The next day, Ian and I’s date was the only thing on my mind. I could barely concentrate on Mrs. Bloom’s hedges. I think one might have even been a little lopsided. But Mrs. Bloom didn’t exactly have 20/20 vision, so it wasn’t like she would notice. I glanced back to see her sitting out on her patio, rocking back and forth as she read the newspaper. I knew for a fact though that she didn’t actually read it. It was more of a prop, so she could spy on everyone in the neighborhood.
“Oh God – Here comes the gossip,” Mrs. Bloom muttered shaking her head. I glanced up to see Beverly, strutting over towards Mrs. Bloom with a smile on her face. Not a single strand of her dark brown hair was out of place as she smoothed her flower dress down in the front.
“Mrs. Bloom,” she called out waving at her. She gave me a wink as she marched up her steps, resting her hands on her hips.
“You haven’t been to gardening club in a while and I just wanted to check on you and make sure everything was alright.”
Sure. That was why she made the trek all the over here to make sure Mrs. Bloom was in full health. Beverly’s visits always had an ulterior motive. Everyone knew that.
“My arthritis has been bothering me,” Mrs. Bloom replied quickly. “I told Patricia to tell you.”
Beverly ran her hand across Mrs. Bloom’s shoulder. “I’m sorry to hear that. But I was wondering if you could watch Tommy this evening. I usually ask Lyn’s daughter, Ashley to do it, but she has a date tonight. God I wish I had one of those. I remember those days when I was young and pretty. Don’t you?”
“I’m still living those days,” Mrs. Bloom retorted. “I guess I can watch little Thomas for you.”
“You’re an absolute life saver,” she replied as she walked back towards her house. “Thanks again. Nice seeing you, Ryder. Tell your mother, we miss her at book club.”
“I’ll be sure too,” I called back as she disappeared into her house. So Ashley had a date tonight. That was interesting. I hadn’t heard from her since her birthday. I felt weird about everything that had happened between us. I shouldn’t have led her on like I did. That was a mistake.
As soon as I finished Mrs. Bloom’s yard, I rushed over to my house to shower and change clothes. I opened my drawers, my eyes flickering onto the box of condoms. Usually I carried a condom on me, just in case, but just the idea of Ian and I going that far made my heart race. I shoved one in my back pocket anyways. I mean you never know when you might need one. I was in the middle of brushing my teeth, when my mother called out to me, shouting something about me having a visitor. I quickly brushed my hair back as I rushed downstairs to see Ashley standing at the doorway.
“Ashley,” I said shocked to see her standing there. “Hey.”
“Hi,” she smiled. “Can we go for a walk for a minute?”
“Sure,” I said following her out the door, as she and I walked down Pear Street. It was quiet with only the sound of crickets echoing through the cool night air. I shoved my hands into my pocket as I glanced at Ian’s house. I was supposed to meet him soon.
“I’m supposed to be going on a date with Victor in a few minutes,” she began staring at her feet as she walked. “But before I went, I just wanted to talk to you about the other night and apologize for moving so fast – Ryder, if you like me, I won’t go out with Victor.”
“Ashley,” But before I could interject she cut me off.
“I know I was a little drunk but I do like you Ryder. Ever since we were kids, I always had a crush on you. I was just too scared to do anything,” she admitted her face flushing a cherry red color. “I mean you were my first kiss. You actually got a lot of better.”
Ashley brought her lips to mine, kissing me softly. I stood there stiffly, pulling away slowly.
“Ashley, I’m kind of seeing someone,” I replied awkwardly. She nodded, processing it.
“Oh okay,” she replied quickly obviously embarrassed about the whole thing. “I should have known, I’m sorry, Ryder. I should have never – God, I’m stupid.”
“No! No! You’re not stupid,” I muttered quickly. “It’s fine. I led you on. It’s my fault.”
Ashley ran her fingers through her hair, before wrapping her arms around me. “I should go on my date. I’m going to be late. I’m glad we cleared this up. Friends?”
I nodded as she quickly moved down towards her house. Well, that had been extraordinarily awkward. Who knew Ashley had been waiting for me to make the first move this whole time? We might have actually dated in high school if I had ever mustered up the courage to ask her out. Now that I think about, she had hinted at it a couple of times. But in my teenage naiveté, I hadn’t caught it.
I quickly walked back down towards the familiar pale white house of Ian’s, knocking on the door. I could feel my stomach twisting into knots as I waited for him to answer.
“It’s open,” Ian’s voice echoed from inside. I closed the door behind me, sliding my shoes off as the smell of chicken immediately filled the inside of my nose. I followed the smell into the dining room to see a whole chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls and green beans all sitting on top of the table. I was practically salivating. Whoever had said the fastest way into a man’s heart was through his stomach had absolutely spoken the truth.
“Well sit,” Ian insisted resting his hands on my shoulders. “I know you’re starving.”
I nodded sitting down. I didn’t even know where to start. Ian rolled his eyes as he took my plate, fixing it for me.
“Breast or thigh?” he asked his eyes flashing to mine. “Or both? I’ve seen you eat before.”
“Breast for now,” I chuckled as he placed my plate in front of me. He brushed his hands across my lips for a moment, rubbing something off.
“Who have you been kissing?” He smirked. “Whoever it was likes their red lipstick.”
Fuck. Ashley must have been wearing lipstick when she kissed me. Great. Now he must think I was cheating on him. Good job, Ryder. It was my first date and I was already fucking things up. I could feel my face grow pale all of a sudden. He’d understand right?
“I can explain,” I began quickly. “I made a mistake and led Ashley on a few days ago. We almost had sex at her 21st birthday. Then she admitted to me she had feelings for me for a while ago and kissed me. I told her I was seeing someone and that was the end of that.”
Ian laughed. “I was only kidding Ryder. You didn’t have to explain anything. But I do appreciate the honesty.”
I blinked a few times. So he wasn’t upset. A girl kisses me and he isn’t even the slightest bit jealous. I was practically fuming when I heard about his date with Mrs. Tillman and we weren’t even dating then. I gave him a lame okay as I continued eating.
“So why didn’t you sleep with her?” Ian asked raising an eyebrow at me. “I mean aren’t all guys your age practically slaves to your hormones.”
I rolled my eyes. “Sure I could have done it if I wanted to. But it just didn’t feel right. She’s more of a sister to me.”
Ian nodded, changing the topic of conversation. As soon as I was bursting through the seams, I plopped down onto Ian’s leather couch and lied there, groaning.
“I don’t think I can move,” I sighed running my hands across my stomach. “I hope you didn’t make dessert because I have no room.”
“Well I’m not a very good baker so I didn’t,” Ian said plopping down beside me. “But I did buy ice cream on the off chance that you were still hungry after dinner.”
I was positively satiated. I stretched my legs out on top of Ian’s lap as he flicked through his television. I glanced around his living room, my eyes falling onto his bookshelf. I stood up walking over to it as soon as I caught sight of a novel with his name written on it – Finding Isaac. I pulled it out, opening it to a random page, and reciting the lines aloud.
There was an air of darkness to him. But that was what had drawn me to Isaac. Who was I to judge? I mean, didn’t everyone had a bit of darkness in them?
“Please don’t,” Ian sighed taking the book out of my hands. “It was one of my first books. It’s embarrassing.”
“I can’t believe you wrote this,” I said a little shocked. “It’s a total chick book. I remember when it came out in middle school. All of the girls were obsessed.”
“I bet,” Ian retorted placing it back on the shelf. “I’m trying to move away from teen fiction and target a more adult audience.”
“Is your new novel a romance?” I asked my eyes flickering across the rest of the books in his collection. Ian wrapped his arms around my waist, turning my body, so that I was facing him.
“Maybe,” he replied. With that he leaned down, kissing me softly. His lips drew into a smile as he broke the kiss, his eyes flickering to the clock on the wall. I glanced at it too. It was exactly eleven on the dot. Time had literally flown by.
“I’m exhausted,” Ian yawned. “I’ve been up since four.”
I nodded. “Oh, well, can I spend the night?”
Ian made a sound of disapproval. “I don’t think that would be a good idea, Ryder.”
“Well you didn’t think dating me was a good idea either but now look at us,” I retorted folding my arms across my chest. “There’s no one at my house and I hate being at home alone.”
After a moment or two, Ian agreed, but on one condition – I had to sleep on the couch. I take what I can get, but I could be very conniving when I wanted to be. So as Ian was getting ready in his room to go to bed, I “accidentally” spilled water onto his couch.
I had a feeling Ian knew it was no accident though. I wanted nothing more than to sleep in his bed beside him. All I could think about was the way he touched me and the way his lips felt against my skin. You could say I was horny, but I couldn’t help it. I knew Ian was too – I mean he had said it had been a long time since he had been in a relationship. I wasn’t asking to go all the way, but he could at least take me to third base.
“Here,” he said handing me a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. I handed him the shirt back as I unbuckled my pants, sliding them down right in front of him so I was in my boxers. I could feel Ian’s eyes gliding across my skin on me as I slid his sweats on. As soon as my eyes met his, he cleared his throat, walking off to grab a glass of water. I brushed my teeth and slid underneath the covers without hesitating. Ian picked my clothes up from the ground, shaking his head as he folded them on top of his dresser. I glanced at him as soon as he called my name.
“Ryder,” he sighed holding up the condom that had been in my pants pocket. “Did you plan on getting lucky tonight?”
I shook my head, pretending as if I had no idea what he was talking about. “No. I – I don’t know how that got in there.”
“Good because I thought we were taking things slow,” Ian sighed as he pulled his shirt over his head. I bit down on my lip, my eyes finding their way onto his chest as he unbuttoned his pants. He flicked the lights off as soon as he caught me staring me at him. He slid into bed beside me shortly after, not saying a word.
After a minute or two, I shifted onto my side and scooted closer to Ian. I wrapped my arms around his waist, as I brought my lips to his neck. Ian flicked the lights on, turning towards me.
“Ryder,” he began. “Word of Advice – It’s best not to start anything you don’t plan on finishing.”
I nodded as he flicked the lights back off. Ian didn’t know me as well he thought. If he did, then he would know that I planned on finishing. I had watched a little bit of porn in preparation. I figured I would need to if I was going to go all the way with Ian one day. Today wouldn’t be that day I knew that for sure, but I think a little foreplay would be fine.
I moved closed to Ian and brought my lips back to his neck with more force than before, biting and sucking on it. I wanted those desperate housewives to know who Ian belonged to even if I couldn’t verbally do so.
“Fine, I’ll bite,” he huffed as he climbed on top of me, bringing his lips to my neck. I could feel my chest heat up as his tongue traced down my Adam’s apple. He bit down, causing me to groan loudly as he tasted every inch of my skin. His tongue fell to my chest, biting, sucking and licking until I was mumbling words that made absolutely no sense.
My head fell against his pillow as my nipples began to harden from his touch. He took each of them, one at time, and paying extra special attention to the right one. A lump formed in my throat as Ian brought his lips back onto mine. His hand traced down my chest, before sliding into my boxers. His fingertips fell onto my shaft, as he began stroking my length. Soft moans fell from my lips as my body grew warm with excitement. He pushed his tongue in between my lips, flicking it against the roof of my mouth, before attacking my own.
My moans grew louder as I felt myself nearing my peak.
“Don’t come yet,” he ordered as I felt my toes starting to curl up. I closed my eyes as he moved his hand faster, gliding up and down the entirety of my manhood. It was becoming unbearably hard to hold myself back.
Ian smirked at me as he took me into that hot wet mouth of his. My hands fell into his hair as his tongue swirled around my tip, sending me into a whirlwind of pleasure. I jerked my hips as he took the rest of me into that glorious mouth of his.
“Ian – “ was all I got out before I came fast and hard in his mouth. My entire body relaxed as my hands fell to my sides. My heart began to slow down as Ian wiped his mouth off, disappearing into the bathroom for a moment. I wiped the sweat from my forehead as I pulled my boxers back up around my waist, turning onto my side. Ian returned to bed a few minutes later.
“Now can I sleep?” he asked as he pulled the covers over his body.
“Yes,” I mumbled as I closed my eyes, trying to hold back the smile on my face.
When I woke up the next morning, Ian wasn’t beside me. He must have gotten up to work on his novel. I stretched my body out, memories of last night racing through my head. I yawned as I picked up the sweats Ian had let me borrow and slid them up my waist. I quickly used his bathroom, splashing water onto my face to wake up. I glanced at myself in the mirror to see eight or nine hickeys across my chest, stomach and on my neck.
This was my punishment I guess for the cherry red lipstick. I quickly moved downstairs to see Ian sitting on his couch, typing away a mile a minute on his laptop. I crept behind him, glancing over his shoulder for a moment.
“Good morning,” Ian said closing his laptop shut. “If you’re hungry, there’s cereal on top of my fridge. I would have made you breakfast but I got in the zone.”
“It’s fine,” I nodded. “I should go home. I need to shower. I’m sweaty.”
“Ok,” he said giving me a quick kiss on the lips. I grabbed my clothes from upstairs as I headed out his side door, casually walking down the street as if I had come from the end of it. I quickly moved up the steps of my house, slowly opening the front door and closing it behind me. Just as I was about to move up into my room, my mother’s voice echoed from the bottom of the steps.
“Ryder – Where were you last night?” she asked her voice more stern than usual. I was silent for a moment, turning around to see her hands firmly rested on her hips.
“Out,” I shrugged. “I went out with some friends.”
“Is that a hickey on your neck?” my mother said in disbelief. I rolled my eyes. What was with the 21 questions? I didn’t answer her but continued moving upstairs towards my room.
“Ryder Elliot Jacobs! You’re grounded for a week! You are to go to work and come straight home afterwards! No more nighttime travels!” she shouted out to me. “And I don’t care how old you are as long as you live under my roof, you follow my rules.”
I closed my bedroom door. Grounded? What sort of nonsense was this? I hadn’t been grounded since I was in high school. She sees one hickey and flips out. I hope she doesn’t try to send Phil up here to have the sex talk with me again. I could only take so much torture in one day.
It didn't matter though. She could ground me all she wanted, but this smile wouldn't be leaving my face.