Alexxxa (24 page)

Mulling over my words, Eli took another swig of beer. “How does Alexa feel about that? Suzy hasn’t mentioned it to me at all so that means Alexa hasn’t said much to her.”

“She’s not saying much about it period.”

“Oh. Bad sign.”

I sighed. “My thoughts exactly.”

“So, want to play some video games?” Eli asked, eyeing up my PlayStation.

I quirked an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you played. I’m down.”

“Set it up, and I’ll grab us some more beers.”

All right. It’d been awhile since I’d really gotten to play. Alexa always wanted to distract me with sex every time I tried. And I was definitely not one of those guys who’d rather fuck around with video games than their girl. If I was, Alexa probably would have walked out the door a long time ago.

I clicked on the consul and Eli handed me another beer. “Cheers to video games and no endless wedding dress chatter.”

“Here, here,” Eli said.

A few hours later the girls still weren’t back and both Eli and myself were well on our way to buzzed town. I very rarely drank enough to become inebriated, but when I did, my impulse control was very low. I knew Alexa was out wedding dress shopping and bonding with her aunt, but I suddenly missed her a lot more than I should have. I’d been out of town for a week and a one night sex-a-thon wasn’t going to make up for that, despite what she said.

“Hold up!’ I dropped my controller. “I’m calling Alexa to see what’s taking them so long.”

Eli was so focused on the game he didn’t acknowledge me at all. He mumbled, “Die asshole.” While rapidly hitting the buttons.

I shrugged and pulled my phone out of my pocket. “Hello?” Alexa’s sweet voice said into my ear, a moment later. “Hey baaaby,” Had I just slurred my speech a little? Maybe I should back off the booze a bit. “I just wanted to see how things were going?”

“Well I’m standing here right now—“

“When are you coming home?” I walked out of the living room and into the kitchen. “I need you to come home.”

“I’m standing here in a wedding dress at the moment. I still haven’t found the right one.” She sighed.

A sudden flash of that old song
Like A Virgin
flashed in my mind, but instead of Madonna writhing around on the ground in a wedding dress, it was Alexa. I rubbed the heel of my palm over the hardening length in my shorts. “Yeah?” I said gruffly. I was picturing Alexa crawling to me on all fours in a wedding dress, gazing up at me with lust in her eyes. I groaned.

“David? What are you doing?”

“I’m thinking about you in a wedding dress and it’s kind of turning me on.”

“I’ll be right back,” she said to someone while it sounded like she covered the phone. I heard swishing and then she addressed me again. “Madonna? Like A Virgin?” she whispered.

“Yeah.” I breathed. “I love how you just—get me.”

“How much have you had to drink and where’s Eli?”

“He’s still playing the Res Evil but you know, I think you’ve Pavlov-ed me.”

“What?”

“You know, Pavlov…the dogs… I think you’ve trained me to think about sex every time I try to play video games now. It’s kind of twisted if you really think about it.”

She giggled. “Sorry. But of course I’m not.”

I glanced over my shoulder to make sure I was still alone and stepped into the pantry, closing the door behind me. “Go in the dressing room and touch yourself for me.”

“Oh David, you’re so naughty. But—“

“Do it,” I growled.

“I can’t,” she snapped. “Not here. But I can buy a cheap wedding dress somewhere and we can play later.”

I could tell by her voice that she wasn’t going to budge on this one. “Fine, but don’t stay out too long.” I hung up the phone and went back into the living room. How was I supposed to think about anything but Alexa in a wedding dress now? Stupid video games.

~Alexa

I exited the dressing room and stepped back up to the mirrors, trying not to meet Aunt Suzy’s curious eyes. “This isn’t it either.”

“What was that about?”

I blushed. There was a time and a place for everything, and I didn’t want to be discussing my phone call with David with my aunt while wedding dress shopping. “It was David. Him and Eli are drinking and playing stupid video games. He just wanted to see when we’d be back.”

She raised her eyebrows. “So why all the secrecy?”

“Umm…well… He’s a bit buzzed…” I let me voice trail off and finally met her eyes.

She tittered. “Men.”

“I know.” I wailed. “And also… I just don’t like any of these dresses. They’re not me.” And could I really wear white? I mean, come on.

“If you’re not diggin’ any of these dresses then let’s go. We can look another day and in other places.”

“But we’ve already been to some of the most expensive shops in L.A.” I hissed. “If I can’t find something in one of them…”

“The price tag isn’t everything.” Aunt Suzy stood and went around to unzip the dress I had on. “Come on, we can head home and regroup. Wedding dress shopping shouldn’t be stressful, contrary to popular belief.”

I threw my arms around her. “You’re the best.” I averted my gaze from her. “I think I’m going to buy this dress, but not for the wedding. Can you go let the sales lady know?”

“Why would you—“ She took in my sheepish expression and shook her head. “Really, you’re going to spend that much for some sex game or whatever with David?”

I put my hands on my hips. “Hey, one can’t put a price tag on a good sex life.”

She rolled her eyes. “Touche’. I just didn’t know David had it in him but then again, would you be with him if he didn’t?”

“You’re making me sound shallow.” I harrumphed. “You need to be sexually compatible to be with someone long term. Maybe if more people just accepted that then there’d be less unhappy people in this world.”

“You may have a point,” Aunt Suzy begrudgingly admitted.

“Sooo…” she drawled as I got dressed in my street clothes. “How are you doing with everything?”

“What do you mean?”

She sighed. “Ummm… What I mean is, how are you doing with the—“ She glanced around and then whispered. “No porn thing?”

Okay, awkward much? “It’s been rough. But not why you might think. I don’t miss being with other people. I miss the attention. And I miss—“ Could I admit this out loud to the woman who was the sister of my heart. “I miss people watching.” When she didn’t say anything I continued. “Sometimes I feel like if people aren’t watching I’m going to disappear. I wish David would say yes to us doing movies together, I don’t see what the big deal is.”

“Andy, don’t you think he’s been pretty accepting as it is? Most men of his caliber wouldn’t be okay with your past.”

I was suddenly too hot. Did my Aunt Suzy really think that? Even though she was accepting of me completely, did she truly believe that David was better than me on some level? Or was I reading too much into what she’d just said. She’d said of his caliber though. Like he was out of my league and I should just be happy he was taking me as is without much protest. “I don’t feel so good. Let’s just go, I don’t want the dress.”

Scrutinizing my reaction Aunt Suzy bit her lower lip with worry. “I didn’t mean it to come out that way. What I meant was—“

I waved her off. “Don’t worry about it. I know what you meant. I just want to go home.”

“Hey,” David jumped up from the couch, dropping his remote without care. “There you are.” He wrapped his arms around me and whispered in my ear. “Did you get a dress? I can’t stop thinking about you like we talked about on the phone.”

I inhaled his comforting, spicy scent and shook my head. “No, sorry. I don’t feel so hot at the moment. I’m going to go lay down.”

~David

I watched in confusion as Alexa left the room, her shoulders hunched. I turned to Suzy. “What happened?”

Worry was etched into every line of her face, and tears welled in her eyes. “I said something—she took it the wrong way and now she doesn’t want to talk about it. She was so happy before and now—“ Tears escaped her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. “It’s all my fault that she’s miserable.” She pressed her face into Eli’s chest and sobbed into his shirt. He wrapped his arms around her and just let her do what she needed.

“I’ll talk to her. Don’t worry.” I left the living room and hurried after Alexa. She was already in bed, curled in a little ball by the time I found her. “Hey,” I said, switching on the overhead lights. “Suzy told me she said something and you took it the wrong way.” I sat down next to her and smoothed my hand down her back. “Talk to me.” It was a good thing I’d stopped drinking and was sobering up. She pressed her face into her pillow in an effort to try and avoid me. “Hey,” I said again. “No secrets.”

“Fine.” She flounced onto her back. “It’s just—well it’s just—“ Her face scrunched up in anguish. “Aunt Suzy thinks that a caliber of guy like you—well—she thinks I’m lucky that you accept me after everything and that I shouldn’t push…things.”

Everything clicked into place for me. “You told her that you wanted for us to do sex tapes, didn’t you?”

She bit her lip and met my eyes. “Yes.”

“And you felt like she implied that you were—“

“Weird or off or something!” Her voice went up a few octaves to an almost shrill pitch. She was one step away from freaking out.

I bent my head and brushed my lips against hers. “You’re not weird. You’re perfect. Or if you are weird then I am too.”

“I miss it, David.” Her voice was so soft that if I wasn’t so close I might not have heard her.

My heart sped up. What was she saying? “Alexa, I—“

“Make movies with me, David.”

“And what happens when people are tired of watching just the two of us, then what? Are you going to want to have sex with other people, are you going to expect me to?”

“No. It’s not like that. And—and—don’t you think it would be hot if I had sex with another girl? We could have a threesome to try it out. We could—“

Her words were gutting me. She’d be okay with me having sex with another woman? Because just the thought of her being with another guy now, drove me mad. “You want me to have sex with someone else?” I looked deep into her eyes and saw the confusion there.