Page 19 of Strong Side
“Whatcha got there, pretty girl?” He comes over to stand next to me.
“I haven’t had a chance to go get a facial, and my skin needs a boost, so I brought my stuff over here. Figured I could put it on before we start a movie or something.” I place my bag on his dresser behind me and walk back to the bed and sit down. “Do you think the guys are done using the bathroom for a while? I don’t want to go in if they still need it.”
“Nah, I think they’re good. They’re both watching TV in the family room, and Charlie and Beck went to their room to watchsomething and crash. Do you want me to grab a towel for you?” He walks to his closet and pulls a clean towel from the shelf.
“Thank you. I need to put my hair up real quick before I start.” I get up and walk back to my bag. “Forgot to pull out my brush.”
“Do you want me to braid your hair?” he asks.
Casey braids my hair often, which might seem weird to outsiders, but I love it. There have even been times I’ve fallen asleep while he was braiding. And he’s pretty good at it too. Having a sister had something to do with it, I’m sure.
“Um, yes, please.” I hand over the brush. “Where do you want me to sit?”
“I’ll sit on the bed if you want to sit on the floor. Or you can sit on the bed and I can kneel behind you.”
As soon as he says it, a visual of Casey on his knees for me runs through my thoughts.
Trey and I had sex a lot, but what he said to me that day has been playing in a loop in my mind, so now I feel like I’ve been thinking about sex more than I normally do. What if I do suck at sex, and that’s why he was going behind my back? I would be mortified if I was doing something wrong. He was my first everything, so I just took his lead, but we never did anything like what he was doing with Zoey that day. There was no hair pulling or dirty talk. There was a little kissing, he might or might not go down on me, and then we’d have sex.
Maybe I am a little inexperienced in some regard. I’m not really sure if I’ve had an orgasm before. I bet Casey is good in bed. I’ve thought about it from time to time over the years. More out of curiosity than anything, but lately, it’s been happening more and more and I’m trying to make sense of it.
“Noelle, where do you want me?” he asks again.
“Oh, sorry. I’ll sit on the floor so you don’t have to put any strain on your knees.”
I squat down and plop down on the floor at the end of the bed. I feel Casey sit down behind me. I can smell the detergent on his sweats and the clean smell of his soap and shampoo.
“You ready for tomorrow?” I ask him to break up the silence.
“Hell yeah. Speaking of the game, do you still have the jersey I got you last year that you only wore once? The one with my name on it specifically?” He pulls out the elastic from my hair and starts running the brush through it.
“Yeah. Why?”
“Well, I was thinking with you being my girlfriend and all, you should probably wear it to the game tomorrow.”
I can feel that he’s starting to separate the pieces to braid.
It’s probably a good thing he can’t see my face right now because every time he calls me his girlfriend, I can feel my face flush. I’m trying to hold in a smile, too, but I can’t stop it.
“Yeah, you’re right. I should definitely wear it. Make that statement, right?”
“It would be a good step toward making people believe it, and it wouldn’t hurt to get them talking so it got back to Trey. You know some of those groupie girls will circle it around.” He’s halfway down my head.
“Okay, yeah, I’ll wear it for sure. Although I would anyway. You got it for me late in the season, so I really only had a few chances to wear it. I gotta support my bestie.” I laugh.
“You mean, your boyfriend. When we’re in public, you’ll have to start referring to me as your boyfriend. We should probably talk about our boundaries. Or rather your boundaries. I have none when it comes to you.”
I can feel he’s nearly done because he’s at the base of my neck now.
“None, huh?” I laugh lightly.
“None. Ask me, and I’ll probably do it.” He wraps the elastic around the bottom of the braid, then puts his hands on my shoulders and squeezes gently.
“Careful, King. I might try to talk you into giving me a massage too.” I place my hand on the top of his hand on my right shoulder and tap it.
“I don’t mind giving you a massage. You want it before or after the face-mask thing?”
He swings his leg over my head and stands. When he stands in front of me, he takes my hands in his and pulls me up from the floor.
