Glitter

Blinking at the light that flooded my room, I glared at the curtains someone had drawn way too soon and rolled over. An arm drawn tight around my waist stopped me. Turning my head slowly, I gasped when I felt the warmth of a breath, and a face, next to my own. When I realized who it was, and the events of last night, I felt like crawling under my bed and never coming back out.

Behind me, with his arm and leg thrown over me, lay Jack Barakat – gloriously naked. We both were, actually. There was no blanket over us – that had been thrown into the corner somewhere when we had reached for one another again and again in the night – so there was nothing to hide the shame of our actions. A tiny voice inside my head was furious.

He has a girlfriend.

Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to work through the torrent of panicked realizations running through my head.

Get up and get out.

But it wasn't as easy as it sounded for moving meant removing Jack's arm from my waist, and moving Jack's arm meant waking him. A conscious Jack Barakat was the last thing I was gunning for. I tried a different approach.

Maybe if I put the pillo...

"Hey beautiful..." his breath on the side of my face, and his voice in my ear froze all thought process for completing.

Fuck.

Pulling me closer, Jack grazed his face against my own and pecked the side of my mouth. He kept that position for a moment before, in one quick movement too, he pulled away and got to his feet. I didn't turn to see what he was doing. There was the scratching of fabric - clothes being pulled on I reckon, and strange, curious humming. That made me turn.

Jack stood at the edge of the bed, his back to me. He had managed to pull on his jeans and was running a lazy hand through his dark hair. When he faced me, the silver of his lip ring caught in the morning light and I tried not to blush. The memories just the sight of that lip ring awakened. He was grinning too.

"Are you busy tonight?" His eyes were alight, as if he had just hatched a hilarious plan that was bound to get us into trouble.

Us.

I tried not to let the sound of that take on too much meaning. It was insane. Us. Me and him. Him and me. Us.

What was wrong with me?

Cross at myself, I sat up and shook my hair out. I was sure it looked like a blind bird's nest but I didn't care. This wasn't right.

What about Alex?

"I'm not sure. I might be." There was a bite in my tone - from my self censor more than anything else, actually - that I tried to soften with a smile. The sparkle in Jack's eyes dimmed a little. I guessed that the smile didn't work.

"I was thinking that we could, maybe, go for dinner or something?" His voice sounded muffled. When I looked at him, Jack's head was under the bed. My eyes flickered over to the white fabric that hung off the curtain rod.

"There's your shirt," I told him.

He swivelled, caught sight of it and laughed. "Wonder how it got there."

The wink he gave me personified mischievous.

I couldn't help myself. Blushing, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and pulled out the white sheet that had somehow ended up on the floor. Wrapping it around myself, I shuffled over to the door and moved to open it. What I hadn't counted on was Jack reaching it before I would. Just like he had on the bed, with one swift motion, Jack swung me around and pressed his lips to mine. My eyes shut automatically and my hand reached up to clutch at his hair. All attempts at trying to link my warring thoughts to my limbs were failing.

After three seconds of hesitation and feeling like shit, I gave in and deepened the kiss.

It's not every day you get kissed by a man like Jack, anyway.

When he broke away, Jack was grinning from ear to ear. Pulling the door open for me, he let me go on through before he followed behind me. Head bowed and hair falling forward I focussed on not tripping on the sheet around me. I was blushing too hard to do anything else.

When we had walked the short hallway to the living area, Jack's hand on the small of my back, I looked up and turned to look at him one more time before saying goodbye. I didn't know what I was doing, liking the attention this man was showing me, and the fact that my kisses made him grin like an eight year old boy with chocolate but I was. I didn't like not knowing how that was supposed to make me feel like.

I mean, I liked Alex. A lot.

But liking Alex Gaskarth did not automatically make me blind to the vibrancy that was Jack. They were different, so different but yet so very similar. I wasn't going to say that what I felt for Jack - what did I feel for Jack? - equalled what I felt for Alex, not by a long shot. It was just that... well, having someone like you after such a long time of being alone was a heady feeling.

Having that person admit to you that he liked you and have him spend a night in your bed, then to wake up to his kisses and cheeky grins? That was a whole other ball game.

"I'll see you tonight?" he asked, bringing his face closer to mine.

Despite myself, my warnings at myself to keep an emotional distance, I stood on my toes to plant a kiss on the tip of his nose. He smiled.

"Maybe," I shrugged when I pulled away, "I am a pretty busy lady."

He chuckled and stepped closer. "Well, unbusy yourself, little Lady. I have plans for us."

Then he winked at me.

When Jack blew me a kiss, I was grinning from ear to ear.

It was the after sex buzz, that was all.

"Oh yeah?"

Nodding, he pulled the front door half way open and stopped when he turned to look outside. I guessed that there was someone standing there.

"Thanks for coming, bro." I could hear him saying. Curiosity got the better of me. Wrapping my fingers around the cool metal of the door knob, I pulled and peered at the face Jack was talking to.

It was Alex.

The grin fell off my face and I felt like dying.

This could not be happening.