Unraveling

“Ugh,”

My bed bounced as a heavy body collapsed onto it next to me. I folded the corner of the page I was on, closing the book between my hands. With a raised eyebrow, I turned to the stranger sharing my bed with me.

“Well, hello to you too.”

I set my book on the ground, standing up and closing the window he had neglected to shut. Tyler rolled over on the bed so that he took up the middle. He smiled lazily at me from his spot on the bed.

“Sup, Princess?”

“Scoot over.” I nudged his body as I came to regain my original position on the bed. His skin was cold from being outside so much, raising goose bumps along my arms and legs. Tyler pouted, but moved over.

I noticed how instead of his uniform, he wore causal sweats and a black t-shirt. The green of his necklace stood out sharply against the shirt. His hair was damp, clinging to his forehead.

Once I was on the bed, Tyler moved his arm to capture my waist, pulling me close.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, running my fingers along his cheek. He pulled out bodies closer together, covering us with the blanket on my bed.

“Nothing. I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” I frowned, “Why didn’t you visit last night?”

“Shit came up.”

“Oh.”

Tyler nestled his face in the crook of my neck, his breathing tickling me. My fingers found themselves playing with his hair softly as I stared off into space. My heart pounded in my chest furiously at the situation.

Lying in bed with him seemed like the most natural thing. His chest rising and falling against mine in a rhythmic pattern sent a wave of calmness through my body. I could fall asleep like this every night.

“Let’s do something.” Tyler said.

“Like what?” I turned my head to glance at the clock. Like normal, he had shown up a few hours after my grandmother had gone to bed, “Unlike you, I still have school tomorrow. I can’t stay out too late.”

He growled against my neck, giving me a squeeze, “Skip.”

“I want an education.” I laughed.

“No you don’t.” He pulled his head away to kiss my lips, “I’ll take care of you. You can be a house wife.”

My stomach twisted at the word ‘wife’.

So he was considering me for the long run.

That brought a smile to my lips. I turned my head to the side to hide it, not wanting to point it out and embarrass him.

“What did you have in mind of ‘doing something’?” I asked, referring back to his earlier question.

A devious grin crossed my hero’s lips as he looked at me darkly, “I have a lot of things in mind of doing something.”

“My grandmother’s just down the hall…”

“Let’s go to my place.”

I giggled, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

Tyler shifted position so that he was sitting upright on the bed. He pulled me onto his lap, wrapping his arms around my waist gently.

Kissing my neck playfully, he asked, “Have you thought anymore about moving in with me during the summer?”

“Truthfully, no.”

He bit me, teasing.

I giggled, running a hand up his chest. “Don’t leave a mark, Tyler. I don’t want to have to explain anything tomorrow.”

“No.” He pushed me back down on the bed, sucking on the side of my neck. My back arched slightly as he bit down again, surely leaving a mark. I pushed against his chest, trying to get him to move off.

“Tyler, Tyler!” I giggled, pulling free.

He pulled back, giving me a cold look. “You’re no fun, Avery.”

“Tell you what.” I whispered, wrapping on hand around the back of his neck while the other traced down his chest. A naughty smirk crossed my lips, “Next Saturday, let’s have a sleep over at your place.”

He grinned, “I like the sound of that.”

“I thought you would.” I kissed his lips softly, “But I’m tired, and I have school tomorrow. I really think I should go to sleep.”

He pouted.

“Will you stay with me?” I asked softly.

“Anything for you, Princess.” He pushed me back down, pulling the cover over us once more. Tyler slipped his arms around me, sliding his cold hands up my shirt. I jump from the temperature contrast, nestling myself closer to his warm chest.

He was gone when I woke up the next morning.

~*~

“Avery!”

I turned around, stopping mid-way through my story to Karen, to search for the owner of the voice. As my eyes scanned through the thick hallway, I heard my name repeated. A few seconds later, a head popped through the crowd.

Peter pushed past the clump of sophomores standing near the water fountain. His eyes connected with mine, giving me a small grin.

I returned the small, pulling Karen aside to meet him halfway.

“Hey Peter!”

“I’m so glad I found you.” He grinned, clutching his schedule in his hand. The other clung to the single strap of his backpack hanging off his shoulder. “This school is ridiculous. The boy who had been showing me around so far threw up so now I’m on my own.”

He gave a groan to emphasize his feelings on that.

I giggled, “I’m sorry about that. Are you lost now?”

He nodded sheepishly, “Yeah. How’d you know?”

“The confused face gave it away.” I teased, “That and why would you be in the sophomore wing?”

“This is sophomore?” He looked around at the underclassmen surrounding us. “Ah, shit. Wrong hallway. I thought I looked rather tall…”

Karen giggled beside me, forcing her way into the conversation. “You’re funny. Are you new here?”

“Yeah,” He smiled politely, turning his attention to the girl next to me. “I’m Peter. First day here, and already about to explode.”

Karen grabbed Peter’s outstretched hand, shaking it flirtatiously, “I’m Karen.” She turned giving me a quick look before darting her eyes back to the junior, “So, how do you and Avery know each other?”

“Our grandparents are fairly good friends.” I explained to Karen.

Peter tagged in, filling in the rest of the story, “So naturally, when I moved here, my grandmother had me meet Avery.”

Karen seemed far more interested in hearing the pretty boy speak than her best friend. I rolled my eyes, seeing a match in the making.

“That’s so cool!” She said excitedly, “Avery and I hang out all the time, so I’ll probably see you around often.”

“Sounds good.” Peter grabbed the schedule in his hands, turning his body so that the three of us saw the same picture. On the top of the paper listed his classes with the start and end times next to it. Underneath was a confusing diagram of the school with yellow highlighter marked over specific classrooms.

“Can you help me?” He asked, “I thought I was here… but apparently I’m not. How do I get to room 243?”

I giggled, “You’re way off, Peter.”

He gave me a playful nudge. I laughed, giving him easier directions on how to get to his classroom. Peter seemed more grateful for that rather than complicated map on his paper. I wished him the best of luck before parting with Karen toward the cafeteria.

Once the junior had disappeared up the stairs, Karen’s mouth opened to spill out her every thought and feeling.

“Avery!” She scolded, “How could you not tell me about him! He’s so cute. I’m your best friend. Are you hogging him all to yourself?”

I raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to get all of her feelings out. She rambled for a few more minutes before I finally cut her off.

“Do you like him, Karen?” I asked, growing irritated with her beating around the oh-so-obvious bush.

She shrugged casually, trying to blow it off, “What does it matter if I do or don’t? Do you like him?”

“He’s a boy I met two days ago. Unlike you, my feelings do not form the instant I meet someone.”
“It’s called flirting.” She scoffed, “I’m not saying I suddenly am in love with the boy. I’m just interested in getting to know him more.”

I laughed, shaking my head to the side, “Karen, I am very aware that you’d like to get to know something about him more—his dic—”

“Shut up!” She clamped a hand over my mouth, her face growing red. “You’re such a dirty pervert!”

“No, I believe that would be you.”

“Whatever, it’s not important.” She opened the door to the cafeteria, heading for our usual table, “With looks like that there’s no way he couldn’t be anything but amazing.”

“Is that all you think about?”

“It’s not like you don’t want it.” She dropped her bag off, grabbing her wallet. I did the same and followed her into the lines for food. Karen broke away for a few minutes to grab a salad from the salad bar while I waited in line for a taco.

She returned, sneaking bites out of her cucumber as she waited with me. “You know, it’s been a while since you’ve had a boyfriend.”

“Yeah,” I nodded my head. I was unsure of where she was going with this. If she was trying to set Peter and I up…

“Isn’t it close to a year now?”

“Almost.”

“So you’ve got to miss having sex, right?”

I grimaced. And here was the climax of the conversation. “I’m not having this conversation with you, Karen.”

She rolled her eyes, “Whatever, prude.”

I ignored her insult, filling up my tray with what I wanted. She was silent until I turned around and walked toward the register to pay.

“So…” She asked as I handed the lady my money, “Do you like him?”

“Are we back to Peter?” I raised an eyebrow at her. She had a narrow minded brain. Sex and cute boys.

“Yes.” She state simply. “But answer the question.”

“No, I’m not into him. He’s a boy. He’s my friend. But he will never be my boyfriend. He’s all yours.”

“Really?” She asked me skeptically.

I laughed, nodding.

A grin lit up Karen’s face as I saw a plan forming in her mind. Poor Peter. He was going to be wrapped around my best friend’s finger in a few days.

“You need a boyfriend.”

We were the first back at our table. Karen and I took our normal seats as we waited for the rest of our group to return from the lunch room. The lines extended from the cash register led us to presume that we would have some time alone before anyone joined us.

“I don’t need a boyfriend.”

“Yes you do. It’s been too long since you and Jake broke up.” She said, giving me a sad look, “I don’t like seeing you so single and lonely.”

“I’m not lonely! I’m perfectly comfortable with the relationship status I possess now.”

Solely because it meant that Superman and I could continue with our clandestine relationship.

“Whatever.” Karen hadn’t listened to a word I’d said. “Once Peter and I have hooked up, I’ll make sure I get you a boy to double date with us once again.”

I sighed, laughing, “Why do you assume you and Peter are going to hook up?”

“He’s cute, I’m cute, we’re both single, and you’re going to help make him want me more, right?”

“I guess I don’t have much of an option with this.”

She grinned at me.

I returned the smile, secretly laughing at the confidence that possessed my best friend when boys were involved.

We ate the rest of the lunch without bringing up boyfriends, intercourse, or anything related to it. I sensed that Karen wanted to keep her new target a secret from our friends. It would’ve been impossible to do so from me, but plausible with the other two.

The day continued on uneventfully after lunch. Every now and then I’d pull out my phone and check for a text from Peter. He had promised he would text if he was lost, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t.

He hadn’t the first time.

I entered the classroom, taking a seat next near the back of the room. I pulled out my notes from the previous day, scribbling down the new ones from the board. All around me students mimicked my actions.

The teacher sat at his desk, his eyes scanning over the papers before him. Every now and then he would scratch something out or scribble a comment.

A few minutes went by, and the instructor closed the binder he had been working out of, standing up. His eyes surveyed the room so estimate the time when we would be finished. I turned in my seat, scanning around the classroom and noticing more heads looking upright.

“Black holes.” He said, gathering the attention of the class, “What are they? How big are they? How long are they around for? What’s at the end of one?”

Silence greeted him in return.

“Oh come on, boys and girls,” He took off his glasses, running a hand through his silver hair, “You’ve known about black holes since third grade. Surely you must be able to answer one of my questions.”

No one dared.

The door of the classroom opened and in pooped a shy head. My eyes widened as Peter grinned shyly to the teacher.

“Mr. Hartman?” He asked.

Our instructor nodded, motioning for Peter to come in more. “I’m going to assume your Peter then?”

“Yeah, sorry.” He handed Hartman a pass, taking a seat in one of the empty desks toward the front of the room. Peter didn’t glance around, and thus missed my surprised eyes following his every move.

So we did end up having a class together.

“Not a problem, O’Grady.” The teacher dropped the note on his desk before returning to his podium in the front of the room. “As I was saying, what do you know about black holes?”

His eyes scanned the room, looking for a victim to target. I internally groaned as his eyes landed on mine. Hopelessly, I darted my eyes away, pretending to be preoccupied with my notes.

It didn’t work.

“Nelson,” He called, “What do you know about black holes?”

“Uh…” I felt my face heat up, “They’re black?”

There were a few snickers around the room, but the annoyed look on my teacher only caused my stomach to squeeze uncomfortably.

“Ha ha.” He said sarcastically, “Something intelligent.”

“Ok, ok.” I pondered for a moment, racking my brain for anything I could remember from my freshman science class, “Doesn’t time slow down the closer you approach a black hole?”

“Ok…” He thought for a moment before nodding. Hartman turned around and began to draw on the blackboard behind him, “That’s true. Of course, any object with a large mass will have that kind of effect, but black holes have a significant sign of this.”

I breathed a sigh of relief, thankful to be off the hook.

~*~

“I knew we’d have something together.”

I looked up to see Peter standing at the doorway. The bell had rung, releasing us for the day. I met my new friend at the door, walking down the hallway to my locker.

“I’m surprised.” I shrugged, “I thought my class was already too big to accommodate another.”

“Guess not.” He laughed, “I like that teacher. He’s really good at explaining stuff.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Really? Because I think I’m barely passing that class. I hate how he assumes we understand how to do the formulas.”

“It’s really easy actually…”

“Shut up, super nerd.” I teased, reaching my locker. I bent slightly to turn the dial as Peter continued to talk.

“This is true,” He admitted, “But you’re overthinking things too much. When you sit down and focus on what everything is, and how you can apply it to the formulas, it makes it so much simpler.”

“Sorry, I don’t like to do Physics in my free time.” I gave a smartass grin before opening my locker.

A few papers fluttered out, surprising me. I rarely let my locker get messy, so this was a shock to me. I grabbed the scattered notes off the flow, noticing something else.

My face lit up.

I curled my fingers around it, quickly tucking it into my back pocket. Peter had bent down to help retrieve some of the lost papers, and thankfully had missed my suspicious concealment of the present.

“Thanks.” I laughed and threw the papers back in my locker, “It’s not usually this messy. I’m not sure why I let it get that bad.”

He shrugged, “In like two weeks my locker will look worse, so I can’t judge you on a few loose papers.”

I grabbed the books I needed for the end of the day, closing my locker. Peter and I migrated down the hallway toward the junior wing where his locker would be located. He pulled out his schedule, crinkled from the day’s use.

His eyes scanned down the rows of lockers, searching for his lucky number.

“So do you drive to school or take the bus?” He asked after he found his.

I leaned against one of the neighboring lockers as I waited for him to finish. “My ex used to drive me to and from school, but since that broke off I’ve been bussing it.”

Peter made a face, “Recent?”

“Nah, a few months ago.”

“Oh, good.” He opened his locker, grabbing a few books.

“What about you?”

“They want me to adjust here first before they give me a driving pass. So next week I can apply for one.”

“Then you can give me rides to and fro.” I said as we walked down the stairs toward the outdoors.

“Do I get the benefits your ex got too?” He winked playfully.

“Whoa, tiger. Calm down.”

He simply laughed. The buses came into view as we walked farther and farther away from the school. My eyes scanned over the line of yellow monsters until I located the one I rode. I stopped walked, angling my body toward my ride.

Peter noticed my motion. “Well, I’m glad I found you, Avery.”

“I’m glad you did too. You’d have been screwed otherwise.”

He shook his head as if to hide his shame, “Don’t even remind me. That’s so embarrassing, you don’t even know.”

I giggled, keeping my comments to myself.

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.” He waved mockingly.

“Alright, Bye-bye, Peter.” I turned toward my bus, when I stopped, calling his name again. Peter turned around with a raised eyebrow. “What do you think of Karen?”

“Karen?” He made a face, “She’s a little too confrontational for me. Very nice girl, but not my type.”

I laughed, “I’ll try to keep her at bay.”

“Thanks.”

We parted ways.

~*~

While I was deprived of seeing my hero for the rest of the week, he made sure to leave lingering reminders of his presence in my locker. With each new gift I accumulated, my levels of embarrassment began to rise higher and higher.

I was beginning to notice a theme with the presents.

Saturday came all too soon.

I told my grandmother I was sleeping over at Karen’s house. She was fine with it. Currently, I was holed away in my room packing my overnight bag. My window was cracked open slightly as I awaited the expected visit from superman.

Grandma was out with her friends, leaving the house all to me.

He entered the room just as I had expected.

“Good evening,” He grinned.

I raised an eyebrow at his appearance.

Tyler wore dark black skinnies—something completely out of his style—with the edges of his boxers poking out. He lacked a shirt to cover the skin tightly bound over top of layers of muscles. The green bead on his necklace seemed less subtle than before.

“Well, hello there.” I dropped the shirt I was folding, walking over and kissing him hello. Tyler wrapped one hand around my waist, pulling my body closer to his. I could feel his bare chest pressed against mine. Our skins were separated by the thin fabric of my shirt.

Tyler pulled back, grinning at me. He pulled his arm not wrapped around my waist out from behind his back, revealing a rose.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

“Avery?” He asked, twirling the rose between his fingers, “Will you please be my girlfriend?”

“Did you get me a rose?” I asked quietly.

“Yeah,” He leaned in, teasing my lips with his own, “So what do you say?”

“Well, fuck, I can’t really say no now, can I?” I smirked, pulling him back down for a kiss. Tyler grinned, molding his lips with mine as my tongue prodded his mouth passionately. He moved the rose in between my fingers so that I clutched it as tightly as he was clutching me. Tyler kissed me roughly, leading me toward the bed.

I pulled away, giggling.

“Not yet.”

“But…”

“I got your hints.” I tossed the rose onto my nightstand, turning and giving Tyler an irritated look.

He grinned moving to sit next to the discarded bag on my bed. Tyler motioned for me to come closer. “Did you like?”

He wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me onto his lap. I repositioned myself so that I was facing him with a raised eyebrow. “Was it really necessary to put it in my school locker?”

“Just wanted to show you that I cared.” He smiled innocently, giving me a playful squeeze. “Do you still have all of them?”

I bit my lip, glancing toward the bag.

“Score.” Tyler’s lips kissed my neck softly as I pulled from his grip.

“I wasn’t finished packing.”

He released me, lying back on the bed. I maneuvered around him as I continued to throw together arbitrary things into the duffle bag. My eyes glanced at the clock, noticing how late it was getting.

“We’d better go soon.” I said, finally zipping the bag up, “Grandma gets back around eight thirty.”

He nodded, motioning for me to lead the way out. I grabbed his hand, and the rose, and pulled him out of my house the proper way for once. Tyler let his hand hang loosely in mine. I glanced over my shoulder a few times to see him grinning back at me.

“How’d you get here?” I asked, not seeing his bike anywhere. I grabbed my keys out of my purse, unlocking the car.

“I walked.”

“That’s…”

“Far, yeah.” He grinned, holding out his hand.

“What?”

Tyler raised an eyebrow, “What do you mean ‘what’? Keys, please.”

“You’re not dri—”

My words turned out to be useless. He grabbed my keys from my hand, sliding into the driver’s seat. Through the window I could see him patting the passenger seat for me to enter. With a very sarcastic eye roll, I gave in to what he wanted.

It was a silent ride over to his place. This would be the first time I was allowed to see where to go. My eyes took in every detail as we drove past various foundations. I tried to remember as much as I possibly could for future times.

Tyler smirked at my big eyes but kept his comments to himself.

He parked along the side of the road opposite the familiar building. Tyler casually led the way down the alley, making sure that no one was around to see as we snuck through the hidden doorway. He closed the door behind us, turning the lights on afterward.

The familiar setting flooded my eyes.

The large monitors were clustered in one corner with the Windows logo floating about a black screen. Papers littered the desks around it, a few having fallen on the floor. The leather couch against the opposite wall was decorated with various articles of clothing scattered about.

I turned to Tyler who sent me a sheepish grin.

“I haven’t had the opportunity to clean up at all.” He grabbed my bag from my shoulder, slipping it onto his. With his other hand, his laced his fingers through mine and led me toward the monitors. “Don’t worry though. I did manage to clean up the bedroom.”

I watched as my hero pulled on of the monitors forward, bringing the wall with it. Surprise flooded through me.

A secret doorway to a hidden room?

This surely was a comic book life.

Tyler turned the lights on in this room, motioning me in.

“I’m impressed.” I laughed as I walked past him and entered the new room. A bed about the size of mine was pushed against one wall, tucked away in the corner. Plaid sheets covered the top and black pillows were set properly at the head of the bed. A dresser sat across from the bed with a closet to the left of it and a bathroom to the right.

A single picture frame sat atop the dresser, but as I inspected it closer, I realized that it still had the default photo of a random group of people in it.

“Those are all my friends.” He teased, tossing my bag on the dresser next to the picture I was examining.

“I can tell.” I mumbled, “We should switch this picture to one you actually care about.”

“Are you going to give me a picture of you?” He asked, wrapping his arms around my waist gently. His bare chest was cold from having been in the outside air too long. I felt a trail off goose bumps rise on my skin.

“We should definitely get one.”

Tyler fumbled in his back pocket, pulling out a cell phone. Another secret revealed; I didn’t know he had a cell phone.

It was an old model that required to be flipped open to work. Tyler turned the camera setting on, holding it out so it caught the both of us.

I wrapped my arms around him, grinning for the camera.

Tyler pulled the phone back so that we could see the result.

It was adorable.

“That’s going in the picture frame.” I said, closing his phone and setting it on the dresser for him. Tyler nodded, wrapping both of his now free hands around my waist.

“So…” He trailed off, our eyes connected.

“How about…” I trailed one finger down the middle of his chest, my eyes falling downward to where the V disappeared underneath his boxers, “You go print off the photo and put it in the picture frame while I go and change into something more… comfortable.”

“I like the sound of that.”

I smirked, “I know you do.”

Tyler moved to kiss me softly, but I pulled away. “Go, Superman. Before you ruin the mood.”

“Yes ma’am.”

I giggled and watched as he disappeared out of the room. Once I was sure he was gone, I grabbed my bag and slipped into the bathroom, making sure to lock the door behind me.

The five presents from over the course of the week had been placed on the bottom of the bag. I pulled them out and set them on the counter of the sink.

A condom, a thong, a silky lingerie top, massage oil, and sponge decorated the top of the sink. I smirked at the realization that he had many ideas of what would happen tonight.

I pushed four of them to the side, keeping the condom in front of me. That would be the only one I would use.

I slipped my jeans off, pulling my shirt off with it. I stared at the girl in the mirror, studying her. She wore the bright green panties her boyfriend loved so much with a matching bra. While he may have wanted the lingerie, she preferred this.

I smiled, tucking my hair behind one ear.

This was it.

This was the night.

I tucked everything back into the bag, hearing movement outside of the bathroom door. Tyler would be antsy, and I knew keeping him waiting would frustrate him.

But I needed to make sure I was ready.

It had been almost a year since I’d last had sex, and that had been with Josh. Tyler was a new boy, a better boy. I had to make sure I was ok with it.

A few minutes later, I was.

I stepped out of the bathroom to an empty room. The door stood open, and I could hear my hero outside fussing about. Walking slowly to the doorway, I leaned against the frame, concealing part of my body.

“Tyler?” I asked softly, innocently.

He looked up from what he was doing on the floor. I held back a giggle noticing how he was trying to straighten up his workspace for me.

Tyler stood up, his eyes moving down my exposed body. “Hello beautiful,”

I motioned with one finger for him to follow me into the bedroom. He dropped the stack of papers between his fingers, hurrying after me.

“I’m liking the panties.” His arms wrapped around my waist in the middle of the room, trapping me to him.

“Oh yeah?”

“Much better than what I had picked out.”

I giggled, turning around to face him, “I thought so too.”

“But you know what I’d like more?”

“What?” I asked, playing coy.

Tyler dipped his head down to kiss me as his hands slid farther up my back until they reached my bra strap. Expertly, he unhooked it, pulling it forward.

I shrugged out of it, not breaking the kiss.

He led me backward to the bed, pushing me down on the soft mattress. Tyler shimmied out of his pants before climbing on top of me and returning to our kiss.

And then we reached the point of no return.

~*~

Tyler and I laid in a tangled mess. Sheets were twisted around limbs twisted around other limbs. Sweat glistened on my skin gently as I waited for my breathing to return to a normal pace. With my head lying next to his heart, I could hear his heartbeat pounding just as fast as mine was.

His body was warm against mine. A hand rubbed up and down my arm slowly as we laid there staring at the ceiling.

“Wow.” He whispered.

“Yeah,”

“That was awesome.”

“Yeah.”

“Want to go again?”

I laughed, shaking my head, “You’re too horny.”

“There’s no such thing as ‘too horny’.” He argued, kissing my cheek affectionately.

“Oh yes there is.”

“Fine, then you’re too good.”

“Is that a problem?”

He squeezed my waist teasingly, planting another kiss this time on my lips. I returned the gesture, rolling over top of him. The sheet slipped further down my back, threatening to fall off. But at this point, I wouldn’t care.

“Promise me you won’t be awkward with me after this.” I said, lying on top of his chest.

He pretended to think about it before laughing, “Don’t worry, Princess. I’ll be anything but awkward.”

I rolled my eyes, grinning.

“What time is it?” I asked.

Tyler shifted me around so that he could grab his phone from off of the floor. He flipped it open just long enough to get a glimpse at the time. A surprised look crossed his face.

“Well?”

“Nearly eleven.”

“What?”

That couldn’t be right…

A naughty grin crossed Tyler’s face, “Not too late. I think we should have one more round before we go to sleep.”

“Maybe tomorrow.” I teased, rolling off of him. “But I’m starving. Do you have anything good to eat here?”

He rubbed his eyes, thinking for a moment, “Probably not, unless you like diet Pepsi and peanuts.”

I laughed, shaking my head no. “Go get dressed. Let’s go to Taco Bell or something. I think I have money in my car…”

“I’ll pay.” He argued, “It’s the least I could do after what you did for me…”

My face lit up in embarrassment as I looked away.

“Whatever, just get dressed.” I rolled to the other side of the bed, grabbing my panties from off the floor. Tyler propped himself up on his elbow, his eyes watching me as I slipped the lacey fabric on, moving off the bed to grab my bra.

“No, stay like that for a little…” He pleaded as I moved to the bathroom to grab the rest of my clothes.

“Ah… I don’t think so.” I grinned, “Get your clothes on, Tyler. I’m starving.”

“We can just do drive-through.”

“I’m not doing drive-through you with naked.”

“Loser.” He grumbled, but I heard him stand up and start to collect his abandoned clothes from off the floor.

In the mirror, I grinned victoriously, knowing that I had won this battle. My eyes moved over my body, staring at the discolored blobs that dotted my neck and chest. Tyler surely hadn’t gone gentle with me.

My stomach felt as if I had butterflies flurrying in it. I was on top of the world. Nothing could bring me down from this amazing feeling.

I slipped on the rest of my clothes, meeting my boyfriend back in the bedroom. He wore the same pair of jeans he had been wearing before, but now he dawned a light blue shirt with a deep v-neck.

It was simple, yet incredibly sexy.

I assumed at this point Tyler was going to appear even more attractive in my eyes now after what we’d done.

He grabbed my car keys from on the table in the main room, making sure to close the door to his secret bedroom.

I grabbed Tyler’s hand, slipping my fingers through his as we braced the chilly midnight air together.

My stomach growled for affect, causing him to snicker.

“Hungry?”

“What can I say? You burn a hell of a lot of calories doing what we just did. I need to re-fuel myself.”

“For later tonight?”

I bit down on my lip gently, looking away, “Maybe…”

“You’re amazing, Princess.” He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, “I’ll buy you the entire restaurant if you want.”

“Just for us to screw later?”

“That’s all I’m asking.”

“You’re such a pervert.”

“Oh but you like it."