Stepbrother With Benefits 16 (Third Season) (9 page)

"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?

––––––––

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.