Burn

I slid back into the booth, carefully sipping my coffee and listening to the group of people chattering happily around me. I was sharing a table with the only friends I was sure I'd ever have. Not that I was upset by that, it was just a fact. We'd all been friends since middle school, and through high school drama, college separation and being forced to get jobs in the adult world, we were somehow still all living in the same town, hanging out during almost every moment of free time.

Joel readjusted his beanie and began defending his recent girl escapade. "--I'm telling you, dude. A couple more minutes and I would have had her number. Time just doesn't work in my favor!"

Caleb rolled his eyes and looked over at me, seeing if I was giving the same reaction. I just smiled, amused at Joel's futile attempt to get another girl way out of his league. Rose leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table, linking her fingers together. "You wanna know how to get a girl?"

"Oh please," Joel purred, lowering his voice seductively. "Tell me how to get a babe like you, Rose." Caleb and Alex snickered, and Joel shot them an acknowledging look. She beckoned for him to come closer and he hesitated before leaning in. I shot Caleb a glance, and the look on his face told me we both knew exactly what was about to happen.

"Stop being a total dickhead." she whispered, before reaching out and slapping the side of his head. The table exploded in laughter as Joel's face turned beet red. Alex reached over and patted Joel on the back playfully. "Damn, dude."

Joel swatted his hand away and regained his composure. "Yeah, whatever." he retorted. "Rose is just jealous I'm giving all my attention to other ladies."

I rolled my eyes at this. A few years ago, Rose and Joel had tried their hand at dating since they'd constantly flirted for what felt like an eternity to the rest of the group. It didn't work out very well and to save their friendship (and the sake of the group friendship we all shared), they decided to call it off. But that didn't stop them from flirting non-stop nowadays, even though Rose claimed every time upon asked that she "hated his guts."

I took another sip of my coffee and looked out the window I was sitting beside. It was dark now, the purplish shades of the sunset fading from the sky and being replaced by the murky blue colors of the night. The cars riding up and down the busy street made a nice bright contrast against the dark tones in the sky.

"So, what are we doing tonight, ladies and gents?" Joel asked, bringing my attention back to the table. Everyone shrugged in response. "Does anyone have to work tomorrow?"

A chorus of no's and nope's sounded around the table. "Let's go hang out at your house, man." Alex said, gesturing to Caleb. "Didn't you just get the new Madden game?"

Caleb nodded and Rose and I groaned. "Can't we do something fun for once?" she pleaded, slumping in her seat. I stayed quiet, knowing there was no use trying to reconcile with the boys when there were video games involved.

"Later." they mumbled, as they all struggled to get their jackets on in the tight confinement on the booth. All of them were outside before either of us could scoot out of our side.



They were two games into Madden before someone thought about booze. Beers were immediately passed around and things got a little more interesting -- chuckles turned into gut-busting laughter, inside voices turned to outside, and Joel and Rose's flirting skyrocketed.

Caleb turned to me one again to roll his eyes at the one-liner that had just come out of Joel's mouth. I rolled my eyes back and made a gagging gesture with my pointer finger, which he laughed at before turning his attention back to the game.

"What the fuck!" Alex yelled, slamming his controller down on the couch. Joel obviously did something good for his team on the game as he stood up a gyrated his hips in a victory dance, earning a loud giggle from Rose. Alex snatched his beer from it's place on the table top and downed the remains before picking his controller back up. "I bet you won't do that shit again!"

"Oh yeah? Watch me!" Joel retorted, and they both leaned forward in their seats in concentration. "Hey, Vi, can you get me another beer?"

I stood up. "Yeah, does anyone else need one?" Rose shook her empty bottle in response and Alex nodded, so I trekked into the kitchen to round up more alcohol from the fridge. I wasn't a big drinker, but I grabbed another one for me too. As I was closing the refrigerator door with my foot, Caleb rounded the corner into the kitchen and walked over to me, offering his help to carry them back into the living room.

"Thanks." I replied. He leaned against the counter and opened one, taking a gulp before looking at me and smiling. I sat the others in my hands down and mimicked his action, the drink sliding a little easier down my throat now that I'd already downed two. He raised an eyebrow at me. "You drinking tonight, Vi?"

I nodded, taking another sip. "Yeah. I figured why not?"

He smiled bigger this time, showing his two rows of pearly whites. "Oh man. I love it when you loosen up."

I blushed, avoiding his eyes and tracing the opening of the bottle with my pointer finger. Rose and Joel weren't the only ones with a past in our little group of friends. Caleb and I had dated for a while when we were in high school, and then again in college. The first time, petty teenage drama had made us split, while the second time, the distance between us drove a stake in our relationship. Much like Joel and Rose, we decided to call it off to save our friendship. I couldn't bear to lose him, as he was literally my best friend. He was the only person that knew me better than Rose.

And also, I knew somewhere deep down inside, I still had feelings for him.

"What happened to getting beers?" Joel yelled from the living room. I sighed, snatching up the bottles from the counter and walked past Caleb, who gave me a sly smile. I sat them down on the coffee table before sitting on the love seat, as Rose had now taken my previous spot to be closer to Joel. I eyed his hand sitting lightly on her thigh as she opened his bottle for him.

I couldn't take another morning phone call with her crying about how she totally regretted what she did the night before. It wasn't hard to control yourself with alcohol in your system -- I did it constantly around the boys. Caleb in particular.

I took another swig from my bottle before settling back on the couch, bottle in one hand and phone in the other. I clicked on the text I'd received earlier that day from Jessica, my boss's secretary.

I can't tell you much, but word is that you're getting a big assignment Wednesday morning when you walk in. Don't let anyone know I told you!

My palms got sweaty just reading it again. All my life I'd wanted to be a writer, and after college I somehow managed to snag a journalism job at a magazine company that was located here in our city. I wrote little articles here and there -- always nothing too major. But the rumors around the office lately were that they were looking for someone to move up to the higher position, which involved a bigger responsibility and you got to go on the scene and take the pictures for the articles you wrote. I wanted the position so bad my teeth ached when I thought about it, so I kept hoping and praying that this was the good news Jessica was talking about.

I felt the couch cushion dip down and looked up to see Caleb sitting down beside me. "What are you over here thinking so hard about? You've got that little dent in your forehead when you're concentrating really hard on something."

I shook my head. "It's nothing."

Joel suddenly yelled out a stream of cuss words and Alex and Rose laughed. I looked up to see the replay of Alex's team sacking Joel's quarterback, to which Joel thrust his middle finger at the TV in response.

Caleb let out a low whistle, and Joel redirected his finger at him. I smiled and asked Caleb, "So have you thought about who is gonna drive them home?"

He shrugged. "I guess you're all staying the night."

"I definitely am." Joel called from his seat, eavesdropping on our conversation. "I'm not leaving until I beat Alex at Madden."

"You're gonna be here for a while then, man." Alex replied, and they both leaned a little closer to the TV. "I'm glad you said something about that." Rose replied, getting up and stretching, but almost tumbling backwards onto Joel as her head spun. He put out a hand on her butt to steady her, and she smacked it away. "Hey, I was just trying to help." he explained, giving her a flirty grin.

"Looks like neither of us are driving home tonight, Vi." she motioned to the bottle in both of our hands. I frowned at Caleb. "I'm sorry, I didn't even think about it before I started..."

"Vi, it's cool. You guys are welcome to stay." He reassured me, before tipping back the rest of his bottle. He handed it to Rose, who walked into the kitchen to throw them away. "You wanna play, man?" Alex held the controller out to Caleb, who shook his head. "I'm good. You keep whooping Joel's ass."

"Hey, fuck you." Joel replied without looking from the screen. "The beer is throwing me off my game."

"But Alex is drinking too?" I replied, giggling.

"Nobody asked you, Vi!"

I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to Caleb. Rose emerged from the kitchen and handed him a cold one and took mine out of my hand. I went to object but she tipped her head back and downed the rest in a few gulps before handing me a new bottle. I scowled at her as she opened another for herself.

She smiled daintily and Caleb laughed in response. As Rose went back to her seat beside Joel on the long couch, Caleb shook his head and lowered his voice. "I honestly don't understand how you guys are friends. You're so opposite."

Which was really true. Not only were our personalities different -- Rose was bold, brash and drank like one of the guys while I was a little quieter and preferred not to party at all -- but our looks were, too. Where I was a short, skinny frame with long dark hair, Rose was a curvy blonde with boobs to die for. I envied her but admired her at the same time. Over the years of our friendship, she'd made me come out of my shell a little and take risks, and I was always grateful for that. Her encouragement was the reason I landed the journalism job in the first place.

"Opposites attract." I replied, taking another sip. My head was starting to feel a little light and I closed my eyes and leaned back against the couch. The noise level in the room was starting to irritate me and I could feel myself slowly wanting to go to bed. Despite all this, I kept putting the bottle back to my lips.

"You were always a quiet drunk. Caleb mused. I opened my eyes to see the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile. "I like that about you -- that you don't turn crazy when you drink."

He took the bottle out of my hand and sat it on the coffee table. "I think it's time to quit these though. You can't hold it all like the rest of us."

"I really wanna lay down." I mumbled, pushing myself off the couch to stand up. I stumbled a bit from the difference, and I couldn't believe how hard the alcohol had suddenly hit me. Four beers and I was gone. I really was a lightweight.

Caleb stood up quickly and steadied me, putting his hands on either side of my waist and following me to his bedroom. I heard whoops and hollers from our friends at the sight of us going into the bedroom, but Caleb shushed them with a laugh. He shut the door behind him as I walked over to the bed and fell back, my hair fanning around my head wildly. I let out a content sigh.

He chuckled at me once again and I frowned, propping up on my elbows. "Stop laughing at me."

He straightened his face up the best he could before replying, "I just haven't seen you like this in while, Vi."

I sat up fully then, and my frown turned into a full-on scowl. "Why do you call me that now? Only our friends do that. You used to call me by my real name."

He walked over to me then, an unreadable expression on his face. He slowly reached down and tucked a piece of hair behind my ear, before cupping the sides of my face. The look in his eyes was starting a slow fire in the pit of my stomach, and the sound of his voice made my breath hitch in my throat.

"I'm sorry, Viola. I thought we were friends." His tone had changed, and his voice now sounded very throaty and deep, making the fire in my stomach grow a little hotter I couldn't tear my eyes away from his. "Aren't we?" he asked, taking one hand off my face to trail a fingertip down my neck. It slid down my throat, over my clavicle, and into the slight dip of my shirt before I let out a shudder. His eyes were two burning hazel orbs as he leaned in closer, never taking his eyes off mine, and lightly touched his lips to the hallow of my throat.

All drowsiness from the alcohol seemed to burn out of my body as the fire in my stomach rose, engulfing my whole body from his single touch. I brought both hands up to his face, grabbing him and bringing him down to me before colliding our lips together. A throaty growl came from his throat, exciting me as he scooped me up with one arm, pushing me further back on the bed and lowering his body onto mine.

He reconnected our lips hungrily, pushing his tongue into my mouth. Our mouths moved together in sync until I broke the kiss, gently pulling his lip out between my teeth as I did so. It used to drive him crazy, and I knew it still did when he flipped us over so that I was straddling him. We were both breathing heavily and I'd never seen such a look of pure desire in his eyes before.

He was familiar. The kisses were familiar. His body against mine was familiar. But somehow, this time seemed different. Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was because we weren't together anymore. Or maybe it was just that deep down, he felt the same way about me that I knew I did about him.

Whatever it was, I let that propel my thoughts as I leaned back in, every touch from him like a flame licking at my body -- burning me up.