by BL Mute
“My turn?” I asked, looking around confused. “My turn for what?”
“Your turn to be transformed. Put this on.” She leaned to the floor and picked something up before throwing it at me.
I unraveled the black fabric in my hands and saw it was a dress. A dress kind of like Peyton’s, but it had thinner straps and no back. I gave her a tight smile before throwing it back at her. “Yeah… No, thanks.”
“Jupiter…” She raised to her feet and moved toward the side of the bed I was on.
I watched her for a moment, then caught Chance inching his way to me too. “Oh no. No. No.” I sat up and raised my hands, pushing into the headboard as much as I could.
Peyton gave Chance a nod before they were both on me, tickling me. Between laughs I tried to speak, but it didn’t work.
“Fine!” I finally managed to scream, and their hands slowed.
“What was that?” Chance asked.
“I said fine! You both win!”
Peyton stood and pushed her hair back into place like they didn’t just torture me into complying. “I’ll get my makeup bag.” She smiled.
I looked to Chance. “I take back what I said earlier. I hate your guts!” I stuck my tongue out at him as I stood.
He leaned forward in a quick motion, pretending like he was going to bite it. “No, you don’t,” he remarked before smacking my ass.
I just shook my head and tried to hide my smile.
What seemed like hours later, Peyton and Chance were turning me to look into the mirror that stretched over the sinks in Peyton’s bathroom.
My long blonde hair was braided on the sides, giving the illusion I had a long mohawk. My eyes were smoky and black, making the purple hues hidden in my blue irises pop, and my lips had a deep red wine color painted on them. I lowered my eyes to my body and scanned the dress. It sat in the middle of my thighs, had a slight dip in the front to show off the shape of my boobs, and the back… there was no back.
“I look like a porn star.” I said it with no emotion as I stared at Peyton and Chance in the mirror behind me.
“A hot porn star,” Chance chimed, wiggling his eyebrows up and down.
“Yeah,” Peyton chirped with a huge smile. “What he said.”
I rolled my eyes at them both before turning around and pushing through them, back into the room. I slipped on my trusty Chucks and held up a hand at their protests, then left the room and went back downstairs. They knew they couldn’t win the battle of me wearing any other shoe.
Once my foot left the last stair, I took a minute to admire Peyton’s house. I had been there so many times, but the shock of all the beauty never wore off.
If I had known then that it would be one of my last times seeing her place, I would have spent more time studying it. We had so many great memories there.
There were two overly stuffed leather couches in the living room, a huge wall of tall glass windows with a set of glass doors, and the kitchen had sleek white floors with shiny black granite that covered the counters and the island in the middle.
I went straight to the kitchen and started setting up bottles of booze on the counter along with juice for mixing and chips with dip. The doorbell had rung, so Peyton hurried to answer it. When she came back into the kitchen, Matt was following.
He stopped in his tracks and eyed me up and down. “Damn, baby!”
I smiled, then mimicked Peyton’s spin from earlier. “You like?” I asked him once I completed my spin.
His lip raised into a grin. “No, I love!”
My smile grew even bigger. I stepped up to him and stood on my toes to kiss him, but he jerked away.
“Not with that lipstick.” He chuckled, grabbing my face between his hands and tilting it down so he could kiss my forehead instead.
I just smiled tightly, then walked into the living room, where Peyton had snuck off to.
“Need some help?” I asked her. Her hands were full of pictures and vases.
“No.” She shook her head. “But your asshat of a boyfriend can help me.”
I tilted my head. “Come on, Pey, he isn’t that bad.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “He is and you know it. Everyone knows it.”
No one liked Matt. They never understood how he could be so masculine yet never want to simply kiss me. I never thought much of it at that point, but the way he acted made my friends suspicious. He treated me as nothing more than a decoration for his arm.
Before I could reply, Peyton looked to the kitchen and yelled Matt’s name.
He came into the room with a very bored-looking Chance in tow. “’Sup?” He nodded his chin at Peyton.
True to fashion, Peyton spoke with authority. “I need speakers set up out back.” She raised her hand to hush whatever Matt was going to say. “I don’t care what excuse you have. Just do it—we already set up a lot of shit without you.”
Matt just sucked his teeth and gave her a nod before going out back and getting to work.
After maybe an hour, the party was in full swing. Matt was nowhere to be found, and Peyton was floating around her house like the social butterfly she was while Chance stayed close to Brandon, his newest love interest.
I was just sitting on the couch with an empty cup in my hand when the door opened and Mia walked in.
Mia was someone I had known for years. We always managed to be in the same classes and had rolled with the same group of friends up until high school.
When we were in eighth grade, Mia came to my house for a sleepover. We ended up making out. I thought of it as just a thing that happened, but she didn’t; she’d wanted more. Our friendship never really grew any more after that, and when high school came, she came out as a lesbian and started hanging out with the kids who smoked like trains and drank like fish.
Mia was beautiful. She had short auburn hair, slightly tanned skin, and legs for days. Every boy at school wanted her, but she didn’t like boys.
“Hey, Taylor.” Mia grinned, then took a seat next to me on the couch.
Mia was never mean or rude to me. She was actually really nice, so I never wrote her off just because what she liked to do in her free time.
“Hey, Mia.” I smiled back at her even though I hated being referred to by my last name.
“It’s been a while, Jupiter. You still with the douche canoe?” She relaxed back into the couch.
I didn’t even acknowledge the douche comment. “I am.”
“When you’re ready to be treated right, let me know.” She finished her comment with a wink.
I laughed. “Maybe one day, Mia.” I returned her wink, then stood from the couch and walked into the kitchen. I may have been an equal opportunist, but I wasn’t a cheater. Even though Matt was an ass, I always told myself I would never be that girl.
I stood at the island and started pouring vodka into my cup, then grabbed the fruit punch to top it off. Once I was done and picked up my glass, someone bumped into my back, making me spill it all over the counter.
“Motherfucker,” I mumbled to myself.
“Shit. I’m sorry. I wasn’t paying attention.” The slight Southern drawl in the voice made me blush because I knew who it belonged to.
I turned and found James standing in all his six-foot-two glory. He had on a white tee, black leather jacket, and black jeans. The white shirt was a nice pop of contrast against all the black. His hair was messy, and his eyes were already hooded, I assumed from drinking.
He pushed his hair back before smirking at me and eyeing me up and down. “Wow.”
A hot blush stained my cheeks. “Wow?” I looked down, not wanting to see his face. I wasn’t sure if that was a good wow or bad wow.
When I didn’t hear a reply, I brought my eyes back up from the ground and found James staring at me with his smirk still in place. “You smoke?”
“I…” He ignored my question, if it even was a question, but whatever. I swallowed down the comment my mouth tried to make and smiled. “Sometimes.”
I let him lead me to the backyard. There was numerous iron chairs and tables littering the lawn with tiki torches and speakers scattered in. James found a pair of stray chairs by the firepit and sat down, so I did the same.
James looked around the yard. There were some people dancing on the grass, some going in and out the house, and others just standing around in groups smoking and drinking.
“Are her parties always this crazy?” he asked me.
I shrugged and leaned farther back into the chair. “Pretty much.” Honestly, the party wasn’t too crazy. There wasn’t anyone fucking in the grass yet, and the cops hadn’t been called, but I didn’t dare tell James that. If he thought the number of people alone made a party crazy, then I didn’t want to scare him off with the stories of her previous parties.
“Her parents don’t care?”
“Nope. They’re basically hippies. If she keeps her grades up, they could care less. We make sure to clean up after, so that helps too.”
“What about your parents?”
I shook my head and grinned. “That’s a conversation for another time.”
He nodded, then reached into the breast pocket of his jacket and pulled out a joint. “Be my guest.” He handed it to me with a lighter.
I held it up in a “thank you” motion before putting it between my lips and sparking the lighter. I inhaled deeply, then let it out and passed it to James.
“Sorry about the lipstick.” I raised my shoulders, then let them fall. Matt’s comment about not wanting to kiss me because of my lipstick made me self-conscious.
James just stared at me before putting it between his lips. He took a long pull, then blew it out. I noticed lipstick on his lips from the joint, but he didn’t seem to care. He leveled his eyes with mine, then licked the small stain slowly.
The gesture seemed so erotic. It made me blush and think things I shouldn’t have been thinking, so I looked away. When I turned back, I saw Matt walking up.
“Hey, baby,” he greeted before lifting me from the chair and sitting, putting me in his lap.
“Hey.” I leaned down to kiss him, but again he pulled away.
“I told you, not with that lipstick.” He snaked his arms around my waist and squeezed me with a smile.
I felt so embarrassed that my own boyfriend wouldn’t kiss me. I never cared before, but with James sitting there, I wanted to crawl under a rock. He must have thought something was wrong with me because there I was, all done up, and Matt would barely even touch me.
I cut my eyes to James and looked at him. When his eyes met mine, he shook his head. It was almost like he couldn’t believe Matt’s actions either. The way his eyes traveled over my body gave me relief. Maybe after all he didn’t think something was wrong with me.
“What are you guys doing?” Matt asked, making me break my gaze from James.
“Just smoking.” I held up the joint James passed back to me and hit it one last time, then stubbed it out.
Matt nodded, then moved his eyes to James. “So—” He lowered his hands from my waist to my knees. “What’s up with that old bike you got?”
I rolled my eyes. Matt always did this kind of thing. If he felt threatened, he would find anything to slyly insult about someone else. I was sure he’d caught the little eye exchange between me and James and wanted to make it known he was the big dog in this shitty little town. James took it like a champ though.
James just chuckled, then leaned back into his chair and answered Matt’s question with his own. “What about that Challenger you got?”
“It’s sick, that’s what. Everything is custom.” Matt grinned at James, then moved his hand to my thigh. James’s eyes follow the movement.
James nodded for a beat, then replied. “My bike may be old, but at least Mommy and Daddy didn’t pay for it.” He shrugged, then leaned up, resting his elbows on his knees. “I built it myself too.”
Matt just smiled at him—and not in a friendly way—with a huff, then looked to me. “How about that kiss now, baby?” he cooed.
I was sure my face showed my shock and anger. “Seriously?” I untangled his arms from around me and stood. “I’m not stupid, Matt, and I refuse to be a fucking pawn in your little dick-measuring games.”
I shook my head and stormed off. Matt had never been this… this douchey.
I went in a made another drink and lingered at the counter, flicking crumbs with my finger.
“Hey.” I turned around and saw James rubbing his hand over the back of his neck.
“Hey.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“Look—” he started, but I cut him off.
“I’m sorry.” I waved my hand around. “You know, about my dick of a boyfriend.”
He smiled a lopsided smile. “Don’t worry about it.”
Before I could reply any more, he turned from me and walked straight out the front door.
“Wait.” The woman uncrosses her legs and leans forward. “He just left?”
I smile and nod. “He did.”
“But that wasn’t it, right? You saw him again?”
I grin at her over the brim of my glass…
The rest of the party went by in a blur. I ignored Matt the whole night before I went home and passed out around 1:00 a.m.
The next morning I woke up with a wicked hangover, but I knew what I had to do. I needed to break up with Matt. I didn’t love him, but he was a friend. When he wasn’t being a dick, he was a good friend too. A great listener.
I sent him a short text, asking him to meet me at the park. Once I got his reply, I loaded into my car and headed out.
Pulling up, I saw Matt swaying on one of the swings. I got out of my car and started walking his way.
I kicked the small rocks under my feet before taking the other swing. “Hey.”
“Hey.” He kept his eyes on the ground.
I shook away all my nerves and just blurted out, “We need to talk.”
He finally dragged his eyes to mine. “I know.” He had a tight smile on his face with sad eyes.
I gave him a curious look, wanting to pry deeper, but he started speaking again before I had the chance.
“Jupiter…” He ran his hand through his short brown hair and let out a deep breath. “I’m gay.”
My eyes widened with shock. This is a joke, I thought. “What?”
He just chuckled in a sad way. “I’m gay.” He stood from the swing and walked in front of me. “I don’t know how else to say that.”
“I…” I shook my head. “I don’t even know what to say.”
“Look, I’ve known for a while. When I asked you out, I was hoping something would spark. I mean, who could be gay if they had someone like you?” He smirked.
My cheeks heated. “It makes sense I guess.”
Although it was coming out of left field, it did make sense. Being a douche, overly alpha, and just an all-around jock stereotype—it made perfect sense. I was his cover.
“Do your parents know?” I asked him.
He walked behind me and started pushing. “My mom does. I don’t think my dad will take it lightly, so he won’t know for a while.”
I nodded. I never loved Matt in that way, but I did have some feelings for him. Hearing him admit why he was the way he was kind of broke my heart.
“Jupiter?” he questioned behind me once I had gone quiet.
I sucked in air through my nose. “Yeah?”
Like he read my mind, he walked in front of me and grabbed the chains for the swing, stopping it. “I know it sounds like a cliché, but it isn’t you, it’s me.” He grinned. “And don’t think down on yourself. I know I haven’t returned anything you’ve been giving me, feelings-wise, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care.” He grabbed my hand. “I do.”
I just nodded.
“I’m serious. I may like guys, but even I know you’re the best inside, with your heart of fucking gold, and out, with your killer body and sexy smile.” He grinned again.
Everything went quiet again, but after a few beats, I broke the silence. “So, does this mean we’re done? No more Matt and Jupiter?”
“Yeah,” he whispered. “I was too worried about my image last night that I wasn’t even thinking of your feelings.” He brought his eyes back to mine. “I’m sorry, Jupiter. And I’m sorry I never let you in.”
I just smiled and squeezed his hand. “It’s okay. I get it.”
He gave me a quick kiss on my forehead before sitting on the swing next to me. After making small talk for an hour, we said our goodbyes and left things on good terms.
I was glad things went so smoothly, but I still felt bad. I felt stupid for not seeing it sooner. And what was I supposed to do then? No one ever even attempted to talk to me because I was with Matt. I was never interested in anyone either. Not until James came around…
I didn’t want to hurt him by telling Peyton because I knew she would tell everyone, so I went to the only person I could think to talk to in that moment. My dad.
I walked into my house and went straight to the kitchen. I could smell the aroma of my dad’s homemade spaghetti sauce as soon as I opened the door, so I knew that was where he would be.
“J baby. I didn’t hear you come in.” He greeted me with a warm smile as he kneaded dough on the flour-covered counter.
I smiled back and washed my hands before joining him at the counter and stealing a piece of dough.
“Where’s Mom?” I asked, kneading my piece of dough.
“Work. I swear she doesn’t know how to relax.” He laughed and looked at me. The corner of his eyes crinkled with the motion.
My parents worked alongside Peyton’s parents, running the biggest hotel in our city. With Harper Valley being so small, I wasn’t sure how they kept a steady flow of customers, but they did. My mom wanted me to work with them when I graduated, but I wanted to do something more.
I nodded, agreeing with his comment. “Matt broke up with me.”
My dad’s hands stopped working the crank he was feeding the noodle dough into. “He what?”
