the way you'd love her

F O U R

GAGE

I groaned at the unidentified disturbance. I was having a good sleep, I definitely did not want to  wake up. But whatever it was that was budging was damn persistent. I felt weight on my waist, as if someone had jumped on top of me. I rubbed my eyes with my fists and tried to adjust to the bright natural light. When I opened my eyes for the first time and saw a girl with long brown hair straddling me, I was more than awake. My ears adjusted to the noises.

"Finally, Gage! Dang." Belle exasperated. All I could do was focus on the fact that she was on top of me. Her left leg on my right side and her right leg on my left side. And she was wearing a dress. Kill me now. Her hands were on my chest, beating like drums. Clearly, she was the faceless brunette prying me out of my sleep.
"Hi." I barely said without my voice cracking. She needed to get off before she could feel how fucking hard I was, seriously. What did I do in my past life to deserve such pure torture?

I could feel her heat directly touching my stomach. The thin material of her underwear was the only thing stopping us from touching skin to skin. Her smooth, tan legs moved and I swear I felt like my head was going to burst if I kept thinking like this. Like literally burst, because of how how I was for her right now. I just knew my entire body was burning red right now. That's all I saw, fucking red.

"Good morning, sleepyhead. You know, at camp, we had to wake up everyday at 7 o'clock. No matter what. I guess I got used to that, cause I feel like I've lived through an entire day already. It's almost time for brunch! The 'rents are having mimosas on your patio. Get up!"
"God. Okay." I muttered and stretched out my arms. I caught Belle taking a peek at my body. As if she finally realized just how sexual our position was. She lifted herself off my body and into the empty space in my bed. I quickly sat up and adjusted myself to look normal even though all I could feel was the blood pumping through my veins.

"Good morning." I said to her, not bothered to give her a glance. I need her to go, now.
"Mornin. I'm gonna see you downstairs, kay? I wanna go play with Bailey." She said, avoiding my eye contact. She was referring to Bailey, my golden doodle. The one who was barking his ass off downstairs. I nodded at her and waited for her to get out before I finally laid back down, sighing. My life was pure pain.

I got out of bed and took care of the problem with a quick cold shower, then got dressed for brunch. I know my mom would be upset if I came downstairs wearing sweatpants and a hoodie, so I sucked it up and put on my dickies  and a nice sweater that I got for Christmas. I slid into my Birkenstock's, not really bothering to put on some real shoes. After fixing up my hair a bit, I walked down my stairs.

I was met with Bailey, who was being chased by Belle. She nodded at me.
"You look handsome." She said, smiling. She had on a baby blue dress that I had never seen before. It was a bit too short, and showed an okay amount of cleavage. Probably brand new. The sleeves were puffy, and it kinda looked like she lived in the 19th century. But in a hot way. Did they even wear that shit back then? I got a D in American history. Since when did she casually compliment me? I couldn't help but smile back, my cheeks probably going a bit red.
"Thanks. You look gorgeous too." I winked. I hope she doesn't read into that, the way I'm reading into the fact that she called me handsome. I mean, why would she do that?

"And I look pretty." Blair said, coming in behind Belle. She had her hands on her hips.
"Oh, you're the prettiest girl in the world!" I said to her, running to grab her. She tried to escape me, but I caught her and placed a big kiss on her cheek. Blair was like my little sister. She was adorable, and I cared about her a lot. I looked over to Belle to her staring at me, almost in admiration. She was smiling, and I took the time to really look at her.

She had applied some kind of makeup to her face. Her skin was glowing, and that dress only made her eyes pop. She had put her contacts in, because her glasses were nowhere to be found. Her lips were a dark colored red, which made me go insane. The only thing I could picture those lips around-

"Gage! Finally, I thought you were still sleeping." My mom said, coming inside.
"No, we were just hanging out." Belle said, covering for me. I snuck her a thank you look. My mother takes brunch seriously. If she knew I had woken up about fifteen minutes ago, she would throw a riot.

"Well, it's nice out, so we're eating on the patio. Help me bring the stuff out." She ordered. I set Blair down with one final kiss on her forehead and she went running outside with Bailey. Belle joined me in the kitchen to help.
"Belle, go outside!" My mom said.
"It's okay Auntie Laurie. I'm more than happy to help." She smiled brightly at her, as I fought the urge to sigh. She was so perfect.
"You're going to make some man very happy one day. Speaking of, I heard from a little birdie that you got a boyfriend over the summer!" My mom squealed.

I did sigh this time, and carried the two plates of pancakes and French toast outside. Right, Niccolo. The camp boy. Belle told me about him last night. Apparently, he was shorter, blonde, and a musician. Could she have picked a guy more different than me? They hooked up a few times, but it was all playful because she knew it wasn't going anywhere. I would say I did a pretty good job of controlling my anger last night. I didn't say anything about it. But now I have to hear about this bullshit again? Yeah, no thanks.
I set down the plates and went to go grab more before I was pulled back by my father.

"Good morning, Gage."
"Morning, dad. What's up?"
"I need some help with the cooler over here. I guess I really am getting old." He said. I chuckled and helped him lift the cooler and set it to the other side. When I turned around, I bumped into Belle's mom.
"Hi Auntie Julie. How are you?" I asked, kissing her on the cheek.
"Oh, Gage, getting older by the day. Always such a sweetheart." She hugged me back, mimosa in her hand. "By the way, I got a new bed frame and it's coming in the mail tomorrow. Do you mind helping me set it up?"
"Yeah, I got it. No worries." I smiled at her.
"Thanks love. So, has my favorite boy got a girlfriend yet?" She asked me.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Belle set some plates down and glance at us. But I heard my mom quickly call for her.

"Uh, no ma'am." I shook my head slightly.
"Really? Well maybe you finally oughta ask out my daughter." She winked at me. My jaw dropped, and I looked over at my dad was who grinning. He shrugged. I'm gonna kill him.
"Respectfully, I, uh, it's not like that." I lowered my voice, beyond embarrassed right now.
"Sure, Gager, whatever you say." She hit me playfully, then proceeded to join my snitch ass dad at the table.

What's with these adults thinking they know everything? I looked inside to see Belle and my mom still inside, thank God. I put a leash on Bailey, dragging her to the front yard. I just needed to clear my head for a second, so I figured I could use her as an excuse and take her out for a walk. I managed to sneak by without anyone saying anything. I started walking up the street when I heard my name being called out.

"Gage!" Belle shouted. I hung my head down before turning around and raising my hand at her. She walked fast towards me, holding her dress down so that it wouldn't fly up. I wonder what kind of underwear she was wearing.
"Where ya going?" She said out of breath.
"Thought I would take out Bailey." I said, trying my hardest to ignore the fact that I have a clear view down her dress and can see her white lace bra. Torture.
"Mind if I come with?" She asked, shining those big brown eyes at me. How could I say no to that, seriously? It was impossible. I nodded.

We walked in comfortable silence just up and down the street before she looked at me.
"So, any plans for tonight?" She asked.
"Uh yeah, there's the bonfire. You know, Carson's whole end of summer thing at his beach house." I responded.
"Can I come?" She asked. I looked down at her wildly. What?
"I'm sorry. Did I hear that right?"
"Yes." She punched my shoulder.
"I mean yeah, but like...why?" I asked. Belle never went to parties, like ever.
"I want to branch out. It's senior year for Pete's sake! I need new friends."
"Ouch." I pouted playfully.
"Gager, you're the coolest. You know I love you. But I need a girlfriend. I haven't had one since Madison in eighth grade, and she moved away." She looked down.

I raised her chin up and smiled at her.
"Of course you can come, Belley. I'll drive us at eight, okay?"
"That's late. What time are we going to get back?" She asked with worry in her eyes.
"Probably after midnight. We're swimming."
"Oh. Okay. Yeah, that sounds good."

We were interrupted by the ring of her phone. She had gotten a text to get back to brunch, from her mother. We turned around and headed back to my house, together.