This Love

Lights Out

She instantly went to the sour gummi worms, the prettiest smile on her face. "You're the best! Thank you! I'd hug you, but I'm sweaty as fuck."

The idea of her bare torso pressed against him, arms around him, sweat soaked skin sticking to his, made his pants just a little tighter. He swallowed hard, scratching at the back of his neck. "N-no, don't worry. I'm sweaty too."

"Strip then. Those jeans gotta be hot as fuck," she stated, grabbing one of the candles and taking it towards the kitchen to grab some bowls for the snacks. "Your laundry bag is in the spare room, by the way! Rita gave it to me when I grabbed mine."

  "Oh shit. Totally forgot," he said, grabbing another candle. "Think I got some basketball shorts in there."

He meandered back to the spare room using the candle to light his way. His laundry bag was on the bed, and he rifled through it, stripping off his pants and pulling on the shorts. He reached for a wife beater and thought better of it; it was too hot for that shit. He tucked the joint he had in his pocket behind his ear before walking back out to the living room. She stopped when she saw him, her dark eyes flitting over his body for a moment before she looked away. He smirked; had she just checked him out? "Where's Raj?" he asked, to remind himself that she was taken.

"Still studying at the library, I guess," she answered on a shrug. "Didn't have a phone remember? I have no idea where he's at."

"Probably stuck there. 'm guessin' the trains are down," Juice stated, grabbing one of the bowls of snacks and the bottle of tequila before sitting on the ground, his back against the couch. It was way too humid to be sitting on her leather couch. "Got a lighter?"

Angela smirked as she set candles down on the coffee table by him. "Dude. The candles have flames," she said, sitting by him and snatching the joint from between his fingers. She dropped down beside him, grabbing the nearest candle and holding the tip of the joint to it. 

He chuckled, grabbing the bowl of Cheetos and shoving a few in his mouth. Taking the nearest candle, he squinted as he studied the image on it. "Who's this?"

She looked at him like he was insane. "I dunno. A saint?"

"You don't know who it is?"

"Why would I know who it is?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Juice shrugged a shoulder. "You knew St. Thomas Aquaman."

"Aquinas," she corrected with a laugh. "Lemme see."

He held out the candle to her, and she studied it for a moment, her eyes narrowed in the cutest way. "That is Saint Solo. Patron saint of people who drive too fast and scruffy, good-looking men."

He knew she was fucking with him and fought the urge to laugh. Shaking his head, he set it down and grabbed another. "So I'm guessing this is Saint Artoo, patron saint of short people, mechanics, and people who save lives?"

"That's him. He goes with Saint Threepio. Patron saint of know-it-alls and bilinguals."

He laughed loudly at that one, loving her Star Wars references. She giggled right with him, her arm against his arm as she leaned into him a little bit. They went back and forth for awhile, saying the most outlandish ridiculous shit to one up each other while passing a bottle of tequila and a joint between them.

At some point they ended up laying on their sides, facing each other. The candlelight illuminated her face in the best way, and he could see the flame mirrored in her dark eyes. She was absolutely beautiful. "There's no way there's a patron saint of abstinence," he stated, shaking his head at her.

She smacked him again. "That one is real!"

"Bullshit!"

"She is!" she insisted, giggling a little. "My aunt gave me one of her prayer cards in high school! Made me keep it in my wallet at all times!"

"Did it work?"

Angela raised her eyebrow at him, shaking her head. "No, no it did not. I didn't get pregnant though, so maybe a little."

He wrinkled his nose, chuckling softly. "Too much information," he muttered, his brain on another track now. All he could think about was what it would be like to kiss her, let his hands roam all over her body.

"You asked," she stated. He must've had a strange expression on his face because she asked, "What?"

You're beautiful. "Nothin'," he replied on a shrug.

"Don't lie to me, Ortiz," she replied, reaching out to tap his nose with her finger. He wrinkled his nose in response which only made her smile bigger. "What the fuck are you thinking about?"

He searched his brain for what lie to tell her. No way could he say that he was thinking about what it would feel like to close the distance between them, put his mouth on hers, let his hand roam over the curves of her body, use his tongue to taste her. "Nothin', Angel!"

She smacked his arm with her hand, scoffing at him as she rolled her eyes. The act somehow brought her in even closer to him.  Their faces were close now. So close he could feel her breath against his face. He lifted a hand to tuck a stray hair behind her ear. He saw her eyes dart from his gaze to his lips, her lips parting just slightly.  Electricity crackled between them for just a moment. Instinctually, he leaned in, about to capture her mouth with his when she rolled onto her back, turning her head to look up at the ceiling. A soft, awkward laugh escaped her hold, though he wasn't quite sure what she was laughing about. "You're a goof," she said as if that explained anything.

"Yeah," he breathed, just as the lights flickered on, shattering the moment. He felt the little rejection of her move like a stab to the gut. He knew she was with someone. Knew he'd taken it a step too far when he'd touched her like that. He sat up abruptly, needing to get out of there before he got too carried away. "Power's on. I should...go."

She sat up, brows furrowed in confusion. "What?"

"Yeah, I gotta change and go...do somethin'," he said, getting to his feet. He rushed back to the spare room, racing to put his clothes back on.

He walked back out to find her still sitting on the ground, legs crossed. "Is everything okay?"

"Y-yeah. I just...need to go," he said, almost knocking over a prayer candle as he tripped over his feet to get to the door. "Make sure to blow out all the candles and shit. Don't want to set the place on fire."

Angela was looking at him like he was crazy. "You're sure you're okay?"

He nodded his head a little too emphatically. "Uh-huh. Yeah. Totally. Fine. Just really high and crossfaded, and I think I just need some air, but I'll see you later."

He heard her call after him, but ignored it as he closed the door behind him. Breathing in deeply, he tried to get a hold of his emotions. She didn't like him the way he liked her. They were friends. Just friends. And he'd almost fucked it all up by kissing her! He needed to get ahold of himself before he destroyed their friendship. He needed time, space, to cool off, or he was going to do something he really regretted and ruin the one of the best things he had going for him in his life. He knew it would hurt to stay away from her for any amount of time, but it would be worth it in the long run if it meant it'd be easier to be near her. Just a few days, he told himself. A few days and everything would go back to normal.

~'~'~'~'~
I've got some pretty serious family stuff happening lately so any good vibes y'all could throw me would be very much appreciated!!
Any requests or prompts are welcome as well!!
I need a LOT of distractions so anything to take my brain off what's happening would be amazing!
🖤