Stepbrother With Benefits 17 (Third Season) (2 page)

Caleb stares at me, then he shakes his head and sighs. "If you're going to write Ashley a love letter, I think you should let me see it before you show it to her."

"Oh, cool," I say, nodding. "Yeah, that sounds good. You too, alright? You're going to write one for Scarlet? I'll check it out for you and give you suggestions. Like proofreading or something. Caleb, this is good. I think we're really onto something here. We can make it part of the Bad Boy Club. This'll be our Bad Boy homework."

"I didn't know we were going to have homework," Caleb says.

"Yeah, me either. It's a good idea, though. Can you let those other two know? Ron and Jefferson or whatever?"

"Everyone usually calls him Donald, not Jefferson, but he actually really liked the idea of going by Jefferson. He thought it was cool."

"Cool," I say, grinning. "I didn't mean to be an asshole to you guys before, by the way. I'm just trying to help out. I mean... fuck... don't tell anyone this, but I don't know everything about girls and dating, either. I know, I know, you probably can't believe it, but yeah."

"No, I believe it," Caleb says, straightfaced, not giving any fucks.

"Wow, fuck you, Caleb."

"I know what you mean, though!" he adds. "It's not like math or something where if you add two numbers it's always going to be one answer. Two plus two is four or whatever. Dating and flirting with girls isn't like that. Jefferson seems like a cool name, but maybe some girl would really like Donald better. Or, who knows, maybe she'd like DJ Scotch Tape?"

He tries not to laugh after saying that.

"No," I say, glaring at him. "No girl is going to like DJ Scotch Tape better than Jefferson. No fucking way. It's never happening."

"You never know! It might!"

"Alright, I'm glad we had this conversation but you need to get the fuck out now," I tell him. "My dinner is getting cold and I have to call Ashley. Go write your letter or something."

"You, too," Caleb says. "We can swap tomorrow, maybe?"

"Yeah, maybe."

Caleb opens my door to let himself out. Before he leaves, he turns back to me, giving me a goofy, sincere smile.

"Hey, uh... Ethan?" he says.

"What's up?"

"Thanks a lot. For everything. Football and all that, and with the Bad Boy club, and hanging out with me this summer, and then helping me with Scarlet. Just, uh... thanks, man."

"It's cool," I say, smiling. "You're a nice guy, Caleb. You're going to do great on the team, and I think you'll do good in the Bad Boy club, too. Any girl would be lucky to date you. Even if she's insane and crazy as fuck like Scarlet."

"She's not insane, Ethan!"

That's what he says, but not before I push him the rest of the way out of my room and close the door on him. He pounds his fist on the closed door and starts to try and argue with me, but I'm done. That was a lot more than two minutes. I have food to eat and a girlfriend to call.

I sit down at my desk and unwrap one of my burritos, take a huge bite, then I call Ashley.

W
hat am
I supposed to do? Start eating? Or call Ethan? Or...?

I'm sitting in my dorm room, on my bed, with my styrofoam container of food right next to me. I took it out of the bag I had it in, but I haven't opened it yet. The savory smell of rice and beans, along with my tacos is really tempting, but I'm not sure if I should eat yet.

Ethan and I agreed we'd eat together, right? I definitely remember saying that. We promised to go back to our rooms, talk, and eat. The thing is, um...

Well, we had to hang up our phones, because the front desk security for both of our dorms was being kind of a pain in the butt. I completely understand why. They just wanted to make sure that no one who shouldn't be here was trying to sneak in. Considering it's very early in the school year, and we have new freshman who just started attending college here this year, there's more of a need to keep everything in check.

It's not like I did it myself, but I know a lot of girls last year who tried to sneak their boyfriends in at the beginning. It's not so much a problem when you're moving in and they're helping, but there's a reason why it's just two people in a dorm room. They aren't exactly the biggest rooms ever, and randomly finding out you've got a temporary third roommate all of a sudden isn't fun.

I never understood girls like that before, but I think I'm starting to understand them now. They'd try and have their boyfriends over for a week or more, which doesn't seem so bad, but when you're the third wheel in a room with another girl and her somewhat uninvited boyfriend, well...

Sharing a living space like that for any amount of time probably isn't the best. I'm not even sure how I'm going to do it with Jacky. Thankfully Ethan and I are switching back and forth, so I hope it won't be that bad? It's just the weekends, too. It's not like we're going to stay in the room the entire time. It's just...

Sex? How's that going to work? Ethan has his own room, so when we're there it'll be fine. When he comes to visit me here, we're going to have to figure everything out, though. Planning, you know? Something like that. Yes, Jacky, can you please vacate the room between the hours of five and seven in the evening? My stepbrother and I are planning on doing a lot of crazy, kinky things and you probably don't want to know about any of that.

I guess some girls put up curtains, but I really doubt that helps a lot. I mean, yes, alright, so there's a curtain, and you can't see past it, so technically if there's a couple of people behind it having sex, um... you can't see it. You can definitely hear it, though!

Maybe. Actually, I'm not sure. I think Ethan and I get sort of excited and make a lot of noise, but is that normal? Also, it depends on the bed. Except what if you have sex on the floor instead? That'd be quieter.

For whatever stupid reason, I spend the next five minutes thinking about specific ways to minimize the volume of kinky sexual activities so that a girl and her boyfriend could do some crazy sex things behind a curtain without anyone else in the room knowing. I'm not doing this for myself, of course. I'm, um... I'm figuring it out for a friend...

Yup! That's it! It's not for me, not at all!

Then my phone rings. I check quick and it's Ethan.

I snatch up my phone, answer it, and try to pretend like I wasn't just sitting here doing nothing and waiting for him.

"What took you so long!" I practically shout at him through the phone.

I'm really good at this, aren't I?

He doesn't answer at first. Or, he does answer, but his voice is muffled and he's obviously chewing something.

"You're eating?" I ask, incredulous. "Ethan! You were supposed to wait for me. I haven't even started yet."

I rip open my food container and stare at it. Oh my God, it looks amazing. The tacos are small ones that you can eat in a bite or two, but there's three of them so it's plenty. The cafeteria lady really piled on the rice and beans, too. I mix them up with my fork, turning the white rice into a delicious shade of red, while I scowl and seethe at Ethan through the phone.

I hope he realizes how much I'm scowling at him right now, too. Really, Ethan? Ugh!

"Hey," he says. "What's up, Princess? Sorry, I was talking with Caleb. I wasn't just sitting here and eating without you or anything. I called you and took a bite of my burrito, but that's it."

"Liar," I say. "You were eating your nachos earlier when you were on the phone with me."

"Yeah yeah," he says, and he's probably shrugging, trying to play it off. Nope, not today, Ethan Colton!

"I didn't start eating without you," I say. "I made a promise to you and I kept it."

He hesitates, silent on his end of the phone for a few seconds. "Are you mad?" he asks.

"Yup," I say, lying. "But you can make it up to me."

"Are you seriously mad, because I don't know how this is supposed to work. Do I apologize to you or what?"

"Shut up. No, I'm not that mad. I was just..." I told myself I wasn't going to tell him this, but... "I was just waiting for you, that's all. You were talking with Caleb?"

"Yeah," he says. "Hey, you start eating. I'll wait. I was just really fucking hungry."

"Let's eat on the computer," I say. "Um... not actually on the computer. With our webcams. Webchat, you know? I want to see what you got. Is it good?"

"Oh, fuck, yes," he says, and I think I can hear him drooling over the phone. "I wish you were here. I'd share some with you, Princess. You have no fucking idea how amazing this burrito is."

"Hurry up and show me, then!" I say, a mix between squealing in excitement and yelling at him, but also laughing.

"Holy fuck, I'm hurrying. These things take time. Calm yourself."

While our computers are powering up and connecting to the internet, I start to eat. Mmm... yes. I can't say this is as good as sex, because I've had a lot of sex with Ethan and, well...
you know
... but it's good.

The meat in the tacos is seasoned perfectly, and there's little chunks of fresh avocado along with the diced up tomatoes and shredded cheese. It goes perfectly with the rice and beans as a sort of tasty palate cleanser. A bite of the taco, then a few bites of beans with rice, back and forth.

Yum.

When our webchat programs have connected us to each other, I show Ethan one of my tacos. He stares at it, trying to figure it out.

"I told you it was small," I tell him. "They're really good, though. Where's your burrito?"

He hefts up some monstrosity of a burrito, then he takes a huge bite, grinning at me.

"You got two of those?" I ask him, lifting one brow.

"Fuck yeah," he says, pulling out the other one and showing it to me.

The second burrito is still wrapped, but it's even more monstrous than the first.

"I think those burritos are bigger than my forearm," I tell him. "Are you really going to eat both of those? And nachos?"

He shrugs. "Maybe. I'm hungry. Might save one for later, I guess."

"Do you have a mini fridge?"

"Nah. Not yet."

"Ethan, you can't just leave a burrito out without putting it in the fridge. You'll get sick."

"I'm not going to get sick, Princess," he says. "I'll leave it wrapped up."

"Yes, because wrappers completely protect you from bacteria," I say, rolling my eyes at him.

He rolls his eyes right back at me, mocking me. "If it makes you feel better, I can put it in the shared fridge in the kitchen on my floor, but if someone steals it, I'm blaming you."

"Just put it in a bag with a note on it saying it's, um... it's an oatleaf kale wrap with wheatgrass root dressing. No one will try to eat it then."

"Do oats even have leaves?" he asks me.

"I don't know, but it sounds really healthy and gross, so I think it'll work."

He laughs. I smile at him. We keep eating and sharing our food together. Oh my God, his nachos look amazing. I wish I had nachos. His burrito looks nice, too, but I have tacos, so that's not so bad. I just... I wouldn't mind sharing... I like sharing food with Ethan. He always orders things that I never think to order.

Really, it's the extras. He gets extra things that go together really well, but you wouldn't think of them going together. Like pickles on steak and cheese sandwiches. Yum. Or blue cheese, chicken, spinach, tomatoes, and bacon on a pizza! Seriously, that's so amazing. I didn't even know you could have all those things on a pizza before, but there's this pizza place near our house that will do it, and it's the best thing ever.

Ethan catches me staring wistfully at the computer and he grins and blows me a kiss. I kiss him back, playful. It's fun. It's not the same as being together, but it's still fun.

By the time we're both done our food, my roommate is back. She ended up staying in the cafeteria with Kevin to eat dinner. It's just her now, though.

"Can we talk more?" I ask, whispering to Ethan through our webchat.

He smiles and leans in close, whispering back. "Yeah. What do you want to talk about?"

I shrug. "I don't know. Just... stuff. Everything. Can we change into pajamas and then cuddle under our blankets in bed and talk? On the phone, probably. That's a little easier."

"Is this the kind of talking I need to leave the room for?" Jacky asks, peeking over at me and giving me a silly look.

"No! Ugh! It's just talking, Jacky!"

I say this, yes, except on my computer screen Ethan is being a jerk. Thankfully Jacky can't see him, but he's got two fingers held up in the shape of a V, his index and his middle, and his tongue is peeking out, lapping between the two. I glare at him while he keeps licking between the V, miming as if he's going to...

...to toss me on the bed, bury his face between my legs, and eat me out until I cum while screaming his name. I really can't say this would be a bad thing, either, but...

"Just talking," I say, to Ethan now instead of Jacky. "If you're good, I'll take a picture of me in my pajamas and text it to you, though."

Ethan laughs. "Sounds good to me. What kind of pajamas are we talking about? Lace and see-through?"

"No, they're pink. Fluffy pink pajama pants and my grey long-sleeve school shirt. I look cute, I promise!"

"You always look cute," he says, winking. "I can't wait."

We stop our webchat after that and make a promise to call each other in five minutes. Five minutes exactly! This is a promise, Ethan. I know it's not that important, and waiting a few minutes to talk to him before we ate wasn't that big of a deal, but I just like making promises. I like making promises because I really want to keep them. I guess it's kind of silly, but I like it. I like that Ethan makes promises with me, and he's kept all of them, too.

Except for the one where he ate a bite of his burrito before calling me. I guess I'll forgive him this time...

I go to the bathroom to change quick. When I get back, Jacky takes a picture of me in my pajamas. I try to look cute, but sexy, too. We take a few, just in case, and I send the best one to Ethan, along with a heart emoji.

He texts me back with a kissy face and a picture of his pajamas. Which, um... those aren't even pajamas...

I mean, I guess the pants are? He has sweatpants on, but that's about it. No shirt. I can see his tight abs tense above the soft fabric of his sweatpants. The pants are a little loose on him, too, so they hang slightly down his hips. I kind of just want to reach out and pull them the rest of the way down. I had dinner, but what about dessert? I think Ethan can help me out with that...

Before I can go much further with this line of thinking, he calls me. I jump, startled at the sound of my phone ringing. Well, what did you expect, Ashley, I tell myself. It's been five minutes!

I sneak under the covers quick and whisper hello to Ethan. He whispers hi back. I like that I can hear the smile in his voice.

We talk for the rest of the night like that, too. We talk about pajamas, and Mexican food. We talk about school. He tells me about football, and I tell him about some of the things I was studying today. He tells me he thinks I'm crazy for studying and doing homework on the first day of school, and I tell him I think it's crazy that he doesn't study and do homework every day.

We talk like that, and it's nothing too important, but it's amazing. I love it. It feels important to me. It feels special and nice.

I'm not sure when we stop talking. We don't hang up on each other, though. We talk and our answers and replies slowly start to drift further and further apart, at first just a few seconds longer, and then a few seconds more. Eventually we stop talking and our eyes close and we fall asleep.

I wake up a little bit, barely a second away from falling back to sleep again, and I hear Ethan's soft breathing on the other end of my phone. I imagine he's right here with me, cuddling in my bed, holding me tight. I hug myself, squeezing one arm around me while nuzzling the phone close to my ear.

My mom said that I'd have to hang up on my own from now on. She was teasing me then, but I know it's true. I just... I can't tonight. Tomorrow, maybe?

I fall asleep to the sound of Ethan's slow, sleepy breathing in my ear.

"I love you," I mumble to him.

A few seconds later I hear him mutter back to me. "I love you, too, Princess."

Maybe I'm sleeping. Maybe I dreamed it. I know it's something he would say to me, though. I don't think it's a dream. I don't think any of this is a dream.

It's real. It's real and it's special and it's the most amazing thing ever.