What a Wicked Game

A streak of sunlight peaking through the window fell on Corey’s skin. His eyes opened sleepily as he looked out ahead of him. So last night wasn’t in his mind. There was Lindsey, sleeping peacefully in front of him, against his chest. Her skin felt warm and soft against his. Her chest moved up and down with every breath she took. “You’re still here.” He whispered to himself.

“Well it is my apartment.” She said back.

He jumped, “Shit, I thought you were sleeping.”

She shook her head and opened her eyes to look up at him, “I was just waiting for you to wake up.” She rested her arm on the pillow and sat up, holding her head in her hand. “Why did you think I’d be gone?”

Corey shrugged, “I don’t know, I just…yeah, it’s nothing.”

“No, tell me. Please?”

He sat up and leaned on his arm, “I just find it hard to believe that you’d want to be with me after everything.”

“’Everything’?”

“Everything you know about me. I was going through some shit for most of our friendship and a lot of times you saw the worst side of me.”

Lindsey smiled, “You want to know why I’m with you? I know that under that hard-ass exterior, you’re just a goofy, kind person. What you went through doesn’t change my opinion of you and you shouldn’t be ashamed of it.”

He laughed, “You’re either fucked up in the head or really sweet.”

“I can’t be both?”

“We can be fucked up in the head together. How does that sound?”

“Dangerous.” They smiled at each other. Whatever was going on with them could certainly be dangerous. They had fallen too hard for each other for this to come out well. There had to be something wrong.

But maybe not. What if two people could love each other completely and unequivocally without there being a consequence? Corey and Lindsey had denied their feelings for so long and gave everything they had of each other to their friendship. All the love had been there while they blinded themselves to it. Could they be together without fear of some unearthly, all-knowing being taking it away from them?

All of this ran through Lindsey’s mind as she said that one word-dangerous. She had to admit to herself that she was at least half nervous of what the two of them had. If anything ever happened she wouldn’t forgive herself.

“Maybe it doesn’t have to be.” Corey said quietly. Before she could ask him what he meant, ‘Sex Type Thing’ by the Stone Temple Pilots rang from her phone. She sighed and reached over to the table on her side of the bed and answered with a hello.

“Did you forget something last night?” Paul asked.

“What?” Lindsey’s eyes scrunched up while she thought. What could she have possibly forgotten? Then it suddenly hit her like a brick wall. She sat up straight out of bed, “Oh my God! I forgot Jeremy!”

Paul laughed, “Yeah…he was fine over here and I figured something came up.”

“I am so sorry! I have never done that before.”

“It’s alright, man. What the hell happened though?”

Lindsey hesitated, a little embarrassed about having to tell Paul that she and Corey had “gotten together”. She looked over at Corey hopefully and stuck the phone out towards him. He gave her a sly look as he took the phone from her. “Hey, Pauly, what’s up?”

Paul was silent for a second, “Corey? Fuckin’ hell man, don’t tell me that you guys were-”

Corey laughed and Lindsey felt her cheeks burning, “Yes, yes we were.”

“Well congratulations, it was about damn time.”

Corey leaned away from the phone and spoke to Lindsey, “Paul’s happy that we finally had sex.”

“Oh, that’s great.” As embarrassed as she was she couldn’t help but smile. In a few hours the entire band would know that the two of them had finally had sex and they could all celebrate.

“Get your asses out of bed and pick Jeremy up now!”

“Oh we will, definitely, but we’re going to have sex before we leave so-”

“No we’re not!” Lindsey tried to grab the phone out of Corey’s hands but he held it just out of her reach. “I’m coming to get Jeremy!”

“You may want to give us an hour or two!” Corey stuck his tongue out at Lindsey, who was failing to reach the phone.

“I’m not dropping him off when you’re in the middle of that, so hurry up and get over here!” Paul said goodbye and hung up the phone.

“Alright, so Paul wants us to have sex before we pick up Jeremy.” Corey hung up the phone too but he still held on to it, keeping it away from Lindsey.

“He does not! I’m gonna call him back!” she stretched her arm out but he pulled the phone away again.

“Not without this, you’re not.” He teased.

Lindsey shot him a glare, “Oh really?” The next second she was on top of him, successfully freeing her phone from his hands. His arms wrapped automatically around her waist so that she was trapped in place. “That’s not fair.” She pouted.

“You’re the one who jumped on top of me! And I have to say that I like this view.” He wagged his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

She stuck her tongue in her cheek, “You’re not getting lucky twice in one day.”

“We’ll see.” He smiled and placed his hand at the back of her neck. He brought her lips to meet his in a small kiss. She sighed contentedly into the kiss as it warmed her body from her head to her toes. If she could she would sit in bed and just kiss him all day. Unfortunately, she had things to do before she could even think about that.

He pulled away, “Did I say good morning?” She shook her head. “Oh, well good morning.” He kissed her again, only this time with more force. He knew that she would have to leave soon but he really didn’t want her to. Having her pressed up against him like this was far too tempting to let go. He ran his fingers along her spine, feeling her shiver underneath his touch.

“Corey,” she whispered, “I need to go.”

He groaned and let his head fall back on the pillow, “I know, damn it. Leave me here all excited, it’s okay.”

“I’m sorry! But I already feel bad about forgetting Jeremy…I need to get him.”

“I’m just messing with you. I’ll see you when you get back?”

“Of course.” She pecked him on the cheek before reluctantly climbing off of him and walking over to her dresser to grab some clothes to wear. Carrying a black Metallica t-shirt and a pair of shorts she went to the bathroom to freshen up. After making sure that she looked alright she put on a pair of boots, said goodbye to Corey, and left.

***

An hour later, Lindsey came back to her apartment with Jeremy. He wasn’t too upset about staying the night with Paul and Brenna, especially not after he saw Corey sitting on the couch when he walked through the door. “Corey!” he yelled, running over to him and jumping on his lap.

“Hey, buddy! Did you have fun yesterday?”

“Yeah! Were you over here? Paul said you and momma were having a sleepover.”

Corey tried his hardest not to laugh while Lindsey looked horrified, “Uncle Paul was just kidding around.”

“Oh, okay.” He turned his attention to the TV, watching whatever cartoon happened to be on intently.

Lindsey stood against the wall, arms crossed, staring at the two of them on the couch. Jeremy wasn’t even Corey’s son but he treated him that way. It was safe to say that Corey loved him very much. The thought brought a smile to her face. If anyone had been a father figure to Jeremy these past years, it was him. As she watched the both of them laughing, she realized that she couldn’t have asked for more.