"I have to take this," I told Stuart quietly, showing Stuart the caller-id. He nodded cautiously, doing an awful job at hiding his nerves. I stepped away from the table, making Clayton and Benjamin start to yell. "I'm sorry! It's um, my brother calling! Something must be wrong."
"Here, uh. Natalie! Natalie, why don't you take Ann's spot for now," Stuart suggested to keep his friends from questioning anything and to keep the attention off of me. He kept looking back at me as I ran towards the house, eager to get into a quiet environment.
I barged into the vacant bathroom, locking the door behind me. My heart was pounding heavily against my chest as my shaky hands lifted my phone to my ear, anxious to find out what the doctor was going to say. "He-Hello?" I stuttered.
"Hello Miss McKenzie. I'm sorry to call you at such a bad time. I hope we aren't interrupting anything. But due to your status, we have you on a special priority list to let you know things as soon as we find them out, which just so happened to be on New Year's Eve, a few minutes before midnight. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience," The woman spoke softly and formally.
My breathing became heavy. I brought my fingers up to my lips, chewing on my nails rapidly as if it could distract me. "It's alright. Does this mean you know my results?"
"Yes, dear," She responded in a perfectly calm tone. She breathed in a deep inhale before letting out her deep breath that I could hear, only adding to my anticipation. "Miss McKenzie, you are not pregnant. The morning after pill was effective."
I nearly dropped the phone out of my hands.
I wasn't entirely sure how to respond. I was instantly relieved that I wouldn't have to worry about being a mother or my life changing or having to take care of an infant. It was a miracle that I wasn't going to be a mum anytime soon. But I was strangely a little bummed that I wasn't pregnant with Stuart's baby.
"Okay. That's great to hear. Thank you," I murmured before hanging up.
I let out a heavy sigh, approaching Bradley's sink. I gripped onto the side of the counter, staring deeply at my own reflection in the mirror. I felt myself smile as all of my previous worries melted away. I no longer had to feel so guilty or scared or nervous. I was going to be just fine.
The commotion outside of the bathroom grew louder than before. Shoes clicked against the floors as people started to scurry around. Next, I distinctly heard someone yell, "One minute!"
I soon realized that it was almost midnight, which meant the next year would be starting very soon. I sprinted out of the bathroom, heading right towards the ping pong table where Stuart was still standing. Natalie, I think, was right in front of him, probably thinking about how she was going to get lucky and get to have Stuart as her New Year's kiss. But then he caught sight of me and instantly shooed her away.
"Stuart!" I screamed as I ran up to him, placing my hands on his forearms. His eyes scanned my face while I panted for breath, gripping onto him for balance. "Stuart, I'm not pregnant."
"You're not?" He repeated, his eyebrows knitting together as a puzzled expression etched across his features.
"No," I said quickly, as the countdown towards zero grew louder.
"Well that's great! We weren't ready to be parents," Stuart stated, making me nod my head in agreement. "We can always try again though, baby," He added seductively, staring down at me in lust.
Stuart lifted me up, setting my butt down onto the beer pong table we were just playing at a few minutes ago. He spread my legs apart so he could stand in between them, and I slyly locked my legs behind his waist, bringing our bodies even closer together.
"Eight, seven, six...," The party-goers chanted.
Stuart grinned down at me, his head moving closer and closer to my own as his palms settled onto my hips. "I promise I'm going to spend all of 2016 with you," He whispered, his lips hovering over my own.
"Three, two, one!"
"Happy New Year's, Annabel," Stuart mumbled, instantly pulling my body tighter as he kissed me with more passion than passion fruit itself.
I might not be pregnant. And I might not know what is going to come next for Stuart and I. But I do know that if I spent this upcoming year with moments as incredible as this one, I was going to have the best year I have ever endured.
Chapter 63
Annabel
My eyelids fluttered open, feeling the mascara that still lingered on my lashes from the night before stick to the bags that were clinging underneath my eyes. My entire body felt sore with each one of my muscles aching. I was immediately confused by my surroundings, but soon remembered we had all crashed in Bradley's man cave after the party.
I also realized my head was not laying on a squishy pillow. It was resting on Stuart's butt.
I giggled softly to myself, trying to carefully climb off of his tall body without waking him up, or without stepping on Benjamin who was sprawled out on his carpeted floor. Stuart groaned loudly as my knee accidentally dug into his back when I tried to crawl over him. "Sorry," I whispered, hoping not to wake anyone else up.
Stuart kept his head pressed into the arm of the sofa, yet still managed to rapidly grasp my wrist and tug me back onto the couch. I fell back on top of him, and Stuart, with his eyes still shut, managed to tug me closer to the tiny spot on the couch next to him. "Where are you going?" He muttered, his morning voice clearly more raspy than usually.
I pushed some of his hair out of his sleepy face, inspecting every detail of him. He appeared to be just as tired as I was- the five of us had stayed up pretty late together after all- and his cheeks were flushed with a bright shade of red. I'm assuming the discoloration had to do with his face being squashed against a leather couch all night.
"I was going to go take a shower," I explained, keeping my voice as low as possible. I could still faintly hear Clayton snoring, and I didn't want to ruin his deep sleep that he was finally getting. "I smell like toe fungus."
"You're disgusting," Stuart whined, finally allowing his eyelids to pry open and adjust to the late morning sunlight. He groaned again. "It's so early. I feel like shit. Why did you have to wake me up?"
I frowned, feeling guilt creep over me. "I didn't mean to. I just didn't want to stink up the place."
Stuart sent a lazy smile in my direction. He lifted up his arm that was not wrapped around my waist and tilted his head to the side, getting a whiff of his own armpit. He scrunched his nose up afterward. "Looks like I need to take a shower too."
"I called it first," I protested, jutting my bottom lip out.
Stuart raised one of his eyebrows. He brought his face even closer to mine than it already was on this cramped little couch, and let his lips drag along my face until they reached my ear. "Maybe we should just shower together."
I slapped his chest. "Stuart!" I whisper-hissed. "We're at Bradley's house! All of your band-mates are going to be right downstairs!"
His nonchalant expression did not falter. He simply smirked at me, shrugging his shoulders without a care in the world. "Your point?"
"The point is that's rude and I don't want one of them to hear us," I stated, still attempting to keep my voice down.
Stuart chuckled at me, as if he found this entire situation incredibly casual and amusing. "Babe, we literally had sex when my entire family was downstairs just a few weeks ago."
"And look what happened," I said, referencing the pregnancy scare that was just resolved not too long ago.
"Well I brought a condom with me. One that's not expired this time. And you're on the pill again," Stuart persuaded. "We don't even have to have sex though. We can just shower together to save time. You've never showered here before. You probably need some help figuring out how to work it, right Ann?"
I rolled my eyes at him, trying to bite back a smile. "I just don't want them to get like weirded out."
"They're not going to care. Oh my God," Stuart complained, tilting his head, which was probably pounding from a hangover headache, backwards and making his jawline seem even sharper. My ultimate weakness. And
he wasn't even aware he was doing it. "Ann, they're asleep right now. Can we please just go take a shower before they wake up? We can start off our 2016 right. And I promise I'll even make you breakfast afterward."
"Alright, you know the way to my heart," I declared, carefully leaping off of his body and heading towards the staircase. I couldn't deny that showering with Stuart did sound inviting, I was just a little weary of one of the boys embarrassing us about it afterward.
Stuart slowly followed behind me, walking in a sluggish and lethargic manner, with his shoulders slumped over slightly. I motioned for him to move quicker up the stairs. I was immensely paranoid that one of them was going to wake up and have the urge to use the upstairs bathroom and I didn't want his slow stroll to blow our cover.
I stepped inside of the bathroom, closing the door shut as soon as Stuart crept in. He smiled at me, placing his hands on my hips. "You know, waking up this early in the morning with a killer hangover isn't so bad when it's with you. Even if you do smell like toe fungus."
"Charming," I replied quizzically, kissing the top of his nose. Stuart didn't respond, he merely grasped the bottle of mouth-wash that was resting on the pristine counter and dropped it into my hands. "What? Does my breath stink too?"
"I know you, Ann. Your morning breath is almost as bad as mine. So I'm not making out with you until you rinse," Stuart ordered. He sent me an innocent grin afterward. "Sorry, baby. I love you, but, I still get grossed out."
I placed my hand on his chest, giving it a gentle push. "Who said I even wanted to kiss you?"
He cocked his head to the side, a smirk overtaking his features. "Anna, please. You know you just can't get enough of me."
I scoffed, taking a step closer to him. "Oh really? Who's the one who begged me to let us shower together?" I questioned in my best intimidating, and sultry voice. I kept my eyes locked on his, but I could still see his jawline clench at my words, his little façade slowly diminishing. "So let's play a little game, yeah? I'll drink this mouthwash to cure you of your little germ fears, but let's see how long you'll last in there without kissing me. While I'm naked. And dripping wet."
Stuart's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed hard. His eyes visibly widened. "Annabel," He whined. "That's not fair!"
I raised my eyebrows at him, enjoying the control I wasn't usually accustomed with. I unscrewed the plastic cap of the mouthwash bottle, water-falling some of the green liquid into my mouth. Stuart stared deeply at me as I swished it around before spitting it out into the sink, while he simply pouted.
"Come on, let's have some fun. We used to always play games together when we were little, baby," I teased, pinching his chubby cheeks. "You better drink some of that mouthwash too, though. You're gonna cave so fast."
Stuart exchanged his brooding stare for a peppy smile, taking the bottle out of my grip. "No I won't. We're just taking a shower together. Nothing sexual at all about bathing."
"Good. Also nothing sexual at all about clothing. So would you mind helping me unzip this dress?" I asked innocently, batting my eyelashes at him.
Stuart gargled the mouth wash in his mouth, nearly choking at my request. He shook his head at me. "You've got to be kidding me," Stuart complained, smacking his hands against the counter-top. "This is so stupid. Why are we even doing this?"
I lifted up his hands, guiding them towards my back. "Well you got to make fun of me for my bad breath. So now I get to tease you for your lack of self-control. Come on, Stu. I think the zipper is stuck."
He began to unzip the dress, letting out a heavy sigh. His cold fingers dragged across my entire back, causing goosebumps to rise at his touch. The dress slipped off of my shoulders with ease, exposing me to the cold breeze from the air-conditioning, and leaving the dress in a pool at the bottom of my feet.
"What happens if I lose?" Stuart immediately blurted out, his eyes scanning over my half-nude body.
I spun around, reaching behind me to unclasp my bra. I let it fall to my feet as well. "Nothing will happen if you lose. I'm not that mean. It's just a game. Might as well spice things up, right?"
Stuart tried to hide his smile. "You're such a pain, you know that?" He pulled on the collar of his t-shirt, peeling it off of his body, and revealing his toned stomach that I would easily drool over. "However, if I win, you have to help me make breakfast for everyone."
I nodded my head, taking a step closer to him and reaching for the button of his skintight jeans. "Okay. That's fair," I agreed, unzipping his pants and pulling them down to his feet. My eyes travelled down towards his boxers, where there was already a noticeable tent that had been pitched. I giggled. "You already have a boner?"
He gripped onto my hips, yanking my body closer to him. "Well how do you expect me not to when you are talking like that?"
"Like what?" I repeated, tilting my head to the side.
He swallowed again, appearing very nervous. "Like that! You're acting all sexy and confident and you're already really hot and your boobs are on complete display and I'm just a guy, Ann. This is so hard."
I patted his crotch. "Yeah, we know."
Stuart surprisingly laughed at that, moving his hands down to my butt to slide my underwear down my bare legs. I retreated away from him to turn on the water, as he took the time to pull his own underwear down. I winked at him.
"Okay, can we just get in there already?" Stuart asked impatiently, pushing the shower curtain back so he could step inside. He held his palm out for me to grab, escorting me inside the shower.
The water was felt strikingly hot against my body. It pelted against my bare skin. Steam was rising from the warm water, smothering the entire bathroom with its cloud-like appearance and clinging onto the marble tiles that lined the walls of the shower.
Stuart and I could not take our eyes off of each other. Neither of us said a word, we merely scanned each other's bodies like a price gun. I viewed the way the rushing water ran down Stuart's body, making his muscles seem to glisten as the water droplets stuck to them.
"It's getting pretty steamy in here," I joked, motioning towards the visible steam, while actually referencing the sexual tension that was clearly evident.
Stuart's brown eyes transformed from a look of pure lust, to slightly amused. He let out a slight laugh, shaking his head at my dumb attempt to be funny. His hand extended out to grasp the bottle of shower gel. "May I?"
I felt my cheeks flush to a shade of pink. "You may," I mumbled, watching him dispense some of the apple scented gel into his calloused palms.
He cautiously brought his hands closer to me. Stuart slowly lathered my nude body with the gel, making heat rise with his tender touch. He started at my shoulders, slowly massaging them, before dragging his soap-coated palms down my chest, making sure to cup each breast in his hands. Stuart continued down my stomach and my back, sliding down even further until he reached my butt, giving it a tight squeeze. I could barely breathe.
"You are so beautiful," Stuart said in a low tone, never breaking eye contact with me. He ran his hands over my body one more time, running them along my sides until he touched my armpits, making me squeal and jump away.
"And ticklish," I replied, making us both laugh. I took the bottle out of shower gel out of his hands and squirted some of it out. I started at his broad shoulders as well, working the body-wash into his skin while simultaneously kneading his strong muscles. "You know, this is kind of nice."
"What? Making me have to swallow my pride just to kiss you?" Stuart teased, his lips curving into a small smile as I travelled further down his body.
I rubbed in a circular motion down his back, making a quiet moan escape his mouth. I moved back to his stomach, feeling the outline of his faint six pack protruding from his skin and the raised hills and valleys that were formed from each muscle on his abs. "No, just being here together. We haven't taken a shower together since the night before you broke up with me. And before that was the time you spit toothpaste on my neck and I made you clean it off."
Stuart grinned at the memory, leaning his body closer to me. "We've come a long way since then," Stuart declared. "I always thought us rooming together would end up with one of us murdering the other. I never in a million years expected to fall in love like this."
"That makes two of us," I admitted, standing on my tippy toes to hoist down the shower head. I held the coiled cord in my hands, holding it out to spray Stuart with it and rinse off all of the excess gel. He opened his mouth in his signature goofy manner, and I chuckled before spraying some of the water in it, as if it was the nozzle to a soda fountain.
Stuart took the shower head out of my hands, motioning for me to spin around so that he could rinse off my backside. I'm sure it was just another excuse to stare at my butt though, and this was confirmed when he gave it a nice slap.
I rolled my eyes at him, while he just laughed, and stole the shower head away from him. I propped it back up onto the holder, lining it up so the water would fall directly over where the two of us stood, and so I could get a perfect view of Stuart's body dripping with water.
His wet hair clung to his forehead, the water making each lock lengthen out so it nearly touched his bushy eyebrows. I pushed it off to the side, letting my hands linger on his cheeks and having my thumb skim across his prominent cheekbone. "I really love you, Stu. This has been a crazy few weeks having you back in my life again and with the whole pregnancy scare and everything. But it was all worth it. I can't picture myself ever showering with anyone other than you. Actually, I can't picture my life at all with any other guy. I know I usually leave the cheesy stuff for you to say, but I'm so in love, Stuart. 2015 was a great year for us, but I'm even more excited to see what the future holds."
"You've turned me into such a sap, Anna," Stuart responded, his cheeks blushing bright red. "I love you even more. I can promise you right now that I'm never going to make the mistake of letting you go ever again. I can't be without my best friend. Now, can I please kiss you already?"
Raunchy Roommate Page 37
