“You…you bought him?” She looked back at me in disbelief.
“Holy Toledo!”
“Yup. He’s ours.”
“How…did you afford it? He’s expensive!”
“I put him on layaway.”
“They have that for birds?”
“The store employees knew how much you loved him, and when I told them I wanted to buy him for you, they worked with me. I’ve been saving and paying in installments every week since he was returned to the store. They held him until this afternoon when I picked him up.”
The only other time I had ever seen Skylar cry was when I left town as a kid. But now, her eyes were filling with happy tears, and I wasn’t sure how to react. I just knew that being the one responsible for making her happy made me giddy.
“This is the best gift anyone has ever given me.”
I kept my hands in my pockets to squelch the urge to hug her and to discourage her from coming near me. “I was thinking I’d keep him here for you. I know you say you’re a light sleeper. I think I can sleep through anything. They said he could get kind of noisy when he gets temperamental. I got him this special breathable blanket to throw over the cage at night, to teach him to sleep on my schedule. He needs it dark to sleep.”
“Holy Toledo!”
“Can I take him out?”
“He’s yours. Do whatever you want.”
She carefully opened the cage and lifted him out onto her finger. “Hey, buddy. Remember me? Guess what? You’re mine now. I can’t believe it. I love you. Yes, I do. I love you so much.” She kissed his beak and continued whispering sweet nothings.
Lucky-ass bird.
You’re mine now. I love you. I closed my eyes for a second, pretending that she was saying those things to me. Damn bird was supposed to distract from my feelings, not enhance them.
Seamus’ wings were flapping like crazy now. We actually only guessed on his gender, but something told me he was definitely all male.
“Holy Toledo.”
***
It started to dawn on me why that other customer returned Seamus to the pet store.
My mother walked into my room about two in the morning. “Did you get a dog for her, too? What the hell is going on?”
I had my pillow wrapped around my head. “No! This thing just started barking out of nowhere.”
“Apparently, he misses his old stomping grounds,” she joked.
I threw the pillow in frustration. “What the hell do I do?”
“Well, you can’t exactly return him.”
“No. I couldn’t do that to Skylar.”
My mother sat at the foot of my bed and laughed, “You would do anything for that girl, wouldn’t you?”
“Mom…” I said, dismissively.
I hadn’t discussed my feelings for Skylar with my mother, and I certainly wasn’t going to get into it in the middle of the night with a barking parrot.
“Okay. We’ll have to do some internet research on how to get him to stop. In the meantime, I’ll put some earplugs in.”
I returned the pillow to my ears as my mother left the room.
After another half-hour of barking and some howling now mixed in, I turned on the light and met him face to face.
“Stop BARKING!”
He continued to yelp in my face.
I pointed my index finger. “Look. If you don’t cut that out, I don’t bring the girl back here to see you. No more girl! You hear me? I’m tired. NO MORE GIRL.”
Seamus flapped his wings and tilted his head like he understood. He flew around the cage in a flustered panic, and when I covered him again with the breathable blanket, by some miracle…the barking stopped.
Coincidence? I think not. Seamus and I apparently had something in common.
***
I had picked up more hours at the coffee shop the following week to help pay for Seamus, and that also meant less time with Skylar, which was probably a good thing.
Thursday was my day off, so she and Davey were supposed to come over and do homework around four.
About an hour earlier, my phone rang. It was Skylar. I picked up. “Hey, you.”
“I’m out front. I don’t think your doorbell is working. It’s pouring rain, and I lost my house key. Can I come in?”
“Uh…yeah. Sure. I’ll be right down.”
This would be the first time we were totally alone in my house since before the carnival, but what was I supposed to do?
When I opened the door, her hair was sopping wet and so were her clothes. That fucking Catholic school uniform was already a tease, but now, it was stuck to her body. It was the hottest thing I had ever seen.
Inhaling her scent as she brushed past me was like taking a hit of a drug. “Thank goodness you were home.”
“Yeah. Thank goodness,” I muttered under my breath, watching her go up the stairs to my room. I panicked. “Where are you going?”
“I wanna see Seamus.”
Fuck.
“Oh. Yeah.”
The bird was flitting around like crazy when she walked into the room. He was practically dead from the neck down and the ass up when it was just the two of us.
“Seamus! Mama’s here!” Skylar said.
Some water dripped off of her hair down the back of her white dress shirt. I could see the back of her bra through the wet material, and as she bent to take Seamus out of the cage, my eyes trailed down to the sight of her skirt riding up her legs and those fucking knee socks.
As much as I tried to control it, my mind went there, to that place I tried so hard to stay away from. All I could think about was what it would feel like to be sandwiched between those legs, and I felt myself getting hard. This was not good.
It got worse when she turned around with the bird perched on her finger. Her nipples were completely visible through the thin, wet fabric of her shirt. Water continued to drip down off of her hair onto her chest. My lips tingled as I imagined what it would be like to lick the water right off of her. My body tensed as she approached and sat next to me on the bed.
“You’ve been a bad boy.”
My pulse quickened. “Huh?”
“Seamus. He’s been bad. Your mom told me about the barking.”
Phew. I thought she had been reading my mind.
“Oh! Yeah. Well, we kind of came to an understanding with that…he and I. It’s all good now. He doesn’t do it as much.”
“That’s good.” She kissed his beak.
“Holy Toledo!”
He was in his glory, hamming it up for her. I was onto him now.
She was sitting so close to me that I could smell the rain on her body mixed with her perfume. The urge to kiss her was overwhelming, and I wished I could erase the memory of what it actually felt like.
“I’m sorry. I’m getting you all wet, aren’t I?”
My breathing was erratic now. “What?”
“I should probably get out of these clothes.”
Fuck. What? No.
My dick heard that loud and clear.
“Do you have something I could change into?”
I do. I just can’t stand up right now, or you’re gonna see how much I want you.
“Yeah. Um…go into my closet and pick whatever you want.”
“Thanks.”
She returned Seamus to his cage before walking over and taking a long, white t-shirt off a hanger.
Continuing to be paralyzed by my erection, I stayed on the bed and pointed to my chest of drawers. “There are some shorts in there. My pants would be a little too long for you.”
She looked back and smiled at me. “You think? Just a little.” She grabbed a pair of shorts with a drawstring. “Where can I change?”
Right here. On top of me.
“The bathroom downstairs.” That was the safest place because it was the furthest spot from my cock, who was now standing in line for front row tickets to Skylar’s wardrobe change. I needed as much time as possible to get rid of his exciteme
nt before she came back.
“I’ll be right back.”
“Take your time.”
When I could hear that she was downstairs, I got up and tried to rationalize with my dick.
“Come on. We can do this. Go down.”
Nothing was changing. She could not see me like this.
“Fucking boner. Go down!”
I paced the room, continuing my attempt to reason with it.
Seamus was flapping his wings. “What are you looking at? I suppose you think this is funny.”
“Holy Toledo!”
“Yeah. Fuck you.”
I decided I had no choice but to jump in the upstairs shower. I’d have to make up a story for the sudden need to bathe. “Skylar, I just shit myself waiting for you to come back upstairs…”
She was still downstairs when I turned the shower on to the coldest setting and got in. It wasn’t working, so I warmed the water and did the only thing I could. I let myself think about undressing her and sucking every ounce of water off her body as I jerked myself off and came all over the tile wall. It was one of the most intense orgasms I had ever given myself.
I dried off and now, I was definitely ready to go back. She’d be out of that wet uniform, dressed in my baggy clothes, and we’d be good to go.
When I returned to the bedroom, she was sitting back on the bed holding Seamus. She had brushed through her wet hair and still looked so fucking beautiful. I loved seeing her in my t-shirt, even though it looked more like a dress.
“You were taking a shower?”
“Yeah…um…sometimes I do that in the afternoon. It’s…refreshing.”
She laughed with a look of disbelief. “Okay. That’s weird.”
I changed the subject. “You want to do some homework?”
It was almost four. Where the hell was Davey?
We opened our books, and I moved over to the desk while Skylar lay on her stomach on the bed.
We fell into a nice, comfortable silence as a Coldplay song played from my iPod dock on low volume. Despite my obvious discomfort over my physical attraction to her, these were really the moments I loved best with Skylar, just sitting around, spending quiet time together.
“Fucking boner. Go down!”
Skylar hopped up from the bed and turned toward Seamus. “What was that? What did he just say?”
“Fucking boner. Go down!”
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I tried my best to play dumb. “I don’t know what he’s saying.”
“It sounds like he’s saying ‘fucking boner…go down?’”
“Yeah, that’s what it sounds like, doesn’t it?”
I knew I repeated those words several times when Skylar was changing downstairs. It figured Seamus would take this opportunity to suddenly regain his ability to mimic just so he could screw me over.
She covered her mouth in laughter. “That is nuts. He’s so unpredictable lately.” She walked over to the cage and took Seamus out. He flapped his wings and turned his head slowly toward me, in his own silent way telling me to “fuck off.”
I laughed along with her, but really, I wanted to hide in the closet. She was smart and knew damn well where he must have learned his new phrase.
My phone chimed.
“It’s Davey. He’s downstairs.”
I welcomed the opportunity to get out of that room for a minute. Today was definitely not my day.
“Yo,” he said, as he entered, carrying a stack of books up the stairs.
Skylar was still playing with the bird when we returned to my room.
“Hey, Davey.”
“Fucking boner. Go down!”
“Hey, Skylar. Uh…” He looked at me. “What the hell did that bird just say?”
I shook my head and glared at him in a silent warning not to push it. Davey gave me a knowing but amused look.
Skylar returned Seamus to his perch in the cage and lay back down on my bed. “Are you guys cold?”
“Not really,” I said.
“I have the chills for some reason. I think I’m coming down with something. Do you mind if I use your covers?”
“Not at all.”
My sheets were going to smell like her tonight.
The three of us opened our books and quietly got to work. From time to time, I would look up at Skylar in my bed. She was still shivering. Davey seemed to catch me staring at her at one point and rolled his eyes. I gave him the finger, and he didn’t return it like he usually did. He would get back at me later in his own special way.
“When it comes to Skylar, I can’t figure out if you’re Himeros or Pothos, Mitch.”
“Say what?”
“I’m studying for my Greek mythology test. We have to memorize some of the Gods.”
“What does this have to do with me?”
His dreads flew around as he just laughed hysterically and didn’t say anything.
Skylar looked up from the bed but didn’t seem too affected by the comment. She continued to shiver.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Not really. I’m feeling kind of achy. I think I have a fever. I should probably go home.”
“Let me walk you.”
She took one of my coats, and we walked across the street. It was already dark, and light snowflakes were starting to fly. We could see our breath.
Skylar continued to shiver as she knocked and rang the doorbell. “She’d better be home.”
Tish answered the door. “I got your text. You lost your keys?”
“I think I left them in my locker.”
“Hey, Mitch.”
I waved to Tish and followed Skylar inside.
“I am not feeling well, Mom.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I might be getting the flu or something.”
Tish felt Skylar’s forehead. “You should go to sleep early tonight.”
She took off my coat and handed it back to me. “You gonna head back?”
“I’ll hang out for a few minutes.”
For some reason, I just didn’t want to leave Skylar. She rarely got sick. In fact, I couldn’t recall a single time before this. I followed her into her room, and as she got under her covers, I sat at the edge of her bed by her feet.
“You should get back to Davey.”
“You kidding? He’s probably having a field day searching my drawers and raiding the fridge. He’ll be fine.”
Her teeth chattered as she laughed.
“Do you have any NyQuil? That shit will knock you out until tomorrow.”
“Oh, good to know. I’ll have to be sure to take some with me down to Florida for Oliver’s wedding.”
“You decided to go?”
She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. “I think so.”
“That’s the right decision. It sucks, and it might give you angina, but you’ll get through it.”
“It might give me what? Vagina?”
“Angina! My grandmother says that all of the time. It’s like chest pains or something. You have a dirty mind, girl.”
“You love that about me, though.”
“You’re right. I do. Nothing gets past you, and nothing bothers you. I like not having to walk on eggshells when I talk to you.” I playfully squeezed her feet.
“That felt good.”
“What?”
“When you squeezed my feet like that.”
“You want me to do it again? Give you a foot rub?”
“No, I don’t want a foot rub…said no one ever.”
“Okay.” I laughed and repositioned both of her feet onto my lap, squeezing her toes with both of my hands in firm pulses.
“Speaking of dirty mind…what was up with our bird talking about boners?”
“I have no idea.”
“You sure about that?”
My phone chimed. Saved by the bell. Maybe not.
Stop going down on her and get back here and make me a sandwich.
“Fuckin’ Davey.”
“What? What does it say?”
“I can’t tell you. It’s—”
“About us?” She put her head down for a bit then looked straight into my eyes. “You told him we kissed, didn’t you?”
I stopped rubbing her feet, and my heart was pounding. “Yeah.”
“I told Angie. I had to talk about it with someone because we weren’t talking about it. You know?”
I swallowed, unprepared to discuss this. “Yeah, I know.”
She held out her hand. “Show me the text.”
I laughed nervously. “No.”
“Show it to me.”
My tone was serious now. “No, Skylar.”
She got up from under the covers and grabbed my phone. She was sick and shouldn’t have been exerting herself. I knew she wouldn’t back down, so I didn’t fight her.
Fuck.
She read it and rolled her eyes.
“I’m sorry he’s being a dick,” I said.
“You think that bothers me?”
“No…but it’s disrespectful.”
“I don’t care what anybody thinks. I just care about you. Did you forget that I can sense what certain people are feeling? With you, it’s stronger than most, always has been. You think you’re hiding stuff from me, but you’re not, not earlier today in your room, not any day. Himeros and Pothos…”
“What?”
“The Greek Gods Davey was studying that he said reminded him of you.”
“Yeah…what about them?”
“I studied them, too. Himeros is the God of desire and unrequited love. Pothos is the God of yearning and wanting.”
Shit.
I let out a long, shaky breath. “Oh.”
“Was he right? Were you just trying to stick it to Aidan with that kiss, or do you really want me? Please be honest.”
Her eyes were searing into mine, and I felt like she could see right through me. If that were the case, then she knew I wanted her more than anything in my entire life. There was no point in lying. I may never muster up the courage to make good on my feelings, but I couldn’t look her in the eyes anymore and deny what was painfully obvious. I looked down for a moment, and my tense hands formed into fists when I whispered it. “Fuck yes…I want you.”
It felt good to finally admit it out loud.
I was sweating, but she was still shivering when I looked up at her. Her lips spread open into a slight, sympathetic smile. It took every ounce of strength in me not to cover her cold body with mine.