[Connor] Go Dancing In The Rain

[Jessica Sophia Clark]

Jessica brought her hand up to ring Connor’s doorbell but stopped herself short, hovering over the intimidating plastic. It was just plastic. But if she pressed it then he would know she was there. Then what? What exactly was going to happen here? How could she go from being willing to cheat on the greatest boyfriend she’d had with him, to despising him, tolerating him, to standing at his front door. Nope. Nuh uh. Jessica dropped her hand and shook her head before walking back towards her car. But he had gotten her that Christmas present. She hadn’t noticed him getting anyone else a Christmas present. Maybe it was because he wanted to be friends then, but she’d been horrible to him and he had still stopped by, brought her out to his family Christmas. Jessica rolled her eyes before tilting her head side to side as she turned back on her heel and headed back to Connor’s front door. But what if he changed his mind again? Wouldn’t he just get bored of her? And he could have any girl he wanted – was the game not over for him? I mean Jake had been in the same situation before and he head said it sternly – stay away from this kid. So as she reached the doormat, she turned back on her heels, heading back to her car. This was stupid. He’d been fine to her on set. And she hadn’t really noticed him on his phone a lot – it wasn’t like he was texting girls constantly, or flirting with them on set. His eyes really were beautiful.. and hadn’t they sort of looked sad lately? Maybe not sad, but distant like he was constantly in his own thoughts. He didn’t deserve the backlash he was getting, they were in this together. And then she froze again. They were in this together. Jessica tilted her head back with an audible sigh as she turned back on her heel and made her way back to the front door. But even if she wanted to change her mind again, it was too late. She stopped short seeing Connor in the doorway, who had probably been watching her, wondering whether she was coming or going. She stood there silent for a moment before she cleared her throat. “ May I come in?” she questioned as she pushed her hair from her face.

Outfit

[Connor Ethan Steele]

Connor reached down and opened the oven, stepping back for a moment so he didn't get blasted in the face from the heat and then reached in and pulled the tray out, hearing the pizza rolls sizzling. Jessica wanted pizza rolls, so he'd went and got some pizza rolls. After setting the tray on the stove top he took the oven mitt off, peeking out into the back yard through the sliding door. The snow had covered the entire back yard, the pool cover looked like a glassy smooth white patch. He couldn't wait until late spring when he could open the pool up, and mow his lawn and grill stuff on the patio. He didn't know why but he liked living his life separately from the player he was known to be. There was the Connor who partied and went out and met girls, hooked up. And then there was Connor, who lived alone, in a family oriented neighborhood in his brand new house he'd just bought that was just big enough for what he needed, and the thing he was most excited about was being able to pretend he was a grown up and mow his very own lawn. And maybe if he got really ambitious he would attempt to plant flowers. Maybe. Right now he was still getting furniture situated, like his living room only having a couch at the moment and his dining room table was missing chairs. But he'd get it figured out eventually. And he liked that he had a real wood burning fireplace because he felt like a lumber jack when he was chopping wood to put in it and stack beside the hearth. So it was pretty fun. Which, as he headed to the living to check the fire, he saw Jessica out on his front walk, apparently undecided about coming in. Well, maybe she was undecided about coming at all. That wouldn't be unreasonable, he guessed. Connor opened the door and stood watching her for a moment and then finally,seeing that she wasn't dressed to be in the cold and looked freezing as hell, offered, "Hey". Jessica turned around, approaching the door and asked if she could come in, so he nodded. It was kind of weird, the only people he'd invited to his new place had been his parents and his sister, but Jessica wasn't some random chick so he didn't mind letting her in. She could see this part of him. "Yeah sure," he offered, stepping aside so she could come in and then shut the door behind her, "Forget your coat or something?" He would've offered to take it if she had one, so instead he said, "Well, I kind of just moved in, so I don't have a ton of stuff, but I can give you the grand tour... which isn't much either," he shrugged, "I didn't figure I needed a big place." He gestured into the living room that was right off the front door, "Living room... I really like the fireplace, kind of cool," and down the hall, "Dining room, no chairs though... Kitchen. Back yard..." he looked at her and shrugged, "I guess its not the grandest of houses. But I like it... I made pizza rolls." he said finally, feeling like he was a rambling fool and needed to shut up.

[Jessica Sophia Clark]

Jessica held her hands tightly onto the outside of her arms as she stepped into Connor’s house. After blowing her bangs out of her face, she looked around, wondering what the protocol was with her shoes. Better safe than sorry, right? Jessica looked down, slowly stepping out of her heels before she looked at all of the rooms that Connor was pointing out. She smiled slowly as he showed her all of his place – it was so unexpected. It wasn’t what she had imagined for him at all. “ No bedroom?” she said with a small smile as she looked over her shoulder at him. Jessica ran her hands over her arms trying to warm up, smirking as he said that he had made pizza rolls. “ That was nice of you,” she said while taking in a deep breath and then coughed uncomfortably. Jessica opened and closed her fingers, trying to warm them up before she stepped back over to his kitchen where she assumed the pizza rolls would be. “ Oh,” Jessica said before she set her purse on the counter and took out the christmas present she had gotten him – a mythology book that was wrapped in Scooby doo Christmas paper with a bow on it. “ I owe you from Christmas…” she said shyly as she set it on the counter. “ So I guess um..” she said before biting the inside of her cheek and poking at one of the pizza rolls. “ You made me pizza rolls,” she said quietly. Which he had already told her. She was just trying to absorb all of it. He made her pizza rolls. His place was nothing like she expected. “ Should we talk about this? Us?” she asked as she stepped closer to him.

[Connor Ethan Steele]

Connor sat in one of the bar stools, pointing to the other end of the kitchen where the stairs were, "Its upstairs," he said, grinning. Well, that seemed more normal. He really still couldn't see the problem with two friends hooking up, and if they just so happened to not hook up with anyone else and it turned into something else, there wasn't anything wrong with that right? But maybe that was just Connor talking, and that Connor had gotten him into this mess to begin with. He'd already messed it up bad enough that she stopped talking to him before, she could do it again. So he needed to not be a douchebag. He DID care about more things than having sex with her. He just had to convince her it was true. He had a feeling she just really didn't trust him. To be fair, he might not trust him after that either, he'd really came off like all he wanted was a hook up, but he thought she wanted that too, in his defense. And to be honest, he was still interested in that, he just found it increasingly more interesting that the more he tried to win her back, the less he cared about other women. He couldn't really pin point what it was about Jessica, there was just something. He just liked her. Connor looked at the gift she handed him, "Oh, thank you. You didn't have to do that." Connor smiled and began tearing the paper away, and paused when she mentioned the pizza rolls again, "Yeah..." while he finally opened the gift finding the mythology. "Oh wow, thank you..." he mumbled, already interested and had flipped it open, pausing on a page about Zeus's many wives and various demi god children... deciding he would read that section first... "Oh. Yeah I mean, I think, that would be, we should, it, we, you know. That could be good." Wow, that was really smooth. And really unlike him. Connor stood up and grabbed a plate from the cupboard and dumped the pizza rolls on it, grabbing some ranch from the fridge and suggesting she could grab whatever she liked to dip hers in. Deciding the table was useless with out chairs he headed back to the living room and sat on the floor with the pizza rolls, which was funny because he had a couch but Connor liked being on the floor. Jess could sit on the couch if she wanted. "Oh hey, here," he offered, tossing a blanket to her from the couch, "You look cold."

[Jessica Sophia Clark]

Jessica watched as Connor opened the book and then smiled softly as how interested in it he seemed already. It sort of pissed her off how many sides of him there were. She figured a majority of those sides wanted her, but she was scared of what that small percentage of him could damage them with. When he opened the fridge to take out ranch, she narrowed her eyes, spotting the chocolate syrup before she walked over and took it out of the door of the fridge and followed him into the living room. Had he seemed nervous to talk? That was kind of… cute. Jessica situated herself on the floor, reaching up to catch the blanket when he tossed it at her. “Thank you,” she said as she covered her legs with it. Jessica narrowed her eyebrows, focusing way too intently on putting some of the chocolate syrup atop the cheesy pizza roll before biting into it. “ You keep saying how we’re not.. on the same page. Or that I’m just not making clear what I want..” she said before giving a small sigh “ What I want from you hasn’t changed, it’s just.. difficult considering….everything,” she said before chewing on the pizza roll lazily. The sound of the fire sort of filled the silence. He was a smart kid, surely he knew what that meant. She wanted to be with him, but how did they even begin to start? Jessica opened her mouth to say something else, to continue on, but when she looked back up she could see those eyes. Little wheels turning behind the most beautiful shade of blue she’d ever seen. There was hooking up with random people at parties for the sake of a ‘hook up’. And then there was kissing someone because you craved the way their skin felt. Their skin, not just anyone’s. Without even thinking about it, Jessica pushed the blanket off of her legs and was pinning Connor towards the ground, climbing over him as she brought her lips to his. Well, she wasn’t ignoring him anymore. Jessica pushed her hair behind her ear before she leaned to the side to kiss the side of his neck as her hands frantically started to unbutton his shirt.

[Connor Ethan Steele]

Connor picked up a pizza roll and popped the entire thing in his mouth, chewing and swallowing while he crouched by the fire for a moment, moving the logs around so they continued to burn better. Okay, so she was right they needed to talk. And maybe she was also right, what she wanted hadn't changed. But what he wanted hadn't changed either, it was still her he wanted. It was just in the way that he wanted her that had apparently made a few turns into relationshipville. Though he wasn't sure how that was going to work out because he wasn't totally sure he could be that guy for her. Maybe he could. It was a switch up in mind set for him. To be fair though, he hadn't been texting other girls lately, so maybe he was already showing changes without even thinking about it. Connor wondered if he would be this interested in her if things had been different. If she'd been single, would he have wanted her so bad? Well she was still gorgeous, so ha, yeah probably. It was just a matter of the mess of things making this new side of things kind of difficult. As he was giving it thought, she hadn't really given him much time to respond because as he picked up another pizza roll, she had pinned him down and crawled over him, leaning down to kiss him, kiss his neck, unbutton his shirt, he dropped his pizza roll somewhere, and what in the actual fuck was happening. Was this not the same girl who only weeks ago would barely look at him unless it was written in a script to do so? Connor lightly pushed her back, resting on his elbows and said confused, "Hold up, what the hell, is this a test that I will end up failing?" Like seriously, what the fuck was she up to. Jessica looked at him distractedly, "Huh?" and Connor thought, to hell with it all, "Oh, fuck it," and, hooking his leg over her, rolled her over so he was over her, sliding his shirt off where she'd left it unbuttoned. And Jessica liked to wear all those layers and things, little... vests... and whatever, just extra things he learned from experience would just need to come off. Vest gone.... hands wandering underneath her shirt, exposing her already familiar skin. This wasn't expected, at all. But, for all the awkwardness being passed around, this at least seemed normal. Odd, but true. But at the same time, he reminded himself, there was no sneaking around, no time frame, no trailers, and getting caught. it was just the two of them, with no where to go, no one to answer to, with the entire evening at their dispense. No rush. It was nice. He could slide her shirt up and enjoy every second of it, take in her skin, kiss her slowly. Even if he was thinking clearly, he wouldn't be able to think of anywhere he'd rather be at the moment.

[Jessica Sophia Clark]

Jessica blinked in confusion as he questioned whether or not that this was some sort of test that he was going to end up failing. But it seemed like he answered the question for himself because just as quickly as she had pounced on him he was pulling the same trick on her. Jessica squealed quietly at being pushed against the ground and brought her hands to the back of his hair as she smiled against his lips. He might be used to his body, but there was something reminiscent of pure joy whenever he took his shirt off. She would literally describe him as one of those greek god statues. And if there was an adult equivalent for her of running down on Christmas morning and finding what Santa left you under the tree.. it was Connor taking his shirt off. Jessica dropped her hands from the back of his hair before bringing them to his chest, letting her fingertips really feel his skin for what had to be the first time. Every other time had been rushing through, trying to get it over with before someone caught them. She wasn’t sure she had ever noticed how soft his skin was. Or how strong his shoulders were. Considering they had all this time on their hands, she would assume that they would move to his bedroom. But right here with him was perfect. In more ways than one. Right here was perfect with him, wherever this place they were at was. She knew she wanted him, maybe he wanted her.. maybe he didn’t. But where else was she supposed to be? Jessica lifted her leg, wrapping it tightly around his own before she brought her hands to the bottom of her tank top, pulling the fabric out of her skirt. What used to be tearing off only what clothes were necessary and finding them thrown across the trailer could now be something done purposely as she arched her lower back, lifting it up off of herself as she wiggled her way out of it slowly. Two months ago she would have pulled at his belt like a mad woman using her last spare seconds, but why now? Jessica brought her lips back to his simultaneously sliding her hand inside his jeans. No rush, right? She could feel her heart beating through her chest, so surely he could to as she hesitantly moved her fingers along the lining of his boxers. But as she curled her fingertips towards him she bit down against his lower lip, pulling it towards herself. Maybe there was a time for talking. But maybe they just missed each other more right now. And this was more them than anything –s o far. The talking stuff.. that was the ‘new’ them that they would need to work on. And that was scary. There wasn’t anything wrong with making yourself comfortable before diving into something new.

[Connor Ethan Steele]

Connor knew whatever he was feeling at the moment was different, just because he knew he was slowing things down. Not slowing them down to stop them, he just knew he was taking the time to enjoy all of this. And the fact that he was lucky as hell to even be in this situation again wasn't lost on him. He could easily still have been in the dog house. And he really honestly didn't think having Jessica over for pizza rolls would result in this. He wasn't complaining though, he obviously liked doing this. Clearly. Clothes were becoming scarce, and though it seemed neither of them was in a rush, maybe it wasn't a bad idea to move this upstairs. More comfortable and all that. Connor moved to kiss her neck, whispering in her ear, "Wanna take this upstairs?" Jessica agreed, somehow picking themselves up off the floor. Just like they were picking up their relationship from where it had left off. As if nothing had happened and yet better off now from the fall out. Learning from mistakes. Trying to make things better. Well, at least he was trying. Jessica didn't have much to fix, she didn't really do much wrong. Just so long as they stayed communicating with each other. Which was funny because at the moment this was... not exactly talking. It was communicating though. It put them on the same page at least. Connor carried her upstairs, not stopping to kiss her for much of anything, and he wasn't planning on stopping for anyone when it came to making this work either. He could count his lucky stars that she was giving him another chance because he'd been an idiot, so this time around he was do it right.

[Jessica Sophia Clark]

This night was turning in so many directions that she hadn’t expected. But that didn’t mean it was wrong. The way his lips felt on her neck wasn’t wrong. And it certainly didn’t feel wrong for him to be leading her to his bedroom, which she was realizing was the first time she had ever been in his bedroom. And they weren’t rushing. This wasn’t a wham bam thing. It was like they were getting their own chance start fresh. And if they were giving each other a clean slate the snow outside seemed to represent just that as it fell outside the window. Jessica wrapped the sheet around herself as she sat up on her elbow, looking over at Connor who was still in bed. “ You just going to stay here?” she asked with slight surprise to her tone as she moved to his chest so she could lay her head against it. She wondered how many girls got to do this with him – not many she would suspect. There were girls who got to know him sexually, but she doubted there were many who could line up and say that they knew him intimately. Not like this. Not with him laying in bed and not leaving, not looking at her like she should leave. Or was he? Jessica lifted her head up casually, looking up at him as she rested her chin against his chest. Did they even need to talk or had they just said everything that they needed to with the difference in the way that they slept together? Jessica sat up against his chest, touching her fingers lightly against his cheek as she placed a kiss on his lips. “ I hope you know you’re worth more than leaving right away. I’m hoping you’ve finally realized that for yourself, because I knew all along,”

[Connor Ethan Steele]

Before Jessica came over tonight Connor couldn't have guessed it would turn out like this, so while he lay there wondering how this had come to be, the only answer he had for himself was that it was just meant to be. Yeah, they had some turmoil, and some bad timing, and some fuck ups but when he tried to figure out the bottom line in his head he knew that he really liked Jessica. He couldn't explain it, he just knew that it was different. He had never had the desire to buy a gift for a girl, or invite her to his family home for holidays like he did with Jessica, have a girl at his place, and most importantly as they lay there, he felt at ease about it. He liked her, a lot, that was the answer. There had been no rush about sleeping together and there was no rush now, afterwards. Where did he have to go? He was comfortable, in his own home, with a beautiful girl who he felt so strongly about, he was finding. More strongly than he suspected, and more strongly than any other girl he'd been with. There was just something about Jessica, maybe it was hard for her to understand, hard for even him to understand. He didn't know. She inspired him, made him try to be better. And usually for him, in a situation like this, Connor would get up, get his shit together and go. That's why he never invited women over to his place. If he was at their place he had the choice to leave when he pleased. But having Jessica here meant that he had no time he wanted her to leave, he wanted her here. He was okay just being here, enjoying the moment, enjoying Jessica. He didn't want her to go. And he didn't want to go either. If he did he would have never invited her over, he would have given himself that out, would have gone to her place. But he knew he didn't want it, wouldn't need an out. He wanted her here to stay, both of them. They needed it. They needed time to figure things out, patch things up, fix things between them. Get back to where they had been, minus the bad stuff. The bottom line was that Connor had realized too late that Jessica was different, that she was what he needed, and now that he had her somewhat back he wasn't going to risk losing her again or messing it up. There was only one way to describe how he felt and it scared him. The only way to figure out if it was real was to keep this going, to keep trying, to make sense of this somehow. They both needed to make sense of whatever they were doing.

Jessica questioned him, asking if he was just going to stay there, as if he was going to leave,and he didn't blame her for wondering. Leaving like usual. But he shook his head and murmured a positive response, "mhmm, I know you did," as he wrapped his arms tighter around her body. He was just going to stay there. Her skin felt softer than his own against him, soft as ever, always the same. As Jessica lay against him Connor held her tight, moving his hand along the length of her body and back again. Connor smiled as she kissed him, asking him if he knew he was worth more than leaving. Connor sighed, knowing she thought he was worth it, or else she wouldn't be here. It was possible she knew more than he did, was smarter than him about this. There were some things here Connor could learn from Jess. Connor held her closer, pressed against his own body, and kissed the top of her head where it rested on his chest, lingering there a moment. The first time he never felt inclined to leave. Where he felt comfortable, and welcome. And like one complete puzzle. As he moved his hand over her hair he felt uneasy, what if it was she that decided to leave? That she didn't want to stay? "Will you stay?" he asked quietly. But he knew she would, somewhere in his mind. Plus she just told him he was worth staying. He was just so used to it all ending so abruptly, these lingering feelings were what he wasn't used to. Connor reached down and placed his hand under her chin and lifted it to meet him, kissing her slowly, knowing there wasn't much to say. Tonight their silence said it all. After he kissed her, his lips lingered near hers, wondering out loud, "Can we make this work?" before he sat up on his elbow as well, looking her dead in the eye, the look in his eyes probably pleading, "I want this to work." He did. He really want this to work out for them. This was all so new, these feelings, he knew he'd be devastated if things fell through. Which was weird to admit. He just knew whatever this was was worth it, worth the effort, and the wearing his heart on his sleeve. He just hoped he wasn't wrong, hadn't read her incorrectly. Hoped she was feeling the same and wanted what he wanted.

[Jessica Sophia Clark]

It was hard to imagine something like this happening in real life. Sure, she’d dreamt about it plenty of times. But nothing in her dreams could even compare to how perfect he was in this moment. It almost made her skeptical, made her feel like she should find a reason that it was all a façade. But they hadn’t been drinking. In fact he hadn’t even needed to lie to her. It clearly wasn’t a challenge to get her into bed, so if it was just about sleeping with her then he could easily get up out of bed and make it known that she needed to leave. But it was different. He kissed her slower than he used to, he held onto her closer than he ever really had, he touched her skin like his fingertips were thirsty for her touch. Maybe he had really changed, maybe the time apart had sort of shown him what he wanted. But coming to the revelation and diving into it were two completely different things. She knew she was ready. She knew he was what she wanted. And maybe he knew that too, but she couldn’t help but know that part of him would go crazy if he sat there letting the wheels turn in his head. It would be too much, he would panic and freak out. There wasn’t any sense in making him feel like he was signing his name to a marriage license, putting a final nail in the coffin to his bachelorhood. Surely he would start to suffocate if he stayed in this bed any longer. They could always come back to it. But if she was ready for him that meant needing to be able to patient and understanding as he came to grips with the concept of a relationship and what that really meant. He’d never owed anyone anything before. He’d never had the responsibility of being a boyfriend. She knew it would be scary for him, but he was worth being patient for. And he wanted it, he had said so himself. He wanted this to work. Wanting it to work and knowing how to make it work were so different. But she wasn’t going to let him go, not this time. Not when he was doing so well at holding onto her right now. “ Me too,” she said in response to him wanting it to work. Jessica pushed her hair behind her ear, leaning down to give him a kiss. “ How about we make some actual food,” she said quietly as she grazed her lips against his. Jessica placed her hands on his chest and pushed herself up before pulling on her underwear and picking up Connor’s shirt , pulling it on over her small frame as she made her way out of his room. He needed to get out of that bed so that he could get out of his own head.

Jessica opened the door to the fridge, lifting her right foot off of the ground to trace against her left calf. She tapped her fingers against the door as she looked through what he had in his fridge. It was night time, so technically she should make dinner. But every person alive liked breakfast anytime. Breakfast wasn’t only the most important meal of the day, it was the most delicious. A slow smile spread across her lips. Maybe she could teach him something. Jessica leaned into the fridge, taking out every ingredient she could need for crepes. “ Can I see your computer?” she asked as she looked over her shoulder. “ Promise I won’t look at your adult content..” she said, fighting the urge to smile as she spread the ingredients on the counter. He had the whipped cream, syrup, chocolate syrup for toppings but she sort of wanted more. She waited until he brought it over before lifting the lid and pulling up the website for the nearest grocery store that delivered. Jessica turned against his body, kissing his shoulder softly as she went through the fruit section on the site, selecting things like strawberries,raspberries, apples, blueberries, brown sugar, some more bacon, orange juice, maple syrup. She wanted to put the maple syrup and brown sugar on the stove so she could make a glaze to put with the fruit before she rolled them into the crepes. Plus she sort of wanted to make homemade whipping cream, which made her half to look through the dairy section so she could pick out some half and half and whipping cream. Jessica kissed his shoulder again quickly before hurrying towards her wallet so she could get her credit card out to pay. Maybe she should put pants on before the delivery guy gets there. Once she made it back into the kitchen she gave him a smile, pushing some of her rowdy hair due to their escapades out of her face. “ My turn to teach you something..” she said as she made her way towards the counter with ingredients.