Finally Her Turn

Chapter 20: John

I barely sleep Friday night, for two reasons. The first is that I finally know what the term “mate withdrawals” means, and it’s definitely a real thing. If I thought that my longing for Marissa was bad before, it was so much worse after having no way at all to even talk to her. But the other problem, the biggest problem, is how much worrying I’ve been doing since sending that text yesterday and then realizing that she won’t even get it, meaning that I have no way of warning her of what’s about to happen today.

After giving up on sleep and spending my morning taking my sweet time getting ready to leave for New Horizon with Uncle Ben, it finally hits me. The blonde girl who seemed like Marissa’s little sidekick at lunch that one day. Stevie has her number now, thanks to me and Marissa, and I could ask him to text her for me.

I finish with all my primping and then take myself across the hall to his room, hoping that things will finally start going my way and he will be willing and able to do me this favor. If there was ever a giant sign telling me that I’m neck-deep in a mess of my own creation, it’s the fact that I need Stevie to help me get out of it. He’s a hell of a warrior, but a hot mess when it comes to pretty much anything else.

I’m in the middle of my second knock on the door when he flings it open so that my poor, innocent brain can be forever corrupted by the sight of him wrapped in only a tiny little towel, a toothbrush and toothpaste foam hanging out of his mouth.

“Hey man. You just can’t even wait to see me, can you?” he teases, grinning at me as he steps back to let me in.

“Can you blame me? I mean, look at you,” I jest in return, gesturing up and down his practically naked body.

“Yeah, good point,” he shrugs, and then disappears into his bathroom.

To my relief, he’s fully dressed when he comes back out. Not that I mind nudity, but I find it concerning whenever Stevie’s naked. He gets way too stuck on the easy access that it gives him to his own manhood, which he seems to enjoy flopping around and making a spectacle of, sometimes even using it to pull “pranks” on people. I get it, he’s proud of how kind the Moon Goddess has been to him, but it quickly starts to feel too much like a junior high locker room for my taste.

“So, what’s eating you then?” he asks, far more seriously than I would expect from him. “Mate troubles?”

I guess I haven’t been as discreet about my worried mind as I’d hoped. Even Stevie has noticed that something’s up.

“Kind of. More like mate withdrawals. Marissa broke her phone, so I can’t even text her now.”

“That sucks,” he declares sympathetically, even letting his face droop into a sad expression for a moment. “But at least you’ll see her later, and then after that, you get to keep her.”

“Yeah, I know.” I’m not about to tell him the full truth. The man is too fond of gossip. “But I was just wondering if you wouldn’t mind asking Tasha if she could let Marissa use her phone for a little bit or something. Even just five minutes.”

“Oh, you’ve got it bad,” he comments, smirking at me now. The sad face only lasted about two seconds. “And I’d love to help, but I don’t know if I can. I talked to Tasha for all of a night before things fizzled out between us.”

“What did you do?”

I’d accept the explanation of “things fizzled out” from pretty much anyone else, but this is Stevie. He scared her off somehow. I know it.

“Nothing,” he tries to claim, but the high-pitched break in his voice that makes him sound like a teenager again tells me he’s lying. “We just didn’t vibe the way I’d hoped.”

“What did you do?” I repeat my question, having learned that he can’t keep up a lie for long. If you press him enough, he’ll break.

“Nothing. I … ugh. Whatever,” he sighs, crossing his arms over himself and looking away. “I may or may not have impulsively rushed into things a little bit. But I mean, we were getting along great. She’s really funny, and easy to talk to. And then we started sending silly pictures back and forth, and … well.”

“Stevie, you didn’t.”

“Depends what you’re accusing me of.”

“Did you send her something from below the waist?”

“I might have. It felt like the right timing for it, though, at least I thought.”

“You always think it’s the right time for that. Were you at least clothed in this picture?”

“Maybe. Maybe not.”

“Stevie!”

“Now you sound like my mother, scolding me like that.”

He rolls his eyes at me, but finally uncrosses his arms. I’m surprised by how affected he seems to be by the whole thing. Maybe even embarrassed, which is quite unlike him.

“Well, what did she say after that? Or did she just outright block you?”

“No,” he sighs. “She didn’t block me, but she did knock my ego down a notch or two.”

“Rightly deserved.”

“Maybe so,” he says, finally letting some of his tension go as he chuckles at his own misfortune. “You want to see it?”

“You’ll jump on any opportunity to show that thing off, won’t you,” I can’t help teasing him, especially since it’s true.

“No, not that,” he groans in frustration. “What she said. I don’t want to say it because it’s kind of embarrassing, especially since I can’t help but laugh at it even though it’s an insult.”

“Alright. Let me see it.”

He takes out his phone and clicks around a bit to open the conversation in question before handing it over to me. I notice that he’s since deleted the photo, which I’m glad for. But he’s right about what she said. I kind of want to laugh, but since he’s obviously feeling sensitive and embarrassed about it, I do my best to hold it back as I read her words.

‘Well, that was unexpected, but I suppose I should be thanking you. I’ve been confused for a while now, but as of this moment, I am one hundred percent certain that I’m gay, and I never want to see anything like that ever again.’

“Savage,” I comment, still struggling to hold back the laughter. “You scared her off men entirely, Stevie.”

“Yeah, I mean, it kind of looks that way. I thought she was just joking at first, but after a little bit of texting back and forth, I realized she’s serious. Like she meant every word of it, even the part about being confused until now.”

“Well, jokes aside, it sounds like it wasn’t you then, or your junk.”

“Yeah, that’s what I keep telling myself,” he sighs again. “All the other girls who’ve seen it seem to like it. I’m just sad because I kind of like the idea of trying out a female warrior. Imagine how strong those legs must be, and how they’d feel wrapped around –”

“Stop,” I cut him off, holding my hand up to his face to create a physical barrier to prevent him from continuing that thought out loud.

Not that I’m a prude who can’t handle hearing it or anything. Quite the opposite. It takes every ounce of my willpower not to constantly be thinking those same thoughts about my own female warrior, and I don’t want to have myself all worked up and dying for release when I finally get to see her later.

“Well anyway, I can try texting her, but I don’t know if she’ll answer me,” he offers uncertainly, already typing something into his phone. “I’ll tell her that it’s you who wants to talk to her, or actually it’s your mate you want to talk to, so I’ll tell her that. And then if we don’t get a response, I’ll just give you her number. I mean, she gave it to you once, so I’m guessing she doesn’t mind you having it.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

And I have to admit, it does. I’ve since deleted the message with Tasha’s number because it wasn’t me who wanted it, but he’s right that she didn’t seem to have any issues with using me as a go-between, even knowing that I might possibly save it.

I sit beside him on his bed, looking over his shoulder and stealing the number from him before even giving her a chance to respond. I don’t have time for that. We’ll be heading out for New Horizon in a little bit, and I want to make sure that Marissa gets as much time to process the news about the transfer as possible.

The problem is that Tasha never responds to either of us. Fate sure does seem to want to punish me for waiting until the last minute, that’s for sure. I can’t help wondering if Uncle Ben somehow has Fate on speed dial and put in a request for her to teach me a lesson. Message received, guys, so would you please let me talk to my mate now?