Switch

Waves crashed on the nearby shore as the pit fire crackled with life, illuminating the section of beach that had been chosen for the party. Yes, party.

Upon arriving and seeing at least twenty or so people crowding around the fire, laughing and drinking as loud music pumped out the speakers of Matt's truck (that had somehow gotten down onto the sand), Julia was confused.

"I thought this was just going to be the group of us?" she asked Brian as he linked their hands together, walking barefoot through the cold sand toward the gathering. From the way Natalie described it, it was supposed to be a small group of them, not as many as there were.

"We decided to do things a little differently this time, since it'll be our last," Brian answered, looking over to her with a grin. Nodding in response, Julia let her eyes run over students from school. Some faces she didn't recognize, but others she did: they were students that she and her 'friends' had mocked many-a-time before. Now she knew she'd get to see what they were really like. The night actually seemed rather promising. Though the fact that she'd be with Brian all night was promising in its own right.

Arriving at the truck in the sand, Julia and Brian noticed Matt and Kita sitting in the bed of it, though it was a bit hard to not notice them, considering their lips were fused together.

"Yo, Matt, gimme two beers," Brian said through a laugh, taking the two cans handed to him while Matt never broke the kiss. Julia found herself nearly blushing at the fact that they were doing that right in front of her and everyone else, not caring who saw.

"Here," Brian said, popping open one of the cans and handing it to his girl. Julia smiled, thanking him before taking a sip. "Oh!" he suddenly exclaimed, looking over Julia's shoulder, his eyes lighting up. Giving her his attention, he kissed her quickly on the lips. "I'll be back in a minute," he said, barely waiting for Julia to answer before he took off. "Jimmy!" she heard him call out, glancing over her shoulder to see him practically tackle a tall, lanky guy with an explosion of blonde hair atop his head.

Smiling at the look of joy on Brian's face as he conversed with his friend, Julia felt happy. She liked that Brian wasn't afraid to leave her alone for awhile so he could see a friend who, had she been able to guess by his reaction, he hadn't seen in awhile.

Turning back to the fire, Julia slowly began to walk around it, sipping casually at her beer as she watched the attendants of the party enjoying themselves. She was content with where she was as well; no one was paying attention to her. For the first time in a long time, Julia wasn't the center of attention, something she'd come to grow tired of as the months passed on. Sometimes, before the switch, Julia had found herself secretly wishing she could just be a face in the crowd.

Hearing loud laughter from off in the dark, Julia looked toward the ocean. Some of the party goers were actually braving the water, whether they be fully clothed or stark naked. She herself laughed at their antics.

And as she walked, alone in the crowd of people, slowly making her way around the bonfire, Julia began to wonder what Natalie was doing at that moment. Surely the game had already ended. She must have been at Julia's house, curled up on the couch watching a movie or something. She certainly wasn't having as good of a time as Julia was, she was certain of that. And then she began to feel...remorse? Shame? Mostly at the fact that Julia was in Natalie's rightful place, and in the past few days had been having the time of her life. Julia knew from her own experiences that what Natalie was going through was no picnic.

A partial grin of irony passed over Julia's lips, eyes immerged in the fire as she thought back on her old life. She'd give anything for things to stay the way they were, right now. But she knew it couldn't be, and with a sigh looked up. Her heart jolted, for there across the bonfire, eyes boring hard into her, was Kassandra Blanc. If Julia didn't know any better, it was as if the girl was following her...

"Hey," Julia heard in her ear, the voice similar to a purr as hands made their way to her hips. She knew instantly it was Brian -- she could smell the cologne he wore that was growing familiar to her -- and his arrival had broken the sudden trance Julia's gone under upon seeing Kassandra across the way.

Turning to him, Julia smiled, catching the way his eyes seemed to nearly glow in the light of the fire.

"Hi," she answered, arms going around his neck, keeping hold of her nearly empty beer can as she leaned up to kiss Brian.

"You're not mad I ditched you just now, are you?" Brian asked quietly, searching her eyes. "You looked a little sad when I found you." Smiling once more, Julia shook her head.

"Of course not. You wanted to go see Jimmy, it's not a big deal," she assured him, catching Brian's smile before she stole it with yet another kiss, nipping his lip as she pulled away.

"Okay, good."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Hell yeah, that is my girl!" Brian hollered, whistling afterward as Julia danced near the fire. The more she drank, the more carefree she got, and it came to the point where she didn't care how sensually she was dancing in front of people she didn't know. All she cared was that a song had come on, and while she didn't know what it was, it had a good danceable backbeat, and the bass on the radio of Matt's truck was turned up so much that she could feel it pumping through her body.

Julia just smirked, gazing at her audience through half-lidded eyes and when she met Brian's lust-filled gaze, tingles shot down through her. Had she been in the right state of mind, she'd probably not be envisioning the steamy scenes going through her head just from a mere glance at him. She'd have felt wrong, would have know it was wrong, because Brian technically belonged to another girl. Julia just happened to be occupying the body for the time being.

Licking her lips, Julia glided her way over to Brian, enjoying the way he seemed to devour her with his eyes. Slowly she slunk her arms up around his neck, puckering her lips for a kiss, which Brian quickly granted.

"I think someone needs to be cooled off," he growled in her ear, and Julia bit her lip before squealing, feeling her center of gravity being thrown off as Brian picked her up. Effortlessly, it seemed, he threw her over his shoulder, and Julia had to control herself before she ended up slapping his ass.

"What are you doing, babe?" she asked between giggles.

"Taking you for a dip," Brian answered with a smirk, though Julia couldn’t see it, and made his way away from the bonfire and toward the ocean.

"What?!" Julia shouted, eyes going wide as she processed what Brian meant. Not really wanting to get wet, she began to try and wiggle her way out of his grip. "Let me down!"

Feet already in the surf, Brian smiled and took a few more steps in before complying with her wishes. "Sure thing, beautiful," he laughed, pulling her down from his shoulder until he was cradling her body. And with a bit of force great enough to launch Julia but enough to keep her safe, Brian threw her. Hitting the water, Julia quickly went under, coming to the surface only seconds later, coughing and spitting water from her mouth.

Julia wiped her eyes, not caring that the makeup she'd applied earlier that day was probably smudging, or worse. Quickly she pushed the stringy, black hair from her face to see Brian laughing.

"You jerk!" she playfully yelled, wading through the thigh-high water toward him, who tried to escape. Grabbing him by the back pocket of his jeans, Julia pulled him back as hard as she could; she was surprised when Brian actually lost his balance and fell, ass first, into the water.

Leaning down to Brian as he laughed, Julia kneeled in front of him.

"I didn't think you'd actually go down," she giggled.

"I didn't think you were going to pull me," he answered, laughing as well. "Come here," Brian smiled, beckoning his girlfriend toward him, and she complied. Still lightly laughing, he slid his thumbs under Julia's eyes and tried to wipe away the running mascara as best as he could.

"We're getting carried away," he then announced, cradling her face in his hands. "I think it's time we went home."

Nodding her head in agreement, Julia let Brian pull her to her feet, both of them moving toward dry land.

"Ssh! Everyone's sleeping," Brian whispered, trying not to laugh as his girlfriend stumbled clumsily through her own house. Upon arrival, Brian had promised to help Julia up to Natalie's bedroom, though only he knew of the ulterior motive included. He didn't know exactly how the plan would pan out, but he decided he'd let the cards fall where they may.

"I'm not talking loud," Julia giggled as Brian helped her up the stairs and to the room she'd been staying in for nearly a week. Once the door was closed, Brian quieted her with a crushing kiss. Julia's eyes slipped shut as all thoughts fled from her brain. Tangling her fingers in his hair, she moaned into the kiss, letting Brian's tongue roll and press against her own as he backed her toward the bed. Knowing where the scene would most indefinitely lead didn't bother Julia for once. For the first time in her life, she wanted to give her whole self to another person, and it just so happened that Brian was the one. Despite the fact that she was practically living a lie for the past five days, it was the realest she'd ever felt in her entire life. And she thought...she actually really loved Brian. It was a feeling unlike any other she'd ever had toward another human being.

Which was why she didn't hesitate and her heart pounded in an entirely good way when both she and Brian were bare to each other on the bed.

Her breathing came in short gasps as Brian's kisses trailed from her lips, down her jaw, over the hard muscles of her neck to the valley of her breasts. She moaned, fingers digging through his hair as she physically ached for him. She could tell by the way his fingers deftly moved to the meeting of her thighs to give her exquisite torture that Brian and Natalie had to have done this before, so the daunting, nagging feeling in the back of Julia's head that she would soon be in pain slowly slipped away, allowing her to fully enjoy Brian's presence.

She couldn't believe she was about to do this. Brian wouldn't know the difference, but once it was over with Julia knew she'd feel some sort of remorse for getting so attached, for letting it get so far, for not stopping it before it had a chance to begin.

Julia's fingers gripped hard at the hot, tanned skin of Brian's back, her neck straining as he breath caught in her throat; Brian had slowly slipped inside her, teeth clamping onto the skin of her shoulder, and the feeling was indescribable. The way his hard member filled her, the way she fit into Brian's arms, the way the touch of his lips sent shocks through her body...all of it felt right to her.

Slowly Brian rolled his hips against hers, creating a slow, steady motion against his lover. Moments like these, when he was cradled between his lover's thighs, were moments he lived for. Because Brian knew from the day he'd met her that Natalie was the one for him -- there as no one else he'd ever need. Ever.

Losing her breath in a moan that turned to a gasp, Julia felt tears prick her eyes. Brian had kept the same steady pace he'd started with, but the way he kissed her and looked deep into her eyes, like he really cared, was almost breaking her heart in two, because she knew she could never have this. And then Julia cursed herself for falling for the most unlikely of characters. When she and Natalie switched back, if they ever did, this night and this moment would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Catching the tears glistening and sliding from the corners of the hazel-green eyes he could easily get lost in, Brian faltered, brows furrowing. His pace slowed until he came to a stop, almost moaning at the heat engulfing his body as he did so.

"Baby...Natalie...what's wrong?" he whispered, bringing a hand up to brush a few strands of hair from her face.

Finally letting loose Julia sniffled, turning her head to look away from Brian's caring eyes. It was of no use, though, because he easily turned her head back to look at him.

"It's just that..." Julia started, trying to put what she felt into words. She couldn't do it.

"What is it?" Brian pressed. "You haven't cried like this since our first time. Did I hurt you?" He knew that couldn't be it, though.

"No," Julia smiled through her tears. "It's just...I'm now finally realizing how perfect you really are. And I--I love you so much it hurts."

And she meant every word of it.