Chocolate Chili 5, Sugar Plum 9
Author: Marina
Story: The Dragon World
Challenge: Chocolate Chili 5 (impatience), Sugar Plum 9 (the fire is so delightful)
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Cherry (for subject matter), Malt (“I’ll Jingle Your Bells” prompt from Falootin: Kevin doesn’t really want to keep it PG, but he will)
Word Count: 2,708
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Kevin and Laura feel out their boundaries. (Pun completely intended.)
Notes: So, didn’t mean to drop off the RaTs map, but it happened for a number of reasons. Pounding through NaNo brought the writing bug back, though, and now I have “porn-off” prompts to write and also Sugar Plum is my new favorite flavor :D So hi!
Mods, we don't have a Sugar Plum tag! May I have one, please?
“Can we take things slowly?” she asked, after they had made it official.
Kevin was so glad that he had not struck out with her a second time that for a few weeks, it was easy to just do whatever Laura wanted. She didn’t ask for much, and her few requests-well, they were really more like strong hints-were mostly in the way of physical boundaries he had known he would have to respect. They had only ever talked about relationships once, and that had been almost a decade before when they were both still in high school, but Kevin remembered every word of the conversation. Most specifically, he remembered the part about Laura planning to save her virginity for her future husband. It was an idea he had scorned, at the time, but he understood it now, and he had no desire to push her into something she didn’t want.
He had learned, early on, that his hands and lips were not to drift below Laura’s shoulders except for hugs and hand-holding. He thought that was fair, even agreed with her that that was as far as they ought to go. And it was easy, at first. He had school; she had her music. They talked on the phone every day and managed dates or at least hang-out time twice a week, but because they were so busy there was unavoidable space between them the good majority of the time. Up until Thanksgiving, Kevin did a fair job at reining it in.
It was the first holiday season in years that they had not been on opposite ends of the country for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now that they were dating, they had decided to change their routine and spend both holidays together-Thanksgiving in Virginia with his family, and Christmas in California with hers. Kevin looked forward to it, aside from the constant, underlying worry that he would be met with a volley of large, blunt objects when he saw Chase again.
He had forgotten that his mother only had one guest bedroom, and never even imagined that she might be expecting them to share it while they were staying with her.
Yet when they arrived at her house on the day before Thanksgiving, Delia immediately showed them to the room. “You can both put your bags in here,” she said cheerfully.
Laura looked between her and Kevin, and her face turned bright red. Kevin felt pretty uncomfortable himself. “Mom,” he said carefully, “we’re not-"
“Kevin, you don’t have to pretend for my sake,” Delia said, neatly cutting him off. She even had the gall to look amused by the protest. “I remember what being in a relationship is like. I’m not that old.”
“Mother.” He was so flabbergasted by the assumption that he had no idea how to begin explaining.
Fortunately, Laura had a bit more presence of mind. “Mrs. Mc-Delia,” she said, “we’re really not sleeping together.”
Delia glanced at their embarrassed faces and immediately switched to apologetic mode. “I am so sorry, I just assumed-Lindsey’s always just shared whenever she brings someone here-"
“Oh, gross.” An involuntary shudder went through Kevin at the thought of his sister and her paramours together in that room. “I am definitely not sleeping in there now.”
Laura was still blushing furiously, but at that, she cracked a smile. “Come on, Kev, it’s not like your mother doesn’t do her laundry. I’m sure it doesn’t have cooties or anything.”
“Right, because if we were talking about Chase it wouldn’t scar you for life, or anything.”
“I am pretty sure that’s something I never have to worry about with Chase,” she said mildly, although a brief expression of horror passed over her face.
“Whatever. You can use this room. I’ll take the couch.” He would have offered that deal anyway, because he prided himself on being a gentleman, but the room’s sordid history made him feel glad to get away from it. Shivering again, he turned to find another place to put his bag. “If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen trying to burn the mental images out with the most acidic substance I can find.”
A brief scuffle followed, during which Laura attempted to block Kevin from the vinegar so that he wouldn’t try to throw it into his eyes, while Delia beat a hasty retreat. Kevin quickly overpowered Laura, but instead of using the leverage to move her, he gathered her into an embrace once he was certain they were alone. “I am so sorry,” he muttered, into her hair.
“It’s all right. It’s not like I’ve ever had a heart-to-heart with your mother about my boundaries,” Laura said reasonably. She was even laughing, a little. “And we’ve known each other so long…”
“Yeah, but now it’ll be awkward until Sidney gets here. This is pretty much the last thing I ever wanted to discuss with either of my parents. So, I’m sorry.” He kissed her neck. “On the bright side, she’ll probably be too embarrassed over this to try to interrogate you, now.”
She chuckled and turned her lips up to his. They had a nice little moment on their own, but shortly afterward footsteps sounded in the living room, and they quickly broke apart. Kevin, feeling both mortified and frustrated, had to be satisfied with holding Laura’s hand for the next several hours.
Sidney made it to the house in time for dinner, and her presence broke the tension nicely. She seemed pleased to see them together, and had known more about what they were or were not doing-and why-than Delia had, so there were no assumptions and very little teasing, for which Kevin felt grateful. They ordered in, to save their cooking stamina for the next day, and sat around the table for a long time just chatting.
On the one hand, he loved that he could sit down with family comfortably, that they could actually act like a family when they were together. His father and Lindsey would not be there-for different reasons-but the little group felt almost complete despite that. It was the kind of holiday he had always hoped they could have, and he felt distantly grateful for it.
Only distantly, though, because as the minutes passed and the close proximity to his girlfriend continued, all he could think about was how badly he wanted to be alone with her.
It didn’t help that it was cold out, or that Delia lit a fire in the fireplace after dinner. Kevin’s apartment didn’t have one; neither did Laura’s, so it was a novelty to both of them. The fire lent just enough romance to the atmosphere, and it frustrated him still further. He stewed silently over the mug of coffee Delia brought him, inwardly cursing himself for his weakness. What’s wrong with me? he wondered. It wasn’t this hard before. He put on the most neutral face he could, sipped his coffee, and hoped Laura didn’t notice his discomfort.
When Delia finally excused herself, around ten o’ clock, Sidney waited about five minutes and then tactfully exited as well. Kevin turned to Laura, suddenly afraid that she would want to go to bed, too. It had been a long day-they’d left before dawn, so they could get to Richmond while it was still daylight.
Laura looked up at him. “Well,” she said pleasantly, “they’re gone now.”
Kevin grinned. “Thank God.” He cupped her cheek with his hand, leaned in, and kissed her.
For a few moments, he was able to relax, and then suddenly it was not enough. The next thing he knew, Laura was in his lap, one hand fisted in his shirt, the other threading through his hair. He wasn’t quite sure how that had happened, but he was aware of the fact that his arm seemed locked around her waist and that his other hand, which had been tucked under her knee to help her shift her position, had migrated to her thigh. Although he was vacantly aware that this was not a good way to keep things chaste between them, he was having much too good a time kissing her to care very much. A few moments later, his hand slipped under the hem of her shirt.
Laura rocketed out of his grasp and toward the other end of the couch so fast it gave him whiplash. “Oh my God, Kevin, I’m so sorry,” she gasped, red in the face and looking deeply mortified.
Kevin blinked at her, stunned, and then dual feelings of shame and disappointment flared up inside him. He looked down, noticed a bulge in his jeans that hadn’t been there before, and hastily glanced at the floor instead. “Damn it, this is like the first time I made out with my girlfriend in high school. No, actually, it’s worse than that.”
“Kevin, stop, it’s okay.” There was a touch of hesitant fingers on his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Well, it’s not just your fault.”
“Look, Laura, I know it takes two to tango and everything, but…gah, I just thought I had better restraint than that. I’m sorry.”
She laughed a little. “Well, if I want you to be good it’s my job not to encourage you. Trust me, you weren’t pushing me into any of that. You okay?”
“Just embarrassed.” Her words had reassured him somewhat, though, and he took her hand. There was still about a foot of couch space between their bodies, though, and he thought it was probably better that way. Their mutual faith notwithstanding, he would have done all of it again and more besides if he thought for a second she would have permitted it. “You?”
“Same. This ‘taking things slow’ business is harder than I thought it’d be.”
Kevin looked up at her in surprise. “It’s hard for you?”
“Oh, please tell me you’re not one of those people who thinks women don’t like or want sex as much as men do.”
The frankness with which Laura said it took him even further aback. “Well, no,” he said, remembering his past experiences with his high school girlfriend and other girls in college, which had disproved that theory rather vehemently. “I mean, I did think it’d probably be harder for me than for you, but you just seem so…calm about it, most of the time.”
She shrugged. “I’ve been trying not to let it show. It didn’t seem fair, after I made such a big production out of limiting our physical contact. Plus, I was…kind of ashamed of wanting more.”
“Ashamed? Why?”
“Well, you’re…the first boyfriend I’ve ever had. This is all new to me. Imagining is one thing, but actual kissing and touching and everything is completely different.”
Kevin certainly knew that was true. It felt odd to be discussing it with Laura, though. Once they began talking, they could hardly stop, but this was one subject they had stayed away from aside from that one isolated conversation in high school. It had never seemed like something they could talk about without it getting incredibly awkward. Then, with other girls he had dated, he had always just jumped in first and assumed they would stop him if they didn’t like it. Some part of him had expected that he and Laura would figure it out the same way. It was that part, he realized, that had gotten him in trouble. “Well,” he said neutrally, deciding that they should probably just have this discussion now and get it over with, “you don’t need to tell me that. You’ve really never dated anyone else?”
She shook her head. “I had a couple casual dates when I first moved here, and another handful with a guy at church two years ago, but they never went anywhere. It didn’t seem right, not like now.”
He felt thrilled by the idea that he was her first, but sad that he couldn’t tell her the same thing about himself. Clearing his throat, he forced himself to meet her eyes. “Um, Laura, you may as well know now…I’m not a virgin. I haven’t been since before I met you.”
To his great relief, she seemed to take it calmly. “I didn’t really expect you to be. I didn’t know you were that young, but I thought it’d be unrealistic to assume you’d never had sex before.”
“Does that bother you?” he asked.
She shook her head, and to her credit, did not follow it up with some awful comment about how everybody made mistakes. “Well, a little, if I’m being honest, but I’ve already sort of accepted it. There’s no use getting upset about it.”
“I haven’t since grad school,” he assured her. “And I’m clean and everything, last I checked.”
Laura made a face. “I wasn’t concerned, but thanks. Grad school, huh? What about before that?”
“You really want to know?”
“Just the when. No names or details. For my peace of mind.”
Kevin gave her a brief overview of his sexual history, figuring it was only fair that he come clean, since she had asked. He knew his was comparatively mild, since it was only four girls-one he’d dated his freshman year of high school in Virginia, two after his fallout with Laura in college, and his first girlfriend in grad school-but he still felt a little shame, thinking about Laura’s squeaky clean history. “I wasn’t serious about any of them but my grad school girlfriend. It was mostly experimenting and trying to drown out other things.”
“Your family situation,” Laura said, nodding in understanding.
“And you,” he admitted. “That first hookup in college was after you rejected me, and I was trying to get over it. Did a pretty poor job of that in general.”
“So…nobody at all during those years we were so close?”
He looked at her, not sure whether to laugh or to seriously question her powers of observation. “Laura, you and I were practically joined at the hip. If I’d been seeing anyone, you would’ve known. Honestly, though? I really wasn’t thinking about trying to get with other girls.”
“You had a crush on me all that time?”
“I didn’t know it until right before we had our fight, but I think I must’ve. Allie said something around that time that finally made me realize it.”
She smiled a little. “Yeah, I felt the same way about you.” Squeezing his hand, she added, “I still do.”
“I know.” He lifted her hand to his lips, pressed a lingering kiss against it, and then covered it with his free one. “So we’re okay?”
“We’re okay,” she agreed. “Although we might want to think about getting engaged soon if this keeps up. I don’t think the fact that we’ve known each other so long is helping us restrain ourselves.”
Kevin laughed, knowing she was joking but privately thinking that might not be such a bad idea. “You’re probably right. Meanwhile, I’m going to borrow your bathroom for a cold shower, if you don’t mind.”
Laura’s face twisted for a moment, as if she were trying to hold something back. Then she burst into giggles, and, tugging her hand from his grip, scooted further away and buried her face in her knees.
“What did I say?” he asked, a bit scandalized by her reaction.
“Nothing, I just…I was just remembering the time you came over early for a Christmas party, and-" She couldn’t finish, her laughter cutting into her words.
He remembered it well, and couldn’t help a wide, mischievous grin. That had been right before he had consciously acknowledged his feelings for Laura, and it was easier to think about-even funny-now that things had worked out between them. “Oh, you mean the time I offered to join you in the shower because you wouldn’t play Wii Sports with me? Yeah, that was a good one.” Wickedly, he shifted closer and leaned in toward her ear. “You know, if you ever change your mind, the invitation’s always open-"
“Oh, God, stop,” Laura managed, pushing him away. She was smiling, though.
Feeling rather pleased with himself, he kissed her hairline. “I love you so much,” he murmured.
“I love you, too,” she said, and his doubts began to melt away.
Story: The Dragon World
Challenge: Chocolate Chili 5 (impatience), Sugar Plum 9 (the fire is so delightful)
Toppings/Extras: Caramel, Cherry (for subject matter), Malt (“I’ll Jingle Your Bells” prompt from Falootin: Kevin doesn’t really want to keep it PG, but he will)
Word Count: 2,708
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Kevin and Laura feel out their boundaries. (Pun completely intended.)
Notes: So, didn’t mean to drop off the RaTs map, but it happened for a number of reasons. Pounding through NaNo brought the writing bug back, though, and now I have “porn-off” prompts to write and also Sugar Plum is my new favorite flavor :D So hi!
Mods, we don't have a Sugar Plum tag! May I have one, please?
“Can we take things slowly?” she asked, after they had made it official.
Kevin was so glad that he had not struck out with her a second time that for a few weeks, it was easy to just do whatever Laura wanted. She didn’t ask for much, and her few requests-well, they were really more like strong hints-were mostly in the way of physical boundaries he had known he would have to respect. They had only ever talked about relationships once, and that had been almost a decade before when they were both still in high school, but Kevin remembered every word of the conversation. Most specifically, he remembered the part about Laura planning to save her virginity for her future husband. It was an idea he had scorned, at the time, but he understood it now, and he had no desire to push her into something she didn’t want.
He had learned, early on, that his hands and lips were not to drift below Laura’s shoulders except for hugs and hand-holding. He thought that was fair, even agreed with her that that was as far as they ought to go. And it was easy, at first. He had school; she had her music. They talked on the phone every day and managed dates or at least hang-out time twice a week, but because they were so busy there was unavoidable space between them the good majority of the time. Up until Thanksgiving, Kevin did a fair job at reining it in.
It was the first holiday season in years that they had not been on opposite ends of the country for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Now that they were dating, they had decided to change their routine and spend both holidays together-Thanksgiving in Virginia with his family, and Christmas in California with hers. Kevin looked forward to it, aside from the constant, underlying worry that he would be met with a volley of large, blunt objects when he saw Chase again.
He had forgotten that his mother only had one guest bedroom, and never even imagined that she might be expecting them to share it while they were staying with her.
Yet when they arrived at her house on the day before Thanksgiving, Delia immediately showed them to the room. “You can both put your bags in here,” she said cheerfully.
Laura looked between her and Kevin, and her face turned bright red. Kevin felt pretty uncomfortable himself. “Mom,” he said carefully, “we’re not-"
“Kevin, you don’t have to pretend for my sake,” Delia said, neatly cutting him off. She even had the gall to look amused by the protest. “I remember what being in a relationship is like. I’m not that old.”
“Mother.” He was so flabbergasted by the assumption that he had no idea how to begin explaining.
Fortunately, Laura had a bit more presence of mind. “Mrs. Mc-Delia,” she said, “we’re really not sleeping together.”
Delia glanced at their embarrassed faces and immediately switched to apologetic mode. “I am so sorry, I just assumed-Lindsey’s always just shared whenever she brings someone here-"
“Oh, gross.” An involuntary shudder went through Kevin at the thought of his sister and her paramours together in that room. “I am definitely not sleeping in there now.”
Laura was still blushing furiously, but at that, she cracked a smile. “Come on, Kev, it’s not like your mother doesn’t do her laundry. I’m sure it doesn’t have cooties or anything.”
“Right, because if we were talking about Chase it wouldn’t scar you for life, or anything.”
“I am pretty sure that’s something I never have to worry about with Chase,” she said mildly, although a brief expression of horror passed over her face.
“Whatever. You can use this room. I’ll take the couch.” He would have offered that deal anyway, because he prided himself on being a gentleman, but the room’s sordid history made him feel glad to get away from it. Shivering again, he turned to find another place to put his bag. “If you need me, I’ll be in the kitchen trying to burn the mental images out with the most acidic substance I can find.”
A brief scuffle followed, during which Laura attempted to block Kevin from the vinegar so that he wouldn’t try to throw it into his eyes, while Delia beat a hasty retreat. Kevin quickly overpowered Laura, but instead of using the leverage to move her, he gathered her into an embrace once he was certain they were alone. “I am so sorry,” he muttered, into her hair.
“It’s all right. It’s not like I’ve ever had a heart-to-heart with your mother about my boundaries,” Laura said reasonably. She was even laughing, a little. “And we’ve known each other so long…”
“Yeah, but now it’ll be awkward until Sidney gets here. This is pretty much the last thing I ever wanted to discuss with either of my parents. So, I’m sorry.” He kissed her neck. “On the bright side, she’ll probably be too embarrassed over this to try to interrogate you, now.”
She chuckled and turned her lips up to his. They had a nice little moment on their own, but shortly afterward footsteps sounded in the living room, and they quickly broke apart. Kevin, feeling both mortified and frustrated, had to be satisfied with holding Laura’s hand for the next several hours.
Sidney made it to the house in time for dinner, and her presence broke the tension nicely. She seemed pleased to see them together, and had known more about what they were or were not doing-and why-than Delia had, so there were no assumptions and very little teasing, for which Kevin felt grateful. They ordered in, to save their cooking stamina for the next day, and sat around the table for a long time just chatting.
On the one hand, he loved that he could sit down with family comfortably, that they could actually act like a family when they were together. His father and Lindsey would not be there-for different reasons-but the little group felt almost complete despite that. It was the kind of holiday he had always hoped they could have, and he felt distantly grateful for it.
Only distantly, though, because as the minutes passed and the close proximity to his girlfriend continued, all he could think about was how badly he wanted to be alone with her.
It didn’t help that it was cold out, or that Delia lit a fire in the fireplace after dinner. Kevin’s apartment didn’t have one; neither did Laura’s, so it was a novelty to both of them. The fire lent just enough romance to the atmosphere, and it frustrated him still further. He stewed silently over the mug of coffee Delia brought him, inwardly cursing himself for his weakness. What’s wrong with me? he wondered. It wasn’t this hard before. He put on the most neutral face he could, sipped his coffee, and hoped Laura didn’t notice his discomfort.
When Delia finally excused herself, around ten o’ clock, Sidney waited about five minutes and then tactfully exited as well. Kevin turned to Laura, suddenly afraid that she would want to go to bed, too. It had been a long day-they’d left before dawn, so they could get to Richmond while it was still daylight.
Laura looked up at him. “Well,” she said pleasantly, “they’re gone now.”
Kevin grinned. “Thank God.” He cupped her cheek with his hand, leaned in, and kissed her.
For a few moments, he was able to relax, and then suddenly it was not enough. The next thing he knew, Laura was in his lap, one hand fisted in his shirt, the other threading through his hair. He wasn’t quite sure how that had happened, but he was aware of the fact that his arm seemed locked around her waist and that his other hand, which had been tucked under her knee to help her shift her position, had migrated to her thigh. Although he was vacantly aware that this was not a good way to keep things chaste between them, he was having much too good a time kissing her to care very much. A few moments later, his hand slipped under the hem of her shirt.
Laura rocketed out of his grasp and toward the other end of the couch so fast it gave him whiplash. “Oh my God, Kevin, I’m so sorry,” she gasped, red in the face and looking deeply mortified.
Kevin blinked at her, stunned, and then dual feelings of shame and disappointment flared up inside him. He looked down, noticed a bulge in his jeans that hadn’t been there before, and hastily glanced at the floor instead. “Damn it, this is like the first time I made out with my girlfriend in high school. No, actually, it’s worse than that.”
“Kevin, stop, it’s okay.” There was a touch of hesitant fingers on his shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Well, it’s not just your fault.”
“Look, Laura, I know it takes two to tango and everything, but…gah, I just thought I had better restraint than that. I’m sorry.”
She laughed a little. “Well, if I want you to be good it’s my job not to encourage you. Trust me, you weren’t pushing me into any of that. You okay?”
“Just embarrassed.” Her words had reassured him somewhat, though, and he took her hand. There was still about a foot of couch space between their bodies, though, and he thought it was probably better that way. Their mutual faith notwithstanding, he would have done all of it again and more besides if he thought for a second she would have permitted it. “You?”
“Same. This ‘taking things slow’ business is harder than I thought it’d be.”
Kevin looked up at her in surprise. “It’s hard for you?”
“Oh, please tell me you’re not one of those people who thinks women don’t like or want sex as much as men do.”
The frankness with which Laura said it took him even further aback. “Well, no,” he said, remembering his past experiences with his high school girlfriend and other girls in college, which had disproved that theory rather vehemently. “I mean, I did think it’d probably be harder for me than for you, but you just seem so…calm about it, most of the time.”
She shrugged. “I’ve been trying not to let it show. It didn’t seem fair, after I made such a big production out of limiting our physical contact. Plus, I was…kind of ashamed of wanting more.”
“Ashamed? Why?”
“Well, you’re…the first boyfriend I’ve ever had. This is all new to me. Imagining is one thing, but actual kissing and touching and everything is completely different.”
Kevin certainly knew that was true. It felt odd to be discussing it with Laura, though. Once they began talking, they could hardly stop, but this was one subject they had stayed away from aside from that one isolated conversation in high school. It had never seemed like something they could talk about without it getting incredibly awkward. Then, with other girls he had dated, he had always just jumped in first and assumed they would stop him if they didn’t like it. Some part of him had expected that he and Laura would figure it out the same way. It was that part, he realized, that had gotten him in trouble. “Well,” he said neutrally, deciding that they should probably just have this discussion now and get it over with, “you don’t need to tell me that. You’ve really never dated anyone else?”
She shook her head. “I had a couple casual dates when I first moved here, and another handful with a guy at church two years ago, but they never went anywhere. It didn’t seem right, not like now.”
He felt thrilled by the idea that he was her first, but sad that he couldn’t tell her the same thing about himself. Clearing his throat, he forced himself to meet her eyes. “Um, Laura, you may as well know now…I’m not a virgin. I haven’t been since before I met you.”
To his great relief, she seemed to take it calmly. “I didn’t really expect you to be. I didn’t know you were that young, but I thought it’d be unrealistic to assume you’d never had sex before.”
“Does that bother you?” he asked.
She shook her head, and to her credit, did not follow it up with some awful comment about how everybody made mistakes. “Well, a little, if I’m being honest, but I’ve already sort of accepted it. There’s no use getting upset about it.”
“I haven’t since grad school,” he assured her. “And I’m clean and everything, last I checked.”
Laura made a face. “I wasn’t concerned, but thanks. Grad school, huh? What about before that?”
“You really want to know?”
“Just the when. No names or details. For my peace of mind.”
Kevin gave her a brief overview of his sexual history, figuring it was only fair that he come clean, since she had asked. He knew his was comparatively mild, since it was only four girls-one he’d dated his freshman year of high school in Virginia, two after his fallout with Laura in college, and his first girlfriend in grad school-but he still felt a little shame, thinking about Laura’s squeaky clean history. “I wasn’t serious about any of them but my grad school girlfriend. It was mostly experimenting and trying to drown out other things.”
“Your family situation,” Laura said, nodding in understanding.
“And you,” he admitted. “That first hookup in college was after you rejected me, and I was trying to get over it. Did a pretty poor job of that in general.”
“So…nobody at all during those years we were so close?”
He looked at her, not sure whether to laugh or to seriously question her powers of observation. “Laura, you and I were practically joined at the hip. If I’d been seeing anyone, you would’ve known. Honestly, though? I really wasn’t thinking about trying to get with other girls.”
“You had a crush on me all that time?”
“I didn’t know it until right before we had our fight, but I think I must’ve. Allie said something around that time that finally made me realize it.”
She smiled a little. “Yeah, I felt the same way about you.” Squeezing his hand, she added, “I still do.”
“I know.” He lifted her hand to his lips, pressed a lingering kiss against it, and then covered it with his free one. “So we’re okay?”
“We’re okay,” she agreed. “Although we might want to think about getting engaged soon if this keeps up. I don’t think the fact that we’ve known each other so long is helping us restrain ourselves.”
Kevin laughed, knowing she was joking but privately thinking that might not be such a bad idea. “You’re probably right. Meanwhile, I’m going to borrow your bathroom for a cold shower, if you don’t mind.”
Laura’s face twisted for a moment, as if she were trying to hold something back. Then she burst into giggles, and, tugging her hand from his grip, scooted further away and buried her face in her knees.
“What did I say?” he asked, a bit scandalized by her reaction.
“Nothing, I just…I was just remembering the time you came over early for a Christmas party, and-" She couldn’t finish, her laughter cutting into her words.
He remembered it well, and couldn’t help a wide, mischievous grin. That had been right before he had consciously acknowledged his feelings for Laura, and it was easier to think about-even funny-now that things had worked out between them. “Oh, you mean the time I offered to join you in the shower because you wouldn’t play Wii Sports with me? Yeah, that was a good one.” Wickedly, he shifted closer and leaned in toward her ear. “You know, if you ever change your mind, the invitation’s always open-"
“Oh, God, stop,” Laura managed, pushing him away. She was smiling, though.
Feeling rather pleased with himself, he kissed her hairline. “I love you so much,” he murmured.
“I love you, too,” she said, and his doubts began to melt away.