Kex by Judy Colella (children's books read aloud .txt) 📕

“Er, yeah.” She giggled quietly. “Thought I’d never wear you out, but you finally fell asleep.”

He gave her a crooked smile. “Sorry.”

“For what? That was…you’re incredible!”

He looked genuinely surprised by her words and sat up. “And you’re incredibly kind.” He stifled a yawn behind one hand. “Mmm. Shower.”

“Good idea. May I join you?”

He replied by sliding out of bed, turning, and picking her up. “Why not?”

She suddenly hoped they’d do more than wash...by the time they were able to get dressed, it was almost noon, and Rianna told him to wait while she checked the hallway to see if she could sneak him back out without being seen.

Everyone seemed to be elsewhere, so she headed quickly back to her room, but right as she was about to open the door, the one across the hall opened. “Crap,” she muttered and turned around.

“Ri!” exclaimed the girl who had come out.

“Marty!”

“Uh, was it my imagination, or did I hear some…activity in there last night?”

“Activity?”

“Oh, come on, Ri. I’m not that stupid. You think I don’t recognize the sounds of wild sex when I hear them?”

I’m sure you do, sweetheart – more than most. “Wild sex, is it?”

“Yes. Aw, come on – you can tell me.”

“And then you’ll tell everyone else, including the staff, and I’ll get kicked out, right?”

“Aha! So you did have a guy in there!”

“Never said that. Later, Marty.” Rianna opened her door, planning to enter swiftly and shut it behind her before her nosy dorm-mate could get close enough to see…

Too late. The moment she pushed the door open, Marty pounced. She shoved past Rianna and flung herself into the room, fully expecting to find some pathetic-looking guy covering himself with her sheets. What she found was the delicious Kex, naked and glorious, staring down at her with one eyebrow raised.

Marty gasped, her eyes unable to choose what to stare at. She’d never actually met him, but had seen him from time to time, and had heard plenty; nothing she was seeing made liars out of those who had talked about him. Not only were they not exaggerating, they hadn’t given him nearly enough credit for…oh, lord.

“Is there a problem?” he asked, his look only mildly inquisitive. Inside, however, something else entirely was going on. He knew this girl. Hadn’t thought about her for at least four years, either, yet here she was. What was this – Old Home Week? Holy crap – Martina Casman! And she was staring at him, at his…yeah. Right. Of course, the look she was giving him was anything but derisive, not even in the same solar system as the scathing glares he’d gotten from her back then. Nope. She actually looked like she wanted to push him down on the bed and, and, and, uh, that.

“No problem,” she squeaked, blissfully unaware of his identity – and the turmoil in his mind.

“You have no plans to tell anyone about this, then, I assume.” Great. Now he was attempting a Jedi mind-trick. And strangely enough, it seemed to be working.

“N-no! I – I don’t plan to tell anyone. Honestly.”

He took a step closer, suddenly enjoying her extreme discomfort. He leaned down, putting his mouth next to her ear. “You have no idea how grateful I’ll be,” he breathed, and saw goosebumps rise on her neck. Oh, this was awesome!

“I – okay.” Her voice had become very tiny, and she looked like she was about to pass out.

Unable to resist, he gave her ear a small kiss and straightened. “Thank you.”

Martina, or Marty as she was now known, turned stiffly and left, arms straight down at her sides, making her look like a weird robot of some kind. Back out in the hall, she grabbed Rianna by the shoulders and said, “Oh my God! Oh…my…God!” Then she let go and ran back to her room, slamming the door and locking it.

“Now that was strange.” Rianna chuckled and went back into her room, where she found Kex in the process of getting dressed. “What did you do to her?”

He shrugged. “Not much. I asked her not to tell anyone, and then I kissed her ear.”

“You what?!”

“It’s okay, Rianna. Believe it or not, I know her, too. Remember that football player I told you about yesterday, the one who used to give me a hard time? Well, Martina was the bitch he dated, and any time she needed to be amused, she’d lie to him about me just to get him to beat me up.”

“Martina…that’s her real name? I don’t like her, by the way, and never did. So…why did you do that?”

“She walked in before I could put any clothes on, and was obviously in major freak-out mode when she saw me, so I decided to freak her out even more. It worked, I think.” He gave her a huge grin and pulled his shirt over his head. “And you have nothing to worry about, if that’s what you’re doing.”

“Maybe just a little.”

He pulled her to him and held her close for a few minutes. Rianna was actually quite tall herself, but she still only came up to a spot several inches below his shoulders.

“We better go,” she said into his chest, reluctant to actually move.

“I suppose.” One arm still holding her, he reached over with the other and picked up his backpack. Then he kissed the top of her head. “I’m ready.”

Somehow, she managed to get him out of the dorm without getting caught. It had occurred to her that if anyone saw them, she could always claim they were on their way in, not out, but she wasn’t any good at lying, and she’d never heard Kex say anything but the truth.

It was Saturday, and neither of them had anything pressing to do other than that meeting he had later in the evening. They decided finally to find someplace quiet and talk. Nothing more. Kex was finally admitting that he had already fallen for this sweet, smart, sexy and kind-hearted young lady. What else to do, then, except open up to her and see how she’d feel about him afterward.

They grabbed some coffee and a few pieces of fruit from the Cafeteria, which they took to a wide grassy part of the campus that was peppered with stately trees, many of them still wearing the neon colors of autumn. As they relaxed against one of them, he told her about his family. About where he’d grown up and how his parents had raised him. About what he had eventually realized about them and his inadvertent part in who they’d become. About his miserable school life that was offset by all the positives – his parents’ love, the worlds he’d discovered in books, the world of the internet, his own love of programming and drawing. And he told her about how his father’s alcoholism had brought them to the place where they’d had to sell the house and move, and were still living in the old if well-tended double-wide they’d purchased four years ago in the large trailer park less than a mile away.

Then he told her his real name, and having said all he was going to, waited for her response.

She was silent for a few minutes, but then she shifted around to face him more fully and put a hand to the side of his face. “Why did you tell me all that?”

“Because of how I feel about you.”

She pulled herself up to her knees, leaned forward, and kissed him. “I love you, Kex, and if that freaks you out or chases you away, at least I’ll know I was honest with you.”

He was freaked out, all right. Freaked out that she felt like that, and – “You do?”

“Yup.”

He kissed her between the eyes and pulled her close, holding her as tightly as he could without breaking any bones. “I love you, too, Rianna,” he whispered into her hair. He meant it, too.

They stayed that way for a long while, Rianna changing position only a little to make herself more comfortable. Overhead, the leaves sighed in a dancing breeze as a number of them released their final, tenuous hold and fluttered to the ground.

“If you hurt me, I’ll tell everyone your real name!”

Kex looked up. Standing there, looking comically scared, was Taylor.

“Why would I hurt you? Do you really think you’re worth any of my attention? Grow up, Taylor. Oh, and go away.”

Rianna looked up over her shoulder at Kex. “That him?”

“Yup.”

Taylor’s fright was joined by a hissy-fit brand of outrage. “Hey! What did you tell her about me?”

“Excuse me a second,” he muttered to Rianna, and disentangled himself from her embrace. He stood slowly, watching with satisfaction as Taylor’s head went back by degrees so he could look up at him.

“If you hit me – ack!”

Chuckling, Kex had reached out, grabbed the front of Taylor’s shirt, and lifted him easily off the ground until they were at eye-level. “Don’t flatter yourself, little man. This is the last time I’ll say it – go away. You mean nothing to me.” He opened his hand and his former attacker fell back onto the grass.

Eyes huge with fright, Taylor scrambled to his feet and ran off.

Behind him, Kex heard Rianna sigh loudly and he turned.

“My hero,” she said through a big grin. She ran to him, put her hands on his shoulders, and jumped up, straddling him with her strong legs. She gave him a deep kiss, then laughed as he spun around, his hands pressing her closer.

“My princess,” he said when he could breathe again.

*******

“This is why I had to make sure you’d be here tonight,” said Jeremy, looking very pleased with himself.

Kex was still too stunned to speak. The “meeting” had not, as he’d thought, been the usual weekly programmer get-together, but rather an introduction between him and the owner of one of the most prestigious computer-game companies in the nation. Jeremy had sent him a few examples of Kex’s work – both the formulated games and the artwork – and the man had been so impressed, he’d written back to say he wanted to meet this talented young man.

“If you don’t mind,” said the man, whose name was Jonas Lee, “I’d like to see more examples of your games, maybe a few story-boards and sketches. Would that be okay?”

“I – sure.” Why, though?

As if reading the young man’s mind, Jonas added, “I’d like to discuss the possibility of hiring you, actually, but I’ll need more examples to show the team. I assume everything has been copyrighted and well-documented as being yours, yes?”

Numb with disbelief, Kex nodded.

“Good. I want you to feel confident about showing me your work. Too much piracy in the business, if you ask me. Now, if we decide to offer you a job, would you take it? We could work around your school schedule, of course.”

Kex found his voice at last and said, “What would this job entail?”

“You doing what you seem to do best, mainly. Developing game programs based on your own story-lines, and using your artwork as the basis of the visuals. You’d have a team of artists and programmers, too, people well-versed in CG and such.” He smiled. “You would of course be paid.” And then he told Kex how much.

He thought about all those hospital bills that were still outstanding, about all the new ones his father’s failing health were generating, and realized that with his first paycheck, they’d all be erased. “Could I get all that in writing?”

Jonas laughed. “Wouldn’t do it any other way, Kex. I have a feeling your work will make us more popular and bring in more capital than everything we’ve done to date. I’m not about to let some legal faux-pas get in the way of that!”

Yes, and I’m bigger than you, Kex thought, almost laughing as well. But he didn’t. This was serious stuff and he’d have to be very careful, move slowly. The man was essentially promising not to steal his work and ideas, but he didn’t