unprepared
"Hey, Nat."
I wasn't surprised to see Noel on his bed, reading that same book when I slunk back into our room.
Feeling like a teenager caught coming home after curfew, I smiled a little sheepishly across the room at him. "Oh, hey, Noel. You're up late."
I could see that he was tired in the way his eyelids drooped a little. I felt bad realizing that he'd more than likely stayed up waiting for me. Guilt hit me remembering I never texted him back. I couldn't bring myself to do it, too nervous I'd say the wrong thing.
I'd been hiding from my room for hours, spending much longer at the library than even I wanted to--which said a lot in itself. Harley even left an hour before me.
Now, I knew it was much worse to have this interaction in person. I should have just texted him back and avoided this.
"I just wanted to make sure you're okay."
I blinked. Why did he have to say that? Be chill. How the fuck do I be chill?
"What? Me? Why wouldn't I be okay?" I put all my effort into not cringing at the way my voice went higher than normal.
Noel's lips quirked, but I couldn't tell from which emotion it came from. His voice was steadier than mine, calm and factual. "You weren't here when I got back from walking Nina out."
I waved my hand and blew air out of my mouth. I knew I was trying too hard. I'm sure he did too. "Nah, I'm cool. I had plans with Harley, sorry."
Noel nodded, but his expression was firmly rooted inside the unreadable territory. "Okay. Do you wanna talk?"
"Oh no, I'm fine." I shook my head but then I realized that Noel was doing something he never did. He was tapping his fingers over his knee, the way people usually did when they felt unsure. I changed my answer. "Or do you?"
I was surprised when he said, "A little, yeah."
"Oh. Shoot then."
While he talked I busied myself with changing into my sleep clothes. I could feel Noel's eyes on me, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up from the attention. Maybe deciding to change during this conversation wasn't the best of ideas.
"I really didn't mean to pressure you into that. If you felt pressured, I mean." I hadn't. I kind of wanted to do it again. I wanted to see Noel's face again looking the same way he had earlier today: high on pleasure and not just weed. "Nina just...she really wanted you to. I told her I didn't think you were into that kind of thing, but she insisted I at least ask."
"Are you into that kind of thing?" I asked quickly, my clean shirt halfway pulled on over my head, and immediately wished I hadn't.
He raised a brow. "Threesomes? Sometimes, yeah. It's fun, thrilling. Not that many women I see are into it, and I don't really go looking for that, but I never turn it down when the opportunity is there."
"Okay." I didn't know what else to say. I sat on the edge of my bed.
"Did you like it? With Nina, I mean?"
My heart skipped. For some reason I wasn't prepared for that question. I blinked rapidly and at Noel's expectant expression, I got my thoughts together. Slowly, I met his gaze and admitted, "I did, yeah. A lot more than I thought I would. I didn't expect us to, you know, do that, though."
He shook his hair out with his hand and then stretched his back. "Yeah, I'm sorry I just sprung it on you. We were a little high and I wasn't thinking like I should have."
"It's okay," I told him. I realized I meant it.
I laid down and shut my lamp off. Noel's was off already. It was quiet for a little bit, the silence feeling like it stretched forever in the dark. Then from Noel's side of the room came, "You wanna do it again sometime? Nina was asking on the way out."
Excitement bubbled inside of me. I should have paid attention to the fact that it was centered on the idea of being in that position again with Noel, and not Nina. But I didn't.
I nodded to myself. Noel couldn't see the small smile on my lips, but he might have heard it in my voice. "Sure. Whenever she wants."
*********
I didn't expect the next time with Noel to be so soon. It had hardly been a week.
One day, I was sitting on my bed, facing away from the door of my room as usual, and since I had my headphones in, I didn't realize Noel was home until he snatched the small bud out of my ear.
I jumped, a look of terror briefly flashing across my face before I saw it was just him. He was grinning at my reaction and I scowled.
"Sorry to interrupt your..." he leaned forward, reading the name of the video I had up over my shoulder. "Pantry pasta eight ways video."
I closed my laptop and turned to face him fully. "Don't patronize, book nerd. What's up?"
"So I've got this girl in my Lit class." When I didn't react, he said, "She wants to hook up."
I looked at him questioningly. And he was telling me this, why?
Noel rolled his eyes, moving down to lay sideways along the end of my bed. He flicked my foot that was a few inches from his hand. "With both of us. Together."
My mind went numb for a few seconds. Noel just watched me, his finger tapping the top of my foot. His brown eyes looked amused, but the rest of his face held a neutral expression.
"For real?" I eventually asked. The words felt hesitant, but only because I still couldn't believe this was real. What had my life become?
A very subtle smile hit Noel's lips. The corners of his eyes wrinkled a small amount to betray him. "No, I'm joking. Obviously for real, or I wouldn't be telling you."
"How did she...?"
"She's friends with Nina."
"Of course she is," I said with a laugh.
Noel quirked his lips around for a moment. "So? You down?"
I shouldn't have been, but I definitely was. "Yeah, okay. When?"
Noel turned, laying down flat on his back. He pulled his phone out of his front pocket and flipped through it. "She was thinking tonight. She's got an evening class and then she wanted to stop by."
I felt my pulse quicken. Tonight. Was I even ready for that? It really hadn't been long since the first time Noel and I had done this. And I'd been expecting it to be Nina if we ever did it again.
I swallowed down my nerves and then Noel was looking at me again, brown eyes open and soft. "You chill with that?"
Was I? I had no idea, but underneath my nerves I knew I wanted to see Noel on the brink of ecstasy again. His face was heartstopping.
"Totally." I stood up and then groaned, jokingly saying, "Great, now I have to shower again."
"I mean...you don't really have to."
I shot him a look and he laughed. "You're disgusting. And from what I can smell from over here, you need a shower too."
Noel looked offended, but I knew he wasn't really. He stood next to me and put his arm around me. "Ouch. Fine, we can shower together."
I shoved his arm off of my shoulder, breathing lighter than before he'd gotten so close. "No thanks."
As I left the room with my things, Noel's deep laughter followed me.
**********
An hour later, I was watching as Noel tugged the tight jeans down the legs of a very gorgeous, very tan woman.
His lips were glued to hers--Emma's. I was excited and nervous at the same time. A huge part of me still couldn't believe that we were actually doing this. Again. Some days I was still processing that Noel and I had even done this once already.
When Noel got too far down and had to break the kiss to get her jeans off of her ankles, Emma reached for me, grabbing me by the collar of my shirt and pulling me down to take Noel's place.
She was an amazing kisser, her tongue teasing over mine, her breath sweet like mint.
I was lost in a trance as we kissed, loving the way she felt. I slid my hand to the back of her neck, pulling her in deeper. I almost didn't even realize that the hands at the hem of my shirt were rougher and definitely not Emma's until I had to pull away from her to allow it to be lifted over my head. That was when I saw Noel smiling at me, his eyes glazed from the blunt he'd finished just minutes before we started this.
His fingers brushed over my chest and I shivered at the touch. With his proximity, I could smell the heady, intoxicating scent of his body wash. I swallowed, eyes stuck on the fading light tan of his olive skin as he let his hand skim down across my torso and fall away.
Then Emma was sitting up and pulling her own shirt off, immediately catching Noel's hungry gaze.
He unhooked her bra and tossed it aside, flattening himself against the side of her small frame as they laid back down. I watched his lower half grind against her thigh and I noticed that he'd ditched his pants at some point.
Feeling like I was miles behind, I went to unbutton my jeans, but then heard Emma whisper in a breathless voice, "Help him out."
Stunned, I looked up to see Noel back away from Emma and he reached for me, a finger sliding into my belt loop to pull me closer. I didn't know what to do at first, watching with wide eyes as he grinned up at me. His eyes had a hint of amusement in them.
This wasn't what happened last time.
When he popped the button of my jeans through the hole and pulled my zipper down, I quickly came back to life. I helped him take my pants off while Emma pressed kisses to his neck, causing a faint groan to pass his lips as he was trying to focus on stripping me of clothing.
The sound he made reminded me of the last time we'd been in this situation and there was no doubt that I was fully turned on by that point. That was, if the bulge in my briefs didn't give that away first.
The kissing went on for a little while, Emma's hands taking turns wandering over every part of my and Noel's chests. He and I kept bumping into each other, the action inevitable considering that the woman underneath us kept tugging at us both to get impossibly closer to her.
Noel didn't seem to mind how much we were touching and I found comfort in that. Until at one point he caught me completely off guard and pulled the band of my briefs down until they were below my ass cheeks. I pulled away from Emma's lips to see that Noel was kissing her collarbone, eyes closed peacefully, just one hand resting on the back of my thigh.
Emma looked at me, her blue eyes sparkling with desire. I pulled my briefs off the rest of the way and watched Noel's hand move to slip under Emma's underwear. She moaned and tilted her head back as I saw Noel's fingers working slowly under the sheer black fabric.
My dick twitched and I found myself pressing tightly against Emma's thigh. I groaned and Noel's eyes flicked open to look at me. He looked pleased and before I knew it he was leaning back and removing his boxers.
He locked eyes with me as he whispered something into Emma's ear. I'd taken his place with my fingers now feeling her soft heat over her underwear and I shivered again as the rumbling of his chest while he spoke quietly fell on my ears.
He was so fucking sexy. Just looking at him made my skin burn.
Emma nodded at whatever Noel had said and he turned away from her neck, moving back to grab my arm. I was surprised, unsure of what he was doing.
He leaned in and whispered into my ear this time. His voice was melodic, low and sensual. "She wants you to fuck her, Nat."
I nodded dumbly at him and let him grab my hips. It was unmistakable that time, that his strong hands were the ones on my body, and I loved it.
Noel was behind me slightly, his warm breath fanning over the back of my neck, and while he was positioning me in front of Emma, she shimmied out of her panties, kicking them aside before leaning up to wrap her arms around the back of my neck. I rested my hands on either side of her body to support my weight. Her knees spread, going to each side of my waist.
As she crushed her lips urgently against mine, Noel pressed his hands against me, fingers digging into me, and making my hips meet Emma's just before I felt the pressure. Suddenly heat was all around me as I slipped inside of her.
The next thing I knew, I was gasping into Emma's mouth while Noel's lips sucked at the skin of my shoulder.
I felt like I was going to burst into flames.