“What?” I looked over to her at the kitchen. “You know what that phrase means, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Try not to use it?” I said as I switched the television to the app that was installed. “Especially, when saying it to your cousin.”
She set the clean bowls and containers into the drying rack and looted the cupboards for snacks. With arms full of snacks and beers in hand, she made her way back to the living room. I noticed how she glided across the floor with grace. Her movements were never wasted unless she wanted to be dramatic. My eyes locked onto her silky legs. She handed me a beer and sat down next to me. “I used the phrase for its literal meaning, not the meaning that boys have when they have a girl around and intend on sex.”
“Duh…”
Carey rolled her eyes, “I want to watch something scary.”
“Do you think you can handle that?”
She looked over to me with a puzzled look.
“I remembered that time you wet your pants when we watched Friday the 13th.”
She rolled her eyes, “Matt, I was seven!”
I twisted the cap from my beer and shrugged, “Hey, tough-guy, it still happened.”
“Might I remind you, you forced me to watch that movie. It gave me nightmares for days. I had to sleep with the lights on and that little souvenir baseball bat you got me.” Carey exclaimed as she poured some cheese puffs into a bowl. “My god, I remember how tired I was.”
“… still happened.” I remarked as I surfed through the horror category on Netflix. “I just don’t need you wetting the couch.”
Carey punched me on the arm. It was jokingly, but there was some definite force behind her punch. “Pick the movie, jerk!”
I winced and rubbed the spot that she had punched. She looked over concerned that she may have hurt me. “Ouch,” I said.
“Did I actually hurt you?” she asked.
“No, but it stings.”
“Really?”
I nodded.
She leaned over and moved my hand away from the spot she punched. She kissed the spot softly and rubbed it with her hand. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have hit you that hard.”
“It’s ok.” I said nervously and shook off the blush that had invaded my face. I found a pretty scary movie and clicked ‘play’.
“Yes!” She exclaimed giddily as she shook about in excitement next to me.
“Hey.” I said.
She looked over to me.
“You did wet your pants.” I said laughing.
Carey grabbed at the cheese puffs that were in the bowl and stuffed a handful into her mouth as she eyed with me malicious intent. She munched on them angrily as she turned her attention back to the television. My chuckling faded as I leaned back and enjoyed the movie with her. The selection that I made was good. It was littered with jump scares that had Carey nearly throwing her precious bowl of snacks when she was startled. She covered her eyes several times and even stuffed her face into my arm when the scenes got too gory. Whatever it was, the movie was a fun time. The movie ended with the protagonist running away with his girl while the credits scrolled across the screen as the two ran down a dusty road.
“Wow.” Carey uttered.
I stretched my arms out while she still sat against me. Carey shifted about giving me some room to move my arms and settled against me. Without thought, I brought my arms back down and one of them wrapped around her. She wiggled into me a little more as she watched the credits.
“Do you think they made it off the island?”
I looked down at her as her head was now pressed against my chest as she set her bowl on my lap. I shrugged, “Who knows? They left the ending pretty open.”
I had a theory that stretching was like yawning, they were contagious. As my arm had settled around Carey, she stretched out as well. She leaned into my body and stretched out her shapely legs. The force of her stretch had pushed her head closer to me. I couldn’t help myself but take a deep breath and smelled her hair. I closed my eyes as I was comforted with her usual sweet and fruity smell. She settled after her stretch and giggled.
“What’s so funny?” I asked as I looked down at her.
“You have your arm around me.” She said as her head was at the center of my chest while her firm breasts pressed into me.
“I was stretching.”
“Me too.” She said smiling.
“I know, so what’s your point?”
Carey looked away shyly and shrugged cutely, “No point, I just wanted to say this is nice. If I did this when we were kids, you would have thrown me across the room.”
I smiled, “Things change.”
“People change.”
There was a moment of silence. It wasn’t awkward. It was pleasant to be honest. The two of us enjoyed one another as we sat on the couch. The movie finally ended and the screen flickered back to the menu where all the movie thumbnails were displayed. I cleared my throat. “I guess it is time for bed.”
“I guess.” Carey said slightly disappointed as she pressed a hand on my chest and pushed off slowly. She stood from the couch and stretched once again. She faced the television. The tight t-shirt she wore rose above her waist and exposed her perfect little ass that was covered by her tight shorts. My eyes were locked on her. I couldn’t tear them away. Visions of her on my futon from earlier invaded my thoughts like a rush of warm air. My arousal began to stir. “See something you like?”
“Huh?” I asked flustered. “What?”
Carey looked back with a confident smirk on her face as she pointed to my reflection on the television. The normally dark background of Netflix’s app had created a mirror-like reflection on the television. She saw everything. She saw my eyes. She saw me look at her. She saw me adjust my arousal. My face burned from shame. My face was hot with embarrassment. She pulled her t-shirt down and grabbed the bowl that was on my lap and walked off to the kitchen. My mind began to race. What was she thinking? What was I going to do? How was I going to say to explain my obvious perversion on my own cousin? What if she told my mother? My heart raced as I heard her wash her bowl. Carey stepped out of the kitchen and looked over to me.
“Matt?” she said.
“Yeah?”
“I’m going to bed.”
“Uh… ok.”
“See you soon?”
I nodded, “I got a few things I have to look through for work, but I won’t be long.”
“Don’t make too much noise when you come in.” She said as she walked towards our room. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” I called out and wanted to smash my face with my tablet. What the fuck was I doing?
*
I spat the foam out of my mouth and stared at myself in the mirror above the bathroom sink. I couldn’t believe that Carey caught me looking at her. I grumbled angrily at myself as I gargled before leaving the bathroom. The house was quiet. In fact, everything was quiet. Usually in Brooklyn, there was some sort of street noise, but tonight, there was nothing. My heart pounded like a drum as I walked hesitantly to our room. I saw that the door was ajar again. I reached out and opened it slowly and found that it was nearly pitch black. The only light source was the small strip of LED lights I kept above my desk at its lowest setting. Carey never liked sleeping in complete darkness, especially not after that night we watched Friday the 13th.
I shut the door behind me gently and stood for a moment taking in her smell in our room. My mother had given me the larger room of the house. She had told me when she purchased the modest home that I was a growing young man and needed the space. I moved over to my bed slowly and tried my best not to make any noise. I heard Carey’s gently snoring on the futon that was up against the window of my room and not far from my desk. I was always curious about how she never had the futon in the bed configuration. I eased into my bed and sighed in relief as she didn’t stir at all.
“Matt?”
My heart stopped. “Yeah?”
“Just making sure it was you.” She said sleepily.
“It’s me.”
“How do I know it’s you?” she asked.
“What?”
“Remember our code when we were kids?” Carey asked as she turned about in the futon to face me.
I sat up slowly, “Yes.”
“Say it then.”
“Shenanigans,” I said as I remembered the code word that she had created with me to make sure I was who I was and not some sort of evil entity that took over my body. In retrospect, I probably shouldn’t have watched so many horror movies with her when she was younger.
A smile appeared on her face. “Good.”
“Go to sleep.”
“Ok.”
I settled back down into my bed and tried my best to not let my thoughts stir.
“Matt?”
“Yes?”
“Do you have any plans tomorrow? You know, with work and all?”
“No. I have a free docket. I do have some things I need to check on before work comes in.” I said as I went through my mental checklist. “Why?”
“Can we spend some time together? Like… go to the city? Or maybe we can go to the park?”
“Sure, I don’t see why not.”
“Cool!” she said happily. “Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” I said thankful that she was finally settling back down to sleep.