Blood

Work, plan, eat, sleep. Work, plan, eat, sleep. Work, plan, eat, sleep. Work, plan, eat, sleep.

For the past few days, it seemed as if that was all that Kory ever did. She wasn't complaining, though. It kept her occupied long enough to forget Brian. Most times completely, but something about today was different. She couldn't seem to stop thinking about him. Well, not exactly him, as opposed to what he would feel like. Hovered over her, breathing heavily with scratches down his back. All of the unnecessary and agonizing, yet needed, teasing that would without a doubt be done. The gentle words whispered in her ear, all of it. Every single thing about him was driving her insane and she wasn't sure how she would be able to ever stare him in the face and keep her cool in this particular moment. She would have happily been overpowered by him.

"Kor? You okay?" Electra asked from her work station, setting up all of her tools in order to start a new tattoo that was supposed to be showing up in less than ten minutes.

Trying her best to shove all of her thoughts out of her mind, Kory turned to look at Electra, and smiled. "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

The petite girl only giggled. "You're pretty giddy over there, and your face is red. Are you sure you don't have a fever or something?"

Was it that obvious? Kory sighed, and stood up. "I'm not feeling too great...I think I'll go talk to Viv about taking the rest of the day off," she said, standing up and holding her stomach as if the twists and turns were bothering her. In truth, they were. Just not in a painful way as she had decided to make everyone perceive. She trudged into Vivian's office, forcing a hurt look onto her face in order to play off her scheme. "Viv?"

Vivian instantly looked up from her paperwork and stared at Kory, concern in her eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I don't feel too well," Kory replied, biting the inside of her cheek. That wasn't a lie, technically. She didn't feel well, she felt amazing and a bit upset because this was taking longer than she had wished.

Nodding, Vivian gave Kory a small sympathetic smile. "Go on home, dear. You've been worked to death lately. Get some rest, watch a bit of Netflix, and eat an entire pizza to yourself. Text me later to let me know you get home safe, alright?"

Kory nodded, and thanked Vivian quickly before going back to the front desk and grabbing her things quickly. "Could you take over the counter for the rest of the day, Keenan? I think I'm going to be sick," she said. Once Keenan had promised her wishes, she quickly made her way out of the back door, unlocking the car doors and throwing all of her things in the passenger seat. The drive there was antagonizing, yet sent a electric shiver down her spine. She wondered how he would react, but if she was honest, all she cared about was getting there.

She didn't even care to grab her cell phone as she locked the car and practically ran up the driveway to Brian's door. "God, Kory, you're ridiculous!" She knew that what she would be asking would be unfair for the both of them, but she didn't care. She was being selfish and she couldn't have cared less in this moment. She raped her knuckles on the door, twisting the ring on her pointer finger around nervously.

Brian answered only moments later. "Hey, Kory. You alright?"

Shaking her head frantically, she stepped inside and made sure that no one else was present. "Brian, we're friends...right? I mean, for the most part. We promised that we would be and we haven't really fought at all. So, we're friends?"

He laughed softly at her rambling, knowing that something was bound to come out of it all. "Yeah, of course," he couldn't have said no even if he tried, "I still don't understand why that's relevant, though."

Kory forced a nervous laugh. "I"m getting there. Friends do favors for each other, right?"

He nodded, still confused as to what exactly her angle was. "Yeah, so...?"

She sighed, and hurriedly took her jacket off. "Could you do a favor for me? Please? I won't ever ask you for anything ever again, I swear," she stammered, playing with the ring on her finger once again.

"Sure, I guess. What is it?"

"It's kind of embarrassing...."

"I'm pretty sure that you couldn't make me feel awkward even if you tried. What is it, Kory?"

She groaned, figuring that it was now or ever. And, seeing him now, his hair in his face, his arms exposed, she couldn't help but think that there was no other decision than this one. She took her dress off, grabbing his face between her cold hands and kissing him maddeningly. All she could think about was how this felt. How his arms instinctively wrapped around her torso, pulling her closer than she could have gotten on her own. Oh, how long she had longed to touch him like this again. Just the thought alone sent shivers down her spine, and the fact that she was experiencing it all again rose goose bumps all over her skin.

Brian understood. He understood completely. The thought of watching her come undone had crossed his mind more than a few times. And, ever since she had moved back to California, it had become more and more frequent. Even the smallest and most irrelevant thought of her painted skin against his sent him into a frenzy. The feeling of her skin so close to his in the moment was suffocating. He wanted to hold her so tight that they would become one person again. And he knew her well enough that even the hardest grasp wouldn't be enough for her.

Her hands were tangled in his hair, and she couldn't stop every soft moan that escaped her pink lips if she had tried. He had a way of being everywhere at once, his lips leaving a burning sensation all over her skin. Her stomach did flips and all she wanted was to be closer, closer, closer, closer. They were no way making it all of the way upstairs. She wrapped her legs around his waist, and her lips turned up into a smile when he had laid her on the sofa and his lips traveled down from her neck to her hip bones. Wincing slightly as he had left several marks on her chest and stomach, she eagerly pulled his top off, throwing it to the ground.

She was his. Whether she was frightened by that thought or not. No one else in the entire universe could ever have her like he did.



It had been half an hour, yet neither of them had said anything. Kory sat with her legs pulled tightly against her chest, a blanket wrapped around her naked body. With any other person she had ever been with, sitting here like this would have made her uncomfortable. She didn't like feeling exposed to someone, but it didn't really matter with Brian. Because her naked body wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as her naked soul, which in this moment was just out in the open. Yet, there he was, with just his jeans on, not pushing her to speak or trying to comfort her. He just let her be, his eyes hardly ever leaving her face. He sat still in fear that the slightest moment would send her into hysterics. But maybe that was better than waiting for her to shove everything back into her head and hide it away like she had been.

It had been another ten minutes before Kory finally spoke up, her voice fragile and broken. "I think," she took a second to steady herself, not that it mattered, but maybe it would help her in the long run, "I think that we should see other people. This was a goodbye thing, right? That's what people do. They move on. That's what we should do. We should move on."

Just the thought sent Brian into panic. Just two weeks ago, she had said that she thought she loved him. Now, she was saying that she wanted to see other people? That made no sense. Could she ever make up her mind? "What? I don't understand. I thought that we were getting there, that we were kind of working things out and you were having a harder time doing so than I was. You said that we were frien-"

"Yeah, friends, Brian. You did me a favor and now I owe you one. That's how it works, right?"

"No, that's not how it works. You can't come back, make me want you this much all over again, and then say that! You're making no sense," he said, becoming frustrated as she stood up and pulled her clothes back on quickly, not looking at him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think that you felt that way. I have to go. I guess I'll talk to you later, then? I have to go to the studio. Just friends, Brian. Friends. Nothing more, okay? I can't keep doing this to the both of us. It isn't fair. Friends," she muttered quickly, walking outside and getting into her car.

Friends. Nothing else. Friends. Nothing more. Friends.