as she kneels in front of him. Her lips open in a gasp of surprise at the sight of it. She reaches out and wraps her fingers around his shaft before licking her lips and lapping at the tip of his cock...

*** Scarlet "See?" I say to Caleb once the movie's done playing a few minutes later. "Exactly like that." I take the laptop off our laps and slide it onto his desk. He glances over at me, one eyebrow raised, lips crooked into a strange rendition of a smile. I'm not even sure he's smiling, actually. "Uh... inside you, too?" he asks. "Would that be in the ex tape? You want me to... to cum inside you?" "I think it'd be best," I say with a nod. "It fits my artistic vision for the project. Maybe we could do a first scene with a condom, to show that we're still getting to know each other, but we want to be close? Then later in another scene, we can forgo the condom and give in to our passion for one another, showcasing how our intimacy has evolved. Oh! There could be a pregnancy scare, which could end up being the catalyst for us breaking up." "Wait, what?" he asks. "I thought this was just going to be one scene? One tape?" "It's got to be a movie," I say. "There'll be some dialogue and other parts in it, too. It needs to be at least an hour and a half long in order to get full credit." "Oh my God," he says, first staring at me, then looking anywhere but at me. "Scarlet, I..." "It's alright," I tell him. "I know it might be hard to... you know... so if you have problems, um... we can get pills?" "What?" he asks, finally looking back at me. "You know, like... erection pills? So you can have an erection." "I don't think that's going to be an issue," he says, laughing a little. "I know it's a lot to ask," I tell him. "Um... do you want to just kind of practice to see how it'd be like?" "You mean have sex?" he asks. "Right now?" "What! No, of course not. I just meant... here." I pull off my tight t-shirt and toss it onto the floor. Caleb stares at me, confused, but before he can say or do anything I help him take his shirt off, too. I pull off his shoes and socks, then take mine off, too. Standing, I unbutton and unzip my jeans, then peel them down my legs. Caleb protests by mumbling a bit, but I get his jeans off, too. We're in his room in our underwear now. Caleb's sitting on the bed. I think he's right. He probably won't have an issue with getting an erection. He seems to... um... that's just because of what we were watching. It's natural? I kind of liked the movie, too, but what we're about to do is for purely artistic reasons! We're not even getting naked. This is a trial run. Going through the motions, if you will. "Move over," I say to him. "Let me lay down." He moves over, but then realizes what exactly he's doing as soon as I lay down. I'm laying on his bed, almost naked, and he's sitting next to me, looking down at me. "So... let's use what we just watched as inspiration, alright?" I tell him. "This will be our audition for the main parts in my final project movie." "I have no idea what you mean," he says. "After she finished giving him a blowjob, he brought her to the bed. The video was just a preview, Caleb. It wasn't that long. You didn't forget what happened already, did you?" "Uh... no?" "Alright, so do what he did," I say. Caleb shifts so that he's kneeling on the bed, one arm propping him up. He holds out his other hand and looks at it, unsure.

"Like this?" he asks. He puts his hand on my stomach. "No, um... higher. I have a bra on, so it's fine," I say. Caleb swallows hard and moves his hand. This time he does it right. He caresses my cheek, and I close my eyes, moving into his touch. He leans down close like he's about to kiss me. I can't see it, but I can feel the warmth of his breath gently brushing against my cheek. He moves his hand down my cheek to my neck, then towards my breasts. Mine aren't as big as the girl in the movie, but Caleb circles one of my breasts with his fingertips before pressing his palm tight against me. He squeezes gently, massaging my chest. "Uh... Scarlet... I don't know if this is a good idea..." "Shh," I say, smiling at him and winking one eye open. "You're doing really good. This is just a practice run, alright? We're just seeing how it goes. The real script and everything will be different, so don't worry." "I guess..." he says. He moves his face down, almost kissing my neck. His heat and warmth send shivers through my body. Oh, that's good. If I feel like this now, then it'll look amazing for the camera, won't it? He kneads and massages my breast again. It's just through my bra, so it's fine. Don't worry... His hand leaves my breast and traces down my stomach slowly. He circles my belly button before diving lower, inch by tantalizing inch. My body shifts and moves with his hand, my back arching up in anticipation. Caleb's warm, heavy breathing against my neck feels really nice, too. His fingers creep down towards my panties, which I'm still wearing, so this is completely fine. I told you not to worry! Then his fingers dip beneath the waistband of my panties. In the movie, the girl was obviously not wearing panties at this point in time. Caleb follows the man's lead, mimicking everything he did up until this point. His fingers go lower, pressing lightly under my panties, past my smooth, shaved pubis, until... "Um... Caleb?" I ask, eyes clenched shut. His fingers are wrapped around my bare pussy beneath my panties, holding me tight. One of them is just barely almost inside me. I... "Oh, sorry!" he says, snapping his hand away. "I forgot. Practice run. Underwear. Uh..." "I mean, we can do it that way if you want?" I say. "I just thought..." My cheeks turn red. I don't know what I'm doing. Wait, did I really ask Caleb to make a sex tape with me? It seemed like a good idea at the time, because we're friends, and there's reasons, and... It's not supposed to be just a sex tape. I want it to be beautiful erotic art. I don't really want to make a sex tape with anyone else, either, and I think this ex tape idea would be a great project. I get that it's controversial, but I think that's what makes it perfect. I wouldn't mind sharing the twenty-thousand dollars with Caleb, too. It'd actually really help me out with school funding. That's just an extra benefit, not the main point of this, but why not get paid for my art? Art. Yes. That's what this is. It's nothing more than art. Art's kind of a big deal sometimes, though. "Uh... n-no," Caleb says, stammering. "I just didn't realize what I was doing. Sorry, Scarlet." "No!" I say, probably louder than necessary. "No, it was good! That would have been great if we were really filming. You did really good." "Should we stop?" he asks. "Let's just try the first position?" I say. "You know where when he was done fingering her he grabbed her thigh and then... but we have underwear on, so just kind of pretend, alright?"

It's extremely obvious right not that Caleb has an erection. I don't blame him or anything. It's natural, and to be honest I'm kind of aroused, too. Art should invoke intense emotions in the viewer, right? I think it needs to invoke intense emotions in the artist and the subject of the art in order to be intense for the person viewing it, too, though. This is important. Caleb grabs my thigh tight, his fingers wrapping around my leg. It's kind of mesmerizing, actually. I feel so small next to him. I always do, but like this, where we're almost naked, I feel even smaller. I know it's not true, but I feel like he could wrap his fingers around my entire thigh if he wanted to. He's strong, too. I like that he could pin me in place and hold me down, like, um... when he was tickling me. Not for any other reason. He pushes my thighs apart, then shifts between my legs. He grabs my other thigh with his free hand and pulls me close to him. Our underwear touches, and I can feel his erection throbbing between us. I reach up for him, and Caleb comes down to me. We're close not. In the movie, they kissed, but we don't kiss. He buries his face in my neck and I press my lips against his shoulder. "Like this?" he asks, whispering to me. Slowly, he starts to grind against me. He pulls his hips back, then presses forward, his cloth-covered crotch pressing hard against mine. I lift my legs up and wrap them around his hips as best I can. "Mhm," I say, murmuring. "That's good. Keep going like that. Pretend we're doing it for a movie." Caleb rocks and grinds himself against me. It feels... um... it feels really good, actually. I close my eyes and listen to him breathing. I wrap my arms around his neck and squeeze him tight against me. "This is really good," I say. I'm not sure if I'm saying that he's doing a good job, for the movie audition test we're doing, or if... I don't know. I'll think about that later. Caleb keeps going, keeps grinding, keeps rocking. I'm not sure exactly what's going on, but I like it. We're getting into a good rhythm together. I rock and shift my hips, swaying with his. I don't know if you've ever moved cloth against something before, but I should probably explain what happens when you do. First, everything is fine, because it stays in place. For underwear, there's a waistband, right? That's good when you're standing up, since it keeps your underwear from falling down, but when you're laying down and grinding against something, um... It tends to move? And shift to the side, or down, or... In the case of boxers, which sometimes have an opening in the front, um... As he grinds and pretends to have sex with me, Caleb's underwear slowly starts to shift open. As I grind against him, my panties start to move to the side. As we grind together, um... At some point, his cock ends up freed from the confines of his underwear, but I think neither of us really notices it. I have panties on, so he's just grinding his erection against those, and cloth is cloth, right? This is all well and good until the head of his cock just so happens to find the wedge of my panties that, again, just so happened to shift to the side. At first, only one of my deliriously slick, glistening pussy lips was revealed, but his cock manages to wedge further, push the cloth aside more, and... He grinds into me again, except this time he's... He's actually in me. My eyes shoot open and my mouth opens wide, too. I gasp. "Oh, wow," I say. Caleb stares at me, his eyes open in shock. His hips grind even further, pressing every last inch of himself inside me without thinking. "Scarlet, I... I didn't mean to do that."

Without thinking, lost in the beautiful art of the moment, I buck my hips up. Caleb's cock throbs and twitches inside me. I grind and squeeze against him. Caleb starts to pull out, and I open my mouth to beg him not to, even though I know we shouldn't do this. I mean, it's not what we planned on doing... But then he thrusts back in hard. I didn't know I was this worked up. I know I haven't, um... in awhile... but... Caleb grinds against me, the roughness of my underwear and his body pressing against my clit. He throbs inside of me, and I'm close... I'm so fucking close I can practically feel it. I squeeze him tight against me waiting for the beautiful agony of orgasmic release... "I'm... I'm close," I whisper to him. "I'm going to cum, Caleb. I..." Apparently this snaps something inside Caleb, and he pulls out of me before climax can rush through my body. I let out a gasp, but it's... I don't know... My body is tight and tense, but now I'm unfilled and unfulfilled. Caleb is on his knees between my legs, his cock bobbing hard in front of him, covered in the slickness of my arousal. I want to reach out and grab it and pull him back to me, pull him inside me, but... The look on his face stops me instantly. He looks shocked and horrified at what just happened, like he can't believe he just did that to me, like he thinks he hurt me or took advantage of me. I know we weren't supposed to do that, and I didn't really expect to do that right then, but... I'm not mad. I don't want him to think he was doing something wrong or that he was hurting me. It didn't hurt. It... "Scarlet, I'm sorry about that," he says. "I got carried away." "No, no!" I tell him. "Me, too. I got a little carried away, too." He stumbles off the bed and grabs for his clothes, putting them back on. It's kind of hard considering his cock is still fully erect, but he manages somehow. "I'm going to go to the bathroom quick," he says. "Uh... maybe you should leave? I..." "Oh," I say, unsure what to say. Yes, great, Scarlet. This was your idea, and now you've fucked it all up. Fucking great. "Can we get dinner together, maybe?" I ask him. "Just in the cafeteria, I mean." "Yeah, uh... yeah," he says, conflicted. "I'll meet you down there?"

A Note from Mia Check here for all of the currently available Stepbrother With Benefits Season Three books on Amazon: Stepbrother With Benefits (Third Season) Make sure you don't miss any of my new releases by signing up for my VIP readers list! Cherrylily.com/Mia You can also find me on Facebook for more sneak peeks and updates here: Facebook.com/MiaClarkWrites ~*~ You can find all of the books in my Stepbrother With Benefits series on Amazon Stepbrother With Benefits series ~*~ Oh no, everything's getting crazier... First, I hope you liked the teaser at the end with Scarlet and Caleb! I'd love to hear what you think about that specifically. Would you like to see an entire book / series with Caleb and Scarlet? I have one in mind, but I kind of need to make sure people would like to read it, haha. If I do write it, it'd be titled Caleb and Scarlet Make an Ex Tape, which I think is a fun title. Do you think they can get past their friendship to do it, though? Scarlet seems to be doing it for the sake of creativity or art, but maybe there's another reason? Caleb is obviously interested, but I think he wants more, too. Hm... As for Ethan and Ashley, things are getting crazy for them, too. I wanted to add the teaser for the Scarlet and Caleb story at the end so you can see a little of why Scarlet might have been on edge with Ethan at the beginning of this book. I'm not sure that forgives her or anything, and Ethan obviously has no idea what's going on, but life is getting complicated for a lot of people now. I'm glad to say that Jake's still a huge asshole, though. Really, what a jerk. Ugh! Some parts of this book will be more important in the closing few books of the season, too. I wanted to introduce the idea of the art festival early on, because that's going to have a big impact later. This is different from the ex tape, but it's still important. Kevin is... interesting... I don't want to give too much away there, but he's going to play an interesting role in the future. I like Jacky, but I think she's kind of oblivious sometimes, too, haha. Ron and Jefferson (DJ Duct Tape, haha...) were introduced for good reason, too! Hm... I wonder why? I can't tell you, but I think you'll find it exciting. Also, I really liked the steamy scene Ashley set up for Ethan. It's actually something I've wanted to write for awhile. Binaural microphones are so neat! If you're curious about the noise and sensation Ethan was experience through that, you can look up something called ASMR. It's interesting. Lots of times it's more for relaxing, but I thought I would consider how it might be useful for Ashley's alternative purposes... She might be an evil genius. Really, I thought she was a good girl? What the heck! I hope you liked this episode in Season Three! It's quite a bit longer. I'm trying to pack everything in so I can finish the season up in eighteen books, but I realized I still had a decent amount to go, so I had to put in more if I wanted to do that.

Even still... we might be looking at nineteen books to end the season. As of writing this, I'm not completely positive how that's going to go yet. I'm still aiming for eighteen, but who knows? There might be an extra one as a special treat. If you enjoyed this book and the season so far, I'd love if you could leave me a review, too! They're fun to read, and I like hearing what you thought. It helps me figure out where to go with the story sometimes, too. What do you think about Kevin? Is a study date a real date like Ethan thinks, or were they just studying? How about Ashley finally getting a little revenge against Jake? I think he definitely deserved it! Will that be the end of this, though? I'm not so sure... Want more Caleb and Scarlet, too? Did you like how Ethan showed a little of his softer side in helping out Caleb and then helping out the other two guys? I'm not sure this Ethan Colton Bad Boy Club is going to go well, but you never know. Are you excited for the art festival Scarlet talked about? It might just end up being the place where this is all resolved... the weekend can't come soon enough, now can it? Let me know what you think! Don't forget to sign up for my VIP readers list if you haven't, too. You'll get first notice on when my next book is released, so you'll never miss a thing. Season Three will be coming soon and I'll have more Ethan and Ashley for you then. Bye for now! ~Mia Check here for all of the currently available Stepbrother With Benefits Season Three books on Amazon: Stepbrother With Benefits (Third Season)

About the Author Mia likes to have fun in all aspects of her life. Whether she's out enjoying the beautiful weather or spending time at home reading a book, a smile is never far from her face. She's prone to randomly laughing at nothing in particular except for whatever idea amuses her at any given moment. Sometimes you just need to enjoy life, right? She loves to read, dance, and explore outdoors. Chamomile tea and bubble baths are two of her favorite things. Flowers are especially nice, and she could get lost in a garden if it's big enough and no one's around to remind her that there are other things to do. She lives in New Hampshire, where the weather is beautiful and the autumn colors are amazing. You can find the rest of her books (here) ~*~ You can also email her any time at [email protected] if you have questions, comments, or if you'd just like to say hi!