Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 28599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28599 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 143(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
I finally turn off the shower and step out onto the mat, wrapping my curves in my favorite fluffy towel. As I’m drying my hair, my phone rings, and for a moment, I freeze, my heart pounding. I pray it’s either Hunter or Alex, telling me they’re on their way home and want to know what toppings I want on my pizza, or something equally inane. But as I slowly reach over to my cell, where it’s laying face down on the counter, my hand trembles. I have a terrible feeling that this phone call isn’t going to be benign at all.
But as I turn my phone over to see who it is, to my intense relief, I see the name on the screen isn’t Hunter’s or Alex’s, but my friend Leah’s.
“Leah!” I exclaim with relief, as I lift the cell to my ear. Leah is a close friend from high school who knows me insides out. We haven’t spoken in a few weeks, so she’s not caught up on this latest turn of events, and for that I’m grateful.
“Hey, stranger!” Leah chirps on the other end of the line. “Finally!”
“What do you mean?” I ask, continuing to dry my hair.
“I’ve been texting you and calling you for the past couple of weeks,” she replies. “But I haven’t been able to get a hold of you.”
“Oh, sorry about that,” I concede. “It’s been a weird time.”
“Why, what’s going on?” she asks. “What could be so interesting that you’re avoiding your old friend Leah?”
“Ugh, you don’t want to know!” I sigh, a knot in my stomach forming as I think about the mess that is my life.
“Oh, that sounds juicy!” she giggles. “Spill it, girlfriend!” I consider keeping my mouth shut because I feel so confused and guilty about everything that maybe it’s better if no one knows. But at the same time, it’s a burden on my shoulders, and I’d really prefer to share this load with a close friend. Besides, Leah is the non-judgmental type, so it’s probably fine.
“Okay, hold on,” I say quietly, as I carefully open the bathroom door to peer down the hallway, listening for sounds of Hunter or Alex. But the house is quiet. Oh good, they haven’t returned home yet. With my hair hanging damply around my shoulders and my body still wrapped in a towel, I tiptoe barefoot down the hallway and escape into my room, closing the door behind me. If the men come home while I’m speaking to Leah, there’s less chance they’ll hear me talking in my room than in the bathroom, which has an echo that will surely give me away.
“Elle?” asks Leah on the other end of the line. “Are you still there?”
“Yeah,” I sigh, now safe in the sanctuary of my room. “I just wanted to make sure no one could hear me.”
“Why, where are you?”
“At home,” I reply, “but that’s sort of the point. It’s Alex and Hunter I’m hiding from.”
“Really?” Leah asks. “Spill it! What happened?”
“I, um, I lost my virginity,” I stammer shyly.
“Really?” Leah shrieks excitedly, making me hold my phone a foot away from my head. “Finally!”
“Jeez,” I giggle, holding it back to my ear. “I can tell someone’s thrilled.”
“Sorry!” Leah trills, “I’m just so excited! Who did the honors? Oh my god, oh my god.”
“That’s the problem,” I groan, sinking down onto my bed. “It was Alex.”
“Alex?” Leah repeats, her voice puzzled. “Like… your stepbrother, Alex? That Alex?”
“Yes,” I whisper, suddenly ashamed. But Leah’s not my best friend for nothing.
“That’s hot,” she chirps. “Alex is a stud.”
“You approve?” I exclaim in disbelief.
“Yeah, of course!” laughs my friend. “Alex is an incredible hottie. And okay, maybe it’s a bit weird, but it’s not like you’re biologically related. You didn’t even grow up together. You’ve only been living in the same house for, what, five years?”
“Something like that,” I reply.
“So what’s the problem?” asks Leah in a reasonable tone. “Was he not good or something?”
“Oh, no,” I breathe, “he was phenomenal.”
“Wow.”
“I know,” I agree. “But that’s not the whole story.”
“Carry on,” Leah encourages me. “And start from the beginning this time, girlfriend. Don’t you go leaving anything out!”
“Fine,” I sigh, rubbing my eyes. “So remember how I was telling you a few months ago that lately I’d been catching Hunter staring at me a lot? Alex, too, actually, but mostly Hunter?”
“Yes?” hums Leah.
“Well, that continued,” I explain, “and it got worse, like to the point that Hunter would be eyeing my boobs and my ass whenever I was in the room, but he was so obviously trying to hide it. It was like he just couldn’t help himself. Alex, too. But it didn’t weird me out or anything. I actually thought it was nice, and I started noticing them, too. Especially Hunter.” I pause, recalling how all this began. It was only a few weeks ago, but it seems like years.