Caelyx #2
No less confused but convinced now I wouldn’t be getting any answers from Thing 1 or Thing 2, I sailed past them into the kitchen.
Cyprian was at the counter, evidently preparing snacks for the sleepover I wasn’t invited to.
And not the low effort snacks we kept around for planned hangouts like microwaved popcorn and potato chips.
When I reached for the little platter of chocolate chip cookies, Cyprian pulled it out of my reach.
He was wearing decidedly less slutty pajamas.
Cotton sleep pants with a stripe pattern, and a tank top that showed off his defined biceps and ripped chest. Though he was happiest spending his time in the kitchen now, I happened to know he’d trained to be a UFC fighter through his teen years, and still put in plenty of hours at the gym.
“Those are vegan,” he informed me. “They’re for Che.”
“I can’t have any?” I asked.
“They’re for Che,” he repeated.
Raising my eyebrows, I grabbed a soda from the fridge and let the door fall back closed. “You, uh… Having a little sleepover in there, chief?”
“We’re just… Hanging out before winter break starts,” he said, turning away from me to fiddle with another little platter that had chocolate-covered pretzels on it.
Handmade chocolate covered pretzels! I wanted to ask him if he was blushing, but it felt too cruel, even for me.
“What are you doing?” He asked, probably just to distract me.
“Just waiting for Aspen to get off work. He’s spending the night.”
“Cool,” he said. “I’m glad you guys are… You know. Together. Aspen’s great.”
“Yeah,” I replied, grinning a little. “Aspen’s great.” I knew they’d been doing gym stuff together lately, so they’d probably gotten to know each other a lot more through that. “So you and Che and Arie planned a little hangout, just the three of you?”
“Well… You and Aspen hang out, just the two of you. And Ren and Maddox.”
Ren and Maddox were dating, and Aspen and I were… Pseudo-dating. We were in a relationship that I had to pretend to call something else so I didn’t freak out my edgy little high-strung emo boy and send his brain into fearful spirals of commitment panic. And also I wasn’t allowed to kiss him. Yet.
It felt wrong on some level, because Cyprian had always been so supportive and friendly to me and Maddox, and he’d never grilled any of us or gotten into our business, but…
“Do you mind if I ask you something personal?”
“I guess,” he responded, turning to face me and eyeing me cautiously.
“So in terms of, you know, what you’re into… Are you…”
“I don’t know,” he answered quickly, his gaze darting away from mine with obvious embarrassment.
“No, I just mean, like, are you into girls or guys? Or both?”
“I don’t know,” he repeated pointedly.
The idea of not knowing was so foreign to me. I’d figured myself out before I’d even started high school, but I knew it wasn’t like that for everyone. Ren and Maddox were prime examples of that.
“I… I kind of thought I wasn’t into… Anything,” he finished.
“Ah,” I acknowledged. “So you’ve never…”
“No,” he cut me off again, before I could voice the thing he obviously didn’t want me to voice. “I’ve never.”
“Okay. I mean, that’s cool,” I stated. The last thing I wanted was for him to feel like I was making fun of him or anything. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said. “I just… I don’t know. It’s all kind of confusing.”
“I get that,” I assured him. “So when you say you thought you weren’t into anything…
Do you think now maybe you might be?” I asked.
When he finally glanced back up to lock eyes with me, I tilted my chin toward the living room, where Arie and Che were happily chatting about what movies they wanted to watch with Cyprian.
He cleared his throat, shuffling his sock-clad feet a bit. “I don’t know. Seriously. I don’t. I can’t…” He lowered his voice, glancing into the room conspicuously. “I can’t have a crush on a couple, right? That would be crazy.”
“I mean… They are kind of crush-worthy, aren’t they?” I admitted, tilting my head. “If Aspen wasn’t in the picture, I probably wouldn’t mind being the meat in that sandwich, if you catch my drift.”
“Hey,” he reprimanded me, furrowing his dark brows together. “Don’t say that.”
“What?” I asked, snorting at the whiplash tonal shift in his voice and expression. He’d gone from blushing and fidgeting to ready to kick my ass to defend their honor. Something was most definitely going on.
“That’s vulgar,” he insisted, frowning. “They’re not sexual objects for you to… Perv on.”
I blinked, trying desperately not to show my amusement by smirking, because he was obviously being very serious.
“Sorry,” I said. “Won’t happen again. Anyway, have fun tonight. Aspen and I won’t bug you.”
“Thanks,” he said, then seemed to quickly regret the sharpness of his tone before. “I mean, you don’t bug me or anything. It’s just…” He trailed off, looking conflicted, and gestured with his hands.
“I get it,” I assured him. “Seriously. I do.”
And I did. I’d slugged a guy way bigger than me in the mouth for accidentally pushing Aspen into the side of his car.
And even though I’d mostly been joking, because that was how Arie and I kidded around with each other, if Cyprian felt anything for the two of them like I felt for Aspen, then…
Well, I wouldn’t want someone perving on Aspen in front of me either.
WHEN ASPEN FINALLY got to my house, he gave a couple quick knocks on my bedroom door before coming in and closing it behind him. He had a little duffel bag slung over his shoulder, which he dropped on the floor before taking a seat in my desk chair and giving me a pointed look.
“Did you see what’s going on in the living room?” He asked, and I chuckled.
“Yeah, I got called a pervert for commenting, so I’m staying out of it.”
The corner of his cute mouth perked up into a little grin, and he raised an eyebrow. “I’m going to guess you were probably called a pervert because you were being one.”
“Me?” I feigned shock and insult, widening my eyes. “I’m innocent.”
“Oh, yeah?” He asked. “Then who was it that texted me earlier asking if I’d bring a dildo to fuck him with? Because I could have sworn that was you.”
“If anything, the fact that I texted you that reflects more on your perviness than mine.”
“Elaborate,” he invited, and I smirked.
“You’re the one who got me hooked on it, so it’s your fault.”
“Bottoming is not a drug,” he informed me. “You’re not hooked on it.”
“It is and I am,” I argued, blinking my lashes. “I’m hopeless. You started this and now you have to take care of me.” When he only rolled his eyes, I went on. “Also, you’re equally or more at fault for actually enabling me and bringing it.”
“Who says I brought it?”
I craned my neck to peek at his duffel bag, but it was firmly zipped shut. Pouting a bit, I tapped the tips of my index fingers together and gave him a pleading look.
“You did bring one, right?”
“I brought one,” he confirmed, his hazel eyes sweeping over me in a way that had tingles dancing over my skin. “But good luck getting me to use it with the slumber party all parked right outside our door.”
Groaning, I pressed my fingers to my closed eyes. “They’re in the living room. That’s, like, miles away. Plus, you know they’re going to have some loud ass horror movie playing on the TV, anyway. They’re not going to hear us.”
“You’re that desperate?” He wondered, the teasing note in his voice perking up my dick even more.
“I’m always desperate when it comes to you,” I said, wanting to lean into the flirtation and invite him onto the bed to cuddle with me.
But I had to be strong. I needed information before all my focus was obliterated in favor of his perfectly toned, lithe body, on top of me or behind me…
Or under me. I hadn’t tried riding him yet.
Would he like laying back and letting me bounce on it until I unloaded all over his chest?
Oh, right. I was supposed to be focusing.
“Actually, there was something I kind of wanted to talk about,” I said, and his eyes immediately narrowed in suspicion.
God, he was so fucking cute. Almost too cute, like he’d been created in a lab as some kind of conspiracy to keep me hypnotized and obsessed.
“Nothing bad,” I tacked on when his glower didn’t fade.
“What is it?” He asked, sitting up straighter in the chair and bringing a knee up to his chest. Defensive body language. Not a good start.
“It’s nothing, really,” I said, hoping to ease his concerns. “It’s just that someone mentioned something about you that I didn’t really understand, and I wanted to hear your side of it.”
“Why were you talking about me?” He asked, obviously unhappy.
“Someone asked me about hanging out, and I had to tell them I wasn’t interested. Because the only person I’m interested in is you.”
“Oh.” His expression relaxed, instantly softening.
He peered at me through his lashes, lowering his chin down to rest on his drawn up knee.
It was sort of a curse, finding it so adorable when he was jealous or pouting, but also finding it equally adorable when he had a moment of being soft and sweet like that. “What did you want to know, then?”
“Uh, well…” I took the opportunity of him being completely unguarded to reach out and pull the chair, wheeling him over closer to me so I could squeeze his thigh. “It’s someone that we’ve both hooked up with in the past, and so obviously you came up.”
“Lazaro?” He guessed, and I nodded, glad I didn’t have to explain further.
“Do you… Have a problem with Lazaro?” I wondered.
“No,” he answered, frowning a little. “Why? Did he say something bad about me?”