𝐜 𝐡 𝐚 𝐩 𝐭 𝐞 𝐫 𝐟 𝐨 𝐮 𝐫
𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏
"Why do you and Jess insist on calling me 'pretty boy'"? I ask Vivienne, my eyes watching her with wary. There's an incredibly thick bass song playing in the living room of her dorm as she wraps her arms around my shoulders and intertwines her fingers at the back of my neck. A shiver runs down my spine at the feeling of her cold rings against my skin. She gives me a lazy smirk, going up onto her toes as we sort of dance.
We're kind of just swaying lightly, but my hands refuse to leave their spot on her waist, holding her to me. This is the closest we've ever been and I'm sure she can feel my heart beating against my chest where she has hers. "Why, do you not think you're pretty?" She's acting coy, I know it's an act and usually the fake innocent thing doesn't work on me, but the sudden tightness in my jeans seem to dispute that statement.
"Oh, I'm very pretty." I tell her with a wide smile, looking over her head at Ashton who is being pulled down the hallway and into a bedroom by the girl who had opened the door for us half an hour ago. Hmm, that was fast—even by Ashton's standards. I feel Vivienne's chest vibrate against mine and I look back down to see her laughing. I feign shock and move one of my hands to my chest, separating us slightly. "I'm sorry, did I just actually make Vivienne Delaney laugh?" She just shakes her head at me.
"Whatever, I'm drunk. I'll laugh at anything." I'm suddenly aware of all the space between us and quickly pull her chest back to mine. "Whatever." I move us slowly, and for a second I think I catch her eyes looking at my lips. "I kind of figured you'd been drinking. Otherwise why would you voluntarily be in the same room as me?"
She doesn't look at my face when she responds with a simple shrug. "Doin' Jess a favour." I purse my lips. Favour? When I don't answer her, she pulls me in closer and brings her lips to my ear. I hope my very obvious shiver goes unnoticed, but if she sees or feels it, she doesn't bring it up. "Don't you think they're cute together?" I turn my head slightly, my nose bumping her temple.
She's looking at Calum and Jess.
They're in the kitchen, Jess up on the counter and Calum just next to her, his hand on her knee as they talk. Calum says something that makes her laugh and she pushes his shoulder. He grabs onto her hand brings himself closer to her, settling in between her legs, shielding her from all of us in the dorm.
I lift one shoulder, looking back down at her. I can smell the sweet flowery wine on her breath when she opens her mouth slightly, letting out a small sigh. God. "I think we'd be cuter." She throws her head back and laughs at my whispered statement. I smile down at her, holding her waist as she sways with her head dipped back.
She comes back up, hair falling over her shoulders and framing her face. She's sporting a sexy smirk and winks at me. God fuck. "Nah, I'd only break your heart, pretty boy." She tells me while patting my chest softly. I take one hand off her waist and capture her hand; much like Calum had done with Jess, keeping it placed on my t-shirt covered pec. "You? Break my heart?"
She takes her bottom lip in between her teeth and nods slowly. God fucking dammit. "You don't think so?" I immediately shake my head at her question. "Do you not know who I am, peach?" She raises an eyebrow up at my name for her, and I wonder myself where the hell I pulled that one out from. I usually go with the more generic ones—easier to cover up if you've forgotten their names that way too. A thought crosses my mind, and I know I won't be forgetting about Vivienne again, at least not anytime soon.
"Strange fruit related pet names aside," She gives me an odd look and I cannot fucking believe I called her peach of all things. Seriously Hemmings? "—I'm well aware of your reputation, but you clearly don't know anything about mine." The song slowly comes to an end and begins to merge into the next track, I know I've heard it somewhere before on an HBO show or something, but I can't remember which one exactly. My mind goes back to what she had told Trevor in the kitchen earlier, 'I have a lot of guys doing all sorts of things for me', I didn't think anything of it at the time, but now I'm starting to wonder.
She must be able to see the gears turning in my head because she smiles sympathetically and tilts her head. "Look, the only reason I'm doing any of this is to give Jess another chance with Calum, she wasn't happy about the break up and if getting over my own shit to see her happy is what I have to do then so be it." And just by mentioning her name, she looks over to her friend. I don't take my eyes away from her though. "That's the only reason you're dancing with me?" I ask her.
She doesn't look back at me when answering, "No. Well yeah, that and to piss Tom off."
My chest suddenly feels tight, the palms of my hands sweaty and my throat dry. What is this feeling? "You're using me to make some bloke jealous?" She finally looks back at me, eyes wide. "Jealous? No." She shakes her head and trails her fingers down my bare arm. "Threatened, angry, on edge, disappointed, confused?" Her finger nails feel heavenly on my skin, but the words she's saying and the tone she's using don't match how it should make me feel.
"Take your pick really." She shrugs, her fingers stopping their movements as they curl around my wrist. "Why?" I ask her, my voice hoarse. I clear my throat and as she responds. "I don't like being someone's option, I'm not a second choice—and he made me feel like I was, so in turn..." She trails off, her fingers scratching down the palm of my hand and then moving it across her hip and down to her lower back.
I swallow a lump in my throat, suddenly feeling like I could gasp for air. She presses her hips into mine, pushing them firmly together while her other hand, still around my neck, curls up into my hair. She goes up on her toes, "I'm going to make him feel like my second choice." Her lips hover over mine, not touching but they're damn close. "I won't kiss you." She tells me, eyes hooded. I want to whine and stomp my foot on the floor. "I won't kiss you until you ask me to."
"You see Luke, that's the difference between us." It feels like everyone else in the room has disappeared. It's just Vivienne and I. Vivienne with her warm breath on my face. Vivienne with her fingers in my hair. Vivienne with her body against mine. Vivienne. Vivienne. Vivienne. "I have the decency to wait for consent." And in a blink of an eye, she's out of my arms. She turns around, grabbing an unopened bottle of wine from a small end table against the wall and rounds a corner, disappearing down the hall.
I'm standing in the middle of their living room, hands at my side as everything comes rushing back to me. The music I still can't place, laughs from people I don't know, murmurs of voices I don't recognize. What the fuck just happened? Did I just get played? Why is my heart racing? I'd like to say that that was the first time Vivienne Delaney has left me speechless, but I'd be wrong.
I wipe the edges of my dry mouth with my fingers. I need a drink. But I can't. I'm the designated driver. Fuck. I turn on my heels slowly, noticing that no one is watching me, except of course, for Trevor. Fucking Trevor. I shake my head and before I can convince myself otherwise, I march off into the direction that Vivienne had left in. She doesn't get to leave me stunned like that. I want to know what she's playing at.
All week, she couldn't even look at me. But now? Now she's throwing my mistake in my face, taunting me, making me feel vulnerable. I hate it.
I make my way to the hallway, it's darker in here than in the living room and the two doors on either end of the hall are closed, the middle one is open but it's very clearly the bathroom. Vivienne had turned left, so I walk over to the closed door in front of me. I knock twice, loud enough for her to hear me over the music. I can't hear any movements from inside the room, but there's a shadow peeking out from under the door and then it opens up. She's on the other side of it, bottle of wine in her hand.
I glare at her, "What the fuck are you playing at?" She lowers her eyes, sweeping them down my body and ending at the very obvious tent in my jeans. She smirks and takes a sip straight from the bottle. "Excited much?" I take the bottle out of her hand, slamming it down onto the dresser next to me in the doorway. She's about to protest but I curl her wrist in my hand. "Who the fuck do you think you are?" I ask her, aware of not holding onto her too tightly.
I'm not even sure what's come over me, and I hope I'm not scaring her, but one look at the gleam in her eyes and I know I'm not. God, is she enjoying this? Is she turned on by me standing up to her? She looks up at me, strands of shorter hair falling into her eyes. "I think I'm the person who's finally going to put Luke Hemmings back in his place."
"Oh yeah?" I ask her, her face impossibly close to mine. God, now I'm turned on too. "We'll see about that, peach." She licks her bottom lip, not backing down for a second. "Game on."
━🥀𝐡𝐢, 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐨, 𝐡𝐞𝐲. 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭. 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡, 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭. 𝐢𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐚