How to Kill a Man

CHAPTER ONE

The electricity is sizzling in the air tonight. Everyone is jumping in an uproar of celebration, and I am one of the many participants.

I stumble over my feet as I reach for the bottle of vodka. After hijacking the booze from Jesse, I look at him in my drunken stupor as I take a swig of the foul liquid. I feel the unpleasant liquid travel down my throat, reviving my insides. I let out an unrecognizable gargling sound and stick out tongue out. Jesse laughs at my sour face, which earns him a playful shove on the arm.

My body begins to feel warm and I can't seem to wipe this smile off my face.

We graduated today.

Jesse puts his weight on my stumbling frame to keep me in place, but I think it's only an excuse to touch me more. I lift my wobbly head to his gaze and I think I might be drooling. He wipes the corner of my mouth and mutters, "That's cute. Niagara Falls."

I let out a drunken giggle and slur, "What would I do without you?"

He smiles knowingly and casually lowers his lips to my ear. "You'll never have to worry about that."

I lean into his embrace and enjoy this while I can. In a couple months I'll be moving to the big city. Come September, I'll be a freshman at NYU, majoring in Art.

My days left with Jesse were numbered. Being with him secretly was becoming very difficult, especially with us both living under the same roof.

I feel myself shift back and forth, wondering what Jesse is doing behind me. I then realize it's me who's shifting, and that I'm having trouble keeping my balance.

"Genevieve, we need to get you home. You're bombed."

"I'm fine!" I shout louder than I should.

I let out an unceremonious scream, attracting the other partying seniors as they hold up their cups and scream back.

I break away from Jesse to explore the crowd a little more. I feel like mingling tonight. The air is thick and hot due to everyone compacted in this small house, shoulder to shoulder. I glance at the football team, realizing that I never paid attention to them in High School. Or maybe they didn't pay attention to me. I begin walking up to them in the hopes of striking up a conversation, when all of a sudden I fall into someone's arms.

It's Jesse, of course, who's inevitably behind me making sure I'm okay.

"You're everywhere!" I shout and take a swig of the bottle then hand it to Jesse. He gives me a disapproving look with his big and beautiful brown eyes.

Those eyes.

Oh, did I mention that Jesse is my step-brother?

That means we are kind of related, but not.

This is something I constantly need to remind myself.

The truth is that I lost my virginity to Jesse. It's actually not as romantic as it sounds. It all started a few months after his mother Pam died. Jesse's mom and my dad met at a baseball game about ten years ago. Both Jesse and I tagged along to this game but never spoke a word to each other. Sounds cute in theory, right?

I remember being so scared until he took off his jacket that revealed his Harry Potter tee shirt. Sprawled across his scrawny chest, it read '5 points for Gryffindor'. I knew I was going to like him a lot after that. Long story short, we all had dinner after the game and they immediately fell in love. Pam and Jesse moved in one month later with us. This gave me the family that I never had and always hoped for.