Sagittarius A-Town

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The lights gently flickered throughout the small second floor apartment as I heard the click of the shower switching off. The violent storm raging outside the window did not show any signs of wavering. Pelting rain cracked off the window with extreme force. Occasionally, a flash of lightning would light up the street below, but otherwise it was pitch black outside. Sighing, I walked away from the window and plonked myself onto the couch in the centre of the room. It would be a while before I would be able to make my way home now.

The walk to Riley's aunts apartment had been pretty uneventful before the storm kicked in. With the exception of the occasional flirtatious comment or piece of small talk, there had been very few words spoken between us. The silence, however, had not been awkward, well at least it wasn't as far as I was concerned. We just seemed to be enjoying each others company, regardless if we were flirting and laughing, or just silently enjoying the beautiful night. As we reached the corner of Riley's street, however, as if by divine intervention, the weather took an abrupt turn.

The storm began as nothing but a cold breeze and a whisper in the air. The night had been as clear as crystal and the sky was like a dome of twinkling black. Seemingly from nowhere, massive, dirty-gray clouds had formed and completely covered the sky. Within minutes, the slight drizzle of rain which had started to fall had become a full blown torrential down-pour. Thick drops of freezing cold water fell from the heavens, emphasized by the deafening crack of thunder and the terrifying flash of lightning. We half-sprinted when it started, but by the time we had made it to Riley's apartment, we were both completely drenched.

Still in sopping wet clothes, Riley brought me a pair of pajama bottoms to wear while my clothes dried in her tumble dryer, and left suddenly to take a shower; leaving me sitting alone in her living room. Riley was probably about 5'7" to my 6 foot, which resulted in me looking ridiculous in her tiny Mini-Mouse adorned pajamas. Fortunately for me though, Riley's aunt was visiting friends for the weekend. The thought of explaining to her why a strange man was sitting on her couch wearing nothing but a pajama bottoms sent a chill up my spine.

I absentmindedly reached for a blanket that was under the coffee table and covered myself. The couch was a god send. Long, wide, soft and oh-so comfortable, I sunk more and more into it every passing moment. My wandering mind betrayed me long enough for my eyelids to sneak shut.

How much did I have to drink tonight?

From behind me, the bathroom door clicked open and a strong smell of apples filled the air. I heard the quick pitter-patter of feet running across the floor toward me and before I could turn my head to look, Riley had leapt onto the couch and yanked the blanket to her side.

"Hey, that's my blanket!" She said, rapidly covering herself, "It's freezing tonight, you have to share with me!" Her teeth began to chatter and she wrapped her arms around her legs in a bid to keep warm.

Before I could respond, a monstrous crack plunged the apartment into complete darkness. A shriek escaped Riley's lips, as a second crack of lightning illuminated the room, before once more going black. I could barely see two feet in front of me. Although we were sharing a couch, I could only make out the silhouette of Riley's head and shoulders in the darkness.

"Wait here!" She said, when she finally regained her composure, "I'm going to get some candles."

She was gone for all of twenty seconds. I could see the figure of her body shifting through the darkness, followed shortly by the sound of cupboard doors slamming and she was back.

"Aqui vamos nós!" She said, when she returned. She clicked a lighter and lit the candles, placing them on the coffee table in front of us. "Oh and I got us something else too!" She squeaked in delight as she once again ran to the kitchen. This time, however, she returned with a bottle containing a clear liquid and two glasses. "While we're here..." She winked and handed me a glass, which I gratefully accepted. Then, she once again joined me on the couch.

I looked at Riley and she was looking at me, the flickering candlelight casting shadows on her face. She didn't seem to be wearing make-up anymore but somehow managed to look better than she did at the bar, if that was even possible. Her hair was towel dried and still slightly wet at the bottom, dampening her bare shoulders. The white sleeveless shirt she was wearing did not provide her with much protection from the cold, and as far as I could tell she wasn't wearing a bra underneath. The whistling winds were getting louder and louder, and somewhere outside a garbage can rolled along the street. Riley had started to develop a frightened look in her eyes, and I wasn't sure how to calm her down.

"Drink?" She said, holding out the transparent bottle. I nodded my head and raised my glass. She filled both of our glasses half way and placed the bottle on the table. "It's Cachaça, I think. It's really strong though. My aunt can get a little crazy sometimes, she doesn't even bother to make Caipirinha anymore."

I had no idea what she was talking about, and had never even heard of Caipirinha before, but I could listen to her pronounce it all day. Caipirinha, Caipirinha, Caipirinha.

I thanked her and swirled the drink. It seemed cloudier out of the bottle, and it's sweet but slightly rancid smell was reminiscent of Tequila. I took a large swig and immediately regretted my decision. It didn't taste like Tequila, and certainly didn't do it's aroma justice. It had a kick. A strong kick. I cringed from the taste, stifling a cough and Riley chuckled.

"It's kinda strong. Most people don't really like it. Do you wanna play a game to make this easier? Me and my aunt do it all the time."

"Yeah," I said, a fire burning in the pit of my stomach, "What kind of game?"

"Well, me and my aunt used to play lots of them, but they mostly involved cards. Which I don't got. You wanna play 'Never have I ever'?"

"Yeah, sounds good." I said, glancing out the window. The rain was still pelting against the glass and the howling winds indicated no sign of the storm calming. "It doesn't look like I'll be leaving for awhile anyway."

"You can't leave until the storm passes!" Riley blurted out, "I hate the thunder and it's too scary with the power out!" She shifted in her seat and the blanket fell down her body, displaying the curvature of her breasts. I thanked god for the cold as I made out her dark areola through the thin fabric. My dick began to fill with blood, so I pulled some of the blankets over me in hopes of concealing my rapidly growing erection. I shuffled in my seat and my bare foot found hers, lingering for a second before Riley suddenly pulled away.

"I'll start," She said quickly, shifting forward and pulling her knees up to her chest. "Get ready to drink!"

The classic party game 'Never have I ever'. An extremely simple game which may be one of the worlds most potent icebreakers. The concept is pretty simple, you say something that you personally have never done. Whoever has done it takes a drink and then it's the next person turn and so on and so forth. Every game follows the same path, starting out tame until someone pushes the boundaries. Someone always pushes the boundaries. It's inevitable.

Our game was no different. It started with the usual tame "never have I evers". Never have I been to Mexico, never have I stole money from my mom's purse, never have I ever cheated on a test. The basic starters. It wasn't long before we were slurring our words between drinks, laughing and joking as the other revealed an embarrassing event or cringe-worthy secret. Eventually, the game devolved into a back and forth quiz. Before I knew it, it was almost 3 in the morning. We had been talking for hours.

"...and then my aunt came running through the door, screaming like a crazy lady, with a broomstick over her head ready to kill somebody!" Riley said, her hysterical laughter nearly preventing her from finishing the sentence.

We were now facing each other on the couch, sitting cross-legged with our knees touching. Riley was rocking slightly back and forth from her laughter, whirling around her wonderful fragrance and driving me crazy.

A few seconds passed before she regained her composure. She wiped tears from her face, then she looked into my eyes and beamed a giant smile. The stare lingered for a moment before Riley spoke again, "So anyway, here I am talking all night about my family and you haven't told me one thing about yours."

"What do you wanna know?"

"Everything. Anything. I don't know. Just tell me about them."

"Emm... Well, I have a little brother." I said, with a shrug.

"Really? How old is he?" She said. There was a passion in her eyes that resonated deep within me. I could feel the heat from them warming my insides. It made me feel slightly giddy.

"He's 9."

"Aww, that's so cute." She said, "What's he like?"

"Umm... He's great, I guess. He can be a real handful though. I remember this one time - about a year or that ago - when he went missing from the house. I was panicking, thinking he had gotten kidnapped or something like that. I was driving around screaming his name for hours. There was talk of organizing a search party and we even considered contacting the local news station. That night, I came home and found him asleep under the rosebushes. He fell asleep playing and was there the entire time!"

Riley laughed so hard she snorted. "I bet you were relieved."

"Relieved? I could have killed him!"

She snorted again, "You guys sound like you're really close."

"I guess you could say that. My mom is away a lot and my dad is... well, my dad hasn't been well lately. So I kind of look after him and Kevin. I'm going to graduate one year later than everyone else because I had to miss a full year of school to take care of them. I don't mind it though. Kevin's a really good kid. He's always smiling, it makes you happy just looking at him. Heart of gold too. Always honest and never thinks twice about sharing. Yeah, he's a good kid."

My heart felt unexpectedly heavy thinking about Dad. I didn't want to talk about him anymore.

A smile covered Riley's face the entire time I talked. "You sound like a great brother. He's lucky to have you." She said. "So then, Mister Quarterback, how come you're still single? Why hasn't anyone snapped you up yet?"

I don't know why I continued the charade. I told myself that telling the truth now would make things unnecessarily awkward. I mean, I hadn't cheated or even done anything wrong. Granted, I was sitting half-naked under a blanket with a girl who was also half-naked, but... I tried not to overthink it. Any excuse I could come up with, I would just be lying to myself anyway.

"I don't know. I guess I just haven't found the right person."

"Yet."

"Yet." I smirked. "So what's your story? Is there anybody special in your life?"

"No." She said abruptly. "There's nobody right now."

"How can a girl that looks like you not have a boyfriend?" I wondered aloud.

Riley's gaze dropped to her hands and she turned away from me, her now dry and tousled hair fell past her shoulders and covered her face. "I don't know. Because there's something wrong with me, I guess." She said, idly picking her nails.

I pushed myself back into my seat, resting against the arm of the chair. The couch swayed beneath me and my head felt like it was made of granite. I wondered exactly how much of that Cachaça we had drank. The now only quarter-filled bottle resting on the table provided me an answer.

I shifted my body until I was sitting beside Riley, my shoulder pressing against hers. Her smooth legs brushed against my ankle, causing the hairs on my arms to stand on end. A slow shiver ran down my spine and I could feel a stirring in my pants as blood started to pump into my cock.

"Hey, listen to me." I said. "There's nothing wrong with you. Any guy in the entire world would be lucky to have you. I mean, just look at you. None of the girls in this town even compare to you. Not even close."

"You're sweet." She said, smiling weakly, her eyes still not leaving her hands.

"I mean it, you know, if I wasn't saving myself for marriage I'd be all over you right now."

"Oh, shut up!" She said, slapping my shoulder. "Okay, maybe sometimes, like, only for a second, you're not too bad yourself... Considering."

"Considering what?"

"Just considering." She said, grinning slyly.

A crack of thunder and Riley's shriek occurred simultaneously. In terror, she pulled the blanket up to her neck, then cowered into my chest.

My cock turned to iron in an instant, straining hard against my cotton pants. I wrapped my arms around her and gripped her tight, relishing her touch.

The combination of her delicious aroma and her soft tits being held against me was intoxicating, more so than the actual alcohol. I planted a soft kiss on the top of her head and she pulled her face up to mine. Riley gazed into my eyes, and for a millisecond her eyes leapt from mine to my lips and back again.

I'm not entirely sure whether it was the alcohol, her piercing eyes, or a mixture of the two but I couldn't contain myself any longer. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers, tasting the sweet flavour of her breath. Her lips were as soft and inviting as I imagined them being. I pushed my tongue into her mouth and she massaged it with hers. I gripped the side of her shirt and pulled her into me. She melted into me for a moment, then suddenly pulled away, as if my tongue had scalded her.

"Stop! I-I can't do this! We can't do this!" She said, her body still physically recoiling.

I was mortified. Had I completely misread the signals? I was sure we had been flirting all night. In the bar, on the walk here, even the stupid drinking game had been 90% flirting, or so I had foolishly assumed. I could feel all the blood leaving my cock and rushing to my face. My cheeks burned and a wave of humiliation crashed over me.

"Oh god, I'm such a fucking idiot." I said, placing my head in my hands. My inner voice was screaming at me for my blunder. "I misread the signals. I don't know what I was thinking. I thought we were... I thought you were... I think it's best if I leave..."

"No!" Riley screamed, and placed her hand on my bare chest, preventing me from clambering to my feet. I looked at her and she met my stare, a mixture of apprehension and pain reflecting in her eyes. "It's not like that, it's... it's not you, its me!"

I snorted and started to clamber to my feet. I might have humiliated myself, but I wasn't going to allow her to add insult to injury. The 'it's not you, it's me' line was so cliché that I honestly had never even heard it in person before. It was so overused in movies, I didn't think anyone would even have the balls to use it in real life.

Riley quickly sat forward, and with both hands now, pushed me back into my seat.

"No!" She screamed. "I mean it, it's not like that! It really is me! Of course it's not you, you're so nice and gorgeous and you make me laugh and I really like you and I know that when I tell you what I have to tell you, you're going to run away just like everybody else does!"

"What are you talking about? I'm not going to run away. It can't possibly be that bad."

"It is that bad!" She had risen to her feet and was now standing a few yards from me, back turned and facing toward the window. The rampant storm was starting to quieten and it wouldn't be long before I could leave, although honestly that was the last thing I wanted to do.

Beautiful, intelligent, down to earth and affable. She was perfect and nothing she could say could turn me off her.

"You can tell me." I said. "I promise I won't freak out or run away."

"Shh. Shh. Shh."

Riley began to pace up and down the candlelit room, and an awkward silence descended. Her toned legs were bewitching, my gaze followed her hourglass figure on it's every step. The shorts she was wearing did little to hide the asscheeks softly bouncing beneath them. My stomach began to twist and my brain started to divert my blood back to my dick. Riley had knocked the blanket covering us onto the floor and my dick was visibly bulging in my pants.

I shifted in my seat and covered my cock with my hand. The battering of the windows had stopped, and the night's stillness had become more unbearable than the storm. "Listen to me, Riley. I honestly don't care what it is. You don't even have to tell me. We can just keep talking and drinking as friends and never mention it again. C'mon, please, we were having fun."

"No, I'm going to tell you." She said, and turned to regard me, her face showing a sudden clarity.

She rushed to the couch and sat facing me. She crossed her legs beneath her and took one of my hands in hers, staring deep into my eyes. There was a profound vulnerability in her eyes, one that I had not seen before. In my peripheral vision, I could see down the front of her top and it took all the strength in my body to keep my eyes on hers. I couldn't ruin the moment by staring at her tits, no matter how much I wanted to.

"Hey." She said, and giggled nervously.

"Hey."

"Don't freak out okay?" Her gaze dropped to my hand, which she was now rubbing between hers.

"Cross my heart." I said, as I traced an 'X' across my chest with my free hand.

"Okay, here goes... I, uhh... I can't believe I'm going to say this... I-I have... a penis." She said, cringing the moment the words left her lips.

I just stared at her. My brain drew a blank, overcome by confusion.

I glanced around the room as if I would find an answer there, "Like here? In the apartment?"

"What? No. I mean me, I have a penis."

"I don't get it. You mean like a dildo or something?"

"No..." She groaned, "not like a dildo. Please don't make me spell this out."

"I think you're gonna have to."

"Listen to the words, Jake. I. Have. A. Penis."

The realization finally hit me, but I still stared stupidly at her like she was speaking a foreign language. It had to be a joke. There's no possible way she could have a dick. It was like if Arnold Schwarzenegger revealed he was secretly a woman this whole time.

Yet, her face showed absolutely no sign of an attempt to deceive me. She didn't look like she was trying to fool me, if anything, she looked like she was afraid of my reaction. My eyes flashed to her throat and saw no hint of an Adam's apple. I looked from her tits to her lips and then to her jaw-dropping face and it just didn't make any sense.

"A-Are you sure?" I asked.

She laughed sarcastically. "Of course, I'm sure."

"You have a penis. Like right now, you, the person sitting directly in front of me, has a dick? A real life, flesh and blood, cock?"

"Yes, Jake!" She said, her voice raising in anger.

"You have a penis. You have a penis. You have a penis." I was rambling now.

"Saying it over and over again isn't going to change anything, you know."

"This is some kind of sick joke, right? Any minute Ryan is going to jump out with a camera and laugh in my face while he puts this all over Facebook, isn't he? Where is that giant son of a bitch? I'm going to kick his ass for this!"

"Who's Ryan? Jake, please, this is serious. This is really hard for me and you're making me feel like... Why would I make something like this up?"

"I don't know. You tell me!"

"You said you wouldn't freak out!" She was on the verge of tears.

"I'm not freaking out!"

We both stopped and just stared at each other. Five whole minutes of silence passing before either of us said another word. By then, she was visibly shaking and her teeth were chattering again.