Teamwork

School's started back and a new semester presents a whole new set of challenges. The students are unfocused coming off of a two week holiday and Julia can't really blame them because she kind of is too. She's seen Mike more than a few times since their Winter Classic celebration night but hasn't heard from Tom at all and it's starting to get to her. She doesn't know if maybe she's accidentally done something he didn't like or if he found someone else or if he just isn't into it anymore but not knowing is seriously frustrating. She briefly contemplates asking Mike if he knows what the hell his roommate's problem is but there's never a good time and she doesn't want him, or anyone for that matter, to know that it's making her so crazy.

So, she tries not to think about it and she mostly fails. She keeps wondering why she cares so much because it's not like they even really had any kind of substantial relationship at all but then it wouldn't hurt like it does if there had been nothing there. Maybe she had just read too much into it and saw things how she wanted to see them instead of the way they actually were. She tells herself to buck up, stop dwelling on it, get over it, but that's always easier said than done.

Throwing herself into her work helps a little. She volunteers to chaperone every extracurricular activity that comes up, even when Mr. Beckett takes his entire history class on a Saturday trip to the White House followed by a walking tour of some of the country's most important monuments. Keeping up with 21 fourteen year olds all across D.C. is a trying task but at least she's not fucking thinking about Tom for the day. She takes on organizing the bake sale, agrees to be a judge at the science fair, and helps sell raffle tickets at a couple of the school's basketball games. In between the surplus of new activities and staying on top of her actual main job of teaching and writing tests and grading papers, she barely even has any spare time, but it's good because she's busy.

She's not totally lonely anyway. She always has Melissa, who goes with her to pilates class and supplies her with mindless gossip from Senator Chandler's office over the dinner they usually share. She also has her family gatherings on Sundays and Bryce via text since he's at home in Vegas during the off-season. And then there's Mike. Sweet, funny, fine as hell Mike who fucks her and falls asleep stretched out on his stomach with his thick, muscular arm draped over her body and never asks why she's not talking much even though she can see the concern on his face when he looks at her. He never brings up Tom and she isn't sure if it's on purpose or not but she's grateful for it anyway.

It's only the first day of their third full week of the semester and she's already so tired. Her class has an upcoming test on Wednesday over Moby Dick which means that she's doing nothing but reviewing with them something she's already taught but she can feel their stress over it and it just gets her all worked up and tense too so by the time she gets to go home, she's completely exhausted and grumpy. There's a sharp knock on her door almost as soon as she kicks it shut behind her and she sets her bags down on the floor to go back and answer it.

A gentle breeze could knock her over. After the past few weeks of dwelling on it, constantly wondering, making herself crazy with it, there he is just standing in her doorway like it's the most normal thing in the world. His cheeks are rosy from the biting winter winds outside but his eyes are fierce, his brows furrowed in determination. She's pissed at him. He'd invited her to a team event, introduced her to all of his teammates, and then completely ignored her for over three fucking weeks.

"Where the hell have you been?"

Neither the bite in her tone nor the question itself faze him at all as he surges forward to kiss her, not even giving her time to protest it, but once his lips are on hers, she doesn't want to anyway. She throws her arms around his neck to pull him closer and he hoists her up by the backs of her thighs and wraps her legs around his waist as he immediately heads for the hallway. As soon as they stumble into her bedroom, he breaks the kiss to drop her carefully onto the bed and she quickly yanks the scarf off from around her neck while he props her ankle on his shoulder so that can take off her boots. His fingertips lightly graze her knee as he grabs hold of the zipper and takes his sweet time unzipping it, making sure to brush his fingertips against the smooth skin of her leg all the way down to her ankle. He follows suit with the other boot too before he gently places her leg back down and turns to kick off his own shoes.

Julia quickly gets up onto her knees while he's doing that and when he turns back to see her a liiiiiittle closer to his eye level, he smiles. She pushes the jacket back off his shoulders then reaches for the bottom of his tee shirt, quickly pulling it over his head and throwing it off to the side, unable to resist running her fingertips over his collar bones and down his chest to his ridiculously defined abs before moving on to his jeans. She swiftly unbuttons and unzips them, hooking her fingers into the waistband and dragging them down his hips so he can kick them off. Her honey brown eyes meet his light blue ones when she looks back up at him, innocently biting her bottom lip as she gingerly wraps her hand around his cock and gives it a few strokes. He groans, letting his head fall back and his eyes flutter shut as he bites down on his bottom lip and just enjoys it for a minute or two.

Eventually he finds the strength to knock her hand away so that he can maneuver her onto her back and he wastes no time pushing the soft knit fabric of her dress up to her chest and slipping his hand down her smooth stomach and under the scrap of teal lace covering her lower half so that he can start reciprocating. He leans down to reconnect their lips as he slowly slides a finger into her and she moans, her back arching off the mattress when his thumb brushes over her clit. He continues to work her over until she's gasping and panting for it and then he retracts himself from her altogether. She makes a noise of protest but he silences it with a quick press of his lips against hers and then grabs the bottom hem of her dress to gently tug it off over her head before tossing it onto the floor and going back for the bra. She reaches behind her to unfasten the hook and he barely gives her the time to do that before he's yanking the material from her body and throwing it to the side as well.

Tom can't resist touching all the newly bare skin, hot and smooth under his fingertips. He puts one hand against the mattress next to her body, the other cupping her left breast while he lowers his mouth to her right, using his tongue to tease the nipple before his lips close around it. She sighs contentedly as she reaches up to stroke her fingers over the back of his neck and the tops of his shoulders, tracing intricate patterns in the skin. He sits back on his knees, his hands mindlessly running up and down her smooth legs as he takes a moment to admire the woman below him. While his eyes are roaming across the planes of her body, her eyes stay glued to his face. She desperately wants to know what he's thinking as he silently observes her lying bare beneath him, her chest rising and falling more rapidly than normal thanks to the effect his mouth and hands have on her.

"Goddamn, you're perfect," he murmurs. He suddenly feels like slowing things down and he leans forward, to slide his hands up her sides. He wants to feel every one of her ribs beneath his fingertips, wants to see every little bump that rises on her skin as a result of the chills she gets from the feeling of his warm breath ghosting over her stomach. He presses a kiss to the center of her chest as his fingers trace her hip bones before he moves up to kiss her lips again. Julia tangles her fingers in his long hair while his travel back down between her legs to rub against her in slow circles. She lets out a quiet moan and tugs on his hair so that he pulls back from her a bit.

"Condom," she pants against his lips. "Now."

Tom's probably never moved so fast in his life and that's saying something, considering what he does for a living. He leans over the side of the bed to get his wallet out of the back pocket of his discarded jeans and once he finally retrieves the little silver package from it, his normally steady, better-than-average hands are shaking so badly that he can't seem to tear it open. She sits up and silently takes it from him, ripping it open herself and rolling it down on him before she tosses the empty packaging over the side of the bed and throws her arms around his neck, pulling him back down with her.

They both groan as he slips inside her easily, thanks to the work his fingers have already done and fuck, it's only been three weeks but it may as well have been a lifetime because she'd forgotten how good it was with him. He slowly eases himself out of her and then back in a few times to get her reacquainted with his size before he picks up the pace. She keeps her arms securely around his neck as his thrusts become stronger, more purposeful. The friction of his hips moving against hers shoots sparks of pleasure through her body and she moans softly before sinking her teeth into her bottom lip to quiet herself. With the pace he's working at, she's pretty sure it's not going to take her much longer and he probably won't either, if the sounds he's making are any indication.

Her hands slip around his sides up his back, feeling the rippling of his muscles as he moves against her and she sinks her nails into the skin, leaving crescent shaped marks and light scratches all over him. He lowers his mouth to her neck, sucking and nibbling the skin as his ragged breathing hits her ears. She's quickly spiraling down toward her release so she drapes her legs over his hips, hooking her ankles together behind his back and allowing him to reach even deeper spots inside her as she moans in approval. She knows he's close too when he picks up the pace even more, their hips meeting at such a rate that the wooden headboard begins to hit the wall with every thrust. Her entire body from head to toe feels tingly as she nears her orgasm and she reaches one hand down between them, but Tom is quick to push it away when he realizes what she's going for, insisting on doing it himself.

Within a few seconds of his fingers pressing against her clit, she reaches her peak, letting out a loud moan as her walls tighten around him, which only increases the friction between them. He tries to keep his pace as her back arches off the mattress and she shudders at the intense feelings of pleasure coursing through her body but the movements are becoming sloppier and he can't quite keep up a rhythm now. Julia relaxes a bit as her orgasm recedes and he knows that soon she'll be extremely sensitive so he picks up the pace, driving himself to his own release. She sighs and groans softly, grasping at his back and he bucks his hips against hers once more, feeling his body finally let go as he spills himself inside her.

He drops his forehead to rest on her shoulder, letting out a few ragged breaths against her skin before he carefully pulls out and removes the condom, tying it off and tossing it into the little metal trash can next to the nightstand. Rolling over onto his back, he stares up at the ceiling and Julia turns her head to look at him, still working on returning her breathing to normal. He doesn't say anything and now she's too scared to. She looks over at her alarm clock and runs her hands over her face, letting out a heavy sigh.

Melissa's going to be home any minute and she's not going to be happy to find Tom here after what he's done the past few weeks. Julia hadn't told her what was bothering her, but they've known each other for four years now and they've lived together for three of those years, so she knows her pretty well. Plus, Melissa's smart enough to put the pieces together when Julia stops mentioning Tom and starts just having Mike over. Julia can only imagine what her roommate will say when she finds him here. She hopes Melissa isn't too honest with him.

"I'm sorry," Tom says suddenly, shattering the silence surrounding them and snapping Julia out of her thoughts.

She looks over at him again but he's still staring up at the ceiling and chewing on his bottom lip instead of returning her gaze. "Why'd you do it?"

He sighs heavily and slides up to sit with his back against the headboard, pushing a hand through his long hair that's gotten a little messy thanks to her. She props herself up on her elbow and watches him struggle with his words until finally he just shakes his head. "I don't know."

"You don't know," she repeats and suddenly the anger she felt upon seeing him at her door is back in full force. He doesn't even know why he decided to randomly avoid her for three weeks after a solid two and a half months of seeing each other and even introducing her to his teammates? That's a lie and it only makes things worse. She scoffs and tosses the comforter back off of her body, turning to throw her legs over the side of the bed, her back to him. "Why are you even here?"

"What?" he blinks, surprised by the harshness in her voice seemingly out of nowhere and that's definitely not the response she was looking for.

She feels stupid. It's obvious to her now why he must have shown up. He got what he came for without having to explain himself or even work for it at all and now she's pretty embarrassed for thinking it might be because he actually missed her or something ridiculous like that. "Ya know what? You got what you wanted so you should just go now."

"What? No, I don't want-"

"I'm not asking you, Tom," she interrupts, reaching down to pick her discarded dress up off the floor and tugging it back on over her head.

"Jules, you have to let me-"

"Don't call me that."

Tom sighs and pushes the covers back then gets up to retrieve his pants and put them back on. She's standing at the corner of the dresser now, her arms folded tightly across her chest and her eyes looking away from him. "Can I please explain?" he asks quietly and she frowns but says nothing as she sits down on the end of the bed, leaving room for him to sit too. "I like you," he blurts and then he breathes out a sigh of relief as he sinks down next to her.

That definitely isn't what she was expecting to hear. "Sorry, what?"

"I really do. I know I've been an asshole, but I guess I just thought 'out of sight, out of mind'."

"And was I?"

Tom laughs a little. "Not even close."

"But you wanted me to be."

"That would've been a hell of a lot easier, yeah."

"Why didn't you just tell me? Then this could have been avoided altogether."

"I didn't want to make it weird," he shrugs. "It would've just made things awkward for everyone."

"Is this about Mike?" she asks hesitantly, and when he looks down at his hands in his lap instead of answering, she knows that that's exactly what it is. "Tom, if you wanted me to stop seeing Mike, I'd stop seeing him."

"I can't-....I'm not gonna ask you to do that. That's not fair. He's known you just as long as I have. Longer, even." Mike is his best friend, his roommate, and his teammate and he'd seen Julia first. He has no right to ask them to stop seeing each other just because he has a stupid fucking crush. Besides, Mike already asked him if he liked her and he said no. He can't just change his mind like that.

"I don't think that extra minute really counts as significant," she tells him with a little smile. He smiles half heartedly in return but doesn't respond otherwise and she reaches over to lace her arm through his, laying her head on his bare shoulder. "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

He rests his head on top of hers. "I'm sorry I was a douche."

"C'mon," she says, untangling herself from him, and then she's moving back up to the head of the bed and waiting for him to follow. Once he's laying back down in his original spot, she scoots into his side and rests her head on his chest, throwing her arm across his stomach and one of her legs over his.

She's not even worried about Melissa's reaction anymore.