It's A Deal

1.4 | Cuddling Casually

Sapphire

"You look like you've just watched your first porno, what's up?" Amber asks me from across the counter. That's when I snap out of my train of thought.

"Huh? I'm sorry, what?"

"You have the face of a hormonal teenager who just got her first dildo. What have you not told me?" She asks again, and I give her a blank stare, her words processing in my head.

"I saw Ian naked." I finally say.

Her eyes immediately widen in shock as her jaw drops. "Did you guys have sex?!"

"What? No!" I shriek in horror. "I'm on my period, did you forget?" I reason.

"I'm sure neither of you would mind losing a couple of sheets." She winks, a full on smirk on her face.

I choke on my saliva, shocked at her accusation. "Amber, that's gross!"

"Didn't deny it." She laughs, and I narrow my eyes at her. "Anyway, what are you doing for your birthday?"

Right, it's already this weekend.

"I don't know. My dad hasn't told me if he's actually coming or not. If he's not, I'm just gonna mope around and watch movies all day." I sigh, propping my elbow on the table and resting my cheek in my palm.

She opens her fridge to take out a gallon of juice, pouring some into two separate cups. Placing one in front of me, she takes a sip from her own and hops onto the stool beside me. "No, you're not. I'm not letting you do that. You're turning legal, you can't just mope around when you turn eighteen."

"Says who?"

"Me, bitch." She says adamantly. "You should do something fun with your pretend boyfriend. Pretend to have sex or whatever."

I turn to give her a weird look. "How do you just pretend to have sex? Not that I want to."

"Sure you don't." She teases. "But—I don't know—I guess, you just get under the sheets and rub up on each other, without any sort of penetration?"

I chug the juice, wishing it was some sort of alcohol, so that I can get drunk enough to pretend she didn't just say that. "Amber, I love you, but what the fuck goes on in your head?"

"Lots of things that shouldn't concern you." She winks. "My thoughts are not for the faint hearted."

"I'm not faint hearted, but I prefer not knowing, anyway."

She snorts, just as her little brother runs into the kitchen. "Why do you sound like a pig?" He asks innocently, reaching for her cup on the counter. Succeeding, he takes a quick sip before giving it back to her with a wide grin. "Okay, bye."

She glowers at the doorway in which he just escaped through, bringing the cup to her lips and taking a sip. "Why did he have to be my brother?"

"He's adorable." I chuckle, downing the rest of my drink before standing to wash the cup. "I wish I had a little brother."

She scoffs, "Trust me, you don't. They're awful."

"No, they're not. They're little angels."

Once again, she snorts. "Yeah, right. More like little demons."

She goes over to the sink and opens the faucet to put water in the cup before leading me out of the kitchen, leaving the cup in the sink. Together, we go back up to her room. Once inside, we watch as her brother's husky tries to open her child-locked drawers. He's whimpering, unable to continue his usual routine of destroying underwear.

"Get. Out." Amber orders.

Startled, he snaps his head in our direction. Quickly realizing that he's just been caught, his ears and tail drop in shame before he scurries out of the room.

"Thank god for child-locks, right?"

"Guess now they're technically dog-locks."

She laughs, agreeing with a nod.

* * * *

"Whatcha doin?" Ian asks in a sing-song voice, sticking his head into my room. "Whatever it is that you're doing, can I join?"

I look up from my laptop to raise an eyebrow at him, making my face as serious as I possibly can. "I'm watching porn." I deadpan.

If he believes that, he's deaf. The volume is all the way up and Rapunzel is currently singing.

The fact that his face flushes tells me that he did believe it, and I shake my head.

"Seriously? You believed that?"

"I—uh ... well, yes."

"Do you not hear the innocent Disney song? Jesus Christ, Ian. Get a grip." I laugh softly. "If you like Disney movies, you're free to join. Only if you bring popcorn, though."

He beams, as if he just got told that he won the lottery. "On it."

I watch with an amused smile as he basically sprints to the kitchen. Moments later, I hear the sound of the microwave door getting slammed shut, the beeping of the buttons following soon after. Popping noises quickly join and before I know it, Ian rushes into my room and plops down on the bed next to me, resting the bowl safely between us. I reach for a handful before stuffing the buttery goodness into my mouth.

We slip into a comfortable silence, letting the movie be the only sort of noise in the room.

Slowly, I feel Ian scoot closer to me, but I don't pay much mind to it. That is, until he picks up the bowl and closes the gap completely. I side glance at him, watching his lips turn up into a small smile.

"Wanna cuddle?" He asks out of nowhere, and I raise a brow. My initial response would be, 'Nah, I'm good' but I take a short moment to reconsider.

"Sure."

He grins wide and proud. "Great."

He doesn't waste any time in wrapping an arm around me and grabbing the laptop from my stomach. Resting it on his own stomach, he fixes my head on his chest and I instinctively wrap a leg around him.

And for some reason, it doesn't feel weird.

"Disney relationships set my standards way too high," I sigh dreamily, watching the scene of the lanterns play out as they sing. "I'm guilty as charged when it comes to having a crush on Eugene. Not Flynn, although no one complains about a bad boy. As long as they change when they're in love."

He turns his attention over to me, "You like lanterns?"

"What?" I meet his gaze.

"Like the ones in the movie," he turns back to my laptop screen. "Do you like them?"

"Oh, yeah, I think they're really nice."

"They're much nicer in real life."

I hum, "Maybe I'll see one in real life someday." I continue to watch the movie as we slip into a comfortable silence once again.

That is, until his phone begins to ring. Catching a quick glimpse at the name, he groans loudly and slams his phone down on the bed. "Leave me the fuck alone." He curses under his breath.

My eyebrows crease as it rings again.

"Excuse me for a second," he mumbles and I unwrap myself from him to lay on the bed. He sets the laptop down on beside me and I watch him take the call as he walks out of the room. "Haven't you done enough?" Is the only thing I manage to hear before he goes out of earshot.

Rewinding the movie to watch what I missed, I sit up and position myself into a comfortable slouch against the headboard.

At least he left the popcorn.