Stepbrother With Benefits 17 (Third Season) (3 page)

Y
ou may think
that me falling asleep while talking to Ethan on the phone is cute and sweet. I can't really say it's not, because I think it's cute and sweet, too. There's one huge drawback to it, though. Maybe you've realized what it is by now, but, um...

When I wake up the next morning, my phone is laying in bed with me. It's the first thing I notice, just sitting right there, covered by some of my hair, laying on the pillow. I'm not exactly fully lucid when I first wake up and it takes me a little while before I can understand anything. Most of the time I like to lay in bed for awhile and stare at the ceiling or out the window. It's relaxing, don't you think? It gives me time to think and for my brain to settle back into regularity after a night of rest.

That's what happens this morning. And then I realize how bad this is.

I mean, alright, in the grand scheme of bad things that could happen to me, this is pretty low on the scale. Maybe a one or two out of ten. It's not the worst thing ever or anything. It's more of a minor frustration than anything.

Mostly, my phone is dead. Deader than dead. I fell asleep while talking to Ethan, didn't I? So my phone was on all night? Probably not all night, since I don't think the battery would have lasted that long. I'm usually really good at this. I mean,
good girl
, that's me, so, you know?

Being a good girl includes being responsible, and I think that making sure to keep your phone charged is definitely the responsible thing to do in almost every situation. You never know when you'll need it, you know? What if something bad happens but my phone is dead? That'd be... um.... bad.

Yes, Ashley. Let's just state the obvious to ourself, why don't we? When bad things happen it's bad. You heard it here first, everyone.

I'm very good at assessing the situation, as you can see.

I get up, lazy and well-rested, and pick up my phone. I bring it to my charger that I keep plugged into the wall and plug it in. The phone blinks to life, sort of. The screen turns on to tell me that there's no possible way I'm using my phone any time soon. Not enough charge to even turn the phone on? Um... wow.

I guess I'm leaving it plugged in for awhile. The only saving grace here is that if my phone is dead, I think Ethan's phone must be, too. This isn't even a saving grace, though. I like being able to talk to Ethan in the morning. I think it'd be nice to call him and say good morning, but even texting back and forth is nice. How am I supposed to do that now?

I turn on my computer, just in case. If he's on and has his webchat program up, we can talk that way. We don't have to talk with our webcams or anything, either. I can just type out something. Like texting, but not really.

He's not on, though. Hmm...

I check Facebook quick, too. Facebook Messenger to the rescue! Or not. He's not on Facebook. Ethan isn't a huge Facebook person, and I can't say I am, either. I mostly talk to my mom there or other relatives I never see, and sometimes I post pictures. I don't really take a lot of pictures of myself, though. Unless it's for Ethan, I guess, but I'm going to be honest right now and say I am
not
posting any of those pictures on Facebook.

I'm pretty sure that's against their rules, too. Yes, let's just post the one of me lifting my shirt up and showing Ethan my breasts. I wonder if Aunt Becky will enjoy that one. I just imagine my grandma writing a reply of "Very perky, dear" or something like that.

Yes, um... so let's
not
do that. Or think about it ever again.
Ew
. I blame Ethan. He's not a good influence on me. I mean, really, I gave him a simulated blowjob yesterday, using a special microphone for binaural sounds to make it even more up close and personal, and I also used the realistic replica of his cock that he gave me to do it, so...

Obviously this is all Ethan's fault. The fact that I enjoyed it has nothing to do with any of this. Like I said, he's a bad influence!

Really, Ethan! Ugh.

The real problem at the moment is I have nothing to do. I don't have classes until later. I can't sit around and procrastinate by talking to Ethan or texting him. I could watch Netflix on my computer, I guess? I don't really know what to watch, though. I don't like searching through everything unless I'm in the mood. Usually I add a bunch of stuff at once to my watchlist so that I don't have to, but I haven't done that for awhile. Ethan's kind of been distracting me.

I could call my... nope, I can't call my mom. Phone's dead, remember?

I look again just in case, and, yes, it's still very dead. I hope I didn't kill it completely. If it needs an entirely new battery, um... how do I explain that to my mom? I feel like killing my phone during my first week of college sets a bad precedent for the rest of my school year.

Jacky isn't here, either. I don't know where she went. Maybe she has classes now. We should trade schedules and figure this out. Just so we know, right? I think maybe I'm the only one who cares about that kind of thing, but it's good to know what's going on and what's happening when, and...

Ah ha! I know what I'm going to do. I can still study, but in a different way. I have something to do now. I'll... shut up, Ethan. I can already hear him making fun of me, but I don't care. I have the course syllabus for each of my classes, so I know what reading we're going to do next. I can read next week's material in advance and prepare.

And then I don't know what I'll do. I have a final essay due for one of my classes where I get to pick my own topic, so I could start on that. I mean, yes, it's not due for months, but why not start it now? It's something to do, at least.

I pack up my laptop and get everything situated. I am
ready
. I put on some clothes quick, just whatever, nothing fancy, and grab my backpack, slinging it over my shoulder, then I head out.

I don't go very far. Just the coffee shop across the street. They open really early, but no one's here except the girl behind the counter right now. The occasional person on their way to work comes in and grabs a cup of coffee to go. Other than that, the entire inside of the cafe is mine for the taking.

I get a coffee and a small cinnamon apple danish and then look around for a seat. My favorite seat in the back is open and inviting, but I remember what happened yesterday. I doubt Jake will be here this early in the morning, or hopefully ever again at all, but it's good to be safe. I take a respectable seat near the window, but far enough away from the door that I don't feel obligated to look up and smile at everyone walking in for coffee.

I guess I don't have to smile and look up at
anyone
, but if you sit that close to the door it seems like the proper thing to do, right?

Shut up, Ethan!

The mental version of Ethan that teases me in my head sure is having fun today, isn't he? I wish I could text him and tell him so we could playfully tease each other. He never actually makes fun of me, at least not seriously. It's just fun and teasing, which leads to tickling and cuddling, which sometimes leads to...

Studying. Um... tickling and cuddling doesn't lead to studying, but I'm supposed to be studying! Cut it out, Ashley! After chastising myself silently, I set myself back on track. Taking out my laptop, I power it on, and...

I immediately check the webchat program after connecting to the coffee shop wi-fi and then Facebook to see if Ethan's on. I'm just checking, alright? Ugh. Leave me alone.

He's not on, by the way. Just in case you were curious. I know, I'm very upset, too.

I start to read ahead in my book instead. This class is interesting. I wasn't sure how I'd like it, but it's fun so far. It's about famous female artists throughout history. It's easy to find famous male artists, but popular female ones is a bit harder. Up until recently, that is.

I scan through the book and read about Sofonisba Anguissola and her contributions to the art world. She's my favorite so far. I go on Google on my computer quick and look her up, trying to find more of her paintings. I reach for my coffee and take a sip while admiring her art.

Then, um... art of a different sort catches my attention out of the corner of my eye.
Well, hello...

I stare. Because. I stare because I'm a girl. I think that's the reason. The barista behind the counter is staring with me. See? I'm not the only one. It's just us, but we're the only ones in the coffee shop at the moment, and we're both staring.

A shirtless guy jogs past the big front windows of the coffee shop. He stops at the corner, waiting for the light to turn green. Sweat and sunshine mix on his skin, leaving him slick and shining. He kind of looks like he belongs on the cover of a men's magazine, all glossy and muscular. Not the same as Ethan's kind of muscular, though. There's a lot of different kinds of muscular, like a swimmer's body, or a runner's. There's cyclists and body builders, or in Ethan's case a football player.

All different kinds of muscular. All different kinds of interesting.

I didn't just, um... I'm not sure what I'm doing right now. I blush and look away. The barista sees me and winks, then laughs.

"Nice view, huh?" she asks me. "He's the one you were with yesterday? You should invite him back so I can say hi a lot more. Is he dating anyone, or... are you interested, I guess I should ask?"

"What, me? Oh... oh, no," I say, fast. "I'm... I have a boyfriend, so... I don't actually know if Kevin is dating anyone, either. Um..."

I look back to... I don't know? To check if he's dating anyone? I know this sounds dumb, but in my mind it makes sense at the moment. I should ask Jacky, though. I bet she knows. That won't be awkward or anything. Alright, so maybe I won't ask her.

Kevin is looking at me now. He smiles and waves from his spot on the corner. I blush and wave back, smiling meekly. He gives me a thumbs up, then turns back to the street. The stoplights are red and the crosswalk is lit, so he goes back to his running. Before he gets to the street, he turns back to me and waves again, this time as a goodbye.

I look back at the girl behind the counter, who is giving me a funny look. "He's just a friend," I say. "I wasn't, um... ogling him or anything."

"It doesn't hurt to look every now and then," she says, grinning. "No touching for you, though! You have a boyfriend, really? Does he go to school here, or...?"

"Oh, no, he doesn't," I tell her. "It's kind of hard right now, actually. We spent basically the entire summer together, but now we're back at school. He's not too far away by plane, so it's not so bad. We're going to see each other every weekend. That's what we planned out. He'll come see me one weekend and then I'll go see him the next weekend. When he comes to see me I'll bring him by sometime, though."

"Aww," she says. "Sorry to hear about the distance. Long distance relationships suck. I tried it with my boyfriend last year, but it didn't work out for us. It's cool, though. Now I'm free to stare at your shirtless jogger friend."

She winks at me and I laugh.

"What happened with your relationship?" I ask. "Um... if you don't mind me asking, I mean. I'm just curious. We... we haven't really been in relationships, um..." I realize this sounds stupid, even if it's true, so I backtrack a little. "I mean, long distance and everything. It's new for us so we're still trying to figure it out."

"Well, it started out alright," she says. "Like you said, we planned on seeing each other a lot. Not every weekend, but every few weeks. We talked on the phone all the time, too. That went well for about a month."

"Then what happened?"

"I guess it happens a lot. I have a few friends who it happened to, too. I don't really know how to say this, because you seem sweet and I don't want to put you off of the whole long distance thing..."

She looks at me with... it's not a nervous look exactly, but kind of a sympathetic one? It's the sort of look you give someone when something bad has happened, or if you think something bad is going to happen. A slight pout of the lips, sad eyes, looking down, partway between staring at the ground and looking at me directly.

Uh oh.

"He cheated on me," she says softly. "It's hard, you know? I'm not going to make excuses for him. He was an asshole. I guess I should have realized it before that, because he was always kind of the bad boy type if you know what I mean. He made me feel special, though. He seemed like he'd changed when we were together, and we were together for awhile, but I guess, um... out of sight, out of mind, right? That's basically what happened."

"I mean, not that it'll happen to you!" she adds quickly. "You're always in here studying. I'm sure you didn't fall for the bad boy trap or anything. Yup... I guess I kind of always knew it was too good to be true. Bad boys are fun, but I don't think they make very good relationship material."

"Oh," I say. That's it.
Oh.

I have no idea what else to say. It's true, kind of. If you told me a few months ago that Ethan would be an amazing, perfect boyfriend, um... I would have probably laughed at you. I guess I wouldn't have laughed, because I'd want to be nice about it still, but I'd be really doubtful, and I'd probably try to convince you that Ethan could never be a good boyfriend.

Do you know Ethan? The same Ethan I know? Ethan Colton, bad boy extraordinaire, the one who has never been with a girl for more than a week or two?

Yup, that Ethan. I know him very well. I've known him since the second grade. He's basically always been like that. I can't remember a time when he wasn't like that.

Not until recently, at least. Not until me.

Lots of girls always thought they were the special ones. They were the ones who could tame the infamous bad boy football jock who seemed entirely too untameable. He'd treat you like a Queen for a couple of weeks, and then...

I knew all of this going into it. That's why it was only supposed to be for a week. I didn't want to get hurt. How can you get hurt when you make rules? That's what I thought at the time. That's what the rules were for. I didn't think I could get hurt, because... because I knew. I knew Ethan and I knew what I was doing.