Because I Can

First time writer so please be gentle with the comments. Thanks.

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Andy,

I just received a frantic call from your sister. Baby Nikki got colic and Amber is freaking out so I will be driving to her place and most likely stay there overnight to help. I left money for pizza. Love you.

Mom

So much for expecting that once I got home it will be different.

I desolately shut the front door and sighed at the paper I am holding. I am officially eighteen today and nobody, not even the person who carried me for nine months, remembered. Not even a phone call from the man who fathered me who is presently in Chicago for work reasons. Or from my only sibling who lives just an hour away from me. Granted that her two month-old baby was sick, a happy birthday Dee-Dee (Amber's nick to me) would have been enough. But nothing.

To other kids, a parent-less house on your birthday means P-A-R-T-Y. Then again, I am not like them. There is a reason why nobody knew that today is a special day for me back in school: I have no friends. Not even acquaintances. Nada. I have always been a loner, painfully shy and plain. I do not have the looks to warrant a bevy of admirers nor loaded enough to entice them to befriend me. I am ordinary. And not-quite-poor-but-not-quite-rich either. I also do not have extraordinary skills to become part of a group: not athletic, can't sing, barely passing Math, sucks at Public Speaking, can't play any musical instruments.....and the list of my incompetency goes on and on. There were times I surprised even myself. How can one person not have any talent at all? Truly boggles the mind.

I straightened and caught a glimpse of myself in the hall mirror. Not that I'm vain, far from it really, but I'm still a girl. Woman, I mean (I AM eighteen now). And from time to time, I do check myself. I would wonder: Who would be attracted to all that brown? Brown hair, brown eyes...brown everything. And such paleness. Just a few shades lighter and people would think I'm part albino. Acceptable if I did inherit it from a family member. But no. Mom and Amber: tanned. Nana and Gramps, both sides, tanned. Uncles, Aunts and a handful of cousins....sun-kissed and glowingly golden. For some twisted reason, I ended up being the only member of my family (Dad and Mom's side respectively) who never, ever tans. And God bless Mom, of all possible things to pass on to me, I got her height. She's five foot one. Yup. My so-called life in a nutshell: No friends. No special skills. Not smart. Mousy brown, short and white as paper. And of course, Forgotten Celebrant.

"What's up with the face?"

I nearly died of heart attack seeing another person behind me reflected on the mirror. I turned to face the reason I nearly become forever eighteen in this lifetime and frowned a little in confusion. "Trent! What are you doing here?"

"Last time I checked, I live here." He replied then ruffled my hair, "What's for dinner?"

"You LIVED here. Past tense. You're in College now; you're supposed to be at the University."

"I dropped out," he announced with a shrug, "Hated New Haven. Hated Yale. Hated everyone. So I left."

I gaped at him in shock. I lost coherent thought and the ability to speak at once. I envy Trent's life, truthfully. His a Madsen, a.k.a old money, abnormally intelligent (genius level without even exerting any effort), had the knack to learn everything and anything he put his mind into, and naturally athletic (he can play any sport imaginable). And as if those were not enough, he looks so freaking gorgeous. A six- feet two, leanly muscled, green-eyed God with unusual color for a hair that somehow made him more of a chick magnet. Bronze. Yup. Trent has bronze hair that seemed to have a mind of its own. And ironically enough it still ended up looking like it was artfully disarrayed. When God decided to create perfection, out popped Trent Anthony Madsen on a silver Porsche convertible. Unfair really. God could have flicked me a bit of intelligence or some of that ability to master anything. Money, not quite a priority of mine anyway. I'm contented in that department. I don't need much to begin with. I'm not into fashion and bags or shoes that cost more than my allowance? Ridiculous. And the car, I do not care for the style or brand anyway. I just need one. Badly.

"What I would give to have a camera right now," he teased as I continued looking at him, all gapey and paralyzed with shock.

My mouth closed instantly. Everybody in the family (Trent is family by association) knows how much I hated having my picture taken. I can't stand it. Dunno the exact reason. I just can't.

"How can you hate YALE?"

"Easily. Not much to it."

Such nonchalance. I gritted my teeth. I'm starting to feel the beginnings of a usually nonexistent temper. "But it's YALE! Kids work hard to get into that Ivy League School Trent! They manipulate and scheme their way through high school just so they can have the chance to be there. And YOU. YOU dropped out! WHY?"

He rolled his eyes at my outburst. "Because I can."

Because I can.

I blinked. I felt like someone just slapped me in the face. Hard. It's literally an out of body experience. Like when you're seconds away from death and your entire life flashed in front of you? THAT kind of experience. Just by hearing Trent utter the words: Because I can.

Words that I have never, ever said myself.

Tears started to pour down my cheeks and I think I could hear myself cry in sobs. You know, crying so hard you were gasping for breath already? THAT kind of crying.

I kind of forgot about Trent for a minute or two but the fact that he reached out and enveloped me on a tight hug made me remember him. He placed his right hand on my head while his left hand moves to and fro my back, trying to soothe me. I burrowed my face deeper to his chest, soaking his shirt in the process, but he doesn't seem to mind. He just lets me cry. Bawl was more like it really. I ended up hugging him back, my entire body pressed up to him.

It would have been a bawl-fest but something caught my attention. Even distracted me into silence. Sniffing, I shifted a little. Trent's hand on my back stopped moving. I bit my lip and shifted a little again. There. I didn't imagine it. It's there. Now what...I gasped realizing what it was. I raised my face and gaped at Trent who's trying to look everywhere but at me. I can see the beginnings of a blush creep up into his face and that surprised me.

I just made Trent Anthony Madsen hard.

Wow. I cannot stop staring at him, especially now that his entire face is red as tomato. And I was the easiest to blush in the family. Imagine that. I can do something after all. And to someone like Trent to boot. I blinked when a certain fact managed to enter my wowed mind: I just had a sexual thought about TRENT.

Huge eww factor. But then again, Trent (ignoring a certain complication for a minute) is Mr. Hunk and Unattainable who for some reason got a massive hard-on in the middle of consoling me. And I did not seduce him at all (like I even know how). He got an erection all by himself.

I cannot help but smile at that last thought. I aroused Trent. Imagine that. I can do something after all.

Now what can I do next?

I gazed at Trent once again and straightened. Screw non-existent bloodlines, I am a woman on a mission now. I feel empowered. I just discovered my capabilities and if experimenting on my on-again-off-again cousin is what all it takes to strengthen that....well, I'll do it.

Seeing the look on my face, Trent cleared his throat uneasily. "Andy...."

I just winked at him.