Anonymous

“You lost, didn’t you?” I asked the second Harry walked back into the flat after his little field trip to Jess’ house. I knew he was going to do nothing but embarrass himself, but he had been dead-set on going. And even if I hadn’t given him the address, he would have found it one way or another. It wasn’t like he had a lack of resources.

“No,” he replied harshly as he reached into the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

I kept staring at him as he stormed back into the living room, kicked off his sneakers so they landed willy-nilly against the wall, and then threw himself onto the couch next to me.

“This is the attitude of a winner?”

“Okay, I lost. A lot. And I hate everything and everyone except for Jess’ tea.”

“Jess made you tea?” Well, that was nice of her. But maybe she felt like she had to be nice, since one of her former idols was getting beaten into the ground on some dumb videogame by her baby sister.

“Yeah, a couple hours after she made me an ice cream sundae.”

I snorted. “Oh, God. She was way too nice to you.”

“No, she was just the right amount of nice. But seriously, I don’t know what kind of tea she has, but you need to find out. Because we need to get it, and we need to make it the same exact way she does.”

“Noted, I guess,” I laughed. “Alright, now that you’re home safely and all that, I’m going to sleep. Nice job coming home at midnight, by the way.”

Harry shrugged, taking a gulp from his water. “I was just surprised her parents didn’t kick me out or notice that I clearly wasn’t Maria’s age, which is what Jess told them. I had to make sure that I didn’t curse too much, since that’d be a dead giveaway.”

“No, I don’t think so. You’re clearly not listening to the preteens talk much nowadays.” I laughed shortly before turning around and waving over my shoulder. “Alright, now I’m going to sleep for real. Goodnight!”

“’Night,” Harry replied, soon followed by the sound of a Friends re-run filled the now-empty and silent space.

I walked into my room and closed the door behind me, dwelling for a second before laughing and shaking my head. “God, I can’t believe he got his ass whooped by a little girl.”



Jess snuggled up against my chest as we watched the ending of Pitch Perfect, which she’d insisted on ordering, since she'd missed seeing it in theaters. And while the movie was pretty funny, Harry’s continuous cursing from the basement kind of interrupted the whole effect.

The movie ended predictably, with the girl getting the guy, and I stretching my arms over my head. “God, I wish Harry would just shut up already,” I laughed, shaking my head.

“It doesn’t bother me,” Jess responded with a shrug. “I just like that they’re getting along.”

“They’re not getting along!” I argued jokingly. “Do you hear the nasty things that he’s calling her? Shouldn’t you want to protect your sister from that?”

Jess giggled and shook her head. “Don’t you hear what she’s calling him? They’re bantering. It’s sweet. He just better not try to make any moves.”

“Oh, gross, Jess,” I groaned, cringing away from her. “She’s twelve.”

“Nearly thirteen. And he’s said a few times that age doesn’t matter. And just shy of six years isn’t that big of an age gap. My parents are eight years apart.”

“If he makes a move on her, I swear it’ll be when she’s older,” I assured her. “He wouldn’t hit on a twelve-year-old kid.”

“I sure hope you’re right,” she sighed, sitting up and rubbing the back of her neck. “Because I’ll kill him. I swear I will.”

“I know,” I soothed, reaching over and pulling her back down on me, tilting her head up so she faced me. “But don’t worry about it. Nothing’s going to happen.”

Without another word, I connected her lips to mine, lying back so she hovered over me, my hands locked around the small of her back. I barely had to ask permission before she opened her mouth to let me taste her, and I struggled to hold back the groan that was building up in my throat.

My fingers started playing with the hem of her sweater, feeling the soft fabric, easing it up her back, but she pulled away before I could make much progress.

“We’re definitely not doing this here,” she laughed, her warm breath washing over my face. “My parents could come home at any second, or one of the kids downstairs could come up.”

I snickered shortly at her calling Harry a kid, tucking a lock of shiny hair behind her ear. “Alright, if you insist. But just know that I’m not happy about it.”

She ran her fingers along my chin, probably feeling the stubble I’d failed to shave for the past couple of days, before pressing her mouth against mine shortly. “Sorry. Maybe another time. At your place, where there aren’t any snoops.”

“Except for Harry.”

“I know how to deal with Harry,” she replied mysteriously as she sat up. “Do you want any tea? I think I’m going to put some on.”

My mind flashed back to Harry’s raving about Jess’ tea, and I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try it out for myself. “Yeah, sure.”

She patted my leg once before getting up and disappearing into the kitchen.

I stayed where I was, unsure whether I was supposed to follow to help or not. But I figured tea wasn’t too hard, so she’d be able to take care of the task herself.

Hitting my head hard against the armrest of the couch, I sighed to myself. I knew I was pushing her, that I was trying to force our relationship to go faster that she was willing to go. I knew she was inexperienced, that everything we were doing was completely new to her, and yet my body didn’t want to listen.

About ten minutes later, Jess re-entered the room, carrying a couple of mugs carefully so she didn’t spill them. Her dark eyes had a focus and determination that I’d never associated with being careful with tea, and I had to fight with myself to keep from laughing.

“Here. I hope it’s okay,” she granted, handing over the black mug over to me, while she kept the pink mug that read JESSICA on the side with white puff paints.

I took a sip of the scalding liquid in my hand and sighed. It was Yorkshire tea, that, I could distinguish, but there was a different taste in it that I couldn’t identify. Something that enhanced the flavor and made the tea even more pleasurable to the pallet.

“Oh my God. How do you make your tea?” I questioned, my eyebrows drawing together as I took another sip. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to drink my own tea again.”

“Then I’ll make it for you every day,” she laughed, “because I’m not telling you. My mum taught me when I was younger, and she told me that it was a family secret.”

“Ugh. Family secrets are the worst kinds of secrets.”

She leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Sorry, love. But I’ll make it for you whenever you want.”

“Not whenever I want. What if I get a craving for it at two AM on a school night? Are you going to come over and make it for me, even if it means losing sleep?”

“Depends on what my reward is,” she replied in a low voice, her tone sensual.

I looked over at her in surprise to see her teeth latched onto her full bottom lip, trying to hide the smile that was fighting desperately to take over her face.

Without another word, I plucked the tea out of her hand and put both our mugs on the floor before leaning over and kissing her, my hand creeping to cup the side of her face.

“The reward can be anything you want, babe,” I replied in a tone that I could only hope rivaled her own.

She threw her head back as she laughed. “Oh my God. Just finish your tea and stop being frisky.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at her word choice before following her orders. And just as I took a sip of my tea, the tension still flowing between us, Harry screamed, “UGH, YOU FUCKING BITCH. THAT WAS MY GRENADE.”

And then the moment dissipated in an explosion of laughter and snorting.