Leap of Faith

Day Thirty-Nine

*~*~* Cate *~*~*

“Gerff,” I mumble as I feel someone playing with my hair.

I swat at the hand only to have whoever it was slap mine away. I blink a sleepy eye open only to see Libby beaming down at me. I groan, turn over so my back is facing my sister, and try to get back to sleep.

“Afternoon, Catherine,” Libby says a little too loud for my liking. Her hands find my hair again and she starts twirling strands of my hair around her fingers. “Are you awake?”

“No,” I grumble. “It’s too early for this.”

Libby takes her hand away from my head and uses them to turn my over until her face is almost on mine. “It’s twelve twenty in the afternoon, Cate. There’s no way anyone needs this much sleep.”

I sigh and sit up in bed, grabbing my cell phone to double check the time only to see that Libby was right. It was the afternoon and I had slept through the whole morning. TJ had stayed over until one this morning, just sitting watching horror movies in the TV room, across the way from my father’s study, with the doors wide open.

TJ insisted that we hang out downstairs so that he didn’t have to think about animal cruelty anymore, and I had to stop myself from laughing when he kept an exaggerated distance between us on the sofa. He wouldn’t even hug me goodnight when he left. Not even a kiss goodnight.

“Jerk,” I mumble as I thought back on it. Libby shot me a confused stare and tilted her head sideways until I explained myself. “TJ’s paranoid that I’m going to jump on him so he’s keeping his distance.”

Libby laughed. “You mean, you two haven’t…” She left her words trail off until I gave her my answer. I shook my head and watched as she gave me a proud, if a little bemused, look. “Really?”

“Why is that hard for you to understand?” I ask.

“It’s just I’ve seen the way he looks at you, that’s all,” Libby started to say. “And he’s a boy, so you know, they’re always in the mood for sex.”

Oh, God, here goes.

If you thought Anna was open about relationships and stuff, Libby was worse. Being the eldest, she took it upon herself to dish out sex advice to me and Anna. You would have thought it’d be our mom to give us the birds and the bees talk, but it wasn’t. Libby sat me down when I was twelve and in rather graphic detail for a twelve year old, proceeded to tell me how babies were made. Ever since, Libby has made it her mission to be ‘open’ with me, to the point that I’ve cringed my way through most conversations.

“So, what base have you two got to?” Libby asks with genuine interest. I turn away and flop back down on the bed with my hands covering my face. “That bad, huh? Do you need some advice on how to get a guy into bed?”

“Libby-”

“Because I’ve got some experience,” Libby continues. “I can suggest a few positions, some tricks-”