“Honey,” I call out to Ashley, knowing she’ll be in my bathroom, “I’m home.” I drop my book bag on the floor and plop stomach-first onto my bed.
She rushes into the room, “Oh my god, Becky,” her tone, light and giggly, is a turn from the usual dry humor and sadness, “we have to talk.” She shoves me and I roll over so she can join me.
“About what?”
“Cooper.”
That one word makes my body tense immediately. It’s been almost two weeks since Jesse and I spent the better part of the afternoon in the locker room showers together. Since then it’s been tense and quiet between us. It’s almost as if it never happened, despite the few times I’ve caught her staring at me during practice. And although my body reacts, I try to sound neutral, “What about her?”
“She’s dating Megan,” I can feel her eyes on me and I know she’s looking for even the slightest reaction from me. Receiving none, she pushes just a little bit further, “They went out last weekend and they’re going out again Saturday.”
“After the game?” I ask nonchalantly.
“Yeah,” she studies my face, “and you’re okay with that?”
I shrug through the sting, “I don’t have a hold on her. She can do what she wants. She’s a grown woman.”
Ashley, not believing me for a minute, nods, “Right. Of course. Because you’re a slut and sleep with just anyone and everyone. So that means you cut off your emotions.” I don’t respond and she sits up, “Sara, don’t try to play like this doesn’t hurt. Fuck, I know it does! She’s going out with my ex! I know you and you don’t just screw around with no emotion at all. There’s something about her that you connect with.”
I’m no good at lying, “You’re right. It hurts, but what can I do?” I slide out of the bed and start changing into practice gear. Ashley watches me but I think nothing of it. We’ve been friends since the first day we spent as freshmen. She helped me move into the room we shared and when someone helps you unpack your panties, you tend to latch on and not let go. We’ve seen each other in every stage of undress possible. So her watching me doesn’t creep me out, nor do I think for a moment that she’s looking at me with lust in her eyes. But when I turn around, she actually is looking at me with a look like that, “What?”
She smiles just a bit, “You are a sexy woman, you know that?”
“You need to quit before I beat the hell out of you,” she knows I’m kidding, but only partly. Suddenly I feel very strange standing there in my shorts and sports bra, “What’s wrong with you?”
She shrugs, “I don’t know. I guess being single is starting to get to me. I’m craving attention for some reason. And apparently I don’t care who shows me attention, I just want some.” She falls back on the bed with a dramatic sigh, “I need to get laid. And, let’s face it, you’re one of the hottest chicks at this god-forsaken school.” She turns to face me and her eyes drift up and down my body, watching me pull my hair into a ponytail.
I can see her watching me in the mirror and I roll my eyes, “Ash,” I turn to face her now, “you don’t want a piece of me. You just want someone, not me.”
She sits up slowly, the look on her face telling me that she’s considering what I’m saying. She stands slowly and walks to me, not saying a word until she’s a breath away from me, “How do you know I don’t want you?”
I’m not going to tell her, but that’s a very good question. I scoff, with my hands on my hips, “Because I know you.”
“Do you?” she asks. I feel the touch on the back of my neck at the same time I notice her head coming towards mine. When our lips meet, brushing softly at first, I’m shocked, causing me to pull back but I can’t talk. Her eyes are only slightly open and her lips are parted in a way I’ve never seen them. I study her face for a split second before she pulls me towards her again.
This time the kiss is passionate and deep. She moans and, for some reason, I wrap my arms around her waist and pull her to me. I kiss from her lips down her throat as my hands slide under t-shirt, touching bare hot skin, “God, Ash, you’re hot.” She arches against me, a clear signal she wants more, and I peel her shirt off. I sigh against her skin because it’s a familiar smell. I’ve slept with my head in the crook of her neck but right now, I just want to bite her there and touch her everywhere else.
She sucks in a hissing breath and breathes my name, “Sara.” Her eyes close as she lets her head drop back.
I’ve always been jealous of her abs. And when my hands make contact with the muscles there, they quiver. I smile to myself and wrap my arms back around her. She’s warm and inviting, soft skin and even softer sighs. She kisses my throat now and I groan when I feel her lips on my ear, “Ahh god.” She drags her tongue around the rim of my ear I get goosebumps. I can feel her nipples harden against my chest as I slide my hand down the back of her shorts to cup her ass and pull her to me. I lean down and lightly bite her shoulder.
She purrs, “I want you so bad. So bad.” I pull her lips to mine and feel her hands peeling my bra off.
I turn us around and press her against the mirror. I lean down and lick a nipple through her sports bra, causing her to wiggle against me. When I clamp it lightly between my teeth she almost comes unglued. She pulls my face back up to hers and kisses me hard as she grabs my hand. My tongue dips into her mouth as she guides my hand down the front of her shorts. I am shocked and baffled, but when I feel how wet she is and realize she’s wet for me, I dismiss every thought of stopping. For the first time ever, I want to be more than her best friend.
With my middle finger flicking her clit, she brings her hands back up to my face and kisses me, “Yes, Sara. Oh god. Mmm.” She presses her head against the mirror and I watch as she bites her bottom lip to stifle any loud noises.
It takes a moment to register, but my hand freezes as I gasp, “Was that a knock?”
Frustrated but shaken, Ashley whispers, “I think so.”
The sound of a knock on the door sends us scurrying for clothes and I call out, “Just a minute!” Ash grabs her clothes and shuts herself into the bathroom. I pull my sports bra on and open the door, grateful that it automatically locks. I run a hand over my hair as I swing the door open only to be taken aback, “Jesse?”
“Damn, Mayze, I’m here to talk and now you got me all fucked up,” she runs her eyes down my body and sighs, “I almost forgot why I came to see you.” She licks her lips and then bites the bottom one, “Mmm you look good enough to eat.”
I swallow hard and try to act unaffected, “Well you can’t do that right now because Ashley’s in the bathroom getting ready for practice which is in half an hour.” Something in the look she gives me makes me uncomfortable but I hope she doesn’t verbalize whatever it was she thought, “Do you need to come in and sit down?”
Her eyes narrow and I think she’s going to politely decline. But I’m wrong, “Yeah, that’d be good.”
She steps into my room and I turn, stifling a frustrated sigh, “Ash, just so you know, Jesse’s here.”
The bathroom door opens and Ashley walks out in only her sports bra and panties, but she’s holding her t-shirt and shorts, “Okay.” She nods towards Jesse, “Hey.” The she turns to me with the naughtiest grin, “Thank you, Sara, for helping me.” She steps into her shorts and throws her t-shirt over her shoulder as she saunters to the door. Leaving the room, she adds, “We’ll have to do it again sometime.”
There’s the small part of me that’s highly embarrassed she did that. But, looking at Jesse’s face, I realize she meant to get a rise. In my head I say a little thank you to her and address Jesse, “What’s up?”
Jesse glances from me to the door to me a couple of times. Her voice is a mix of confusion and emotion, I think, “What did you help her with?”
I’m almost offended she asked, and it shows in my expression and tone, “I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”
Not expecting me to challenge her and not having a strategy if I did, she did the only thing she could, cut to the chase, “How long have you two been fucking each other?”
Now I’m mad, “First of all, you’re assuming that’s what we were doing. I could ask you the same damn thing about Megan. But I’m not going to because, honestly, that makes me sick to my stomach. Secondly, that’s still none of your damn business.” I stand up straight and put my hands on my hips, “What do you want?”
When she opens her mouth, I turn to get my shirt, “Oh Jesus Christ! I’m not fucking Megan! I got a pizza, she walked in, I offered her a piece. That’s it.”
I shrug and act nonchalant, “I don’t care. It’s your heart, your time, and your vagina. Do what and who you want.”
She sets her jaw, causing her lips to sneer a bit, “Is that really what you want?”
“Yeah, it is,” I lie. “I got some oats to sow.”
For a beat of time, neither of us speaks. She breaks the silence, “I don’t need to talk to you anymore. I’ve changed my mind.” She turns on her heel and storms to the door.
I can’t let her leave without twisting that dagger just a little more, “By the way,” she pauses in the door, her back to me, “Megan’s not one for monogamy. You should know that before you fall for her.”
She calls over her shoulder, like a karate kick to my chest, “Fucking around seems to be a team building exercise for this group.”
