Two

After the restaurant, we all went back to David’s flat, as he referred to it in his cool British accent, for a few games of cards and a couple of beers. I lowered the radio in Erik’s car to talk about his little dinner prank.

“So, the tattoo. Was that all your idea?”

“I actually got the idea from Jaime.”

I felt my eyes narrow. It didn’t seem like Jaime’s style. “So that was his idea?”

“No, no.” Erik shook his head. “I was looking at the star on his wrist the other day and was thinking about how you both have them, and I wondered if we would ever do something like that. You know… get matching tattoos. It was just a passing thought, and then I thought about the look on your face if I tattooed your name.” He turned his eyes away from the road for a moment to glance at me. “I mean, I used your formal name, Brit, that alone was a dead giveaway.”

I guess the tattoos that Jaime and I had was a reminder to him of our past, of all we meant to each other. It must be hard feeling he had to compete for my attention with someone else, but Jaime wasn’t even a remote threat. Yes, I had loved Jaime once, but the last five months had reevaluated everything for me. Jaime was really happy with Beaver, and I was hopelessly in love with Erik, even though I seriously doubted his sanity when I thought that tattoo was real.

“And what about the lace panties?”

“Oh… that’s… er…” He laughed, and for a brief moment, I swear I caught a glimpse of what he looked like as a child. “Actually a gift for me.”

“For you?” I asked, pretending to be coy. “Do tell.”

“Well you know how I told you you’re not allowed to buy be anything for my birthday?”

I rolled my eyes. He was really adamant about this. He didn’t want me spending money on him because his birthday was the day after Christmas. “Yes.”

He cocked his head to the side closest to his driver’s side window. “Well, I was hoping you’d wear them for me on my birthday… that could be my present.”

“Well, I most certainly can wear them. Whether or not you see them is another story.”

Erik’s playful lips turned quickly into a frown, his brows knitted together in confusion. “Why wouldn’t I see them?”

“Erik.” I sighed, reaching over and stroking the back of his neck. He leaned into my touch like a cat. “That’s the day I meet your parents. What do you expect me to do, run in, hand your mother some flowers and say, ‘Be a dear and put these in water while I go shag the birthday boy?’” I said in my best English accent.

“See? Now that would be thoughtful. Flowers for her, birthday sex for me. Happiness all around.” He grinned. I shook my head.

“What am I going to do with you?”

Erik reached back around his neck and grabbed my hand, and bringing my wrist to his lips, he kissed my tattoo. “Anything you want.”

I curled my fingers around his. “Thank you for not tattooing my name on your body.”

“Any time, babe.”

I had never seen David’s apartment before. I don’t know what I expected, perhaps Beatles wallpaper or Union Jack bedding. But it was pretty much standard Ikea furniture with a few guitars scattered around and some movie posters in frames.

“What’s wrong, love?” David asked, seeing my evident disappointment.

I looked around the room once more then back at him. “You’d never know you were British.”

“Oh, I made him put his red phone booth away since company was coming,” Kristen said before rolling her eyes. “Really Brit, what did you expect?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure. But I was really excited about whatever it was.”

“I hate to disappoint you by not living up to your American expectations. If it’ll make you happy, I’ll serve your beer in a teacup,” David offered.

“I suppose it’ll have to do.”

Erik swung an arm around my shoulder and gave me a squeeze. “Sorry, this one still didn’t get over the fact that her letter from Hogwarts never arrived.”

I dug my hands into my pockets. “My owl just got lost, I have faith he’ll still come for me.” Erik shook his head and wandered away to scope out David’s bookshelf.

Jaime unwrapped the black scarf that was around his neck. “Trust me, I lived through the Potter days… it was scary. She would go weeks speaking in an English accent. Oh and then she went through a phase where she would flip her fork upside down when she was eating dinner.” He pretended to cut imaginary food and eat it.

“Are you done?” I asked, sticking my tongue out at him, because I was nothing if not mature.

“Yes, now I am.” He wrapped an arm around my neck, pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head before helping himself to a beer in the kitchen. I glanced over at Erik, still shy whenever Jaime was slightly affectionate toward me, but he was too busy looking at David’s hard cover copy of The Killing Joke to even notice. Typical me, nervous over nothing.

We were on our second round of Cards Against Humanity, when the door opened.

Holy Hotness, Batman!

A guy in his early twenties walked in, brushing the snow off of his dark brown hair with his gloved hand. He had light blue eyes, which were outlined with thick black glasses and the most perfect chiseled jawline. Whoever ordered the sexy popsicle, your dessert has arrived…

“Hey everyone,” the hot dude said as he took off his jacket and scarf and hung them on a hook next to the door. He rubbed his arms to warm up and looked around at us. Kristen jumped up and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. I noticed he automatically wrapped one arm around her waist, like he did that all of the time.

“Hey, Harry. It’s snowing outside?”

“Just a dusting, not too bad.”

“Grab a beer, mate, and join us,” David said as he shuffled the deck.

“I’ll get it.” Kristen jogged into the kitchen to grab him a beer. She was so good at the hostess thing, you’d think she lived here. Then again, I’m sure she spent a lot of nights here. Harry sniffed and nodded. His nose was pink from the cold. The Rudolph look never seemed so sexy.

Jaime stood and offered his hand to Harry. “Jaime,” he said, and I noticed Rob eyed their interaction closely. I don’t blame you Beaver, those two together would make one hell of a power couple. If this guy wasn’t a model, then I don’t know what more society wanted.

“Harry. I’m David’s roommate.”

“And baby cousin,” David added as he tapped the deck of cards on the table.

“And cousin,” Harry said, this time eliminating the word baby.

Cousins! That explained it. David had a whole different kind of sex appeal. He was tattooed and rugged. This family had crazy, amazing DNA.

“But you don’t sound British,” I blurted out. Erik rolled his eyes, shaking his head at my obvious observation. Sometimes I spoke out loud before all my thoughts had properly processed.

Harry laughed, and I felt like an ass. “Sorry to disappoint you, I’m from New York.” My mind was flooded with a million questions for him—mainly, why on earth would Clark Kent’s stunt double leave Metropolis to come to Bumblefuck, USA? He leaned down and offered me his hand, and I tried so hard not to blush as our palms touched. I’m a geeky girl, what can I say? It’s not every day you get to meet a superhero’s alter ego.

I saw Erik give me a sideways glance, and I lowered my gaze back to my cards while Harry shook hands with Rob and Erik then plopped down in the spot where Kristen had been sitting, next to David. I could feel the heat of Erik’s eyes on me. Since when did he have x-ray vision?

“What?” I said, sounding a bit exasperated. Way to play it cool, Brit.

“Nothing,” he replied. He was smiling, so I knew he wasn’t mad. Kris came back with a few fresh beers and started handing them out then wiggled in between Harry and David. She was like the cream filling in an Oreo sandwich, flanked by two delicious guys. I really needed to get a grip, my boyfriend was just as hot, if not hotter than the British invasion. I assessed my irrational rush of hormones to the beer. I was on my third. Since Erik was driving, he only had one. Not wanting cold beers to go to waste, I took one for the team and drank his share. I mean, it made sense. Waste not, want not, and all.

While David dealt out the cards for our third round, Erik got up and strolled over to David’s guitars. He was eyeing the dark blue, electric Taylor, and I knew he was itching to play. I leaned across the coffee table. “Hey David, do you mind?” I tilted my head in Erik’s direction. The poor boy looked like a kid hoping to ride Space Mountain.

David looked over at Erik. “Go ahead and play, man.”

Erik, not needing to be asked twice, picked up the guitar like it was a sacred relic, reached into his back pocket and pulled out a pick. How sexy was that? Most guys have condoms in their pocket, but my man had tortoise shell guitar picks. Fuck Superman, I was dating Kurt Cobain. He sat down on the couch, plugged the guitar into David’s amp, and adjusted the sound so it wasn’t so loud the neighbors would call the cops. He started strumming, and I was able to see the exact moment he spiritually left the room and got lost in the music.

“Another talented musician.” Harry shook his head. “I feel inferior enough around David and Kristen.” Kristen was a music major and a classical pianist. Kristen opened her mouth, and I knew she was going to say something about me. But David beat her to the punch.

“Brit, too. Seriously, Harry, you need to get a hobby. You’re not that interesting.”

“Leave him alone, David.” Kristen gave David a playful nudge in the arm. “Harry is plenty interesting. He’s just still trying to figure out what he wants out of life.” Kristen flashed Harry a smile before looking back at her cards. I noticed Harry smiled in return, slow and sweet, keeping his gaze on Kris a moment longer than he should have.

Well, I guess I knew what he wanted out of life.

I was reading my cards and swaying to the music. At some point I started humming along to The Man who Sold the World. The humming turned into words as Erik returned to the chorus.

“Brit’s singing without anyone holding a gun to her head. Either she's drunk or Erik has a snake charmer thing going for him,” Kristen asserted. I grabbed my beer, stood up and started not only singing louder, but dancing. I pulled Kristen up, but she just laughed. “You can’t dance to this Brit. Not unless you’re stoned and at a hippie love fest.”

Erik didn’t say a word, just changed his strumming to something more upbeat and faster. Kristen laughed but conceded and started shaking her hips with me. She even sang along too, which was a treat because Kris had some sick pipes on her. That girl was going to be on Broadway one day.

“Hey, how come when I play you don’t dance in my living room?” David asked as he leaned back and enjoyed his view.

Kristen shrugged. “You don’t play The Killers.”

The night wound down, and we started yawning more than laughing. It was after two in the morning, and I was ready for bed. I started to help Kristen clean up, but Harry took the empties out of my hand. “Go home, I got this.” He turned to Kris. “You too, go relax. David can help me. You’re not our slave.”

When Harry walked into the kitchen and was safely out of earshot, I whispered, “Hmm, cute and sweet, how come I never heard about him before?”

Kristen made a face and stuck her tongue out at me. “He’s David’s cousin.”

“Yeah, David’s hot cousin, not your cousin. Don’t even pretend you never gave him a second glance.”

Kristen didn’t answer; instead, she gave me a big hug. “I’m gonna miss you.”

“Tell me about it. But I’ll see you in January, right?”

“Yeah, let’s do a few days together, you can stay at my place. It’ll give you a break from Audrey.” Audrey was my mother, and we didn’t exactly have the best relationship.

“Ugh, don’t remind me.” I looked over at David. “What’s lover boy doing while you’re gone?”

“Well, I’m not going home for a few more days. I’ll hang out with these two until Tuesday, and then David and I are spending New Year’s Eve together. He’ll be with Harry and the rest of his family for Christmas.” That made sense.

“Anything special planned for New Year’s?”

Kristen smiled. “Maybe.” I guess she didn’t want to tell me. I assumed that meant a twenty-four-hour shag fest in a champagne haze.

I said goodbye to David and Harry, giving Kristen one final squeeze before we parted ways for a while. Jaime and Rob walked us to Erik’s car.

“Are you sure you don’t want to spend Christmas with me in Connecticut?” I asked hopefully, knowing Jaime would say no.

“As much as I would love to watch you sulk on your doorstep, I think I’m going to opt for a hot tub and my boyfriend.” He winked at me, and I admitted defeat.

“I don’t blame you. In fact, I’m very jealous.”

“Don’t be, knowing you and Erik, you’ll see each other more than you think.” I nodded, wanting to believe him. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a big bear hug, squeezing so tight, I thought he might break me.

“I love you,” he whispered in my ear then kissed the top of my head.

“I love you too. Don’t forget about me, okay. Text me all the things every single day.”

“Every day?” He raised one perfect brow.

“Every few days?” I asked hopefully. Jaime smiled and nodded then slapped his hand against Erik’s. They did a shoulder bump thing while I gave Rob a goodbye hug.

“Take care of him, okay?”

“I always do.” Rob smiled. “Have a great Christmas, Brit.”

“You too… Oh! Happy Hanukah,” I added.

Once settled in the car, Jaime pulled up next to us and rolled down his window. “I’ll drop my baby off in your parking lot. It’ll be there when you wake up.” Jaime was letting me borrow his car to drive home to Connecticut. It saved me a train ride and also gave me a way to visit Erik. Win-win!

“You’re the best, Jaime!”

“Yes, I know.”

When we got back to my dorm room, I staggered inside. “I think I’m a little tipsy.”

“I think you’re a little drunk,” Erik observed.

Giving him a poke in the chest, I replied, “I think you need to take your shirt off.”

Erik laughed. “I don’t think I should take advantage of you if you’re intoxicated.”

“You’re not going to take advantage of me. I’m going to take advantage of you.”

“Oh, well in that case…” Erik stripped away his red, plaid, flannel shirt and pulled off his black tee that had the words Valar Morghulis in grey calligraphy going across his chest. “By all means m’lady, have your way with me.”

With a canvas of skin before me, I swirled my fingers around his guitar tattoo that covered his heart. “Now this tattoo, I like.” I kissed his ink and felt his chest expand as he breathed in deeper.

“I can tell,” he said softly, cradling my head in his palm.

“Wait!” I couldn’t recall if I had taken my pill. I’d hate to accidentally double up tonight and miss a future day. Scratching my head, I turned to Erik. He would know. He was the responsible one. “Did I take my pill tonight?”

Erik closed his eyes momentarily and nodded emphatically. “Yes. Remember your phone alarm went off and then you and Kristen clinked beers and chimed ‘pill buddies’ in the middle of the room?”

I covered my mouth, embarrassed. Kristen and I were always acting stupid together, but only with alcohol in our system would we have done that in front of the boys. Newly relieved that I had protected myself from being on an upcoming episode of an MTV teen pregnancy reality show, I wrapped my arms around his neck and gave him a deep kiss. I was a little drunk, but not enough to not know what I was doing. And right now what I wanted to be doing was Erik.

We kissed, stripped, and got under the covers. I snuggled up against Erik, feeling the warmth of his body; ready to do every wonderful thing that you can do when you’re young, in love, and have zero responsibility.