“Yeah, you will.” He smiles. She sticks her tongue out at him and I watch as Xia slides the package off the table, placing it in her lap. Fuck yes.
“Only one more game for me,” Roman interjects. “I have work early tomorrow morning, then practice starts at one thirty.” He looks over at King, who nods.
“Coach has a stick up his ass about last season, so we already know he's gonna grill us hard this year during summer practice. You lucked out, Jordan.”
“Nah, I'm gonna miss you guys,” I say as I reach for the die in the center of the table. I need this one game. Someone should have landed on it by now. I pray and roll the die. Because it's paper, it flops heavily onto the table in a corner and swiftly lands, deciding our fate. I smile.
“Okay, suck-n-blow,” Roman says.
“I hate this game,” Cherry says, picking up a card from a small stack in the middle of the table. “It's so unsanitary.”
“Don't worry, we don't have any bugs,” Roman says, gripping the timer and tapping it on the table to make sure all the sand has dropped to the bottom. We all line up, and I make sure to stand next to Xia. Roman flips the timer and we take turns passing the card using only our lips.
King made the mistake of standing next to Roman, and as he pulls the card from Leslie's lips, King shouts, “You better hold on to it, because if your lips touch mine, I swear to God.” He moves forward to grab the card. We all laugh as we watch the guys awkwardly pass the card between each other. King gets the card and passes it to Cherry, who then passes it to me. Xia is smiling as I turn to her holding the card against my lips, then I lean forward.
Just as her lips touch the card, I blow it away, forcing our mouths to meet. Everybody laughs, but I take the moment to wrap my arms around her, pulling her tight against me. She opens her mouth and my tongue slips in and our kiss deepens.
It takes a second.
Cherry gasps.
“What the fuck?” Roman shouts. We don’t stop. Her lips are soft as she hungrily kisses me, her hands running up my back. Laughing, I pull away and place my forehead on hers. She smiles up at me, then I reach down, gripping her at the waist and throw her over my shoulder.
“Well, guys,” I smack her ass. She squeals, laughing loudly. “Y'all have a good night. Apparently I got some spanking to do.” I grin, turn, and begin walking toward the living room. The looks on their faces are a mix of disbelief and shock. Cherry has her hand covering her lips. King's mouth is gaped open with his eyes as wide as saucers. Roman just smiles and nods at us. I turn to walk toward the living room, but Xia stops me.
“Wait, I need that,” she says, reaching toward the table. I move backwards and she grabs the small gift bag and two beers.
The crew is still silent as we exit the room. Or at least, until I turn the corner toward the stairs.
“ Umm… You guys want to get your asses back in here?” Cherry says excitedly. I laugh, placing Xia back down on her feet and we turn toward the group hand in hand.
“What the hell, guys? Seriously, you two?” Cherry says.
“Yeah.” Xia smiles, looking up at me. I lean forward and kiss her again.
“Fuck. I mean, it makes total fucking sense… but wow,” King says, shock still playing in his eyes.
“About damn time,” Roman shouts.
King and Cherry look over to Roman. “You knew?”
“I might have had a hunch,” he says.
“It just happened.” I say. “But it should have happened a long fucking time ago.”
16
XIA
I can't believe I let him talk me into wearing this thing today. I shift in my seat as my eyes glide over the classroom. It’s the first day of class . The summer term starts exactly three weeks after spring term ends, but it sure as hell didn’t feel long enough. There are so many people in here. A lot more than I expected. Professor Satchi stands in the center of the room, talking about the benefits that robotics have had in different industries around the world, and how efficient they've been. But I can't keep my eyes off Jordan. He sits at a desk flipping through a folder looking just amazing. I look back at Satchi and try to dial into his words. But I can see Jordan looking over at me and I'm so anxious. At any moment he could hit the button and I don’t know how I'm gonna react.
My phone vibrates with an incoming message. It’s from Lucas again, which makes the third message since our date.
Lucas: Hey. Kyle told me Shana left for the summer. If you get bored, give me a call.
I type a quick response, telling him I’ll be taking care of my sick mother this weekend, then close the message. I feel like a horrible person, but I have no idea what to say to him. Our date was amazing, but instead of being honest with him about my current situation, I just keep brushing him off praying he takes the hint.
Shaking myself out of my thoughts, I look up at Satchi who spreads his arms as he starts asking questions of the class.
“Name one invention you've seen over the last ten years that has made a big impact on your life. Go.” He starts pointing at random students. Jordan must hate me because at this moment I feel the humming buzz of the vibrator between my legs. Gasping, I hold on to my desk as the delicious sensations move through my core. He looks up at me and grins, then busies himself again. Man, I hope Satchi doesn't call on me.
One by one students give answers, mentioning everything from movie rentals to the fast food industry. I was hoping he would be satisfied with just a few answers, but as he continues around the small room, I realized he's going to get to me soon. My hips rock in my seat as I ride the wave, desperately wishing I could touch myself.
I look over at Jordan, who's now watching me with a darkness in his eyes and then suddenly the vibrating becomes more intense. My breathing deepens as I squeeze my thighs, trying not to make a sound. Jordan isn't looking away and I can't take my eyes off him. It’s so hard to sit still. My body naturally wants to rock. I squeeze my legs tightly together and shift to one side. The girl next to me glances in my direction. I wonder if she notices the sweat forming on my forehead. I'm going to come right in the middle of class and embarrass myself. God, I'm gonna kill Jordan. He's not looking at me now, busying himself once again with his tasks before standing, placing his hands on his hips and looking at the students. Squeezing my legs together just makes it more intense, so I try to relax my hips and place my back flat against the chair. I'm squeezing the desk hard and fighting to keep my breathing regulated. My chest moves up and down as I take long, slow breaths, watching Jordan as he looks at me with a heat in his eyes that I'm just now getting so damn familiar with. I'm on fire. I can feel the wetness as it pools between my legs. I don't know how much longer I can take this.
“Miss Teller?” My attention snaps away from Jordan and I see Satchi standing four feet away. “What do you think? How has engineering and robotics changed things in the last few years?”
“Well,” I say, my voice shaky and rough, “I'd say…”
My eyes close as the vibration intensifies. God. Dropping my eyes to my lap, I grit my teeth and fight to think straight. Everyone's watching. Everyone. And I’m going to murder him. “Sorry, my head is killing me,” I say, attempting to play it off.