“That with all these girls out there, why date men?”
Chapter 4
Star
“And you wonder how I knew you had a thing for her.” Mack drops down onto the sofa beside me. Well, kind of beside me. I’m sitting on the floor with all my crap scattered on the coffee table as I try and study. I’m not great about staying on task. I do what needs to be done but I’m always doing three things at once. Like now, I’m studying, drawing and watching a baseball game. Oh, and checking my phone every three seconds to see if I have a text.
“What?” I glance over at him as he sets down a gi
ant plate of nachos that have my mouth watering. I steal one off his plate.
“You’re always drawing her.” My eyes go back to where my hand is still moving over the sketch pad. I can draw her with my eyes closed, from memory. There isn’t a curve, line or expression of Maisie’s that I don’t know. I’m an expert at putting her beauty on paper. Even though my sketches could never compare to the real thing, they are still beautiful. Drawing has always been second nature to me. I hadn't planned to major in art. Mom and Dad gave me the shove I needed to do it. My brother, not that I will ever admit this out loud, is smarter than I am. It’s only by a little so let’s not get carried away. I have to be honest, I was worried about majoring in art at first. That I might not be able to do anything with it in the future.
Mom and Dad often remind me that I don’t need to worry about that. I’m a trust fund baby but it feels wrong not to try and make it on my own. Everyone in my family is driven. Maybe a little too much at times. We can be borderline obsessive if we’re not careful.
Dad gave me a small guilt trip, saying that he and my grandparents worked hard so we can have all the things in life we’ll ever want. Dad adamantly told me that if art was my passion than that’s what I should major in. So I’ve done it. This is my last semester. I’ll be graduating soon and all I can seem to draw lately is the same girl over and over again. Maisie’s perfect face fills up my pad. I’m putting in the finishing touches which include her three small freckles that are near her right ear. How many times have I wondered what it would be like to kiss her there? Would she shiver in excitement as I whispered sweet nothings in her ear? Would her pussy get wet for me as I traced them with my tongue?
“I don’t know how you do that,” Mack says, breaking me from my daydream. The sound of him crunching on a nacho sort of put a damper on my fantasy.
“What?” I’m unable to pull my eyes away from the pad now. How can someone be so breathtakingly beautiful?
“I mean, the girl is gorgeous.” I turn to glare at my brother, who is gazing down at my drawing. “Seriously, Star. I’m not into her. It’s just an objective fact. Anyone can see that but when you draw her—” He shakes his head, almost looking as if he’s at a loss for words. That’s something Mack never is. Usually I can’t get him to shut up whether I want his opinion or not. “You capture something about her. I can’t place it.”
“I know,” I admit. “I think it’s her innocence.” Mom always says it’s crazy how I can pull out who people are in a picture. Dad says it’s because I’m good at reading people. Maybe I am. It only takes me a glance to size someone up. I feel protective of Maisie for some reason. Even when it comes to my sketches. I never let anyone but Mack look at them. I don’t want anyone’s eyes to see what I do in my own sketches.
“The guys on campus don’t say anything fucking innocent about her,” my brother grumbles. I flip my pad closed, hiding her away. I’ve heard them talk too. I’ve wanted to punch a few in the mouth.
“She doesn't date,” I grit out. They wouldn't know if she is innocent or not. Though somehow I know she is. I’ll go as far as to say she’s never been kissed. I grab another one of his nachos. Why the fuck are they talking about her if they aren’t even dating her? They should keep their mouths shut.
“I know. I asked around.”
“Of course you did,” I say with a mouth full of nachos. Always the protective brother. I want to tell him to mind his own business and to stay away from her, but I also know my brother is a good protector and it doesn't hurt that he’s keeping an eye on her too.
“She text back yet?”
“Since when are you so into my dating life?”
“Since one of us got one?” He picks up his plate so it’s out of my reach. “You want me to freaking make you one? Jesus.”
“I’ll take a Dr. Pepper too while you’re at it.”
He gives me a look that says get it yourself but a minute later he’s standing to go make me a plate.
“Love you!” I say with a laugh.
“I love you too but answer the freaking question if I’m getting you food and a drink,” he says as he comes back, putting my can of soda down for me.
“No.” I drop back to lean against the sofa. I texted her three hours ago and not a peep back. I know she’s not in class. I sadly stalked and know her schedule. No matter how many times I told myself I wasn't going down the Maisie path, it is like all roads lead to her at every turn. Not only do I think she’s way out of my league but I also think she hasn’t put together that she might play for my team. As much as I get off on the idea of being her first, it also scares the crap out of me. My biggest fear being that I open her eyes to this part of herself and she doesn’t want me long term. I want her for myself. This is why I’ve always been hesitant to try with her. I will never recover if I get a taste of her and she leaves me. I would be opening her eyes to all the other girls of the world who would be falling all over themselves to be with her. My girl might be innocent but she also has heartbreak written all over her.
“What did you text?” Mack asks as he heads back into the kitchen to make me a plate. I let out a long sigh. Why is this so hard?
“I told her I’d take her up on her offer to replace my shirt.” Mack turns to look at me like I’ve grown a second head.
“That’s what you went with? You’re probably the richest person on campus and you asked her to replace a shirt that looks like it should have been replaced ten years ago?” He throws his head back and laughs. I ignore him, grabbing my phone. I should tell her I am joking. That it’s no big deal.
Mack walks back over to me, snatching my phone from my hand. “Let me.”
“Oh, like you have game?” I look up at him. Girls might fall all over him but he’s good at getting them away from him. Not luring them in. They are already on the hook when it comes to him. Not Maisie, though. She doesn’t look at Mack like the other girls do. In fact, her eyes lit up when they met mine, a sweet blush tinting her fair, silky skin.
“Give me my phone back.” I hold my hand up in the air for him to hand it to me just as it dings. It dings over and over again. Mack practically drops it and I catch it mid-air. The only person who blows up my phone like that is our mom. Mack holds his hands up, stepping back. “I don’t really see anything.”
“What are you talking about?” I look down at the text. A string of pictures of Maisie in flannel shirts floods my screen. One after another of her trying on different ones in a barrage of different changing rooms. Her long legs are bare and in a couple of them I can see her simple white panties peeking out. Some of the shirts are too small for her. It is hands down the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen. Even the flustered, adorable look on her face is sexy. She is really trying to replace this shirt for me. I’ll burn all my clothes to have these pictures alone. She has no idea how fucking good she looks right now. It only shows more of the innocence she embodies. Her hair is tousled from changing from one shirt to another. My fingers itch to run through it.
Maisie: Do any of these work?
Maisie: Sorry it took me so long. I wanted to get as many options as possible. I’m so sorry about your shirt.
Maisie doesn’t only have heartbreak written all over her. She is going to ruin me. Maybe she already has.
Chapter 5
Maisie
“She likes this shirt.” I hold up a blue and lavender flannel. “I think it’s because it matches her hair.”
Dally and I are sitting on my bed, eating nachos, with the discarded shirts strewn around us. It took us all day to find suitable replacements.
“Or maybe it’s because you can see your underwear in the photo that you sent her wearing it.”
I grab the phone from Dally. “What? You can see my underwear? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Dally shrugs and sticks a chip in her mouth. “I figured it was intentional. You weren’t wearing any pants.”
“I meant to just show off the shirt.” I scroll up and cringe at all the s
kin I’m showing.
“You suck at taking selfies, you know, but somehow all your photos turn out great. It’s disgusting. Good thing I love you.” Dally retrieves the phone and examines the photos. She taps one and then turns the screen to face me. “Look at that. You look like you’re doing an ad for these shirts.”
”Eh. They’re okay.” I’m not a fan of looking at myself. All I see are my flaws. In these photos, it looks like my spindly legs are sticking out awkwardly, like I have weird chicken legs. I wonder what kind of girls Star is into.
“Do you think this is a good idea?”
“What?” I ask, flipping over to Instagram and looking at Star’s account again. She’s not much into selfies, either. Most of her page is full of sketches—really amazing sketches. She does all kinds of stuff, but predominantly it’s faces. The faces vary a great deal. Some are old, some are really young. There are many that wouldn’t be considered traditionally pretty but she makes those faces arresting, interesting. They’re all people that you’d want to meet because you can tell they have stories.
“Hooking up with Star. Do you think that’s a good idea? I mean, I’ve known you for three years and you’ve never shown any interest in girls. Are you sure you’re just not bi-curious or something like that? Like some kind of kiss-a-girl Katy Perry phase?”
“I don’t know.” I thought about it all last night. What would it be like to kiss Star? To touch her breasts, lick her nipples, place a kiss between her legs? It didn’t turn me off, that’s for sure.
“Maybe you should have a dick first, just to test things out. That way you won’t always wonder what you missed out on if you hook up with Star.”
Try out a dick? The thought makes me want to gag. I’ve seen enough of them—been on the receiving end of so many unsolicited dick pics, I could probably be a dick sommelier. This twenty-year-old version is dusky rose with a slight curve and a hairy bottom. I shudder. “I’d rather be a virgin forever.”