Just Add Heat (26 page)

Tonight Was the Night

Ten years later

Tonight was the night. I
was going to ask Justine out. On a date. My palms started sweating as I waited
for her web page to upload. I needed to remind her to upgrade her DSL speed;
this slow shit was irritating. Okay, focus man. I took a deep breath to calm my
nerves but it didn’t work. I was a nervous wreck and I felt like I was sixteen
and asking Rachelle Browne to go to the movies on my first real date after I
got my driver’s license. No, scratch that, this was much harder than when I was
a teenager. I liked Justine way back then, when she was so far out of my league
as a junior in college, that I would never have dared to ask her out. I really
didn’t know how I was going to have the cojones to go through with it tonight,
though I felt under pressure since her website was finished and with it my
reason for coming over here and helping her.

I had to believe that I
wasn’t going to get shot down right off the bat. I had caught her staring at me
a few times and then blushing. I knew when a woman was into me, I hadn’t gotten
to be twenty four without my fair share of female companionship. I mean, lets
be realistic, the ladies thought I was hot. Hell, I bet even dudes thought I
was hot, in a non-gay way, of course. I’m not conceited, but I do have eyes. I
wasn’t sure if that was going to be enough to sway Juss, though.

I had actually been
stealthily trying to worm my way into her consciousness for the past several
weeks; standing in her personal space, making comments that were just shy of being
innuendos, and most of all, making sure she could see me outside of the realm
of “Cheryl’s little brother” when possible.

The timing was perfect.
She had finally seen her ex for the douchey prick he was and kicked him to the
curb a few months ago, thereby leaving the path clear. It was like a sign when
she called me up and asked me to help her set up a website. Thank you, Cheryl.
Now, it was all up to me.

Upload Complete
. So that was it. My work for her was done. I half considered
telling her there was some kind of problem, allowing me at least one more
official visit, but I just couldn’t do that to her. She was really excited
about her website idea and I was interested in seeing where she was going to
take it. Also, that would have been a really dick move on my part and not the
way I wanted to start off a possible relationship. The time was at hand.

I stood up and stretched.
I could smell the chicken pot pie she was making for us tonight, part of her
payment for my web design services. My stomach rumbled, but unfortunately it
was nerves and not hunger. Well, it was hunger too, but mostly it was the fact
that I was trying to gather up all of my mojo for the task at hand. I refused
to wimp out. Go out there, pussy. I mentally flipped my inner voice the bird
and started for the kitchen, slowing my steps as I came around the corner. Justine
was standing with her back to me, slicing a cucumber and singing a song that I
didn’t recognize. I stood there for a minute watching her until I decided to
make some noise to alert her to my presence.

I cleared
my throat and she spun around holding the knife out in front of her.

“Geez Carter, you scared
me.” Her cheeks got pink but she smiled at me. “The food is just about ready.
How is it going in there?”

“All done.
You obviously need to check it over before it goes live, but I’ve done
everything we talked about. It looks great.”

She beamed at me with
delight. “I’m so excited. I can’t thank you enough for this, Carter. I could
never have gotten this done without you.”

“It was my
pleasure. The food has been well worth it. I’m going to miss all of these home
cooked meals.”

She just
smiled at me and blushed before turning back to her cucumber.

It was now
or never. “So I was wondering if you wanted to go out with me?” She turned back
to me a couple of seconds later.

“Go out?”
Uh oh, I could tell she was trying to buy time before answering me.

“Yeah, you
know, to dinner or something.”

“Um. Well,
I work most nights.”

“I know. I
was thinking maybe next Monday. I’m finished with your site and I know Mondays
are your off days. I thought that instead of you having to cook we could go
out. Then, maybe we could catch a movie or whatever.” I had to admit that my
invitation didn’t sound very smooth or well thought out, but I had to hope she
would overlook that and want to spend time with me anyway.

“Just you
and me?”

I nodded.

“You mean
a date?”

“Well,
yeah.” Did I not make myself clear enough?

“I don’t know, Carter.
That would be kind of weird, you know?”

She was turning me down. To
be honest, it didn’t occur to me that she would really say no. It took a second
for my mind to recognize the feeling in my stomach as disappointment.

My brain went straight
into high gear. I knew she liked me, so I had to make her see the benefits of an
actual date.

“Why would
it be weird? We’ve known each other for years. We’ve been spending every Monday
evening together for three weeks and there hasn’t been any awkwardness.”

“That’s not the same as a
date.” She held her hand up as I opened my mouth to protest. “You’re Cheryl’s
brother. That
is
making things
awkward. Plus, I’m too old for you.”

“You’re not too old for
me, Justine, that’s ridiculous. We’re not in high school. We’re both adults. I
really like you.” Shit. That did sound a little bit high school.

“Carter, don’t take this
the wrong way, but you’re too young for me.”

Was it possible to take
it the right way? I was stuck for a reply to that. I had nothing.

“I really
like you, too, though.” She started blushing so I jumped on the only chance I was
going to get.

“Alright,
let’s take age out of the equation for a minute. We like each other and we know
we get along. What harm could there be in going out for a friendly date and
seeing where things might go from there?”

“What about Cheryl?”

“What about her?” Cheryl
was the one person in the world who knew that I’ve always carried a torch for Justine.
She used to tease me about it when I was younger, but I didn’t think that she
would have too much of a problem with the idea of Justine dating me. At least I
hoped not.

She raised her brow.
“Don’t be dense. She would not be cool with it.” She didn’t say anymore, but
bent down to get the pot pie out of the oven. My stomach growled, reminding me
that I’d skipped lunch so that I could finish the design on the energy bar
wrapper for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I didn’t want to have to work on it
tonight since this was my last night working for Justine.

She set the casserole
between us on the island and looked at me. “I’m sorry, Carter.”

I could
tell by her voice that she had decided that a date wasn’t going to happen. I
had to quickly restrategize.

“What if
we stayed in? I’ll even cook for you.” Did I sound too desperate?

She stared
at me for a few seconds more and I could almost hear the crickets chirping. I
felt my stomach sink. This sucked.

“I’ll cook.” What? She
was saying yes? I could feel my heartbeat speed up. She wanted to date me! I
felt like skipping around the room, and if I was alone I would have, but I
wasn’t going to do anything to mess this up.

“Great.” I made sure my
voice was clear and confident.

“Okay,
next Monday we can have some dinner and take it from there. Now, I have to
finish the salad.”

Her face
had turned a little bit pink with embarrassment, so I let her turn around and
get back to her cucumber while I mentally gave myself a high five. I was going
to make next Monday a night she would never forget.

The Big Unveiling

   
I was
this
close to
shooting my load, but I was trying to make it good for Justine. This was only
the third time we’d been together, so I wanted to impress her with my
longevity.

         
“Oh god, oh god.” She was panting and
grabbing onto my shoulders so I knew she was about to have another orgasm. I
increased my tempo, and my breath sounded loud in my own ears. That’s probably
the reason I didn’t hear the door opening until it was too late.

   
“Oops. Sorry.” Jesus, was that
Cheryl
? I turned my head to the voice and met my sister’s eyes.
“Arrrrgh! Oh my
god
! What’s going
on?”

   
“Uhhhgh.” I let out a scream of my own, but it wasn’t quite as
high pitched. A moment later Justine squealed too.

   
“Fuck Cheryl, can’t you
knock
?”
I was trying to be a gentleman and cover Justine, but in the process I was
exposing more of myself.

   
“Carter, what the fuck?” Cheryl made a face at my nakedness but
didn’t move.

   
“Cheryl, turn around.” Justine was frantically trying to
disentangle herself from me as Cheryl continued to gape at us.

   
“Damn Cheryl, take a picture.” I gave her my meanest look but she
just turned from my eyes to Justine.

   
“How long has this been going on?” she asked Justine accusingly.
Shit, this is just what Justine had been afraid of. This was going to undo all
of the progress I had made in getting Justine comfortable with a relationship
between us.

         
“Oh my god.” It wasn’t the same god
she had been chanting to a minute ago. She was bright red and had a look of
total horror on her face. This wasn’t good at all.

   
“Cheryl, would you please give us a minute here?” I tried to
sound reasonable but the words came out harshly. I loved my sister but she had
just created a nightmare scenario for me. She didn’t say anything but walked
through the living room and into the kitchen. Just great. She wasn’t even going
to let us get dressed in privacy. This was getting worse by the second.

   
“I
knew
this was a bad
idea. I’m sorry Carter, but we can’t be together this way. I told you this
wouldn’t work.”

   
“Wait. Don’t say that. This was just a surprise for us all.” I
wanted to be the voice of reason but I could feel Justine slipping away from
me.

   
“No Carter. Cheryl wasn’t merely surprised she was horrified.”
She had me there but I wasn’t about to give up without a fight. I had waited
too long for a chance with her to let it all go now.

   
I pulled on my jeans and grabbed my tee shirt off of the coffee table.
“Please Justine, give me a minute with Cheryl, okay.” She nodded because I’m
sure she wasn’t ready to face the coming inquisition. I got up and stalked into
the kitchen like a warrior ready to do battle. Cheryl was standing by the
kitchen window.

   
“I need to talk to you. Outside.” I grabbed her by the arm and
dragged her to the back door with me. I didn’t need Justine overhearing
anything that I was about to say to my sister. Cheryl didn’t say anything until
we were on the patio.

   
“How could you, Carter? She’s my best friend; you can’t go around
having sex with my friends, that’s just gross.”

   
“Cheryl, you know I love you, but you need to butt out. This is
between me and Justine.”

         
“You made it about me when you decided
to use my best friend for your little romp.” She had her hands on her hips and
she was giving me her best imitation of our mother’s scowl.

         
“This isn’t a romp and you know it.
Don’t try and pretend you don’t know how I feel about her. You’ve always
known.” Her face softened slightly but she wasn’t ready to let me off the hook
just yet.

   
“Carter, this isn’t the same thing as you mooning around after my
roommate. We’re all adults now and this could get really complicated. I don’t
want to see her get hurt. You either.” She had said the last part almost
grudgingly.

   
“The only thing that will hurt me now is if you say or do
something that makes Justine decide that being with me is wrong.” I reached out
and took her hand. “Please Cheryl, help me make things right with her.” I was
practically pleading with her at this point but it was my now or never moment.
She gave me a searching look but I could see I was getting through to her.

   
“Promise me this isn’t some passing thing with you. This isn’t
another Christina?”

   
I cringed inwardly at the reminder of Christina. She was pretty
and she was cool to hang out with, but I had used her to make myself feel
better after seeing Justine with that creep John who she had started dating. My
parents had thrown a dinner party and I knew Justine was bringing that putz so
I invited Christina along. Big mistake. She had been under the impression that
she was “meeting the parents” and I had compounded the problem by behaving as
if we were much more of a couple than we were. After she started getting a
little bit too attached, I broke up with her as nicely as possible. That didn’t
stop her from calling me with a stalkerish frequency or showing up at Cheryl’s
house hoping that my sister would be able to change my mind.