Dirty Little Secret

I wake up with Tate crawled across the entire bed with myself glued to his side with my head on his chest. The sun was still rising and Tate was still fast asleep. Quietly I slip out of bed and out of his room, down to the kitchen.

I sipped on my glass of water while staring out the window, watching the sun rise above the trees.

"Morning Cori," Mrs. Daniels says, startling me. "Surprised to see you here this early."

"Sorry, Tate said that you wouldn't mind if I stayed over," I flush deep shades of red mostly because I am still wearing Tate's shirt and his boxer shorts.

"Oh no, you're fine. Normally when girls stay the night sex is involved but Tate told me you don't do that," Mrs. Daniels poured coffee into a large coffee cup before adding a packet of sugar.

"He told you that?"

"Tate tells me more than he should, you should tell him now about things you don't want him to tell me. Want some coffee?" She offers.

I shake my head, "It's fine. I think it's nice that you guys are so close. That your whole family is close."

"It is nice," Mrs. Daniels smiles thoughtfully.

Mrs. Daniels was about to say something else when we were interrupted by a shirtless Tate walking into the kitchen. He gives a little smile before heading straight to the pantry to grab a box of cereal. "I need food."

"Don't expect much from Tate before he has breakfast," Mrs. Daniels giggles.

"Want me to make you breakfast?" I ask as Tate grabs the largest bowl from the cabinet. Tate quickly places the bowl back where he took it from and nodded his head.

"What do you want?"

"Mmm, pancakes?"

I smile, "Would you like some too Mrs. Daniels?"

"Please, it's Liz and no thank you. I'm running behind. Will I see you tonight?" She asks me.

"Yeah you'll see her," Tate says for me.

Mrs. Daniels, or Liz, leaves after kissing Tate goodbye. I start making breakfast by combining flour with baking powder a dash of salt and a tablespoon of sugar. As I was adding the milk and eggs I felt Tate creep up behind me. He brushes my hair off to one side of my neck so he can nuzzle the crook of my neck, and his hands snake around my belly.

"Good morning," Tate says in between gentle nips and kisses.

"Morning," I breath, letting Tate's touch consume me.

"This is extremely hot."

"What is?"

"You in my clothes, making me food."

I giggle rolling my neck to one side allowing him to continue his gentle kisses.

"It's turning me on," He whispers in my ear while pressing against me.

"Tate, don't," I beg.

"I know, I know," Tate continues trailing his lips up and down my neck. I try to ignore him by stirring the batter.

I drop some butter in the hot skillet on the stove top, moving the pan around allowing the butter to coat the bottom. Tate moves with me, his arms still snakes around me.

I put three fluffy pancakes onto a plate and turn to face Tate, putting the plate between us.

"Here you go," I smile handing him the plate.

"Thank you," His pecks my lips before turning to go sit at the bar.

"I have to go take a shower," I tell him.

"You aren't going to eat?"

I shake my head no, "I can't eat this early."

Tate shrugs his shoulders, "There's already some girly shit shampoo in my bathroom. Extra loofahs are in the cabinet under the sink along this a couple towels," He says before shoveling in another bite.

It bothered me that Tate already had every product a girl might need to take a shower, most of them had already been used, meaning that other girls have used his shower. Of course other girls have used his shower; plenty of other girls have slept in the exact same bed that I slept in last night. The thought was unsettling.

I shower quickly, rushing my normal morning routine. I turn the water off, wrap a towel around my body and walk out to Tate's room.

I stop completely paralyzed. Tate is standing at his dresser smiling at me. I tighten the grip on my towel feeling extremely self-conscious.

"Looking for this?" Tate lifts up my bag.

"Yeah," I can barely get out.

"Here," He holds it out.

With caution, I take few steps towards Tate as I reach out to grab my bag. He looks at me confused and almost hurt.

"Cori, I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to. I respect your boundaries."

"I know," I say feeling bad.

His facial expression changes only slightly. I know that he is not convinced. I move even closer, tossing my bag onto Tate's bed and with my free hand I cup Tate's face, reaching up and kissing him slightly. "Thank you," I whisper.

"Yeah, you're welcome. I'm going to take a shower now."

I dress quickly still unhappy with what I am wearing. Tate comes out of the bathroom a few minutes later completely dressed with his hair stuck to his forehead. The weird expression was now completely gone and the normal Tate was back.

"So you want me to come over after practice tonight?" I ask as we walk hand in hand to our cars.

"Yes and if you want to stay over again, I wouldn't protest," Tate smirks.

"I'll think about it."

"And there's this party on Friday that I was going to go to. It's a lot of people that you don't normally associate with, so showing up together wouldn't be a problem, if you wanted to go?"

"I normally go out with the team and Eric but I think I can make an exception."

"Good, I'll see you later," Tate bends to kiss me passionately, engulfing me.

Tate and I drove separately to school. I parked in my normal spot, next to Eric's truck. Him, Courtney and Allie as well as their prom dates were waiting for me.

"Where did you go Saturday?" Eric asks, wrapping an arm over my shoulders, guiding me into the school.

"I wasn't feeling well, so I just went home."

"How did you get home?" He questions.

"I called a taxi."

"Who picked up your car from my house?"

"Why so many questions?"

"Just curious, that's all."

"Oh well I had some of the help pick it up early in the morning."

Eric stopped his interrogation at my locker where he kissed my cheek and left with Courtney and Allie's new beaus. Once they were out of ear shot the girls turned to me.

"So tell us why you really left," Allie says.

"What do you mean?" I ask furrowing my eye brows.

"You left because you were mad at Eric for talking to that girl."

"Oh yeah, I guess that had a little do it with it."

The girls smiled. They loved any sort of drama.

During the day I let my mind drift back to the thoughts of Tate and the other girls. Now it bothered me even more than before. I wanted to know how many girls he's slept with and why and if they were pretty and when the last time he hooked up with some random person. I wanted to know if he was clean, which made me worry even more.

I thought about this until the end of cheer practice. I needed to do something. I sent a text to Tate telling him I'd be over in an hour or so and set out for Target.

I skimmed the bedding aisle, looking for all new bedding. Most of them were girly and had floral prints or bright colors. Finally finding an all-black comforter and matching sheets I threw it into my cart and headed for the hair care products.

I stopped at my house to grab a large bag of clothing before making my way over to Tate's. I found him in his garage working on his motorcycle. I grabbed the bags from Target and my overnight bag and set off for the house, not bothering to say hi to Tate, I knew that he heard me pull up.

I was just finishing making his bed when Tate walks into his room.

"What are you doing?" Tate looks around and sees his old bedding stuffed into a trash can.

"I know you said that those were clean sheets but this makes me feel better," I say heading into the bathroom to swap products.

"What are you doing now?"

"I don't know who used those."

"Why are you doing this?"

"Do you have or had any STD's?" I blurt out.

"What?" The face Tate makes is priceless.

"How many girls have you slept with?" I ask with my voice full of panic.

"Uh," Tate pauses, "like fifteen."

"Fifteen! You've slept with fifteen girls?"

"Maybe more."

"Have you ever shared needles you could get an STD that way."

"I've never stuck myself with any sort of needle."

"So do you have any diseases?"

"No," Tate laughs warily.

"Are you sure? Have you ever been tested?" I ask in a panic because fifteen girls or more is a lot of people to sexual relationships with.

"I'm positive."

"Positive for what?"

"Oh Corinne," Tate laughs harder now, pulling me into a hug. "Positive for not having anything.

"When was the last time you slept with a girl?" I ask against his chest.

"About a month ago."

"Some signs and symptoms don't show up until a couple months after. Have you ever been checked?" I ask now in a calmer voice.

"No I've never been tested but if you want me to, I will."

"You will?"

"Yes, and I'll even let you keep your new blankets and I'll let you throw away the old ones."

"Thank you," I reach up to kiss him.

"Where did this come from?"

"Well it bothered me that you already had girls hair products in your bathroom and they were all half way gone so that got me wondering how many girls you've been with. Then I thought that what if you had AID's or something and we have sex. It's a lot easier for girls to contract sexual transmitted diseases than guys, so if you did have something but didn't know and we had unprotected sex then I could get it and it just bothered me," I say all in one breath.

"Hey, calm down," Tate kisses me again. "Listen, I'll get tested to prove to you have I am clean. I never ever have unprotected sex. My parents had me when they were our age, so it was drilled into my head to always use protection. I don't share needles with any sort of crack addicts. Not all fifteen or more girls have been in my room, only like ten. And if me sleeping around makes you feel like you have to have sex with me to keep me from sleeping around with even more people, don't worry it won't happen. I'm never going to pressure you."

"I didn't even think about that," My mind starts to race again.

Tate takes a deep breath, "Stop thinking about this. We're together and with the annoying exception of Eric's occasional appearances, it's just us. I'm not too worried about Eric though, it's not like you'd sleep with him over me."

"You're right, I'm sorry for being so spastic."

"You're fine. Now will you do me a favor?"

"What?"

"Make dinner tonight, your cooking is really yummy. Much better than take-out.."

I smile and we head down to the kitchen together.

Mr. Daniels came home shortly after we started on dinner but he went straight into his study with only a small wave. Mrs. Daniels came home just as Tate started setting the table. She smiled at me and went into the study. Both Mr. and Mrs. Daniels reemerged from the study just as I put the finishing touches on the creamy spinach and mushroom chicken.

"This was delicious," Mr. Daniels says cleaning his plate with a piece of bread.

"Thank you Mr. Daniels."

"I've told you to call me Steve. Mr. Daniels is my father."

"Thank you, Steve," I say again.

"So what did you two do today?" Liz asks.

"Well Cori bought me new bedding and it making me get tested for every STD mankind can contract," Tate says without missing a beat. My eyes nearly bulge out of my skull.

"Well I think that is a smart idea, you can never be too safe," Liz says. "Cori dear, are staying over tonight?"

"yes, if that's okay."

"That is perfectly alright."

Tate and I say goodnight to his parents and head upstairs.

Tate kissed my forehead after pulling me into the middle of the bed. "Now what story shall I tell you tonight?"

I smiled utterly amazed that Tate could be so understanding and willing to do anything I ask him. It made me care less about what people would think about if they found out and more how happy I would be out in the open.