K. Linde - Take Me for Granted

After hauling all three bags into the bed of my truck, the guy nervously asked for her number.

“Oh, sorry. I’m here with my boyfriend,” Sydney said with a smile, pointing at my truck.

That was her go-to excuse. Sydney had had as many boyfriends as I’d had girlfriends. Well, I guessed I had one more than her now.

She hopped into my truck in the shortest fucking skirt I’d ever seen, not giving two shits if anyone could see what was underneath. Her chest was on full display in some tiny top, and she was in fucking cowboy boots. My born-and-bred Jersey cousin in motherfucking cowboy boots.

“Hey, cuz,” she said.

“Are you shopping in the kids’ section again, Syd?”

“Yeah, do you like it?” She uncrossed and crossed her legs.

“You look like a tramp.”

Sydney rolled her brown eyes to the ceiling. “Don’t start this shit with me again,” she said dismissively. “If one of your slutbag groupies wore this outfit, you’d fucking cream your panties.”

“You are not one of my slutbag groupies though. You’re my cousin—my younger, not-even-legal-to-drink, don’t-want-to-know-what-you’re-fucking cousin.” I shook my head. “I can’t take you to the Poconos wearing that. You’ll give every guy within a mile radius a hard-on.”

“Ever think that might be the point?”

“Oh, I fucking know that’s the point.”

“Then, shut the fuck up,” she said, jabbing me in the ribs.

“Will you just try to behave this weekend?”

I knew it was a lost cause to even ask, but I had to do it. She was still my baby cousin.

“Oh, Grant, I’ll try. I’ll try really, really hard, but sometimes, guys come on to me, and I just want to blow them. What’s a girl to do?” She batted her eyelashes at me.

There was no reasoning with her. We were two peas in a pod. We always had been while growing up. That meant I needed to let her know about Ari before she heard it from someone else. Sydney needed to get the jokes out on me. I didn’t want them getting back to Ari. Even though I was close with Sydney, I wasn’t sure how to tell her that I had a girlfriend. It had never happened before.

“Syd, before we get there, I need to talk to you about something.”

Her ears perked up. “Has Vin been asking about me?”

“What? Well, yeah, he has, but this isn’t about him.” I blew out a quick breath and just went for it. “I have a girlfriend.”

Sydney burst out laughing. She kicked her feet up onto the dash and leaned back. “Funny. That’ll be the day.”

“No, Syd, I’m serious.” I ventured forward. “Her name is Aribel, and she’s going to be at the resort this weekend.”

“A girlfriend?” she said the word as if it were new to her vocabulary. “But…you don’t do girlfriends.”

“Nah, I don’t, but she’s different.”

“Who the fuck are you? Are you sure that you’re my cousin?” she asked. “Where did we grow up? What street did you find me on when I fell off my bike in the sixth grade? How many doughnuts did we eat that one time before we both thought we were going to throw up?”

“Point Pleasant. Carter. Lucky number thirteen,” I fired back. “Still me.”

“Okay. So…what’s she like?” Sydney sat up and then tucked her feet underneath her like she used to do as a kid.

So, I told her about Ari. Sydney was most amazed that Ari wasn’t some dumb slut—as Sydney put it. I didn’t tell her that Ari was a virgin because Sydney probably would have just laughed at me and told me that I was only still with Ari because she hadn’t given it up. I wanted to fuck Ari more than I’d wanted to fuck anyone in my life, but that wasn’t why I was interested in her.

“Does she know about…” Sydney trailed off.

“No,” I said gruffly.

“Well, are you going to tell her?”

“I don’t know.” I clenched the steering wheel tightly in my hands until my knuckles turned white.

“Maybe you should.”

“That’s my business, Sydney.”

“I know. I just thought since this is the first time you’ve had a girlfriend—”

“Drop it,” I growled.

“Okay,” she whispered. She fluffed her brown hair and changed the topic. “You know I get the final stamp of approval, right?”

“Since when?” I asked, relaxing after that last part of the conversation.

“Ever. I’m your cousin,” she said as if that settled it all. “I can’t wait to meet her.”

I had the strong sense that this was going to be a disaster.

The girls and I arrived at the ski resort about an hour behind Grant and Sydney. He’d texted me to let me know that they’d already gotten their ski rentals and to meet him on the slopes. I’d gone skiing with my parents two or three times a year since I was little, but this was the first time I was going with friends.

After we dropped our stuff off in our rooms, the girls and I went to get our rental equipment. I had my own skis at home, but there hadn’t been enough time to get them shipped to me. My parents hadn’t been thrilled that I wasn’t coming straight home for the holidays, but I’d insisted that this was something I wanted to do. Even though they were strict, they had trouble denying me anything.

We spent the afternoon on the slopes, and after about an hour, we ran into Grant and Sydney. I wasn’t sure what Grant had told her about us, but she had this humorous glint in her eye every time she looked at me. She and Cheyenne hit it off right away, which was just fine with me. They seemed like kindred spirits.

Sydney disappeared halfway through the day. When I asked Grant where she had run off to, he just laughed and told me not to worry about it. I shrugged and followed him to a Black Diamond trail while Cheyenne, Shelby, and Gabi met up with Kristin and her friends.

I didn’t mind being alone with Grant in the quiet, looking over the precipice to the world below. Actually, being up here at the top of a mountain felt about the same as it had the night when we sat on the shore, watching the sunrise.

“You ready for this, Princess?” he asked, leaning precariously over the edge.

“I’ve been skiing since I was four. Are you ready?”

He leaned over and kissed my frozen red nose. “Race you to the bottom.”

I laughed when he jumped down the slope without warning, taking a head start. He would need it. About halfway down the trail, I glided across a particularly icy patch on the ground to take the lead. I heard Grant hit the snow behind me. I came to an abrupt halt and turned to see him sprawled out with one ski sliding down the slope toward me and the other sticking straight up out of the snow in the woods about ten feet away from him. I couldn’t help myself. I just started laughing hysterically.

“Oh my God, are you okay?” I asked through my laughter.

“Bitch, are you laughing at me?” His head popped up to glare at me.

“You look ridiculous.” I grabbed his spare ski when it reached me and stuck it in the ground.

“Well, are you going to just stand there? Or are you going to help me?” he asked, dropping his head back into the snow.

“You keep calling me a bitch, and I’ll just leave you there.”

“Babe…”

I kicked off my skis and made sure they were secure. I jogged awkwardly in my snow boots back up the mountain while carrying his ski with me. I dropped it down next to him and then went in search of the other. Once I had it in my hand, I placed it next to its mate.

Grant was still lying, unmoving, on the slope.

“Are you going to be okay?” I asked him.

He slowly eased up into a sitting position and rested his snow-covered arms on his knees. “I’m going to be fine,” he said. Then, he reached forward, grabbed me by the backs of my legs, and pulled me down on top of him.

I shrieked and my knees landing hard in the snow. He just laughed, rolled me over, and covered my body with his. His mouth was on mine in a second, and any thoughts about the snow vanished. I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer.

We stayed like that, lost in each other’s touch, until a group came by to make sure we were okay. Grant seemed completely unperturbed by them watching us, but I laughed nervously and told them we were fine. After dusting the snow off our bodies and snapping on our skis, we made our way down the mountain.

After a much-needed shower, I changed into a pair of skinny jeans, a tight black undershirt, and my baby-blue cardigan. I draped Grant’s dog tags over my head. It didn’t really go with my outfit, but I never went anywhere without them anymore. I grabbed a peach scarf and my peacoat, and then I headed down to the lodge with Cheyenne, Shelby, and Gabi in tow.