Caught in the Middle

"You're s-such a g-good friend Kennedy, y'know that?" I slurred to the good friend in question, wrapping my arm around his neck in both a friendly gesture and a way to keep me standing, "Thank you for not holding a g-grudge against me after the f-fucked up shit I pulled on you guys."

"How could I ever hate you Jessy? You let me do f-fucking body shots off you," Kennedy slurred back, making us both laugh.

"Well come on, let's do another one, for old times sake," I joked. He had a wicked gleam in his eye as he grabbed the salt and a lemon wedge from the fridge.

"BODY SHOTS!" he yelled out to the crowded room and they all cheered. I had a sudden flashback to the last time I did body shots, pushing the thought to the back of my mind as I focused on the situation at hand.

I poured Kennedy's shots, placing it in my cleavage. Unlike last time, I didn't have to hold it in place with my hands, something that Kennedy immediately took notice of.

"You seem a lot better... equipped for body shots this time," he said with a wink. I swatted his arm, spilling the tiniest amount of the salty liquid down my top.

"You'd better lick that up, Kenny, don't wanna waste any of the good tequila," I smirked with a raised eyebrow.

He smirked right back at me."If you insist on it, pretty girl."

I dampened my neck so Kennedy could pour salt on it and held the lemon wedge between my teeth. He poured the salt on my neck and licked it off slowly, allowing me to feel the heat of his breath lingering on my neck. He then leaned down to my chest, licking up the spilt tequila before taking the shot glass with his teeth and pulling it out of my top, swallowing the liquid in a single gulp. Then came the big finale.

Kennedy pressed his lips to mine, transferring the lemon wedge from my mouth to his in the process, holding the lemon wedge between his own teeth after he pulled away, causing the people surrounding us to cheer. He spat it out and gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek afterwards.

"Thanks for being a good sport, Jessy, you're a good girl and you deserve someone who will treat you right," he said quietly, referring to our conversation yesterday about why I left Chicago.

"C'mon, let's go have a smoke," I slurred, pulling him towards the balcony. There was already a couple out there sharing a cigarette, so we stood at the opposite end of the balcony, Kennedy pulling out a packet of smokes and lighting one, handing the carton to me. I pulled one out and placed it between my lips, leaning over to him and touching the tip of my unlit one to his alight one, taking a long drag and effectively lighting it.

We stood in silence on the balcony, smoking our cigarettes until his voice piped up in the darkness.

"Y'know, you never told me why you left the way you did."

"There's a reason why I didn't and that reason is because it's too complicated. A lot of feelings got in the way in the end and I just thought that it would have been best for me to leave before I made things worse than they had already gotten," I said quietly, remembering how it felt that night when John had rejected me, despite us both having feelings for each other.

Kennedy put his arm around my shoulder to comfort me. It felt nice, different to what I was used to. Dylan was never really the comforting type, nor did he often let his emotions show like Kennedy was.

"Kennedy, is that you?" a high-pitched voice came from behind us. Kennedy turned slightly towards her, keeping his arm around me.

"Hey Rachel, I knew you'd be around here somewhere. How you been?" he asked her.

"Yeah, I've been pretty good. Who's this?" she asked as she was joined by a tall, lanky figure.

"This is -"

"Jessy?" John cut Kennedy off. I looked up suddenly at the familiar drawl saying my name.

"John," I breathed out, lose track of my thoughts and also my breath. Time had definitely been good to him. He'd grown out of his lanky awkwardness, mostly, as his body and jaw line became more defined, now adorned with several tattoos. His green eyes were as vibrant as ever and his once long hair was now cut shorter, making him look older yet still young at the same time.

"What are you doing here? Don't you live in Chicago?" he asked me with a furrowed brow, his eyes staring deep into mine. I felt like I was in high school all over again. I opened my mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Kennedy.

"John, now's not really the time," he warned him.

"Kennedy, Rachel, do you mind giving us a little bit of private time? I just wanna talk to Jessy alone for a little while," John said. Rachel put her hand on John's upper arm.

"Don't be long please, we need to leave soon." She reached up and as she gave him a peck on the lips, my heart sank. All of my earlier confidence over winning him over had gone and I was left feeling similar to what I felt all those years ago after he had rejected me.

"Jessy-"

"Don't start that John. You know exactly why I didn't talk to you after that party. It took me years to get over you and move on and that all went to shit in the last week so I'm really not in the mood for you to hurt me even more," I snapped, feeling the tears starting to build up in my eyes.

"Jessy, stop, you're being ridiculous," John reached for my arm, but I yanked it away.

"Really? The last time I trusted someone enough to let them in I found him in my bed with another woman and the time before that I left him kiss me and then push me away like I was nothing." I felt my bottom lip start to quiver as a tear slipped over the edge of my eye. I brushed it away quickly, wanting to keep my composure.

John's voice was softer now. "Jessy, I'm sorry."

I shook my head. "Save it John, you've hurt me enough already."

I turned and walked back into the house, hoping to find Kennedy or some strong liquor, whichever came first. Luckily I was able to find both in the same place and I poured myself three shots of tequila, taking them all one after another without any chaser. Kennedy looked at me warily as I grabbed his hand and pulled him into the middle of the crowd of people, wrapping my arms around his neck and beginning to dance with him, letting the alcohol take control of my actions.

Kennedy placed his hands firmly on my hips as they swayed to the beat of the music and I found myself cupping his cheek with my hand and pressing my lips to his. He pulled my body in closer to his as he deepened the kiss and I attempted to forget all about John.

We stayed like that for a few songs, kissing each other and him holding me in close to his body, before I pulled back and looked at him with dark, lusty eyes. I needed a distraction and Kennedy and I both knew that he was the perfect distraction for tonight.

He pulled me out of the crowd and lead me up to his bedroom, which looked a lot cleaner than it had in high school. I guess not being home much and living out of a suitcase would do that for him.

Once he had closed and locked his bedroom door, he reattached himself to my lips, moving me towards his bed and pushing me down on it gently, his lips never leaving mine. I began to unbutton his shirt as he unbuckled his belt and removed it from his jeans and one his shirt was unbuttoned he quickly stripped it off. His lips left mine for the briefest second as his hands pushed my top over my head and then reattached as his hands quickly moved to my back, unclasping my bra and tossing it aside as his hands roamed up my body and moved me further up his bed so my head was resting on his pillow.

His hands left my torso as they fumbled with the button and zip on my shorts. With an impatient sigh, I pushed them away and removed them myself before undoing his jeans, which he quickly stripped down his legs and tossed them to the growing pile of clothes.

The heat of the moment died off after that and Kennedy pulled back, looking me in the eyes before pressing his lips softly to mine, almost as if he was apologising for the pain that John and Dylan had caused me.

I tried not to let this get to me as he pulled my underwear down my legs and I completely forgot about John, Dylan, and why this was very wrong but so right at the same time.

* * * * *

I woke up with a dryness in my mouth and a pounding in my head as I thought back to the amount of alcohol I drank the night before.

I pulled the bed sheet up higher around me as I sat up, wondering why I was completely naked. I looked over to see Kennedy lying on his stomach, dead to the world. Fuck. All my memories from the night before came rushing back to me, the body shots, the confrontation with John and the amazing sex with Kennedy.

I looked over to the alarm clock sitting on the dresser and swore out loud when I noticed it was past 10am and I knew my mother would be expecting me back home.

Kennedy groaned, removing his face from his pillow and squinting his eyes through his sleep-filled haze. "Fucking hell Jessy, just come back to bed, it's too early for this shit."

"Kennedy, its past ten o'clock, my mom is gonna question where the hell I've been," I said as I jumped out of bed, slipping on my underwear and bra before turning back around to find my top. I caught him staring and he blushed as he averted his eyes from my semi-naked body. I located my top and pulled it on, pulling my shorts up my legs and buttoning them up before leaning over the bed to press a kiss to the top of Kennedy's head.

"Thank you for last night, the party and everything. I really needed something fun and a distraction from all the shit that's been going on lately. So yeah, thanks again," I said softly as he gave me a small smile.

"It's fine Jessy, I know how it feels and I understand. Let's just not make it a regular thing, okay? I don't think my liver can take it much longer," he joked. I smirked and pushed his shoulder as he fell back down to the bed.

"Go sleep off your hangover, you big idiot. I'll talk to you later," I said.

"I'll text you when I wake up again, if I wake up again," he chuckled and I giggled as I opened the door.

"See you later Kennedy."

I walked downstairs to find Garrett also squinting through his hangover, his hair sticking up on its end as he cracked his neck, looking as if he spent the night on the couch which I guessed he did. He furrowed his brow as he saw me coming down the stairs.

"Where the hell did you stay last night? All of a sudden you and Kenny just disappeared and-" he cut off his sentence as the blush crept up onto my cheeks and I grabbed my handbag, making sure all my stuff was in it.

"I'll see you later Garrett. Make sure Kennedy is alive by tonight, okay?" I opened the door and cursed, the bright sunlight momentarily blinding me and adding an extra level to my hangover. The white pickup truck from my high school days was still parked on the curb, meaning that John, and most likely his girlfriend, were still hanging around somewhere. I just hoped that Kennedy didn't do any bragging once he was awake enough to function.

* * * * *

I wasn't in luck. As soon as I got home and avoided the interrogation from my mother, I managed to choke back a piece of toast and washed it down with two painkillers and a glass of orange juice before heading up to my bedroom to go back to sleep. I was able to sleep until I was woken by a text message on my phone. Thinking it was Kennedy, I picked up my phone and squinted at the bright screen.

John:
I thought you were better than to fall for Kennedy's tricks.

My heart dropped to the pit of my stomach as I re-read the message several times, decrypting his words. Basically, I was fucked.