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I COULDN’T REMEMBER ever feeling this upset for such a small reason. Was it small? I sat nursing my beer and watching Jon and Elise fawn over different musical choices. I couldn’t get Sarah off my mind. On the one hand, I felt good that it was apparently over between us. No more whining in the middle of the night or having to listen to her voice when I was busy at work. But I knew that I would miss her. And who could blame me? Her spontaneity and her perkiness were everything I wanted in a woman. Plus, she had great breasts.
But just now I had something else to worry about. Like the fact my best friend was apparently trying to pick up my cousin. My seventeen-year-old cousin, for at least another, what was it, five days? It only slightly made it better that Jon was in fact, only nineteen. But I knew Uncle Eli would be furious if I stood around and let Jon take advantage of Unc’s only daughter. I laughed to myself. Jon was far from Rico Suave, and he certainly wasn’t a looker. What did he have that she could possibly want?
“And that right there is the fastest motherboard that the world has ever seen,” Jon was saying proudly. Instead of music, they were now inspecting the insides of Jon’s massive computer, set up on a tiny card table in the corner of his studio apartment. “Sixty-Four Gigabytes of RAM and a little over three terabytes of memory, and I built it myself. Got a GS-500 Graphics modulator, too. Built that from scratch.”
“Wow!” Elise said, and she moved a few wires with a hesitant finger. Her tone wasn’t the fake one that Jon usually heard, that one that said, ‘I really have no idea what you’re talking about, but I want to impress you.’ No, it looked like she was really interested. Odd. “Is this the virtual reality 3D GS-500?”
Jon grinned like it was his birthday. “Yes, it is! I’m surprised you noticed.”
“Computers have always fascinated me,” she admitted, “computers are huge in France right now, too. We don’t have sports really, so all the boys usually spend their time playing on computers or video games.” She batted her eyes at him, and I wanted to groan. “All those colored wires and bronze sparks, technology is a wonderful thing,” she continued, “my computer lab at the American school had...”
Jon was smiling from ear to ear as she spoke.
I groaned and swigged my beer. He threw me a sharp look and narrowed his eyes. I rolled mine at him lifted my beer.
“... I’ve always wondered how the 3D module works, can you show me?” She promptly slung a leg over his lap and an arm around his neck. “Please?”
I nearly choked on my beer. I suddenly realized that Uncle’s innocent little daughter was experience with men. She was turning on all the charm, the hair flipping, the touching, just like Sarah did with me.
Sarah. God, I missed her. I downed my beer and swallowed hard. Whore.
Watching Elise and Jon was just too much. Who did this French girl think she was, anyway? I finished my beer and got up to retrieve another. If there was one thing in Jon’s fridge at all times – besides copious amounts of cheese dip, spoiled milk, and a jar of peanut butter – it was beer. Thank God for that.
As I walked back the cozy couple, I grabbed Elise by the wrist. “Six-inch rule, guys, ya know what Unc would say.”
Elise tossed her short hair and glared at me. “That I’m almost 18 and I can do whatever I want?”
Oh, that mouth! She was sitting in my best friend's lap and I suddenly wondered what her pert little lips would look like wrapped around my cock. Michael, you're a goddamn whore, I told myself. She's your cousin, no matter what the birth certificates say.
“Maybe so, but I’m still older, and I’m still your cousin,” I retorted, pushing those images violently out of my brain. This little French girl wasn’t going to get the drop on me.
Jon pulled her back onto his lap. “There’s a bottle of Parrot Bay in the freezer,” he said. “Go drown your sorrows and let us be.”
That was the bravest thing Jon had ever said to me. Jesus, a few hours in the arms of a girl and he was already telling me what to do. The power of the pussy, I guess, and didn’t I know it well.
I shook my head. I tried at least. I could imagine my Uncle’s lecture in the morning, but this time I didn’t much care. I found the rum and knocked back more than a few shots worth. Sarah. God, I missed her. How could she do this to me?
I never drank more than a beer when I went out. In case of emergencies, I wanted to be under the legal limit if something happened. I knew my uncle was paranoid for insisting on this, but he’d trained me well since two years ago when I’d turned 21. But tonight was different. I plopped into the recliner with the bottle.
“You’re an amazing woman,” Jon was saying.
I could hear her peck him on the cheek. “You are too,” she said and stifled a flirtatious giggle. “I mean, you’re a great guy. Tell me more about the computer.”
“You... you want to hear about it?” He was in shock; I guessed no woman had ever said that to him.
“Yes. Intelligence is pretty damn sexy; I told you that already.”
“And so are you,” he replied.
Another smack, this time on the lips. I bet they wouldn’t be talking about the computer at this point.
I groaned again and closed my eyes, taking another swig. I just wanted this night to end. Darkness closed around me, and I struggled to stay awake. Would there ever be a light at the end of this nightmare?