Back to You

But they had used each other to satisfy a need for the past few weeks. And then he had ended it.

And she slapped him. As if he had wronged her. As if she didn’t know exactly what their situation had been about. As if she didn’t basically set the terms of it herself.

Michael grit his teeth again. It took everything he had in him not to knock her on her ass. Who did she think she was? How dare she put her hands on him, in front of a room full of people, no less? He didn’t take that shit from anyone.

But she was a girl, and so he had to satisfy himself by grabbing a bottle of Jack from his mother’s stash downstairs and drinking the afternoon away.

A few minutes later, Del heard the faint sounds of a car pulling up outside, followed by the sound of a door closing gently, and he smiled.

Of course she’d come.

She was there in the cafeteria. She saw it all unfold.

Michael laughed humorlessly, shaking his head as he took another swig from the bottle.

By the time the track on his CD player changed to the next song, he heard the light footsteps on the stairs, and then his door cracked open slowly as she peeked her head in.

“There she is,” he said with a grin, his voice tinged with alcohol. “I knew you’d come.”

She opened the door with a sad smile. “And I knew you’d be drunk,” she sighed, closing the door softly behind her.

“Well, I guess we’re pretty predictable, aren’t we, Red,” he said, swirling the contents of the bottle in his hand.

“Well, we have done this dance a few times,” she said, nudging him with her knee as she reached him. “Don’t you ever get tired of dating girls like that? You know how it ends.”

Del rested his head back on the bed, looking up at her as he shrugged indifferently.

She sighed, folding her arms over her chest. “So, do I officially have my friend back?”

Del pulled his brow together. “What does that mean?” he asked, and Lauren shrugged.

“It’s just…this was a bad one. I hardly got to see you or talk to you when you were with her.”

“Oh,” Del said, looking down at the bottle and against the couchck you to suddenly feeling like shit. He hadn’t meant to neglect her at all, but now that she pointed it out, he had been spending most of his time with Tanya. Not that he preferred her company, but what she offered him was always enough to draw him away. “Sorry about that.”

“The other girls you hung out with…they just kind of ignored me. But she really didn’t like me, did she?”

Del shrugged dismissively. “Of course she didn’t.”

For a second, Lauren almost looked hurt. “But she doesn’t even know me.”

“She didn’t have to. She was insecure. And a bitch,” he added as an afterthought, taking another swig from the bottle.

“But you dated her.”

“Yeah,” Del said after he had swallowed. “I guess you can say that.”

A beat of silence passed before he heard her soft voice. “Why?”

Del smiled acerbically. “Come on, Red.”

Lauren rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Well, whatever,” she said as she dropped down onto the floor beside him and leaned back against his bed, and Del felt himself move toward her automatically, drawn to her warmth and the familiar, soothing scent of her hair. “Let that be a lesson to you,” she said. “You should start dating girls for other reasons besides the fact that they put out.”

He laughed out loud as he rested his head on her shoulder and closed his eyes. This was exactly what he needed.

“Yeah, I know. Because all the nice girls are just lining up to be with a guy like me.”

For a second, he thought he felt her stiffen beside him, but he couldn’t be sure.

“I still don’t get what I ever did to her,” Lauren mumbled, and Del smiled. For some reason, he found it amusing that she would be bothered by what someone like Tanya thought of her, since Tanya wasn’t even worthy of breathing the same air as Lauren.

“You didn’t do anything to her. You’re female, and you’re the most important person in my life. Girls like her aren’t used to feeling like they have competition, that’s all.”

This time Del was sure he felt her stiffen next to him, although he wasn’t sure why. He brought the bottle to his lips, taking another sip. Did she really not understand why another girl might see her as a threat? “And I mean…look at you,” he added nonchalantly, the alcohol in his system making him cavalier.

“Look at me?” she echoed with genuine confusion.

“Come on, Red. We’ve gone over this. You’re not as invisible as you think you are. Do you think guys don’t notice you? That their girls don’t notice them noticing you?”

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?” he asked.

“Patronizing me,” she said, her voice soft.

Del lifted his head slightly, looking at her. “I’m being serious.”

“You’re drunk.”

“And you’re intimidating.”

Lauren scoffed before she pushed him off her shoulder with a roll of her eyes. “Now I know you’re drunk.”

“Hey,” he said, his expression taken aback. “I’m serious.” He reached for her and pulled her back so he could rest { display: block; text-indent: 5%; font-size: 0.88rem; margin-top: leasha his head on her shoulder again. He hated that she didn’t see herself clearly, and he was suddenly overcome with the need for her to hear what he was saying, to believe it. “You’re smart, you’re beautiful, you’re classy… that in itself is intimidating as hell, but then you’re incredibly sweet on top of that. It’s sort of like the ‘girl next door’ fantasy. But it’s more than that.”

Del turned his head slightly, looking up at her profile. She was staring straight ahead, blinking quickly, and he watched her throat bob as she swallowed. It was obvious that what he was saying was making her uncomfortable, but he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

“Because as nice as you are, a guy still knows he’ll have to work to win you over, you know? He knows he’ll have to impress you…he’ll have to earn your respect. It’s intimidating as hell,” he added with a laugh. “Even after being friends with you all this time, sometimes you still intimidate me.”

She turned her head to look at him, and Del heard her breath catch at his proximity. He watched her eyes flicker back and forth between his, and then her lips parted as if she were about to speak, but seconds passed and no words came.

Before he could think about consequences, before he could even think about what he was doing, he lifted his chin, closing the small distance between them and pressing his lips to hers.

Part of him expected her to freeze up. Another part of him expected her to pull away from him in shock or disapproval. Or maybe perhaps she’d follow Tanya’s example and give him his second slap of the day.

But instead she leaned into him, instantly shaping her mouth around his.

Del felt his heart quicken in his chest at her reaction, and he reached behind him, blindly putting the bottle on the floor before he brought his hand back up and slid it beneath her hair. The way she was kissing him only served to provoke him, and he cupped his hand around the back of her neck and pulled her further into the kiss.

As soon as he did, he felt her lips part as her tongue entered his mouth, and all sense of restraint or coherency left him in a rush. Somewhere in the back of his hazy mind, he knew he shouldn’t be doing this, knew he had just crossed a line, yet he deepened the kiss with a sense of urgency, shifting his body closer to hers.

Suddenly he felt her leg come over his hips as she moved to straddle his lap, and Del forced himself to stifle a groan.

She brought her hands to his face then, tilting it up so she could kiss him more freely, and he allowed her to, relishing the way her tongue felt against his; gentle but determined, and mind-numbingly sensual.

His head started to spin with the taste of her, with the feeling of her weight on his lap, and he couldn’t think anymore. He didn’t want to. He just wanted to lose himself in what was suddenly happening.