*** Love

I carried my empty plate to the sink and shot the pair of them a look. They obediently followed me out the door, Mom calling out goodbye and Josh still with that gross, do-me-now look. Weston’s big, manly truck was parked on the street, half on the curb. His driving had become a joke to us; we didn’t even let him drive usually. But our options were limited when I didn’t have a license and Alegra got her keys taken away frequently.

“Shotgun!” I called.

“No way, bitch.” Alegra raced me to the car. Weston yelled after us to be careful, don’t scratch the paint with our cat claws. Alegra beat me, practically shoving me down to get the front seat.

“You’re so vicious,” I whined. I climbed into the back. “I hate your truck, Wes. It’s big and stupid. You get terrible gas milage, too.”

Wes started the car. “You call her the vicious one. Humph.” Wes, the ever cautious driver, flew past the stop sign, speeding out of my neighborhood.

“Cops live here, dumbass. You’re going to get pulled over one day, I swear to god,” I lectured.

“Quit being a backseat driver,” Alegra snickered. She turned on the car radio and blasted Katy Perry.

Wes changed it to a CD almost immediately; he hated pop music as much as I did. “Can we talk about how you were practically on his dick back there?” Wes smirked. Approaching a stoplight up ahead, Wes didn’t take his foot off this gas until the second when he slammed on the brake. Without my seatbelt I probably would’ve gone through the window.

“No,” I muttered. “Let’s not.”

Alegra giggled and twirled a piece of her light gold hair around her finger. “What? It’s not my fault he’s so hot. Blame what happened back there on Morgan’s mom,” she joked. “I’m guessing she’s the one with the rocking genetics. She’s a total babe.”

“Please stop calling everyone in my family hot,” I begged. Wes jetted forward at the green light and got onto the highway without even looking over his shoulder. He was going to kill us all. Which wouldn’t be so bad given the current circumstances.

“And April, God, what I wouldn’t do to have a taste of that--”

“Stop!”

Alegra cackled. “I’m just playin’. I like your sister like I like chicken pox.”

I pressed my cheek against the window. It would have been so easy to just open the door and slip out of the car. The highway would obliterate me in seconds. “Let’s play the quiet game,” I mumbled.

“Wes likes April though. Wasn’t she your first kiss?” Alegra went on.

“Yeah,” Wes said unembarrassed. “Maybe that’s what turned me gay.” They laughed loudly and I sighed.

“I can’t believe y’all woke me up for this,” I grumbled under my breath.

Alegra looked over her shoulder at me. “Hey, you brought your bathing suit, right?” She eyed my wardrobe disdainfully.

My eyes popped open. “No! You didn’t tell me!”

Her eyebrows shot up. “I did too! We’ve been texting you all morning! We’re going to babysit my cousins, and they have a pool! God, Morgan, if you kept track of your phone you would’ve been prepared.” She faced forward and crossed her arms.

“It’s your aunt’s house, don’t you have an extra swimsuit there?” Wes asked as he exited off the highway. He almost took out a car that was in his blind spot. Luckily, they were paying attention and they slammed on their brakes just in time.

“I dunno, maybe,” Alegra muttered.

“Left here?” he asked Alegra and she nodded. “Guys, we’re going to have so much fun! We’re getting paid and they’re, like, twelve, so we pretty much don’t have to do anything.”

Alegra directed Wes the rest of the way. When we pulled up in front of the house, I was the first to jump out. “I thought you hated your cousins.”

She shrugged. “They’re not so bad in moderation, I guess.”

Wes walked up the drive in between us and hooked his arms around our necks. “If they act like shits, we’ll just throw them in the pool.”

I wrestled out of his grip. “How long do we have to do this? I didn’t sign up for this.”

“We’re getting paid,” Wes repeated.

Alegra unlocked the door. The house was nicely furnished, spotless, and looked rather uninhibited. Her cousins were probably still sleeping in, the lucky bastards. “Just until my aunt and her friend get back from the mall. So probably till after lunch.”

I groaned and walked numbly over to the couch, face-planting on it. “This already sucks ass,” I said, my voice muffled by the seat cushion.

Alegra mumbled something that I didn’t catch and Weston laughed. “Oh, don’t say that. We love Morgan. It was your idea to invite her, anyway.”

I turned over with my jaw agape. “Stop being mean to me!”

“She was just calling you a whiny downer,” Wes said soothingly.

“Fuck y’all. Really hard. In the butt.”

“Just like I like it.” Wes winked.

I sneered at him. “You’ve had like, what, one boyfriend? Y’all didn’t even do it.”

“One more than you,” he countered nonchalantly.

I narrowed my eyes. “I’m so drowning you later.”

Wes shrugged and moved to sit down on top of me until I squirmed out of the way. He rested his outstretched arms on the back of the couch, his left arm practically around my shoulder. He leaned down, his nose almost touching the side of my face. “I’ll share the next one, ’kay, sweetums?”

I shoved him away as he laughed. Alegra rolled her eyes and sat in the recliner. She turned on the television, shutting the two of us out completely.

“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t go for that,” Wes said. “Word around the street is that you’re a dyke anyhow.”

I huffed. “I don’t like girls. I would make a terrible lesbian anyway, because I think boobs are weird and I don’t like them. It’s a lesbian’s job to enjoy boobies.”

He looked at me oddly. “You don’t like boobs? Even I like boobs. Boobs are fun. I mess with Alegra’s all the time.” He looked at her to catch her reaction but she was still ignoring us.

“They’re weird! They just, like, hang there. It’s so awkward. I’m gonna donate my boobs to charity.”

We both looked down at my chest. Granted, I didn’t have much to donate. “You have nice boobs,” he assured me.

I chuckled dryly. “Okay. Thanks.”

“No, I’m serious. They’re, like,” his hand moved toward my breast and I slapped it away. “What?”

“What are you doing?” I yelped, feeling my face burn.

“Calm down. I’m not going to put them in my mouth or anything.”

“Oh my god.” I was utterly horrified with the turn in the conversation. “You don’t have my permission to fondle me. You didn’t even ask!”

He exhaled loudly. “Alegra--” She didn’t even blink. “Alegra? Alegra, I swear to God, I’m going to wake up your cousins if you don’t look at me.” She paused for a moment before giving us her attention. “Do I ask before I touch your boobs?”

The corners of her lips pulled up slightly. “No. It’s usually the other way around.”

Wes gave me a told-you-so look. “Like it matters if you hit a double with Alegra. She lets anyone go to second base,” I replied.

“Whatever. I don’t even want to touch yours anymore. You probably have a disease or something.”

“Oh, ha ha. Make fun of Morgan because she treats her body like a temple and you’re just the wrong religion.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“They are nice, though,” Alegra agreed. Then she grinned. “But mine are better.”

Wes gave her a suggestive look. “Yeah they are, baby.” He jumped over to her recliner and sat her her lap facing her way, straddling her. Alegra raised her arms over her head and gave a delighted squeal, expecting a lap dance, but Wes attacked her sides with tickles until she was curled up and gasping for breath between her fits of laughter.

I heard a door slam from upstairs. “Y’all have done it now.”