by S. E. Rose
I already have shampoo in my hair, and we quickly switch places so that I can rinse off, but now she’s looking at me, and by me, I mean Ben. He is impressive.
“So, you like Benjamin Franklin, do you?” I ask her.
Meg's eyes shoot to mine and her face turns red.
“You still fucking call your dick Ben Franklin?” she asks, remembering my nickname for my penis because I thought Ben Franklin was awesome for his whole “key and lightning bolt” experiment.
“Yep.” I glance down between her legs. “I have to say, Megalicious actually might be the most fitting pussy name ever.”
She swats at my chest. “I cannot believe you remember that.”
I laugh again. “Dude, I remember all our conversations. Every. Single. One.” Her face goes from dark pink to bright red because I guarantee she is now remembering one of three conversations we had as middle schoolers. The first was a promise to marry each other if we weren’t dating anyone when we graduated college. The second one was being each other’s first, for everything. Oops, on my part for not being a virgin. And the third was naming each other’s private parts.
“Come on, Megabyte, let’s go get food,” I state, changing the subject. She lets me rinse off and we quickly dress.
Once dressed, she pokes her head out of her room and glances around, motioning for me to follow her. Putting her finger to her lips, she starts down the stairs.
“Meg? Is that you?” Stella’s voice calls out from another room.
Before I know what’s happening, I’m being yanked down the stairs and out the front door. “Uh, bye. We’ll talk later. Maybe we’ll do breakfast another day,” she says in a rush before shutting the door on my face. I want to pound on the door and make her open it, but I also don’t want to get her kicked out of her house. I know how the house moms can be and most have a strict “no boys” policy. Shaking my head, I walk back to my apartment as I attempt to sort out my thoughts. Megan and I just turned a major corner in our relationship. Now, if only I can keep us where we are.
Chapter Fifteen
Megan
It’s been a little over forty-eight hours since Clark spent the night. He missed our class yesterday but has been playing coy with why he wasn’t there. Tomorrow we have our internship. I’m both freaking out about seeing him and wishing I could come up with some lame excuse to visit his apartment. Stella figured out he was here and demanded to know if I lost my V-card. She’s the only person who knows that I’m a virgin, well, other than Clark. Although considering my twenty-four-seven demeanor of dorkiness, I’m sure others have their suspicions.
Clark and I have had a running text conversation since he left. I scroll through it.
Clark: I’m glad I got in that fight with Anthony. I’ve missed you, Megladon.
Me: That was close. Stella almost caught you in here.
Clark: (eye-rolling emoji) She wouldn’t tell on me or you.
Me: True. But she would have most definitely freaked out and that would have alerted the others.
Clark: OK, now that I can see happening.
Me: Hey, did you do the reading for Swill’s class?
Clark: Define “reading”? And you still owe me a breakfast.
Me: You are a jackass.
Clark: I have to miss class anyhow.
Me: Why?
Clark: Superhero shit.
Me: Right.
Clark: (winking emoji)
Me: You are so frustrating.
Clark: That’s why you like me…again.
Me: Whatever.
Clark: So, you do like me.
Me: I’m sorry. Am I talking to middle school Clark or adult Clark?
Clark: Come on over and I’ll show you.
Me: Ahhh. Middle school Clark.
Clark: (sticking-tongue-out emoji)
Me: Oh wait, my bad. Hello there, elementary school Clarkie.
Clark: Really? Clarkie?
Me: (laughing emoji)
Clark: What did I miss in Swill’s class?
Me: A pop quiz that’s fifty percent of our grade.
Clark: What did I actually miss?
Me: A visit from the head of NASA who gave us all jobs.
Clark: (eye-rolling emoji) Are you seriously going to make me ask Clay?
Me: Maybe…
Clark: Still waiting.
Me: Fine, he just went over the last assignment and gave a lecture on chapter six.
Clark: We should go out tonight and do cool adult things.
Me: Isn’t that an oxymoron?
Clark: What? Going out and tonight?
Me: Cool and adult.
Clark: Stick with me, kid. I’ll show you cool.
Me: (scared emoji)
Clark: For someone who is so anti-social, you really know your emojis.
Me: (middle-finger emoji)
Clark: (clapping emoji) (graduation-cap emoji)
Me: What do you want to do?
Clark: Cool adult things. Did you not get my text?
Me: OMG! You are so frustrating!
Clark: Yes! I’m winning at life, then.
Me: You’re winning at something.
Clark: I’ll come by at eight.
Me: Eight? Isn’t that late.
Clark: Oh sorry, do you need to ask your mom since it’s a school night and all.
Me: (middle-finger emoji) I’ll see you at eight, asshat.
Clark: Later, gator.
I look at my clock. It’s nearly eight. The front doorbell buzzes and I leap off my bed. I hear someone open it and close it and then voices downstairs as I shut my bedroom door.
“It’s for you, Megan!” Kendra’s voice carries up the stairs.
I hurry down and find her leaning against the wall inspecting Clark.
“Hey,” I say to him as I reach the bottom stair.
He looks me up and down. I suddenly feel self-conscious. “Come on, we got plans,” he says as he holds out his hand.
I take it and look at Kendra over my shoulder. She is visibly swooning and gives me a little wave as we leave.
“Where are we going?” I ask as we walk down the tree-lined street.
“First, we need food,” he states.
“OK.”
He turns two corners and walks up to Kay’s Café. “Wait here,” he commands. I stand against the wall and he emerges after a minute carrying a brown sack.
“Now we are ready,” he declares.
“For what exactly?”
“You’ll see,” he states. I follow him as we walk toward campus. He walks down some stairs near the old amphitheater and into a small garden. I’ve passed it many times, but I’ve never really looked around before. Little lights are lining the pathways and several benches sit at various points surrounded by flowers. I breathe in the scent of hydrangeas and roses. When we reach the center there is a small grassy area. A blanket is laid out and there is a bottle of wine and two glasses.
“What’s all this?” I ask.
He grins. “Pledges set it up for us.”
“You made poor freshmen do this like slave labor?” I ask.
He laughs. “They didn’t mind. Besides, it beats what we had to do as pledges.”
He motions for me to take a seat and I do as he unpacks the brown sack and lays out sandwiches and chips.
“Not exactly four-star, but I figured it would be fun to do things like the old days.” He motions toward the other side of the grassy area that is slightly darker without the dim lights of the pathway.
I squint. “Is that…a telescope?”
He nods.
I look back at him and smile. “OK, you win. That’s pretty fucking cool.”
He pours us both wine and we raise our cups.
I decide to make a toast. “To…old friends, who somehow found each other again.”
He looks at me and winks. “To the girl next door and the boy who always liked her.”
He doesn’t look away as he clinks his glass against mine and take
s a long sip. I watch his Adam’s apple bob as the drink goes down his throat. I find myself swallowing before the liquid even enters my mouth.
“So, tell me about ‘adult Meg,’” he says.
I laugh but decide to humor him. I launch into what I’ve been up to over the past few years. He interjects with his own stories. By the time we finish our meal, it’s almost ten and I feel like I’ve caught up on his life. It feels good to know all the things that I’ve missed. We use the telescope to find Saturn and its moons, just like old times.
“OK, time for the second part of the evening,” he says as he grabs my hand and hauls me toward some bushes next to Lexington Hall. “You need to live a little,” he states as he begins pulling his shirt over his head.
“What are you doing?” I hiss, looking around to see if anyone is coming.
“Going streaking,” he replies while removing his shoes.
“Are you crazy? What if the campus police catch you?”
He shrugs. “Worse things could happen.”
“Like what?”
“Are you serious? Like, dying of cancer or being in a car accident, or failing out of school. Trust me, we would not be the first nor the last people to get caught streaking the quad,” he says as he pulls his pants and underwear down.
I try not to look at the physical perfection that is Clark Moore without clothes. He puts his hands behind his head and grins. “Enjoying the show?” he asks as he thrusts his pelvis.
I slap his chest. “Grow the fuck up, Superman.”
He glances down and palms his dick. “I’d say that I’m pretty grown up, wouldn’t you?”
I slap my forehead. “Oh. My. God. You are insane. You have completely lost your fucking mind.”
“Nah. I just know how to live a little. And quite frankly, Miss I’m-Turning-Coal-Into-Diamonds-Because-I-Am-Too-Uptight, you could learn a little from me.”
“Whatever.”
“I double-dog dare you,” he teases, leaning in so the whites of his eyes are illuminated by the dim lamplight nearby.
“Clark, for the love of God. We are not eight years old. Do you really think that will work on me?”
“Yep. Triple-dog dare you. Come on, don’t be such a pansy. Strip, Lennox.”
I groan because something about him calling me a pansy is pressing my buttons. I pull off my clothes and toss them next to his. “OK, now what?” I ask as I hug my naked chest.
He grabs my hand. “Now, we streak.”
Before I know what’s happening, he’s pulled me out from behind the bushes. We start running down the path across the quad. A few students see us and laugh and holler as we zigzag across the wide-open fields of grass. There’s nowhere to hide.
I realize as we run that it’s sort of liberating. I feel a smile spread across my face as the wind whips through my hair. I let a laugh escape as Clark tugs on my hand and starts to head back the way we came.
I pull my hand loose and spin in a circle with my hands in the air. “This is fun,” I admit.
He chuckles and pulls me against him, planting a kiss on my lips. “I like this side of Megladon.”
“Hey!” a voice calls out from across the quad.
I see a security officer’s flashlight shining toward us and I take off sprinting with Clark in tow.
“Stop!” the voice yells.
“Faster,” Clark says laughing as we reach Lexington Hall. We both scoop up our clothes and keep running around the building until we reach a small enclave. We tuck ourselves inside and start to dress. We’re just about dressed when I hear the voice.
“I’m checking over here,” the man says.
“Shit, sit,” Clark demands as he pushes me onto a nearby bench. “So, Professor Swill’s final is going to be the hardest.”
“Excuse me, have you two seen anyone running past here?” the security guard asks as he shines the light in our direction.
We both shake our heads.
“OK, you should probably get going,” he says, glancing around us. I tuck my naked feet under me in hopes he doesn’t see that my shoes are off.
“Will do, sir,” Clark says as he stands and holds out a hand for me.
The guard leaves, and I let out a deep breath. “Shit, that was close.”
Clark bursts out laughing. “You should have seen your face, Megabyte. I thought you were going to shit your pants.”
I give him a little shove. “Fuck off, Michael Myers. We almost got caught.”
He glares at me. “Really, that nickname?”
I smirk. “What? Does it…bother you?” I ask as I take a step toward him so that my chest is pressed against his. He looks down at me.
“Maybe,” he confesses as he leans down so our mouths are nearly touching and his nose presses alongside mine.
“What are you going to do about that?” I ask, my voice low as I find myself wanting him more and more with each second that passes.
“You want me to punish you?” he asks, and I know he’s smirking. Jackass.
“You couldn’t punish a fly.”
“Do you…double-dog dare me?” he inquires with a raised eyebrow.
“I triple-dog dare you.”
I’m hoping he kisses me because I really, really want to kiss him again, but no sooner do the words leave my mouth than he swoops down and picks me up under my knees and tosses me over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?” I yell.
“Punishing you,” he declares as he slaps my ass.
“Clark!”
“Shhhh. We are going home now,” he states, and just like that, he carries me two blocks to his apartment.
Chapter Sixteen
Clark
I admit I sort of like her over my shoulder. By the time I kick open my apartment door and walk us into my bedroom, she’s resigned to being carried and no longer putting on a show.
“Are you going to put me down now?” she asks.
I slap her ass again, mostly because I like doing it. Then I grasp it in my palm. She has the perfect ass. I’ve never really been an ass man, but shit, I’ve suddenly become one.
I slowly lower her to the floor. When she gets her bearings, she looks up at me. “Was that really necessary?”
I smirk. “Yes, it was.”
She rolls her eyes. “You are so…barbaric!”
My smirk turns into a full grin. “Why thank you.”
“Not a compliment.”
I wrap my arms around her and pull her against me. She doesn’t protest, which I take as a good sign. My actions may have been a little over the top, but she’s still here with me, feeling this moment with me.
“I wanted to do something special for you,” I say.
She looks around the room for the first time since we came in here. Her mouth falls open. I may have had the pledges light some candles and spread some rose petals.
Her eyes come back to meet mine. “You…did all this for me?” she whispers.
I frown. “Of course, I did.”
“But…why?” she asks, her eyes wide with confusion.
I cup her jaw in my hand. “Megan, why wouldn’t I want to do this for you?”
I see her eyes glaze over and she looks down at her feet. “Because…I’m just me and we’ve only been hanging out for a few weeks now. I…” She trails off as I push her head up, forcing her to look at me.
“It’s not just about the last few weeks for me, bunny. It’s about a lifetime with you. You’ve been my best friend since…we could walk. You were there for me my entire childhood. Hell, even after we stopped being friends, you still did nice things when you thought I wasn’t looking.”
She raises an eyebrow.
“I know that it was you that left me the X-box game I wanted when we graduated high school,” I state.
“How?” she asks.
I grin. “Kylie saw you walk across the street and leave it on the porch.”
She groans. “I swear, I don’t know how anyone gets away with anything in the
Moore clan.”
“Well, we don’t, but that’s beside the point. I’ve wanted you ever since we kissed at that stupid spin the bottle party in eighth grade,” I admit.
Her eyes nearly pop out of her head at that admission. “You have?”
I nod as I run my thumb along the silky, smooth skin of her cheek. “I don’t know what changed between us after that, but you pushed me away and it nearly killed me.”
A tear escapes her eye and I brush it away with my thumb.
“I…it scared me,” she admits in a low voice. “It scared me how much I wanted you after that kiss. It felt wrong. I didn’t want to lose you, but I also wasn’t ready to feel all those things.”
I look into her eyes. “Are you ready now?” I ask.
She bites her lip and I use my thumb to pull it free, watching it plump from the pressure of her teeth.
“I won’t do anything that you don’t want to do, Megan,” I declare.
Her eyes glisten as she reaches out and strokes the side of my face. I close my eyes at the feeling of her gentle touch.
“I…” She trails off and swallows. “I never stopped caring about you, Clark.”
My eyes pop open at her declaration. And when my gaze meets hers, I know she’s speaking the truth, and it slays me. We wasted so much fucking time being mad at each other when really, we just wanted to be loved by the other. We were such fools, such total fucking idiots.
“I never stopped caring about you either, bunny. Not for a fucking second. And I never will,” I confess as I bring my lips down to hers.
Our kiss is slow at first, gentle, two lovers reconnecting, confirming their love for one another. But then, the dam breaks, and a flood of feelings courses through my veins. I deepen our kiss. She moans into my mouth as my hands start to move toward her top. Together, we strip in between kisses, as though our lips can only disconnect for finite moments before they must find the other’s once again.
When we’re finally naked, our souls and bodies bared to each other, we step back, panting.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
She nods.
“Then come here, because I want to make this perfect for you.”
She steps forward and looks up at me. “You already did.”
I smile at her as I help her onto my bed. “Lie down and let me make you feel good,” I order as I slowly worship her body. I start at her neck and then kiss and suck on each nipple until she’s squirming beneath me.
