Put Up Or Shut Up

The Girl's A Straight Up Hustler

(Lipstick has a way of leaving more than just a mark on my sheets, coloring my senses cherry red; at least for this week...)

It had been a few months since the Cory incident, and there had been no signs of him since Hagerstown but Alex and the guys had still kept me close, not really letting me go anywhere alone. I didn't mind, because I was never really alone before this, but nighttime was the worst because that was when I was most vulnerable. I would lie awake in bed at night, scared to go to sleep incase I saw him in my dreams, and the only time I could sleep was when Alex was with me.

The first time I fell asleep after seeing Cory was the second to last night of the 'tour' when we were in Rockville and I was exhausted from not sleeping. I must have fallen asleep as soon as we got to the motel, because we arrived there at 10AM and I woke up from my nightmare at six with Alex's arms around me. I must have been screaming and moving around a lot in my sleep, because Alex's arms were wrapped tightly around me and he was trying hard to sooth me. I could see the pain in his eyes, so I agreed to see the guidance consellor when we got home during one of our study periods, and he would come with me because he refused to let me 'handle this alone'. Yeah, the sessions did help a bit, and I was prescribed sleeping pills but I was still scared he would come back. Because of everything that had happened, my mom had a meeting with Alex's parents to see what could be done to help us both, as Alex was having trouble sleeping because he was worrying about me, so in the end it was decided that on alternate nights I would either stay with Alex at his, or he would stay over at ours.

By Rian Alex's seventeenth birthday party, we were both sleeping without night-terrors but we still refused to spend the nights apart until Cory was found, because it seemed he had just...disappeared. No one knew where he was, he disappeared one night after going to a house party and no one had seen him since.

We'd all agreed on just going to the cinema to watch Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, and then crash back at Rian's and just hang and talk, because I was aprehensive about going to house parties incase he turned up, and so was Alex. After the movie, we all headed back to Rian's, and his mom had set up a table and some sleeping stuff for tonight, with the table having some beers and other drinks on it as well as some snacks. We spent the night laughing as the guys talked about what they were like when they first met, with Jack not liking Alex because they both had big eyebrows, but after that they became brothers when they started to play music together. I laughed as they recalled their mental advenutures, and how Jack almost had to force Alex to listen to Blink and that now he loves them and they're the reason this band exists.

By 4AM, only Alex and I were still awake, chuckling as Jack draped his arm over Rian's chest as him and Kara were snuggled under three quilts. Matt and Zack were spooning in the double sleeping bag, and Grieco bless him was curled up in a ball, his head at Jack's ass, and let's just say Jack liked to fart a LOT in his sleep. I was lying in Alex's arms, looking up at his worried face, his brow furrowing as he seemed deep in thought. I squeezed his hand and he looked down at me smiling "Hey...can't sleep?" He whispered, kissing my forehead. I shook my head and sighed. "I think my body's just used to not getting much sleep now. What were you thinking about?" I whispered back.

"Just...stuff." He said, hesitating and avoiding eye contact. I rolled my eyes, getting up quietly so I didn't wake the others. "You know what? I'm sick of living in fear of that asshole. From now on, I am going to do whatever the hell I want and not be scared that he might turn up. He wanted that sort of reaction and I hate the idea he thinks he's winning." I said scowling while pacing up and down, avoiding the sleeping bodies over the floor. Alex laughed, getting up and walking over to me and moving a strand of hair from my face and tucking it behind my ear, making me smile and lean into him. "Let's go somewhere." I said, grinning up at Alex's beautiful face as he looked down at me. He nodded, taking my hand for a second before jumping over the Grieco ball and heading for the stairs as I wrote the guys a note on a scrap piece of paper I found before doing the same, only less gracefully and nearly falling to the floor. Thankfully Alex saw it coming and ran over to catch me before I fell, knocking Rian's drumkit over and probably wrecking it, waking everyone up and causing a lot of damage.

We crept up the basement stairs and snuck out the front door, closing it silently before we ran to Alex's car on the sidewalk laughing. He pulled me into him by the waist, kissing me passionately before I bit his lower lip so he let out a low moan and moved his hand under my shirt, stroking my sides and making me squirm. "Damn tease..." He whispered in my ear as he bit my earlobe, before kissing my neck and making lovebites. I decided to tease him even more by putting my hand down the front of his jeans, into his pants. He didn't stop kissing my neck as he took my hand out, placing it on his lower back before moving his mouth back to mine. After a few minutes, the cold December air finally hit us, sending shivers over our bodies, but we ignored it as we carried on making out until I couldn't feel my hands anymore. I pulled my lips away from Alex's, resting my forehead against his as I tried to steady my breathing, ice clouds leaving both our lips as we smiled, looking into each others' eyes as our breath moved into the air surrounding us.

Alex opened the passenger seat door for me before getting in his side and starting the engine and turning the heater on. "So, where d'ya wanna go?" He asked, taking my hands in his and kissing me softly and I giggled, making him smile and do the same back. I turned and looked down the quiet empty street lined by streetlamps, no one in sight. I turned back to Alex smiling "Why don't we go to the somewhere quiet for a bit and maybe...carry on where we started." I whispered in his ear, while stroking his thigh. He went wide-eyed, taking one hand to cover the bulge that was forming in his pants as he went red-faced. I sat back, giggling at him as he tried to contain his excitement, fumbling with his keys and starting the engine as we headed off into the darkness.

We parked in a deserted car park at the end of a quiet street. Alex cut the engine, and we sat there in silence grinning at each other for a few minutes before taking our seatbelts off in sync with each other, and we couldn't fight the urge anymore. Our mouths crashed together like a tidal wave as we placed our hands on each others' cheeks, feeling the fire pump through our blood before we moved our hands and undressed one another vigorously, throwing the clothes on the back seat. When our top halfs were bare, a cheeky grin grew on Alex's face as he pressed the button to make our seats go down and then pounced ontop of me, kissing my chest as I undid his belt and pulled his trousers down. I arched my back up, pushing my jeans and underwear to my ankles as Alex grabbed his wallet and pulled out a condom, putting it on. I watched the windows of his car steam up as the heat from our bodies grew warmer as our pleasure increased and I tried not to scream out his name, biting my lip as he kissed my neck before moving up to my lips.

Afterwards, we lay there for a bit until the chill of Sunday morning got to us so we sat up and began to get dressed, handing pieces of clothing to each other and giggling before Alex got out of the car, running over to a trash can and dumping the used condom in it and coming back as I rubbed my hands together to try and get warm. At this, he turned the heater on and put his arm around me, what body heat we had until  we could feel our toes again. I looked at the clock, seeing it was almost 7, so we decided to head back to Rian's and try and creep back in, hoping his parent's weren't planning on getting up early this morning.

We crept back down the basement stairs, resuming our spots from earlier that night after creeping past Rian's brother Chase as he staggered to the bathroom when we got back, not caring what we'd got up to. We sat there smiling, as the guys hadn't moved much in the three hours we'd been gone. Zack and Matt were still spooning, but the main difference was that Jack had turned over, and was now curled around the Grieco ball, his head placed at Jack's crotch. Rian had turned over too and was now hugging Jack's back, with Kara hugging his. I leant back into Alex's chest, looking up at him and smiling. "We have the best friends anyone could ask for, don't we?" He looked down at me, putting his arm over my shoulder and kissing the top of my head before agreeing. "We definitely do."