by Rose, Ashley
"I know. I mean thanks for everything, for being my friend."
"Ah, I see, how are you doing?"
"I'm good."
"Not great?"
"I'm getting there."
"Well you keep working on it, and keep me posted."
Jaide pulled back and smiled up at him.
"So. What'll it be?" Alex gestured at the pizzas.
"How about the cheese and pepperoni pizza and the cinnamon bread sticks?"
"Coming up." He sorted through the pizza quickly, leaving Blaize holding one pizza and one smaller box. "There you go. Are you sure you don't want the rest of these?"
"I'm pretty sure."
"Alrighty, I'll distribute these to the rest of the guys." He gave her a one-armed hug and stepped out the door. "I'll see you later."
"Okay, bye, thanks again."
Alex left and Blaize set the food down on the closest desk, opening both boxes. "So you're hungry now, right?"
As soon as Jaide smelled the pizza, she got some of her appetite back. "Yeah, I could go for a slice."
"And a bread stick?"
"Sure." She sat down on the bed and he brought her a paper plate with a slice and three bread sticks. "Thanks."
She took a couple bites and then looked up at him. He still looked worried, stressed, anxious and uncomfortable. Jaide felt bad because it was mostly her fault. "So, can we go back to our conversation?"
"Sure. What did you have in mind?"
"Just that I know what I want. Like, you asked before if there was anything you could do."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"I want everything to go back to normal, like before all the drama, just normal. Is that okay?"
"Of course, of course. How about I put in a movie and we finish off this food?"
"Sounds like a plan."
The next day, Blaize and Jaide were heading back up to their room after breakfast when her phone started ringing. She pulled it out of her pocket. The little screen flashed Mason's name. "It’s Mason."
She answered the call while Blaize unlocked their door.
"Hey, Mason."
"Hey sweetheart, how are things going?"
"Good, actually great, way better than I expected. Everything seems, uh, normal. It’s nice. The guys are really great."
"That's good to hear. How’s Blaize doing? Everything working between you guys?"
"Yeah, everything is fine. He's been great, really great." She glanced at Blaize, who smiled. He knew she was talking about him.
"That's cool. So are you up to talk about this whole Parker thing?"
"What is there to talk about?"
"Well I don't know if you've been worried about it or what, but I just wanted to let you know that there is no way you are going to have a make a court appearance or anything. They are going to take whatever will land Parker the least amount of jail time and least publicity. They don't want this to get out. They are trying to sweep it all under the rug and I figured you'd be happy about that. Now he's still going to get punished and you might have to sign a few papers, but I figured you would like to stay out of it as much as possible."
"Yeah, definitely. Thanks for letting me know. I wasn't worried about it. I guess I just forgot, but yeah, I definitely don't want to do the trial thing - not again."
"I know how much you hate court rooms."
"Thanks Mason, you're a life saver."
"No problem. Can I talk to Blaize? Unless there was something else."
"Nope, thanks for calling. Here he is."
"Love you."
"Love you, too."
Jaide handed the phone to Blaize. "Hey, Mason."
Jaide got into the shower while they talked on the phone. She turned the shower on to warm up while she looked in the mirror. She had a very faint bruise near her hairline on the one side of her face. She had figured it would bruise and was glad that none of the guys had said anything. The bruise brought a quick flashback of Saturday. It overtook her mind but she got rid of it quickly and got into the shower, enjoying the hot water.
A knock sounded on the bathroom door and Jaide peeked out of the stall door. "Blaize?"
"Yep."
"It's unlocked."
He stepped into the bathroom. "Hey, want some company in there?"
She smiled. "Sure, everything okay with Mason?"
"Yep, he just wanted to make sure you were actually doing as good as you sounded on the phone." He stripped and got into the shower with her.
"Thanks." She looked up at him in the close proximity of the shower. "Thanks for everything, especially putting up with Mason."
"It's not a problem. Mason is just a concerned friend. I don't mind talking to him at all." He leaned down to kiss her quickly on the lips but Jaide pulled him closer. They hadn't kissed in a while and Jaide had almost forgotten on nice it was.
Blaize stepped back, putting as much distance between them as possible. "Uh."
"What is it?"
"It's just, I know we talked about, well we had planned today ..."
"To have sex?" Jaide filled in.
"Well yeah, but I figured that you would want to postpone it or something."
Jaide shrugged closed the space he had put between them. "That makes sense, very logical. But I'm not really feeling logical right now." She wrapped both arms around his neck and kissed him.
"You're sure? Because ..." Blaize trailed off. He took a good look at her body and let his hands roam around a little.
"I'm sure I need this. I don't want to wait anymore."
"Just let me know if…" He hesitated and looked a little worried. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't."
"Okay, but ..."
She cut him off with a kiss then pulled back. "Yeah, I know, communication, got it."
Jaide took Blaize’s hand in her own and slowly led him toward the bathroom, hoping he wouldn’t get spooked. To her surprise, Blaize allowed himself to be led without any hesitation. Closing the bathroom door behind her, Jaide turned the shower knobs until the water began to steam up the room.
Blaize leaned down, softly brushing his lips against Jaide’s as he raised her shirt over her head. A low moan escaped her lips as she lifted Blaize’s own shirt. Within seconds, the two entered the shower.
Jaide drew Blaize in closer, pulling his arms around her and kissing him hungrily. The gentleness from before was gone now. She probed his tongue with her own, pausing to gently bite his lip as she pulled away.
“Touch me,” she whispered.
Blaize didn’t hesitate. He kissed her lips, then trailed down her neck as his hands slid up her inner thighs. Gasping, Jaide reached for Blaize, taking him in her hand. Blaize couldn’t wait anymore. With one swift motion, he picked Jaide up and wrapped her around his waist as he balanced them against the shower wall. Slow movements quickly gave way to nearly frantic thrusts.
Fifteen minutes later, Jaide had her back propped against the cool tile wall of the shower. Her legs were loosely wrapped around Blaize's hips and his arms were around her, his hands supporting her.
Blaize kissed her neck languidly and smiled when she dropped her head back against the wall with a groan.
"Oh my God, Blaize. How can you even stand up with me now? Seriously."
"Conditioning at soccer practice is for more than just games, I guess."
"Well you're in better shape than I am and I didn't even do any of the work."
"You did enough." He kissed her lips and hitched her higher on his waist. "That was amazing."
"I told you it would all work out. No problems, see?"
"You were right. I feel kind of bad though."
"What? Why? That's not the best thing to say after having sex with someone, you know."
"I know. That’s not what I meant. The sex was incredible, unimaginable, and unbelievable."
"Yeah, I know. I was there." She smiled. "Back to the point."
"It's just that it was our first time together and I shou
ld have done it right. You know, like in a bed and everything."
"It felt pretty damn right to me. Beds are overrated."
"Yeah, I guess I don't feel that bad after all." He kissed her on the lips quickly. "I'm gonna set you down now, okay?"
"Yep."
He set her down carefully and made sure she was okay to stand before letting go. Jaide grabbed her shampoo and started the shower process. "This is going to be so great."
Blaize smiled. "Tell me about it. Why did we wait so long again?" he teased.
"Oh shut up. Besides, I'm glad we waited now. This felt right."
He leaned against the wall, watching her shower. "Yeah, it did, didn't it?"
Once they were both showered, they wrapped themselves in towels and left the bathroom. Jaide pretended to look through her dresser, but was looking at Blaize instead. She didn't take her eyes off of him while he sorted though some clothes, looking for something to wear. His skin was still damp and shimmering, his toned muscles even more pronounced. She easily remembered the feel of those muscles. They had been all slippery when they were in the shower and she couldn't wait to touch them again. He seemed to feel her gaze on him and he looked up.
She looked away, avoiding his gaze, then looked back.
When their gazes met, he looked away casually and then back. They finally locked eyes.
A few moments of silence stretched out before Jaide went over to the door and locked it, putting the chain lock on also.
"What did you do that for?"
"I don't feel like waiting." She came back across the room intently.
"Waiting for wh -"
She pushed him backwards onto the bed and hopped on top. "Just one more time, then we're done for the day, I promise. Well, maybe."
"Oh, okay?"
"You don't mind do you?"
He laughed. "No, of course not."
"Good."
Jaide still couldn't believe this was all happening to her. All in a few months, she had joined a real school, made some amazing friends, played on the second best soccer team in the state and, of course, fallen in love. That phrase, fallen in love.
She thought about the phrase. She didn't really understand what it meant ...fallen? What was that? How do you fall in love? She hadn't fallen for Blaize. It wasn't an overnight thing. They had gone from two strangers living together to friends, to friends-with-benefits, to boyfriend and girlfriend to finally being in love. She thought about all the drama that they had been through, the major ones being the passing of his ex-girlfriend and Jaide's entire trust issue, and she wasn't surprised to be together now. After what they had been through and the friendship they had developed, love was but a natural leap.
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