I've been teasing him for so long and enjoying his reactions for so many years that it's hard to tell when I started to enjoy it in a different way. I used to say things just to watch his face flush and his eyes dance with suppressed rage. I don't know why, but something about bringing him so close to the edge made me excited, because I never knew what he would do. I still do it, but it's harder now. Since everything happened.
He'd been avoiding me, keeping his hands to himself, and the laughter came far less frequently. I caught him looking at me, from time to time, eyes fixed on my breasts. His eyes were filled with a strange combination of anger, longing, and revulsion, and I didn't know what to make of it.
So I teased him. "Enjoying the view?" I'd throw out, when I caught him looking. His cheeks would burn with a kind of frustrated rage, and he'd slink away to hide from me. He never argued back, though. He never told me he wasn't looking or that he wasn't attracted to me, and that gave me some strange and terrible hope.
I did it over and over again, seducing him just a little and then catching him at liking it, wanting it, and each time he responded the same way. So when I came into his bathroom as he was running water for a shower, I didn't think he would react any differently.
"Holy shit!" he yelped, his hands flying to cover himself. "What are you doing in here, Ryn?"
I hid my smile. "I was just thinking... Do you remember when we used to take showers together, when we were little?"
He stared at me, and I knew what he was thinking.
"I'm not messing with you," I said, innocently, and pulled my shirt off over my head. "I just thought it might be fun..." I slipped my thumbs under the waist of my skirt and pulled it gently down, "...you know, for old times' sake?"
He swallowed hard as he stared at me.
"What?" I asked, and came a little closer. "Nothing's going to happen. I'm wearing a swimsuit. And I've seen you naked before, and the world didn't end."
The water ran hot and loud behind us as I waited for him to respond.
"I don't trust you," he said finally. "Are you just going to make fun of me again?"
I must have really gotten to him, I thought. "I promise, I won't. Now will you get in?" I stepped into the shower and beckoned him toward me.