Sarah
“Come on, Sarah. Aren’t you ready yet?” I could hear Harry standing outside my bedroom door.
“I’m getting changed, Harry. I wouldn’t want to wear anything too sexy to have all the men in New York lusting after me, would I?”
“Come on, Sarah, be real,” he said, and I just glared at the door.
He’d really annoyed me at the fashion show. The way he’d treated me and spoken to me with such disrespect as if I were a little child. Who the hell did he think he was? He wasn’t my father. He wasn’t my grandfather. He wasn’t my uncle. He wasn’t even my brother. He was my friend. And as a friend, I didn’t appreciate the way that he spoke to me. So yeah, what about the dress? The dress was a little sheer. Who cared? Not me. What was a little nipple between friends? And it wasn’t like everyone could see, it was only if the light shone in a particular way and the light wasn’t shining brightly on me throughout the whole room.
I rolled my eyes as I looked at myself in the mirror, I was wearing a black dress that I had gotten when I was with Gemma a couple of days ago. It was shorter than I normally liked, but it fit me well. And it showed off my long legs, legs that I appreciated a lot more than I had when I was younger. When I was younger, I’d always thought I had thick calves and thighs, but now they looked shapely and sexy. I looked down at my heels and did a little twirl in my dress, I looked beautiful.
I was really happy about my makeover and I was happy that I’d seen Ethan and Jack’s eyes popping when they’d come up to me, I’d noticed the way they’d been checking me out. Everything was going according to plan, they definitely saw me as a woman now.
“Sarah, open up the door. If you don’t open the door, I’m coming in.” Harry banged again.
“Oh my gosh, Harry, can I get some privacy, please? I will be out in a second.” But as I spoke, the door opened and he peeked in.
“Aren’t you ready yet, Sarah?”
“Harry!” I shouted at him. I walked over to the door and hit him in the shoulder. “What if I was naked? What if I was in here in my bra and underwear? You can’t just come in like that.”
“Sarah, I’ve seen you in your bra and underwear many, many times. In fact, we were sleeping together in your bed the other day and you were practically naked.”
“No, I was not.” I shook my head at him. “How dare you insinuate we were practically naked?”
“Sarah, you had on panties and a T-shirt with no bra. I would say that’s pretty close to naked.”
“Pretty close to naked isn’t exactly naked, Harry. Thank you very much.”
“Oh, Sarah, do you always have to be so argumentative?”
“Oh, Harry, do you always have to be so stubborn and selfish?”
“Are you calling me selfish?” He shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He looked me up and down. “Are you wearing that dress?” His lips thinned in a tight line.
“Oh my god. What now, Harry?” He looked down at my legs and then at the hem of my skirt.
“Sarah, if you bend over your ass will be shown to the world.”
“And what?” I bent over and I flashed him my ass in a thong. I gasped as he reached over and slapped one of my ass cheeks. “Harry, what are you doing?” I laughed as I pulled away from him. “You can’t do that.”
“Yeah, okay, but think this through, Sarah. If you tell me I can’t do that, I’ll stop. Do you think guys in the club are going to stop when you tell them not to grab your ass? Because you know what they’ll be doing? They’ll be grabbing your ass.”
“No one can touch me if I don’t give them permission, thank you very much, Harry Parker Huntington.”
“Oh my god, Sarah, you are like a little child. You are so stubborn.”
“I don’t care what you think. This is what I’m wearing.”
“Uh-huh.” And he looked down at my heels. “How high are those heels? They look like they’re at least three inches.”
“And what?” I strutted my stuff away from him and walked down the corridor. “I look fabulous. I love my heels and I love my dress.” I stumbled a little bit as I walked and he laughed as he came out and into the corridor.
“Okay, Sarah. Sure. You might love the heels, but they don’t love you.”
“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m ready.”
“Do you want to bring some other shoes just in case these ones don’t work out for you?” He looked at me hopefully.
“These heels will be absolutely fine,” I lied. They were already starting to hurt my feet, but I wasn’t going to tell him that, I wasn’t going to let him win.
“Okay. Well, don’t you want to get a jacket or something?”
“Why do I need a jacket?”
“Because it’s winter and you’re going to freeze your ass off. I know you’re trying to make a point to me, Sarah, but I really don’t want you to die of a cold because you were too pigheaded.”
“I’m not pigheaded,” I said, but even as I spoke, I could hear my tone. “Fine. I will get a jacket. Hold on.” I walked back to my bedroom and grabbed a long gray wool jacket and put it on. And when I came out of the room, he looked at me again. He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and I wondered what he was thinking.
“You really do look nice though, Sarah. I do have to admit that,” he said with a small smile. “And your hair, you know, it’s not bad.”
“What do you mean it’s not bad?” I smiled at him. “It’s just, okay. Is that what you’re saying?”
“No, it’s more than okay, but I loved your hair before. You didn’t have to go blonde.”
“Yeah, I know I didn’t, but it’s nice to change. They say blondes have more fun, right?”
“I guess so.” He laughed. And then he walked over and he looked into my eyes. “You’re not usually one to wear so much makeup.”
“What do you mean?”
“You just have a lot going on. A lot of eyeshadow, and is that eyeliner and mascara?” He gazed down into my eyes and I felt my breath catching. He was so close, his brown eyes so warm, so tender as he stared at me. I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
“Well, you know, I wanted to change up my look a little. That was the whole point, Harry,” I said softly, wondering if he’d kiss me. Wondering why I felt like this. Wondering if I was going absolutely crazy.
“No, I know. And it’s different. It’s cool. It really makes your eyes pop. I never realized quite how blue they were.”
“Really? What did you think they were, green?”
“No, I mean, I’ve known they were blue, but it’s almost like I can see the exact color.”
“What’s the exact color?”
“They’re like an aquamarine,” he said softly. “Do you remember when we went to Saint Lucia that year?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Well, I can just remember what it was like when we were on the beach. The water, it was just so blue-green, like that turquoise color. And when I look into your eyes, I’m reminded of my time there.”
“So my eyes remind you of when you were in the Caribbean?”
“Yeah. And that’s a good thing.” He nodded and then looked away. “You know how much I loved my summers there.”
“I know. I went with you a couple of times, remember?”
“I know. You know you loved it too.”
“Yeah. They were really fun,” I admitted.
Summers in the Caribbean with Harry’s family had been amazing. They had a huge beach house on the island of Saint Lucia. And we would go down to the beach every day and collect shells and then swim in the ocean. It was like a magical paradise, a tropical wonderful oasis. We drank coconut water in the mornings, ate fresh mangoes and guava and papaya. And then for lunch, we’d have salads with freshly caught fish that was grilled outside in the back yard. In the evenings, we’d play board games, all of us, sitting around a table, laughing, listening to music.
And I’d really felt like one of the family. Harry’s brothers always treated me like a little sister, even though I wasn’t really part of the family. And his parents, well, his parents always treated me like one of the kids. None of them had really paid much attention to us, so Harry and I had been able to do what we wanted. We’d ride our bikes into the village and speak to the local people and then we’d go on little adventures in the jungles and to the markets, buying cheap little trinkets that must’ve cost only a couple of dollars in the States. It was a wonderful time, a magical time. And I often wondered if Harry thought about it the way I did, the way I looked back at it.
“I miss going, you know?” Harry said with a bemused expression on his face.
“What do you mean?” I asked him curiously.
“Those were just cool times, you know, when the whole family was there. We were young, we could do what we wanted. No worries. No hesitations.”
“We could still go. There’s nothing stopping us.”
“Yeah, but we’d never be able to get the whole family to go,” he said.
“But do we really need the whole family, Harry?” I asked him softly. “I mean, most of the time it was just the two of us exploring. Maybe we could do a Caribbean Island trip. We could go from island to island, island-hop. That would be cool.”
“Yeah. I think I’d like that.” He nodded, grabbed my hand. “I think I’d like that a lot. Now, are you ready?”
“I’ve been ready, Harry. Let’s go.”
“No, you haven’t been ready, Sarah. I’m the one that’s been asking—”
“Oh, now, now, Harry. Be a good boy.” I laughed. “Let’s go.” And we walked out of the apartment and headed to the club.
Lights were flashing and the music was blasting. I could barely hear myself think as I stood next to the bar, waiting for Harry to get us two drinks. My coat was at the coat rack and I stood there in my dress, feeling slightly exposed. Men were checking me out like crazy and while I appreciated their admiring gazes, one or two of them had come too close to me and had brushed past me in a way that made me feel slightly uncomfortable. Though I didn’t want Harry to know that because I knew he’d say “I told you so.”
“Hey,” he said finally as he came back. “Here’s a vodka Sprite.”
“Thank you,” I said and gave him a huge smile. He grinned back at me. I noticed his eyes drift to my breasts and then back up quickly.
“Want to dance?” he asked.
“Well, yeah, sure. But will we meet any guys that way?”
“What do you mean will we meet any gu— oh yeah,” he corrected himself. “Sure we will. Once the guys see you with me dancing, they’ll be jealous. And because they’ll be jealous, they’ll want you.”
“What do you mean they’ll be jealous and want me? That doesn’t make sense.”
“Ah, but Sarah, you don’t understand the male psyche. Men always want what another man has. So if they see you on the dance floor with me, a handsome, hot guy, they will think that you must be the bomb and they’ll want you too.”
“So you’re telling me that a guy will only want me because they see me with you?” I asked as I took a sip of my drink. “Wow, thanks, Harry.”
“That’s not what I’m saying, Sarah. I’m just saying that you’ll be more desirable because you’re with a guy like me.”
“Okay, Harry. Whatever. Come on, let’s dance,” I said, and then I started moving my hips in time to the beat. I absolutely loved this song. I could feel the alcohol already going to my head and I was starting to feel happy. “Come on. Let’s dance.”
“I’m coming, Sarah. I’m coming,” he said as he put his hand on my shoulder and walked behind me. I made my way to the dance floor and sipped down the rest of my drink before placing the empty cup on a high-top table. I moved my hands up in the air and started dancing around and singing loudly. I didn’t really know the words to the song, but I was making them up as I was going along. Harry was dancing next to me, smoothly and fluidly in the way that he did. He wasn’t the best dancer, but he had a way of being able to keep to the rhythm that made him oddly sexy.
I didn’t know where that thought came from. Did I really find Harry sexy? No, of course not. He wasn’t sexy. Yeah, he was handsome. He was a good-looking guy. Everyone knew that, I knew that. I didn’t say that he wasn’t handsome, but I didn’t find him sexy. I couldn’t possibly, could I? I gazed up into his face and he smiled down at me. His facial hair made him look even more distinguished and slightly older. I didn’t know what came over me, but I pushed myself closer to him and started moving up on him in time to the beat. It didn’t feel out of place because everyone around us was grinding up on each other. He looked down at me and smiled.
“You okay there, Sarah?”
“Yeah. Just having some fun. Just trying to make these guys jealous. You know how it is.”
He laughed at me and shook his head.
“Okay then.” Then he twisted me around and started grinding into me from the back. I danced in front of him and bent over slightly and moved my ass back and forth in time to the beat like the other girls were doing. I felt amazing, on top of the world. I felt sexy, almost like a million dollars. My body and the music were one and Harry was also into the beat. I looked over to the side as I moved back up again and I could see two guys checking me out. One of them was heading toward me and I smiled.
“Hey there,” he said.
“Hi,” I shouted so he could hear me above the music.
“Can I cut in and get this dance?”
“Sure,” I said. I looked back at Harry and smiled to let him know it was working, but he just frowned at me.
“I’m just going to dance with this guy, okay?”
“No,” he said shortly.
I pretended I didn’t hear him and walked away. Who did he think he was to tell me no? I started dancing with the new guy who immediately started grinding into me. I wasn’t sure exactly how to feel as that wasn’t my preferred method of dancing, but hey, he seemed like a nice enough guy.
“Come here often?” he shouted into my ear.
“Not really.” I laughed and shook my head, my blonde hair flowing past my shoulders.
“You’re really gorgeous,” he said. “Really, really hot.” He looked at my body. “Very nice.” He slid his hand around my waist, and I felt his hand going down to my ass. He slipped his hand up under my skirt and I felt him squeezing my ass, his hand moved toward the center of my ass and was about to slide down when I felt myself being pulled back.
“That’s enough.” Harry was angry and behind us. “Sorry mate, she’s dancing with me now.”
“Harry,” I said, though I was happy to see him.
“Sarah, don’t interrupt.”
“Harry.”
“Shut up, Sarah.” He grabbed me and he pulled me off of the dance floor. “We’re going.”
“What do you mean we’re going?” I said angrily. “We just got here.”
“Sarah, that guy was about to finger you.”
“What are you talking about?” Though I could feel myself blushing. The guy’s hand had been very close to the middle of my legs. I had a feeling that he was about to do something, though I didn’t want to admit that it was that. “He was just squeezing my ass. He was most probably an ass guy.”
“Sarah, he wasn’t just squeezing your ass. He was about to finger you. His fingers were on your panties and they were slipping between your legs. What is between your legs? Your vagina. What is your vagina? Your pussy. And what were his fingers going to do? They were going—”
“Okay. Enough.” I stopped him. “Harry, that’s just disgusting.”
“What’s disgusting is that you weren’t about to stop him, Sarah. Are you out of your mind? You don’t wear skimpy dresses like that, go dance with some strange guy that you don’t even know after I told you no, and then let him touch you like that and dance on him like that. And oh my god, Sarah, you piss me so much sometimes.”
“What do you mean I make you so angry sometimes. Why are you so frustrated?”
“I’m frustrated because you don’t listen to me.”
“What do you mean I don’t listen to you? This was your idea, Harry. You’re the one that suggested we go to this club so that you could help me find some guys. You haven’t helped me find one guy yet.”
“Oh my god, Sarah. This was a mistake.”
“Yeah, it was a mistake. It was a mistake for me to think that you actually were legitimately going to help me find a guy because you know what? In all twenty-five years of my life, you haven’t helped me find a guy yet.”
“I didn’t know you wanted help finding a guy, Sarah. I thought you were happy as you were.”
“Did you really, Harry? Did you really think I was happy being single and alone, sitting at home, listening to you talk about your dates? Going to movies with friends? Having some random kisses with some random girls? No. I want someone too. And you know plenty of guys and you never hooked me up, not once.”
“Sarah, the guys that I know are not good enough for you. I don’t want you—”
“I know, I know, you don’t want me hooking up with some asshole or whatever. Every guy is not going to be a bad guy, Harry. Okay? There’s going to be a good guy out there. And sometimes, maybe some girls have to kiss a lot of frogs. Maybe that’s what I have to do. Maybe I have to kiss a lot of frogs to meet the right guy. And you know what? I’m ready to start kissing them. And you know what else? Maybe I’m ready to start doing more than kissing them.”
“Oh,” he sighed and shook his head. He rubbed his forehead and then looked at me. “Oh, Sarah, I don’t know what to say.”
“I don’t know what to say, Harry, either. “
“I understand where you’re coming from. Let’s try and work on this. Okay?”
“Work on what Harry? Can we go back to the club now? I’m not—”
“I’d rather we go back home.”
“Hmm.” I was incensed and pissed.
“Can we go back to my place? I have something for you.”
“What do you mean you have something for me? What? A man? A gorgeous, handsome man that wants to take me to lunch tomorrow? Is that what you have?”
“No, but I have something even better.”
“What’s even better? You have two men for me? Two men that want to take me out tomorrow night, and maybe take my virginity?”
“Sarah, that’s not funny.”
“What’s not funny, Harry?” I said in a singsong voice and he frowned.
“Okay, Sarah. I know that you’re pissed and I’m sorry I overreacted, but that guy’s hands were all over you. You don’t know him and if he were to try to do something else, you wouldn’t have known what to do.”
“What do you mean if he were to try to do something else?”
“What if he would have unzipped his pants, huh, Sarah? What if he would have slipped his dick out and tried to fuck you? What would you have done then?”
“Harry!” My face went beet red. “He wouldn’t—”
“You don’t know, Sarah,” he cut me off. “You don’t know, okay? I’m just trying to protect you. I’m just trying to be there for you, that’s all.”
“Okay. Okay. I understand. I get it. Fine. Thank you.”
“Are you still mad at me?” He gave me his most endearing smile.
“I’m not mad at you. I’m just frustrated,” I sighed.
“Can we go then?” he said. “Maybe it wasn’t the best idea for us to do this together.”
“You think, Harry?”
“Okay. You were right. It wasn’t a good idea at all, but I thought it would be.”
“Yeah, you have a lot of good ideas that turn out not to be so good. Don’t you?”
“What are you trying to say, Sarah?”
“What do you think I’m trying to say?” I groaned. “Come on. Let’s go back to your place to see what you got me.”
“Come on. Let’s go.” And then we linked arms and walked down the street to hail a taxi to take us back to his place.
“So, I’m going to give this to you now, Sarah.”
“What is it?” I said from my seat on his comfy tan leather couch. I yawned as he walked into the room with a box.
“It’s one of your Christmas presents.”
“You actually got me a Christmas present already?” I looked at him in surprise.
“Of course.” He looked at me. “I got your Christmas presents throughout the year.”
“You did?” I was even more shocked. “I had no idea. I thought you just weren’t good with Christmas presents.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because you had me go buy your three girlfriends Christmas presents for you.”
“I had you buy their Christmas presents because I didn’t care about them, and I couldn’t be bothered to look for anything.” He shrugged. “But of course, I would buy your presents early. You’re my best friend, I love you.”
“Okay.” I grinned at him, suddenly feeling happier than I had all night. “What did you get for me?”
“Now, this isn’t your main present, but it’s something that I saw, and I think you’ll really love.”
“Okay. Let’s see,” I said, wondering what he’d gotten me. I really hoped it wasn’t going to be perfume. Especially after what he’d asked me to get the girls. He handed me the box and I opened it quickly. I pulled out some pieces of paper and frowned. “What are these?”
“Take the tissue paper off and you’ll see,” he said.
I took the tissue paper off lightly and looked down at six prints of different princesses.
“Oh my god. Wow.” I couldn’t believe what I saw. There were six portraits of the six wives of Henry VIII. “No way, Harry. I can’t believe you thought to get me this.”
“Yeah.” And he picked up the pictures. “This one’s Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife. This is Anne Boleyn, this is Jane Seymour, this is Anne of Cleves, this is Catherine Howard, and this is Catherine Parr.”
“Wow. You know their names?” I looked at him in shock. “You hate history.”
“I hate history, yeah, but you love it. I do listen to you when you talk, you know that, right, Sarah? That’s one of your interests and well, if it’s an interest of yours, I’m going to know something about it.”
“Wow. This is really cool. Thank you. I’m just totally blown away. I don’t know what to say.”
“Do you like them?” He looked nervous and I nodded.
“Of course I love them. I absolutely love them.”
“I wanted to frame them, but I wanted you to choose the frames.” He gave me a happy smile. “I thought that we could go down to a framing shop and then you could see which ones you wanted.”
“Oh, you don’t ha—”
“Yes, I do. I cannot just give you prints without framing them and then I’ll come over and I’ll help you put them up on your wall. I think you’ll want to put them in your study or something.”
“Yeah, that would be really cool. Thank you, Harry.”
“My pleasure.” He came over and sat next to me on the couch. “I know you’re pissed at me about tonight and I’m sorry. Okay?” He looked my dress up and down. “Though I should tell you, that really was not an appropriate dress to wear.”
I just stared at him for a few seconds and kept my mouth shut. It was none of his business what sort of outfits I wore, but for now, I was going to let it go because his present had been so thoughtful.
“Thank you, Harry,” I said and I leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He moved his face slightly so that as I pulled away, our lips pressed against each other’s for one brief second. We both looked dazed as we pulled back. “Oops.” I laughed. And then he just stared at me, not saying anything. There was electricity in the air. And that was the first time, that I think in our lives, that neither one of us had known what to say.