“I never said he was the one,” I said, feeling cornered.
“How come you never told me about him?” Cody said, finally breaking his gaze away from Barbie’s boobs and looking at me with a frown. “I didn’t even know you were dating anyone.”
“I don’t have to tell you every time I go on a date,” I said, glaring at him.
“They need to be vetted, Mila. You know you have questionable taste,” he said, sounding very much like the older, bossy brother he’s always been. “I don’t think Mom and Dad would appreciate you dating someone we don’t even know. I know Nonno definitely wouldn’t.”
“Whatever,” I said, feeling like a petulant kid.
“You should be more responsible, Mila,” Barbie said and looked at me with pitying eyes. “I know you’re desperate, but you shouldn’t just date a guy because he asks you out. I know it must be hard to have standards when you don’t get asked out much.”
“Barbie.” TJ’s voice was sharp and he frowned as he looked at her.
“I’m just teasing her,” Barbie said, looking like a wounded deer. “You know how I love to tease.” She looked at me with a sad little face and said, “Please don’t take my teasing seriously, Mila. I’m sure you get plenty of men.” She gave me an obviously fake smile and walked over to TJ and put her arm through his. “Please don’t be mad at me, honey bunny.” Her hand caressed his stomach. “Let’s get you some food.” She then looked around at everyone. “We must all be tired and hungry. We can eat and then decide what to do tonight.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Cody said eagerly, and Sally and I just looked at each other with a frown. We’d gone from exuberant to depressed in five minutes flat, and I wasn’t sure what game TJ was playing.
***
I tried to signal to Sally to follow me after lunch so that we could talk, but I couldn’t tell if she was paying attention to me. I gave her the eye, nodded toward the hallway and started walking. Lunch had been awkward and basically The Barbie Show, so I thought that we needed to come up with a plan to turn things around. I made my way down the hallway and smiled to myself as I heard steps behind me. I turned around to look at Sally and my jaw dropped when I saw that it was TJ.
“Come,” he said and grabbed my wrist and pulled me into his bedroom.
“What are you doing?” I said, my tone excited. Was he going to push me down on the bed and have his wicked way with me? And if he did, would I say no, or moan with pleasure that finally the day had come that I’d been waiting for?
“What you want me to do,” he said and he licked his lips. “You’re going to make me do something that I shouldn’t.”
“What shouldn’t you do?” I asked breathlessly, wanting to tell him to just shut up and do it already.
“I want to bend you over and…” He paused as his phone started ringing. I think both of us were annoyed at that point, but a part of me was grateful. I didn’t know what was going on; and while a part of me was excited, I was also very confused. TJ grabbed his phone and answered it, his features looking stoic. I took a step back, my heart racing and my brain in overdrive, feeling a bit worried. Yes, I wanted TJ to take me, but I’d had a more romantic setting in mind. I wanted to be made love to, not just fucked.
Chapter Ten
TJ
“Hey, Dad.” I said, waiting for him to speak. Mila gave me an awkward smile and started to back out of the room timidly. I reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her and she turned her face to me in surprise. “What’s up?” I said into the phone again as my fingers tightened their grip on Mila’s wrist.
“How’s everything going? According to plan?”
“You could say that,” I said as I grinned down at a perplexed Mila. I could feel her heart racing through my fingers, and I ran my fingers across the soft skin of her hands. It felt smooth to the touch. I wished that I was touching other parts of her body with more than just my fingers to see if every part of her was like finely spun silk.