𝔽₳𝜯Ǝ

Falsehood

Alison and Chloe were downstairs in the kitchen. Both had showered and changed from the night before, and there was a bag of fast food sitting on the counter.

"Morning sleepy heads," said Alison in a sing-song-taunt.

"Yeah, yeah," I said. I was still holding on to Becky's hand as we walked up to the counter.

"So, are you two a thing now?" Alison asked as she took a swig from a bottle of water.

I glanced at Becky. I was going to let her say it; I wanted it to come from her not me. I was also just a tiny bit afraid she was going to deny it and brush it off, regardless of what we'd just said and done.

Becky nodded, "Yup."

"Cool," said Alison.

And that was that I guess.

I dug into the food bag and came out with a couple of breakfast sandwiches; I handed one of them to Becky, who thanked me and slid up onto a bar-stool

I avoided making eye contact with Chloe; she was doing the same with me, which made it easier.

"So how is Jenna?" I asked as I unwrapped my sandwich

Alison sighed, "Okay I guess. We checked her into the ER. She was blowing well over the limit, so they had to call her parents. I also told the nurse what had happened, so I think they did a rape kit on her, to see if, you know..." she trailed off.

I stopped chewing for a moment, only resuming when Alison shook her head no.

"Everything was fine, he hadn't gotten that far yet, and there were no drugs in her system besides the booze. Thank God," Alison said.

I nodded.

She shrugged, "Anyway, they released her to her parents a couple of hours ago, so Chloe and I went home, showered, and changed, then I swung by your guy's houses to pick up clothes and stuff for you."

I inwardly cringed but braced myself for impending parental wrath, "What did you tell my parents?"

Alison smirked, "The truth."

I blushed thinking immediately of Becky and what we'd done. That was silly of course, but hey, guilty conscious.

She rolled her eyes and continued, "That we'd partied pretty hard, Jenna had got herself nearly date raped, you saved her, but she blew chunks all over your clothes, and that you were staying at my parent's beach house for me until I got back. And that you guys were going to help me clean up. Your dad was pretty cool about it. You're supposed to call him when you wake up."

Oh. Hey, that didn't sound bad at all. You know, except for the cleaning part.

"Well, thanks for that. I'll call him when I'm done eating," I said.

Alison gave another smirk, "Well, I guess I did lie about one thing."

I arched an eyebrow. Becky gives a little snort.

"There's no way I'm cleaning this place up. I called a house cleaning service; they should be here any minute," Alison said.

Well, I guess that's yet another benefit of your parents being rich. Your credit card.

"Oh. Well. Awesome," I said with a little laugh. Becky giggled too, but Chloe just rolled her eyes.

Alison grinned, "Hey, actually it was my mom's idea. There's no way the five... well, four of us could clean this place back up again to her standards, so she told me to call this place she knows after the party."

"Damn that was cool of her," I said, raising both my eyebrows.

Alison just shrugged, but the other two girls agreed with me.

"Now," she said, "Let's blow this Popsicle stand. We've got a day to blow while your parents think you're being my cleaning minions. I say, beach, shopping, and dinner out for the birthday kids."

All of us cheered.

That day was spent with me following the girls around shopping, which wasn't unusual. Except for this time, I got to do most of it holding hands with Becky (or holding her bags). We'd steal little kisses from each other when the other two weren't looking. She was very playful about it too. I mean, I'd always known she had a playful streak, but I'd never been on this end of her playful flirting before. It was, I gotta say, way more fun than the normal teasing-flirting-to-nowhere the girls usually did with me. For one thing, I mean, Becky's sly promises and teases meant something now, which made me spend a good chunk of the day tingling with anticipation. But for another, I got to flirt back.

It's not that I'd never flirted with them before, but I'd always kept it on the lighter side of caution. Never daring to overstep my boundaries and offend one of them. But now, I got to unleash the full power of my wit and, not inconsiderable if I may humbly say, charm, on Becky. I had her blushing more than once, which was its reward; but the kisses afterward were an even better sort. We stole kisses and touches whenever we could. By the end of the shopping trip, I'd even gotten over my self-consciousness about initiating those touches; slipping my arm around her waist, or playing with the back of her neck while we were sitting down waiting for something. I was on top of the world.

Also, Chloe finally relaxed, at least, on the surface. After the first hour of awkwardness, she seemed to get over it and be back to her normal bubbly self. I did notice that she flirted with me far less than she had before, at least directly; after a while, her flirts became suggestions for Becky, who then put them into action.

We went out for dinner that night, and Alison and Becky made the waiters sing happy birthday to Chloe and me. It was like things were back to normal, which took a huge weight off my shoulders.

Except I had a girlfriend.