Harper's Rules 1 & 2

Chapter 24: Harper

A/N: Mature(ish) content. Kind of. Sort of. Maybe? 

"Fuck no." I shook my head at the stream of asinine, stupid bullshit that flooded out of Ethan's smug mouth. "No. Find another vagina, this one's closed and unavailable for service."

While a small part of me yearned for relief from the 'give Jake a chance' pressure two particular people in my life had inflicted on me lately, along with the opportunity that I saved my own face and demonstrated how much I hated Jake, I wasn't that much of a vindictive bitch. Plus, the beyond obvious fact was my sappy, sweet-hearted best friend would've never forgiven me if I'd toyed with her brother's emotions, made him fall in love with me, then dumped his ass so that his fucked up head affected his football game.

How do these mouth-breathers come up with this stupid shit?

Full disclosure, I'd never planned that I went along with any plan of some jaded rival of Jake's, especially one who I'd just met and spent almost all of the past hour with his eyes fixed on my breasts. I'd only faked my interest in Ethan's plan so that he told me what he had in mind, which was beyond stupid as soon as the explanation rolled out of his drunkass mouth.

Clearly not impressed with my response, Ethan's brown eyes rolled. "I didn't tell you to sleep with him. Just fuck him up a little."

Same difference.

Thankfully, for my dignity, the words 'I have a lot of feelings for Jake' got strangled in my throat and died on my tongue. Instead, I gnashed my teeth until they squeezed out a tiny grinding sound against each other, grabbed Li's small hand in mind, and tugged her towards their house exit.

Over the throbbed party music that now felt more like a pounding headache, I wasn't sure if anyone heard my muttered, "We're done here," but Li didn't put up much of a protest and trailed behind me.

A much-welcomed cool breeze hit my flaming warm cheeks and my eyes closed for a breath, even if the air was slightly scented with nearby 'not cigarette' smoke from the nearby human-sized lawn darts. A giant lump of uncertainty sank in my stomach as I exhaled sharply, dropped Li's hand, and looked at her.

"Li -" I started when the front door burst open and Kieran's large frame stumbled a couple steps towards where we stood on the sidewalk. As he approached, I warned him, "Look, I said -"

"I uhh..." Kieran raked one of his hands through his short, dirty blonde waves and dropped his eyes onto Li. "Wanted to ask for your number. To uhh... maybe study sometime? Together?"

Li's mouth definitely formed the word 'Oh' but only a barely audible squeak left her. Since Kieran looked more uncomfortable the longer she stared at him with her jaw practically dropped onto the sidewalk, the more I sensed he backtracked and nudged my arm into her shoulder.

"I - oh, yes... studying." She pulled out her phone, which trembled in her hands, and passed it to Kieran. He punched in what I assumed was his number, then returned the phone with a huge shit-eating grin on his face.

"Don't kiss him if he smells like the bottom of a beer bottle," I warned her and stepped away for a slight amount of privacy.

"N-no," she stammered and shook her head so violently her hair swished against her ears. One of her hands clamped tightly onto my forearm with a vice grip that pinched into the skin. "Goodnight, Kieran."

Kieran's broad chest heaved as he dragged in a slow breath, then he lifted one hand and blurted out, "Yǒu shí dǎ diàn huà gěi wǒ!"

"Explain that one to me later," I muttered to Li while she giggled quietly and lifted a pale arm in a similar goodbye wave.