by Lux Carmine
I smiled and nodded and shrugged my shoulders as I looked around to all of them. "Sorry guys it's true, I am grounded. But the good news is that my aunt is still letting me be in the drama club. So there's that."
Billy grumbled. "So Danny Zucko is the only one here who gets to kiss you? That doesn't really sound like the deal we'd agreed on." He stepped aside and shoved Steven in his shoulder. "I can't believe you ruined it for all of us."
Steven held up his hands innocently. "Look guys, if it didn't happen this time it would've happened soon. Did you talk to Melissa this morning?" he asked, looking at me as he rubbed his shoulder.
"Yeah. ...about that... I kind of told her that me dating Jason was practice for the play."
"You what?" Jason asked, frowning as he gripped the straps of his backpack so tightly that his knuckles had turned white.
"I'm sorry." I'd been saying that a lot of that lately. "She knew that I was publicly flirting with you and she saw Steven in my bedroom... What was I supposed to say? That I'm dating five guys and she needs to mind her own business?"
"Okay, we all need to calm down," Kevin said, his eyes bouncing around the parking lot after my outburst. "If Ruby keeps shouting across the parking lot that she's dating all of us someone is bound to hear it."
"We need to have lunch together. Billy, secure us a table in the library at lunchtime. We will all meet there and talk about the next steps. We can't let this tear us apart." I blew out a hot breath and shook my head. "You guys have no idea how much I want to kiss you right now. I have to go before I do it. See you at lunch!"
At lunch we talked in length about the new plan. Since Jason did get to spend the most amount of time with me during drama club we all agreed that we would have to openly break up. That meant no more walking with him in the halls while holding hands, no more kissing against my locker. No more under the lab table touches in Biology.
"I don't know," Jason said, rubbing his forehead in distress. "This is becoming really complicated."
I sighed and put my head down on the library table. I felt the tears stinging my eyes even as I heard whispers zinging across the table.
Mike's hand came to rest on my back. Slowly it started to move in large circles. It was the best thing in the world he could have done to help soothe me.
"Maybe we should just take a break from figuring out the school thing. We have bigger problems. Like how are we all going to see Ruby?"
"There are five days in a week and five of us."
Billy snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure no one will notice that schedule."
Schedule. I lifted my head, my eyes wide. "I've got it! Each of you will take a day of the week. Drama club will eat into the time spent with me but we can rotate so that everyone's time is even! And on the days we don't have Drama Club we can go hang out at my house or your house in case my aunt would come home early. This could work."
They all mulled it over and after a beat Steven sighed. "It's worth a shot. Who has today?" he asked, looking around. "No volunteers because I'll--"
"Mine," Mike said. "You had plenty of time last night."
"Fair enough," he chuckled softly.
"In the meantime we just act like we have been?" Jason asked. I knew what he was really asking. Did this mean we could still PDA in school?
The four other guys looked at each other and nodded. "Sure. I'm cool with that."
"Me too."
"Yeah."
"Sure."
Jason's eyes looked at me. "And you? Are you cool with it?"
I smiled and shrugged, acting coy. "Maybe."
He smiled right back and I melted a little.
After lunch I felt a little better. I wasn't freaking out and giving everyone the side eye because I thought they might be looking at me. Instead I was holding hands with Jason, walking down the halls. It felt like the most natural thing in the world.
"So how much did he tell you?" I asked, curious about what the relationship was actually like between my guys.
"Did who tell what?" Jason asked, a playful grin on his lips.
I shoved him with my hip. "Steven. How much did he share about what happened?"
"Oh. Hmm." He kept me in suspense a little longer and as my own form of punishment I started to pull away from him, my fingers slowly slipping from his. "Okay!" he chuckled and pulled me close into his side. He leaned down and spoke into my hair. "He told me enough to know that I cannot wait to experience it with you too."
I felt the blush color my cheeks. "Aren't you jealous at all?"
He pulled away enough to look in my eyes. "No. He loves you as much I do. Why would I be jealous?"
My heart stopped beating for a split second. It wouldn't have been the worst way to die. "He loves me?" I asked, staring at him, counting on him to guide me down the hallways around the teenage bodies.
He grinned again. "Yeah, babe. We all do. I guess we haven't been doing a good job of showing you?" He looked away, pulling me to the left to avoid running into some gossiping cheerleaders. "We'll have to fix that."
"I mean, you don't have to."
"We do. We can't have you thinking that you're not loved. Are you a hearts and flowers kind of girl?" His eyes were back on me and I felt my heart stuttering in my chest. "No. Definitely not."
"No?" I liked hearts and flowers, maybe. I'd never been romanced before so how would I know what I liked. More importantly, how would they know what I liked?
"Nah."
"Well, what kind of girl am I?"
He kissed the tip of my nose. "If you don't know then I'm certainly not going to spoil the surprise."
"But what if you get it wrong?"
"Then we'll try again. But we won't get it wrong."
I grinned. "So cocky."
He chuckled. "Cocky and self assured are two totally different things." He pulled us between two clumps of lockers and pressed me against the cool cinder block wall. I gasped but it was quickly devoured by his lips which eagerly possessed mine. As soon as my fingers found their way into his hair he pulled away. His eyes were dark, his eyelids hooded as he stared down into my flushed face. "Sitting next to you for the next fifty minutes without touching you is going to be pure torture, just like always." He closed his eyes and rolled his shoulders back. Clearing his throat he opened his eyes and smiled. He took my hand and tugged me back into the hallway traffic. "Let's do this."
"Wait, you can't just leave me hanging like that."
"We have drama club after school. You won't have to wait long."
Little did he know that the next fifty minutes were among the longest of my life.
16
Billy clapped his hands sarcastically as we finished up our school lunch scene. "That was....terrible! Ruby, you need more feeling. The love of your life is gone! You probably won't ever see him again! And you, Zucko-wanna be, where is the dancing? You can't just sit there and sing, you need to move!"
"Right," Jason said and cleared his throat, looking seriously at Billy, nodding his head.
I tightened my pony tail and cleared my throat, ready to take it from the top but Billy told us to take ten. I smiled at the other girls and was about to tell them what a good job they'd done when a firm hand grabbed onto my elbow and pulled me offstage. "Hey, what's wrong?"
When we were off stage and safely locked away in the dressing room, hidden from other eyes, Jason lifted me up and set me down on the table that was tucked against one wall of the room. "So many things are wrong, but I'm going to fix them," he said, his voice thick with desire. My legs wrapped around his waist and his lips came crushing down onto mine. I tried my best to be quiet but it felt so good that a moan escaped from my lips and filled the room. One of his hands held steady to my hip and the other explored. My hands went to his stomach, his hard abs clenched and vibrated as I curled my fingernails against him.
I could feel him against my center, he was hard, his body ready for anything and everything I might want. He rocked his hips, rubbing himself against my sensi
tive spot. His lips muffled my moans while at the same time ratcheting up all the sensations that had my panties drenched.
"Ruby, God, you are perfect. I don't deserve you." He whispered his sweet words against my hot neck, and I groaned. Greedy me, I wanted to hear more, feel more, I wanted to be in this world with him forever.
"More," I pleaded. And magically somehow he knew exactly what I wanted and needed.
"I love you, Ruby. I couldn't stand up and sing because hearing you and seeing you over there on the stage was making me so fucking hard. I just...need you." Both of our foreheads were breaking out with sweat, our breaths coming in pants as we moved against one another. The feeling of climbing and nearly reaching the top over took my body and I buried my teeth into his shoulder, trying to hold in my moan. The pleasure was overwhelming and I burst, a moan ripping from my throat as my body tightened and convulsed. He groaned, shuddered and dropped his head to my shoulder.
After a few moments he pressed a kiss to my neck. "That was really bad," he said.
My eyes widened and I felt my heart pounding in my chest. "It was? What did I do wrong?"
He was silent for a minute and then I realized he was laughing. I pressed my nose against his neck before giving it a little bite. "What is so funny?"
He pulled back and grinned. "You were perfect, Ruby. The bad part is that I just came in my jeans."
"So did I. I mean...in my panties."
"Yeah, but yours you can hide a little easier..."
"I don't think that's true."
"We'll see." He pressed a kiss to my head and stepped back. He helped me off the table and smoothed my hair back from my face. "Your hair looks like you..." He shook his head, chuckling to himself.
"Like I what?" I turned around and looked at my hair. It was sticking up in places a little bit.
"It looked like you've just been fucked."
I felt a blush on my cheeks. "I mean, not totally inaccurate." I looked at him in the mirror and pointed to his own hair. "Look at yours. It's not much better." He ducked down and started to fix his hair.
"You're right. I'll have to do something with it in the bathroom when I ditch my boxers."
"Ditch your boxers? Like...put them in your book bag?"
He laughed. "No, Ruby. I'm going to throw them away. I'll just get another pair. It's not cool to walk around with crusty boxers in your backpack."
"Oh. Do you want me to buy you a new pair?"
He came close and wrapped me up in his arms and pressed a kiss to my lips. "No. It was totally worth it."
When Jason and I took our places once more on the stage Mike leaned over and whispered into Billy's ear. Billy nodded and clapped his hands. "Ruby, you don't look so good. You're going to sit this one out and your understudy, Clara, will step in."
I was confused but stepped off the stage anyway. I'm sure Billy had a good reason to take me off of it.
The music started and I moved over towards the theater seats. Mike came up beside me and grabbed my hand, quickly pulling me towards the back of the darkened theater. I giggled as he tugged me to the middle of the back row and sat me on his lap. Where my relationship with Jason was intense, my relationship with Steven serious and my relationship with Billy was laid back and fun, my relationship with Mike was just sweet. His kisses were always tender, his touch always soft, as if I were a fragile doll he was charged with caring for. Or a goddess who he was afraid would run away if he handled too recklessly.
"How was your day?" he asked, pressing a kiss to my neck.
"Aside from the first half of it being marked with the thought that I'd ruined everything? It was good," I said, my back melting against his chest as his arms came around me. "How was your day?"
"I can't think of anything else but you. Here with me. Right now," he whispered against my neck, sending shivers down my spine.
"Do you know what would make my day even better?" I asked.
"What's that?"
I spread my thighs just a little as I took his hand and slid it under my dress, between my legs.
"Oh...that makes two of us. Are you sure?"
I nodded. Mike was magical with his touch. The rest of drama club rehearsal was spent in a sex haze with Mike. He teased me for the whole of forty five minutes, bringing me up and back down, making me gasp, giggle and beg. And just as the last bars of the song on stage were playing he finally made my body sing.
I came straight home after drama club. I was sure my aunt would be waiting for me when I got home, but the only light on was upstairs in Melissa's room. I crept up the stairs and as I passed Melissa's door I paused and listened. When I did not hear anything, I knocked on her door softly.
“Hey. Are you busy?”
She closed her laptop and smiled at me as I entered her room. “No, just wasting time on social media. What's up?”
I could tell by the look on her face that the social media she was checking out had something to do with me. “What were you looking at?” The guilty look across her face and I sighed heavily. “I thought you would have been above that, Melissa.”
“Ruby I am, I just... how is it they have pictures of you online with every single one of the Lone Wolves?”
“We hang out together.”
“I hang out with Joey's friend sometimes but that doesn't mean that I kiss them.”
I chewed on the inside of my lip as I contemplated what to say next. Did I tell her what was really going on? It would be a relief to share it with someone else. And we were cousins, I didn't think she would ex-communicate me from her life if I admitted to be in a non-traditional relationship. “You do kiss boys that you're dating though.”
She nodded still looking at me expectantly, still hoping for an explanation. “Yeah…”
“Well, I do the same thing. I kissed my boyfriends.”
“You kissed your... wait did you say boyfriends with an S?”
I nodded and waited for her to say something else. Nothing came she was just staring at me with wide eyes.
“Boyfriends? How does that even happen? Are you seeing them all separately and they don't know about each other?”
I shook my head and protectively wrapped my arms around myself. “No. They all know about each other. It was their idea.”
“And you just went along with this? You're okay with it? They're not like...taking advantage of you, right?”
“Of course not. I mean, if five hot guys wanted you to be their girlfriend would you say no?”
“Uhh… I think I would have to think about it.” She paused. “Yeah, no, I definitely would not say no.” She grinned and I did the same. But it fell a few seconds later. “Seriously Ruby, I feel like you're playing with fire. Aren't you afraid of getting burned?”
Was I? All this time I hadn't really worried about what the relationship might do to me. I worried about what it would do to them. I shook my head. “There's always a chance of being burned when you fall in love.”
“Love?” Her eyes widen. "Ruby, you love them? That's a strong word, don't you think?"
I smiled. Of course she wouldn't understand. "It is a strong word, yeah. Is this thing bothering you? Is anyone picking on you or anything because of it?" Suddenly I was worried that my decision might have a larger impact than I'd realized. I hadn't even stopped to consider what it might do to Melissa's reputation. Was I such a horrible, horrible person?
Melissa scoffed. "No." Another guilty look crossed her face and I felt my heart squeeze.
I nodded, understanding. "Of course. You've been keeping your distance from me at school so you wouldn't be caught up in all the drama. I get it."
"I'm sorry, Ruby. It's my senior year and I don't want to get sidetracked. But hey, if they're good for you, and it's working for you then I don't have a problem with it. My mom would have a huge problem if she knew. Lucky for us she's been so busy working trying to get that new promotion that she hasn't had much time to figure any of it out."
"Good way to think of it," I said with
a smile. We both paused as we hear a tapping on Melissa's window. She shot out of bed and went over to it, pulling back her curtain.
She grumbled to herself as she unlocked the pane and lifted it. "Hello, Kevin Pearl."
My heart hammered in my chest and it took all I had not to push her aside and smile down at him.
"Hey," I heard him say as I came closer to the window. "Is Ruby home?"
"She is. But no boys are allowed in the house after what she pulled last week. She'll meet you around back." She shut the window and then turned around. I was standing in front of her, a big grin on my face.
"I can't cover for you forever, Ruby. Make it quick," she said.
I hugged her tightly, went to my room to change into panties and a skirt and then rushed downstairs, not caring that my hair was probably a wreck too.
When I stepped out onto the back patio Kevin was there, waiting, his hands tucked into his back pockets. His eyes raked over my body as if he hadn't just seen me an hour ago. "Hey, Ruby. Do you mind that I came over? I wanted to see how you were doing."
I grinned and closed the distance between us. I wrapped him up in my arms and closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his around me too. "You're the sweetest. I'm good," I said, pulling away to look at him. He was all smiles too. "How are you?"
"I'm good."
I scraped his neck with my teeth and he chuckled. "How about now?" I purred, my voice foreign to my own ears. Where was this sexy girl coming from?
I knew.
From them, from the love they showed, from the sparks they each gave me any time they were around. I wanted to show them just as much love as they gave me.
"Better." He pulled away and gazed into my eyes, a soft smile on his lips. "But we don't have to do that right now if there is something you want to talk about..."
"What would I want to talk about?" I asked, avoiding his probing gaze. It was as if he could see inside my mind. My hands went to work trying to distract him, moving all over his chest. He stilled them with his hand, pressing them against his beating heart.
