Page 38 of Strip Bare

“Nope, let’s not talk about that.”

Kit snorted. “Okay. You know, you should really try and talk about things more instead of keeping it all bottled up.” He stood and made his way over to a long counter against the wall, long since covered in paint splashes that covered up most of the white. “Or you can do what I do,” Kit said, placing a large piece of brown paper in front of me as well as a cup of water, paintbrush, and what looked like watercolors. “And paint instead of talking it out. Sometimes I don’t even know what I’m feeling until I have a brush in my hand. Go on. Try it.”

His fingertips brushed mine as he passed over the paintbrush. “I don’t know how.”

“You can’t do it wrong,” Kit pointed out and I frowned.

“Of course you can.”

“That’s the beauty of art,” Kit rolled his eyes and cupped my hand, encouraging me to dip the brush in the water before picking a paint color, “there are no mistakes, no rules, no confines. You can just be… whatever you want.”

What I wanted, I thought but didn’t say, was to be his. But this, friendship with him, would have to be enough.

I smiled and he returned it as the tension from the last few days seemed to fade away until things almost felt normal again. Almost.

* * *

By the time I got home later that evening, I was wearing an uncomfortable amount of paint. I was desperate for a shower, but as I walked up the stairs, I paused at the sound of giggling coming from Xander’s room. He’d said he would call my sister, but now he was in there with some other girl? And what was with all the giggling anyway? Xander wasn’t that funny.

I didn’t even knock, just pushed open his door, ready to yell at him for leading my sister on, but I stopped short at the sight of a familiar blonde head.

“Saylor?”

My sister turned around and my eyes widened as I took in her position, sprawled atop my roommate. “Geez, knock much?”

“What are you doing here? Why didn’t you tell me you’d come back?”

“I wanted it to be a surprise,” she said, shrugging one pale shoulder as Xander carefully disentangled himself. I couldn’t help but think I’d had enough surprises for a lifetime in the past two weeks.

Saylor stood fluidly and strode over to me, wrapping me in a quick hug before she let go. “I changed my mind about leaving, so I came back.”

“How far did you get?” I asked as I leaned in the doorway.

“If you’re asking how long it took for me to start missing you, I’m still waiting for it to kick in.”

I snorted. Brat. “Okay, well, be safe, behave, etcetera. I’m going to shower.”

“Why are you covered in paint?” she called after me and I smiled inadvertently.

“I was with Kit.”

Kit. Oh shit, did this mean we weren’t yet done pretending? And just when things had started to get back to normal… Saylor could be trusted, she wouldn’t say anything to Mom and Dad. Unless she’s pissed you duped her too. Fuck. I was going to have to think carefully about all this, before I did something I couldn’t take back or make things with Kit worse.

I sighed as I locked the bathroom door. Why couldn’t something just go right for a change?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

My sister had been staying with us for two days and already I wanted to pull my hair out. She was just so—

“Incorrigible!” I yelled as I glared at my sister, sitting innocently at the breakfast bar munching on my cereal, as I held the empty box in my hand. “Seriously?”

“Just have something else,” Xander said with a shrug and I ground my teeth.

“It’s Thursday.”

“So?”

“So—”

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