JENN
I woke up the next morning almost expecting Tyler to come through the door, but nothing happened. Instead, I heard a lot of noise downstairs. I ran downstairs to see what the commotion was.
“Oh hi, sis,” Tyler said.
“Hi,” I said to him, but my eyes were focused on the girl next to him.
“Hi,” the girl said to me.
I almost ignored her but that would be so rude and out of character for me. Why the heck was Tyler arm-in-arm with a girl that looked like she’d just stepped out of a fashion magazine?
“Jenn, this is Stacey.”
“From the gym,” I said as it dawned on me that I had met the girl before.
“Yes, from the gym,” Tyler said.
“Wow, you move really fast,” I said to no one in particular as I turned around, then thinking it was probably odd, I turned to the girl. “That was meant for my brother. Not you.”
The girl looked at me, unsure what to say, but I put on my fake smile. She returned the smile. “Yeah, he’s a smooth talker, your brother is.”
Tyler looked puzzled, and I knew he was wondering why I was being so mean. I didn’t feel like explaining to him that the sight of him entangled with another girl was heart wrenching. I had imagined that the sight of my boobs and me in the gym outfit would have proved to him that I was the woman he wanted in his life. But instead, he had gone after another girl.
“Have fun,” I told them.
“Come join us,” Tyler said. “I was just about to start a movie.”
“I can’t. I have a date with Josh.”
“Josh?” Tyler asked.
“Yes, Josh.”
“Oh, well, enjoy,” he said.
“I will,” I said as I marched out of the room. There was no Josh and there was no date, but there was no way in the world I was going to humiliate myself by sitting in the same room with him and that whore he’d picked up from the gym. Just looking at her, I could tell she had probably already given him her pussy. I was disgusted with him, and if there was one thing I needed to do at that moment, it was to get as far away as I could from him.
“Let me know when you’re leaving,” he called after me, but I ignored him, running up the stairs, trying to fight the tears that had suddenly started pouring down my face. It was one thing shoving an imaginary boyfriend in the face of a boy you like, but it was even worse for the boy to say it was okay for you to go on the date. That meant he didn’t care one bit about who I saw and what I did, an attestation that he didn’t think anything more about me than the fact that I was his sister. Even if he ever got to know Josh, he’d probably want to know him just for the sake of acting like a big brother, not that he cared that some other man might touch me. In fact, if I had sex with Josh in front of him, he’d not mind at all.
I ran to my room and locked my door. The whole winter break, which had started out so well, was gradually snowballing into one huge disaster. I had laid myself bare to Tyler and lost control of my emotions, exposing my vulnerability to what he thought and what he did. I was setting myself up for disaster.
After I laid on my bed for some time, I decided to dry my tears and leave the house. After all, my pretend date with Josh was not going to happen if I stayed in my room. I needed to get out and to meet a Josh. I searched my closet, carefully picking a red sweater that fell just beneath my buttocks and a pair of thick, gray tights. The sweater fit me like a glove. At least if I was going to go out, I wanted to go out with a bang!
I needed Tyler to see what I was offering “Josh” and what he, Tyler, was missing by hanging out with that whore instead of me. I pulled on my tall boots, the ones that went over my knees. They had been a gift from Lauren, who had whispered in my ear when I had opened the gift: “This will drive men crazy. Makes you look like a little whore, but trust me, it gets the job done.”
I smiled as I wiped away my tears. Lauren was crazy and nothing like a mom; if anything, she felt like a sister, someone I could talk to about anything and everything. She and Dad had left early for work, but I wished I could talk to her about Tyler and me. However, that would hardly be appropriate and would get us in trouble.
After I pulled the boots on, I stood in front of my mirror. My reflection put a smile on my face. Yes, there was no Josh, and yes, I had no date. I was simply going to spend all day at the mall or the movies, but Tyler wouldn’t know that. I wanted him to see me dressed so nice and realize he couldn’t come with me. I wanted to make him insanely jealous and then ignore him.