I Woke Up in a Car

I yawned as I woke up, my hand stretching out and hitting another soft fleshy body. I heard the other person make a noise. I looked over to see John laying in the bed with me shirtless and in his boxers. I looked down at myself, tiredly, still in my own pajamas. Nothing had happened, well, the only thing that had happened was John's arm had been thrown over my waist.

I carefully peeled myself away from him and headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wake up. I wanted to have breakfast ready in a little bit for John before he left. Something, well, cooking was semi-uncharacteristic for me to want to do it for someone else. I turned the water on and started brushing when I heard yelling in the hall. Even over the running water, I could hear them clear as a bell.

“You slept with her?” I heard Eric asking, his voice raised.

“No man, come on, you know me better than that.” John said.

I peeked my head out of the door, just enough to see what was going on. I could see Eric who was in merely just jeans. He was harrier than John but built real similarly in terms of muscles. He was just shorter.

“Man, I let you near her and you've done nothing but make moves on her.” Eric said, shaking his head.

John was pulling his shirt on over his dreads. He was attractive, I had to give him that, even if he was almost ten years older than me. “Better than you ignoring her man. You want to know why she don't talk to you it's cause you don't talk to her.” John said.

Eric rolled his eyes, “Whatever man. I talk to her.” and just like that any animosity or fighting between them was gone, “You jetting?”

I closed the door quietly and continued to brush my teeth and then gargled with some mouthwash. I finished headed out of the bath to look for Eric and John. Eric was in the kitchen starting coffee, still, without his shirt. I smiled a little at him, “Hey. How was the after-party last night?” I asked as I grabbed a coffee cup down.

Eric looked at me, “I could very much ask you the same thing.” He leaned against the counter. I suppose I hadn't noticed how skinny he was, even if his arms and shoulders were built and he was short, he was relatively skinny.

I eyed Eric a little, “Where's John?” I asked, not bothering to respond. I didn't have to explain to him what did, or didn't, happen.

Eric had a little bit of a smug look on his face, “He took off. He had to go home and he had a long drive in front of him.”

I nodded, though I tried to not to let my face fall any. “Yeah, I knew that.” I said as I reached for the now-brewed coffee.

A couple of days later, Eric and I were stepping out of the plane in Seattle. My passport was on it's way, we'd paid extra to have it expedited due to some international trips coming this season. I'd never flown and had spent most of the flight squeezing Eric's arm every shake of the plane.

I looked at the phone I'd gotten with Irene and looked over the calendar as we waited for our bags, “So.. We're heading to Lib Tech's headquarters and then we're just going to spend a couple days here.” I shrugged, “We're just waiting on snow and my passport.” I said as we got our bags and met the driver, who loaded our bags into the car.

Eric nodded. “Yeah, that's cool. I mean, not much you can do when there's not snow anywhere. We might be able to go fishing over in Idaho.” Eric smiled, “I brought my pole.” He wiggled his eyebrows.

I hit his chest, “Gross.” I said, looking at my phone when it went off.

John was texting me, “Hey, how are you doing?”

I couldn't help myself. I was a little down after he left that morning and didn't really say goodbye. I texted back immediately though when I was done my eyes caught Eric's. He was smiling, “What are you so giddy about?”

“Nothing.” I responded coolly as the driver headed off from the airport.

Eric chuckled and shook his head, “Uh huh, no girl I know ever smiles like that over 'nothing'.” Eric said.

I shrugged and put my phone away, “Just texting John.” I said a little quietly.

Eric shook his head more, “You know he's too old for you right?”

I rolled my eyes, “So are you. But you don't hear John telling you I'm off limits.”

Eric looked out the window and shifted some, “Touche.” He said.

The rest of the ride to the condo that we were being put up in was spent being quiet, except for the occasional text from one of Eric's friends, and my coordinating our days here and what time we had to be at places.

Sine Eric ad put me on being a personal assistant, it was a trip but I picked it up fast. E-mails, phone calls, you name it if anywhere wanted Eric to be somewhere, I made sure he got there. That was my job and I was actually good at it. I was really good at it.

We got to the condo and checked in, unloaded into our respective rooms. I was settling onto the couch for a bit with Eric's laptop when he came sauntering out, hands on his hips. He looked at me and I looked up at him, “What?”

Eric looked at me and scratched his head, “Can I ask you a question?” Eric asked, coming to sit by me.

I set his laptop on the table, “Of course.” I said, looking confused.

Eric sat next to me, looking at me, his eyes slightly darker blue than before, “What do you see in John?” His face was scribbled with a puzzled look.

I looked at him even more confused than before, “Eric,” I started, sighing, “I enjoy spending time with John, that's all I swear.” I tried to explain to him, “He's just good company.”

Eric's face seemed to lighten up a little as I said that, “So you don't want to date him?”

I nodded and then sighed, “Eric, Come on, I am not going to date your brother behind your back when you clearly told us each you didn't want us dating.” I paused, “And no, nothing happened, we just shared a bed. It beat one of us sleeping on the couch.”

I got up and headed to the room which I'd be staying in. I was upset, a little angry. What right did he have to pry into who I was, or wasn't, dating. It wasn't really his business. I tried to push aside the anger and focus on today's event but it felt almost impossible.

I felt like Eric was treating me like some little pig and John was the big bad wolf who was going to come and blow my house down. I felt like he was trying to protect me from John in some way, but, I just wasn't able to figure out what way. I figured I couldn't be too mad after all at Eric because, well, these guys were really the only family I had.