Vices, Virtues, and Second-Hand Smoke

The music was thumping, and every single body in the room was reverberating with the bass. Kristin hadn't been single at a frat party in a year and a half and damn, she'd forgotten how fun it could be-- even sober.

"Aren't you glad you came out?" Kris turned to grin at her best friend, but crinkled her nose instead as Janelle gulped down the last of her Corona.

"How do you drink that without any lime?" Janelle giggled and nudged Kris playfully.

"Pretty big talk for a girl without a drink in her hands."

Kris rolled her eyes and put her hands up. "I'm not feeling it tonight, man, I'll pull through this one sober."

Janelle feigned a pout, but giggled almost immediately, her round, dark face even darker from the drinks she'd been tanking down for the last two hours. Kris and Janelle had been best friends since they'd met as freshmen, and college had seen them grow as a dynamic dupe that had run through campus without a hitch.

Janelle's playful, tipsy eyes darkened instantly as they focused on something right over Kris' shoulder. Before she could ask, she heard a loud, all-too-familiar laugh right over her shoulder.

"Now when was the last time you came out, Vice?" Kris rolled her eyes and turned to raise an eyebrow at Shanks Jove-- probably the last person she wanted to see right then. Which he knew, so she wasn't about to make it obvious.

"Been a bad day, Jove," Kris said easily, hands in her pockets. "Figured I'd come babysit Janelle."

"Hey!" Janelle yelped, but it ended in a hiccup and a giggle as she caught sight of someone else and scurried away, winking at Kris as she went.

Traitor. But Kris couldn't help but smile at her mischievous best friend.

"Hey, look, you don't have to pretend you want to be anywhere near me," Kris' grey eyes snapped back up to look at Shanks, caught off guard by how blunt he was being. Shanks was always as easy going as could be; it wasn't like him to be so straight. "And don't look at me like that, Kris, I thought we were closer than that."

Kris relaxed instantly and rolled her eyes. There was the Shanks that she'd known for the last three years. "Whatever, Jove, you know it's been a bad day. I'm just out to have a good time."

A slow, easy smile spread itself across Shanks' face, and a fire sparked bright in his eyes. Taking the trucker hat off his mess of curly, red-brown hair and rubbing his hand through it, he whistled, a loud sound that cut through the loud, pumping music. Almost instantly, there was someone handing him a beer, then another. Popping one open, he held it out to Kris with a wink.

"C'mon, Vice, you're on top of things, right? Let's see if we can make that good time happen."

--

"Damn, Vice."

Shanks' breathing was heavy next to Kris' ear, his breath a nix of heavy mint and barely covered beer, as she licked and bit at his neck. They'd barely had three beers each-- together, at least-- but it was enough to remind Shanks that Kristin has boys all over campus drooling, and enough to remind Kristin of the fact that Shanks always had the girls talking-- and, jilted or not, the one thing that was always true was that he never disappointed.

Kris wrapped her long legs around Shanks' waist as he carried her easily into a bedroom upstairs and just managed to kick the door closed behind himself before he dropped her on the edge of the bed and ripped his shirt off. When he pulled it over his head, he couldn't help but laugh at what he saw-- Kris hadn't even bothered with her tank top, which Shanks had pushed up, anyway. She'd gone straight to undoing her jeans, eyes dark with lust.

"Slow down there, wildcat," Shanks laughed, running his hands through his hair, even messier now that Kris had tangled her hands in it all the way up the stairs, and dragging a slow, appreciative look over her laid out on the bed. "Don't you want to enjoy yourself?"

The wicked spark in Kris' eyes told Shanks that she was already enjoying herself. "I like things fast, kid. If you can't keep up, get the hell out."

Shanks' grin spread fast over his face. "Shimmy outta those pants then, doll, and I'll make time fly."

Kris wiggled her hips in a way that made Shanks' throat go dry. "Alright, then, hotshot-- show me what you've got."

Shanks ripped at his belt fast, his green eyes flickering up to drag a long look over Kris-- and, for the first time since he'd first seen her, he understood why she'd been his best friend's constant obsession for the last three years.