I opened my eyes slowly. I was staring at an alarm clock that read 11 in the morning, and something hard was pressing against my back. My legs tangled with a second pair. And strangely I didn’t feel the covers against my skin…
“Oh, God!” I sat up abruptly. Detangled my legs from my cousin’s and peeked over the mattress slowly.
Just as I thought.
The covers were off the bed by actions from last night. Sunshine splashed across the single mattress cover and our bodies.
“Mother--” I began to mutter then caught myself as Chad murmured in his sleep. I crawled/fell off the bed and went in the bathroom, closing the door.
I exhaled sharply and turned the sink faucet. Water rushed out. I threw water on my face, trying to take away the sleepliness weighing down my eyelids. There was a bathrobe on a hanger and I quickly put it on.
“Okay, breathe.” I told myself. “This is not a big deal. Having sex with your cousin is not--oh, what am I saying!” I shouted the last part and then clapped my hands over my mouth. I had temporarily forgot about the person in the next room.
Well, the damage was done. I snuck back in the bedroom to see Chad just sitting up.
“Hi,” I said tentatively.
Chad was just about to answer when his cell phone rang. He retrieved it and accepted the call. After a few minutes of idly listening to one-sided conversation that made no sense, I made to leave the room.
“Calix?” Chad asked. I turned.
“My friend wants to meet you. Today,”
“Oh…” I hesitated before saying, “Who is he?"
"His name is Steven," Chad told me. "He's one of my best friends."
"Oh." There was a silence, then--
"No piercings?" I joked.
"No, he's fully un-pierced." Chad smiled. "I think you'll like him."
I nodded, "Sure. Why not?”
“So you basically made out after that?” Steven White asked.
I nodded, smiling, “It was really great. And all this because of a photo shoot!”
“You know the studio thing was actually his idea,” Chad told me as he gave me the mug full of hot chocolate.
“Oh, cool,” I said to Steven.
He shrugged, “Chad’s told me a lot about you. I helped him build the studio. My mom’s a photographer and so I borrowed some of her stuff.”
Steven was a very nice guy and very handsome too. He had dark curls that seemed to be cut just right. A smile always pulled at his full lips and his light blue eyes--striking against his bronzed skin--watched me intensely as I spoke.
The ding-ding-ding-a-ling of Chad’s cell phone ringing interrupted the reply I was just going to say. Chad took it out and looked at the screen, “Better take this.”
The instant Chad walked out, Steven said, “Calix, can I tell you something?”
"What's up?"
"Do you love Chad?"
I raised my eyebrows at him, “I--I do--well, I’m not sure.” Was it love? Lust? Just a brief surge of hormones?
Steven took out a slim camera, “I hope you don’t because he made a bet,”
“A bet? With?”
“Friends. It was about you,”
“Me? A bet about me?” Surprise colored my tone.
“He made a bet to get you in bed,” If the blunt delivery shocked me, then his words left me gawking.
"He's gay, right?" I said stupidly.
“He is gay, but he doesn’t love you in that way.” Steven said softly. "He really wanted to win this, so...I guess he went the distance."
“For what price?” I was becoming numb.
“He really likes one of his friends and that friend bet that if Chad could get you in bed with him, then they could do what he wanted. In bed.”
I didn’t reply. I didn’t know what to believe. Did I believe Steven, or did I believe my cousin?
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