The alarm, the friend I never wanted, wakes me and Anne up at 6:30 AM.
She's upset and so am I because I don't want to go for my jog, I want to be wrapped in her.
Instead of pressing the button that ends the alarm, I unplug it, and she giggles. I jump back into bed with her, and now she is the big spoon while I am the little one. It ain't make no sense considering the size but I ain't complaining. She scratches my chest and tells me that she already misses me.
"I gotta keep my promise though. Nick's turn," she whined.
"You make me sound like a bicycle you gotta share," I chuckle.
"'Course you are, both of us ride you."
"M'am, this sort of language 'ain't allowed 'round here. This is a family establishment."
"Hush."
She giggles, kisses me goodbye, and returns to her own room, but it's impossible for me to fall back asleep. I get ready for the day too, but instead of wearing gym clothes, I put on something to impress. At least, I think. Kyle says this is designer, but it is just a very fancy white t-shirt to me, and jeans.
When I walk into the kitchen, instead of finding Kyle, hunched over his laptop, I find Cashmere. She doesn't look as bright as usual. She has some kinda cheetah print cap on her head and is drinking coffee aggressively. The sound of Cashmere's clicking of her fancy long nails, the same sort Star wears, echoes, and her grumpy mood makes me feel like I've done something wrong.
"Good morning ma'am," I say quietly.
"'Morning, Charlie," she says groggily. "I didn't sleep worth shit. I saw something that really upset me."
I walk up to her, concerned and kinda relieved because for whatever stupid reason I thought she was angry with me when she was only tired.
"What happened?"
"I couldn't sleep 'cause of that jet lag time whatever stuff," Cashmere says. "I went down here to get some water."
She takes the last few sips of her coffee and glares at the mug like it did something wrong.
"Charlie, when I was walking toward the kitchen I saw the two of them...kissing..."
Oh no.
Sweet Lord.
I know who she's talking about so I try to play stupid.
"Nick... and Kyle...?"
Cashmere rolls her eyes and shakes her head. Her nails clack on the countertop even faster and now I think she's angry with me.
"No! Anne and Nick," she whispers.
"Never," I say, in the most pretend shock I can muster.
She squints at me real hard and she probably doesn't believe that I'm shocked, so I try harder.
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"Anne and I have known each other forever, she would never!"
"That doesn't mean-"
"And besides. She was with me last night."
Cashmere's eyebrows go up, and my cheeks go a little red and I try to change the topic.
"Do you-"
"You know she could have woken up in the middle of the night and come downstairs, right," Cashmere asks me.
"I'm a light sleeper," I lie.
Cashmere shakes her head even more and sighs.
"Why don't you believe me," she asks.
"I...I don't know."
Cashmere gets up from the countertop chair, puts her cup in the sink, and starts rinsing it out, but she pauses when Nick and Anne enter the kitchen. It looks like they just finished getting out of the shower because both of their hair is still kinda wet and my mind starts to wonder if they showered together.
Cashmere sure thinks they did from the look of anger on her face.
God bless this woman and her good intentions but I am afraid she's gonna tear Nick's face off when she walks over to him. She glares up at him, and somehow he seems scared of her, even though he's way taller and bigger than her.
"Tell him what you did last night," Cashmere says.
"I...went to bed," Nick replies.
"And when you woke up in the middle of the night?"
"Cash, how about we talk about this later," Anne says.
She ignores Anne and waits for the reply.
But Nick never says anything, always avoiding anything with feelings, and it's the weirdest fucking silence I've been through in my life.
Anne sighs and gives up.
"Cash, we're together. We're all together," Anne explains. "All three of us."
Kyle walks into the kitchen right when she says this and does a U-turn right back out. I cover my face in shame because now I have to tell him something I never wanted to and this was not how I wanted it to happen.
Cashmere points at both me and Nick skeptically and Anne nods.
"So you're telling me, that Nick is dating you and Charlie is dating you."
"That is correct," Anne mumbles.
"Neither of them get jealous," she asks. "How does this work?"
"How can they get jealous if they're together too," Anne asks.
Cashmere's shoulders jump a little, and she makes a small oh noise. I can see her strange imagination wondering all sorts of things in her mind when her eyes travel between all three of us. There's another weird silence again and now it's my turn to break it.
"So who wants breakfast!? I can ask Bernard! He can make anything," I say desperately.
"Who is Bernard," Anne asks.
"The chef."
Cashmere's eyebrows rise and she nods in approval. The topic has changed from our sex lives but I am still scared. Why am I scared? Cashmere assures us that she doesn't care, she just doesn't get it.
But I am still scared.
Cashmere makes jokes about some girl from her neighborhood who cheated on the same two guys for three years and wonders why she didn't ask the entire time to "just to do what we do". This makes me annoyed. I can't explain why. I don't even know what this is because it's so new, but this upsets me.
I say nothing and laugh, but I am still scared.
Bernard makes anything we ask for, and it's finished by 9 AM. We eat breakfast in the smaller dining room made for everyday use, not the giant one Kyle has for forty people. It still looks nice, and the table is made of glass, and the chairs are made of some material that I cannot pronounce. Cashmere and Anne are impressed but Nick doesn't seem phased by a single thing in the house.
He must be the hardest man in the world to impress and now I'm worried he won't like anywhere I take him when we go out later together.
Kyle joins us for breakfast, looking neater than usual. His hair is combed and it appears that he slept, unlike everyone else last night.
"Sorry about earlier, I got kinda weirded out," he says when he sits down at the table.
Cashmere and Anne laugh but Nick and I are the only ones who look mortified.
"So uh, can I ask questions," Kyle asks.
"You're gonna ask anyway," I reply. "What is it?"
"Is it cheating if two of you do it? Do all you guys have to be there at the same time," Kyle asks.
Cashmere laughed even harder and Nick looked like he was going to die in his seat.
"I asked Anne this question yesterday," I reply. "No, it is not cheating. Why does everyone think this has to do with cheating?"
"It was only a question! Just a question," Kyle replies, defending himself.
"Let's just eat. We got a long day ahead of us," Anne announces. "Cash and I are going shopping, Nick and Charles are going 'round town. That is, if Cash doesn't look like she'll kill me."
"I would never kill you. Nick, definitely," Cashmere promises.
Nick has not said a word the entire meal.
He's probably scared too but I still don't know what's there to be scared of if no one here minds about what we do?