When You're Around

“Walt, dear, remind me to never ever trust you with my alcohol for as long as I live,” I muttered, picking myself from the floor. My bare chest sweating from the lack of air conditioning and my oddly fully covered legs tangled in the loose fabric of Walt’s fashion case. The pounding in my head was God awful, the temperature in the room felt as if I were being boiled by cannibals, and the knocking on my door sent furious hammers through my skull; needless to say, my mood wasn’t very good when I stumbled up and waited for the world to stop bouncing around me. My watered eyes somehow found Walt’s body walking toward the loose fabric at my feet and as soon as he yanked a few yards of some soft crap I was back on the floor with the world going faster than it had earlier.

“Have I ever told you your tits are almost perfect,” Walt grinned down at me, his body completely unaffected by the alcohol we had consumed the night before, “I mean, if you were just a bit taller you could be the perfect Victoria’s Secret Angel.”

I laughed, causing my aching head to protest in agony, and nodded, “And haven’t I told you that I plan on getting my nipples pierced soon.” –I looked down at my bare chest as best I could and tried to imagine it- “I think it’d work out pretty good. I mean, they aren’t perky and all that crazy shit but they are round and… nice.”

Pounding got louder and the voice of none other than Kellan sounded through the barrier. I nodded up at Walt to get it while I searched for at least my tank-top on the spinning ground, and, lucky for me, I was able to find the black cami hanging from the edge of my television and pull it over my head just as Kellan was walking in. I turned around and stumbled over to him, not fully sober, to pull him into a sloppy hug.

“You could have just opened the door,” I rasped out, “I mean, my door is always unlocked. It’s a wonder I haven’t been mugged yet.” Just as Kellan was about to open his mouth to reply, Jackson walked over by my side and I couldn’t hold in the urge to pull him into a kiss and wrap my arms securely around his torso. I was the kind of drunk that was both extremely emotional and a little loopy. One night, which brought fits of laughter from Lou, I had gotten drunk for the first time with her and her family and I ended up crying because the ‘automatic’ door would open to her uncle’s bathroom. After half an hour of crying on her hysteric aunt’s shoulder, I puked and labeled as a pussy to this day.

When we pulled away, Jackson smirked before taking my hand and kissing each of my fingers, “You taste like Vodka, Kahlua, and cream.”

I shrugged and rested my head on his steady chest, “Walt decided to show us an improvised version of a White Russian and, because even the word Russia is my weakness, I agreed to be the first to taste it. I don’t remember much after the first four sips other than it was really good and I asked for more.”

“I’m surprised she could actually hold that much alcohol without having a nervous breakdown,” Walt grinned while sitting down on my precious and expensive table, “but toward the end of her incoherent babbling about falling off the seat, which she wasn’t sitting on, she started sobbing because she was ‘sorry she hadn’t spent time with me and Lou earlier’.”

For his extremely detail description of my forgotten actions, I praised Walt with the lift of my middle finger and looked up at Jackson with a tired smile before whispering so only he could hear, “Wanna help me with my hang over?”

Without another word, Jackson had grabbed my hand and pulled me toward my room.

“Belle, you’ve already gotten a letter from the neighbors about Lou’s music being too loud, I don’t think you want another for disturbing their children with your wild screams for more,” Walt called out but his voice was muffled toward the end because I had slammed my door closed before pushing Jackson against it and attacking his lips fiercely with my own. My hands busied themselves with the buckle of Jackson’s belt while his hands shot to my chest at once. I broke the kiss and grinned up at him while my hands snuck into his briefs.

“You always go for my boobs first,” I whispered as I took him in my hands and tipped my head up once more to grab his lips with mine. We moved back toward my bed, my hands still in place, and crashed down after tripping over each other’s feet. Jackson took my shirt off and attacked my bare chest, toying with my nipples, while I wrapped my legs around his waist and pressed his mouth closer. Only minutes passed before my panties were being slid off and Jackson’s mouth was replacing the coverage. I arched my back and grasped his hair tightly between my fingers while soft moans left my lips.

As much as my thighs fought to give in, Jackson’s firm grip on them kept them separated as his tongue twirled my clit and two fingers abused the senses inside me while my hips bucked forward. Slyly, Jackson pulled away and looked down at my naked body with his button down shirt open and his pants off, causing my body to heat up and my hand to reach and grip his shirt as he pulled my hips closer so he could enter me properly.

“How’s the hang over, baby?” his husked over voice rasped and his crooked grin taunted.

“It’s getting better.”

His hips crashed into mine roughly, but nothing but pleasure and heat filled my core. It was like the base of a volcano just seconds before a powerful eruption and with each deep thrust Jackson gave I was closer to my eruption. As he continued to abuse my opening with his powerful crashes, I pulled his head closer to mine to kiss him, but he hit a certain spot inside me and all was lost. I guess he figured my toes curling over his butt, my fingers scratching the flesh of his back, my moans turned into a loud scream and my eyes disappearing to the back of my head meant he had hit something good for he started drilling that spot with all his might. His thrusts were rough and sharp, allowing him to hit my pleasure points at just the right speed and tempo to cause one powerful orgasm, my first since we had been together, to course through my body and bring me over the edge.

Jackson, getting closer to his release, groaned and whimpered as his hips moved faster against mine until he was letting himself go. He leaned down and kissed my slightly sweating shoulder while pulling out of me and collapsing at my side. With a grin that made me want to start all over again, he looked into my eyes and nodded, “And that’s how a Monroe takes care of his girl.”

I tried to think about what he was saying while I caught me breath and sailed back down to Earth on the rainbow unicorn he had given me, but nothing came to mind while I tried to breath good enough to get my heart rate back to normal. Once I was ready, I bit the inside of my cheek before tilting my head slightly and wrinkling my nose, “Um, who’s Monroe?”

“Didn’t I tell you?” Jackson’s voice was a bit bewildered and his ocean green eyes stared deeply into mine with nothing but confusion clouding the color, “Monroe is my first name. I’m a fifth generation Monroe.”

I sat up, as best I could with shaking arms, and looked down into his eyes, “Monroe Rathbone the Fifth?”

He nodded, “Jackson is my middle name, I thought I told you.”

“No…” my voice was distant as I thought about my situation with the man I thought was coming closer and closer to officially being my boyfriend. I hadn’t known something important about him, I only knew amusing high school stories and how his eyes seemed extremely focused when we were having sex. My eyes shot back to his and I shook my head, “We don’t know anything about each other, really. I mean, when I looked at it, this is nothing but sex and hanging out with friends and then more sex.”

It was quiet, really quiet and I knew that Jackson agreed with what I had said.

“Jay, I don’t think we can start getting serious unless we actually know each other first,” My voice was softer than I wanted, but I let it slide while I fished for emotions in Jackson’s eyes, “I can’t continue sleeping around with practically a stranger.”

He sat up a bit and placed ran his fingers through my fucked up hair, “Well then, we can take a sexual break for a while and explore different things on each other that don’t include our bodies. Let’s start over.”

I smiled and leaned forward to kiss him briefly, “Hello there, naked stranger in my bed, I’m Arabelle Lilly Ellette.”

“Monroe Jackson Rathbone the Fifth, pleasure to meet you this way,” Jackson’s crooked grin widened as he leaned closer to kiss my lips, “we should meet again sometime.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed him away with a smile, “Fuck you.”

As I walked from my bed to grab a couple of ‘lazy day’ clothes, I heard Jackson whisper a quick ‘you just did’ but slammed the bathroom door the second the words left his lips. Then, it dawned on me that I had just left my sexy, very sexy, naked boyfriend in my bed that had a habit of growing hard for a second time even if we fucked like animals. I rethought things while my shower warmed up and ended up calling him so we could indeed ‘meet again’ while I showered off the mess of my alcoholic adventure the night before and the afterglow of our morning sex.

Once we were out the shower, and Jackson was grinning at me like he knew I was going to break, I shook my head and lifted my index finger like my mom had done to me so many times, “No, this was the last time until I’m sure this is the best thing for both of us.”

While Jackson rummaged through my bottom drawer for the briefs he left last time and a pair of Walt’s pajama bottoms, I tied my wet hair into a messy knot and got dressed. It was simple and consisted of mostly white; a dark blue, plaid boyfriend button up that was left open to show not only my naval ring but also my white bra, and white shorts was what my body adorned while I walked out of my room in search for numbers as to how many people I’d be cooking for that lovely afternoon.

I poked my head in Lou’s room, just enough to see her sleeping peacefully against Kellan with his arms around her waist and his face nuzzled into the back of her head. It was odd, for Kellan was a giant and Lou was an elf, but it made me run and get my camera for later black mail. While taking my sixth picture, Walt walked in and rested his chin on my shoulder while silently laughing at our unconscious friend.

“She’s going to hate you when you show her,” he whispered

“This is why I will only show her when she’s in a good mood,” I replied while showing him the first couple of pictures, “her random bursts of happiness are often slightly annoying because she has a habit of taking my precious guitar ‘for inspiration’ and locking him in her room to stare at. Although, I think it’s just because we have a lot of history with my baby and the road before LA.”

“Your rants that start from answering questions never cease to amaze me,” Walt said sarcastically before sniffing my hair, “I’d say it smells like coconut, but the sex makes it just smell like you put on perfume before walking out the room.”

While Walt walked away laughing, I sniffed my hair and pouted before following him toward the kitchen to start breakfast. Once I was done, Walt, Jackson, Rob, and Johnny helped themselves while I watched in amazement as the food I worked hard to prepare –taking me a full hour- quickly disappeared into nothing but enough for me to feed to a two year old. I shook my head and crossed my arms while I thought about how much of a pain it’d be to feed four boys everyday for 18 years.

“Hell no,” I muttered to myself while walking back to the kitchen to fix me grilled cheese sandwiches, “I’m not feeding six little boys who eat like animals for the rest of my life. Nuh uh.”

“What?” Jackson said between mouthfuls of bacon

Walt shook his head and answered for me, “Belle wants six sons, four daughters, and a husband.”

I heard Jackson choke on his food and looked to the side with amused eyes as he calmed down enough to shoot me a puzzled look with red cheeks and watered eyes, “Ten kids?”

I shrugged, “My grand-mère had twelve, ten girls and two boys. In the town I grew up in, in France, it was like she produced half of the population that stands this day. Although, my four of my aunts and both my uncles passed when I was a teenager. Which reminds me-“

“Once again, your rants from answering questions has started,” Walt announced while walking to the kitchen to help me with my dishes. Once we were finished, I looked toward the table to see Jackson sitter there staring at me and both boys who had practically lived with me during my teenage years were gone. Then, out of nowhere I heard Johnny’s voice.

“You fucked my little sister?”

Me and Walt shared a look before deciding not to get in the middle of their Maury moment and walked to the living room with Jackson behind us. We were able to catch the last seven minutes of the actual Maury show before Walt said he had to leave for class and walked back to tell Lou goodbye. As soon as he was gone, Johnny walked out of the house –slamming my door in the process- and Rob walked into the living room with a bloody nose and sad eyes.

“Is he-“ Jackson started

I shrugged before standing up and walking to Lou’s room to see her with both a fine hunk of aged wine and a sleeping angel in tight clothing. After making sure everything was ok, I walked over to Rob in the living room and touched his nose lightly, “Well, because you fucked up… you got fucked up. How does it feel, fuck up, to be a fuck up who fucked himself up by trying to over fuck other people?”

Rob glared at me, “I was just trying to help her…”

“By ruining her happiness?” –I shook my head and sighed- “Honey, the only thing that could make Lou happy when you’re around is you not being around. Honestly, and I’m not speaking for her, you’re a clingy, little lovesick puppy who lacks the understanding that the past is the past and it will never happen again. Now, I take your broken nose as a sign you’ve overstayed your welcome and I ask that you be gone by the end of the night.”

His eyes grew wide and incredulous, “I’m not riding in the car with Johnny after what he did.”

“Book a flight, take a cab, ride a fucking bus for all I care. All I know, is my house should be empty of both you and Johnny by tomorrow or I’ll make sure you make it out myself.”

I stood and walked back over to Jackson while leaning on his shoulder. After half an hour, Rob walked out followed by Lou and Till. I waved at them both but didn’t take my eyes off the daytime Soap Opera playing on my screen.

“Are you two done mimicking bunnies,” Kellan yawned once he was awake.

“Are you done mimicking a wrestler on steroids,” I shot at him with a smirk, “and, yes, we are done having sex as you can tell by our fully clothed bodies and our lack of pelvis connections.”

Kellan smirked and grabbed his keys that lay on my table, “Well, just in case you two feel like going at it again, I’m going out to grab some lunch with Rob and Nikki. I’ll see you two lovebirds later.”

I rolled my eyes when he left and looked up at Jackson with a light smile, “He was your ride.”

“I wanted to spend the day with you,” he whispered, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling my body closer to his, “just us and maybe some music.”

“No sex,” I reminded with a light smile on my features.

“No sexual contact at all.”

After the soap operas had gone off, I had decided to give in to Jackson’s pleas to hear me sing and grabbed my guitar from its case in my room. Since it had been tuned no less than thirty four hours before, I had been able to play a couple of cords with a large smile on my lips and a light blush on my cheek. Even after touring, not as a main event just an opening and releasing my first album, I was a bit shy in front of Jackson.

“Play something,” Jackson whispered with a smile on his face as well, “you sound beautiful.”

“How-“

“I walked in the other day, hearing you sing and couldn’t help but download a couple of yours songs,” he explained, “you’re an emotional musician.”

“An emotional drunk as well,” I smirked but nodded and started playing the music that had been in my head for a while. The lyrics didn’t come, which caused me to get a bit angry at myself so I ended up changing my tune to ‘The Chain’. It was a song a wrote right after my break up with my first ‘love’ and for some reason it made me smile when I sang it. Lou always said it was because I realized that life it better without the jerk I had, and I’m just realizing how stupid I was to be with him and mope about the pain; but I wasn’t too sure why.

It had been the third song I wrote, but I had refused to allow it be on the album I released because it was one of my most vulnerable songs.

When I finished, Jackson’s eyes locked with mine and he nodded in approval, “You have a gift, do you prefer music over acting or is it just a hobby?”

I thought about it and lay my guitar against my lap, “Music, for now, is more like a hobby than anything. I’ve always wanted to be an actress but for some odd reason music has been a lot easier to get into than getting jobs acting. I mean, I’m free to be whoever I want and whatever I want in my music, but acting has limits to age and height and weight and even the sound of your voice…”

“Music sounds like the best thing for you.”

“It has been, but nowadays people love Miley Cyrus and Brittany Spears and even Paris Hilton,” I explained, “my type of music doesn’t really fit in to a majority of people.”

Jackson leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly against mine and whispered, “I’m glad I’m that minority then,” before kissing me like he meant it.