Tyson POV

I walked into my best friend’s house. I didn’t bother to knock or ring the bell first. Angel and I have known each other for so long, I practically grew up here. His mom always welcomed me warmly to their home and made me feel like I was part of their family. I even had a key to their place.

“I’m so glad you came! Sorry for making you do this so often,” he said from the kitchen. I followed his voice there and saw him rummaging through the fridge with his head hidden by the door.

“You know I don’t mind.” I really didn’t. Growing up with Angel meant spending time with his little brother and two younger sisters. I didn’t usually like children much but they were a pretty decent bunch. “You know I like your siblings.”

“Yeah, about that… There has been a slight change of plan.” That said, he poked his head from out of the fridge. “They are having a sleepover.”

I froze at his words.

Oh, he better be joking!

“So, instead of one boy and two girls I’m babysitting…?”

“No boys; Jamie went over to his friend’s house.”

“And how many girls?” I was afraid of his answer.

“Six.” He looked at me apologetically.

“What?! Angel, you want to leave me alone with six kids? With six girl kids?”

“I arranged for someone to come and help you out.” He hurriedly tried to calm me down.

“Who? Don’t tell me it’s that chick two houses away. She always hits on me; it’s pathetic!” He looked away nervously before hiding his head behind the fridge’s door again. What was he doing there anyway? Digging for gold?

“Oh, it’s a girl, but it’s not her.” He replied after a while.

“Really? Is she hot?” I asked on reflex. If I was to babysit six kids for him, the least my best friend could do was get me some eye candy.

“I believe I am if I can say so myself!” Alex’s smug voice filled my ears.

“What the hell?” I snapped my head to the direction of the kitchen door. Short size, brown hair, a challenging look on her face… Yep, no mistake about it; it was her alright. “Angel, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me! You can’t expect me to spend the whole night with her!”

“Can’t spend the whole night with me, huh? What’s the matter? Think you can’t keep up, Williams?” She asked mockingly.

“Shut up, slut! Angel, you can’t be serious!” I turned once again in my best friend’s direction. I was practically whining by now.

“Sorry, but I am. You’ll just have to make it work!”

If it was anyone else asking, I would’ve said “no”. Hell, if it was anyone else asking, I wouldn’t have come in the first place. But I knew how hard they had it being a family of four kids raised only by their mom: a woman who worked two jobs so she could take care of them. And me. Because no matter how short they were on money, she would always invite me to share their meal. Even when I got in trouble she didn’t turn her back on me and gave Angel money to bail me out. I paid them back as soon as I could of course. I knew all that just as I knew Angel had to help out and go to work too.

Which is why I sometimes babysitted for him.

“Fine!” I growled. “But I can’t guarantee we’ll both be alive when you return.”

“Same here.” Alex’s tone was much calmer than mine.

“Thanks, guys! You have no idea what this means to me.” With those words he closed the fridge door (which I only now realized he had been using as an improvised wall of protection between him and I), took his jacket from one of the nearby chairs and left us.

“I can’t believe he didn’t warn us we will have to babysit together,” I mumbled more to myself than to the nearby cocky brunette.

“Oh, he told me you’ll be here.” Her voice was surprisingly even.

“And you still agreed?” I asked incredulous. “Why?”

“Because I like him and I wanted to help him out. Simple as that.”

A small, gentle smile appeared on her lips.

“So you’re not getting anything out of it?”

“Nope.” Her smile turned into a smirk. “Apart from pissing you off of course.” And she exited the kitchen grinning like the Cheshire cat.

*****

All six of the girls were sitting on the floor (me being the only person on the couch) and they were watching some animated movie, called Tangled. Apparently they all liked it. Apparently so did Alex.

Yes, little miss I-kick-ass-so-stay-outta-my-way was a Disney fan. And just like those girls she had watched the movie before. And again just like those girls, she knew the songs and they were all singing and laughing and having the time of their life.

I myself was pondering which will be the quickest way to kill myself.

After what seemed like an eternity the movie finally ended and the credits rolled in.

“Just a few more minutes and this torture will be over!” I though and my lips formed into a relieved smile.

“She's the girl with the best intentions,” the last song started.

“This is my favorite song from the movie!” Alex shouted, jumping excitedly from her seat on the floor.

“He’s a man of his own invention,” she sang along to the music.

“She looked out of window; he walked out the door,” Alex did a little swirl here.
”But she followed him and he said “Whatcha you looking for”?”

Now she started jumping and swirling around haphazardly with a huge grin on her face while singing:

“And she said “I want something that I want.
Something that I tell myself I need
Something that I want…”

The six little girls joined her “dance” with unadulterated enthusiasm. God, their singing would be the death of me! It wasn’t even singing; it was more like squealing. Even Alex was just shouting the lines, not bothered whether she sounded good or not.

“…Right when you think, you know what to say,
someone comes along and shows you a brand new way.” At that part our eyes connected and I saw her smile at me before quickly averting her eyes. A real smile, not a sarcastic grin or a smug smirk, but a genuine smile that caught me completely off guard.

“… it’s so easy to make believe,” here her voice became more gentle and actually sounded pretty good.
”Seems you’re living in a dream,” she continued with her eyes closed.

“Don’t you see that what you need

is standing in front of you”

She had a serene, dreamy expression on her face and I just couldn’t look away from her.

“I want something that I want...”

The song went on and the brunette opened her eyes but there was still a faraway look in them that made her look just so… gentle.

Somehow the song didn’t seem to be bothering me any more.

*****

“One more time! One more time!” Jinny, Angel’s youngest sibling squealed excitedly. I groaned.

She wanted to listen to the final song again? It was on repeat for the last fifteen fucking minutes!

“Alex, please let’s listen to it again!” Tina, who was second eldest after Angel and in her early teens, pleaded.

“Okay!” Alex agreed and I was just about to protest when she went on: “But this is the last time and then you’re going to sleep.” The girls seemed like they wanted to protest so she quickly added with a stern tone: “Not negotiable! It’s already past your bedtime anyway.” And with that she turned the damn song on again.

The moment it begun all the girls started dancing. Tina, Jinny and one other girl, whose name I didn’t remember, were holding hands while jumping around. Suddenly, the girls lost their balance and all three of them fell, pushing the table and spilling the drinks and what was left of the popcorn on the floor, on the couch and (since I was still sitting there) by association on me.

“Oh, fuck!” I screamed, abruptly jumping up.

All of the girls gasped while Alex gave me a criticizing look.

“Are you guys okay?” She questioned the three girls that had fallen. They all nodded.

“Sorry about the mess!” Tina said apologetically.

“We’ll help you clean up,” Jinny added.

“Don’t worry about it!” Alex smiled reassuringly. “But since the couch is now wet we’ll have to alter the sleeping arrangements.” She went on thoughtfully. A small crease formed on her forehead and she pouted slightly. It looked kind of adorable on her.

Adorable? Seriously? What was wrong with me tonight?

She was right about having to change our plans though. Angel’s house had four single beds for the kids and one double for their mom. The plan was for three of the girls to sleep on the double, Alex and the other three girls on the singles and I on the couch.

Well, that was obviously out now.

“I’ll think of something,” the brunette muttered and then turned to me. “Why don’t you go clean yourself up? I’ll take care of things here.”

I nodded and went to one of the bathrooms. I took my singlet off; it was completely drenched. I washed the soda and draped the clothing to dry on a rope they had hung in the bathroom. By the time I got out the girls were gone and Alex was just finishing cleaning up the mess they’ve made.

“So what’s the plan?” I queried.

“We connected the two singles in the girls’ room so they would fit in Jinny, Tina and one more girl and we did the same to the beds in the boys’ room for the rest of the girls.” She briefly explained to me.

“And where are we sleeping?”

“On the double.”

“What?” I croaked. “Both of us?”

“Unless you want to sleep on the floor.” She answered, her tone even.

I just stood there, staring at her, searching for a sign to tell me she was joking. There was none. She stared back with her face completely drained out of any emotion. After a few minutes of silence she sighed tiredly and asked:

“So what did you decide? Are you sleeping with me or not?”

“Am… I… Wh-what?” I stuttered.

“What’s the matter? Never slept with a girl before?” She questioned confused, a small crease forming on her forehead. When I didn’t answer her teasing grin appeared. “Oh, my, oh, my! Do my ears deceive me? Have the oh-so-sexy highly-wanted Tyson Williams never slept with a girl before?”

“I’ve had sex with girls,” I growled in her direction. For some reason I didn’t want her to think I was completely inexperienced.

“That’s not what I asked, is it?” She was grinning like the Cheshire cat again. “You don’t have to fuck a girl to sleep in the same bed with her. Or is it just me that makes you uneasy?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, slut!”

“Hey, you’re the one who started stammering the moment I mentioned us sleeping together. I don’t have problem sharing a bed.”

“Oh, I bet you don’t. I bet you are quite used to sharing your bed with other people.”

“And what will be so wrong with that?” She asked huskily, taking a few steps towards me. “What will be wrong with having a little fun with a boy… or a girl… or both? I mean, why choose when you can have both, right?”

She took a few more steps towards me and I moved back until I felt the wall hitting my back. Alex didn’t stop moving until she was standing directly in front of me. She gently put her hands on my naked chest and stared straight into my eyes. I gulped. She smiled and leaned forward, standing on her tiptoes.

“Tyson…” She breathed seductively into my ear. “Do you want to fuck me, Tyson?” She pulled back slightly to look at my face. I stared at her eyes. There was a playful glint to them. My eyes fell to her lips; always slightly open and so terribly inviting. She bit her lower lip and I licked mine. The little smirk she had on grew wider at my gesture.

“You do want me, don’t you, Tyson?” Her husky voice reached my ears.

Tyson.

She rarely called me by my name and now she was repeating it over and over again. I liked that. I liked the way she pronounced my name. And the look in her eyes right now? Well, it definitely had an effect on a certain part of me. I was breathing irregularly and felt slightly light-headed.

“Alex…” I whispered and was surprised by how raspy my voice sounded. I tried to steady it before I continued. “Get the fuck away from me, bitch!” I commanded quietly.

She burst out laughing.

“Damn! For a moment there I thought I had you.” She said when she finally calmed down.

“Did you really think such cheap tricks on your part will have any effect on me?” I attempted to keep my voice even and tried to sustain eye contact; if the girl looked bellow my waist now, she’d realize her tactics definitely had the effect she had been after.

“They might be cheap tricks but I’m good at them.” She sounded slightly offended. “So… what did you decide? Am I spreading myself on the whole bed or are we cuddling?”

“Neither. I’m sharing the bed, but if you touch me…”

“Don’t worry about it,” she cut me off. “I was just messing with you. Although I might be tempted to smother you with your pillow.” She said, heading upstairs.

“If I don’t get you first.” I muttered, following suit.