[Gabe,Felicia,Zoe] Holdin' Out For A Hero

[Gabriel Dylan Atherton]

Gabe shook his head when Zoe came back with Vodka, already knocking it back and passed it to Felicia who was now suggesting they pretend they were in the fifth grade and play truth or dare. To be honest, being older this really could get interesting but Gabe was more worried about what kind of shit he was about ti learn about his friends here. Probably some stuff he didn't want to know, or stuff he didn't want to share. And the second Felicia handed the bottle back across to Zoe and started the game by asking Gabe when the last time he'd had sex with Bailey was, he knew he was in for trouble. "First question, really?" He said, looking at her shaking his head. He grabbed the bottle from Zoe, taking a big swig, thinking he was going to need it the way things were already going. "Alright geez, umm." He thought for a moment, trying to remember just how long ago it had been. Bailey had always been kinda flakey, but lately she was bailing on him daily. Truthfully, he hadn't had sex with Bailey in over a month, probably close to five weeks or something. Gabe wondered if that answer would come as a surprise to any or all of them. "I'd say it's been a little over a month. Probably closer to like five weeks. So not exactly recent." He shrugged, leaning in the couch. "Alright, my turn."

Gabe thought, trying to come up with something that would take the attention away from his sex life, "Okay, Dex, I dare you to do a body shot off of Felicia." He passed the bottle of vodka back their way. Hopefully no one asked him anymore questions about Bailey or his sex life. It'd be nice to stay away from that topic at least for the evening, especially when Zoe was so caught up in losing her V card. What happened to things like, I dare you to stick your hand in the toilet? Who's your celebrity crush? But no, everything got complicated with age.

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Putting frozen peas on his face wasn’t really an option any more, but he had to admit that drinking the beers was slowly starting to nurse his headache. With each one he seemed to feel like a little bit more like himself, instead of the caged animal that paid for his tuition. Plus he just really enjoyed staying in with his friends and having a few beers instead of having to go out and keep an eye out because of Felicia and Zoe, and whatever jackasses were hanging around. It was definitely a lot less stressful staying in. He reached forward for the remote, turning the tv off as the movie ended but doing his best to be careful considering how Felicia had fallen asleep. He knew she’d have to wake up,but there wasn’t any sense in not letting her have just a few more moments of sleep. When Zoe came back in and was taking a drink of vodka he shook his head slightly. This night wasn’t going to be over any time soon. Then just as Felicia was waking up, she was taking a drink out of the bottle of vodka too. Straight, both of them. They were so little. How did they survive?

Dex reached out and took the bottle from her before he rested his arm back against her leg. He took a drink and made a face as she mentioned truth or dare. But before he could object, she had pointed him out, telling him he couldn’t call it girly. He rolled his eyes before he smiled. “ OOoo no rules. I like it,” he said , handing the bottle of vodka back to Felicia. He stopped as he heard her question and looked at Gabe. Should he stop this? Where was the bro code in all of this? Then again the girls probably didn’t even know. Even though Dex did. Sort of. He nodded as Gabe answered, figuring it had to be around there. He looked up as he heard his name coming out of Gabe’s mouth. He figured he’d get the end of it, but it’s not like he was going to complain about what Gabe had given him.


“ Gladly,” he said, giving Gabe a mock salute before he turned to Felicia and smiled. “ Excuse me, m’lady,” he said before standing up from the couch. Dex took a hold of her legs and pulled her so that she was laying down on the couch. “ Just gonna have to move this for a second,” he said with a feigned sigh of annoyance. After pushing her shirt up he held his hand out for the bottle of vodka from whoever had it at this point in time and unscrewed the cap. He smirked to himself before he poured some of the vodka against her stomach and led it higher up her stomach. “ Woops,” he said innocently before he set the bottle back down on the coffee table. Dex gave a quiet cough before he kneeled down by the couch, placing his hand on Felicia’s leg to balance himself before he placed his lips against the skin beneath her belly button and made his way up the soft skin of her stomach, sucking the vodka in quickly and then licked what he had left behind. Dex smiled against her skin as he made his way up, but reached his hand to the side and tickled her quickly before he backed away. He ran his hand over his mouth and coughed, clearing his throat before he moved Felicia’s legs so he could sit back down. “ Alright, show’s over for you two” he said, tilting his head to Gabe and Zoe. Dex smiled slowly at Gabe before he looked at Zoe. “ Alright Zoe, … I dare you to lay one on your best friend. And not Sesame Style pg crap. That’s for kiddos” he said, giving a small shake of his head. “ Felicia said it herself. Anything goes,” he smiled before he sat back and chuckled to himself.

[Zoe Lauren Pierson]

Zoe smiled as Felicia suggested playing truth or dare. That was so something she would do; combining the adult lifestyle of drinking with a game from their youth. Zoe sat down next to Gabe, dropping both of her legs over one of his as she waited for the game to start. When Felicia said she would start, Zoe half expected for her to pick Zoe and do a truth or a dare, so she was surprised when she picked Gabe. Zoe narrowed her eyebrows and looked at Felicia to see what she would ask when she felt her eyes widen. Well that was a good question. Zoe turned to look at Gabe almost instantly. Poor guy, he probably felt put on the spot. But fuck that noise, she wanted an answer. When he said it had been a little over a month she made a confused expression before she blurted out, “ What, seriously? But when I was in your room the other morning she came in and sh-…”’ Zoe stopped, before she looked back at Dex and Felicia and gave a quick smile. “ I was bringing him the paper, and I got lost…” she said as though that explained things. “ Anyways..” she muttered under her breath and looked back at Felicia and Dex as Gabe dared Dex to do a body shot off of Felicia. She didn’t think that would be a big deal, those two were ridiculously comfortable around each other. Which was huge, in Zoe’s opinion. Dex didn’t get close to a lot of people, and Felicia was pretty smart about who she let her walls down around. And considering Dex’s profession and stance with violence, she was sort of surprised at how easily Felicia fit with him. Then again, Zoe had her own suspicions about how they probably felt for each other and she was sure that had a lot to do with it

“ You dare me that like it doesn’t happen a lot of the time, anyways,” she said, moving her legs from Gabe’s lap. Zoe stood up quickly and made her way over to the couch and smiled at Felicia, “ Hi You’re getting all sorts of use tonight,” she said jokingly before she placed her hands on Felicia’s jaw and leaned down to kiss her. She moved her hands away from Felicia’s jaw and placed them on the back of the couch as she pressed Felicia further against the couch and nibbled against her bottom lip before she gave her another quick kiss and leaned away. She rolled her eyes at the expression on Dex’s face before she took the bottle of vodka away from them and sat back down by Gabe, reclaiming the position she had been in earlier. “ Alright.. Gabe. Truth,.. do you want to be my first?” she questioned, not pressing for when and where, just whether or not that was something he wanted. With her. Zoe took a quick drink from the bottle before she offered it to Gabe, figuring he would want it before he answered.

[Gabriel Dylan Atherton]

Gabe grinned, knowing his best friend wouldn't complain about his dare at all probably. But the guy took a hit to the face, its the least he could do as a good friend. Give him a hot girl to do a body shot off of. That's what friends were for. Plus he knew Dex was loving it even if he wouldn't say so. What guy wouldn't? He shook his head when Felicia laughed, clearly ticklish and trying not to burst out laughing. Dex then dared Zoe to kiss Felicia. Which he had to admit you couldn't turn away from. But whatever Gabe was thinking while watching that was completely wiped from his mind when Zoe asked him if he wanted to be the first guy she slept with. Wanted to. Why on earth would she ask him that? It was almost laughable. Of course he wanted to sleep with her. But he'd never felt the need to ever pressure her. And that wasn't what she was asking. She was asking if he wanted to be the first. He grabbed the bottle that she handed him, staring at it. Did he? Yeah. Hell yeah. Did he dare say so? Here's the thing; Gabe had never pressured Zoe into doing anything she wasn't ready for. And it certainly wasn't because he didn't want to. Because he totally did, he liked her a lot. And truthfully, if he didn't want to be her first, he wouldn't have waited around, wouldn't have been so chill about it, telling her it was no big deal if she wasn't ready. If he didn't care about her and knew that's what he was signing up for, he could have easily just dumped her for some chick who put out. But he stuck around with that knowledge that when she was ready, it'd be him. Or, at least until he moved out here. But his feelings hadn't changed. Just his location.

But know her location was the same as his. And as he was sitting there thinking about it, he was like, yeah. My feelings haven't changed. And she's here. So what the fuck am i waiting around for, messing around with girls like Bailey who i really don't have deep feelings for and obviously I still gave feelings for Zoe. What the fuck am I waiting around for? With out thinking about it further and about if he really wanted to say this, Gabe blurted out pretty much, "Yeah." After he'd said it he took a drink from the bottle, taking a deep breath. The question didn't require an explanation right, just yes or no. He looked over at Zoe, unsure of what she was thinking. Maybe she wasn't surprised at all. Maybe that wasn't what she had expected. Either way he decided to move on from that subject, questioning Dex, "So Dex how long ago was your last one night stand?" If Gabe's sex life was getting put on blast Dex wouldn't care sharing that one bit of info, right?

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Dex lifted his eyebrow as Zoe asked her question to Gabe. What a poor dude. There was nothing worse than being put on the spot like that, especially in front of other people. He knew Gabe better than anyone. Yeah he was ‘dating’ Bailey, but if you asked him who he had feelings for, it would be Zoe hands down. And he had a feeling Felicia could say the same thing about Zoe in her situation as well. It was just lame that they couldn’t seem to get the timing right. But what Zoe was asking him was pretty damn huge. It was one thing to ask about sex in general, but the first time? For girls that was something they carried with them, one of the most sentimental things. So even if Gabe answered that, by saying yes he was by default admitting feelings for Zoe. Some pretty damn strong ones. Talk about a shitty situation, no wonder Gabe was reaching for the vodka bottle. Then there it was, blurting out of Gabe. Dex scrunched his nose as he watched the two of them. This was awwwkkward. But he couldn’t tell how Zoe felt about it judging by the look on her face, just expressionless.

Dex puffed out his cheeks in thought as he thought back to his last one night stand. “ Ah, a week ago.” he said, giving a stern nod. “ Actually, you should remember that. You made her breakfast while I slept and then made sure she had a cab to leave,” he said with a chuckle beneath his breath. Dex sat back, resting his arms back over Felicia’s legs. “ OOokay.. ummm..” he clicked his tongue quietly before he looked at Zoe, “ Alright Zo, I dare you to..” he said in thought, while looking at her. Dex lifted his eyebrow, waiting for her to look in his direction. “ Zo?” he questioned, watching her, still staring at Gabe. “ ZO” he yelled out. Not even a flinch. Dex sighed and shook his head before he looked at Felicia. “ Well that isn’t going to get me anywhere,” he said before he leaned forward, taking the bottle of vodka from Gabe. While taking a drink he leaned back against the couch so he could resume the comfiness that was cuddling with Felicia.

[Zoe Lauren Pierson]

Zoe kept her eyes locked on Gabe after she asked him what she had been wondering for a while now. And honestly she wasn’t sure how he was going to answer since he was so quiet. Then after reaching for the vodka bottle she was sure in her gut that he was going to say no. But it had came out so suddenly, she wasn’t sure she had heard him right. Yeah? He’d said yeah? He wanted to be her first. That meant something. It wasn’t about just sleeping with her to sleep with her. He wanted to sleep with her when it actually meant something. He was sleeping around with Bailey now, but did he care if he was her first? She heard his question to Dex, and in the back of her mind she knew she should be paying better attention. That was a question that Felicia would want to know for sure, and right now Zoe was doing a horrible job at being a friend because she couldn’t even find herself physically capable of looking away from Gabe.

Zoe was aware that Dex was talking to her and it was like in the back of her mind she could hear herself trying to force herself to respond. But all she could question was why she and Gabe couldn’t be on the same page. Why did she have to care for him more than he did for her. How come he had to move to New York. If he wanted to be her first why on Gods’ green Earth was he with Bailey. But all of that was overshadowed by the fact that he wanted to be her first, even while he knew how much it meant to her. Zoe blinked, finally snapping out of her daze before she looked down at Gabe’s hands, noting that he was no longer holding the bottle of vodka. She moved the pillow seated between them and crawled over to him quickly, sitting so that she was facing him but so that the side of her right hip was laying against his right leg. She leaned forward quickly, wrapping one hand behind his neck before she kissed him, gripping her right hand against the collar of his shirt and tightening it so that her fingers were clasped against it securely.

[Felicia Nicole Jenkins]

Felicia laughed slightly when Dex grabbed her legs and pulled her down on the couch, lifting her shirt and did a body shot off her. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying not to laugh as he did so, trailing all the way up the skin on her stomach but she was ticklish as all hell and when he finished off by tickling her she let out a small scream, laughing. After he'd sat back down, Felicia didn't even have time to wonder if anyone saw her blushing in the low light of the living room because Zoe was crossing the room to make out with her. What am I, a piece of meat? she thought jokingly to herself. But what was new, Gabe and Dex acted like they'd never seen two girls kiss before, nothing shocking. Felicia, though having just been kissed by Zoe, sat back against the couch, her legs draped back over Dex and was carefully feeling her cheek and how warm it was at Dex had done a shot off her, but was taken aback by Zoe's question to Gabe about being her first. Felicia stared at the pair of them, having just made things very awkward. But Gabe looked like he was really pondering it. Felicia didn't know if she could take Zoe getting her heart broken, that girl deserved to be treated like a goddam princess. But Felicia felt her mouth drop slightly open when Gabe answered that yeah, he would want to be Zoe's first. Felicia said nothing, just observed the way Zoe was staring at Gabe, and how Gabe must have really thought that through because he was admitting to a lot of feelings for Zoe that either resurfaced or never left. Probably the latter. Gabe tried to brush it off by asking Dex when his last hook up was, which he answered by saying a week ago. Felicia looked over at Dex, wondering what on earth that must be like. She herself had spent hours in those strong arms but obviously never like that. She hadn't ever really looked at Dex like that before. He was always just Dex, her friend, someone who looked out for her, her comic relief in life. She wondered how many women he'd really been with. Not that she thought it really mattered. He'd never look at Felicia in that way anyways. Dex was a straight forward guy. If he was interested he'd just say so, which he hadn't, so he wasn't. And it wasn't like Felicia was pining over him, they were just friends. It just never occurred to her to look at him the way other girls must. It was kind of eye opening. Girls probably liked him a lot. Popular guy.

But low and behold, Zoe was now kissing Gabe with the aggression only Zoe could probably muster up for Gabe given their situation and Felicia looked away. That was a time bomb waiting to go off, and it looked like it was just about to. Felicia stood up, taking the bottle of vodka from Dex and took his hand in her other, pulling him off the couch and toward the window and out onto the fire escape, "Come on Dex, let's go downstairs." That wasn't something she and Dex needed to sit there and watch. It was probably something they could fill in the blanks for from downstairs.

[Gabriel Dylan Atherton]

Even though Gabe had changed the subject, he wasn't really listening to anything Dex was saying or answering. Gabe already knew how recently Dex had brought a girl home, he'd just wanted to bring the subject away from himself an Zoe. But now he was sitting there, wondering hopelessly what she must be thinking, feeling her eyes on him, watching him. Maybe she was wondering if he was being honest, maybe it was just processing, the full amount of what his meager 'yeah' had meant. That he wanted to be with her, always had. And he couldn't see anything in plain sight stopping him from just going out and getting her like he wanted, except himself. And he also couldn't figure out why on earth he was holding himself back like this. He was always so concerned with making sure it was what she wanted, waiting for her, waiting until she was ready, that he realized he had been neglecting what he wanted. So what if she'd just broken up with a guy. So what if he didn't want her to think he only saw her as another girl. So what about Bailey. So what about any of it. It was all trivial anyways, compared to what he really wanted at the moment, which was to just go back to being with Zoe like they were in California and be happy like they were. They're was nothing wrong with the way they had been, just bad timing and a lot of miles.

Gabe only knew what was going on right now, and what he wanted right now. Because when Zoe started kissing him, he only vaguely sensed that Felicia and Dex had left and they were now alone. He pulled her leg over his own so that she was sitting on his lap, straddling him, and pulled her hips over his, moving his hands gently around her waist. If he'd just stop worrying about technicalities and just let things happen the way they should, they could say to hell with things like timing. They're timing wasn't off, this seemed like fine timing. He kissed her more deeply, more eagerly. Like he'd been itching to ever since that masquerade, his hands sliding underneath her shirt and rested on the soft skin of her back. Everything about Zoe was familiar, the way she kissed, the way she smelled, everything. It was as if nothing had ever changed. Or at least it felt that way to him. Gabe pulled away briefly, reaching up to brush the hair from her face, searching her eyes for something that said this could last. "I miss you," he said, not meaning he missed her generally. Because he saw her pretty much everyday. But she had to know what he meant when he said that. That he missed her being his.

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Dex tilted his head as he watched Gabe and Zoe on the couch. I mean it was sort of assumed between himself and Felicia about what was going on between those two, but it wasn’t like they had actually ever witnessed it. And what could have been a severely awkward situation for Gabe turned out to be pretty damn lucky for him. And her. But just as he was opening his mouth to say something, interrupt them, anything, Felicia was getting off of the couch and was doing her best to lure him away with alcohol. Fair enough, they really shouldn’t be here anyways and it wasn’t like Gabe or Zoe were even aware that anyone else was around them right now. Dex put his hands on his knees before he stood up and stretched, surprised by how sore his muscles were from the fight still even though he had a pretty good amount of alcohol in his system at this point. Dex put his hand back in Felicia before he followed her over to the window, looking over his shoulder to grab one last glance at Gabe and Zoe before he climbed out onto the fire escape.

Dex followed Felicia quietly until they got inside the girls’ apartment and then he sighed obnoxiously and fell onto the couch. “ You know that no matter what happens upstairs right now, those two will somehow find someway to just not be together. Which is annoying. Cause as his roommate, I can only stand the mopey bit for so long,” he said before he smiled over at Felicia and patted the couch to gesture for her to sit down. “Atleast they get a good lay out of it…” he said, smiling at Felicia. “ I mean can you imagine what it would be like to be in a situation where you feel hopeless over somebody and you haven’t even slept with them yet. Or help, anybody. That’s what Zoe’s problem is. She gets all worked up over nothing with it. I mean,… it’s not nothing. But for example, you.. when you fall for a guy you’re going to be a lot more comfortable letting your walls down and letting him in because you’ve been able to experience things in life that she hasn’t. It’s all her nerves she’s got pent up. It’s ironic really, she needs to get laid.” he said with a small smirk before he laid his head back against the couch tiredly. Dex sighed with his eyes closed. “ Plus those assholes get to keep the pizza upstairs,”he muttered under his breath, more annoyed about that than anything else.

[Zoe Lauren Pierson]

Zoe held on firmly to Gabe’s shirt as he moved her over his hips and rested against his chest. There wasn’t anything in this world that felt like kissing Gabe, let alone doing it in a situation that looked like it required a drivers license and a charge of 9.99 to your credit card. When he pulled away and moved the hair from her eyes all she could do was smile. She didn’t want to mess it up by saying anything, and honestly they’d had quite a bit to drink so who even knew. It wasn’t like they hadn’t kissed before, so that hadn’t needed to be special or waited upon. But when he said he missed her she felt her heart just sort of melt before she leaned back forward and kissed him again quickly, wrapping her arms around him tightly in a hug. She could say she missed him too, that she had always been his and that he hadn’t had to miss her. Because that’s what he had to have meant by it. He saw her all the time, there wasn’t a need to just miss her as a part of his life. She already was. The only thing that was gone, different, that he could miss, was the fact that they were together. She had been trying to throw sex in his face for so long lately, basically laying it out there that she just wanted to get it over with. If that was what he was interested in,he could have done what every other guy did. He could’ve just said he loved her and taken her to his room. But he’d said he missed her. Which to Zoe could only mean that he missed what they had; even if meant no sex. Because being with someone just meant more than anything else in the world; sex was an added bonus. If you couldn’t just wrap your arms around someone and feel like you were in heaven and that it was all you needed in the world, then what was there really between you. She couldn’t give him sex, and Zoe knew deep down inside he wouldn’t take it right no anyways. Not when they were drunk. But if he missed her, then there was something she could do about it.

Zoe leaned down and gave him another quick kiss before she climbed off of his lap and stood quickly to make her way to his bedroom. She didn’t need to look at the picture on his nightstand to see what hoodie she was wearing that night at the bonfire, she already knew. It didn’t take long to find it and Zoe pulled it on quickly, bringing the inside collar to her nose to see if it had the same smell of cologne that all of his clothes had. She took in a deep breath and smiled before she left his room, turning out the light as she made her way out into the hallway. Zoe narrowed her eyes at him and smiled as she moved past the living room and into the kitchen, putting together a few cups of hot chocolate quickly before she stuck it in the microwave and came out to the living room. Zoe hummed quietly to herself as she looked through the movies and pulled out the two that had been on a constant replay throughout their entire relationship. After selecting Dirty Dancing over Grease, it fit the moment better, and placed the dvd in. When the microwave beeped she ran in quickly and took the hot chocolate out, this time adding some buttershots to it. They grew up. Their hot chocolate could have alcohol in it. Once she get back to the living room she set the hot chocolate down and sat down on the couch by Gabe, moving in to sit close by him. “ You know when you miss something or think you lost it, usually it’s right in front of you. You shouldn’t have missed me Gabe. You never lost me,” she said before she kissed his cheek and settled into his side, offering him the roommate.

[Felicia Nicole Jenkins]

Felicia watched Dex flop down on the couch and went to the kitchen, looking for something to snack on and looked over the counter at Dex when he said they would probably find some reason for it not to work out. Felicia shrugged, "Oh, I hope something works out for them, they both still really want to be together..." But Dex was right. Zoe and Gabe had so much tension built up between them, just because of the situation. Felicia stopped, closing the cupboard in front of her. Dex had pretty much just assumed that she, Felicia, wasn't a virgin. That she'd at least been with someone. Of course, Felicia knew he was wrong, but everyone assumed that about her, didn't they? She supposed she gave of that impression, maybe because she was confident or something. Or because she did attract a lot of looks. But she'd never slept with anyone before. She felt herself blushing, again, but cleared her throat. Dex had mentioned the pizza but Felicia hadn't even really been listening. "I really can't say I've experienced much more then Zoe has..." she trailed off, avoiding looking at the couch where he was probably confused what she meant by that. Sure Felicia had had a lot of boyfriends, she'd had boyfriends when she was in the fourth grade or something ridiculous like that. But more recently she hadn't exactly been dating anyone, let alone being intimate with someone. She was just so busy, school, working in the studio... it wasn't much but it consumed much of her time. She could only guess what Dex was going to do with this information. Probably laugh at her. Or not believe her.

[Gabriel Dylan Atherton]

It was a huge relief to finally just hold her like the way he used to, just hang out with her, cuddle, whatever it was they used to. Gabe sat back against the couch when she left eh room briefly, taking her absence as time to make sure he knew what he was doing. He didn't want to ruin anything between them, but surely not being together was the worst thing. Surely being together was what was best. They both wanted to be together, it was clear. They had no reason not to be. And he was pretty sure Zoe understood exactly what he meant when he said he missed her. Just those three words had said a lot, explained how he felt, how he wanted things to be, what he was okay with. He still wanted her, missed her, respected her, wouldn't rush into anything if she didn't want to. When Zoe came back with cocoa and his sweatshirt, the one she wore in the picture that was in his room, she snuggled back up against him, telling him that he never lost her to begin with. Gabe played absentmindedly with the end of her hair, "No?" He smiled. Well she hadn't lost him either. But then a thought occurred to him and he almost laughed to himself. "Zoe, hang on. I have to tell you something, but you have to promise you won't get mad," he laughed slightly, thinking of the masquerade and the kiss they had shred and how she still didn't know that was him.

[Travis Dex Jenkins]

Dex stretched his arms out over his head, yawning tiredly as he listened to Felicia. “ Yeah I mean I didn’t meet Gabe until he came out here. I guess you saw them together last time, I just get to hear about it. Big difference between seeing and hearing. If you think they were good together, then they must’ve been… gonna trust your opinion on that one,” he said, laying down entirely on the couch before he lifted his hand to his face, seeing how tender it was. He flinched slightly but then dropped his hand back down against his chest. Confusion crossed his face as Felicia had explained that Zoe and her shared about the same amount of experience. Which really didn’t make any sense at all to Dex considering how he had always just assumed that Felicia had experienced that part of life. He didn’t really think she was active with it in an inappropriate way, but he figured there had been at least one or two important boyfriends in her past.

Dex smiled faintly, knowing that something like that must’ve been pretty important to Felicia no matter how cool and suave she pretended to be about it. Otherwise it wouldn’t have taken her so long to come out with it. It had a strong presence for both Zoe and Felicia, but the way they chose to express it was entirely different. “ Well of course you haven’t” he said matter of factly, laying his head back against the couch and touching the side of his face again. “ Isn’t it roman mythology that if a man touches a goddess he turns to stone? That’s gotta make love life difficult for you,” he said, patting the seat next to him on the couch. “ Come here. I want to risk my chances of turning to a bird bath and cuddle with you while we watch a movie,” he said, resting his arm back behind his head as he made himself comfortable.

[Zoe Lauren Pierson]

Zoe laid against Gabe with her legs over his own, knees bent up to his side. She puffed out her cheeks and poked her fingers against her knees before she pulled the wrists of the baggy sleeves from the hoodie further over her hands so she could try to warm up. She smiled as she remembered her hot chocolate and sat up slightly, knowing her hair would look messy since she had it just mashed against Gabe’s body. Zoe wrapped her hands tightly around the mug, letting the warmth take over her cool fingers. As she took a drink from the cup, she heard him say he had to tell her something, followed up with a caveat of how she couldn’t get mad at him. Zoe licked her lips before she swallowed the hot chocolate and set the mug down. “ Yeah I’m not promising that,” she said, turning on the couch to face him. Since when had they promised not to get mad at eachother, that’s what they did. Fight, make out, get over it. Fight again.

Zoe smiled as she looked over at Gabe, moving back against his side so that he could go back to playing with her hair. It was oddly comforting how they could nitpick each other while still doting on one another. And as much as he might of absentmindedly loved playing with her hair, she loved it just as much to know that he was doing it. It made her feel like she was cared about, something special and fragile. Which was really the only time she ever felt that way. That was one of the reasons she wanted Gabe to be her first, and he’d never even pressured her when they were together. It wasn’t like they hadn’t gotten to a point where they had to cool things off, but they’d never actually talked about it to the depth where she flat out asked him whether he wanted it or not. She just sort of felt closer to him now, whether they did it tonight or not. Or in a week, or a month. Whenever. Just knowing that he felt that way, made her feel closer, protected, smitten.