"James," Andreas said his name again like he couldn't believe that his ex-best friend, the one that betrayed him, was standing no more than 5 feet away from us.
"That's my name, don't wear it out." He said, hate laced in his voice. I can't believe I sat here for almost 20 minutes talking to this guy, chatting with this guy, laughing with this guy.
I hope Andreas can forgive me.
Andreas tears his eyes at James, looking down at me, "Did he touch you?"
"No, he didn't touch me."
"Did he say anything to you, make you sad or angry?" And when I look into his eyes, he wanted me to say yes. To say that James put his hands on me, that he yelled at me so he could leap across me and beat the shit out of James. I've never been one for violence, but I would love to see Andreas whoop his ass.
But I won't lie about this.
"No, we were just talking, Andreas, don't be mad that I made your girl laugh." He smirks, eyes roaming over my body.
Andreas catches it, "Don't fucking look at her like that." My hand tightens on his shirt, just in case he leaps forward, I can try and hold him back with my weak limbs.
"Too late. I heard you met up with Jessie a few weeks ago, what was that about?"
"None of your business." I see Andreas smile wickedly. Jessie didn't tell him what they talked about, and from the way he looks it's eating him up. "If she wanted you to know, she would have told you."
"You better not be trying to get her back. She's mine." He steps closer to us; my hands tighten even more. Andreas moves my hand away from his shirt to his belt loop. My fingers wrap around it.
"Jessie and I were over the moment you slept with her behind my back. I moved on, as you can see." His fingers move through my locks, stroking them softly. "I'm not like you, I don't go behind people's backs and sleep with them. Now, if you'll excuse me, we're leaving." We both turn around and start walking towards the exit until...
"Look at you, running away as you did 3 years ago." That's when he stops, it takes every restraint in his body to keep himself tame. I interlock our fingers together, squeezing his hand. I see all the tension leave him, and a cool expression comes over his face.
His head turns around, "I'm not running away, I did in the past, but not anymore. I don't want any beef with you, I'm over it. For years I've been plagued about what you and Jessie did to me, you sent me down a path I'll never want to go down again. I met someone that loves me for me, through all my fuck ups and insecurities, she'll always stick by me. You want to know why?"
"Why?"
"Because she loves me for my flaws, and accepts me for who I am. I know she'll never hurt me or betray me. I can bet my life on that. She's my baby, and I'm hers. I wanted to, years ago, beat your ass, I kind of want to right now, but what is that going to solve? Nothing. And I won't let her see me like that, all rage and no dignity. You can do one thing for me."
"And what is that?"
"Take care of Jessie, she's a good person who deserves all the love in the world." He then leads me towards the door, before we go out the door, I yank on his arm. "What?" He asked.
"My nachos."
"I'll buy you some on the way home."
"But I want those."
"Are you serious?" He gives me an incredulous look.
"Yeah." He lets me go.
I grab a take-home container to put my nachos in, grab some napkins and follow him out the door into the cool night. I watch as Andreas calls us an Uber back to the hotel. The smell of smoke and the sound of cars racing by engulfing us.
We stand there for a while in silence, he just leans his head against the wall and closes his eyes. I want to say something, anything but I don't know if I should.
"Elizabeth?"
"Yeah?"
"What did you guys talk about?"
"Ummm, we talked about our childhood and why we were there. I didn't give him any dire information or anything, and I swear I didn't know who he was." The words tumble out of my mouth.
"I believe you, I just needed to know." His eyes open and they land on me. "I want to beat his ass right now."
"I know you do, how much time is left until our ride shows up?"
"10 minutes." I snuggle myself in his arms, wanting to feel his heat radiate onto me. "Hey, when we get back to the hotel, give me some of those nachos, I'm hungry."
I grin, "I'll give you some, this is too much for me to eat alone anyway."
He leans his head back, "You want to know something crazy?" He asked.
"Wow me."
"Before the football game started, James told me he would take you away from me like he did Jessie."
I hold my breath, "What." I could never see myself with James. He's an ass and a horrible friend. How could he get such a nice person like Jessie.
He chuckles, "I know, it sounds crazy." That's why he was so mad before the game started.
"You know he will never have me. I'm all yours."
He smiles down at me, "I know. I was so stupid to think that he could have you. You're all mine, E." He says it more to himself.
Then the conversation of that is over.
"You got some gum; my mouth is getting that nasty taste in it." He asked, smacking around his lips.
"I should have some, check the pockets." Since I can't open my bag because I'm holding the nachos, I push my bag over with my hip so he can have better access. He digs around, and finds the gum, but also pulls out something else. It's the gift he got me for my dorm warming party that I never opened. Damn, I forgot I put it in there.
He stares at the small box in his hand, moving it around like a bomb. "You never opened it?"
"No."
"Why not. I- I don't understand."
I sigh, "You gave it to me when we weren't talking, I was scared to open it. At that time, I was trying to move on from you, opening this gift would have been me opening up Pandora's box. I just couldn't handle it."
"What about now, can you handle it now?"
I look at the box in his hand, taunting me to wonder what's inside of it. "I don't know."
He opens the gift without my permission, "Wait, Andreas-"
When I look at what's in the box, I start to laugh. It's a music box, a fucking music box, and it was so beautiful.
A small, wooden box with beautiful carvings on the side of it. A little handle to turn the box so it opens it and creates music. "I was at this antique shop, and I saw it and thought of you. The song is from the olden times. When you open it up, a Burlesque dancer comes out. Want to see?" He asked.
I nod my head eagerly. He operates the handle and the little music plays, the box pops open, and out comes a black burlesque dancer with feathers all over her and a smile on her face. She swayed her hips from side to side as she danced to the music. As he held the box, I started smiling like a chimp, it was such a simple gift, but I loved it so much. It's the first gift he ever bought me and I'll always cherish it.
"Andreas, this is so cool, thank you so much. I can't believe this whole time this has been in the box. I will make sure this is the first thing I see when I wake up and go to bed."
"You like it?" He asked surprised and somewhat afraid of my rejection.
"I do, Andreas, I do. I love it, truly." I stick my lips out so he can kiss them, he leans down and kisses me. Sparks of everything alive and beautiful decorate my body.
We are in a new era.
Our Uber comes within minutes, the ride to the hotel wasn't that long since the bar was only 10 minutes away. We would have walked, but it's dark outside and that's when the creeps come out. I follow Andreas into the doors of the hotel, we stand in front of the elevator as we wait for it to come down.
As we wait, I just stare at Andreas. Ever since seeing that box, and how he handled James at the bar and just everything, it's creating his sexual burning inferno inside my body that I need to be put out. The only way it can be put out is by him.
"Why are you staring at me like I'm the last cookie." He stares as the numbers on top of the elevator ticked down.
The words come out of my mouth before I can stop them, "I want you to make love to me, Andreas."
He almost choked on his spit, "What!"
"I want you to-"
"I heard you Elizabeth, you've just never said that to me before. I thought you wanted to wait until whenever was perfect."
"I'm ready. I'm ready now." My voice was eager.
"Damn, you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
When the elevator opened up, he pushed me in and pressed the second-floor button. "We're not on the second floor."
"I know, but I can't wait that long to get to the third floor." He doesn't waste any time pushing me up against the elevator wall and kissing down my neck, hands roaming all over my body.
I squirm under him, "You're squishing my nachos."
"I'll buy you some more." The elevator dings. He drags me by my hand to the room. He unlocks the door and leads me in. He takes the carton of nachos in my hand and sits them on the nightstand, taking my purse and throwing it on the bed. I notice something about the room.
"This is your old room, Topolski's room! What if he comes back?" I asked.
Andreas starts to unzip my pants and slides them down my body. "He'll be fine." He works on my shirt. Once I'm just in underwear and a bra, he just glances at me. "Fuck, I don't know how I'm going to be able to control myself."
"Then don't," I smirk. He begins kissing the top of my breast as his fingers make circles on my hips. I moan, clamping my hands on his shoulders. God, I forgot how good his lips are. He then lets me go.
He bites his lip, "Get your sexy ass on the bed."
I grin and run to the bed; he smacks my ass as I run. When I get on the bed, he looms over me and spreads my legs so he can fit between them. I remember Topolski.
"Andreas, call him." I tug on his arm as his hand starts rubbing me over my underwear. God, it feels so good.
"He'll be fine." That was all he said. "He can bunk with one of our teammates."
"Andreas-"
He groans loudly. "Fine, you drive me insane, you know that."
"I know." A small smile graces my lips. He dials on his phone Topolski's number, I hear his name come over the phone.
"Hey, this is Andreas. I need a favor from you."
"What is it?" asked Topolski.
As he explained the situation to Topolski, I leaned up off the bed, my legs were on either side of him as he kneeled in front of me. I start to take off his belt and unbutton his jeans. His eyes look down at me, warning me to stop.
I chuckle, "I want you right now." I mouthed. I get his jeans and underwear down, my hand yanks up his dick in my hand, I see some pre cum has come out, my tongue licks it up.
"Hold on a moment, Topolski." He puts his hand over the speaker. "Calm your ass down and be gentle with it, it's not a toy." He gets back on the phone. My tongue gently trails over his dick, as my hand rubs it up and down. God, he felt so good on my tongue. One of his hands tangles in my hair, gripping it harshly. "Yeah, if you go down to the front desk, ask for a key card for room 314, you can stay there tonight. No- well yeah. We'll be out before 10. Thanks, man, bye." He hangs up the phone.
I take him out of my mouth, "Is everything ok?" I asked.
"I handled it." He yanks me up to him and kisses me, then lays me down gently on the bed. "Ready for me to make love to you?"
My body tingles with anticipation. "Yes, always."