To The Rude Guy in Apartment Five - J. S. Cooper Page 0,38

spent the night with Daisy. But then, I hadn’t really known what had happened that night, and I had been too self-conscious and nervous to ask.

And then there was the night of the seduction. I had been eighteen for a month. I’d been spending a lot of time over at Doug’s house, and most of the time had been spent hanging out with Jagger. Not that it had been planned, but we’d cooked meals together, watched movies, joked around, and just hung out one-on-one, partially because Doug spent most of his time playing video games on his Playstation with friends or doing SAT prep. I hadn’t really cared because Doug and I still acted like friends. We kissed a little, but there was no passion. He never pushed it, and I never pushed it. I wasn’t happy in the relationship, but I also wasn’t sad. He was still my best friend and I loved spending time around him. Jagger and I still had that chemistry, and several times he’d asked me why I was dating Doug, but whenever he asked me, I would ask about Daisy and he would just sigh.

The night before my planned seduction we had been watching a movie and he’d leaned over and stolen the last cookie off of my plate. I’d hit him in the shoulder, and he’d grabbed my hand and tried to tickle me. I pushed him back and tried to tickle him, and before I knew what was happening we were wrestling each other, laughing and squirming. At first, it was all fun and games, but as I wrapped my legs around his waist, I’d realized that something very hard was poking me through my shorts. He’d held my hands up above my head and moved slowly back and forth for a few seconds, simulating a sex act. I’d been stunned and turned on. I could feel that my panties were wet, and I could see from his face that he was turned on as well. His face was red and he was breathing hard. His eyes had stared into mine and his right hand had reached down and lightly grazed my breast. Shocked, I pulled my arms away and rolled him over so that he was on his back and now I was on top.

“I’m the champion now!” I’d laughed as he stared up at me with a smirk. “Who’s your daddy?”

I could feel his hardness between my legs and it felt good. I found myself moving back and forth slowly and I closed my eyes. I’d never felt anything like this before. My whole body felt like I was on fire.

“Like that, do you?” Jagger had whispered. I’d opened my eyes and stared down at him, shocked but pleased at what was happening. He’d leaned up, kissed me lightly on the lips and then pushed me off of him. “We should watch the movie before we get into trouble.”

We’d walked over to the couch and sat back down. I didn’t ask him what sort of trouble he was talking about. I already knew, and it was then that an idea formed in my brain. An idea that I’d jumped on right away before I could chicken out.

The water turned cold as I daydreamed, and I realized I still had my toothbrush in my mouth. I’d spent the last thirty minutes standing in the water, brushing my teeth and thinking about Jagger. I put the toothbrush down, grabbed my loofah and body wash, and quickly scrubbed my skin before getting out of the shower. I wrapped the towel around my body and wandered into the living room, still thinking about Jagger. I’d been so good the last couple of years about keeping him out of my thoughts, and then he’d gone and shown up next door. What sort of luck was that?

I was about to walk back into the bedroom when someone knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

“It’s me.” Jagger’s deep voice carried through the door.

“I’m not home!” I shouted back, and he laughed.

“Open the door, Magnolia.”

“No!”

“Magnolia, open the door.” This time his voice sounded so serious and commanding that I found myself walking to the door and opening it for him. “Hey.” He surveyed me in my towel. “Cute look.”

“Very funny. What do you want?”

“I need to talk to you.” He pushed past me and walked into my living room and then looked back at me. “I’d close the door if I was you. Any old weirdo could walk in.”

“Argh.