Of course, while the fact that Jaret and I had slept together thankfully never made its way through the halls of the school – it seemed like perhaps Jaret had a bit more tact than I gave him credit for – the fact that our parents were getting married spread like wildfire as soon as the Senator sent out a press release announcing the happy news.
“Oh my God, Mikki. I can’t believe Jaret’s going to be your stepbrother!” Lea hissed at me in the halls that Monday. “How could you possibly hide this from me?”
I shrugged. “I had no idea. I only found out about it Saturday night. Honestly. I didn’t even know my mom was seeing anyone, let alone his dad.”
“Thank God you guys never had sex though, like he wanted. Like, that would be super awkward.”
“Yeah, you’re telling me,” I replied. It definitely was super awkward. I made sure not to look at Jaret at all when I was eating, and while he continued to make crude jokes about us that he knew only I would get, I swore that I was absolutely going to do my best to avoid him.
And now the first day of school since the announcement was going to be the first time I really had to avoid him.
Luckily, we didn’t have any classes together. Thank goodness for small mercies.
“Seriously though, it’s the coolest thing ever, isn’t it?”
“What, that I get to have that annoying idiot as my brother? Yeah, it’s great Lea,” I replied.
“Well he’s not that bad. Plus he’s super hot. And he’s such a bad boy…”
“You sound like you want to sleep with him again.”
“I sure wouldn’t say no if he asked.”
“And part of the reason why he’s such an asshole is because he never asks a second time.”
“Whatever. I think it’d be cool to have the coolest guy in school be my brother.”
“If only your parents weren’t still together,” I replied. “Anyway, I gotta get to class.”
“See you at lunch!”
For three days I managed to avoid Jaret, until finally he cornered me after gym class out at the back of the school.
“So why are you avoiding me?” he asked.
“I’m not avoiding you,” I lied in reply, trying to get past him.
“You are,” he replied, blocking my way with his arm.
“Even if I was, what’s it to you? I’m allowed to avoid you.”
I could feel his body heat as he stood only inches away from me.
The tug in my nether regions was an all too vivid reminder of just what happened when I ignored my brain and let my body do the thinking.
“I just want to know why,” he replied.
“Because you took my virginity, and you’re going to be my fucking stepbrother,” I hissed, making sure no one else was around who might overhear. “On top of the usual reasons.”
Jaret laughed. “Seriously? You’re letting the fact that we had sex before we even knew our parents were dating bother you? Well, up to you. Whatever.”
I could only shake my head at that. I forced myself to push past him, ignoring the part of me that wanted to grab him, have him pin me against the wall and take me right then and there.
That was totally out of the question. Especially now.
For the rest of the school year, which thankfully lasted less than a month, all I did whenever I saw Jaret was remind myself that he was going away to New York this summer, to find a place before college began in the fall. He was leaving on June 30th, which just happened to be the day before my mom and I were moving in with Alex Black.
You just have to get through a few more weeks became my mantra.
Boy was I great at being super, super wrong about things lately.