She Was The Challenge He'd Been Waiting For.

Waking up next to Alex was slightly odd to Isabella. She almost had thought that the previous night had been a dream. But the hangover she was feeling convinced her that it was indeed real. She couldn’t decide if she was okay with that though. Alex was still sound asleep beside her as she crept out of bed.

Her parents had laid out all of her medicines before they went away on business, she added two Advils to the group of pills before taking a glass of water and swallowing them all down. She wasn’t totally sure what they were all for, but they were prescribed to her, and her parents told her to take them, so she did. And then she realized that her parents were still gone, and she was thankful of that. Her parents approved of Alex, but if they’d known he spent the night…

She had a feeling that they were a bit concerned about her in a relationship anyway. Having Asperger’s made her so willing to do whatever Alex said. She didn’t seem to realize how much advantage he was using over her. Isabella really hadn’t thought about it.

The only male figure other than her father that she’d ever had was Travis. Without him, she had no guidance and no direction. She didn’t know any better. The void of her brother and best friend hadn’t completely been filled, but Alex seemed to help somewhat. Still, she could imagine Travis scolding her for what happened the previous night.

The petite girl frowned. Thinking about Travis upset her and she hated to be upset.

She sighed, shaking her head and prepared the coffee maker to make some coffee for her and Alex. She stood in front of it, watching as the pot filled slowly.

If she was patient to watch this fill, why wasn’t she patient when it came to Alex? She could have waited longer to pleasure him. In fact, before she’d done it, it was something that sounded disgusting – that she’d never consider doing. But, for once, doing it, she had the power in their relationship.

“Bells?” Alex’s voice called. He had just woken up and it still held a slight rasp.

“Kitchen.” She responded, pulling out two mugs and placing them beside the coffee maker.

He smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist. “Morning.”

“Morning.”

“Hangover?”

“Mmm.”

“Still can’t believe I didn’t drink at all.”

Isabella laughed lightly.

For some reason, her mind had drifted to the dark haired boy from the party. She hadn’t gotten his name, nor had he gotten hers. She didn’t dare try to think of someone when she was already in a relationship, but something about him intrigued her. Maybe it was his lip piercing… Maybe it was the way his eyes seemed to shine. She couldn’t tell. But he had remained in her mind for a good while and she couldn’t get him out.

She figured he was a friend of Alex’s or, at least, an acquaintance. Part of her hoped that she’d see him again soon. The other part was too devoted to Alex to think otherwise.

“Wanna cuddle and watch ‘The Lion King?’” Alex asked quietly as Isabella reached for the box of Apple Jacks.

“Sure.”

Kara didn’t know why Isabella felt so nervous and unsure of herself. Sex was a part of relationships… it was a way to show each other how much you cared about one another. Sure, her virginity was special, but if she was all in with Alex, didn’t she want to give it to him?

The brunette didn’t understand the situation. Perhaps she had been too fortunate to find a boy like Rian because she couldn’t see what the problem was. She wanted nothing more than to support her friend and offer her advice, but trying to figure out what Isabella wanted was harder than that.

Isabella was very sheltered. Sex was taboo; it was never discussed and the girl knew almost nothing about it. The only thing she knew was that it was the process of having a baby and that it was supposed to be kept for after marriage. Her parents were very traditional and conservative. She had been brought up to assume that their word was law. But now her new friends and her boyfriend challenged all of it.

She felt oddly torn about the whole thing. Sometimes she just wished she could talk to Travis. But even his grave was in Philadelphia. Here in Timonium, she didn’t have any real connection to him.

“Izy, how much do you care for Alex?”

“A lot, but I… isn’t it wrong?”

Kara smiled softly. “Only because people are uncomfortable thinking that people our age are having sex.”

“But what if that’s all Alex wants from me?”

The other girl shook her head. “He’s not like that.”

Kara assumed that Alex had reformed anyway… why would he be in a relationship if it was only about sex? There were so many girls willing to sleep with him that he didn’t need to date to have sex. He was the King of the Party Scene and of One Night Stands for a reason.

No girl in her right mind would refuse Alex Gaskarth. But Isabella technically wasn’t in her right mind in the first place. She didn’t seem to understand that Alex was full of pent up sexual repression. That he was trying to use her body as his release.

Isabella didn’t meet her friend’s eye. She felt embarrassed to be openly discussing the subject. Still, mere months ago, sex had been such a far away issue. One of the things that a lot of children with Asperger’s feel is that if things are to be done a certain way, there is no exception. In fact, Alex asking Isabella to break from her thoughts on sex was really difficult.

She couldn’t deny him because she worried he wouldn’t want her anymore. He wouldn’t want this from her if he didn’t care about her, right? Still, the idea of breaking these so called rules shook her ground.

“I’m not saying you should do it… Sex is about comfort.” Kara explained over smoothies.

“How do you know you’re ready?”

“You just… have complete trust in one another… You want to feel the closest you can to anyone, and you choose this one person…”

“But, I mean, how do you-?” Isabella blushed, unable to finish her question.

“You just know, Bella.”

That wasn’t enough of an answer for the girl. She didn’t understand it. The idea of being comfortable enough to share your body with someone oddly scared her. All she wanted to do was go home and cuddle up to her stuffed Minnie Mouse.

How had her life become so complicated in a couple of months? She cared about Alex a lot, but he was forcing her to give up all of the preconceived morals she held. She was very conflicted about everything when it came to Alex, but no one seemed able to help her.

“Baby, come on.” Alex coaxed, kissing Isabella’s neck.

“Alex, not now.” She whispered. “Can we just… talk for once?”

He moved away from her neck and nodded slowly.

If there was one thing that ruined the moment, it was girls who needed to talk. He didn’t understand why talking about feelings was such a big deal. Here he was making the good girl break her innate instincts of chastity and purity, and something about that really turned him on.

Isabella wasn’t the girl that she’d been before they’d gotten together. Alex had really left his mark on her, and she was almost all his. But, if she wanted to talk, he’d swallow his desires and do so.

She was quiet for a while, lying in his arms and he began to wonder what she really wanted to talk about. She looked really nervous lying there, her fingers running through his hair. Alex just wanted to touch every inch of her and have his way with her. She made this all so difficult for him.

“Alex?” Her voice was soft.

“Yeah, Izy?”

“Do you care about me?” It was a stupid question, but she needed to know.

“Of course I do.” He spoke, kissing her gently.

Well, he cared about parts of her… Alex liked toying with her innocence and getting off on the idea of corrupting her. The way that she pursed her lips before accepting the sexual challenge he placed before her… The way she wanted so desperately to please him. It was incredible. But he also knew that their relationship was not fair to her. Alex didn’t think of himself as a bad person, but the plans he had for Isabella made her seem as if she were a personal sex toy rather than his girlfriend.

The girl in his arms didn’t know that. She’d never been in a relationship before, so she imagined this was what all couples did. Her parents seemed to genuinely love Alex. He’d brought their daughter out of her shell and she seemed a whole lot happier than she’d ever been. She was too much of a sweet girl to notice that Alex was using her for her body.

“And you won’t leave me?” Her tone was desperate now, her eyes brimming with tears.

Alex didn’t know what had gotten into her, but he remembered that her mother had explained to him that her feelings tended to be a bit unpredictable. Sometimes she was so happy that she was giddy and sometimes she didn’t show anything. Her emotions didn’t always fit the situation and sometimes they were a bit too strong, but he needed to be prepared for them. But now he wondered why she was so upset.

“Isabella, why would you ask me that?”

“Well,” She sighed. “Travis left me… my parents aren’t ever home… I don’t know if I’m the problem.”

“You’re perfect.” Alex spoke, kissing her gently.

She frowned. “Its not possible to be perfect, Alex.”

“You are as close to perfection as humanly possible.” He smiled.