Page 23 of To Go
“Brat,” he chuckles. “Haven’t had my own space in a while. Feels weird trying to be… settled.”
“Is it your first time on your own?”
“In a way.”
“How delightfully cryptic,” I say, which gets him to crack a genuine smile. It’s gorgeous, reaching all the way up to his eyes, making them crinkle at the corners. It accentuates how devastatingly handsome he is, highlighting the angle of his jawline, smoothing out the lines that own the space at the top of his nose.
“Been out of the family home for a few years. Touring with the band.”
“And when you weren’t touring?”
He looks at me with playful annoyance. “You would fit right in at the Spanish inquisition.” I don’t say anything, looking at him expectantly. He rolls his eyes. “I’d stay with bandmates. Since we’re going to be here for a while, I wanted something of my own.”
“I get that. It’s important to have things that are yours. Probably more so, what with being an older sibling.” He nods and drinks his beer. “Did you live with your parents before then?”
“Only as long as I had to.”
“Why?”
“Long story.” My face scrunches up, frustrated that I’m stuck here with this locked box of a person for the foreseeable future.
“So, do you actively look for cute young blondes to feel up at bars? Or did I just stand out to you?” I ask and watch gleefully as James gags on the mouthful of beer he’d taken. He splutters and coughs, the furrow in his brow returning.
“Fuck, sorry,” he says, wiping his mouth, “wasn’t expecting that.”
“It’s fine. I like to keep people on their toes.”
“Clearly.” He grabs another slice of pizza, apparently thinking that keeping his mouth full will keep me from asking uncomfortable questions.
Poor, delusional man.
“What would you have done if you didn’t realize who I was? Or if I wasn’t friends with Nessa?” I ask after a beat.
“Fucking hell, sunshine.” James scrubs his face.
“Can’t blame me for being curious! It was my first bar hookup.” He looks horrified, “Well, my first hookup ever, if we’re being honest.” All the colour drains from his face. “Yup! Certified virgin over here. And you seem to know what you’re doing, so it just felt right to ask, you know? Get an expert opinion?” I grab a piece of pizza and don’t give him time to recover. “For real though, I want to getsomeexperience before I travel the world. That’s my goal, to travel and see, well,everything! Experience everything.”
“And you need to fuck a stranger before you can do that?”
“Or someone I know,” I say, waggling my eyebrows at him.
“Sunshine…” he rasps, his voice pained.
I cut him some slack. “No, not exactly, but what if I meet someone, and they realize how inexperienced I am, and they look at me like… well like that,” I gesture to his horrified expression, “It would be nice to not feel so awkward and juvenileabout it.” I lament around a mouth of food. “Plus, people get so weird about being ‘pure as the driven snow’; I want it to be out of the way.”
“Sex isn’t something you need to get out of the way, Stella,” James says slowly. It’s quite condescending.
“Whatever. I could probably just get on a dating app and have this out of the way within the week.” I cringe slightly. Dating apps have always seemed like the worst of all evils. I must have heard nearly a million horror stories at this point, either from friends or on the internet, of each and every horrible thing that could happen to you, and yet every time I hear a new story, I’m adding another horror to the list.
“Absolutely the fuck not.” James’ adamant words startle me.
“Why not?”
“Because the internet is full of fucking creeps,” he grumbles. I can’t help teasing him for it.
“Aww, are you protective of me, stud.”
“No. Don’t trust the internet.”
