26. Shoua
CHAPTER 26
shoua
It was finally a Friday night, and I had never been happier to come home to see Andy’s car in Anthony’s driveway. I was grateful it wouldn’t just be Anthony and me since thick tension continued to swirl between us. After last Saturday night and today’s lunch, I couldn’t trust myself alone with him.
Although I was relieved to see company, I suddenly remembered I forgot to get dinner like I promised Andy and Julie I would. They were staying overnight in Anthony’s duplex since we were all heading up to the lake and mountains tomorrow morning.
I received a text from Julie around lunchtime after Anthony left, letting me know they were coming up from SoCal. I mentally reminded myself to grab dinner as we texted back and forth for a bit. Then I completely forgot after I became busy with paperwork.
“Hey, you two,” I said, walking into Anthony’s home.
My good friend and cousin were quintessentially the picture-perfect couple all cozied up on the sofa, watching some movie on TV and eating orange creamsicles. Andy had been in love with Julie for as long as I could remember. They had been best friends since childhood. I was surprised it took him so long to confess his love for her. Before, I used to think he was being unreasonable and even stupid for holding back.
Now that I was in the same position of having feelings for my best friend, I finally understood why he hesitated. There were only truly two outcomes for this situation: it could go perfectly well like Julie and Andy’s relationship, where feelings are reciprocated, or it could be disastrous, leading to my friendship with Anthony becoming strained and lifeless.
I didn’t want to lose Anthony. Not like this.
“Hey, Shoua!” Julie said with a smile.
I couldn’t help but notice how Andy nodded in my direction with the same sly, annoying smirk Anthony always wore when he wanted to get on my nerves. As fraternal twins, they often had too many similarities.
“What, Andy?” I bit.
He laughed, tipping his head slightly. “So, you and my stupid brother are finally together now?”
His comment made Julie’s smile broaden and her eyes light up. “Jonathan’s been telling us all about you two!”
Julie and I had always been close. We often chatted a few times each month, but with me being busy with work and being Anthony’s “girlfriend” on top of that, I had been too busy to talk. Not just that, but I suspected Julie’s furniture restoration side gig was picking up steam with lots of great sales. She’d been busy herself driving around the city and hunting for her next project.
“What a little snitch,” I grumbled, plopping myself next to Julie on the couch. “What has he said about us?”
I grabbed a handful of the warm popcorn from the bowl sitting in Julie’s lap and was about to toss it into my mouth when Andy spoke up. “Heard you two might as well be a real couple these days.”
“That’s what people call good acting, Andy,” I scoffed.
He let out a hearty laugh as he threw back his head. “I bet Anthony will say the same thing. But what happens when the lines between what’s fake and real become blurred? What then?”
“It won’t happen,” I said with certainty. Because it already did and I’ve already established we’re still friends while he looked at me with regret.
“Really? Not even when you two hold hands or lean into each other?” Julie asked. “Or maybe even share a kiss?”
Andy immediately perked up at his girlfriend’s question. “What? Share a kiss? ”
I parted my lips, ready to deny everything, but all I did was let out an uneven, shaky breath. “N-no —” Anthony suddenly waltzed into the room before I could say more.
“Hey, everyone!” his loud voice boomed throughout the home as he graced us with his wide grin.
“You two kissed?” Andy blurted, now completely assuming things. Neither Anthony or I haven mentioned it to any other soul about it.
“What?” Anthony asked, whipping his head toward me. He blinked, surprised and taken aback by his brother’s question, and then glanced back at the couple. “N-no?—”
Andy and Julie didn’t reply and then turned to me with raised brows and gaping mouths. My lack of answer and stumble only served to confirm that we had kissed. With a single blink, Julie’s shock was replaced with a beautiful, wide smile.
“How was it?” she asked with a voice so delighted I took a moment to comprehend.
“What?” I asked, confused.
“How was the kiss?” Julie pressed, glancing between Anthony and me.
“W-well—” Anthony started as I stumbled over his words with an, “I-it?—”
Andy laughed, leaning forward. “No need to be shy, you two. It’s just a kiss,” he said, glancing between us curiously. “Right?”
“Of course,” I said, letting out a stiff laugh. “It was nothing much. Just a simple peck.”
“Yup,” Andy said with a wide grin. He wrapped his arm around Julie’s waist and pulled her closer to his side. He sent her a flirty wink and she shook her head at him with a smile. “I kiss my best friend every day.”
“Correction: You kiss your girlfriend every day. Anyone want anything to drink?” Anthony asked. I was grateful he changed the subject so quickly. After we shook our heads, he went into the kitchen. “What are we having for dinner?”
“Sorry, I completely forgot to grab dinner on the way home,” I said, frowning.
Andy shrugged nonchalantly with a mischievous grin. “Why don’t we just go out? Double date! I’ll drive!”
“It’s not going to be a double date!” Anthony and I practically shouted at the same time. He quickly walked out of the kitchen holding a flavored seltzer. He looked upset, his brows creased together with frustration tugging the corners of his lips into a small frown.
Julie let out an amused laugh as she raised a pointed brow at me. “Aren’t you two supposed to be a couple ?”
“Come on, you two. Show us how well you play pretend. We want the front row seats to all the fun too,” Andy said. Then he cackled. “I don’t know why you are holding back on us. It’s only fair since we haven’t seen your performances, right?”
Julie, on the other hand, smiled. She quickly pulled me tightly into her embrace and pressed our cheeks together. “Can we please go on a double date? Pretty please?” she asked, her voice syrupy sweet.
Anthony shook his head. He grumbled something as he sipped his drink. His eyes casually landed on me, and his Adam’s apple bobbed with a thick swallow of his seltzer. They flicked to my lips for split second as he had done earlier during lunch. My heart beat a little harder for that moment before he quickly tore his eyes away to Julie and then Andy.
“What?” he asked his brother.
Andy smirked, shrugging. “Nothing.”
Anthony arched a brow at him just as Andy mirrored the same expression back paired with expressive eyes that only the two of them could read. They seemed to be communicating nonverbally as they often did when we were younger. I was never sure if it was a twin thing, or if they just knew each other well enough to not to have to say a single word to one another.
“So? What are we going to do?” Julie asked, pulling away from our hug.
“Let’s go out, but we shouldn’t stay out too long. Shoua and me had a long day at work, and we all need to get up early so we can get on the road to the lake so we have enough time to set up camp,” Anthony said with a nod. He licked his lips, drawing my eyes to the curve of his mouth and the slip of that pink, slick tongue of his.
Julie grumbled a bit at the mention of camping and quickly got onto her phone as the three of us shared a knowing glance. She quickly pulled up a few restaurants to look through. “So, what do we all want to eat tonight? Chinese? Korean? Vietnamese? Thai? Something else?”
“Let’s just do Thai,” replied Andy. Then his gaze darted between Anthony and me. “Wait, are Julie and I going to get dinner and a show?”
The annoying smirk Andy was wearing almost made me want to hit him over the head as if he was one of my brothers or Jonathan. I loved him and we had been friends forever, but he could easily get on my nerves as much as my family did.
“No,” Anthony and I answered together.
Julie laughed. “Andy, just be patient. We have all week up at the lake to see them pretend.”
Andy chuckled along with her as Anthony and I shared a withering look. We have yet to test out our fake relationship since we had sex . . . which made me worried. Were we going to fumble when we were on such a good roll? Or would we put aside the tension between us and make it work?
I hoped it was the latter.
The next morning, I jolted awake with surprise before my alarm went off. I suddenly realized my panties were soaked, and images from a very sensual dream flashed before my eyes. Was I that aroused from a dream alone? It wasn’t as if I had been sex deprived lately, so I was shocked by how sensitive my body was.
I glanced over to where Anthony slept last night on the fold out futon mattress on the floor. Since Andy and Julie slept at Anthony’s, he offered them his only bed and naturally slept over at my place. He insisted on sleeping on the couch, but I told him should sleep on the futon in my bedroom instead. My room have always been cooler than the living room and he graciously took the offer.
I didn’t offer my bed, nor did he ask for it. If we had slept in the same bed, I wasn’t sure how I would have reacted to his overheated body being next to me after waking up from a dream of him pinning me down and thrusting hungrily into me— nope . I was going to have to stop thinking about that dream.
Thankfully, Anthony wasn’t in the room; he probably went for a quick early morning run. He mentioned last night before we went to sleep that he might do that. I took the chance and quickly jumped in the shower.
As warm water cascaded down my back, I thought about what happened between Anthony and me last Saturday. I’d be lying if I said I was doing completely well in the aftermath of our one-night stand. I never expected anything to come out of it since I knew there was nothing romantic between us.
That night was a slipup, which was why it was meant to be just for one night. But I was certain Anthony could feel the way our relationship had shifted just as much as I could. We were no longer the friends we used to be, nor were we more than that. We were in a weird limbo. Our relationship was fraying at the edges, and I didn’t know what to do to save it.
The only thing I could think to do was try to get over what happened between us, establish that we were still friends, and simply move on. At least that was what I was trying to do, but I couldn’t because Anthony kept coming to my work with lunch. He has been insisting on spending several hours with me every day.
He had even set aside his furniture restoration projects just to laze around the house with me. It wasn’t unusual for him to take a break from projects. But it didn’t usually happen when he was excited about a project, and I thought he was happy about his vanity table.
We were together so much that I didn’t have the space I needed to mull over my thoughts, and even though I thought I had a plan, I no longer knew what to do.
I shivered despite the warm water pouring over my head. The memory of his lips pressed against my ear yesterday, dangerously drawing his teeth along the length of my neck, flooded my mind. At that moment, I was so close to telling him to take me home and fuck me . It was crude, but I felt so desperate to be with him. That wasn’t what we were, though.
We’re friends , I had to keep reminding myself.
Yet my hand slinked between my legs, giving my throbbing clit much needed attention. I whimpered over the sound of the water hitting the bathroom tiles as I rubbed tiny, firm circles into my aching bud. I thought of only Anthony and the way his hips moved when he drove into me relentlessly in my hazy, sexy dream.
Anthony pinned me down with my legs thrown over his naked shoulders. His thick, hot length plowed into me as I laid in the back seat of his Jeep with the doors wide open and my legs parted wide for him. He was completely naked, as was I. His chest was slicked with sweat as he continued to slam into me. It was hot outside, but inside the Jeep was a million degrees hotter with us screwing around like this. The only thing I was still wearing were my black pumps.
This was all wrong. We agreed to be only friends, I thought, and yet I didn’t stop him.
Even in the dream I could feel how slick I was with each of his thrusts as it dripped down my butt cheeks to the upholstery. He filled me to the brim so effortlessly; his groans grew louder and louder, mingled with mine as he thrust into me. His momentum never gave way as we edged closer to our climaxes. With one final hard thrust, I braced for the sudden bliss I knew I would feel. Only for me to force myself awake.
Although I was on the brink of climaxing, I couldn’t bring myself to continue to dream. I didn’t want to know what would happen after we climaxed. Would Anthony pull me into a sweet kiss or would he simply tug on his clothes and look at me with regret? It was all just a dream and now I was wide awake, completely aroused and drenched wet in between my legs.
I needed Anthony.
I grabbed my detachable showerhead and turned up the pressure. I swallowed hard and leaned against the shower wall, letting the intensity of the water pressure send quivering vibrations across my aching clit. It wasn’t his touch, but it was something at least. The water pressure worked quickly, sending electrifying pleasure through my entire body. I tried to contain my whimpering and moaning with an arm over my mouth.
“Fuck,” I gasped at the ferocity of the water.
I pushed the showerhead further between my legs and imagined it was Anthony pulling my precious bud into his mouth and sucking. I recalled of the way his tongue darted into my folds and drinking me up, slurping and gulping me down. Loud. Lewd. As if I was the most delectable thing his tongue ever tasted.
I came with the roll of my eyes, and my legs quaked dangerously. I rode out my high with soft moans of Anthony’s name, knowing this would be a secret I would never tell a single soul. I had a dirty dream about my best friend and then masturbated to the images of him pleasuring me instead.
“Good morning!”
Anthony’s thunderous voice travelling up the stairs to the bathroom startled me. I stumbled to turn off the water, glad he didn’t come home right as I was still moaning out his name. I stepped out of the shower and quickly toweled myself down.
“Shoua?”
I could hear his footsteps clomping up the stairs; he probably took two at a time, because he was at the end of my hallway in no time. “Shoua?” His voice shook with worry as he kept calling out to me.
I cracked the bathroom door open. “Calm down! I just got out of the shower,” I said before closing the door. I quickly threw on my PJs and a new pair of panties because I didn’t want Anthony to see me in a towel. He already saw enough of that last week, and I didn’t want to put him in that awkward position again.
“Can you blame me? I thought something bad happened to you,” he answered on the other side.
I opened the door with a sigh and blushing cheeks. “Nothing happened,” I said. “I was just taking a shower.”
His brows immediately rose as high as the sky. “But you never take morning showers.”
“I woke up sweating,” I lied, taking my lilac cup out of his hand as I quickly glanced at his lips. Then I tore my eyes away before he could catch my gaze and sipped the coffee. “Is this a lavender vanilla latte? It’s amazing.”
I kept my face neutral by sipping the coffee again and letting out a small moan of contentment. He had probably gone back to his place to make coffee for himself, Andy, and I. Julie was sensitive to caffeine and wasn’t much of a coffee drinker.
“Yeah, it is, but don’t change the topic on me. Your place is cooler than mine, to be honest. I was so cold last night I had to use a blanket,” Anthony said quickly. “You usually get cold pretty easily. I’m surprised.”
I headed into my bedroom with him trailing behind me. I was hoping to avoid a conversation where he pointed out that his body temperature is much hotter than mine and questioned how I could have been sweaty.
“You’re being weird,” he said as a matter of fact.
“No, I’m not.” I looked at him over my shoulder, quickly scanning his half-nakedness for a beating moment. He was only in his running shorts, beads of sweat still trailing down his chest. His cheeks were lightly flushed, his dark hair pushed back, and his gaze were glued to me. My body tingled and I wanted to pull my eyes away from his. “You’re the one being weird. Why are you running again?”
Anthony grinned, essentially shining a beam of bright sunlight directly into my eyes. “I’m getting ready to beat Andy’s ass.”
I was grateful he took my bait and we started to talk about something else other than why I showered. I would never understand why the twins kept competing with one another to see who was better at just about anything. But I admit it could be entertaining at times. Just not when they got heated over who won and lost.
“What are you two going to do? Race on one of the hiking trails to see who’s the fastest?” I deadpanned, uninterested.
They were equal in size, stature, speed, and stamina. So, I wasn’t sure why they continued to test each other. One of them always lost whatever they were doing by a mere millisecond. Then they’d argue about it or rub it in each other’s face about the wins or losses.
“Shouldn’t you be more excited about this as my girlfriend?” Anthony asked, showing off his cute puppy eyes.
He sure loved to forget that I was his fake girlfriend. Yet, I didn’t bother correcting him this time. I had done it enough times already and I supposed it didn’t matter much since we only had to fake it for another week.
Evelyn and Kelvin would leave soon and there would be no more pretending.
“No,” I answered. “If you lose, you usually win the next time you two race or compete or whatever. Then vice versa with Andy as well. It’s nothing new.”
Anthony scoffed and sat on my bed. “Ah, c’mon, Shoua. You’re no fun. Are you going to kiss me when I win at least?”
“No.”
He pouted. “Seriously? Even just a quick peck on the cheek for show in front of Evelyn and Kelvin?”
I struggled to reply for a second and then sighed. “Fine. But only if you win.”
That answer seemed to make Anthony giddy as his light eyes twinkled into bright honey golden orbs. His cheeks flushed even brighter.
“Then I’m going to win.” His voice was firm with certainty, making my face hot. “I’m going to hop in your shower. We should head out to pick everyone up in thirty.”
I nodded stiffly and shooed Anthony into the bathroom. I quickly put on some light skin care and a little bit of mascara. I couldn’t wait to jump into the lake when we got there. I have always hated summer, and this summer had been hotter than last year, making me constantly want to cool down. So, a swim in the lake sounded perfect. I was also looking forward to a cooler wardrobe. The only clothes I was bringing were light and breathable, aside from a workout bra and spandex shorts for hikes.
“You look pretty,” Anthony said, startling me. His voice was light, airy, and soft. His eyes were on my face as he took in my light makeup and the way my hair tied up in a bun. “I like it when you put your hair up so I can see more of that beautiful face.”
I didn’t even hear him come out of the bathroom. I quickly blinked at him as he stood at the door with my towel wrapped low around his waist again. He looked teasing.
He continued to scan me from head to toe with an audible, sharp inhale. His gaze danced over every single inch and crevice of my body. For a split second, it almost looked as if he was envisioning me naked as I stood in front of him in a thin summer dress that hugged the lack of curves I had, especially with my thick middle. But his eyes immediately returned to mine, gleaming brightly.
“And you smell good—like always,” he said softly.
He approached me slowly and soon he was towering over me as we stood mere inches from one another. He pushed my hair out of my face and grazed his calloused fingers against my neck right along the skin where his teeth scraped yesterday. A soft whimper caught in my throat, and his lips tipped into a smirk.
“When I win against my brother in our little competitions, remember to kiss me like I’m all yours. Because I’ll kiss you as if you’ve always been mine.”
“That’s if you win.” I could barely breathe out my answer.
He chuckled so low it vibrated through my body and went straight to the desire that pooled between my legs this morning. I clenched involuntarily as if his hard cock was in me, and I almost moaned. Instead, I let out a shaky breath I knew he heard clearly.
“Oh, baby, I will.”