Temptation

-7-

           

"Don't you think that we should gradually work our way up to things like this?" I asked, quickly learning that none of these dares would be enjoyable.

            "Come on, it's easy. You're naked half of the time, anyways," Andy said, hardly looking up – He'd clearly already planned opposition to any arguments that I'd have.

            "But not in public!" I protested. He looked up at me now, taking the straw that he was chewing on out of his mouth.

            "I never said it had to be in public. It can be for one of the boys. It just can't be only for me."

            "Oh," I said, letting out a deep breath of air. "That's easy. We just need to wait for Brooklyn to come back from the gym, then." It would be funny, not humiliating to flash Brook and make it look like an accident. I noticed Andy watching as I unzipped my pants and slid my boxers down.

            "What are you looking at? You perv," I said, laughing as I gently shoved him. He blushed, looking back down at his drink as he took another sip.

            I thought about the first time that Sophie and I had undressed each other – She'd become a little shy, quieter then, taking the time to see and admire every inch and crook of each other's bodies. She was so beautiful, and when I closed my eyes, I could still see every detail of her perfectly. My heart suddenly ached at the idea that somebody else was getting to know her that way, that she wasn't mine anymore. It almost made me want to turn back, refuse to do the dare, keep those parts of my body to myself again, where they would still be only hers and mine again.

            I didn't, though, maybe because the true purpose of the dares wasn't to make me feel better at all, but to convince the others that I was, to make them feel better – Or, at the very least, that's how I was taking it. There's only so much time that people can stand you being sad, no matter how much time you might desire to heal. They want you to be happy when they are, and not have to hear a list of all of the things that you missed about her instead of a joke. Maybe there was no harm in imagining that she was still lying beside me at night if nobody else knew that I was.

            It was because of that that I slipped off of the bed, pants already inching their way off of my legs, when Brooklyn and Mikey crashed into the room, singing some pop song loudly. I looked up to check that Andy was filming, and, sure enough, his phone was covering the view of his face. I wanted to crawl back up there, to have him hold me in his arms and allow me to be quiet and contemplative, but instead, I put on the loud and silly persona. I pretended not to notice when my pants fell all the way off, and continued to speak to Brooklyn normally.

            'Rye...You do realize you're naked, right?" He interrupted, a slight chuckle in his voice.

            "Huh?" I asked, looking down. "No I'm not." I said, pointing to my shirt.

            "Your pants." He was laughing harder now.

            "Oh." I acted as if I was just noticing this. "Thanks, buddy." I clapped my hand on his shoulder before taking my bottoms off completely.

            "I do not want to see that," Mikey said, covering his hands with his eyes, but he was laughing, as was the rest of the room. I joined in, but I didn't feel a thing.