‘Rabbit,’ shouts Harper, whose choice hasn’t wavered since we began.
‘… and The Princess Bride,’ I finish.
Willow looks between each cover, and then her eyes drift toward Beetlejuice again, mischief forming in the corner of her lips. I react too late as she leaps up.
‘Beetlejuice-Beetlejuice-Beetlejummph,’ she cries, the last syllable muffled by my hand as I tackle her to the ground, tickling her as we roll and tumble, her screams and giggles echoing through the house. Harper immediately leaps on top of the pair of us, giggling with glee as she tries her best to tickle me, and I feign wild laughter, but then Willow is shushing us both, her face a picture of pale fear.
Both of us go silent as we listen, and for a brief moment my chest fills with irrational supernatural fear as the door to the lounge creaks open and a shadow falls across the room. Then I breathe out and laugh as Thea steps quietly in and looks down at the pile of siblings and her nanny on the floor before a quizzical expression slips across her face.
‘Oh my goodness,’ I say, my heart beating so fast in my chest I feel dizzy.
‘We thought you were Beetlejummmph,’ says Willow before I clamp down again, my reactions now so slick I reckon I could dodge a bullet.
We both laugh and then look at Thea, and I realise she’s clutching a film in both her hands, her eyes wider than usual.
‘What have you got there, sweetie?’ I say, my chest tightening as the last word slips out. I can’t imagine a girl who wears black for ninety per cent of the day wants to be called sweetie.
‘Oh, um,’ she says, looking down at the VHS box art clutched so tight in her hands that her fingers have turned white, and then glancing toward the door as if she’s rethinking this entire endeavour.
‘Are you okay?’ I say, as her cheeks turn red.
‘I-,’ she says. ‘I wondered…’ then she takes a deep breath and turns the tape around.
‘Yes,’ I say, pointing immediately.
‘Hairy man,’ shouts Harper as Willow bounds toward her big sister and scoops the film out of her hands, holding it out triumphantly and dancing.
‘Beauty and the Beast,’ I say, nodding my head. ‘I think we found our film.’
*
*
This girl kisses like she means it.
She slams me back hard against the wall of her living room and tears at my shirt as her apartment door swings shut, the dull lights from the street below making the whole place flicker and glow with dark neon.
I hear two of my buttons bounce off the ceiling as I look down at her, her eyes ravenous and wild. Her apartment is a dump, strewn with trash, clothes, takeout boxes and rotting junk food. It’s disgusting, but my dick is doing the thinking, not my head, and as her hand runs over my pants I strain and rumble.
‘Fuck,’ she exclaims, grinning with wild delight as she feels the shape of me. ‘Holy shit. I gotta get a look at this thing.’
She drops to her knees and unbuckles me fast, fighting with my buttons and zipper as I grab her hair, and then her fingers slip inside and close around me, and my knees almost buckle.
Mackenzie.
Her green eyes flash on the horizon of my mind’s eye like Elmo’s Fire. Sweet and innocent. Pure and perfect. I jerk back as whatever this girl’s name is leans toward me, her mouth wide open, her eyes dark and-
‘No,’ I say.
She stops, her grin turning to a frown. ‘What the fuck?’ she says.
‘Stand up,’ I say.
She lets go of my cock, rising to her feet, her anger dissipating as quickly as it arrived, the grin returning as she nods.
‘Straight to business,’ she says, sliding down her shorts and pulling off her check shirt so fast that I’ve barely taken a breath. ‘I do like a soldier,’ she whispers as she turns around and backs into me.
What the fuck are you doing? Fuck her. This is what you came here for, isn’t it? To stick your dick in some random girl and get over your fucked up fantasy.