Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Bellamie
Pulling up to Starla's house, I rush inside, and apologize for being late. Carefully setting the french toast casserole in the kitchen, I head to the table and deposit my jewelry-making kit.
Starla's in the kitchen making her eggnog for the competition, while Jolene is getting fitted for her Christmas Cherry Auction dress in the living room. Her devotion to the Krampusnacht parade is evident in that she’s wearing her horns already.
The seamstress checks the tightness of the fabric around Jolene’s waist. “Thank you for meeting here so I can fit all of your dresses at once. I’m so behind after being sick.”
Lining up the charms I’m going to add to the bracelet, I say, “Whatever it takes to get the dresses ready. I won’t take any chances on messing up the auction, even if there’s no chance my stepbrother would bid on me.”
“Same,” Jolene says, winking at me. Starla mumbles agreement. The three of us seem to have the hottest, most annoying stepbrothers ever.
I pause for a moment, in awe of Jolene’s dress. It’s hard to believe two of my besties and I are auctioning our virginity in a week… for charity.
Starla says, “I’m still crossing my fingers that the magic holds true again this year. I don’t want to be known as the year the happily ever afters didn’t happen.”
“Or worse…” I laugh. “The only females in Peach Bottom Valley to never have sex. I can’t imagine anyone being willing to come near us if we break the auction.”
“We’ll be fine, ladies, and you did a gorgeous job on my dress.” Jolene looks down and admires herself.
“I’m not sure those Krampus horns fit the Christmas Cherry Auction vibe.” I jingle one of the sleigh bell charms I’m adding to the bracelets.
“The horns may not work for the auction, but the dress would get Krampus’ attention. I really want to get chosen by one of the beasts as their naughty girl. Nothing like a public spanking.” Jolene thrusts her hip out. “A last hurrah before the auction.”
Oh to be so bold as her. As much as I dreamed of being in the auction, I’m not sure I would have accepted the invitation without her nudging. I’m considering it my fast track to finding the men of my dreams, settling down, and starting a family. That’s all I’ve ever really wanted out of life.
That’s why I haven’t had any luck with dating. Guys my age freak out when I tell them my dream is to be a mom. And as I’ve learned, talk of babies is the fastest way to get a guy to not want to have sex.
“You’re not really going to wear it tonight, are you?” Starla dips a spoon into her eggnog, tastes it, then sorts through her spice bottles.
“Unfortunately, the dress will still be full of pins this evening. Not a great way to grab someone’s attention.” The seamstress confirms how short Jolene wants the skirt and marks the length with another pin. “One last thing I need to check, then can we do you, Bellamie?”
“Sure.” I pause my bracelet-making to get a drink. The final fitting for our auction dresses means we’re one step closer. The only thing left for us to do is show up, let men bid on us, and believe–and it goes without saying, stay virgins until then.
The front door opens, but Starla’s dad and stepbrother aren’t supposed to be home this early. They’re not. In walks a handsome muscular dude who looks about her dad’s age.
He nods at me and then at Jolene, who can’t take her eyes off of him, and continues straight to Starla.
“I want whatever you're cooking,” he says, reaching around her.
The cup of water stalls at my lips. His body is so close to hers. He’s practically caging her against the counter. Can she feel his body heat through her thin tank top? And with her hair in a ponytail, she’s so… exposed.
He’s total Daddy material, but there’s no way she got a boyfriend without telling us. Besides, the three of us are auctioning our virginity in one week. Getting a boyfriend now would be terrible timing.
He tries to dip his finger into the bowl, but she swats him. “Don't put your grimy fingers in there. Who knows where they’ve been.”
“I know where I want them to be.”
I don’t understand what’s happening. This is how I imagined our lives would be after the auction. This is the type of guy that would win one of us.
She’s completely still for a moment, then gathers herself. “You’ll have to wait. I’m getting this ready for the eggnog competition at the festival tonight.”
“Pretty please. Give me a taste,” he begs.
She elbows his arm out of the way and gets a clean spoon from the drawer, dips it in the bowl, then lifts it over her shoulder to feed it to him.
I want to look at Jolene to see if she’s as captivated as me, but I can’t even politely take my eyes off of them.
The dude groans as he lets her put the spoon in his mouth, but in the exchange, some drips.
A seductive chuckle is the only warning before he drags a finger over her collarbone then slurps the eggnog from it. My mouth drops open, causing me to bobble my glass. Water sloshes onto my chin, drips onto my sweater, and I’m forced to set the glass on the counter before I drop it.
This is definitely the type of interaction I imagined for after the auction. What on earth is happening?
Starla giggles and her shoulders raise, but he’s not done.
“Looks like I missed some.” He reaches around her, and just like nothing, swipes the drip that slid between her breasts.
I can’t breathe just watching this. How will I handle having sex with the winner of the auction? And if the auction goes the way it has in the past, more than one guy will win me. That’s what I want. But until this moment, I had no framework for how that might make me feel.
“Stop it, Cullen.” Starla’s tone makes it clear that’s the last thing she wants, and also that she knows him. How has she kept him a secret from us?
Even amongst besties, this is getting awkward. Needing somewhere else to put my gaze, I shift my attention to Jolene, whose eyes are as wide as mine feel. She seems frozen as her arms are extended to either side.
The seamstress is tugging at the fabric, unaware of what's happening behind her. “Okay, that does it. Ready, Bellamie?”
Relieved, but also a little disappointed to lose my front row seat, I push away from the counter. Starla blurts out, “I should go next.”
Too dumbfounded to find words, I relent, making a mental note to ask Starla about Cullen later.
“Would you like some french toast casserole?” I can’t think of any other way to fill the awkwardness when Starla leaves the room. Is she trying to avoid Cullen or did she realize that got a little hot and heavy?
Cullen helps himself to the casserole and loves it, but nearly chokes when Starla returns in her dress. I catch her looking to him for approval.
Go Starla! But this is weird… unless, she somehow found this guy and he’s going to buy her in the auction Friday–a detail she most certainly should have shared.
A cough draws my attention to Cullen, who gives a simple nod.
And as much as I want to curse myself for checking out Starla’s…
whatever he is, my gaze drifts down his body.
Oh! Judging by the swell in his pants, he’s very attracted to her–in a boyfriend way.
If she hid him from us, would she also hide if she had sex?
Is she going to be able to be in the auction?
“What are you wearing, young lady?” The loud exclamation from the front door comes from Starla’s dad who just walked in. “I thought you were entering the eggnog contest, not the…” He waves his hands.
“It's not for tonight,” Starla defends.
Her stepbrother, Ryker, walks in behind their dad. Both stare, wide-eyed, but the tones behind their expressions are completely different. Her dad is clearly horrified. But it’s Ryker’s expression that surprises me. He wants her–the way Cullen does.
If we’ve misunderstood her stepbrother all this time, is there hope for Loren and me? My heart does a highly inappropriate flip given the circumstance.
“Where do you plan on wearing it?” Her dad isn’t as impressed as Cullen or Ryker.
“It’s for a Christmas thing.”
Her dad won’t let up, and when it finally comes out that the dress is for a virgin auction, Dad isn’t the only one who’s upset. The man who I thought might be buying her in the auction says, “There’s no way my best friend’s daughter is going to sell her virginity.”
Is this why the contract for the auction said we’re not supposed to tell anyone we’re in it? I thought the organizers just wanted to keep secret who the virgins were so people would have to show up to find out.
Personally, I’d been relieved by the secrecy because my parents would freak out if they knew I was participating. But the auction is going to wrap up all of my problems, which include a lie to my parents that I’m attending college.
“It’s not a big deal, and it’s for charity.” Starla tries to downplay it, but there’s no going back from her reveal.
I hope this doesn’t ruin it for all of us.
“Having sex with the highest bidder, whoever that stranger might be, is definitely a big deal. You need to wait until–”
“That’s Puritanical bullshit!” Starla stands her ground, far braver than I’ve ever been. Maybe I’m not as ready for the auction as I thought.
“It’s about your safety.” Cullen has covered the ground between them and towers in front of her.
Starla holds her own against the men, calling them out on their presumed sexual histories, which they can’t defend. Such an empowering moment.
“We’re all doing it,” Jolene says–and the cat is out of the bag.
That doesn’t help.
When will our families realize we're women with needs? Well, it could help if we move out of our parents’ houses, but isn't it safer for us to learn about life in small steps?
The seamstress comes to me. “Could we check your dress in the bathroom?”
It really doesn't seem like the right time, and yet we have to get the fitting done.
Starla’s bravado fortifies my decision to do the Christmas Cherry Auction, not just because it’s kind of magical and every woman who does it ends up with a wild happily ever after with multiple men, but because I am in control of my own body.
Now if I could just find someone who’s as sexy and easy to be with as what I just witnessed. Someone who not only has a Daddy vibe, but also wants to be a father. Someone who might be my stepbrother?
Fairly certain that’s not an option, I just hope not to break the auction’s perfect track record, and send up a silent prayer that my desire to start a family will be solved come Friday.