Stepbrother With Benefits 16 (Third Season) (7 page)

"You're welcome," I say, before I realize what I'm saying.  I feel like this is better than what I said before, though.

"I'm glad I can keep running by here, though," he says, smiling at me.  "I love the smells.  You're in here a lot studying?  Maybe I'll stop in sometime.  I'll bring a shirt with me, don't worry."

"It does smell really nice," I say.  "You've really never been here?  It's just a small place, but they have the best coffee.  They do all the flavoring on their own.  You should go get one."

"Right now?" he asks, smirking at me.

"Yup!" I say with a nod.  "Do you have any money?  I can lend you some if you want.  You can just bring it by later or give it to Jacky or whatever."

"Thanks," he says.  "I brought my wallet.  I should be good.  Yeah, why not treat myself?  You want to help me pick something out?  That menu looks intense."

"It's not so bad," I say, laughing.  "Once you get used to it, at least.  It's just a bunch of flavors, but you can get a regular coffee, too."

Kevin gets up.  He comes to my side of the table and holds out his hand, helping me up like I'm a princess.  Which, I am.  I'm Ethan's Princess, aren't I?  It's a nice gesture, too, and Kevin's not too overbearing or anything.

We walk up to the counter and the barista smiles at us.  "You need a refill or anything?" she asks me.

"Oh, no, I'm fine for now.  I'm helping him pick something," I say, gesturing to Kevin.  "This is his first time coming in here."

"Oh yeah?" she asks.  "You look familiar, though..."

"Apparently all the regulars in here know me," Kevin says, grinning.  "I'm the guy who jogs by shirtless all the time."

I blush and mumble.  Really, why did I have to say that?

The barista laughs, then she winks at me.  "Oooh, you brought me a minor celebrity?  I'm excited!"

Kevin strikes a pose for her and laughs before turning back to me.  "What's your favorite?" he asks me.

"I'm ready," the barista says.  "Give me your best shot."

"Alright," I say.  To Kevin, I add, "Extra caffeine or no?"

"Sure," he says.  "I've got some studying to do, so why not?"

"You should get... half coffee, half hot chocolate, with a melted caramel drop, and then a shot of Irish cream espresso," I say while the girl behind the counter nods, mentally taking the order.

"I'll take one of those," Kevin says.

"Coming right up!" she says, cheery.

"This is your favorite?" he asks me, smiling while she goes to make the drink.

"I really like it," I say.  "I like a lot of the stuff here, though.  I like this one because they make the caramels themselves and then melt it in, so it's a little different than a regular caramel flavor.  With the hot chocolate and the Irish cream espresso, it tastes like you're drinking a candy bar."

"I'm in," Kevin says, laughing.  "I think this is already my favorite."

"You haven't even tried anything else!" I say, teasing him.

"I'll come in more often," he says.  "I'll make this the last stop on my run.  If you're here studying you're going to have to help me figure out what else to try, though.  That caramel hot chocolate Irish cream thing isn't even on the menu."

I nod, covert, like I'm a spy.  "It's a secret," I say.  "The secret menu.  Don't tell anyone."

"Ooooh," Kevin says, smirking.  "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone.  Wait, what about Jacky?"

"Alright, you can tell her, I guess."

The barista finishes up, then brings Kevin his coffee mix.  "Here you go, Mr. Shirtless Celebrity," she says, winking at him.

She rings him up and he pays her for the coffee, then he comes back to sit with me in my booth.

"You going to be here studying for awhile?" he asks me.

"I don't know if it's a good idea," I say.  "I guess I should go back."

"Nah, you've still got your coffee and all your stuff is here, right?  You should stay if you want."

"It's just, um... with Jake..."

I don't want to seem like I'm scared of Jake.  I just don't want to deal with him.  I don't even know if I can deal with him.  I know that sounds bad, and believe me I'm more than a little upset about it right now, but... well... I think we all know what just happened barely ten minutes ago, so...

"I've got to do some homework and reading tonight, too," Kevin says.  "I was going to go to the library, but this place looks nice and quiet."  He takes a sip of his coffee and his eyes widen.  "And... yeah, wow, this is amazing!  How about I go get my books while you watch my coffee and I'll come back and study with you?"

"Alright," I say.  "If you really want to."

He grins.  "Sounds great," he says.  "It's a date, then."  He slides out of the booth and stands to leave.  "I'll be right back.  Don't worry, I'm fast.  I'm the Shirtless Jogger afterall."

I roll my eyes at him and laugh.  He feigns jogging out of the shop, but it's mostly just him being silly and moving his arms back and forth fast while he walks out.

It's only after he leaves that I realize what he just said.  Um... it's a
date?

Just a study date, right?  I mean, there's nothing wrong with that.  It's not a real date.  It's just a thing people say.  I did tell him I have a boyfriend, so...

It's just a study date, Ashley, I tell myself.  Stop overanalzying it.

––––––––

T
his is way too fucking complicated.  I was just supposed to show up for a quick orientation, but then with my bright idea to have Caleb join the football team, that turned into, uh...

Fuck, how long have we been here?  It shouldn't even be this long, but everyone's just fucking around now.  Caleb's new and no one's ever seen him before, so he's the star of the show here.  I guess it doesn't hurt that he's pretty good, too.  Yeah, he's kind of awkward and clumsy with girls, but he's not so bad at football.

The problem is that there's tryouts, right?  Except Caleb missed them, so he's got his own personal tryout session at the moment, which basically involves everyone on the team except for the new guys testing him.  It was entertaining at first, and I knew this would happen.  I kind of wanted to get in on it, because harassing Caleb is fun sometimes.  It's just that Caleb is probably our best new recruit this year.

Don't get me wrong, he's not the most amazing player ever, but he's good, and it shows.  I'm willing to give credit when credit is due.  I'm not that much of an asshole, alright?

First, he ran laps.  That's kind of a basic one.  Running is sort of important for this.  The entire game is based around running across a field, and the field is pretty fucking huge compared to other sports, so yeah.  After ten laps, we gave him a break, though.  Most of the other new recruits only had to run four.

Then we found him some gear, and did some walkthroughs of a few of our plays.  The only thing I'm really willing to say there is that Caleb isn't as much of a wimp when he's in football gear.  He's a... fuck, this analogy won't work.  What am I even supposed to say about him?

You know how they say someone's a lover, not a fighter?  Except Caleb's not a lover and he's not a fighter, so I don't even know what the fuck that makes him.  He's just Caleb, I guess.  Whatever.  Way to fuck this up for me, Caleb.  Thanks a lot.

He can take a hit, though, which is great.  And I'm pretty sure if he manages to press his way through the offensive line as a defensive guard, he could knock a quarterbacks on his ass real fast.  Not me, because I will lay him the fuck out if he tries, but not everyone is as amazing as me, either.

Listen, I said I gave credit where credit is due before, and I'm giving myself the due credit that I deserve.  This isn't cocky or arrogant.  I guess it's a little cocky and arrogant.  I'm just real fucking confident in my abilities here.  Yeah, let's go with that.

Anyways, it's been like... three hours.  I texted Ashley after the original orientation was done and told her I was helping Caleb out with some stuff.  She didn't text me back, but whatever.  We took a break after hour number two, and I checked my phone, but... nothing.

I don't want to be some obsessive boyfriend here, but what the fuck, Princess?  I want to talk to you.

I think this is going to go on all day if I don't put a stop to it, so... yeah, Caleb, we're done.  You did good.  You're on the team.  I'll allow it.

"Can we just take a fucking vote or something?" I say to everyone.  "I'm pretty sure he's proven himself by now.  I have things to do, guys.  For real."

Everyone looks at me.  I look back at them.  I don't know what's going on, but I think we're having a moment.  Some real connection or something, like in those cheesy football movies, right?

"I vote yes," I say.  "Caleb, you're not the worst ever."

"He's pretty great," Joe says.  "Once he learns our defense, I think he'll be good.  Might even replace you, Allen."

"Fuck you," Allen says, laughing.  "Nah, you're good, Caleb.  What are you, a sophomore?"

Caleb nods and says, "Yeah."

"Cool," Allen says.  "This is my last year, so... we're definitely going to need someone to take my place next year.  I'd be happy to share the field with you, too.  Ethan told us what's up, and it sounds cool to me.  You think you're in for it?"

Caleb looks at me like he needs to confer with me or something.  This isn't a team decision, Caleb.  You've been running your ass off on the field for a few hours now.  This choice is all on you.

He just can't seem to say what he's thinking, though.  Fucking... ugh... seriously?

Alright, I know what to do.

"Hey, Dave, you remember that chick, Scarlet?" I ask our starting receiver.  "She came to some of our parties last year?"

"That girl with the tattoos?" Dave asks.  "What the fuck were those again?"

"What'd you think?  Maybe not cheerleader quality, but she's one hot piece of ass, huh?"

Caleb is staring at me like I just threatened to kill his entire family.  Good.  Grow some fucking balls, kid.

"Yeah... I wouldn't mind seeing what else she's got tattooed if you know what I mean," Dave says, grinning.  "You think she's into piercings?  Girls like her have all sorts of fun shit to play around with.  Clit piercings... fuck, man... I'd lick that pussy all damn night and the next morning."

"Don't talk about Scarlet like that!" Caleb says, first looking at me, then at Dave.

"Oh yeah?" I ask Caleb.  "Why not?"

Dave shakes his head and laughs at me, suddenly realizing what my angle is here.  I'm actually pretty sure at the last party of ours she went to Scarlet showed absolutely no interest in anyone on the football team.  She gave the cheerleaders these really cool henna tattoos, though.  The ones that wear off after a couple weeks, so nothing crazy or permanent, but the girls all loved her after that.  Also, Scarlet got to do her art stuff she loves.  She's not so bad when she's not being insane and crazy.

"Um... because, Scarlet is a nice person," Caleb says.

"What the fuck, Caleb?  Is that all you've got?" I ask him.

"I don't care if she's a nice person," Dave says.  "I want to know about whether she's got a clit piercing or not."

Without thinking, because he's Caleb, he says, "Uh, no, she doesn't."

Half the football team is intrigued now.  The other half is in the locker room taking a shower or something, but I'm pretty sure they'd be intrigued, too.

"Ooooooohhh," like... fucking everyone out here says.

"Yeah, how would you know?" I ask Caleb.  "You dating her or something?"

"Ethan, you know I'm not," Caleb says, giving me a dirty look.

"So you're like her girlfriend or something?  You friendzoned or what, kid?"

"I'm not even a kid!  We're the same age!"

"You're focusing on the wrong thing.  If you've got no intention of getting with Scarlet, then why can't Dave have a piece of her ass?"

"I have intentions," Caleb says, firm.  Alright, now we're getting somewhere.

"To get a piece of that ass?" I add for him.

"I don't want to rush anything," Caleb mumbles.

"Hey, I get it," Allen says.  "Tattoos aside, Scarlet seems like... alright, so she doesn't seem that nice, but I can see how she'd be girlfriend material, bro."

"Yeah, exactly," Caleb says.

"Hold on a second," I say to everyone.  Then, to Caleb, I add, "Caleb, how long have you known Scarlet?"

Caleb frowns at me, almost like he's pouting or something.  Look, only Ashley is allowed to pout at me.  Cut that shit out, Caleb.

"Uh... I think maybe sixteen years?  She was my next door neighbor for longer than that, but I don't know if we met before then."

"Do you even remember when you first met her?" I ask him.  "Seriously, you've probably known her since you were two days old or something.  I don't think anyone will ever accuse you of rushing things with Scarlet, Caleb."

"Yeah... if you don't make a move soon, uh... you've gotta do it, man," Dave says.  "We've got football rules and everything.  No one will fuck with her if you want.  If you join the team, that is.  That's just us, though.  What about all the other guys out there?"

"Yeah, I guess so..." Caleb says, mumbling.  "I want to, I just don't know how."

"You just walk right the fuck up to her," I say.  "Just walk right up and tell her... 'Scarlet, you, me, naked, now.  I'm going to fuck you hard and you're going to love it.  Let's go back to my room.'  It's as easy as that."

"It's only as easy as that if you're Ethan
fucking
Colton," Joe says, laughing and rolling his eyes at me.

"I love it when you use my middle name like that, Joe," I tell him, grinning.  "Keep it up."

"Yeah, fuck you, too," he says, laughing even more.

"Is that really your middle name?" Caleb asks me.  "Fucking?"

That makes everyone laugh.  I don't even know what to say.  I stare at Caleb, trying to say something, but I just can't.  This is two times today that he's left me completely speechless.  Way to go, Caleb.  Way to fucking go.

"Might as well be with all the girls he's with," Allen says, rolling his eyes at me.

"Yeah, yeah," I say, shrugging.