The Fate of Our Hearts

Chapter 28 - His Friends

Ren

After cake and ice cream, Gio, Charlie, and I walk across the courtyard and into his room. Charlie holds the door for Gio, who has his arms full of all his gifts. He crosses the room and piles most on top of his dresser while I take a seat on the end of his bed, but then he lingers, looking into the envelope again before carefully tucking the money into his top dresser drawer. Charlie turns the desk chair around and brings it closer, and Gio takes a seat next to me.

"So, change of plans," a familiar twinkle of mischief glimmers in Charlie's brown eyes. "Jake and Jeremy's grandpa had a stroke, so their parents took off for the weekend, so their place is free to party at tonight."

"Really? Fucking score!" Gio high-fives Charlie, but then I see him grimace guiltily,  and he adds as an aside to me, "I mean, too bad for their grandpa, but that's way better than partying outside, it looks like it might rain tonight."

Charlie shrugs his jacket off, getting comfortable. "Damn straight! And..." he continues, hyping the next part up with dramatic effect, "Jeremy's going to get us a keg!"

"No shit. Fuckin' A," Gio says, impressed. "Hey, my mom got me Tomb Raider. Wanna play for a bit before we head over?"

Charlie scoots his chair even closer. "Yeah, awesome, I heard the graphics are fucking sick," 

Gio tears the cellophane off his new game, and Charlie turns on his TV and console. This is turning into a  guys' evening, but I'm happy to hang out. I mean, I'm usually around a lot of male energy anyway, at my dad's house or even at Jace's. It feels very comfortable, actually.

Charlie and Gio switch off, engrossed in playing the new action-adventure game, but then Gio changes out the game to Mario Kart so they can both play at the same time. Gio passes the second controller to Charlie. 

"Ladies first," Charlie smiles, offering the controller to me.

Oh no.

"Nah, I don't really like playing," I say, waving my hands in front of my face to further demonstrate my wish to decline his offer. "Thanks, though, I'll watch."  I've never played this game before, and I don't want to suck in front of them.

"Okay. Just let me know if you want to," Charlie says graciously. 

The boys played heatedly—dissing each other and enjoying themselves.

"Where's Jake's house?" I ask eventually, finally getting bored of watching.

"Two blocks over," Gio says tonlessly, still fully focused on the game.

Charlie laughs. "Everywhere is two blocks away around here, yo." 

"YES!" Gio fist pumps the air as he wins the round. 

"Hey Lauren, come on, play with us. It's lame if you just watch," Charlie prods me.

I give a half-shrug. "I don't know how to play." 

Feeling my face and body temperature rising with the admission, I unzip my Adidas hoodie and toss it behind me on Gio's bed. When I turn back around, both boys are staring at me. 

My face heats more. Why?

I look where they're looking. Oh yeah, the baby tee and the pushup bra. I wrap my arm around my exposed mid-drift and feel the edge of my pants, only to figure out my black lace panties are exposed a little, too. My cheeks flame more.

Charlie gulps, and his voice comes out low and hoarsely, "I'll show you how to play." Then he tries and fails to bite back a suggestive smirk. 

"Goddamn it, Charlie!" Gio snarls. "Shut it, or I'm going to beat your ass. I'm showing her."  Gio narrows his eyes at him in warning.