Day 2.
"Christ, lass, ye're filthier than I am!"
She jumped once again.
"Hey! Will you stop creeping up on me?"
He burst in his hysterical childish laugh at her outrage, not dignifying her with a proper answer. Instead, he extended a hand to try and open the sketchbook back, though she swatted it away.
"That's frigging private!" she exclaimed in vain.
The day after their first encounter, she had come back to the same park, still desperate to escape the smothering atmosphere of her old aunt's home, where she was staying in order to lower the costs of college. She was grateful that she could stay there for free, however, during these spring holidays, she realized she was suffocating, and she had turned back to her old habits for evading reality.
This time, though, she had deliberately sat cross-legged with her back against a tree to prevent anyone from looking over her shoulder. Yet, that stealthy idiot had managed to surprise her once more, sneaking another peek at her put-on-paper fantasies.
Of course, it had been on a page littered with kinky outlines of bare torsos, tattooed young men with bulging jeans, light happy trails on tight abs that lead to opened buttons showing suggestive darker hair, and wandering hands descending on each other's lack of underwear. For his defense, though, that kind of pleasantness was filling every page of this sketchbook since the day before, so he couldn't have chanced upon anything else.
"Shit, ye're going to make me all worked up like a fucking maiden with that naughty imagination of yers! Can I have one?"
"No frigging way! They're mine." She stuck out her tongue at him. No one was supposed to see those, so, none of it was leaving the -usually- safe pages of her notebook.
He stuck out his tongue back, sitting by her side. "I don't care. They're not as good as the first one anyway."
"You think?" She asked, instantly wondering why her tone had so quickly turned insecure. No one usually judged her art since no one ever saw it. But when she glanced back at it with a fresher eye, she figured he was right. They were less faithful to their subjects; the proportions weren't always accurate. "That's because I didn't have a model this time. I thought maybe your brother would come and take another nap…"
"Ye were hoping to stalk him again, ye slag!" he mocked, and her hand automatically flew to slap his shoulder as if they'd known each other for years. "Sorry to disappoint ye, but he's on a lunch date…" And he didn't manage to hide his own disappointment in his tone.
"With a girl?"
"No, with a fucking leprechaun- of course with a girl! We already can't see each other as much as usual since we're here, with work and all, and now he's going on to lunch with a fucking gal! Without me!"
"Why? Were you hoping to get invited, third wheel?" she decidedly taunted him back.
He pushed on her shoulder in a playful manner too, just to throw her off balance. "I missed my chance with the girl's friend, that's all! We usually hit on lassies that go out in pairs, so no one gets left behind. Well, we never said so; it's always been implied."
"But he got the girl and you didn't…" she teased again with an impish smile.
"Shut up! I totally nailed it! She gave me her number and everything! It's just that, afterward, there was this other lass that kept, ye know, looking for trouble."
She only raised her eyebrow with disbelief painted on her features.
"I swear to ye, she was practically grinding on me! So, since I thought the first one was already in my pocket, I just went for it! I offered to walk her home and spent the night. It was a piece of cake. She was already screaming my name in the elevator. I mean, I know how to make a woman scream, but this time, it was almost too easy!"
"So, let me get this straight: ye left a girl out cold after she gave you her number, just to take off with another one in front of her… Hum…" she sarcastically mused. "And what about your brother, didn't you leave him alone as well?"
"Oh come on! He's got to understand! Ye don't refuse a woman like that, she was hot!"
"He didn't say anything to you?"
"Aye, he was pouting like a wee tyke this morning… Jealous dickhead. But, still, then, I called the first gal, like Conn' had called her friend, so we could double date today, though she told me I was a jerk and all. As if we were already exclusive or some shit! Ye understand that?"
"Because you don't?"
"Haven't got a fucking clue."
She just laughed at him in answer. "Well, maybe ye should ask your brother for dating advice…" she gibed.
"Right! Like that tosser would know better! Ye'd figure, since we sleep right next to each other-"
"I didn't know that," she muttered with dreamy eyes.
"Aye, that should give ye some more inspiration… Anyway, that means that if he brings a lass home that isn't too shy, I can hear everything, even watch a bit if I want to. So, I know he's good, but no better than myself."
She peered at him with wide eyes. These brothers were even more full of surprises than she'd first presumed. She felt her own body tingle at the thought of being with one while the other watched, even though she would never have imagined this could even be a fantasy. Those two -whom she still didn't know at all- were awaking parts of her unconscious naughty side she had barely suspected before.
"I could show ye if ye'd like, how much it's her loss," he added with a roguish grin as if he'd known she was getting flustered.
She felt a spark flare from down her loins to rush up her chest and into her throat, almost making her choke. "Now, you'd be biting off more than you could chew, mister."
"Don't underestimate me." His confident smile didn't even falter. "I've got a gift, lass, can't let it go to waste!"
She rolled her eyes at what he smugly implied before clarifying: "So, you're truly attracted to girls too? Not just pretending?"
"Is that so hard to believe?" He shrugged. "Ye thought I'd kept my fucking virginity intact just 'cause of that foolish little pipe dream?"
"If you were attracted to guys, it wouldn't be just a silly dream." She frowned, almost expecting that this little prick's denial would send him on a homophobic rant.
"I'm not!... I mean, I don't really care. I guess… When we were ship's boys, the crew was only men, ye know. So, there was one or two that wanted to give me a head, why would I refuse?"
"If you hadn't wanted to, well that's just sordid. How old were you?"
"I wanted to! Hell, I was fucking desperate for it even. At the time, if that tree, here, had had a good-sized hole, I would have screwed that as well! Ye don't know what it's like to be a fucking teenage boy, I was horny all the time -well, maybe ye know something about that!" He winked at her, hinting at her notebook. "Don't be shocked, I told ye I'm a fucking perv…"
"Keep trying, you might have noticed I'm not that easily shocked, dude," she mocked him back.
"Aye, ye're not a virgin, are ye?" He declared knowingly.
"I'm not." She wondered how it had come to be that she was openly discussing such intimate subjects with a perfect stranger. Although, she figured their whole thing had started with the most bizarre of confessions, so this was only a natural follow-up. "I've had a boyfriend since I was in middle school. We waited until high school, you know, to be ready. I guess he was before me, but, well, he was nice, careful and everything, I don't think it was his fault that I didn't feel anything…"
"Loser. I never stop before I've made the girl come at least twice or more. And, I mean, the first time, just take directions, mate!"
"Is that what you did? Follow directions? I wouldn't have known which directions to give."
"I guess my first time was with a much more experienced gal, so maybe that's that. Ye should have just tried with someone else. Someone with experience."
"But, when you're in love, that's not what you do. You just try again to make it better. Haven't you ever been in love?"
"With a girl?" he asked bewildered, as if he'd never thought that was indeed possible. "Of course not. I mean, lassies are nice and all, I love a good chat, and even more a good fuck, but after that… I guess I'd rather just chill with me brother, that's all."
"Oh, of course." She nodded in acknowledgement.
But his face scrunched up in confusion: "What, 'of course'? What does that mean?"
"That means of course you can't fall in love with anyone, you're already in love with your brother." She stated with a shrug as if it was the most obvious assertion.
"I'm not in love with Connor!" he immediately retorted defensively. "I didn't say I was! It's just… I just think, ye know, since he's there, I might as well… I don't know, try."
She couldn't help snorting at his cluelessness. "Uh-huh. Sure."
"Christ, I had forgotten ye were fucking insane, lass! I don't even know why I'm talking to ye, if ye're going to say dumb shit like that!"
"Hey! Don't insult me because you're stung in your little male pride!" she replied with as much anger.
So, he shot up on his feet. "Ye shouldn't project yer fucking crazy fantasies on other people, ye know, that's all sorts of disgusting."
"Oh, you know what, get lost!" She'd run out of patience. "Go blow your brother off or something!"
He gritted his teeth, with his hands balled up in fists, and she wondered for a minute if she hadn't gone too far; she had no idea what that almost stranger was capable of. However, he only spun on his heels and walked away.
"Well," she mumbled to herself, "I guess this is the end of whatever that was…" And she sighed, not remorseful, but definitely disappointed it had turned sour so fast.