Chapter 1: Josh

Josh backed through the door from his parent’s garage, wrestling his overflowing laundry hamper after him. The washer and dryer were in the narrow hallway between the garage and the kitchen, so he dropped the hamper with a thud.

“Hello?” Lauren called from the living room.

Josh recognized her voice instantly. She was the teenaged babysitter his parents had always used when they worked late or went out. She came over from across the street to care for his three younger half-sisters. When Dad remarried and started his new family, Josh had been a busy high schooler and Lauren had been a responsible pre-teen. Now that he was finishing his first year of college, she was in high school and had become a family fixture.

“It’s just me. I ran out of underwear.”

Josh began tossing in clothes while the washer filled with water. When it was full of clothes, he dumped in a capful of soap and dropped the lid. Lauren was leaning against the doorway in khaki shorts and a pink babydoll tee when he finished.

“You must not care if your whites come out gray,” Lauren said with a smirk.

“I don’t have any whites. Even my boxer-briefs and socks are colorful.”

Josh leaned against the noisy washer and crossed his arms. Lauren had grown up. Her head was still a few inches below his chin, but her hips had filled out those tight shorts. As his eyes drifted back up to her face they paused when he noticed the mosquito bites on her chest had grown into nice little teacups.

Lauren’s smile slipped as she raised an eyebrow. “When did you become a pig?”

Busted. “Can’t help noticing,” he shrugged.

After a loud huff, Laren turned away to walk back through the kitchen. Her shorts looked even better from behind, then he reminded himself she was still a kid. A barefooted, red toenailed, slim legged, very shapely kid.

Josh shook off the illicit thoughts and made his way to the pantry, happy to see his mother still stocked his favorites. He grabbed a bag of buttery popcorn and tossed it in the microwave. While the bag spun and the noisy fan blew, Josh leaned over the counter to see Lauren’s school books spread out on the coffee table. She was writing in a three-ring binder.

“Whatcha workin’ on?”

“Book report,” she mumbled without looking up.

“What book?”

She shot a snotty look over her shoulder. “Don’t you have something better to do than bug me?”

“Nope.” The popcorn began popping. The buttery scent made his mouth water.

“Emma by Jane Austen.” She returned to her report and continued writing.

“You ever see the movie?” Josh asked with a grin, knowing he was irritating her. “We’ve got it if you want to watch it with me.” She sat up but didn’t turn around. “I’m making popcorn.”

“I can hear, dumbass,” she growled.

“So you wanna see it?” Josh asked with a chuckle. She had spirit, he had to give her that.

“Will it make you shut up?” she asked over her shoulder. Her eyes shot sparks at him.

“Maybe.”

“Fine.”

Josh dumped the popcorn into a large bowl and grabbed a couple of sodas from the fridge on his way to the living room. Lauren was sitting on the floor in front of the couch at the coffee table. After putting the bowl down on the floor next to her, he popped the top on the cans and placed them on the coffee table.

“I thought you were going to put a movie on?” Lauren asked as she grabbed a handful of popcorn without looking up at him.

Josh got the movie from the shelf near the television and loaded the disc in the DVD player. Then he returned to the couch to lay behind Lauren. The video started with the usual stark warning messages about copying, but Josh ignored them like he did the louder one ringing in his mind. On impulse he reached out to run his fingers through Lauren’s ponytail. Her nut brown hair was surprisingly soft.

“Stop it!” Lauren shrieked as she batted his hand away and gave him a confused look. “What are you doing?”

“Tickling you?” Josh laughed.

“So you noticed I grew boobs and suddenly you think it’s okay to tickle me?” she asked in annoyed tone.

“Why not?” Josh asked as he gave her a cheeky grin.

Lauren rolled her eyes and mocked him, “Why not?“

Irritating Lauren was more fun than messing with his sisters. They eventually ignored him, but Lauren always got more frustrated. Growing up as an only child had her acting like a little adult instead of a kid. Having no brothers or sisters also meant she had no experience with the kinds of harassment siblings regularly gave and endured.

He reached over to run his palm up her back to see if he could get a another rise out of her. The thin lines of her bra were detectable through the fabric of her t-shirt. Her ponytail left her neck exposed, with delicate curls escaping at her hairline. A subtle perfume tickled his nose. A minty, apple scent that urged him to lean closer and take a deeper breath of her hair.

After initially tensing at his touch, she relaxed a little while he continued to rub the center of her back. Then he pressed a bit deeper to give her a one-handed massage across her shoulders. There was good muscle tone under his fingers. By the time she turned her head a little to look back at him, he felt a stirring in his shorts.

“What are you doing?”

“Can’t a guy rub someone’s back?”

“Not you,” she whispered. A pained look flashed across her face. “Not me.”

“Why not you?” he asked with a matching whisper. He knew it was tormenting her. She’d had an obvious crush on him when she was younger. He knew he ought to stop, but kept rubbing the muscles on her shoulders anyway.

Her eyes narrowed and she sat back, pushing his hand away. “I’ve got to finish this report tonight. I don’t have time to work on it this weekend.”

“I’ll help if you want,” he offered with a cheeky smirk.

“It’s Friday night. You’re doing laundry and offering to help a highschool girl with her homework. Has anyone told you that you suck at college, dude?”

“Good one,” he chuckled at her dig. “Maybe I’m just trying to be nice.”

“Oh no, I don’t think that’s it at all.” She turned back around and picked up her pencil.

The movie had gotten past the trailers and credits at last, but Josh found himself leaning closer to read her report over her shoulder.

Lauren’s thesis was that Jane Austen took a young and lively Emma Woodhouse and turned her into the dutiful wife of a wealthy, older man. In the process, she lost what made her interesting and unique in exchange for love and security with a father figure. She went on to give good examples from the book that supported her thesis. Josh remembered reading the story and found himself fascinated by her analysis and insight.

Lauren shivered, then shoved his face away from her shoulder. “Stop breathing on me,” she hissed in genuine anger.

“Sorry, I was just reading your report. It’s really good, Lauren.”

“Would you just give it up!” Lauren spun around to face the couch with a deep flush. “Just how stupid do you think I am? I know you don’t really like me. You’ve never paid attention to me before and now I’m supposed to believe that Joshua Alexander—” She stopped that comment just when it got interesting to shout, “Just leave me alone!”

“Hold up,” Josh said as he sat up to pause the movie with the remote. “It wasn’t a line. I saw a couple of sentences that were too long and there was some odd phrasing here and there, but the thesis is really is solid.”

“Which sentences?” she asked, her tone calling him out.

“Here,” he said and spun her binder around. “One page back. This paragraph is basically one long sentence and it shouldn’t be. I’d break it apart here and here.” He tapped his finger on the page to show her where he meant. “This middle part is really the topic sentence for that point, so rearrange them like this.” He indicated the order he meant with his finger.

Lauren kept looking back between the page and his face as if gauging his sincerity. He tried to keep a serious expression on his face, but anger made her even hotter. Eventually Josh slid down to the floor with her and they had a ten minute discussion about the story and her paper.

Talking about the book report set her at ease. Josh loved his study group discussions at college and could tell she would, too, when she got there. Watching her get passionate about a literary character was infectious. He loved teasing her, but as their conversation wound down he realized he didn’t want to ruin the moment they’d just had.

“Wow. thanks,” Lauren said at last with a tone that betrayed her surprise.

“For the record, I’ve always liked you. We just never had much in common when you were younger. Sorry for picking on you earlier. Can we start over?”

“Are you’re gonna stare at my boobs again?” she teased. Unfortunately, her comment made his eyes dart to her chest. She punched him in the upper arm before complaining, “Jeez, Josh!”

“I’m sorry!” He rubbed his arm. “You can’t talk about your boobs without making me look at them. I swear I wasn’t even thinking about them until you brought ‘em up again.”

“It’s bad enough I have to deal with shit like this at school. I swear it’s like that South Park episode about Raisins over there. The guys all grunt like animals. I used to think you were so mature.”

“Hey,” Josh warned. “I am mature.”

“My boyfriend is more mature than you are,” Lauren said with a weary shake of her head.

“Boyfriend?” Josh asked with an incredulous bounce in his tone. “Does your dad know about him?”

“Of course,” Lauren laughed. “Dad thinks he’s great.”

Imagining her kissing some pimply high school guy made his chest ache for no good reason. The feeling made him want to take her down a peg or two. “He’s just being cool right now to get your guard down.”

“He’s not like that. He’s nice.”

“If he’s that nice, then he’s gay and you’re his beard.”

“Oh my God,” Lauren exclaimed through laughter. “You can’t talk about Bruce like that!”

“Seriously?” Josh laughed. “His name’s Bruce? Oh, yeah, definitely gay.”

“He’s definitely not gay,” Lauren murmured without meeting his eyes, then returned to making the changes to the book report they had discussed.

Now he imagined her doing more than kissing Bruce. Damnit, it’s not like he actually wanted to bang his parent’s babysitter. He looked at her again. Maybe.

The washer spun down and stopped. Josh got up to move the wet clothes to the dryer and loaded up the washer with the rest of his dirty clothes. While he poured on the soap he decided to stop teasing her. It wasn’t funny anymore.

When he got back to the couch, he grabbed the remote to start the movie again and sat at the far end of the couch, away from Lauren. He tried to focus on the movie, but his eyes were drawn back to those shiny red nails that moved as she wrote.

A stray bit of hair tickled along her cheek. When she absently tucked it behind her ear he felt his heart skip a beat. Simply gorgeous. She must have felt his scrutiny. His eyes shifted back to the television screen just as she turned her head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw her smile at him for a moment, then she returned to her paper.

Josh pulled out his phone and shot a text to his regular hookup at school. Gillian and her friends had thrown a party early in the school year. After the party, Josh had spent enough time with Gillian to warm her up and get her off first. She’d taken a little longer than most girls to get there, but that just made it more satisfying in the end. Turns out she’d never had anyone else get her there before. She wasn’t interested in getting serious, but they still got together a couple of times a week for sex.

He needed to get Lauren off his mind fast. Gillian was usually up for a late call, but her reply said she was out of town with a frowny face.

“When are Mom and Dad getting home?” Josh asked, hoping it was soon. He put away his phone while Lauren finished a bite of popcorn.

“Late. It’s some kind of formal function for the hospital. Your mom had on this fantastic looking little black dress and heels. I didn’t know if your dad was gonna make it out the door, the way he kept looking at her.”

Josh sighed and mentally went through his prospect list. The problem was most of the girls he knew were not as casual as Gillian. Some would be offended by a late night booty call and others would read too much into it.

Lauren drew up her legs and crossed them as she leaned over the coffee table to review her paper from the beginning. There was a tiny flash of white panty peeking out the leg of her shorts. Josh did his best to ignore it, but his own shorts grew tighter as he pondered what the thin stretch of cotton was covering. He couldn’t watch the movie without constantly glancing over.

“Done,” Lauren announced.

She shut and stacked her books, then picked up the can of soda and the bowl of popcorn before sitting in the middle of the couch. If she had sat at the other end he might have been able to ignore her until his laundry was done. Then she hooked her bare toes on the edge of the coffee table.

Red toenails, perfectly painted. The delicate skin around her ankles. Her calves and thighs flexed as she sat there, accentuating her feminine lines. Josh had to shift around slightly because of the hairs pulling as he stiffened. He wanted to be able to touch those legs, to kiss those ankles, and part those thighs to taste her liquid center. Damn it, she’s too young!

He wondered if Bruce had tasted her. Had he gotten her off yet? Gotten her to that wild state of abandon he was certain she was capable of? The pressure of his desire was multiplied by his irrational jealousy. It made no sense for him to be so upset. She was a family friend, not some coed at school.

“She’s so stupid,” Lauren muttered at the screen. “I mean, I know Austen wrote her to be, but it hurts to watch it acted out like this.”

“What?” Josh tried to pull his thoughts out of the mire he was in.

“The movie,” she said without taking her eyes off the screen. “It hurts to watch movies where people do such idiotic things. Like Napoleon Dynamite. I can’t finish it.”

“You don’t like Napoleon Dynamite?” Josh watched as she stretched her back out and raised her hands up above her head. Her shirt pulled tighter across her chest and drew his gaze down.

“Eyes up here,” she said as she snapped her fingers to draw his attention away from her breasts. “I can’t stand movies where the characters get in awkward situations like this.”

“But you love the book.”

“Yeah, but it’s different seeing it.” She lowered her arms after her stretch, grabbed a handful of popcorn, and munched it quickly. “Like porn. I could read erotica all day long, but porn does nothing for me.”

“Uh...” Josh suddenly felt like a punch drunk fighter. She reads erotica? What kind?

“Except for gay porn. I don’t know why I like it, but they always seem to be enjoying themselves.” She acted like discussing erotica and porn with him didn’t phase her, but even confused Josh caught the color rising up her cheeks.

“The guys are cut and there’s twice as many dicks,” Josh said before he realized what he’d said.

“Huh?”

He looked back at the movie to keep from losing his train of thought again. “Like the way guys always watch lesbian porn. Twice as much of the stuff we love. Well, except for fake-fingernail lesbians in stripper shoes. Nobody likes those.”

“Oh.” Lauren ate another handful of popcorn. “I’m sorry, I can’t watch this. It’s making my skin crawl.” She reached over and grabbed the remote to stop the movie.

“So,” Josh said, trying to get back on his game. “Erotica? I bet your dad doesn’t know about that.”

“No way,” she said. Her expression was neutral, like she was still trying to be mature about it, but her flush deepened. “So now you know about me and Bruce. Are you seeing anyone?”

“Gillian.” He was relieved he could use her name as a shield even if her body was far away. “She’s just a friend.”

“With benefits?” Lauren asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah.” Talking about this with Lauren was making his chest ache. “She’s too busy in pre-law and I’m not much on commitment.”

“Figured,” she said with a sniff.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, you’ve always been a huge player. Girls were still talking about you when I got to high school.”

“Who was talking about me?” Josh said, turning to face her on the couch.

“You remember Marissa Long? She always raved about you.”

“I never hooked up with her,” Josh answered reflexively, then had to think. “Did I?”

“You didn’t have sex with her, but you got her off after the homecoming game last year. It was at some party you came back to school for, I think.”

He thought he remembered her. “Long dark hair, right? Dancer or something?”

“Yeah, that’s her.” Lauren looked up and rolled her eyes. “God, I was so—I got so tired of hearing about it.” She drained the last of her coke and got up without looking his way. “I’m gonna make sure the girls are sleeping okay.”

He couldn’t look away from her tight shorts as she walked up the stairs. Josh was certain she had been going to say I was so jealous, but caught herself at the last second. Maybe she was suffering the same kind of torment he was.