Archive of Our Own ^beta

“Hey, gorgeous.”

It wasn’t a common occurrence for Luke to call her in the middle of the day, since he knew she was at school, but he had texted first and Julie, being nearly done with her lunch, had agreed. That was how she found herself trying to hide a lovesick grin from her peers as she walked out of the cafeteria and headed to her locker.

“Hey,” she breathed into the phone. “Everything okay?”

“What? Oh, yeah, yeah. It’s nothing like that.”

“Well, then maybe next time don’t start a text with ‘Can I call you? It’s kinda of urgent’.”

“It is urgent, though. I need to know your plans for after school today.”

Julie shrugged, even though he couldn’t see her. “The usual.”

Even after five months of dating, they hardly ever got to spend Fridays together. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, Carlos had practice and Dad would be at work until he picked him up, so Julie was alone at the house until around six o’clock. Luke was strictly forbidden from coming over during that time slot. Still, he would usually pop in for dinner once or twice a week. Almost never on Fridays, though, because he had band practice and sometimes gigs. And sure, they sometimes went out on Fridays after school, but Julie was usually tired after the long week, preferring the cozy comfort of her house, so they pushed dates to Saturdays.

“Reggie’s out with food poisoning.”

The sheer randomness of the statement brought her back to the conversation. “What?”

“Yeah, he ate something questionable last night at that bar – even I wouldn’t touch it –, so practice’s canceled today. And since I know you would not rather do your homework, I was, ah, wondering if…”

Julie felt kind of bad for how a grin stretched over her face at the news of practice being canceled because Reggie was sick. On the other hand, she would get to see her boyfriend a day earlier than expected, and she could go for a few hugs and kisses today.

“I think I can clear my schedule for you,” she tried to play it cool, already spotting her locker in the distance. Once she reached it, she could hide her giddy face inside it.

“Sweet,” he replied immediately, and she could hear the smile in his voice. “Were you gonna take the bus back today? I can come pick you up.”

She didn’t understand why Luke sounded almost nervous at the end. “Sounds great.”

“Great! Then maybe we can… go to your house? Catch that episode that we fell asleep in the middle of last week.”

Oh. That’s why he was nervous to ask.

Julie paused with a hand hovering over her locker, feeling her heartrate pick up. “Dad would kill you. And then give me his disappointed face.”

“… not if I leave before he gets back?”

You see, that was exactly the kind of stuff Dad trusted her not to do. He might he the coolest dad ever, but even he wasn’t chill enough to allow his teenage daughter’s boyfriend to stop by when there was nobody else home. It was true that the way that Tía had pushed the point during dinner all those months ago had made even Dad tell her that she didn’t have to be so insistent, but he agreed on principle. Julie would be breaking his trust.

Although… Dad loved Luke. Over winter break, he had been over a lot, even sleeping over on the couch sometimes. They had spent entire days cuddling in front of the TV, and Dad didn’t have a problem with that. Even when Luke would grab her by the waist in the kitchen and pull her back flush against his chest, leaning down to press a kiss on her neck – Dad would smile from the corner. He would smile when Julie kissed him goodnight with her arms around his shoulders or when Luke pulled her legs on his lap and drummed on her thighs for a whole movie. Clearly, he didn’t mind their physical proximity.

She knew where the line was – they all knew, but it would be too embarrassing to say it out loud, so it went unspoken. And they weren’t ready for that, she figured. At least, she was pretty sure she wasn’t, and something told her that, unless she was sure she was, she wasn’t.

It made more sense in her head than when she tried to put it into words. Anyway.

“Julie?”

“Hm?” she startled back into the conversation.

There was a short silence on the other end of the phone. “You went really quiet.”

His voice was small, and she immediately felt bad for spiraling while he waited for an answer. Although, to be honest, it was all to try and get to a conclusion to answer him with. “Sorry, sorry, I just… I was thinking.”

“We can just get something from the Alcove, too.”

“No, I, uh, as much as I love their coffee, it’s cold and ugly today. Staying in sounds really nice.”

And therein lay the problem. It was around 55 degrees outside, it might rain, and for your average LA girl, that meant the Worst Weather Ever and one simply had to stay home under covers until it passed. A couple of hours with Luke in the comfort of her house, with no one around to walk in and make her hyperaware of where they were touching, sounded divine.

Also, there had been times, like that one when they had been in the garage and he had been kissing her neck, tugging at her collar, that she had really wanted him to keep going, but had been too afraid of her family coming in. What would they say if she let him lay her down on the cushions and pull her collar aside?

Nothing if they weren’t around to catch it. Right? And as long as they didn’t… you know… do the forbidden unspoken thing… it was cool. Right? Because she was still obeying the principle of Dad’s rule.

Julie then noticed that the movement in the hallway was getting bigger, which meant that the bell would ring at any minute, so she finally opened her locker and made a decision.

“Carlos’s practice ends at a quarter past five, so you have to be out by five-thirty at most. We need to set alarms on both our phones.”

“Really?”

She would have laughed at his quick change back to excited puppy if she didn’t feel apprehensive about getting in trouble. Gosh, she had to go out and date a spontaneous guitarist from a rock band, didn’t she? What was he doing to her?

Contradicting her own thoughts, her mouth spread into a smile, and she suddenly couldn’t wait to see him. “Yeah. Really.”

“Okay. Yeah. I’ll meet you at the parking lot at three?”

“I’ll be the one in pink, blue, and green.”

There was another pause, but this time it wasn’t awkward. “You’re wearing the Unofficial Sunset Curve Hoodie?”

The Unofficial Sunset Curve Hoodie had been owned by Julie for two years, having nothing to do with Sunset Curve the band, until Alex saw it one day she wore it to watch them rehearse. He then proceeded to comment on how the colors matched the band’s logo almost perfectly, and thus it got its nickname. Since then, Luke would get extra excited at seeing her in it, as if she was somehow promoting his band through the three colors that few people knew the significance of. She wasn’t complaining, though.

They hung up when the bell rang and Julie saw Flynn waving at her from a few lockers over, telling her to hurry up. On the long way to their World History class, Julie summarized her after-school plans to her friend.

Flynn gave her a slightly scandalous look. “You’re ignoring your dad’s number one rule?”

“It’s not his number one rule.”

“It’s pretty close to his number one rule.”

“That’s not– Look, we won’t do anything, okay? So it’s fine! It’s the perfect cuddle weather.”

“That boy ain’t thinking about cuddling,” she scoffed.

With an indignant squeak, Julie squeezed her arm. “Flynn! That’s not what he meant when he asked.”

“So it was his suggestion?”

Julie saw how she talked herself into a dead-end here and, somehow, all her arguments sounded like excuses in her head, which meant they would sound even worse out loud. Still, she tried. “Yes, but – It’s not like that! Reggie got sick, so he doesn’t have band practice, and Carlos always judges us watching Anne With An E, so we should really finish that episode when he’s not around and… Stop looking at me like that!”

Flynn attempted (badly) to hide her disbelief. They were almost to the classroom now, so she didn’t have a lot of time for what would surely be an entire essay on how one could never trust teenage boys, but, thankfully, she seemed to go for the short version.

“That show’s got long-ass episodes. I’d be surprised if you guys got past the first ten minutes. Seriously, the way Luke’s hands gravitate to your legs, it’s a bit concerning. But hey, if you’re cool with that, then it’s cool. Just promise me you’ll listen to yourself, okay? I know he respects you, but you can’t honestly tell me you don’t know what he’s saying between the lines.”

Well, intellectually, Julie knew, but, like the unspoken rule, nobody had to bring it up like that.

Deep down, she appreciated Flynn’s carefulness. Not even that deep down; she truly treasured the fact that she had a friend that cared and wasn’t afraid to speak her reservations, even if Julie didn’t want to hear it at times.

In the end, Flynn’s words kept echoing in her head during her last few classes, clouding most of her attention for them. The closer it got to three o’clock, the more anxious she felt, for numerous reasons. She felt like she was bursting by the time she was finally able to drop her books in her locker and step out into the parking lot.

She didn’t have to walk much and her eyes didn’t have to search for long to find Luke leaning against his parents’ car, waiting. He looked very casual and cool in that unique way of his, wearing very comfortable-looking black pants and a dark gray zip-up hoodie, hands deep in his pockets. His face lit up when he saw her, pulling a smile from her. He didn’t move and just watched her go to him, eyes ranking her up and down and making her cheeks burn. When she was close enough, he pushed himself forward just enough to snatch her waist and pull her into a hug as he leaned back against the car again.

Simply breathing in his smell, burying her face in the now familiar chest, and feeling his arms around her was enough to make her feel a million pounds lighter. It was like coming up for air.

“Hey,” he muttered against her hair, and she could feel his smile.

“Hey.”

“I missed you this week.”

Julie had too. They had last seen each other on Monday for dinner and, as far as she was concerned, that was way too long ago. She was going to reply, mirroring the sentiment, but Luke ran his nose down her temple and pressed a kiss to her cheek, effectively cutting off her air supply. All she could do was follow his lips with hers and lock them together.

Luke inhaled deeply, moving his hands from her waist until they reached her cheek, then he pulled away just enough so they could look at each other. “You ready to go?”

“Yeah.”

For a moment, he kept looking at her with a sweet smile, caressing her cheeks, and Julie forgot what Flynn was worried about.

She forgot for the whole car ride, actually, because they were blasting songs and harmonizing – also not harmonizing when they got too excited –, like they always did whenever they managed to borrow one of their parents’ cars. It was only when Luke parked in her garage (not the garage-turned-studio) instead of outside that it clicked for her. The spot was available because her dad wasn’t home. And Luke was drumming on her thigh with his free hand.

Luke’s hands gravitate to your legs.

Julie hadn’t even thought about it until Flynn had regrettably pointed it out, and she had been distracted during the ride over. Now that she noticed, though, there was no un-noticing it, especially when the drumming turned into a light squeeze as he took his hand back to slide the stick into park.

Oh, my gosh, get yourself together. He always did this. It’s nothing different.

“Set the alarm,” was the first thing Julie said as she closed the front door behind them, before Luke could even touch her.

His hands, which had been out to no doubt grab her waist again, retreated into an I’m-innocent gesture as he reached into his pocket to retrieve his phone. “Five-twenty?”

“Fifteen.”

He chuckled at her tone, but did what he was told. Julie set her alarm as well, as promised, and made sure it was set to ring at its loudest.

Then Luke slid her backpack from her shoulder and put it on his, nodding to the stairs. “C’mon. Let’s drop this off.”

And the thing was, Julie genuinely believed that Luke genuinely meant to just drop her bag upstairs. He was talking about maybe making some popcorn and asking if there was any virgin Coquito left (he had been obsessed since Christmas, so Tía still left some at the house for him), and Julie was talking about what a horrible combination that was, and they got… distracted.

More like Luke got distracted by the picture of them at Santa Monica Pier that Flynn had taken last October. It had been sitting on Julie’s bedside table since then, and he had seen it there before, multiple times, but now he took special interest in it.

“You know,” he started, picking up the picture frame, “it’s been, like, a year since we’ve met.”

Julie had been vaguely aware of that. It was hard to remember the exact date, but she knew it had been late January the first time she had heard him busking. The reason why she hadn’t said anything was because she wasn’t sure if it was anything of significance to him as much as it was to her. It had been her first time enjoying music in a long time and it held a special place in her heart. For him, though? It was probably just another day at the pier, except he had ended up getting a good tip from this random girl.

She couldn’t voice that, though, because of course he would say it was significant to him. He had to; he was her boyfriend. He wasn’t going to tell her that the day they met was average if he knew what was good for him.

Instead, he chuckled at the picture, still looking at it lovingly. “I remember having to work so hard on, like, playing these songs that I had been playing for years, because I was watching your hair.”

Julie frowned. “Watching my hair?”

Luke seemed to realize what he had said and a faint blush colored his cheeks as he looked up. To his credit, he didn’t backtrack. “Yeah. You were, like, right in front of me. Your hair looked really pretty with the, you know, sunset and everything. Made it hard to focus, so I had to keep looking at other people.”

And all this time Julie thought she had been the only one affected by the other being basked in the setting sun. She recalled how he had directed parts of songs to her, but would always turn back to his audience after a few moments. Was it for self-preservation then?

“Aw,” she said, taking a step closer and wrapping herself around his arm. “That was sweet.”

Luke lowered the frame so it wasn’t directly in front of him. “Wish I could draw it for you.”

That made her blush. Julie knew he had his drawing from that day – the one with the beautiful beach behind him as she captured the way the sun hit his profile while he sang. It had been one of his Christmas gifts, after many, many months of him whining about wanting to see it. Just thinking about having a drawing of herself the way he would have seen her that day… it gave her butterflies.

(She didn’t know it yet, but the following day Luke would start writing a song about that and gift it to her on their six-month anniversary. But that was another story.)

She caught a glimpse of the picture frame in his hand – he was giving her a piggyback ride back from the pier, since he had insisted they walked to the end of it, and then her legs, tired from dance class, had complained and he had been “forced” to carry her. The expression on his face spoke the opposite, though, as if he had just played a sold-out concert instead of taking her weak ass back to the car. Her face showed smugness at being carried.

Luke caught her smiling at the picture and sighed, his arm untangling from her hold to wrap around her and tuck her into his side.

“What?” she asked, lolling her head on his shoulder to look at him.

“Nothing, I just… I used to make so much fun of couples who celebrate shit like first-meeting anniversaries and month-anniversaries, and now…”

Julie gasped dramatically. “What, has the cynical Luke Patterson gone soft?”

His cheeks went red. “Shut up. I just mean that… It’s been a year since we’ve met, and next month’s gonna be half a year since we’ve started dating.”

A pause.

“And?” Julie probed, just to make more fun of him.

“And nothing, I’m just saying,” he rolled his eyes, making a big scene out of putting the picture frame back in its place and wrapping both arms around her. “Stating facts. The passage of time and all that shit.”

“Wow, so romantic.”

“Shut up.”

Then he effectively shut her up with his lips.

And… it could have been just a regular, deep kiss, which could end with them pulling back and smiling softly, and then promptly going downstairs to make some popcorn.

The thing was that they hadn’t seen each other in four days and, while that wasn’t a lot if you stopped to think about it, they had felt every second of those four days. Texts, calls, and video chats were all nice and good, but Julie yearned for physical comfort. She couldn’t think of a more pleasant place to be than in his arms right now.

It appeared that he was on the same page as her, because their kiss went on. Her arms moved, one to fully wrap around his neck and the other stroking his collarbone. Luke tightened his hold on her, fingers traveling to grab onto the waistband of her jeans and the hem of her hoodie, pulling, keeping her close. All the while, their mouths moved languidly over each other.

It grew from that, slowly, into a hungrier pace. Luke kept pulling on her hips and pressing down, so Julie rose on her tiptoes and fully hugged his neck to press back. She noticed she was dizzy, like proper dizzy, especially with her eyes closed. And maybe Luke was too, because they were breathing more heavily between kisses.

Luke then separated their lips with what almost sounded like a gasp and dove for her neck, nosing her hair away. His hand came up to hold her head in place and, by God, she needed it. If she thought she was dizzy before, now she could topple over at any minute.

… and that wasn’t the worst idea, actually.

Julie heard the distinct noise of a zipper and took that as her moment. With her hands gripping Luke’s hoodie, she turned them around more easily than she had expected. She felt it when his legs hit the mattress and gave him a meaningful (yet soft) push, which he readily obeyed, sitting down in front of her with his hoodie now open.

Looking down at him was something Julie wasn’t used to, but could certainly learn to handle. It was a bit hard right now, though, because obviously they had broken apart, and Luke was giving her what Flynn called his “intense heart eyes”, pupils wide. His hands slipped from her waist and took her hands on his shoulders, bringing them up to his face so he could kiss her fingers, palms, knuckles, and wrists.

His slightly swollen lips were working on her left wrist, pushing her sleeve up a little, when he spoke in a low voice, “Still think you should get your dahlia here.”

Her fingers caressed his cheek as he continued his ministrations. “I’ve still got one year to go until I can get it.”

“And I’ll be right there.”

Like she had been there for his first (her drawing, permanently on his arm!), second (the little wave under the Sunset Curve logo, on the inside of his right wrist), and third tattoos (add-on ivy and thorns to his first one, so it was interwoven around his forearm), each and every one of them making him somehow hotter.

And none of them visible right now, so she grabbed the collar of his open hoodie with the hand he wasn’t kissing and tried to push it over his shoulder. Understanding the message, Luke shrugged it off and threw it somewhere on the floor. Then his hands found her hips and pulled, and she knew what he meant, but she still hesitated, Flynn’s voice swirling in her head.

She… she should not have Flynn’s voice in her head right now. So not the time and place.

Besides, it would be far from the first time she would be on his lap. Luke’s tendency to drape her legs over his thighs had soon turned into him pulling her onto them so she would sit sideways on him. It was a common occurrence when they were writing in her studio’s couch or the band’s practice space. One of his arms around her while she held the notebook and, bingo, they were in one of the most comfortable positions to write.

Her first time actually straddling him had been non-intentional. He had just driven her home after a long day, with a lot of dance rehearsals, and she had thrown herself at his neck dramatically, saying she was too tired to walk up the driveway. With an equally dramatic sigh, he had told her to “hop on” and grabbed the backs of her thighs to raise her. Thankfully, her family had been upstairs when they had made their way inside, so Luke had taken them to the couch and sat down, her legs still around him. She unfortunately hadn’t had much time to appreciate the closeness before she’d heard someone coming downstairs and jumped off of him.

The second time she had straddled him hadn’t been romantic or sexual at all. She had found him in her studio, on one of the chairs, elbows on his knees and face in his hands after another fight with his parents. Her first instinct had been to untangle his fingers from his hair and trade the empty space in front of him with her body so he would have something to hold on to. And he had held onto her for long enough for her bent legs to lose circulation, but she had only curled in closer.

The third time she straddled him… would be right now, and it would be nothing like the previous times. She just had to go for it and hopefully not fall in the process.

With her hands on Luke’s shoulders for stability (mostly), Julie lowered her knees on either side of him until she sat down near his knees. His touch migrated from the front of her hips to the sides, waiting until she was settled before pulling her closer and into a kiss.

And – well – that was one sure way to get her to stop overthinking, because everything felt natural when they kissed. Julie relaxed into it, letting herself be pulled into his body as she ran her hands down his now bare arms. His skin was warm, as it usually was in comparison with her palms, and it was soft and defined at the same time.

With a smile against him, she pushed up his short sleeves, something she sometimes did to make fun of his supposed allergy to them – “Better get these out of the way before you go into anaphylactic shock”. Usually, he would roll his eyes and throw it back at her, making her blush by claiming she just wanted to ogle at his shoulders (which wasn’t untrue), but this time, when he pulled back, it was with one of the softest smiles she had ever seen.

And shit, he really loved her, didn’t he? That was the smile of someone who really loved her. She used to see it on her mom, and she still saw it occasionally on her dad and Flynn, very rarely on Carlos, but Luke served it to her on a silver platter every time.

He really loved her. She had nothing to worry about.

Her body moved before she was aware of it, leaning down to press kisses against his cheek and jaw. Julie noticed with pride how he closed his eyes, inhaled, and leaned his head back, exhaling shakily. As she worked her way down his neck, her hair slipped and fell in front of her. Ever the helper, Luke brushed it away, hand skimming her skin, and took the clear path in front of him as an invitation to attach himself to her neck.

For a few moments, it was a battle of who would kiss whose neck. Luke’s hand on the back of hers was extremely distracting and raising goosebumps all over her skin, but Julie wasn’t a quitter, so she chose a point right under his jaw, near his pulse point, and gave it a small bite, followed by an open-mouthed kiss. A sound came out of somewhere deep in Luke’s throat and his hand on her hip curled in, and oh, she might be onto something there.

As she explored the spot, he fully grabbed the fabric of the shirt she was wearing under her cropped hoodie and pulled it out of her pants, his other hand soon leaving her neck to join in until he exposed her lower back. The moment he touched her skin, spreading his palms, Julie did an actual full-body shiver.

Luke withdrew slightly. “Too cold?”

“No,” she answered with a labored voice. In fact, it was getting warm in the room all of a sudden.

Luke might have read her mind right then, because he studied her face for a moment before moving his hands to the hem of her hoodie. He didn’t stop looking at her, a silent question in his eyes, as he lifted it up her sides. His knuckles brushed the edges of her bra, which made her heart skip a few beats before she told herself that he really loved her and he had done that before. In the end, she managed to help him take the Sunset Curve Unofficial Hoodie off.

Julie was wearing a simple, thicker, long-sleeved white shirt to brace the unusual cold, and she was aware that it clung to her body. It was one of the reasons why it worked so well to warm her up in the winter, although now it served to warm her up by directing Luke’s eyes down from her face.

In early December, when Luke had been helping them put the Christmas decorations up, there had been one moment when Carlos had given up and Dad had gone to sleep, with firm instructions about the sleeping arrangements. That had left the two of them finishing up the tree with soft music in the background, dancing and humming whenever they pleased. When White Christmas had come on (Michael Bublé’s version), Luke had hugged her from behind and proceeded to try to sing it to her, except he didn’t know the lyrics very well and had given up in lieu of kissing her neck and face from the side. Soon, Julie had completely melted against his chest as his hands had traveled up and down her sides, pausing in her ribcage, hesitant, over and over again, until she hadn’t been able to handle the anticipation anymore and had guided his hands to where she had wanted them.

There hadn’t been many instances after that one, mostly for lack of privacy for the time needed to get to that, so it was still new. Luke was still hesitant with his hands, but he had been a little more comfortable with looking, which is what he was doing now – hesitating, but looking.

Then, true to Flynn’s words – ohmygod, she needed to stop thinking about her friend while she made out with her boyfriend –, Luke’s hands slipped down to her thighs as he kissed her. He ran his palms and nails over her jeans, from her knees to her hips and back down the side of her legs, and then back up again. Each time, his thumbs swiped a wider circle on her thighs, inching inward, and every time that happened, Julie’s breath hitched.

A feeling was coming in waves, washing over her every few seconds, telling her to scoot forward that last bit. It will feel amazing, her body told her. And she bet that it would, but… should she? Should they?

She didn’t know if Luke’s body was telling him the same thing, which, probably, yeah, because he locked his thumbs on her hips and let his other fingers slip into her back pockets, flexing them against her, as if he wanted to pull her in, but was holding himself back. Her hips moved up and down involuntarily, against nothing, and her mouth fell open on his.

They didn’t move for a couple of moments, breathing the same air.

Then, suddenly, Luke locked an arm around her waist and turned, placing her on the bed. He moved her again so her legs would be up on it as well and immediately climbed over her, locking her lips in a fierce kiss.

There was one awkward moment while Julie toed off her sneakers and sent Luke a meaningful look for him to do the same, and then he was slotting one leg between hers and leaning down again.

His thigh was just… so close to where her body was screaming at her to put some pressure on and, next thing she knew, she was bending one leg so her knee skimmed his side. One of his hands latched onto it like a lifeline, keeping it close to him. Julie let her hands roam, pushing up his sleeves again and then traveling down his ribcage and over to the small of his back. There, where his shirt had ridden up, the waistband of his boxers sat higher than his pants’, which wasn’t unusual for him, but now she traced it carefully, as if afraid of startling him.

He didn’t seem to mind. In fact, when she ran her hands under his shirt and over his back, Luke leaned into it, huffs of breath coming from between his lips, still pressing against hers. So she explored. It wasn’t the first time she had ventured under his shirt, but it was new enough. Besides, with a back like that, she doubted she would ever get tired of touching it and feeling his muscles move as he explored her as well.

His hand hadn’t left her leg, staying mostly hooked on the back of her thigh, although venturing to her knee and then back down over her back pocket, making her dizzier every time. His other hand was tangled somewhere in her hair, his forearm holding him up. Julie noticed how he let their chests touch but kept the rest of himself raised an inch over her, which was… probably the best choice, but also frustrating. Why were they not touching more?

Then Luke squeezed her ass at the same time that he sealed a kiss, and her body did the thing again, making her hips move before she could stop them. They followed the movement of his hand and rose from the bed briefly, almost meeting his before falling back down. It was only close enough for her to feel the brush of his thigh against her and leave her gasping for air.

Luke took that opportunity to lean away from her, which, what…? Was he doing…? He had to get back to her!

With a small frown, Julie started opening her eyes, but soon realized she had nothing to worry about. Luke pushed her shirt up with both hands, exposing her stomach, and dove down to press an open-mouthed kiss next to her bellybutton. A combination of the chilly air and his gesture rose goosebumps and shivers all over her skin, making her close her eyes again with a sigh.

With him farther away than what she was used to, her hands could only grab onto his hair and shoulder as he worked leisurely. Each kiss was drawn-out, lips parted, tongue sweeping, loud pop noise, and then he breathed in her skin as he searched for the next spot. Bit by bit, he moved his hands over her, caressing, almost tickling, and it was all Julie could do to repress a full-body shiver that would surely end up bruising his nose.

It became even harder when his hands settled over her ribcage on both sides, right where her shirt was bundled up. His fingers spread over her ribs, under her arms, while his thumbs were near her sternum, like he was delicately holding her torso. His indexes traced the white, lacey hem of her bra.

With one final kiss to the very tip of her sternum, between his thumbs, Julie felt him looking up, so she opened her eyes and met his, and it was a sight. His pupils were blown wide, mouth opened halfway, hair almost touching his eyelashes. He was asking her a question, and while she was pretty sure that he didn’t mean to bring out the puppy eyes, he sort of did. He managed to look both adorable and hot at the same time.

Julie wanted him to do what he was asking permission to do, but it made her nervous. As much as she loved and trusted him, she had never revealed this part of herself to anyone before. It was nerve-wracking. Having him touch her was one thing – truly, one of the best decisions she had made that day –, but he was obviously going with his mouth here.

It would probably feel better than his hands, she guessed.

With a deep, shaky breath, Julie took one her hands from his hair, grabbed the hem of her shirt right in front of his face, and began to raise it. As soon as he got the green light, Luke moved to help, letting his palms slide over her breasts as he too pushed the shirt out of the way. While she finished taking it off through her head, he dove back into her, kissing her sternum again up to her neck. She shivered.

Luke smirked against her skin. “Cold?”

Yes, a bit, but she knew the cheeky answer he would give her if she said it, so she simply gave his leg a little kick in retaliation. Chuckling, Luke lifted himself up to kiss her mouth, coaxing her lips open with each stroke. He shifted his weight and moved the leg he had to the side to join his other between hers, nudging her knee aside with his own.

Every time Julie had pictured what it would be like to have someone lying between her legs – not that she pictured it often, okay? –, she had always guessed that it would be just a small adjustment. In reality, her legs were quite spread apart in order to fit Luke. He was still careful enough to keep his hips raised from hers, as much as she ached for it, and it was almost a relief when he moved down her body and took his hips with him.

With one forearm braced against the bed, he used his free hand to caress the skin of her waist while he planted kisses down her chest. Then, in one swift movement – way smoother than he had the right to be –, he reached behind his head and pulled off his shirt, throwing it aside and reattaching himself to her.

It was… a lot of skin, okay? It was a lot of toned, I-go-to-the-gym-every-day muscles under white skin, and Julie didn’t know where to begin. She could barely focus at all, and then Luke spread his hand over the cup of her bra and kissed the swell of it, and what was left of her thoughts went out the window.

Slowly, he planted kisses following the white material, going upward. Julie could feel his breath on her skin, heavy, a bit shaky, testing the waters. His fingers moved to fiddle with the strap, stroking it up and down, until he spread his palm and pushed it aside, letting it drape over her arm. His lips then followed.

Julie turned her head slightly to touch her mouth to his ear, longing for contact, which he didn’t grant her. Instead, she caught his hidden smile as he moved to do the same exact thing on the other side. Then she couldn’t help it. With an unstable grip, she caught his hair and guided him to her mouth.

When he gave her what she was asking, she relaxed back into the mattress, sighing.

The feel of their chests touching without any layers of clothing in between was completely new, and Julie immediately decided that it was one of her favorite things ever. The multiplied warmth, the softness, the intimacy… literally everything about it.

Luke pulled back an inch after a few moments, his lips brushing hers as he spoke. “You’re distracting me.”

She bit back a grin and leaned up to kiss him again.

He relented, although his hand started moving from its place on her neck. His knuckles skimmed past her clavicle down to her sternum, taking a turn to palm her breast and give it a light squeeze. Another deep sigh ran through her body at the sensation, almost like a relief, even though she hadn’t known she’d been missing it. Then his hand traced the material down to the side, trying to sneak to her back.

Julie understood his question and considered it. Again, it came down to her nerves at letting someone see her like this. Maybe that was why she had interrupted his exploration and pulled him into a kiss – something familiar, comfortable, easy. Charted territory. On the other hand… shit, she wanted to let him explore. She wanted to know how it would feel like.

And maybe he had caught on. Maybe he knew why she was distracting him. He probably did.

Still kissing him, Julie anchored her weight on her shoulders and hips, arching her back off the bed. It pushed their chests flush together and allowed his hand to reach the clasp of her bra. There, his fingers outlined the structure, trying to understand it, and brushed the skin between her shoulder blades. The anticipation was making her breathless.

To Luke’s credit, it seemed like he had figured it out, just couldn’t get it to open one-handed. Despite her nerves, Julie found herself hiding her amusement, which did not go unnoticed.

Luke tried to use the hand he was using to hold himself up to poke her side, being only partially successful. “You’re being mean.”

“I didn’t say anything,” she smiled against his mouth and, contracting herself a second later, chuckled.

A determined exhale blew through his open lips, and she could almost hear his voice, crystal clear and dangerous, You’re gonna pay for this, before he dove into her neck. At the feeling of his teeth scraping her pulse and his mouth closing over it, Julie gasped louder than intended. She felt him putting more of his weight on his chest and his free hand grasping her waist to hold her tight against him, multiplying the shivers. Her knee rose to his waist involuntarily.

Still sucking on a few spots on her neck, Luke ran his hand from the bare skin of her side and up the back of her leg. It hooked under her bent knee, guiding it a bit higher, and then held her calf. He directed it to cross over his lower back, causing her leg to fall open more.

Such dangerous territory, but it felt so good.

What could have been minutes later, Luke stopped the voracious attack on her neck and the fog cleared a little, the buzzing in her ears turning down a notch. She realized she had a hand deep in his hair and the other squeezing the muscles on his shoulder. One of his hands was still under her while the other was gripping her ass firmly to keep her leg around his waist, and she knew she would miss it if it moved.

To prevent it from moving, and also to get back on track – honestly, she wasn’t sure who was distracting who at this point, but did it matter? –, Julie arched her back again and reached for the clasp of her bra. With one steady, two-hand movement, it fell open and she eased back down.

Lips were back on hers, rougher than before, and she hugged his neck to keep him close and their skins touching. In contrast, his hands were gentle as they reached her ribcage and lifted her bra off, pulling on it until she had to uncross her arms and break the kiss to let it slip out.

Julie’s lids were heavy, but they were open enough to watch Luke throw the bra off the bed without giving it a second thought. He was focused on her chest, almost too laser-focused. The sight of him with dark eyes, licking his lips as he slowly leaned down, sent a wave of shyness over her and she had to close her eyes in order not to lose her nerve.

The first feel of his tongue on the exposed skin of her breast was like an electric shock – sudden, powerful, and left her wired up. Every inch of her was hypersensitive to his touch. He kept building it up, only getting close to where she wanted and making her squirm.

Honestly. Julie never thought she would find herself squirming like this. It was different than when he tickled her. She didn’t know how to explain it, but she needed him to give her some relief, and he seemed to notice that. Luke had all the power over her at that moment and he could choose how to use it, and he chose teasing. He chose to work up the energy, getting close but not close enough, have her fighting to stay still.

When he didn’t move for a few beats, Julie looked down to find him watching her face. His breath hit her sensitive skin in waves, never enough, and then his mouth spread into a grin. She wanted to berate him. She wanted to tell him to stop being a tease. She wanted to take the hair in her hands and move his head the way she needed.

His breath hit her again and she couldn’t hold back the squirm this time. Her hand tightened in his hair, the other gripping his shoulder. Her hips moved side to side in an effort not to move up. Her other knee locked on his side.

Luke chuckled (chuckled!) in a deep tone that might have actually given her some relief if she had had any time before he finally put his mouth over her nipple.

Her nails scraped his head, holding onto his hair in an effort not to move.

During the build-up, Julie had figured that it would probably be a huge relief to feel pressure where her body wanted. The truth of the matter was that, yes, it was partially relief, but mostly it served to make her want more.

(Later, she figured that was what was so dangerous about it.)

Now, her vision went black, and white noise filled her ears again. She wasn’t sure if she made a sound; she knew she definitely gasped at least. She knew she held her breath for a long time, because she noticed when her lungs screamed at her to let it out. She knew Luke’s free hand grabbed her ass again.

Every swipe of his tongue, warm and wet, sent different electric shocks through her, and most of them ended between her legs. As Luke worked on her, alternating sides, switching it up with his hands, testing what could get more reactions from her, Julie became acutely aware that she was wearing jeans. They weren’t skinny jeans, but they weren’t loose jeans. The stretch of having one leg to the side and bent to press against his hip and the other wrapped around his back suddenly became almost unbearable under such confining pants.

In the back of her mind, she wondered how much better she would feel without them. She would be able to move her legs more freely. Luke’s hand wouldn’t be fighting her back pocket and the roughness of the fabric to get a good grip.

Then again, that would mean his hand would be partially on her skin and partially on her underwear, and that was… maybe too close. Would it be too tempting for them? She knew she wasn’t ready for everything, but could she get lost in it? Would she?

Julie remembered Luke’s legs from the summer months. She remembered how it had felt when their legs had touched skin to skin when they had sat next to each other, numerous times. She couldn’t imagine adding that to this moment without it overwhelming her senses.

But, damn it, those jeans were constricting.

Never in her life had Julie felt such a strong need to put pressure between her legs. The more Luke kissed and touched her, the more the feeling grew. It was true that he was lying between her legs, but he had moved down her body, which meant that, no matter which way she squirmed, the most she could get was brushing his lower stomach. Besides, she couldn’t move her hips much, because he was sort of on top of them.

It was a lot, that was what she was trying to say. Electric shocks from her breasts straight to between her legs, without anything to put pressure on it except for the roughness of her jeans. It got to a point when Julie was sure that she was breathing very loudly and might have whined from the back of her throat a couple of times.

One of those times, she made some sort of sound that had Luke sucking on her harder, which then made her grip his hair tighter. She didn’t know if she wanted to press his face against her or pull it away completely, but the movement her hand actually made was close her fist on his locks and pull.

Most times, Luke hadn’t moved when she had pulled. Julie didn’t know if it was hard enough to hurt or not, but mostly she had figured that it wasn’t, because he didn’t complain. Now, he slid his mouth off her as he let his head loll back under her hold, lips falling open in a soft gasp.

Oh.

Time stood still in that second as they caught their breaths. Her fingers loosened on his brown strands of hair, detangling carefully, and Luke opened his eyes. His gaze found hers immediately, and there was an unfamiliar glint to it. It was something Julie didn’t dare put a name to – another one of her unspoken things, she guessed –, but she knew what it was.

It made her… nervous wasn’t exactly the right word. She was, make no mistake, at the same time that she was comfortable. This was just a new side to him, and she had to learn how to deal with it.

She thought she had an idea of how to navigate Luke in a – well – less-than-innocent way. After all, he was the one who had serenaded her with all sorts of inappropriate and sexual songs, back when they didn’t even know each other. He hadn’t really stopped; those types of rock songs were part of his genre and he liked to put on a show, so Julie knew how to deal with the heated gazes and innuendo smirks. Sort of.

That wasn’t what he was doing now.

And therein lay the problem, because Julie had thought that he would be like that. It was dawning on her, though, that maybe Sexy-Front-Man-Luke and Actually-Turned-On-Luke weren’t the same person.

With unfocused eyes, he slid up her body until he was a breath away from kissing her. The metal chain he liked to wear around his neck fell onto her bare chest, surprising her, since she hadn’t even noticed he was wearing it. It had probably been thrown to his back when he’d taken off his shirt.

The gasp she let out at the cold became an invitation for his tongue, as if he couldn’t physically keep himself away. And there they were again, skin on skin from the waist up. It was freaking addictive.

There was still one thing bothering her deeply, and that was her jeans.

She didn’t know if Luke had planned this far ahead (and should she be happy if it had been planned?), but he wasn’t wearing his usual brand of black jeans, with the chains. He wasn’t even wearing a belt, or a shoelace as a belt. He was wearing what Julie had come to understand were his stay-at-home sweatpants, which were dark enough that they could be mistaken for his regular, chainless pants if you didn’t look close enough. They were soft, warm, and comfortable – everything Julie wished to be wearing.

God, why hadn’t she had the hindsight to wear something equally comfortable when she had gotten dressed in the morning? Casual Friday and all that. Now she was squirming in the tight fabric and mentally debating how much she wasn’t ready to take them off, but wished she was.

There was only one solution. Could she make it not awkward?

The hum from the back of her throat got an answering hum from the back of Luke’s throat, but did little to slow down the kiss. Julie failed three times before she made herself hold his face and pull away.

Luke gazed down at her, expression open. When he spoke, his voice was nothing short of a breathless whisper. “What?”

He looked about two seconds away from panicking and assuming the worst if she didn’t answer, so Julie pecked his lips in reassurance. “Nothing. I just think I’m gonna…” she nodded at her closet, “slip into something more comfortable.”

His eyes jumped from her left one to her right one, slightly darkening. “Okay.”

Julie waited.

Then she gave him a meaningful look. “You gotta…”

“Oh! Yeah, right,” he jolted back.

Luke sat back on his heels, making her legs fall to his sides. Suddenly, Julie felt very exposed, a gush of cool air hitting her skin when he moved away. It didn’t help that Luke was failing miserably at his considerate attempt at not staring too hard. It was darker now, twilight hours – darker than she had expected; she was tempted to check the time –, but it didn’t lessen her shyness, so she crossed her arms to rub some life into them and cover up somewhat.

“Can you hand me something?”

Luke only blinked at first. His brain processing time was slow, taking triple the time to compute her voice and jump into action. He ended up giving her the dark gray hoodie, on purpose, judging by the winning smirk, and Julie accepted with a roll of eyes. Secretly, she had hoped he would give her his hoodie and was happy to throw it over her shoulders and hug the front of it closed.

Feeling a bit more confident, she rose up on her knees in front of him and leaned in for a kiss. “Two minutes. Don’t move.”

“Hmm,” he pressed against her lips again, anchoring a hand on the back of her neck. “I’m not going anywhere.” He pecked her a few more times. “I love you.”

It was said in the small space between kisses as a little more than a whisper – soft enough that it didn’t break the moment, but strong enough to leave no trace of doubt. His voice was raspy, like at the end of a gig or an intense rehearsal, and low in a way Julie didn’t think his tenor range reached easily. It was sincere, simple in its significance, stating a fact.

It was much like the first time they had ever said it to each other, two months in, when her tongue had betrayed her. She had been so lost in his eyes, looking gray in the lamp light of the studio as he had played for her on his acoustic some old school rock, that she had let it slip. Because she had been sad about her mom that day and had mentioned how much she had loved Pearl Jam, and he had spent the past hour learning Yellow Ledbetter just so he could play it for her and sing it for her and get her to smile, and it had slipped. A simple, nearly-whispered I love you at the end of the song that had made him falter, blush, and stammer, until he had recovered and kissed her and said it right back.

Now, his eyes shined just as bright and, yeah, it was that rush all over again.

She was about to forget about changing her pants when she suddenly became hyperaware of his free hand slipping over her hip.

A small part of her brain that wasn’t drowned in Luke pushed forward something her mom had told her once when talking about the sexism of the music industry, specially in the rock scene. You have a gift, mija, she had said, and if that’s what you wanna do for life, you’re gonna have to fight for it. Men will say the prettiest things to get you to do what they want, and it can get hard to distinguish which ones mean it, if any.

The lesson had been reinforced, out of the music context, when Julie had been fifteen and her mom dying, and the woman had needed her to know that she shouldn’t give herself to a boy because he complimented her. Don’t roll your eyes at me, you need to understand this. The world isn’t easy for Latina girls, Julie. Don’t ever let yourself be charmed into something you’re not one hundred percent sure you want.

Was Luke charming? More than what was good for him. Did he tell her the prettiest things? Constantly, and sometimes without realizing.

But that was about where the checklist stopped. If he was lying to get into her pants, then it was a fucking elaborate way to do it and he deserved an Oscar. Julie had been worried for a while after her mom had told her that that, in her inexperience, she wouldn’t be able to tell the difference, but… Look, she was somewhat aware that this was such a teenager thing to think, but she truly believed Luke would never do that to her. He wouldn’t force her into sex and then break up with her.

(Was he a virgin? She had no idea.)

(Should she ask?)

“Jules?”

Maybe she hadn’t been kissing him back during her mental turmoil. “Yeah?”

“You okay in there? You know you don’t…” his voice trailed off as his eyes nervously dropped from hers. “You don’t have to…”

See? He was so nervous. It wasn’t a plotting scheme.

Julie put life back into the hand she had on his neck. “I know. It’s okay. You’re just… distracting me.”

His confidence came back with a teasing smirk. His fingers traveled from her hip to the small of her back, under the hoodie, being soon joined by his other hand as he pulled her even closer. “Is that so?” And he dove into her neck.

“You’re–” her words got cut out by a sigh. “You’re insufferable.”

Julie let herself enjoy for a few seconds how he dragged out kisses and touches to entice her and keep her with him, until she finally giggled and gave his chest a gentle shove. At first, Luke resisted, and then decided to be overly dramatic when she pushed him again, falling onto the bed. The sight was tempting and it nearly made her forget about the pants again, especially with the pout he was wearing, but she made herself be strong and get up.

Once safely inside her small closet, she closed the door and quickly exchanged her jeans for loose sweatpants (with the least embarrassing pattern she could find, which was flowers). Then she took a moment to try and tame her curls blindly, finally putting her arms through the hoodie properly and zipping it up halfway. Yeah, that would do.

When she emerged, noticing again how it was getting darker by the minute, she was surprised to find most of her decorative pillows nowhere to be seen (probably on the floor somewhere). Luke was lounging exactly in the middle of the bed, using one hand and one pillow to support his head, which immediately turned in her direction. The leg closest to her was bent, blocking her view of– No, she was not looking to see if he was– Nope. Back to his face.

With a nod, he beckoned her over, grin getting bigger at her unamused expression at her pillows on the floor. He sat up just enough to grab her playfully crossed her arms and pull her on top of him.

It wasn’t as graceful as Julie had hoped to be. She almost kneed his thigh on the way down, managing to move at the last second and let it slide between his legs so she could have some leverage. Her forearms came down on each side of his head, her hair falling in between them.

“Delicious,” Luke said from under the curls.

Julie smacked his shoulder, only getting a laugh from him. One of his arms was crossed on her back and he used the other to gently brush the hair away from their faces. She had to help him a lot until they could see each other. Then his playful smile melted into an adoring one, and her exasperated expression melted into a giddy one, and everything was okay.

“Hi,” he whispered.

“Hi,” she whispered back. Then she inhaled. “I love you,” because she hadn’t said it today yet.

The way his whole face changed to awe every time she said made her want to say it more often.

He slotted a hand under her jaw, fingers splaying out against her cheek and neck, burying in her hair, and a breathless sound came out of his smiling lips. “I love you more.”

Julie groaned. “No, I am not doing this with you.”

“So you admit I win?”

“It’s not a competition.”

“Mm-hm, that’s what losers have to tell themselves to feel better at night.”

“That’s not– Oh, my gosh.”

“You’re just gonna have to live with the fact that I love you more.”

“You don’t love me more.”

“I do.”

“You don’t.”

“I love you more.”

“No, I love–” Julie stopped herself abruptly before she fell into his trap. The damage was done, though, shown by the winning smirk on his face and the pure delight at trapping her into it. She huffed. “No, you know what? You’re right. You love me more, because right now…”

Luke didn’t let her finish, breaking into a full, genuine laughter that shook her up and down with his chest.

And she just… she really loved when she got that reaction from him. There were days when her only goal was to make him laugh like that, carefree and strong, no holding back. There was something about making the person she loved be that happy that filled Julie’s soul and heart enough to feel like she might burst.

She wanted him to always laugh like that.

In his delight, Luke threw both arms (and a leg) around her and squeezed her tight, ignoring her fake protests and holding tighter the more she squirmed. Her only thought was being as annoying as possible, so she barely even noticed when her thigh pressed down between his legs and his arms tightened. Her mind then did a backtrack, because she remembered he wasn’t wearing a belt, so it wasn’t his belt that she was feeling.

But she was not going to panic. Julie was very determined to not be awkward, and if he wasn’t going to bring attention to it, then she wasn’t either. Instead, she accepted his mouth when he leaned up and buried her hands in his hair.

Not even a minute later, Luke reached between them for his hoodie’s zipper and opened it so their chests could touch again. He worked his hands under the fabric and over her shoulders, ready to push it off, when she shivered. She didn’t know if it was because of the winter air creeping into her room now that the sun was going down or because of his touch, but Luke interpreted it as the former.

“C’mon,” he muttered against her lips.

It was a lot of maneuvering, but Luke managed to get their lower halves under the covers (and had that been his plan ever since she had come back from the closet? Getting rid of the pillows and all that? Because it was fine if it had been his plan). Julie settled over him again, but when she went to put her knee between his legs, like she had been before, he took hold of the back of her knee and pulled her leg, and then she was straddling him. He pushed his hoodie off her, letting it drop to the floor, and helped her pull the duvet over her bare back.

It was yet another different sensation – bare skin, but under the covers. Julie couldn’t pinpoint why it felt different, but it did. It was like they were less shy to touch. She kept her head slightly angled to the side so her hair was over that way and out of their faces, one hand for stability and one hand for exploring. His muscles were always shifting, contracting and relaxing as he moved, and twitching under her fingers. From his chest and ribs to his stomach, Julie mapped them all, remembering the first time they had gone to the beach and she had drooled over his body. Now he was letting her touch it as much as she wanted.

In return, Luke mumbled to her how soft her skin was as he caressed her back, nothing on his way. The scratch of his callouses sent shivers up and down her body and, yeah, she had always known she had a thing for guitarists, but it wasn’t until now that she realized this side to it. And if she arched her back into his touch, then nobody could judge her.

Determinately, Luke stroked her shoulder blades down to her ribs, pausing there for a second to let his thumbs venture forward and swipe the tender skin under her breasts before moving on. He fitted his palms on her hips, which were slightly raised from his, and held onto them. It took Julie a moment to notice, too drunk on their kisses, but his hands started moving in a pattern. Thumbs hooked on the front of her hipbones, his other fingers lay on the very edge of the top of her ass for a second before sliding to the dimples of her lower back, with purpose, and back down again, rhythmically.

And Julie found herself unconsciously following the lead.

Fingers pressing down on her lower back, thumbs putting pressure on her hipbones from the front, and she arched her back, raising her ass. Fingers running down the curve she had formed and forcing it down, straight, onto him.

Push. Arch. Push. Straighten.

Push. Arch. Push. Straighten.

That was how her breaths were coming out too.

Progressively, her knees slid back on the mattress, no longer lifting her up. Her body felt like it was on fire when it finally got what it wanted – pressure, in the exact right place, rhythmically. She thought she should be panicking, and maybe she would later, but right now it just felt good. The way Luke’s hands moved to guide her movements better by grabbing her ass felt natural. The way she moved on her own and didn’t need actually him pushing and pulling felt like second nature.

(And it probably was very natural and second nature, if you considered the whole evolution thing, before humans went and put feelings on the equation. Anyway.)

In that moment, Julie was infinitely glad that she had made the decision to change out of her jeans. Now she didn’t feel the stretch as she straddled him. Now his hands moved more easily over her, able to grab and squeeze without restraint. Now she could feel the heat from his palms transferring to her skin.

She also noticed that they weren’t kissing anymore. At some point, their lips stopped working over each other and were simply touching now, halfway open, breaths coming back and forth.

Riding out of the first, deafening wave of sensations that their new experiment had brought over her, Julie tried to focus on the way Luke was breathing. It was heavy, in time with his hips, and occasionally a sound could be heard – maybe a groan, maybe a whine, she wasn’t sure. She was pretty sure that he was holding back, from the way things got caught in his throat.

When she opened her eyes a bit, she realized he had been watching her this whole time. From so close, there wasn’t much one could see, but it still made her blush thinking about what she must look like. Luke looked gorgeous, obviously, even hotter now with his blown pupils, swollen lips, and mussed hair. She was probably a mess.

Closing her eyes again so as not to go down the self-conscious spiral, Julie leaned her forehead on his, slotting their noses next to each other. Luke took one of his hands from her ass to hold her neck, bringing their lips back together. Their hips lost some of the rhythm at that, but it didn’t matter much. She just wanted to be close to him.

It was a blur after that. All she knew was their chests, now lined with a layer of sweat, glued together, soft skin and muscles under her nails, and hands touching her in all the right places.

And she was this close to giving in. Now that he had the definite green light, Luke didn’t stay away from her ass for long. He would explore another part of her body for a while – back, shoulders, thighs – and then come right back. His hands were a good size to cover it and squeeze, and he got creative with it, guiding it up and down, and to roll in a certain way, and she wanted more.

He almost gave her more. He was close to giving her more, tiptoeing on the edge. Literally, because his fingers were facing inward, very close but very far. With her legs on each side of him, she was, uh, a bit spread already. He didn’t have to do much, just… let them wander a little farther.

For a moment, Julie thought he would. He let out a restrained groan and held onto her tighter, bringing her hips down onto his with more force and keeping them there. Then, exhaling, he relaxed his arms and she moved up again. His fingers traveled her backside, touching all that he could and yet somehow slowing her down.

They moved together a few more times until he grabbed the back of her thigh. He pulled on it, like he wanted to do what he had done when they had been switched and hook her knee on his waist, only now he couldn’t do that because there was a mattress on the way. Instead, he squeezed her hip with his other hand as if to tell her to stop, but contradicted himself by following her movements.

Unsure of what to do, Julie let his hands guide her until they slid into a stop. The hip rolls got longer and more spread apart until they were simply resting against each other.

With a hand on the back of his neck – that had been there for a considerable amount of time, to ground her –, Julie tilted his head up so she could kiss him. As breathless as they were, it wasn’t exactly a long kiss; more like a combination of smaller ones, drags of lips and open-mouthed breaths, their tongues venturing out in the middle. It sent tingles to the tips of all her fingers and toes.

Luke moved his hands, one sliding over her ass one final time before they both traced her silhouette and stayed on her waist.

Their chests were quite literally glued together, Luke’s metal chain lost somewhere in the pillow next to him and Julie’s necklaces brushing the place where his sternum met his clavicles. Most of her hair was over her left shoulder, out of the way, but a few curls had escaped and dangled next to them. She had one hand on his neck and the other on his shoulder, his skin burning under her touch. Also, his touch burned her skin on her bare sides. Their legs remained next to one another, hers on the outside and his on the inside, her toes sneaking under and pressing against his calves.

Their kisses were languid, unhurried, in a contrast to what they had been doing a minute before.

And… oh, my God, what had they been doing?

As soon as that thought came to life, Julie pushed it back down. She wasn’t going to freak out over it; and, if she was, it wouldn’t be now. Not when she had a blissfully empty house on a cold, ugly day. Not when she had her shirtless boyfriend in her bed, under the covers, tracing lines on the skin of her waist. Not when she wanted to stay in this blissful moment forever.

“I love you,” Luke muttered for the countless time that day, between kisses.

Julie couldn’t help the smile that stretched over her face.

When he couldn’t properly kiss her anymore, Luke smiled back. “What?”

“You’re very cheesy today,” she teased.

He gaped and stuttered. Then he pinched her side, making her squeal and try to get away from his arms, unsuccessfully. “And you’re very mean today. What about it?”

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing.”

Luke shook his head at her fondly and leaned up to kiss her again. They both let out big sighs, melting into it.

Slowly, Julie began to realize how stiff she was from that position and how her back was complaining about doing so much arching, and they transitioned into cuddling. Julie slid off of him, one of her legs dragging over his to slot between his two as she laid her head on his shoulder under his open arm.

Almost in a trance, she used her hand on his chest to try to find his silver chain. It was considerably dark now, telling her that their time alone was nearly up (they should really check their phones), so she found it by touch, grabbing the chain on his neck and sliding over it to play with the small plate. She turned it over and over in her hand, relishing on the skin under it she was allowed to touch.

Meanwhile, Luke held her across the backs of her shoulders to keep her in place, fingers tangling and untangling her curls. He then moved his other hand from her waist to catch hers on his chest and brought it up to kiss her knuckles.

Julie didn’t know why, but hand kisses had always been her undoing, so it was no wonder she swooned.

“You’re coming for dinner, right?” was what she found herself saying.

“You kidding?” Luke chuckled against her hand, then put it back on his chest, holding it over his heart, right next to her face. “After my strategic disappearance and return, I’m only leaving when your dad kicks me out. I can’t go a fucking week without seeing you.”

She hid her giddy smile on his skin, which meant he probably felt it. “Dad won’t kick you out.”

“That’s what I’m banking on.”

Too happy to contain it, Julie let her chuckles out and got squeezed in return. It was different, feeling her breasts directly on his ribs and his arms directly on her back. A good different. Something she could get used to.

Luke planted a kiss on her forehead. “Or I could just hide under the bed.”

“Mm-hm, and what about the car downstairs?”

“Minor detail.”

“Do you wanna be let back into this house at some point during the next fifteen years?”

“I knooooow,” he whined, pushing her until she was laying on her back and he was leaving kisses on her clavicle. “I just missed you and I’m comfy.”

He was also looked like a cat right now, but she wasn’t going to mention it. The way he had draped himself over her side and now burrowed his face into her neck reminded her of Flynn’s cats a lot.

Julie hugged his shoulders. “I know. I missed you, too.”

She felt the smirk against her skin and knew what was coming, but she didn’t have the chance to stop it.

“Missed you more.”

Her groan was only fuel to his fire. Soon enough, he was tickling her and trying to pin her down, but he made a fatal mistake and they ended up wrestling all over the bed. Julie even forgot she was topless for a moment, too focused on winning. And she was winning, okay? She poked the sensitive spot under his arm and he went boneless for the millisecond she needed to lock his hips down with her knees and hold his forearms against the bed.

From experience, she knew it was a temporary win, because he could easily lift his arms if he wanted, even if she put her entire weight on her hold. In his own, cocky words, I bench press almost my weight, Jules. You’re like the weight I started with two years ago. If he stayed down, it was because he wanted to, and now it seemed like he did.

Between the two curtains that her hair formed around them, Julie could see his face, staring up at her. The air was charged, having gone from blissful to playful to… this… in the last few minutes.

Then Luke cocked an eyebrow at her, challenging. Before she could react and give him a piece of her mind, he moved quickly. He dug his elbows onto the bed and raised his hands, forcing her to release his wrists or break hers. He then latched onto her forearms smoothly as he sat up, taking a good hold of her wrists and crossing them behind her. It brought their chests flush together and his insufferable grin inches away from her mouth.

Her exasperation melted away when he kissed her, playfully at first but soon dragging it out more and more. He released her wrists in lieu of fully wrapping his arms around her and keeping her impossibly close. Julie got more comfortable on her knees and hugged his neck.

It was curious how things progressed, she thought. A few… hours?... before, when she had first climbed onto his lap, they had held back, careful not to let their hips click together. Now, Luke’s hands grabbed the waistband of her sweatpants and pulled her hips down, as close as they could get, moving up to meet her. It was that delicious pressure all over again, and how had they fallen back into this situation?

The universe was out to tell them something, though, because both their phones went off at the same time.

Luke whined against her lips, only pressing more into her. With the way their hips were moving, Julie didn’t have it in her to fight him, pressing back just as hard until the phones stopped. He had one hand on her ass and she had all nails leaving marks on his back when it started back up again.

This time, Julie forced herself to pull back.

“No,” he complained, trying to kiss her. “C’mere.”

“We can’t.”

She turned her head to avoid his lips, but it only served to have him kissing her neck. His hands pressed down on her skin, intently, and his hips kept on moving, making it nearly impossible for her to stand her ground.

“Luke.”

He whined again, kissing her skin more aggressively and holding her tighter. Julie knew she was a few seconds away from letting him lay her down and keep doing everything he was doing, so she used some knowledge she had only just acquired and grabbed the back of his hair, pulling hard.

Luke came too easily, his head dropping back into her hand. His eyes remained closed, mouth still open, as she removed him from her neck. When she had him a safer distance away, she stopped pulling and he opened his eyes.

Okay, shit, maybe she hadn’t thought this through. How did his eyes get so dark so quickly?

Before she let herself slip into the haze in his look, she pushed on his chest and he fell on his back. There was something strangely satisfying about pushing him around like that, about him letting her push him around like that. The way his gaze only became more hooded as he hit the pillows made her want to do it again. Unfortunately, they didn’t have time to unpack all of that right now.

It was a mess of clothes flying around as Luke tried to find his stuff, and Julie had to turn on the lights to figure out where in the world he had flung his shirt to. In the end, though, they were dressed in record time – him back in his grey hoodie and her… Well, she didn’t put back on her street clothes, now that she had nice sweatpants on. Instead, she dug into her closet and fished out a hoodie Luke had “left” at her house over winter break.

“You’re so cuddly right now,” Luke pouted, running his hands around her waist to pull her into a hug.

“When you come back, we’ll hog the couch and watch, like, three movies back-to-back.”

“Deal,” he hummed before kissing her lips.

Julie’s heart didn’t stop racing until she saw his parents’ car disappear around the block. Holding her breath, she waited for her dad to come around the other corner, but it didn’t happen. In fact, it was only when she had calmed down a bit and was straightening out her bed – how had they made such a mess? – that the front door opened.

And she knew herself, okay? She would give herself away if she went down to meet her family right now. How could she look her father and her little brother in the eye after having her boyfriend’s hand on her ass and his mouth on her chest for the past two hours?

She couldn’t. So she answered Carlos’s yell of hello and yelled right back, “Can Luke come for dinner?”

At her dad’s “Of course!”, Julie grabbed her phone to inform Luke that he had to wait at least half an hour to be there so as not to raise suspicions and then busied herself with TikTok.

Exactly thirty minutes later, Luke showed up at the front door with an innocent smile and flung himself into her arms as if he hadn’t seen her since Monday, twirling her around the foyer. When he placed her back on the floor, he cupped her face and gave her an exaggerated kiss, humming loudly.

Carlos’s fake throwing up noises broke them apart.

Luke was unaffected, slipping an arm around Julie and pulling her into his side, sending a smile and a wink in her brother’s direction. “Don’t worry, buddy. I missed you, too.”

Carlos scrunched up his nose in disgust. “Ew.”

“Aw, come here,” Luke smirked and let go of her, steadily walking toward Carlos.

The smaller boy took a step back. “No.”

There was one second of hesitation before Luke took off after Carlos, the both of them running around furniture and the different rooms on the first floor. At one point, her dad came downstairs, throwing a “Hey, Luke,” when the boys passed him. Luke’s distant “Hey, Ray!” got lost in their chase.

Julie just stood there, by the front door, with her arms crossed, shaking her head.

Her dad came to stand by her. “Think we can get them to help with the sauce or are we gonna have tomato on the ceiling again?”

She was about to answer when she heard Carlos’s yell at being caught, and then she leaned her head to the side to see Luke holding him over his shoulder and sauntering over to the couch. Her brother kicked and fought with everything in him, but Julie knew first-hand that it wasn’t easy to wrestle with Luke, and his fall on the cushions was only inevitable.

Being the good sister that she was, Julie let Luke tickle him for just a couple of seconds before calling out, “Boys?”

As soon as Luke’s head raised to her, Carlos bolted out of his hold – and out of the room –, disappearing from sight. Luke simply gave her a blinding grin.

Julie rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers in the direction of the kitchen. Without hesitation, he sauntered over to her, giving her one more kiss before taking her hand and walking to the kitchen, where her dad was already taking out different ingredients.

It was a while later when Carlos came back, eyeing Luke warily and staying on the other side of the island. His eyes didn’t stay on his phone for too long at a time, nervously looking back up, because obviously Luke kept giving him mischievous smiles, as if he would pounce again at any second. Julie had given up on trying to tame them long ago, probably around their third month of dating. Now, she just exchanged eyerolls with her dad, telling Carlos to go set the table.

And, as her brother did so and her dad was transferring the pasta into a bowl, Luke came up and hugged her from behind. He squeezed her tight for a moment, pecking a kiss on her cheek, and Julie leaned back contently.

Yeah, this… this was nice. This was what happiness felt like.