On Monday morning, Jess, Amy and I were grouped in food tech for a practical. We had our blue aprons on, our hair tied back and a kitchen covered in ingredients so that we could make stuffed potato.
It was a basic recipe. I hated cooking and even I was managing. But Jess, the aspiring chef, hated the fact that we made kindergartener level recipes rather than something with an actual challenge.
"No," Amy pushed Jess's hand back from the bowl as she was about to drop cheese into it. So far the bowl of 'stuffing' consisted of the inside of the potato, spring onion, herbs and that was it. "No cheese. No sour cream. No bacon bits."
"Amy," Jess hissed. "If we don't put the ingredients in, it's going to be so plain."
"Well I'm not eating non vegan ingredients and that's it."
Jess tipped her head back and looked as if she was about to stuff Amy into the oven. I sighed and grabbed a glass bowl out of the cupboard. "Problem solved," I dished a third of the stuffing mixture into a glass bowl and pushed it at Amy. "Here. Make your vegan stuffed potato."
Amy smiled. "Thanks."
My eyes almost rolled back into my head. But that was the most that I'd done so far. With those two bickering and Jess wanting to make sure that it was perfect, I really wasn't needed. Which made my life easier. With my book in front of my phone so that the teacher couldn't see what I was doing, I opened a Snapchat from Heath.
He must have been in a lecture or studying. The photo was from his chin down and cut off at a desk that he was sitting at. I could see his toned arms in a fitted T-shirt and his sharp jaw. Drool. He captioned it, na won't be stopping at the gym today. Legs got enough of a work out last night. What about you?
My entire frame tingled when I thought about what we'd spent the rest of the weekend doing. A shiver ran up my spine and I inhaled deep and exhaled slow. Now was not the time to get wound up.
"What are you smiling at?" Jess said, stirring the stuffing with a fork. Amy was doing the same. She peered back at me, wanting in on the goss as much as she always claimed not to.
I didn't answer her and instead sent a quick snap back to Heath, letting him know that I had no plans tonight but I probably needed to do homework. I also thanked him for helping me with the dissection paper. Which we did eventually get around to doing. I'd be handing it in later.
Jess moved around me, looking for who knows what in the cupboard. Suddenly, I heard her intake a sharp gasp and I looked up to see her staring at my neck as if she was damn Jasper Cullen and the sight of my throat both aroused and frightened her.
"You have a hickey," she outstretched her finger and I gave it a swat. I wasn't planning on keeping it from her. But I did plan on giving it until at least lunch.
"Yes."
"Explain?!"
"I think you know how a hickey works, Jess."
She squealed through a clenched jaw. "Who put it there? Was it Heath?! Tell me it was Heath?!"
She was holding a breath, staring with so much hope that all I could do was shake my head and watch with amusement and her shoulders fell and distress seeped into her expression.
"What? Seriously?! Did you find another one of Amy's cousin's boyfriend's?"
Amy scowled at the back of Jess's head.
"Relax," I laughed. "Yes it was Heath. Like three of four times on Saturday and countless more yesterday."
Jess slapped me so hard on the shoulder that I almost hit the fucking ground. People at the stations closest watched with puzzlement as she all but screamed at me. She ignored a warning from the teacher and I could feel a headache forming.
"Miss Collins," the middle aged woman who could have stepped in for the pillsbury doughboy, rested a hand on her hip and glared. "Get on with it please and quit the squealing."
Jess nodded and carried on mixing the last of her stuffing. Amy was already pushing her stuffing back into her hollowed out potato. Both of them watched me with expectant stares.
"Come on," Jess demanded. "Give us some details. Please."
I gave them both a knowing grin and sighed. I sort of loved this part of a new fling or relationship or whatever. Plus, who didn't love boasting about a good smash. So I delved into the recount of events while Jess stuffed the potatoes and hung on every word.
"So what does this mean?" She asked, sliding the tray into the oven. "Is it exclusive? Was it just a one time thing?"
"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "I sure hope that it wasn't a one time thing. But as for exclusivity, I have no idea. I told him that I couldn't commit right now. But I guess I'd see where things went."
"I think that's a good idea," Amy rested her elbows on the countertop and put a fist under her chin. "Just let it develop. Naturally. It might not feel as scary as jumping in with both feet. He seems really nice. From what I met on the beach last weekend."
"He is super nice," I nodded. Even I could feel the grin forming on my face. I probably looked so pathetic. "Nice, mature, an amazing brother, dedicated to his studies, his body," I groaned. "Sex on legs. And he sure knows his way around the sheets. That's for sure."
Jess wrinkled up her nose and frowned. "And here you are, not snatching him up, because?"
"Because I'm a coward."
"You wait too long and someone else will get him," Amy added. "But what's wrong with him? Like, he sounds too perfect and I think we all know that every man has at least a couple of flaws."
"A couple? That's if you're lucky," I laughed.
"Exactly," Jess pulled the oven door open and peeled inside to check on our potatoes. The sprinkled cheese on top was grilling. "Like Bray is funny and so hot and the sex is amazing but he's not the most romantic guy out there. He can be kind of emotionally distant sometimes and he has a lot of friends."
I was tempted to tell her that Bray was just average in the sack. Because now that I'd had Heath, he seemed so dull in comparison. But I kept tight lipped on that matter.
"What's wrong with having a lot of friends?" I asked.
"Nothing," she shook her head. "It can just be like hard when we're out and everyone wants to talk to him and there are girls all over him. Ya know he's like the football captain. So it happens. But it's hard sometimes."
"Yeah I get that," Amy nodded, pointing at her. "I know that it sounds really insecure. But I hate how many girls come up to Ethan and talk to him and blatantly flirt with him right in front of me."
I laughed. I couldn't blame them I supposed. I'd been the same with Fleur on the beach last weekend. And all she'd done was look at Heath. "That's just part of dating a hottie I suppose. You can't blame them for that though. Ya know. Like Amy, you have to loosen up a bit and let Ethan go out once in a while. He'll end up resenting you if you cut him off from his friends."
Her face fell and she bit the inside of her cheek. "I like, want to be chill about it. But I just actually can't help it when he goes out. I get all anxious and frustrated. I don't know why. It's like, I know how different we are and sometimes I worry that he'll realise that he wants to be with someone that he has more in common with."
"Mmmm, no," I shook my head. "What pushes him away will be the fact that you don't let him do anything that he wants to do. Or trust him to go out without you."
Jess pursed her lips and raised her brows.
"What?"
"Nothing," she shook her head. "You're just a bit savage sometimes."
"I just don't want to enable my friend's toxic behaviour."
Amy didn't say anything else. She'd sat down on a stool and started writing up her practical summary. It wasn't like I'd said anything untrue. If she didn't want to hear it, that was because she knew that I was right. I shrugged and stepped aside so that Jess could pull the potato's out of the oven.
"So," she said. "Back to Heath. His flaws. What are they? He can't be perfect. It would tip the universe off balance if such a man existed."
"Well, so far there aren't any obvious traits. But he strikes me as someone that could be kind of needy. Ya know? Wants to text and talk a lot. Or hang out a lot. Which some girls hate."
"Do you?"
"Na," I laughed. "I was that person when I was with Benny."
She nodded with a soft smile and peered at me, a strand of her brown hair falling over her face.
"What's that look for?"
She shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. "You almost didn't sound as if you were in agonising pain when you said his name right now."
I rolled my eyes and gave her a light shove in the shoulder. As much as I wanted to get to a place where it didn't kill me to think about the fact that I'd lost him, I also never wanted to forget him. Or what we had. And thinking about having that with someone else, it made me feel guilty. Even though, it shouldn't. It still did.
A week later, it was Tuesday afternoon and Heath was at my apartment after school. He'd driven Sarah to Alex's and planned on picking her up at around nine. Which meant that I had him to myself until then. But being the hot doctor that he was, he had his textbooks spread on the living room floor, stomach down, pen between his lips.
"Heath," I whispered, stomach down in front of him with my own homework opened. Not that I could concentrate. He was so focused. No wonder he was doing so well.
"Heath?"
"Heath?"
His eyes slowly lifted and he stared at me. "Yeah?"
"I'm bored."
"Do your paper."
I sighed as he looked down at his work and started scrawling something out. What was he thinking, coming here of all places to study. When he'd told me that on the phone, I thought it was a code word for sex.
I let my eyes scan over his broad shoulders. His biceps were firm from leaning on his elbows. His jaw was coated in stubble and it looked so rugged. Hot. Was he serious right now? I was not going to cope for the next hour. I figured that he distracted me last week with my paper. So it was my turn to get him back.
I sat up and stretched, crossing my legs as I lifted my arms into the air and moaned as if I was stiff from being on the ground. Heath didn't flinch. But I was just getting started.
"It's hot," I said, gripping the hem of my tank top and pulling it over my head so that I was down to my bra. There was nothing subtle about what I was doing. I was just pretending to think that I was being subtle.
Heath's lids fluttered as he looked up and settled on my chest. He swallowed but quickly re focused on his paper. He was not going to win this one. I stood up, popped the button on my jeans and shimmied them down my legs, hips jutting from side to side. He watched me through his lashes, bottom lip drawn between his teeth.
But still, he looked down and continued to ignore me. I wasn't buying that he wasn't affected. He was basically sweating. He just wanted to win. To hold out. So I snapped the strap of my bra, let it slide down my arms and dropped it on top of his book. He didn't look up as I started to walk across the living room.
"I need a water," I said, strutting towards the kitchen. "I'm so thirsty."
I walked to the sink, switched on the faucet and before I could reach for a glass, I was spun around, pushed back into the bench and Heath encased me with his arms on either side, his front pressed up against me. And he was one hundred percent affected. I could feel that much.
He had me trapped and he looked down at me with a look so smouldering that it made me tingle from head to toe. "You want something from me?"
I looked down at my naked chest and gave him a brow raising grin. "I'd say that I've made that clear."
He pressed his hips against mine, his fingers curled around my waist and pinched. His tone was low and his voice was rough. "What do you want?"
"Whatever you're giving."
His lips smashed against mine and I tiptoed to deepen the kiss. His tongue pushed inside of my mouth and I moaned, fingers tugging on his hair as his hands moved vigorously, touching, teasing, taking.
"If that's what you're asking for," he said, picking me up around the back of the legs with one swift movement. He sat me on the edge of the bench and pushed himself between my legs. "Then I'll give. Hard."
Half n hour later, Heath and I laid on the kitchen floor, breathless. My legs were still trembling. He leaned up on an elbow, his finger started on my collarbone and slowly trailed down to my nipple. "I can't keep studying here," he dipped his head and nuzzled his lips against my throat. "You're far too distracting."
"You have to be super familiar with the human body if you're going to be a doctor," my breath hitched as his fingers trailed lower, my stomach, my hips, my centre which was swollen and throbbing but reacted immediately to his touch. "Think of this as homework."
"Best homework I've ever had," he shifted onto his hands and knees and pinned me beneath him. It didn't matter that we'd just been going at it for the last half hour. The second that I felt his lips moving south on my skin, I was aching for more.
"Yo Lee?!"
Heath and I both stilled at the sound of Bray. Faster than I could even fathom, Heath grabbed his boxer briefs, pulled them on, pulled me to my feet and stood in front of me just as Bray walked into the kitchen.
"Oh shit," he said, amusement in his tone. I didn't bother telling Heath that Bray had seen it all before and I wasn't all that modest. I thought it was cute how he stood in front of me and faced Bray wearing next to nothing to keep me hidden. "Sorry dude."
"How's it going, Bray," Heath ran a hand through his hair, his back muscles flexed and I was tempted to lick them.
"Yeah I'm not bad. I'll just go and wait in the living room."
After he was gone, Heath picked up the rest of his clothes and we darted off to my bedroom. I couldn't stop laughing. This wasn't the first time that I'd been walked in on in a compromising position. It didn't phase me all that much but Heath stood beside the door and ran a hand across his red face.
"I need to shower," I pushed the en-suite door open and he followed me. "Don't be embarrassed by the way. It's Bray. He's the last person that you'd need to feel shame around."
He chuckled and palmed his jaw as he watched me switch the water on. "Does he stop in unannounced often?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "He's like a child and needs constant entertainment. I'm usually the only one that doesn't have something better to do in the evenings."
"Doesn't he date Jess?"
I slipped into the shower but left the door open. If he wanted to join me, he could. If not, that was fine too. "Yeah he does. But as you know, her parents have no idea that she's in a relationship and she has a strict weeknight curfew."
He nodded, thoughtful. With a loofah full of body wash, I scrubbed myself clean and gave him a curious glare. "You're not over thinking anything right?"
"Overthinking?" He arched a brow. Fuck. He was so gorgeous. Defined muscles, height. Chocolate brown hair and thick thighs. He made it hard to focus. But this conversation was important. "Overthinking what?"
"Anything," I said. "Anything at all. Bray is one of my closest friends and we do have a past but that's behind us. And not that I owe you an explanation because we're not a couple, but I will tell you that I won't feel bad for having a friendship with him."
He just watched me, smiling. "I wasn't worried," he said. "And not just because I don't have the right to be. But because I know how loyal you are and you would never hurt Jess."
My heart sped up. An involuntary reaction to how mature, thoughtful and understanding he was. I turned into the water and washed my face.
"I just genuinely wondered why he wasn't with her. The two seem to be in that stage of infatuated obsession."
"You're not wrong about that," I laughed, still overwhelmed at his confession. He knew how to make a girl's knees weak with his tongue, that's for sure.
He left the bathroom and when I came out in a towel, he was dressed, waiting for me on the edge of the bed. "By the way, mom said that as long as the doctors clear Sarah, she's keen to go to London. I finally got the chance to talk to her about it without Sarah around the other morning and she cried."
"She did?"
"Yeah she can't wait to see you and give you a hug."
I chuckled from the closet where I slipped into a pair of cotton shorts and a tank top. Comfort clothes were the best thing in the world and no one could convince me otherwise. As cute as it was that Jazz was excited, I was more excited to tell Sarah. But we had to wait until closer to the time so that the doctor could clear it first. There was no point in getting her hopes up for nothing.
I saw Heath out, he had a brief chat with Bray before he left and then I dropped into the couch beside my friend who had his feet on the coffee table. He looked down at me with a stupid grin on his face and I shoved him.
"Shut up."
"The kitchen?"
"It just happened."
He let out a low whistle. "At least we know that you don't cook in there."
"Bitch."
He laughed. He wasn't wrong though. The extent of my cooking in that kitchen was toast, grilled cheese or cereal. Jess had done more cooking in that kitchen than I had. Still, I made a mental note to disinfect the surfaces before I went to bed.
"I'm surprised you made it to the kitchen," he gestured at my books that were spread out on the floor. Heath had taken his home. "Good ol study session with Leonie, huh. Not much has changed."
"Tons has. The sex is heaps better now."
"Ouch," he laughed. "I knew I should have shoot the shot when it came to Heath."
Laughing, I slapped his knee and stood up, offering him a cold drink. When I came back from the kitchen with a bag of chips and two waters, Bray was flicking through the movie options again.
"So Jade is doing her usual Halloween thing at her place," he said, dropping the remote and putting his hands behind his head. "You coming?"
"Wouldn't miss it," I promised.
"Yeah and what's the plan for thanksgiving? Is your mom coming home? You going there?"
"I have no idea," I shrugged. "She's been working a lot. So I have no clue what the plan is. But I don't think thanksgiving is a big deal over in London. So it wouldn't surprise me if they weren't taking the time off."
"Come to our place," he offered, declining when I offered him a chip. "I told mom that you might be alone. She said that it was fine. Unless you planned on spending it with Jess."
"You're kidding?" I let out a humourless laugh. "She spends it with her entire extended family and her parents have told most of them that I'm one of those rich white girls that's hooked on heroin and I snort cocaine in designer party bathrooms."
"Man," he mumbled. "Can't wait to meet them."
"Just don't hold it against her," I warned. "She didn't choose her parents."
He nodded. "Yeah of course."
I had no idea what I was doing for Thanksgiving this year. But I couldn't help but think of Heath and what he might be doing. Which was sudden and a bit much considering I had no right to want to spend that holiday with him. Still, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. It might even be nice.