While My Boyfriend Watches by Lexi Arabella Page B

didn’t return our greetings. Instead, he
fixed me with a long, hard glare before turning his gaze to
Brandon. “I’ll ask again. What are you two doing in here?”
    “Homework.” I held up the notebook in my hand
as evidence. “Well, not homework, actually. A project for our
civics class.”
    “It’s about political propaganda. You
wouldn’t believe how much information has been twisted over the
years to influence how people vote,” Brandon piped in. Even though
I was super nervous, I nearly rolled my eyes at Brandon’s lies. He didn’t know anything about the project since he had left
all of the work to me. “It’s crazy. For example-”
    His dad cut him off. “You didn’t ask your
mother or me for permission to have Emily over. And why are you up
here instead of in the kitchen like you know you’re supposed to
be?”
    “Oh, sorry about that,” Brandon said
nervously. “My desktop has a bigger screen than the laptop, so I
thought it would be better to do it here.”
    “And that’s all you were doing up here?
Working on a project?”
    “That’s all,” Brandon swore. “I promise.”
    We both really needed for Mr. North to
believe us. If my parents found out that I was fooling around with
Brandon, I didn’t know exactly how far their punishment would go,
but shunning me wasn’t out of the question. And that was the best
case scenario.
    In Brandon’s case, he’d already broken his
parents’ rules about having guests over. If his dad found out he
was lying about what we’d been doing, the consequences would be
swift and harsh. His dad was a former Marine, and Brandon’s parents
had always told him that if he broke one of their major rules, he’d
be off to the military instead of college after graduation. That
wasn’t an idle threat, either. Brandon’s older brother Jack had
taken Mr. North’s classic car for a joyride the night of his high
school graduation and crashed it. His parents kicked him out of the
house and cut off all support. Two months later, Jack enlisted in
the Army to get back in their good graces.
    Mr. North didn’t say anything, just stared at
Brandon as silence filled the room. Brandon’s face was flushed red
and he looked away, staring at the floor. I realized I was bending
my notebook from clutching it so hard. Putting it down, I folded my
hands in my lap and waited, my heart thudding.
    Finally, Mr. North nodded. “Okay.”
    Relief flooded through me with that simple
word. Brandon smiled, obviously happy that his dad had bought our
lie.
    Mr. North moved to head out of the room, but
turned back to us just before walking through the doorway. “Now,
maybe I don’t understand because I’ve been out of school for so
long,” he said, looking directly at me. “But who wants to explain
to me why Emily isn’t wearing any panties if you two are only doing
school work?”
    Gasping, I realized he was right. My bra was
on, but I was bare below the waist underneath my dress. I must have
forgotten to put my panties on in my rush to get dressed before we
were caught. But how had Brandon’s dad known that? “Mr. North,
I-”
    I shut my mouth as Mr. North walked across
the room toward me. He stopped beside the bed, and I watched in
horror as he reached out, picking up my lacy pink panties from the
bedside table. They must have landed there when I tossed them
off.
    “Would you like to explain?” Mr. North’s
stormy eyes were fixed on mine as he stood before me, looking down
at where I sat on the bed. I tried to speak, but no words came out.
Hot shame rushed through me at the sight of my panties in the large
hand of my boyfriend’s dad. I was busted, and in a big way.
    “Those aren’t Emily’s!” Brandon burst out.
“Mom’s underwear must have gotten mixed up with my clothes in the
laundry. I put them on the nightstand so I could remember to give
them back.”
    I wished Brandon hadn’t said that. There was
no use in lying any more. His dad wasn’t stupid at all. We’d