Chapter Eight

JAY

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Paige: tell me a secret

Jay: I’m looking at the shoes you left here

Paige: and what are you thinking about while you look at them ;)

Jay: how the next time you wear them I’m going to use the heels to pull you against my cock so I can fuck you as hard as possible

Paige: hmmm. That sounds amazing. Describe it to me.

Jay: after I tease you senseless you’re going to get on all fours. Then I’m going to fuck you from behind, holding onto those sexy heels as I watch your ass slap against me.

Paige: when can I see you again? I can’t wait to try that

Jay: tomorrow night work for you?

Paige: hell to the yes

Jay: you’re adorable when you try to be tough

Paige: does adorable get you hot?

Jay: you get me hot

Paige: you get me hot too

Jay: please tell me you’re alone right now

Paige: I’m in the student lounge in the arts court

Jay: too fucking bad

Paige: are you alone?

Jay: laying on my bed, all alone

Paige: are you going to touch yourself?

Jay: do you want me to?

Paige: yes. Is that weird?

Jay: not weird at all. I like the idea of you knowing I’m doing it and thinking about you.

Paige: god I wish I wasn’t at school right now

Jay: next time we’ll try it on the phone together

Paige: deal. I have to go. Class in ten

Jay: have fun. I’ll be thinking of you

Paige: ;)

I tossed my phone on the bed beside me and lay back. I was horny as hell. At the moment my cock was attempting to bust through my pants so it could salute the ceiling, but my mind was cloudy and I knew I wouldn’t be able to fully enjoy jerking off while I was distracted.

I hadn’t really seen Paige since our non-date on Saturday. She’d had to study on Sunday and then we’d gone out for coffee on Monday since Jax had staked out the apartment for his own afternoon delight.

I’d had labs on Tuesday and she’d needed to study on Wednesday so I’d only seen her during class. At least now we had a plan to meet up on Friday, but it didn’t seem like enough.

I didn’t want to just fuck her on the weekends and ignore her during the week. She was busy with school and I could stand to put a little more effort in, but I missed her when we didn’t get to spend any real time together.

As stupid and dangerous as it was, I wanted to see her outside of sleeping together. The thought of curling up on the couch with her, or better yet the bed, and studying made me flush, and I desperately wanted to spend the night with her.

I’d never wanted to share my bed with someone out of intimacy, but I wanted to feel her overnight, see her first thing in the morning and do all that domestic shit I ribbed Matt about. I’d never wanted it before, but now it dominated my thoughts.

I was getting too attached to her. We were supposed to be friends who fucked, but she meant more to me than that. I wanted her to be my friend, but also share in some sort of companionship outside of the bedroom.

What the fuck was wrong with me?

I’d never thought like this, but then I’d never met a girl like Paige. She was amazing. How she could be both adorable and smoking hot was beyond me, but she nailed both. She was funny as hell and neurotic to a fault, but it only made her more interesting. She’d come out of her shell so much in the last few weeks, and the more she revealed to me the more I wanted to know.

She was also the only girl I’d never lied to.

I wasn’t some dick who went around telling chicks what I thought they wanted to hear to get into their pants, but I did tend to gloss over facts. I didn’t like to talk about my major and how I studied engineering because most chicks looked at me as some sort of bad boy. I never talked about my family or introduced anyone to my brothers, and I always held a piece of me back. I could flirt like a champ and fuck like my life depended on it, but I didn’t open up and I hated intimacy. I didn’t like to draw out physical contact unless it was a precursor to sex, and even then I didn’t want to makeout with anyone.

I didn’t cuddle, hold hands or even like to hug all that much, but my body craved Paige.

I wanted to hold her hand as we walked down the street. If we sat next to each other I was drawn to her like a magnate and needed to feel her against me, and it was sometimes hard to let go of her when she gave me one of her amazing hugs.

There was something about the way her body fit against mine, the faint scent of strawberries that lingered in her hair, and even the steady beating of her heart that I found comforting, and natural.

I didn’t want to think about what any of that meant, other than the fact that I was getting soft and one step away from writing a sonnet about her, because I was afraid of what I’d discover.

I was afraid I was falling for her. That I cared about her as more than just a friend, and I could love her.

I’d sworn I’d never fall in love with anyone, and then I’d laid eyes on a pretty blonde with mustard on her shirt and my entire world had been shifted upside down.

I sighed and looked down at my crotch. Considering all of the soul searching and introspection I’d been doing I would have figured my boner would have disappeared, but there it was, ready and waiting. Even thinking about cuddling and holding hands with Paige was enough to keep my stiffy. That definitely meant something.

Sitting up I pulled off my shirt and stripped off my pants. It was time for a little solo session. Maybe I could get my mind to focus if I got my body to calm the fuck down.

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PAIGE

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“You got another date?” Jules asked slyly as she lounged on my bed.

“It’s not a date.” I held up two shirts for her to choose from. One was a yellow t-shirt that was a little long and loose on me and the other was a green button up shirt that hung down to my knees.

“Really?” She looked between them and shook her head. “Neither.”

“My clothes suck.” I shoved both shirts back in my closet, taking care to put them back in their proper places, and sighed.

“Wear the pink one. The one with the cowl neck.”

“You think?” I pulled the shirt out and bit my lip as I looked at it.

The shirt was nice. It was nearly skin tight but because of the low cowl the material gathered around my stomach and hid everything I needed it to. It ended just south of my panties and the material had a slight shimmer to it.

“Definitely. Just put that white lace cami under it with a pair of black leggings and you’ll look great.”

“Thanks, Jules.”

“So, back to your date—”

“It’s not a date,” I interrupted as I pulled off my clothes and went to my dresser to get a push-up bra. I didn’t have all that much to work with, I might as well give the girls all the help they could get.

“Fine, your ‘not date’.” She rolled her eyes. “It’s Friday night and you’re going to hang out with him.”

“So? Friends hang out on Friday, it’s kind of a thing.”

“You’re agonizing over your outfit—”

“You’re the one who always told me I should put more effort into my looks.”

“You’re sleeping with him—”

“We had sex once.”

“You’re not messing around with anyone else.”

“He brought it up first.”

“I’m worried about you.”

I glanced at Jules and saw the concern in her eyes. “Why?”

“Because you’re a sweet, compassionate girl and you don’t have the kind of experience he does.”

“What does that mean?” I tossed my shirt aside and pulled on my bra.

“You’ve only been with one guy before, he’s slept with more chicks than he’ll ever admit to you.”

“So because I haven’t slept around, I can’t handle sleeping around?”

“You’re not sleeping around, you’re sleeping with your friend.”

“Yeah, one friend.”

“You’ve messed around with him, had sex with him, but has he ever seen you naked?”

I flushed and looked away.

“You like him. You’re friends with him and you want to be with him, so why won’t you just tell him?”

“I can’t.” I shook my head and pulled on my shirt. I needed to cover my stomach right now. Jules may have seen it countless times, but at that moment I needed to hide my shame.

“You said you trust him.”

“I do.”

“Then why won’t you trust him to see all of you.”

“Because then I’d have to tell him the truth, and I can’t.”

“Paige—”

“I can’t,” I cut her off. “Jules, I love you like you were my sister, but I can’t tell him, or show him.”

“Are you afraid of how he’ll react?”

“Not so much afraid.” I sighed and pulled on my leggings. “But worried.”

“Maybe he’ll—”

“Please, Jules, just drop it.”

“Fine, but how do you expect to keep sleeping with him and not have him see you naked?”

“Wardrobe choices.” I grinned. “As long as what I wear is easy access then I never have to take my top off.”

“I suppose.” She chuckled and leaned back on the bed. “I just hope this doesn’t blow up in your face.”

“You’ve had fuck buddies before, it’s never blown up on you.”

“Oh, it has. Trust me.” She shook her head ruefully. “But I’ve also done the nasty with a hell of a lot more guys than you. I learned how to separate sex and emotion.”

I sighed and came to sit with her on my bed. “I like him. He’s a great guy and we have a lot of fun. The sex was amazing, like beyond anything I could have imagined. What we have works, so why mess it up by adding a label.”

“And you could be happy with this?”

“I am happy with this.”

“As long as you’re happy.” She leaned in to give me a hug. “I’m going out tonight, so the place is yours if you need it.”

“Date?”

“Girls night.” She chucked me playfully on the shoulder. “I was going to invite you but you have a ‘not-a-date’ to go on.”

I stuck my tongue out at her, causing her to start laughing. Then she upped the ante by tickling me and that almost started an all-out war.

Jules really was like a sister to me, and I worried that she was right about everything.

* * * * *

“What is this place?” I looked over at Jay as he led me into our destination.

“It’s an arcade of sorts.” He grinned impishly at me.

“An arcade?”

“Of sorts.”

We stepped into what looked like a giant arcade, only instead of having just video games there were interactive games like whack-a-mole and things like table hockey and basketball shooting.

The only arcade I’d ever been in had held a small collection of video games and one pinball machine. This was more like an indoor carnival without rides or booths.

“You look intimidated.” He grinned and squeezed my hand.

“I’ve never really played video games before.”

“Let me guess, your parents wouldn’t let you because they didn’t think it was educational enough?”

“Pretty much.” I nodded as he started to lead me toward a huge display that was filled with things like stuffed animals, toys, candy, and even a few TV’s and game consoles. “What do those tags mean? There’s no way a stuffed teddy bear can be 100 dollars, not unless it comes to life at night and does my laundry for me.”

Jay laughed and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. “Those are ticket prices.”

“What?”

“Just wait, I’ll explain everything.”

I watched as he went over to a machine and slipped a twenty into it. A moment later the giant plastic cup he’d put under the dispenser was filled with flashy gold coins.

“What sorcery is this?” I looked into the cup and back up at him. Those didn’t look like any currency I’d ever seen before.

“You take these tokens and play the games. Depending on how well you do the game gives you tickets. When you’re done you trade the tickets in for prizes.”

“So that teddy bear would be one hundred tickets, and that keychain would be ten?”

“Exactly.”

“Wow. I’ve never been to a place like this before. Kind of makes me feel like I missed out on something.”

“Well, then let’s get you experiencing it.” He took my hand and we made our way into the arcade. “What do you want to try first? Video game, skill test, pinball?”

“I don’t know.”

“How about skill game? Video games are fun but I have a feeling you’d get angry at me really fast.”

“Yeah, because you have a decade of practice on them.” I rolled my eyes.

“You’re cute when you’re competitive.”

“Glad you think so, otherwise you’ll be hating me in about ten minutes.”

He laughed and pulled me toward the basketball nets.

“You play?”

“Really, all five-foot-two of me? Of course, I was the star of my highschool team.”

I was rewarded with a hearty laugh and another one of those impish grins of his. “Then how about we start here.”

“Don’t tell me, you played basketball.”

“Nope. I might be tall but that wasn’t my thing.”

“What was? You don’t seem like a sports guy, but then again you don’t seem like a nerd so looks can be deceiving.”

“I ran track.”

“Really?”

“Long distance.” He nodded as we stopped in front of two nets side-by-side.

“Do you still run?”

“Not like I used to. I try to hit the treadmill at least three times a week when school isn’t too busy.”

“So that’s how you maintain that body while eating like a ten-year-old.”

He laughed and handed me a token. “It works.”

“It certainly does.” I flushed as I looked him up and down. He really did have an incredible body, and the tight, straight-legged jeans and button down shirt he was wearing showed off every long and lean line.

“So, let’s make this interesting. At the end of the night, whoever has the most tickets gets to pick where we go after this.”

“You’re on.”

“Prepare to be destroyed.”

“I hope your ego isn’t too badly damaged after having your ass handed to you by a girl.”

“Big talk for such a tiny person.”

“Whatever, bigfoot. You’re going down.”

“We’ll see, shortstack, we’ll see.”

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JAY

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Paige had to be the most competitive person I’d ever met, and I was an identical twin who was born with an arch nemesis/best friend to spend my life competing against.

She was also adorably uncoordinated. Sports definitely weren’t her thing. Her reaction time was slow, her reflexes were almost non-existent, and she really did have the coordination of a drunken elephant and a baby deer. She was also a little skittish and spent most of our table hockey game squealing and ducking because she thought the puck was going to bounce up and hit her.

We played one driving game together, and when I crushed her that was the end of that. She’d managed to do pretty well at pinball, but after I won the third round she’d declared that the game was rigged and she refused to play on it again.

It took about two hours to finish all our tokens, and when we were done there was no question that I’d kicked her ass.

“I don’t like arcades.” She pouted as we sat at one of the many tables in the food court of the arcade.

“You don’t like arcades, or losing?” I asked knowingly, pushing the basket of fries closer to her. She’d barely touched them.

“Losing at arcades. Or at all.”

“I never noticed.”

She rolled her eyes and took a sip of her soda.

“You’d better dig in before I eat them all,” I warned as I picked up a fry and shoved it in my mouth.

“It’s fine, go ahead.”

“You didn’t want a hot dog, and now you’re passing on fries?” I looked at her carefully. “Are you not eating because of some silly idea that you can’t eat junk food in front of me?”

“I’m trying to watch what I eat.” She shrugged.

“Why?”

“The Freshman Fifteen didn’t really hit me all that hard, but the sophomore equivalent is kicking my ass.”

“You look fantastic, and think about it this way; we just spent two hours playing games and moving. That’s like a mini workout.”

I could see the corners of her mouth tugging upward in a small grin as she thought about what I said.

“You really think I look okay? I’m not trying to be vain, I just sometimes have a hard time seeing myself as I am.”

“Like body dysmorphia?”

She nodded, blushing pink as she played with the straw in her drink. “Most of the time it’s fine, but there are some days where I can’t see myself the way I am. I know my clothes still fit and I can feel that my body is the same, but I look in the mirror and see this huge belly and that’s what my brain believes is real.”

“Paige, sweetheart.” I reached out and took her hand in mine, holding it tight. “You’re beautiful, but your weight isn’t the reason. You’re a beautiful person, inside and out, and it wouldn’t matter if you were fifty pounds heavier or ten pounds lighter, I’d still see the same gorgeous woman.”

“Really?” Her eyes shimmered slightly in the light, almost as though she was about to cry.

“Really. Some people judge a person by what they look like, but I prefer to look at who they are underneath. It’s true I’m attracted to you exactly as you are now, but gaining weight wouldn’t change that. If anyone stops caring about you because your body changes then they’re an asshole and not worth your time.”

“Thank you. I’m sorry to get all needy and sappy—”

“You’re not.” I squeezed her hand and shook my head. “You can talk to me about anything, no matter what. Nothing is off limits.”

“Thanks, Jay. You’re an amazing friend.”

I tried to ignore the slight flare of something that rushed through me at the word ‘friend’. We were friends, that was it. No reason to get all weird about a fact.

“Now, do you want some fries while I figure out where we’re going next?”

By the grin on her face I could see she was feeling better, and when I let go of her hand she reached into the basket and pulled out a curly fry.

“Look at that, you got the lucky fry on your first pick. Make a wish.”

“So a curly fry in a basket of regular fries is like a shooting star?” She raised her eyebrow playfully at me.

“Of course.” I nodded solemnly. “It’s the holy grail of fries.”

“Fine, I’ll make a wish.” She blushed and popped the fry in her mouth.

“Did your wish by any chance have anything to do with seeing me in a state of undress?”

“Now why would you assume that?”

“Because I figured out where we’re going next, and you’d get your wish.”

“Oh really, and where would that be?”

“You’ll see.”

I could tell she wanted to ask more, but she’d learned to give up control and accept a surprise every once and awhile. It was nice, and it also meant she trusted me.

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PAIGE

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“A tattoo parlour?” I glanced at Jay as he led me into a small, clean tattoo shop.

“I’ve been wanting to get a little something, and I figure tonight is as good a night as any.”

“Another tattoo?”

“A simple one.” He nodded and brought me over to the desk where an absolutely beautiful woman was standing. She was tall, thin and had incredible, and I would guess fake, boobs that could barely be contained by her tank top. Her hair was dark purple and she had piercings through the shell of her ears, one at the corner of her mouth and three on her chest right at her cleavage. She also had two full sleeves of colorful tattoos and I could only imagine where else she was inked.

“Jay, it’s nice to see you again.” The woman smiled warmly at him and a flare of jealousy shot through me.

“Tiffany, hi.” He grinned at her and turned to me. “Tiffany is a piercer. She did my nipples.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said lamely. She was everything I could never be and I noticed the way Jay had looked her up and down. I didn’t blame him, I’d done the same, but it still hurt to see.

“Is Gypsy in?”

“She’s in back. You looking for an appointment or a quickie?”

“A quickie should be fine.”

“I’ll call her in.” Tiffany smiled and picked up the phone next to her.

“A female tattoo artist?”

“This shop is all women.” He grinned as we waited for this mysterious Gypsy to appear. “Almost all. Tiffany’s husband co-owns it with her and he does some work, but all the others are women.”

“That’s cool. Did you come here because of that?”

“No. Someone recommended it. I thought it was a cool concept when I found out, and I’ve kept coming back.”

“Jay, come on back, tiger.”

“Tiger?” I gave Jay a sideways look as we made our way to the back of the shop.

Gypsy was basically Tiffany’s clone, only her hair was dyed dark blue and she was petite with awesome boobs and cool ink. Was it a rule that everyone here had to be hot?

“This your girl?” Gypsy nodded to me as Jay sat in the chair and she pulled one up so I could sit with him.

“This is Paige,” he introduced us, not bothering to correct her.

We exchanged basic pleasantries while Jay pulled off his shirt and lay back.

“So, what are we getting today?” Gypsy asked.

“That side piece we talked about.”

“The script?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ve got the stencil in the back. Just give me a second to grab it and we’ll place it for you.”

“Script?” I asked when Gypsy was gone.

“A saying I like. I was going to get it before Christmas but school got busy and I put it off.”

“Here we go. Is it still what you want?” Gypsy came back and showed Jay a stencil.

“That’s perfect.”

She sat down in her chair and she and Jay spent the next few minutes figuring out where he wanted it placed. They settled on his side, starting at his hip and moving up until it was nearly in his armpit.

When the placement was ready Gypsy used iodine to clean his skin, set the stencil and then picked up her tattoo gun.

Jay had rolled onto his side so she could reach him. We were facing each other and I could see his eyes cloud over slightly when she started working on him.

“Hurt?” I asked. I imagined it did. She was putting ink under his skin with a vibrating needle.

“Nerves.” He shook his head and reached his hand out for me to hold. I took it and gave it a squeeze. “It’s hitting some weird nerves and making other places hurt.”

It didn’t take long for Gypsy to finish the tattoo, and when it was done I leaned over and read the script.

“Sit vis nobiscum. How badly did I butcher that?”

“Not too bad.” He was smiling at me with a tender look in his eye, and my heart fluttered.

“It’s pretty. What does it mean?” I tried to get my head back and not focus on my flutters.

“It’s Latin for may the force be with you.”

“What?” I burst out laughing, the tender moment broken. “You’re such a nerd.”

“And now I’m a nerd in more than one language.” He sat up and waited for Gypsy to put a plastic covering over his tattoo.

“Do you have time for one more?” I asked Gypsy impulsively.

“Sure, as long as it’s a small piece.”

“It is.” I reached into my purse and pulled a photo out of my wallet. “Can you tattoo this on the inside of my wrist?”

She took the photo and looked at the writing on the back. “Sure can. It’ll take me maybe five minutes if you want it in black.”

“Black is fine.”

“Okay, I’ll go make up the stencil and you and Jay can switch seats.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jay asked as he moved off the chair and helped me stand.

“I’m sure. I’ve been thinking about it for years, now it’s time to just do it.”

“What are you getting done?”

“Before I left for college my brother gave me that picture. It’s him holding me when I’m only about a month old. He wrote ‘always be true to you’ on the back and signed it with a little heart and his name.”

“That’s really sweet.”

Just then Gypsy came back with the stencil and showed it to me. It was an exact replica.

“You said your wrist?”

“On the inside, so I can read it when I look down at it but it looks upside down for everyone else.”

It only took her a second to find a good place, and then she iodined me and stuck the stencil to me.

After peeling it off she made sure it was where she wanted, and then she set to changing out the needles in her gun.

“This’ll hurt. That’s a really sensitive area,” she warned as she finished setting the gun. “Have you had ink before?”

“This is my first.”

“Try not to pull away or I’ll just end up streaking on your skin. If you need me to stop say so and I’ll pull back.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Okay, here it goes.”

I didn’t know what was worse—the sound of the gun or the actual contact. It burned my skin and there was pain, and not just in my wrist like Jay had said, but it was tolerable.

After only a few minutes Gypsy pulled away. “What do you think?”

“It’s perfect.”

It really was. It looked exactly like it did on the back of the photo and I loved it. I watched as she put a piece of plastic over it to keep it protected, and I knew I was grinning like an idiot.

“Okay, why don’t you two take a moment and I’ll go print off the care instructions. Then I’ll meet you at the register.”

It took us a moment to gather our things, and when we went out to the front of the shop Gypsy was there with papers for me and our bills.

“Put both together,” I said quickly, pulling my wallet out of my purse.

“Paige—”

“I want to.” I shook my head, cutting him off. “Having it done with you meant a lot to me, and I want to give yours to you as thanks.”

He didn’t say anything, he just nodded and bent his head to give me a quick kiss.

This was the first time we’d kissed in public, and I flushed happily when he pulled away.

After I’d paid for the tattoos we headed out of the shop and walked toward my apartment. We didn’t talk about anything serious, just bantered back and forth, and when we got into my apartment I paused.