A Fox's Love (American Kitsune Book 1) (28 page)

“
I do not.”

Yes you do.

"Be quiet."

...

“
Lilian?” Lindsay looked at the girl oddly again. “Who are you talking to?”

"I ask her that all the time," Kevin quipped. "She'll never tell you."

Lindsay raised an eyebrow. She opened her mouth to say something to the young man, but before she could give voice the question on her lips, Lilian spoke again.

“
No one.”

"See what I mean?"

“
Anyways, where was I?" There was a slight pause as Lilian tapped the index finger of her right hand against her lower lip, her head raised slightly so she could look up at the ceiling of the gazebo in thought. Alex, Andrew, and Eric all gulped as they stared at her lips, soft jawline and the elegant curvature of her neck. "Oh, right," she snapped her fingers. "We were talking about my Beloved being shy." Gracing her fellow female with a look, she said, "There's no way he could be as bad as you say." Lilian nodded to herself, as if affirming her own thoughts on the matter. "Why, just the other day he and I were making out on the floor of his apartment.”

The term “silent as a grave” came to Kevin's mind after Lilian dropped her bombshell on his friends, for that was how quiet it became after Lilian finished speaking. Not even the crickets were chirping.

"He was really getting into it."

Several crows cawed in the distance, breaking the silence.

It was a testament to his development as The Main Protagonist that Kevin was able to speak before anyone else did. “When did that happen!? I don't remember this!?”

Naturally, because it hadn't happened the way she said it did. Lilian had been doing all the work. Kevin had been practically insensate.

“
And there was also that one time he and I shared a bath together.”

“
That never happened either!”

“
I got to wash his back.”

“
Don't tell them such an obvious lie! And stop ignoring me!”

“
We also sleep together every night.”

Everyone turned to look at Kevin, who suddenly found himself in the spotlight. The boy's cheeks went off like a flare in the night in response to all the expectant stares being sent his way. Dang, they really knew how to make a guy feel uncomfortable.

“
Um... that is one actually is true,” he admitted reluctantly. “B-but the rest are complete lies!”

Naturally, no one believed him.

Lilian's lips quirked into a triumphant smile. "If my Beloved was as shy as you say he is then he wouldn't have been so brazen with me.” She crossed her arms under her chest, which caused Eric to begin nose bleeding... again. “So there."

“
I can't believe it,” Lindsay whispered in shock. Her eyes had also gotten pretty wide. “Our shy, little Kevin is all grown up and doing perverted things to his future bride.”

“
She's not my bride!” He paused, then blushed. "And we haven't been doing perverted things! None of that stuff happened!"

"Does your mom know about this?"

"Geh!"

"I'll take that as a no," Lindsay shook her head in equal parts amusement and surprise. "Who knew our little Kevin was such a bad boy." She snickered at the look on said 'Bad Boy's' face. "You rebel, you."

"Ugwa."

"Stop making funny noises for no reason, Beloved," Lilian said. Kevin glared at her. If he was making strange noises, it was her fault!

“
Kevin!”

A hand landed on his shoulder. Kevin turned around to face Eric, Alex and Andrew. All three of them were staring at him with something akin to awe, and jealousy, but mostly awe.

They were also crying. As in, really crying. No, seriously. There was even snot coming out of their nose they were crying so hard.

Well, except for Eric. He still had blood coming out of his nose.

“
I hate you so much right now.” Manly tears were running down Eric's face, pouring out of his eyes like two massive waterfalls as he spoke. “But at the same time.” He raised his free hand and gave Kevin a thumbs up, a cheesy grin plastered on his face even as the tears continued streaming down. “I'm so proud of you!”

For some reason Kevin imagined Eric standing on a cliff overlooking the ocean, the setting sun at his back and waves crashing against the rocks as the gleam from the sun 'pinged' off his teeth.

It was all kinds of creepy.

“
Don't say that so happily!” Kevin spat, his face red. “And aren't you supposed to be angry at me or something!?”

“
I still am.” Eric tried to stem the flow of manly tears with his arm to no effect. There was no stopping tears like that. When a man cries, he cries hard. “But I also feel this strange sense of pride! Does that make sense?”

“
No!”

“
So what's sleeping with Kevin like?” Lindsay was now letting her imagination run wild. Who knew her ridiculously shy friend had it in him to sleep with a girl he had only known for a little over a week? It was the scandal of the century! And her inner gossip (which had been conveniently hidden away until just this moment) demanded to know more!

“
Don't ask questions like that!”

That was Kevin, again. The two girls ignored him, again.

“
It's amazing.” Lilian held her hands to her cheeks as she thought about those amazing nights they slept together on the bed... erm... couch. It didn't matter if one of them was an unwilling participant and the other snuck in only after the unwilling one had fallen asleep. At least it didn't matter to her. For Kevin, it was an entirely different story. “My Beloved is so warm and cuddly, and it's so nice to rest my head on his chest and listen to his heartbeat as I fall asleep.” She grinned a devilish grin. “And I like that he doesn't sleep with a shirt on.”

“
Eep!”

“
It is kind of disappointing that he won't let us sleep naked,” Lilian added with a pout. Kevin 'eeped!' again. Lindsay gaped, the twins stared, and Eric began crying that much harder. “I don't know why he won't let us sleep naked together. I mean, we've done it before.”

“
WHAT!?”

“
What do you mean you two have slept naked together!?”

“
Have you gone all the way?”

“
What my brother really wants to know is if you two have fucked yet?”

“
Kevin! How could you do this to me!? I thought we were friends!”

Bombarded by voices asking questions and making accusations, Kevin cried out to the heavens.

“
Why me!?”

Scene break.

It took a good deal of time for everyone to calm down and allow Kevin to try and explain the situation to them. He couldn't, not because he didn't try, but because no one believed him. As far as they were concerned, everything Lilian had just told them was true. The fact that he had admitted to him and Lilian sleeping together had done little to help his case.

It made Kevin want to cry again.

"I still don't get it," said Alex. Judging by the frown on his face, he was a tad annoyed. Just what was annoying him was something no one could figure, though from the way he was glaring at Kevin it most likely had something to do with our Hapless Hero. "How is it that out of all of us here, you're the one who managed to get a hot girlfriend? We all know you can't talk to a girl to save your life."

"That's right," added Andrew. "If anything, I'm the one who should have gotten the super hot girlfriend before any of you. I am the most handsome, dashing and charming among us, after all."

"Like hell you are!" Alex growled, throwing his brother a scathing glare. "I'm way more handsome than you are!"

"Ha! Don't be an idiot, brother. We all know who the better looking twin is, and it sure as hell ain't you!"

"You wanna go!"

"Bring it!"

"I don't think I'll ever understand how those two can constantly fight like that," Kevin sighed. Shouldn't twins have that weird twinergy thing that allows them to know each other so well they could finish each others sentences without even thinking about it? These two certainly didn't have that.

"Who cares about them!" Eric cried out as he gave Kevin an accusing glare. Now that his episode of manly tears and pride was over he was back to feeling nothing but hate towards his best friend. "I can't believe you would do this to me! Have I not been your best friend ever since we were in second grade? Haven't we done everything together? You promised me that you would help me find a hot girl to date after you and Lindsay started going out! Now look at you! Not dating Lindsay,
and
you've somehow got the hot girl you were going to hook me up with for yourself!"

“
Would you keep your voice down!” Kevin hissed. He cast a glance over at Lindsay to make sure the girl hadn't heard them. When he was sure that the brunette was too embroiled in her own conversation to be listening in on theirs, he looked back at Eric and glared. “And I never remember making a promise like that before."

"Okay, so I made that part up," Eric admitted. His glare returned. "Still, I thought you would have my back. You know, bros before hoes and all that."

"And how many times have you ditched me to chase after a girl?" Kevin asked. He didn't give Eric time to answer. It was a rhetorical question anyways. "I don't think you have any right to tell me that I'm supposed to put your well being and happiness before a girl. Besides," Kevin stabbed his fork into the Shrimp Saganaki and absently stuck the food in his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. It really was quite good. He wondered where she had gotten the shrimp though. He didn't remember having any shrimp in his fridge... "It's not like I actually want her following me around every where I go. Like I said, I don't like her like that."

"Che, yeah right," Eric grumbled angrily. He crossed his arms over his chest. "And what about all those times she's kissed you, huh? I didn't see you doing anything to stop her then?"

"That..." Kevin flushed as blood rushed to his face. "That's just because she caught me by surprise! That's all! It-it's not like I wanted her to kiss me!" Against his will, his right hand came up to touch his mouth. With the mention of all the passionate kisses Lilian had given him, including the ones Eric didn't know about, Kevin felt a pleasant tingle like that of phantom lips over his own. Needless to say, it was a very distracting feeling.

Eric growled. "I don't believe you. You know what I think? I think you've been pretending to be some kind of girl-shy boy all this time! All the while you've been secretly hiding your true womanizing nature, waiting for the moment to take advantage of some poor girl!"

“
Are you sure we're not talking about yourself now?”

Ignoring Kevin's comment, the lanky teenager stood up rather abruptly, startling those present and paying attention, meaning Kevin, Lilian and Lindsay. The twins were too busy beating each other up to notice, and Justin was still singing under his breath as he ate, ignoring the world outside of his music. Of course, the girls went back to their own conversation the moment they saw that it was just Eric, leaving Kevin the only one listening.

The lanky sophomore pointed an accusing finger at Kevin. "That's it, isn't it? You've used your playboy ways to seduce the beautiful tit maiden, Lilian, in order to have your lustful way with her."

"Don't put me on your level," Kevin grumbled. "And if you're going to say something like that, don't mention her tits!”

His words fell on deaf ears. Eric wasn't listening.

"Don't worry, my lovely tit maiden!" Eric cried out, drawing the attention of the girl in question and Lindsay again. "I'll save you from Kevin's vile ways! Then you'll be so grateful to me that you'll... hehehe... and then we'll... kekekekeke!"

Lilian wrinkled her nose in disgust as the perverted sophomore devolved into a cacophony of lecherous giggling. Deciding not to waste any time wondering why the idiot was babbling, or even figure out what he was yapping about, she turned her attention back towards the conversation she was having with Lindsay. What were they talking about again? Well, not like it mattered. She was just scouting out the competition.

"Sit down, Eric," Kevin grumbled, grabbing onto the lanky teens sleeves and yanking him back into his seat. "You're embarrassing yourself."

Eric grumbled as he was forced back onto the bench, but he thankfully didn't try getting back up. Kevin sighed as he listened to his friend continue to complain and grumble and curse his name upon being forced to sit down.

"I can't believe a bastard like you managed to convince a girl with such a beautiful pair of knockers to date you over me! What do you have that I don't!? Huh!?""

Yeah, like that. Having already gotten used to Eric's complaints, insults and death threats from gym class, Kevin ignored him.

"I should kill you and dump your body in a ditch! Then I could offer Lilian some comfort and we'll... hehehe... then she will... kekekekeke..."