There was no way Arlo would knock on my door since I gave him a spare key to my place to let him walk in and out whenever he wanted.
Which he did about five minutes ago.
"I bear you a fruit cup." Arlo smiled, tossing the small snack he promised to get me as I caught it one hand, gathering my newspaper and coupons together.
"Thanks, how was your date at that Juice place?" I asked, grabbing my scissors as he joined me on the couch.
"Faith is real cool," He approved, slinging his arm over the back of the sofa.
"But Harry bumped into us and totally murdered the good feels." He sighed, playing with the rings on his fingers.
"Harry was there?" I asked, continuing to cut through the coupons.
"Yeah, he was really pissed. Confronted me and everything about being with you once he saw me with Faith, I almost cried." Arlo widened his eyes, pointing at himself as I sighed.
"I've been meaning to tell you this but, I think we should stop messing around with Harry." I truthfully told him as he nodded in agreement.
"Totally, I thought it would be fun playing him since I've always done this before. I also though revenge would feel good but wow, it totally throws my aura off." Arlo blew out an exhausted breath with a shake of his head.
On the first day Arlo and I met after we kissed and he took in Harry's reaction, he later asked if I could play along with him.
You know, a little kiss here and there, hands touching, shoulders bumping in front of Harry just to get under his skin.
Supposedly in high school, being the rich pretty boy Harry was, Harry would always steal all the girls Arlo even remotely showed interest in.
Harry would buy these school girls anything, take them out anywhere, while poor Arlo would just have his guitar and shaggy hair in a weak attempt to win over the girl's heart since he moved out of his family's mansion at sixteen to move in with his uncle, not wanting that kind of life.
And that his family kept serving non-gluten, non-vegan meals for dinner everyday.
"But Harry doesn't like me in that way." I had told Arlo when he first made the proposition.
"Well maybe, but I don't know if you can see it but I personally can see the aura he has around you and it's something I've never seen on him before. The way he reacts too, like I can feel it. You'd be doing me a real solid if you helped me out, we don't even have to kiss when he's not around if it bothers you." Arlo had explained with a nonchalant shrug.
So I went with it because I didn't really care either way and Arlo was a good kisser which left me nothing to complain about.
But when I saw how bothered Harry was with all this, it didn't feel like just a joke anymore.
It felt wrong.
"I made myself look like a total bad guy though, I called you some really uncool names but I didn't mean them I swear. I even had my fingers crossed when he wasn't looking. Here, I wrote them down on a napkin." Arlo turned, retrieving a folded napkin from the back pocket of his skinny jeans, handing it to me with the names scrawled on it.
"I called you a ghetto ratchet but I swear I was just trying to bother Harry and I don't even believe in labels. You're really cool and you blew up my mattress too." He began with a concerned tone as I read the words.
"It also says pretty on here." I mentioned.
"Oh yeah, cause I think you're pretty." He let out a goofy, bashful laugh, dimples appearing over his cheeks making me smile.
"So you can like, rip the napkin apart or keep it. If you keep it I know I crossed the line and I'll try to make it up to you, if you tear it apart all the bad vibes are gone." Arlo explained, pointing at the napkin.
I tore it apart, making him let out a breath of relief before he pressed his palms together, bowing as his way of saying thank you with a grateful grin.
"All is forgiven." I patted the fedora on his head, making him smile and grab my face, kissing my cheek before his phone suddenly buzzed.
He immediately stood to his feet with an urgent look over his usual calm face when he checked the device, reading the words on his screen, causing me to look up at him.
"Everything okay?" I asked.
"There was a whale beaching a few miles away from here." Arlo frowned, going over to the side and grabbing his bike helmet with a distraught expression, taking his fedora and taping it to the top of his helmet before clicking the helmet on.
"Want to help save whales with me?" He asked, readjusting his head gear.
"Um..." I began, looking at the mixture of bills and coupons on the table.
"No." I said.
"Whales are people too." Arlo passionately said.
"They really aren't..."
When he looked up from his phone his eyes were watering, as if he was about to cry in response to what I just said at any given moment.
"Yes, yes whales are humans and they don't deserve this." I reiterated, pointing at him with the scissors in my hand as he nodded.
"I will bring you back seashells." He promised me, pointing back at me as I waved at him while he headed for the door.
"Now, I have to check if that little girl below our floor will let me borrow her pink bike to ride it there." Arlo said in determination, a man truly on a mission before he left, closing the door behind him.
"You do that." I said, continuing to cut my coupons even if I was by myself.
Five minutes later, a knock came at the door.
Ten seconds later when I opened the door, another "Arlo" was staring at me, with a different hipster outfit and fedora on telling me that we should take a break and stop seeing each other.
I knew it was him.
Knew it the second I looked in his green eyes.
The fact that he had gone to the point of dressing up to pretend to be his brother to end what he thought was a toxic relationship made me want to kiss him.
Wanted me to tell him to stop being so cute and just kiss him.
He would've never let me kiss him if we were in any other situation.
But ever since that day he apologized to that waiter Ben who had mistreated so badly, I saw something in him, I saw improvement. I saw someone who was trying.
My lips were against his in a very soft kiss and his muscles were stiff under my hand as I tilted my head, running my tongue gently across his lips as his chest rose and fell rapidly, heart racing underneath his taut skin before I slipped past his lips and into his mouth ever so slightly.
And then something incredible happened.
He began to kiss me back.
I opened my eyes just a little to find his eyes relaxed and closed as his large hand made its way to my hair, gathering it in a firm fist to keep my head angled as he attacked my mouth with his, the both of us panting before he secured his other hand over my waist, pulling me more on top of him.
"Mm.." He groaned against my open mouth, leaning forward and holding me flush against him on my couch, as if wanting every inch of our hot skin to touch before I pulled away, lips slowly separating from one another with half closed eyes as we caught our breaths, my hands winding around his neck and playing with the small hairs on the back of my neck as he looked at me.
His dilated eyes were darting over my face in a mixture of shock and need, like he was seeing me for the first time just as I was gazing at him, the tips of our noses brushing and the soft pants that escaped our parted lips mixing in the air before I tried to remove myself from him.
But he wouldn't let me.
He released my hair, his hand sliding to the back of my neck to push me back into another heated kiss, making me inhale sharply as he let out a satisfied sigh when our lips met, like he was in absolute bliss before he flipped us over, his fedora falling to the floor.
"Harry," I breathed against his mouth, his tongue meeting mine in a slow, sensual manner that contradicted our frenzied movements of hands gripping the cushions, clutching bare skin and bodies keening against one another in a way that I never knew was so desirable.
"Veronica," Harry groaned in response, my bottom lip caught between his teeth before he gently tugged, his body above mine before his eyes suddenly widened in realization and he froze altogether, muscles locked and arms unmoving.
He let out a small awkward "uhh..." my bottom lip still between his own lips before he gently released it, letting it snap back while he blinked down at me.
"I mean uh, -why would you call out my brother's name while we're making out- that's just, that's just- I'm so offended." Harry began with a nervous voice as I propped myself on my elbows, our faces only inches away.
"Hi Harry." I waved my hand at him as he paled.
"I-it's Arlo." He cleared his throat with a creased brow.
"So should I moan Arlo's name?" I asked with squinted eyes before the look on his face hardened and he pressed his lips against mine, his mouth firmly against mine before he pulled back, already breathless.
"No." He shook his head like a child.
I couldn't help but smile before looking at the expanse of his slightly sweaty chest, running my hand over his hot skin making him shudder and smearing the makeup that was applied over his tattoos, revealing the faded ink designs on his skin.
There, better.
Harry quickly scrambled off my body, almost falling off the couch in the process as he rose off the cushions with shaky knees.
"I gotta go." He panicked, not able to meet my eyes as I placed my hands behind my head, laying back.
"See ya." I said with a smirk.
Harry only nodded, putting his fedora back on to try and hide his flushed face as he walked to the door, stopping when it opened before he could reach the door knob.
"Do we have any tickets to the Wiggles Concert? That little girl drives a hard bargain." Arlo asked, completely oblivious before him and Harry locked eyes.
"Woah, trippy... really digging the style bro, but the boner kind of throws it off." He approved until the end of his sentence as Harry made a frustrated grunt, running out the door, pushing passed Arlo and leaving.
Arlo looked out near the hallway before shrugging and closing the door, entering the living room and stopping completely as he blinked, hands up in the air as if touching something solid.
"I'm getting some major horny ambience here...."
AN: lmao I love Arlo, I'd never make him a bad guy he's too cute.