Nothing But the Truth: Chapter 3

When We Live Such Fragile Lives

Alicia

I nearly jumped and screamed as the sudden auditory intrusion flicked me on the ear. I hurriedly scrambled to Caden’s side, gripping his hand on instinct (best to keep myself attached to him, in case anything bad happened). 

To my surprise, however, a familiar face, one I’d seen on photos inside the house behind me just twenty-four hours prior, approached us. She stood hand in hand with a beautiful Southeast Asian woman who had heavy, blunt bangs and bramble tattoos snaking up her bare arms, and the two gave off an almost magnetic sense of joy and endearment..

“Kira? Aimee?” Caden said, clearly shocked. 

“Hello, lad!” Kira- his sister, who apparently was very real and very gay, said as she and her girlfriend approached. “Is this the friend you said you were having over?”

“Yeah!” he said, and there was this look on his face like… Like he was proud to introduce me to his family? No, no, that was just me projecting. Had to be. I just wanted to make a good impression, and was getting my hopes up. 

Maybe this would help! 

Or maybe it would make it vastly more complicated. Only one way to find out. 

“She’s cute,” Kira said, offering her brother a thumbs-up. 

He blushed. Like damn, he went bright red. Granted, his skintone was super pale so that made it more noticeable, but still. “This is Alicia Hernandez.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said, wincing that my face was a mess of overdone makeup while this was happening. 

“I thought you said you wouldn’t be back until late?” Caden said.

“Heh. Were you hoping something would happen?” Kira’s girlfriend mugged. 

Then it was my turn for my cheeks to heat, and while I don’t think the redness was as bad for me as it was for Caden-

“Aimee, go easy on the girl. Look how red she’s turning,” Kira said, patting her girlfriend on the shoulder and giving me a pitying glance. Never fucking mind then. “But yes, I was supposed to work late, but then this one here showed up and surprised me with something and I figured it was best to call it a night.”

“Surprised you with what?” Caden asked. 

Kira held up the hand that was previously covered with Aimee’s, showing off a diamond engagement ring and wiggling her fingers. “Surprise!”

“Holy shit,” Caden said, eyes shooting wide open. “Holy fucking shit!”

“Articulate as ever, aren’t you?” Aimee grinned. 

Caden turned to me and said, “Holy fucking shit!”

Oh, this was awkward. This was… This was not gonna make my life easier. While it was fascinating that part of Caden’s alleged backstory really did check out (not enough for me to stop being skeptical of him, obviously), this was gonna make my job a lot harder. Probably better to call it a night and regroup. “Congratulations,” I smiled. “And it was very nice to meet you- Caden turned out great, so you’re definitely doing something right- but I don’t want to intrude, so I should probably head home-”

“Oh hell no, you’re staying to celebrate!” Kira said, beckoning us inside. “You two lovebirds eat yet?”

Caden said, “No. I was gonna cook,” as we were both more or less pushed through the threshold of his front door and into his kitchen. Oh God. Oh fuck. I wasn’t gonna be able to pull this off, I wasn’t nearly a good enough actress to fake being into this handsome scumbag while pumping him for information amidst all this wholesome family time!

“Don’t bother,” Kira said as Aimee closed the front door behind the pair of them. “I’m ordering pizza. And opening a case of the good English beer from the crawlspace. You can both have as much as you want. I’m in a giving mood.”

I forced my mouth to move, shoved out whatever words I could find. “I couldn’t possibly impose-”

“Nonsense! Tonight is about love. Aimee and I’s love, and now you two as well!”

“Caden and I are really just friends-”

“Ha!” Aimee said, rolling her eyes while Kira opened up a hatch of wood in the hallway. Apparently that was a crawlspace, and there was a cooler in it. A cooler full of imported beer. Damn. “Hey, babe, when we kissed like that in front of your door, were we still calling ourselves ‘just friends’?”

“No, actually, I was strongly considering buying a U-haul by that point.”

“We just met yesterday,” Caden offered, rubbing his temple and rolling his shoulder repeatedly as he sat down at the kitchen table. On instinct, I started rubbing his shoulders. Fucking hell, this guy was all tensed up. What could he possibly have that was stressing him out this much? Besides… Me? No. No, definitely not.

“Fair enough, fair enough,” Aimee said, while also shooting me an amused look when she registered that I was giving Caden a massage. At which point I blinked and realized what this probably looked like. “I’ll back off.”

“Thank you,” Caden said. “Besides, we should be talking about you. Picked out a date?”

Kira set a sixer of cold, tall beer cans on the table, then went and got four glasses from the cabinet. She began pouring the beers, one at a time, into glasses as she spoke. “New Year’s Eve.”

“That’s… That’s soon,” Caden blinked. 

It was, relatively speaking. It would only be a week before… 

An idea bloomed in my mind. Oh yes, this would do. This would do nicely. “I assume you’ll need a wedding date?” I said, leaning forward and draping myself over Caden, one of my boobs a mere quarter-inch from his face. 

He hesitated, but his boner sure didn’t. He crossed his legs in a futile attempt to shield the ladies present from the obscene image. Poor dickhead. 

“You can absolutely be his plus-one,” Kira said, raising her glass. 

We all cheers’d and drank down a swig of beer. I needed to be careful: my tolerance was pitifully low and had only lowered since I started on hormones. Okay, think, Alicia. Think. You just got invited to a fairy tale New Year’s Eve lesbian wedding. The big frat party is a week after that. If you can lock this down now, you’ll have an inside line to whatever malfeasance is happening inside that fucking frat. You can do this. You just gotta… Lay on the charm! You can do that. Surely. 

Surely?

Surely!

“Well then, here’s hoping I don’t scare this one off before then,” I said, kissing Caden’s warm, stubbled cheek. It made me feel all giddy. Did I have a thing for stubble? Hm. I made a note to remember that for later. 

Something flickered on his face. It could have been nerves. It could have been guilt. It could have been embarrassment. I needed to know which. 

“So,” Aimee asked. “Caden. As your future step-mother-”

“Don’t you mean sister-in-law?” I asked. 

“I legally adopted him when he was nine, so… For practical purposes, no,” Kira said, taking another gulp of beer. Caden simply stared into his glass for a moment before polishing it off in one go. 

More and more details checked out. What had happened to cause all this? Not saying everyone needs a nuclear family (I’d had one and they’d only made me miserable and scared and self-loathing) but this was all a bit odd. 

“Ma,” Caden whispered, smiling at his sister. 

I patted him on the shoulder while I took another sip of beer. Damn, this stuff was good! Smooth, hoppy, not too bitter, a good amount of head from Kira’s expert pour. 

But it was also another peculiarity in this whole story: the Monroe family had a house in Los Angeles and could afford fancy British beer but they were hard-up for cash. At least, that’s what Caden had implied. Time to pull on a thread. A warmth bloomed inside me, a mesmerizing, almost dizzying sensation of giddiness as I plied my trade. “So, uh, Kira, Aimee, how did you two meet?”

“Through work, actually,” Kira said, swirling the beer inside her tall glass. “I’m a makeup artist for a studio up in Burbank. Aimee was working as an extra on this show I was helping with.”

“You’re an actress?” I looked at Aimee as a pleasant buzzing sounded inside my skull. 

“Voice acting, mostly,” Aimee shrugged. “Hollywood hates Asian people, so not a ton of live action parts outside of being a dead body on cop shows.”

“You do get a lot of dead body work, babe,” Kira laughed.

“God, you need to stop saying it like that, it sounds like I’m a serial killer,” Aimee laughed, pulling Kira close and kissing her temple. 

“Awww,” I cooed. I turned to Caden and said, “They’re so adorable.” Caden’s dimples made a triumphant return, along with that bashful smile as I took another gulp of beer. “And you! You’re adorable too! Do you get it from her!? From your adorable goth lesbian sister?!”

Kira and Aimee laughed as they helped themselves to more beer, and Caden just shrugged. Soon, though. Soon, I would get into that head of his. 

I finished my drink, and the buzzing amped up further while a giggle escaped the cage of my chest and the lock of my mouth. “I’m taking your silence as a yes.”

“Caden hates being called ‘adorable,’” Aimee laughed. “Always has.”

“He demands to be taken seriously,” Kira said as she deposited more beer on the kitchen table. I reached for a can… And missed. What the hell?

… Was I already drunk? After one beer? Fucking dammit! Okay, okay, no, not drunk. Just buzzed. Still had my faculties, my wits about me. I could still do this!

Caden grabbed the can. “This what your looking for?”

“Yeh!” I nodded. “Pour me.”

He reached for my glass. 

“No, no,” I shook my head, a mischievous notion taking root. I needed to get him to let his guard down. This boy… This young man… Was evidently a collection of walls and angst. I needed him to trust me if I wanted information. And I needed him to let his guard down if I wanted him to trust me. Best he think I’m a playful party-girl instead of the cynical bitch I actually am. I opened my mouth and pointed. “Here.”

“Alicia,” he said, eyebrows raised. 

“Do it, you dickhead!” 

A new expression appeared on him, one I was accustomed to seeing on most people who interacted with me: irritation. It faded quickly, replaced with a cocky smirk along the lines of the one he’d worn while boasting about the size of his cock. “Okay, have it your way.”

He poured beer directly into my open mouth until it was full. Then I grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him into an open-mouth kissed. We wound up sharing the drink. I stroked his cheek as I pulled away from him. The tent in his pants returned, and his look was all hunger and need. Or maybe that was me projecting, because my motor was definitely running. 

“Jesus Christ, get a room,” Kira said.

“Oh, I intend to,” I replied before unleashing a storm of nonstop giggling. 

 The drinks flowed freely, though I avoided taking anymore. My brain was awash with happy chemicals. Caden and I sat with the newly engaged couple listening to them tell stories about their five-year courtship, the first time Aimee met Caden, the first time Kira met Aimee’s family, vacations they’d all taken together. I clung to Caden’s arm and nuzzled his shoulder. It was such a comfortable spot, and the whole thing was so cozy and domestic. Felt like I was… 

Felt like I was actually a part of something. Maybe this was what families were supposed to be like? Felt good. Though the beer and the sense of completeness I got around Caden certainly helped.

Even if it was all a lie. 

The Next Morning

I woke up on Caden’s couch with feeling like a railroad spike ramming through my forehead. The living room’s white ceiling and the red blanket draped over me had a shared calming effect, but it only helped so much. My throat and skull were in agony, my limbs leaden, my every fiber begging me not to move or do anything ever again. 

Oh God, how much did I drink? 

Water. I needed water. That involved moving, but I could at least manage that much. I swung my legs off the couch and sat up, only for the room to start spinning and the pain to amplify ten-fold. I groaned and collapsed back onto the sofa, contemplating fading into the abyss of my own misery. 

At which point, Caden walked in. 

Shirtless.

Sweaty. 

In nothing but a pair of shorts that… That… Damn. Was he serious about being hung?

His scruff was thicker that morning, inching closer to a full beard, and… Shit, I had a thing for beards. Dammit! And his chest was… He was lean and tight. Not undefined, but not overtly muscular either. He looked more like someone who worked outside than someone who hit the gym every day, but it wasn’t bad. Wasn’t bad at all, going by the flustering that nearly overwrote the hangover entirely. 

Nearly, mind you. The railspike was still there, just a bit smaller than before. 

“You’re awake,” he said, walking over all manly-like with his post-workout glow. “How you doing?”

“Hot.”

“Oh no! You want me to get you some ice? Maybe turn on the air conditioning?”

“No, I meant…,” I started, then noticed him smirking again as he loomed over me. “You know what I meant.”

Dimples. Fucking dimples! “No, what did you mean?”

I  rolled my eyes. “I meant you’re hot.”

“You said it, not me.”

“Dickhead,” I grunted. 

“I’ve been called worse,” he shrugged, sitting on the floor and looking up at me. “But there is one thing I have never been called.”

“What’s that?”

“A lightweight.”

“Oh, screw you.”

“Seriously, I’ve never seen anyone get blackout drunk off of two beers.”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, pretty boy,” I said, lying back down. 

“Seriously though,” he said, expression gentling. “You okay?”

“Just massively hungover.”

“Would breakfast help? I do still owe you another homecooked meal.”

“How are you so nice? It’s improbable,” I grunted. “But yes, breakfast sounds lovely.”

“Cool,” he said. “I’m just gonna shower first, if that’s alright.”

“It’s alright as long you invite me to come with you,” I said, eyes drifting towards his happy-trail, minds’ eye showing me a delight image of my hand following it all the way down into his shorts. 

He gulped, then laughed. “I don’t think we’re quite there yet.”

“Why not? I mean I’ve already spent the night, met your parents-”

“Last time a girl and I jumped straight into bed, it ended… Not well,” Caden said, standing up but eyes locking on the carpet. “And you seem cool and interesting and I like talking to you, so maybe we shouldn’t rush things.”

Another thread to pull on. Another piece of the puzzle that was Caden Monroe. “Fair enough.”

“Not that I’m not interested in your offer,just to be clear,” he said, holding up both hands. “You’re like… Crazy hot-”

“I’m not, dude.”

He squinted. “What the fuck- how do you not- I just… You really don’t see it, do you?”

I held up a single finger and mouthed ‘wait.’ Then I took out my phone and aimed the camera at myself. And promptly cringed. “I see a fat tranny wearing last night’s makeup. And it didn’t even look good last night.”

 He face-palmed, then raked a hand through his sweat-damp hair. He opened his mouth.

“If you’re about to tell me anything along the lines of ‘that’s crazy talk’, I regret to inform you that that constitutes gaslighting,” I said. 

“Dammit,” he said under his breath. “Well. Then I guess I just have a new mission.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“Get you to see yourself how I see you,” he shrugged. 

“Bold. Ambitious. Daring,” I monotoned.

“All of these are adjectives frequently used to describe Caden Monroe,” he said wryly. 

I snorted. “Fair enough. So what’s the first step on this mission?”

“I’m gonna take you out on a real date,” he said. “Out on the town.”

Something shifted inside me, an unknown feeling. Almost… Eager? Did I… Did I want to go on a date with this dickhead? No, no, I only wanted information. Sure, kissing him was magical, made me feel like a heavenly choir was singing to guide me towards a future dancing in the light, but that didn’t MEAN anything. “Today’s Friday, right? How about tonight?”

He flinched. There it was. “Tonight doesn’t really work for me.”

“Why not?”

“I have to go to a frat party,” he said. “A rushing thing.”

“Perfect. I’ll come with you.”

Another flinch. Gotcha, dickhead. “It’s gonna be super lame-”

“Even better. We can make fun of it together.”

His adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he gulped. “I just don’t really think-”

“Unless everything you just said was bullshit.”

A fresh flicker of irritation, bordering on anger. “Right. Uh… It starts at 9. And if you want… You can get ready here. I can get Kira to help you with your makeup.”

I stood up, powering through the hangover. “Perfect. Can’t wait.”

“Yup,” he said, his voice cracking slightly. “Still want breakfast?”

“Yes, obviously. Feed me and tell me I’m pretty.”

“Heh. I think I can handle that much. I’ll hose off, then get to cooking.”

I watched him walk away, his tight little white ass looking amazing in those shorts, and came very close to patting myself on the back. And with that, the thread had been pulled. One step closer. Now for the next step: infiltration.