Accidental Love (Accidental Hook-Up 1)

I told Mom I was going to change and headed up to my room. I’d never been with a girl and worked with someone else I slept with before. I didn’t know if I should tell Celia about it. Fuck. I pulled on some shorts and a t-shirt and walked back downstairs, heading outside for some fresh air. I walked down the beach and let my mind wander as I stared blankly ahead.

I considered whether I’d sleep with Tanya again if I was single. Probably not since she wasn’t an interesting person to begin with. She was just there when I needed someone, and I took advantage of that. I needed to lay down some boundaries if she continued to pursue me and just be a dependable worker for this company. I didn’t want anyone, but Celia, and I was happy with that.

I moved on to the receptionist and whoever else might act like that. I would say I was seeing someone even if I wasn’t to keep things professional, assuming that word would travel around the office and it might stop. I used to like getting attracted to women easily but now it was nothing but irritating.

I’d walked far down when I decided to go back to the house. I’d worked it all out, and I needed to see Celia. I was heading back to the house when I saw someone walking towards me, stumbling a bit. I realized it was Celia, and I hurried towards her, catching her shoulders in my hands. “What’s wrong?” I asked as I looked at her stricken face.

“We went to lunch with some of Brin’s friends and there were these guys there. I assume that she wanted to hook me up with someone but then realized that one of the guys was from that party. He sat beside me and his hands were everywhere, but Brin was talking to the others. I didn’t tell her what happened at the party, so she had no idea not to ask him to come.”

She was all over the place and I wrapped an arm around her. “How did you get home?”

“I got an Uber and bailed on lunch. I couldn’t take it any longer.” I pulled her against me, wanting to kill my sister for putting Celia in this position. She was a shy girl, to begin with and forcing a guy on her was shitty, to begin with. Since she was with me, it was worse, but I reminded myself that nobody knew that.

“I’ve got you, Celia. I’m here. I am going to talk to Brin and try not to kill her.” I murmured as my mind rushed ahead.

“She didn’t know about us… doesn’t know.” Celia reminded me as I nodded.

“I want to tell them. All of them. Whether this works out, I just don’t want interference.” I told her as her eyes widened. “I ran across an old fling at the office today.” I was prepared for the hurt to flash across her face and kept going. “I don’t want her. I don’t want anyone but you. Why should I hide that?”

“I feel the same way but I’m pretty sure that I always have.” Celia smiled up at me and the color returned to her face. “Let’s tell them.” She said it like we had a huge group to contend with, but it was just my family. She took my hand, and we turned to go back to the house, seeing Mom and Brinley on the deck as we approached. I frowned and looked down at Celia before Brinley looked at us.

“Celia. There you are!” She ran down the stairs and over to us, stopping as she grabbed Celia’s face. “Are you okay?”

“Your hookup today went a little wrong, Brin,” I told her as she stared at me in confusion. “Not that it’s entirely your fault, of course. Celia didn’t tell you that the guy got handsy with her at a party and that she’d prefer never to see him again.” I looked at our hands. “We also didn’t tell you that we’re seeing each other. We’re dating.”

Brinley’s face dropped, and she looked at us. “You two?” I nodded with a smile. “Since when? We just got back and so did you. Was this happening before?”

“It happened once before,” Celia told her as she smiled. “Back after Jessie’s funeral… my mom’s funeral. We had a night together due to the stress, the grief, and I don’t even know what else. We walked away from it and I thought he didn’t remember. I was going to let it go, but we got here, and it got rekindled.” Brin stared at her as I watched her do the math.

“I don’t know where this will go, Brin. I just want to try to see. This is a bit new for both of us.” I spoke up and squeezed Celia’s hand. “It’s complicated enough without keeping it a secret.”