Page 34 of Eye of the Hurricane
“Please, don’t feel that way! I dress this way all the time. It’s just what I prefer, I never expect anyone else to match.You look beautiful,” I assure her, dropping a delicate hand on hers. Audraisbeautiful, she’s got this raven black hair with white strands lining the edges of her hairline. She wears a much more intense shade of eye shadow than I do. She’s got this ethereal, gothic vibe to her.
“Thank you!” she says before turning her attention to Ares. “She is welcome anytime.” He gives her an acknowledging nod before she walks off to the back deck.
Soon, Roman’s friend Beck shows up, then Ravyn. Over the course of a half hour, it goes from just Audra and Roman and us to a full house.
It feels like there are unassigned assigned seats. Everyone has a puzzle piece they effortlessly fit into, everyone except me. I just sit next to Ares. Ravyn sits on the other side of him. Audra and Roman sit next to each other and Beck sits on the other side of Roman.
We came here with the intent to give a trial run to our fake relationship but I wish I could pull Ares aside and beg him to abort the mission. I’m already feeling like an outsider and the last thing I need is to be the center of attention. I don’t say a word, though. I just wait for him to drop the bomb.
“So we have an announcement to make,” Ares says, addressing the table. He looks at me, then back to the group.
“This should be good,” Ravyn says, leaning into Audra to whisper in her ear.
“We,” Ares pauses, taking my hand in his before starting again. “Just wanted to let you all know that we’re dating now,” he says, placing a kiss on my knuckles. His lips are soft and warm, and my hand is cold. He’s smiling ear to ear and I’m scanning the room, waiting to see if they’re buying it.This is so awkward.
“How did that happen?” Roman questions. I wait for Ares to answer but he’s frozen so I guess that leaves me.
“Well, after months and months of him begging for a chance, I figured, why not? We gave it a try, and what can I say? We’re in love,” I lie, shrugging. Audra is clearly trying to fight off a look of shock. But she’s doing a terrible job, which is making it increasingly difficult to not laugh.
“Wow… I had no idea! I’m so happy for you. Both of you!” she exclaims. There’s a sense of uncertainty, or maybe it’s confusion? Doubt dominates her tone either way.
“Yep. One night with me and she was addicted. Dick is reallythatgood,” Ares boasts. Audra struggles to swallow the liquid in her mouth and Ravyn smacks his arm. All I can do is scoff, he’s a terrible liar. Obviously, we need to get our story straight before we do this.
“Goddamn it, Ares. I knew we couldn’t pull this off. If you can’t convince them, you definitely can’t convince my family,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“Yeah, I wasn’t buying it,” Ravyn says.
“This makes a lot more sense than you two dating,” Roman adds in.
“You guys are assholes! I could totally get a girl like Kat,” Ares says, crossing his arms across his chest. I laugh, rubbing the top of his arm.
“Sure you could, big guy,” I tease, lacing each word with sarcasm. He could, though. I know he could and I’m nearly certain he knows he could, too. When he’s touching me, I’m putty in his hands.
Ares holdsthe keys out to me, jingling them.
“Do you want to drive?” he offers. I shake my head. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ve grown fond of playing passenger princess with my fake boyfriend.
“No, I like when you drive,” I admit. There’s an obvious grin on his face when I say it.
All I do the entire drive back to my house is try to hype myself up enough to ask him to sleep with me. Nothing quite as awkward as the good ole ‘hey, since we’re fake dating anyways, wanna pop my cherry?’.
I groan internally, cringing at the words. I hate the term ‘popping my cherry’. I hate the term ‘losing my virginity’. I’m not losing anything, there’s nothing to be popped. I’ll be the same Katherine tomorrow that I am right now.
As a society, we give men way too much power. I can use dildos, tampons, my own fingers, yet the second a penis slips inside, I’m a new and lesser person? Kill me.
Ares parks the car in my driveway and I look at the time, it’s 8:05 P.M.
“Do you want to come in?” I ask, heart hammering in my chest. Tomorrow is Monday but Jacob gave me the day off because classes resume next week. So I have shortened hours with the team this week.
“Yeah, just let me know when you need me to head out, I know you work tomorrow.”
“Actually, I have the day off. I’m yours for the night,” I tell him.
When we walk through the front door, I turn and face him. He’s looking down at me, waiting for me to say something. I’m looking at him like I have something to say.
“Want to keep watching Hardly Dating?” I ask, twiddling with my thumbs.
“We can watch the show right after you tell me why you’re acting so weird tonight.” He sits down on the couch, nodding his head for me to sit next to him. I sit, facing him.
