All Right, Kid

by Nikki Paris

Needless to say, Maci and Liam broke up that night.

  Maci looked over at me. “Why don’t you like Kai? He’s so hot, and he’s been obsessed with you since middle school.”

  I groaned. “Are we really doing this again? He’s hot, but he’s so boring! Like, there is zero personality there!” Also, I’m in love with your brother.

  Maci shook her head. “Nu-uh! He’s so nice!”

  “Maybe I don’t want nice.”

  Maci sighed loudly. “Okay, what about Davis then? He’s a hot jerk, and he’s into you, too. Do you want him?”

  I laughed. “Not that kind of a jerk!”

  Maci’s big brown eyes grew wide. “Oh, my God. Skylar, are you gay? I swear you can tell me. I won’t even judge you, and I won’t even be weird about it!”

  I burst out laughing and covered my face with both hands. “No, Maci.”

  “Sky, you sure? It’s okay if you are. It wouldn’t change anything between us.”

  My best friend honestly thought I was gay—time to mess with her. I sat up and gazed right into Maci’s eyes. “I… Maci, I’ve been so scared to tell you.” I bit my lip. “I’m in love with you!” I couldn’t keep a straight face when Maci’s mouth fell open in shock.

  “Oh, fuck you!” Maci threw a pillow at me as I doubled over laughing.

  “Okay, real honesty time. Have I ever thought about making out with a girl? Sure! It would be totally fun. Am I gay? Absolutely not. I’m unfortunately 95% attracted to males.” I grinned at her. “I just don’t like high school boys. They need to figure their shit out.”

  “95%?” Maci raised both eyebrows at me.

  I laughed out loud. “That’s what you took from this conversation? Maci, for the love of God, I like dick!” Specifically, your brother’s dick, which I just saw twenty minutes ago. Your brother’s dick made me all tingly downtown.

  I heard Derrick’s laugh from the hallway and clapped my hand over my mouth. When did he come inside?

  He leaned against the doorframe of Maci’s bedroom, still shirtless in his bathing suit. I tried not to stare at his gorgeous abs. “Wow! Your conversations got way more interesting while I was gone! What happened to My Little Pony?”

  I shrugged. “We ditched it because it didn’t have enough dicks.”

  Derrick burst out laughing. “It didn’t have enough dicks? So like, it had some dicks?”

  I grinned. “Okay, it had no dicks. But there was a little secret girl on girl stuff.”

  Derrick was still laughing. “Like, 5%?”

  Maci whined. “Stop talking about dicks with my brother! You’re going to make me throw up.” She stood and slammed the door in Derrick’s face. Then she turned back to me. “Okay, should I like braid it?”

  “Huh?” My mind was still a little numb from Derrick’s smile.

  “My hair!” Maci stared at me like I was crazy.

  “Right. Yeah, let’s do a crown braid. Then you’ll look like a sexy mermaid.” Maci sat on the bed in front of me, and I slid my fingers into her long brown hair.

  “Should I do blonde highlights again?” She asked while I braided.

  “Yeah. That’d be cute.” I shoved a few bobby pins into the end of the braid I’d just completed.

  Suddenly Maci said, “I think I wanna have sex with Blake tonight!”

  “Uh… yeah. Highlights straight into sex. I’m totally following this very natural conversation arc.” I laughed. “Um, but okay, cool.”

  Maci turned to face me. “Is that crazy? Do you think it’s a good idea?”

  I shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. I’ve never had sex before.”

  “But would you? Like if it was the right guy?” Maci’s eyes were full of worry.

  If Derrick wanted to have sex with me, I would be all over it in a second. “Yes,” I said. “If it was the right guy.”

  Maci had a shy little smile. “Well, I think Blake’s the right guy. I love him, Sky.”

  “Then, I think you should go for it.” I smiled.

  “Will you cover for me? Like, will you tell my mom I’m sleeping over at your house?”

  “Yep.”

  ***

  A few hours later, Maci’s backyard was filled with horny high school kids in bathing suits. I’d changed from the strappy little blue torture device into a plain black one-piece. I’d thoroughly enjoyed Derrick’s eyes all over my body when I wore it, but I didn’t want to give Kai the wrong idea. He was watching me now, across the yard.

  Maci walked over to me with a scowl on her face. “God, why did we invite Bridget? She’s over there all like ‘Maci! Where’s your brother? Is he home for the summer?’” Maci giggled and batted her eyes to mimic Bridget. “Like I can’t see right through that shit. She’s always been into him! It’s pathetic that she thinks he would ever even look at her.”

  “Yeah. She’s an idiot.” I took a sip of my Coke and stared at my feet. Maci was right. Derrick would never even look at a high school girl. Damn, I was stupid. I set my can down on the ground and said. “Screw it. I’m going to go talk to Kai.”

  Maci raised her eyebrows. “For real? Why the change of heart?”

  I shrugged. “He is pretty hot, and I might as well have some fun.”

  “Atta girl.” Maci grinned and patted my shoulder. “Ask him if Blake’s on his way! I’m getting nervous that he’s not coming!”

  I laughed. “Maci, he’s coming. The guy is nuts about you. There’s no way he’d miss a chance to see you in a bikini.” I headed over to Kai. He was leaning against the snack table that Maci and I had set up earlier. Sure, Kai was attractive with his sandy blonde hair and crystal clear blue eyes, but he still didn’t do anything for me.

  “Hi, Skylar.” He smiled and straightened.

  “Hey, Kai.” I forced a smile. “So, what are you up to this summer?”

  “Work.”

  “Cool.”

  “Yeah.”

  The awkward silence that followed was literally painful. Finally, I said, “I’m working, too. I’ll be teaching four and five-year-olds how to pirouette. It’s gonna be a blast.”

  “Cool.”

  “Yeah.”

  Silence. For the love of God, were we doing this again? I let out a slow breath. “So… is Blake on his way?”

  “No.”

  “No? Did he tell Maci?”

  Kai just shrugged.

  “Is he coming later?”

  Kai shook his head. Oh, good. He couldn’t even speak now. I held in my groan of frustration. “Where is he? Why isn’t he coming?”

  “Work.”

  I was going to punch Kai in the face. Where was Davis?

  “All right. Good talk, Kai. I’ll see you around.” I headed back over to Maci. “Uh, Blake’s apparently working tonight.”

  Her face fell. “What?”

  “I know. What a dumbass. He didn’t even call you?” I put my arm around her shoulders because Maci looked like she was going to cry.

  “Nope.”

  “Want me to beat his ass, too?”

  Maci laughed. “No. He probably just didn’t know this was such a big deal to me, ya know?” She forced a smile and scanned the yard. “Oh, I think we’re low on chips and watermelon. I’m going to go grab some more from the kitchen.”

  “I’ll get it.” I patted her shoulder and headed for the sliding door. I spotted Davis over by the pool and gave him a flirty smile. Derrick would never want me. I just couldn’t with Kai. I’d play with Davis later.

  Inside the kitchen, I found Derrick staring at his phone, with a huge slice of watermelon in his hand. I laughed out loud and said, “You’re damn lucky that I was the one who came in and caught you eating Maci’s party food.”

  He looked up and grinned at me. “Skylar.”

  “Derrick.” I slid past him to open the fridge, letting my body brush against his.

  “Where’s your slutty little blue thing?” He asked.

  “In the trash where it belongs.”

  Derrick laughed. “Y
ou’re funny, Skylar. I forgot that you were funny.”

  “And I forgot you existed entirely.” I grabbed the extra tray of watermelon. It was heavier than I anticipated, and I almost dropped it.

  Derrick laughed. “Do you need help with that tray, kid?”

  “Nope.” I placed the tray on the counter and stacked an extra bag of chips on top.

  “All right. I’ll be in the basement playing Halo, you know, if you need a break from your party and want to join me.”

  My heart rammed against my ribcage. I laughed. “Yeah, okay. It’s been a while since I owned your ass. Give me like twenty minutes.”

  Derrick laughed and shook his head. “I’ll see you down there, kid.”

  4

  Derrick

  “Whoa, what are you gonna do with that battle rifle Skylar?” I leaned forward on the couch.

  “Just a little face painting, Derrick.” Her eyes were glued to the screen.

  I laughed and shook my head. “Do you even know what that means?”

  Skylar’s bright blue eyes flashed over to meet mine. “Yeah, bitch.” Then she proceeded with her headshot, successfully “painting my face.” She stood up and did her little victory dance. It was the same one she used to do when she was an annoying little punk, but it was so much sexier now. Her ass looked incredible in the tiny cut off jean shorts that she’d thrown over her swimsuit, and I was mesmerized by her hips.

  “I like your dance, kid. Can you teach me?” I could flirt with her a little, couldn’t I? I was attracted to Skylar, but I’d never act on it. She was my baby sister’s friend. I would murder any twenty-one-year-old guy that tried to touch my sister, so the same rule stood for Skylar.

  She smirked at me over her shoulder. “Yeah. Stand up.”

  I stood behind her and watched her shake her hips. Damn. I was getting hard for the second time because of her. Skylar might be trouble.

  She looked over her shoulder and burst out laughing. “You’re not even trying! Move your hips, Derrick.” Skylar did this sexy as hell figure-eight thing with her hips. Yep. I was officially rock hard now.

  “I don’t know how.” I grinned at her. Cool it, man.

  Skylar laughed. “Put your hands on my hips so you can feel the movement.” She backed her ass into me like a sexy little temptress. There was no way she couldn’t feel my hard dick against her. She took my hands and placed them on her hips. Then she did the figure-eight thing again.

  Fuck me. I fought to hold in a groan as she rubbed her gorgeous backside against my cock.

  “Derrick?”

  Shit. She was going to say something about my erection. “Yeah?”

  “You’re a terrible dancer.”

  I laughed and gave her a light shove. Skylar grinned at me and collapsed back on the couch. “It’s fine, though. You won’t need to know the victory dance because you won’t win.”

  I shook my head and sat back down, further away from her this time. “You are unbelievable.”

  “Skylar! What the hell?” Maci stood in the doorway of our basement. “You like video games more than parties full of hot guys! There is something wrong with you!”

  Skylar shrugged. “Show me the hot guys, and I’ll come back up.”

  Maci walked over to the couch and sank next to Skylar. “I guess I don’t even really want to be at the party either now that Blake’s not coming.”

  “Aw, Maci.” Skylar set her controller down, and I tossed a grenade at her. She laughed, “That doesn’t count, Derrick.” Then she turned back to my sister. “The offer still stands for me to beat his ass.”

  “No.” Maci rolled her eyes. “I love him.”

  I snorted.

  “What?” Maci snapped.

  “You’re seventeen, Maci. How do you know if you love him or not? I’ve never even been in love!” I laughed and leaned back on the couch.

  “What about Ember?” Maci asked.

  I shrugged. Fine. Maybe I’d loved Ember. I dated her all through high school, and she ripped my heart out right before graduation. She didn’t want to be tied down for her first year of college. She wanted to “see other people.” By that, she meant she wanted to sleep her way through her entire graduating class.

  It hurt like hell when it happened, but now I figured Ember was on to something. Fucking and not caring was kind of nice. It was my thing now, which was why I needed to be careful with Skylar. I’d known her since she was an actual kid. I couldn’t stop myself from caring about her.

  Skylar sighed and said, “Ember sucks.” She almost looked surprised that the words came out of her mouth. She sat up straighter, glanced at Maci, and said, “Blake sucks, too. Who do these people think they are, messing with the Myles family?”

  Maci laughed. “Ember sucks. Blake doesn’t suck, yet.”

  “Fine.” Skylar rolled her eyes. “I’ll give him one more week before I add him to the ‘suck-list.’ And I don’t mean that in a sexy way.”

  Maci leaned her head on Skylar’s shoulder. “Thanks for having my back.” Then she asked, “Are you still going to play with Davis tonight? He might be leaving soon, so if you want to get on that, you should hurry.” Maci glanced up and made eye contact with me. What was that weird little look for?

  Skylar just shrugged.

  Maci stared even harder at me.

  “What, Maci? God!” I tossed a throw pillow at her face.

  My sister ignored me and said, “Skylar, just go talk to Davis for like five minutes and see if something’s there!”

  Skylar let out a long exaggerated sigh. Then she stood and headed up the stairs. Thanks a lot, Maci.

  Now, Maci turned to me. “Leave Skylar alone. She’s too good for you, and she doesn’t deserve to be another girl on your ‘screw-list.’”

  “Whoa, Maci! Where the hell is this coming from?” I stared at her in shock.

  “Derrick, I know you’re flirting with her. Just don’t, okay? Don’t hurt her.”

  I shook my head and said, “Okay, I feel like I need to clear things up. She is flirting with me, and I would never hook up with Skylar! She’s like the same as you in my eyes! That would be so wrong!” I was a big fat liar. If Skylar was a little older, and I hadn’t known her forever, I would hook up with her in a second.

  Maci sighed. “Fine. I just think she likes you, so don’t mess with her.”

  My heart rate picked up. “Did she say she likes me?”

  Maci narrowed her eyes at me. “Are you excited about that idea, Derrick? And no, she didn’t. She’s never said a word. I just have my suspicions.” Maci stood. “I’m going to head back to my party.”

  “Cool. Have fun with your lame high school party.”

  “Cool. Have fun with your lame video games!” Maci glared at me and marched back up the stairs.

  I turned off the TV and Xbox and headed upstairs, too. I had plans to meet up with some old friends for drinks tonight. I was already late.

  I grabbed my keys from the hook in the kitchen and happened to glance out the window to see some shaggy-haired asshole with his arm around Skylar. Why did that piss me off so much?

  It was because I knew the look in his eye. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

  I shook it off and headed out the front door. It didn’t matter if Skylar had a little crush on me, or if I found myself insanely attracted to her. It was never going to be anything. She should be flirting with guys her own age.

  When I got to the bar, my friends had already managed to find a group of hot girls to join us. Perfect. Here were a bunch of age-appropriate, fuck-able girls. I was well within my rights to go home with one of them tonight.

  I approached my group and took an empty seat at the table. “What’s up, man?” Jay high-fived me. Darren patted my back. Sergio flagged down a server to bring over a few more beers.

  Darren introduced the girls as Lila, Missy, Autumn, and Jenna. The one named Jenna gave me a flirty smile. “Finally, a guy that looks like he could hold my attention,” she said.


  Hello, Jenna. Jenna had gorgeous blonde hair and pretty blue eyes. I did a quick scan of her body — a little skinny and flat-chested, but I could still enjoy her. “Hey, Jenna. I’m up for the challenge.” I returned her smile.

  An hour later, we were making out in her car. “Mmm, Derrick!” She sighed while I kissed her neck. “Mmm, you’re so hot! You can do whatever you want to me!”

  That should have made my night. I should have been really into Jenna. We should already be at the two-bedroom apartment she owned with her roommate. I should already be deep in her pussy.

  Something had thrown me off my game tonight.

  I slid my hand down Jenna’s back and cupped her ass. Suddenly I was thinking about Skylar’s tight little dancer ass pressing into me.

  Shit!

  I pulled away from Jenna suddenly.

  She stared at me with a blank look. “What’s wrong?”

  “Uh… nothing. I just remembered an assignment for my finance class that I forgot to finish. It’s due tonight, and I’m already doing terrible in that class.” I lied my ass off.

  “Oh.” Jenna’s face fell. “Well, if you need to go, we can do this another time.” She smiled and grabbed my cock through my jeans.

  That should have been enough to make me rip her clothes off and fuck her right there in her car. But I just smiled and said, “Sounds good, Jenna. Maybe next weekend?” I’d be able to get Skylar out of my head by next weekend, right?

  5

  Skylar

  One week after Maci’s pool party, the truth came out about why Blake didn’t show. He’d been invited to a party by some older guys from the landscaping company where he worked. The party had alcohol, so he chose booze over Maci.

  That was strike one.

  In an attempt to make Blake understand why she was so upset, Maci had confessed that she wanted to have sex with him. Instead of taking her to the backseat of his car and fucking her, like a normal teenager, he freaked out and said they were moving too fast.

  Strike two.

  A huge fight ensued. I hadn’t been witness to it, but Maci described every detail to me over the phone. It sounded like they were both super mature about it, saying stuff like, “Well, fine! I guess you don’t really love me!” and “Fine! Maybe we shouldn’t even be together then!” (Insert eye-roll).