Spring Semester

by Tyler, Q. B.

  “Why are you talking to me like I did something wrong?”

  Dave puts his hands up in defense. “We’re not, but he already feels bad enough. Why are you beating a dead horse? You don’t want anything to do with him, so why are you here?”

  I’m just about to tell them both off for their fucking attitudes even if I do admire them for sticking up for Everett, when the door opens behind them.

  “What the hell is going on?” He looks from Dave to Pat to me and I take a second to look him over. Skyler was right, he does look like he’s been going through it. His facial hair had grown in a little more, which only successfully turns me into a horny mess. His hair is sticking up in a bunch of different directions and his eyes are a dull lifeless blue with bags underneath them. Now that he isn’t in his usual hoodie, hiding his physique from the world, I can see that he’s lost some weight but he’s bulked up in his arms. Fuck, he still looks good.

  “Nothing…” Dave shrugs as he slides past him and back into the house, leaving us alone with Pat.

  “Get lost,” he growls at Pat who rolls his eyes. He shoots me a look from behind Everett’s back before he closes the door.

  “Hey.”

  “Hi.”

  “You look nice…” he tells me.

  “Thank you. Can…can I come in? It’s kind of cold out here.” I pull my jacket tighter around me. Why am I so nervous? I’m never nervous around Everett.

  His eyes widen, assumedly at my expression of discomfort. “Of course, come on in.” He opens the door for me, and I walk through to see Dave and Pat watching television on the couch. They narrow their gazes at me, and Everett must catch them because he snaps, “You got a problem?”

  They both give him their middle fingers and he ushers me into the kitchen. “Are you hungry or thirsty?” he asks me as he leans against the counter.

  “No. Do we have to be here? I mean…maybe we should go to your room?” His eyebrows go up to his hairline. “I just mean…for privacy?”

  “Yeah, come on,” he tells me, and I follow him up the stairs.

  The second he closes the door behind us it feels like time stands still. I don’t miss the way his eyes roam over my body, and I can’t stop my body’s reaction to it. “Are you going somewhere?”

  I look down and shake my head. “No…well, I was thinking about going to the library later.”

  He clears his throat and looks out the window of his bedroom. A tree sits outside his window blocking the view of the last few moments of sun. “By yourself? Or is Sky going with you? Or are you, you know, just…walking around by yourself at night?” He’s nervous, and holy fuck is it cute. Under normal circumstances, the Everett Cartwright I know would be telling me that there is no fucking way I’m going to the library at night alone.

  “Or…or maybe you could come with me?” I fiddle with my purse as my eyes search his face for any signs that maybe he’d lost interest in us.

  But his eyes are light, and I see the smile in them before the one tugging at his lips. “I have a paper due Monday.”

  “Have you started?”

  He looks off to the side and blanches slightly. “I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

  “Me too,” I tell him honestly. He doesn’t say anything, so I continue. “Listen, Everett…I miss you.” I shake my head as the tears well in my eyes. “All the time. There’s been no less than a hundred things just today I’ve wanted to text you about.” I take a step towards him and he closes the gap, putting us toe to toe. “I’m scared,” I tell him. “I’m scared that we won’t be us after this and…losing us would change me, Everett. It would be one of those instances that I’d look back on at the end of my life and think, that’s where my life changed. That’s where I changed.” I take a deep breath. “We wouldn’t survive breaking up…” I chuckle. “If girls were meant to date their best friend, I would be dating Skyler.”

  His eyes light up and he raises an eyebrow. “Can I watch?” I shoot him a mocking glare and push his shoulder. He catches my arm with one and wraps his other arm around me. He leans down, running his nose down my face and I hear him inhale my skin. “God, I’ve missed you. I’m so fucking sorry, baby. For everything. Just know, that I’m never giving you up.” He pulls back and his blue eyes are burning with fire and my sex immediately reacts to it. A tingle ignites between my legs and I instantly press them together in an attempt to quell the sensation.

  “Promise?” That wasn’t what I intended to say, but it slips out on its own.

  He nods before his hands slide up my arms and to my neck, before sliding up my face and into my hair. He rubs my scalp gently, knowing how much I love that, especially when we’re in the shower, and I moan under his fingertips. “We do this, Leighton. You need to be all in. You can’t run from me at the first sign of trouble.”

  “I didn’t run…”

  “You shut me out all week.”

  We are not off to a good start. I take a step back. “Should we rehash why I felt the need to put space between us?”

  He takes a step closer. “No.” He shakes his head. “We don’t. But I don’t ever intend to be in a situation like that.”

  “Well, I won’t feel the need to shut you out then. I was all in last week, Everett.”

  He nods in understanding. “I’m all in, Leigh. You. Me. Us. This.”

  I bite my bottom lip wondering if he’s planning to seal that with a kiss, but he sits on his bed and holds his hand out for me. When I’m within arm’s reach, he pulls me onto his lap and submerges his face in my neck. “I love you.” I hum in response, letting my eyes flutter closed as his nose finds my pulse point and his tongue darts out to lick the skin. “Tell me, did you miss me, baby? Did you rub your sweet little pussy because I wasn’t around to make you scream?”

  “Fuck.” I let out a breath. “Everett…” His hand drags up my leg and settles at the apex of my thighs rubbing his fingers against the seam right over my pussy. My leggings aren’t particularly thin, but enough so that I can feel the pressure on my clit, easily.

  I feel his breath on my face. “That feel good?” My eyes shut the second he started rubbing me and when they flutter open, his piercing blue eyes are staring right at me. “Making you come is high on my list of favorite pastimes, and I haven’t done that in what feels like forever. Please, let me.”

  I believe that. When Everett and I first started messing around all those years ago, the first time he made me come, you’d think someone would have crowned him king of the fucking world. He didn’t shut up for days about it. Not to anyone else or anything, but he was so proud of the fact that he got me off.

  And to be honest, so was I. A few of my friends were starting to lose their v-cards around the same time and none of them knew what an orgasm felt like. I did, and I was having them daily.

  “Everett…” I grab his hand despite the dizzy feeling and lean forward to press my forehead to his. “I just…I think we should take this a little slower…”

  “Last time you said that, you ran,” he whispers.

  “I know, but I’m sober, and I’m telling you I want this, but I don’t want to jump back into bed yet. We know we have this insane sexual chemistry. That will never change, but I need to know that I’m in love with more than just our sex life. I need to know that I love you as more than just my best friend. We need to…” I look around the room as I struggle to explain what I mean, “date.”

  “Okay…” He trails off. “But people fuck when they’re dating usually.” He narrows his eyes, confused.

  “Yes, but not usually, night one. Okay, sometimes night one, but…ugh…” I scoff when I see the grin on his lips. “Everett, you get what I’m saying.”

  “I do. We’ll keep things PG for now.” He wraps his arms around me completely and presses a kiss to my shoulder.

  Wait, let’s not get crazy! I still want to make out. “Whoa whoa whoa.” I put a hand up. “What’s PG?”

  “Like making out?”

  “That’s n
ot PG. A kiss maybe, but I don’t think there’s tongue till PG-13.” I tap my chin as I try to recall some tween movies.

  “Sex is PG-13, babe.”

  Okay, he’s got a point. “Well…what about PG-13 with no sex?”

  His eyes widen. “What kind of bullshit movie is that?”

  “I don’t know…a fade to black one? All sex behind closed doors? I don’t know.”

  “So, I don’t see your tits?”

  “You’ve seen my tits, Everett.”

  “Not today. I feel like it’s been forever. Did you have them pierced? Did they grow?” he jokes.

  I roll my eyes at my dramatic best friend…boyfriend…best friend slash boyfriend. “They look the same.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that.” He tells me as he pulls my sweater slightly forward so he can peer down my shirt and I shiver when he licks his lips. “Still beautiful,” he mumbles.

  “Okay, so library?” If we don’t get out of here, we’re going to have sex. I’m already two seconds from ripping my clothes off and sitting on his face.

  “Yeah, if I’m in here another minute with you, I’m going to lose my fucking mind.”

  “Everett…” I can’t stop the giggle from escaping my lips as his mouth trails kisses up and down my neck.

  “What?” he mumbles against my skin, and I feel his teeth grazing my pulse point that’s flickering with desire in my neck.

  I pull back slightly and look around the private study room he all but insisted on us getting. Now I see why. The small study space is no bigger than my bedroom and Everett has basically been on top of me since we walked in. “Didn’t I say I needed to study? And aren’t we taking things slow?”

  “We are! If we weren’t, my mouth would be on your pussy and not your neck.” He tugs my hair slightly and my sex clenches.

  Fuck. Pull my hair again.

  “Everett…” I turn my face to look at him and my nose grazes his lip gently. I run my tongue over my bottom lip and his hands are on my face instantly, running his thumb over the trail my tongue made.

  “I missed you so much.” His voice is hoarse and low and it speaks to me on the most primal level. It washes over me like a warm summer rain. Seductive and erotic and making my skin tingle.

  Holy shit, is he seducing me?

  Whatever he’s doing, I want it. I want his lips on mine. I wanted his body rubbing against mine. I wanted every bit of him he’s offering up to me on a silver platter.

  My eyes trace over his features and land on his lips. “Kiss me.”

  His lips turn up slightly before he presses his mouth to mine. His tongue slides into my mouth and just like that, I’m home. He tastes familiar. Like comfort. Like home.

  He’ll always be home.

  The first two weeks of freshman year, I was so homesick. I missed my parents and my bed and my cat. I even missed my annoying little brother. All I wanted was to curl up in my mom’s arms. If it hadn’t been for Everett basically rocking me to sleep every night, I would have been on the first flight back to Arizona.

  Everett is my security blanket. He’s always made me feel safe and protected. Ever since I was nine years old.

  Why am I fighting the thought that he could be more?

  He pulls back and cocks his head to the side. “I can hear you thinking.”

  “No, you can’t.”

  “You forget we practically share a brain.”

  “Oh really? Then what am I thinking now? And more importantly, why am I not doing better in stats?” I raise an eyebrow at him and he shakes his head.

  “You’re thinking…why did I say we should take things slow? And why did this asshole put on gray sweatpants? Little slut.”

  My mouth drops open at his perfect impersonation of me. “I…why are you in gray sweatpants?” My eyes drop to his crotch on their own and then back up to his eyes that seem to be answering my question all on their own.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about?” He smiles and I turn back to my textbook.

  “Don’t touch me, you’re trying to break me, and I am trying to be strong.”

  I meant it as a joke, and I assumed he’d say something snarky in response, but the silence washes over the room instantly. I turn my gaze towards him, and his blue eyes are sad and full of shame and regret. “I would never try to break you. I know I fucked up and—”

  “Wait wait wait, I was kidding! That’s not where I was going with that! Weren’t we just making out?” I lean forward to continue, and he pulls away and shakes his head much to my surprise.

  “I know…I just…you asked me not to break you and then I did, so I guess that word just… triggered me a little.”

  “Oh.” I let out a small puff of air before turning back to my book. “Sorry.”

  He grabs my hand and pulls it into his, pressing a small kiss to the skin. I take a second to grasp his clean shaven jaw. He rarely sports any facial hair, and he’s asked me literally a million times over the years if I think he looks hotter with a beard. I always thought he was just being vain, but maybe he just wanted to look good for me. He wanted me to find him attractive. The thought hits me like a ton of bricks as I look over the man that I believed could get any girl he wanted.

  But all this time he’s only wanted me.

  “Leighton.” My eyes dart up from his jaw to meet his and I’m captivated by their color as I move into his lap to straddle him. I slide my hands up his chest to his shoulders and grind my pelvis down on him. His thick cock jerks underneath me and he stills my hips. “Is this taking it slow?” He tightens his grip and I shiver under the delicious pain shooting through me.

  I move again, despite the grip he has on me and shoot him a wicked grin. “Maybe a little faster than slow.” I wanted more and harder and faster. I know I need to make sure my heart is ready before I open my legs again but I’m crumbling under his gaze and gentle touches and sexy words. He has a power over my mind and body and heart that not only makes me feel alive but also scares the shit out of me. But I thrive on it.

  I press my lips to his and slide my tongue into his mouth as I begin to rub against him, riding him through our clothes like I would his dick. He pulls away, grabbing a fistful of my hair and latching onto my neck, teeth first. “Oh fuck,” I moan. “Oh God, Everett!” I’m trying to keep my voice down as to not alert the entire third floor of the library what’s going on in this study room, but I almost don’t care.

  His hand moves underneath my sweater and squeezes my breast through my bra. “Fuck, you drive me so crazy,” he murmurs against my skin. His lips are still sucking at my neck and I don’t need a mirror to know there’s a significant bruise forming on my skin.

  I’m still rubbing against him, his cock hard and wanting beneath me. He jerks upwards into me just as I grind down and we groan in unison. “You’re going to come, aren’t you?” he grits out, before tugging my head back to look in my eyes. His eyes are dark and full of hunger that I can feel in my clit which pulses every time he blinks.

  My panties are soaked and wedged between my lips from riding him so hard making the pleasure so intense it’s almost uncomfortable. My whole body is tightening, like a coil prepared to snap, and I feel the air leaving my lungs with each passing second.

  “Tell me you love me first.” His eyes are trained on me, his heart open and exposed as we both prepare to fall over the edge. “Before you even think of coming, I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me you love me. That you belong to me. That you want this as bad as I do. You’re guarded, I can tell. Let it down, baby, I need us to be us.”

  I shake in his arms, trying to hold off the orgasm that is no more than a beat away. He lifts me up by my arms and off of his dick and holds me there. My clit tingles as the heady feelings float away. “No! Everett!” I cry out as I try to get back into his lap.

  “Tell me,” he demands.

  “You know I do,” I cry. Actually cry. The tears spring to my eyes at the pain of being so wound up without release. “
This isn’t fair.”

  “Say it, Leigh. Say it and I’ll let your pretty pussy cream all over my lap.”

  I snap. “I love you, all right!” I grip his jaw, tears threatening to fall down my cheeks by how worked up I am in every way. “I love you so much, you possessive asshole! I want this, but I swear on all that’s holy, I’ll rip your dick off if you hurt me again.”

  He smiles. “There’s my girl.” He lets me go and I fall into his lap again. He grips my hips and our lips violently crash as we rub against each other. Harder and faster with every stroke. His teeth bite my bottom lip, sucking it into his mouth and I moan. “Come for me, baby.”

  My long lost orgasm is back instantly, as if it’s returning in response to his command. I shudder in his arms as my body succumbs to the pleasure, digging my nails into his shoulder as I float back to Earth. “You’re going to destroy my back later, aren’t you?” he growls in my ear.

  Everett and I both have a thing for marking the other, especially when we’ve been without each other for an extended period of time. It goes hand in hand with wanting his hands around my throat. With pulling my hair and biting my skin. It’s rare that Everett’s back isn’t scratched beyond belief after a particularly rough session. Once in high school, I went away to soccer camp for a month and within two hours of being back home, Everett had scratches down his back like a cat had attacked him.

  I’m about to respond to him when there’s a knock on the study room door and our eyes snap towards the noise. “If you’re not actually studying, can you come out? Go somewhere else and do that.” A guy that sounds like his balls haven’t dropped, much less hit puberty commands from the other side. “I’m going to open the door.”

  “You’ll regret it,” Everett booms, and I bite my lip as the tingles return at his alpha-like comment.

  “Let’s just go, I’m hungry anyway,” I whisper.

  His eyes snap to mine with a glint in them. “For…me?”

  “No, for food.” I roll my eyes.

  “And maybe also me?”

  “You wish.” I give him a pointed glare as I get off his lap, knowing that he didn’t come but I certainly did. I shoot him a look filled with mischief. “Did you think I was going to make it that easy for you?”