All The Pretty Girls
by Lizzy

PART 26

"I was not drooling!"  I assert as I peer over my post lecture recovery skinny latte.

Okay, so it's a lie.  But, come on!  I know I've been known to take idiocy to new heights, but I am not going to admit to my girlfriend that I drooled so badly that now all my notes are smudged.  It's not much of a turn on.

"When you sat up you had part of your notebook stuck to your face."

Dammit, she saw that?  "You saw that?"

She chuckles, "Yeah.  It was adorable."

I raise an eyebrow, "Adorable?"

"Yeah.  Well...also kinda gross," she giggles as she reaches across our table to playfully thumb the side of my mouth as if to wipe away residual drool.

"Thankyou," I say dryly, in response to her gesture, "I'm pleased I amuse you."

She flashes me a toothy grin, "I thought it was cute."

I reach for her hand across the table and put on my smoothest voice, "I think you're cute."

"Oh, really?" she teases, drawing close.

I nod, "Really."

"Good," she nods too, "We can both be cute together."

"We can," I agree, catching a glimpse of my watch as I draw slow circles on the back of Jessie's hand with my thumb, "But not right now, 'cause I have my study group."

"Right now?"

"Five minutes ago," I admit, and quickly gather my things.  Jessie just rolls her eyes.  I get up throwing my bag over my shoulder and lean down to give Jessie a peck on the cheek, "Do we have the two o'clock seminar today?" I check, before I leave.

"No, that's next week.  We just have the tutorials today."

"Your's finishes at four, right?"

"Yeah," she nods.

"Okay, I'll meet you after.  You want to come back to my place?"

Jessie smiles, "Definitely," she says eagerly, "I need somewhere quiet to study since my floor's become the party dorm all of a sudden."

"And here I thought you wanted to hang out with me!" I state dramatically, placing a hand over my wounded heart.

Jessie gets up from her seat and saunters over to me, lightly pecking me on the lips, "That's just an added bonus," she purrs, her body close and her lips lingering on mine.

People always joke about me.  Tad used to say that I never got into any trouble in high school because I could charm my way out of anything, guilty or not.  That's one thing I've always been proud of, that ability to turn on the charm when it's most needed.  But Jessie beats me, hands down!  Seriously, we're talking about our class timetables and studying, and she still manages to get me all flustered!  I swallow audibly, and struggle to find words, "Well, I uh, I," I jerk my thumb over my shoulder, "I'd better get going."

"Okay," she says quietly, as I peck her on the cheek and turn to leave.

"Hey Katie!" she calls after me.

I turn back to her, "Yeah?"

She laughs, "That was too easy."

"Oh shuttup," I mumble playfully and turn to walk away.

As I leave I hear her call out again, in a saccharine voice, "Aw, you're so cute when you blush."

**********

I'm over it!  We're back at my place, studying, and I'm over it.  There's only so much theory that I can take, and I think I've just about reached my limit.  I sigh deeply - that'll get her attention!  I'm wrong, I elicit no response from Jessie so  I try again.  Again, nothing.

"I'm over it!" I finally declare loudly.

"Hmm?  What's that?" Jessie asks, raising an eyebrow in my direction from where she's sitting on the floor behind me.

I turn to sit sideways on my chair and drape myself over the back of it to face her, I put on my best pouty face, "I'm bored," I whine like a child.

She laughs at this and shakes her head, "We've been working for fifteen minutes!  How are you already bored?"

"Are you serious?" I question, "Boredom doesn't understand time!  Boredom has no manners!  It's willing to sneak up on you after mere seconds!" I flail my arms wildly to emphasise my point, "Especially when what you're studying is..." I pause, realising how dumb this sounds, "Well...when what you're studying is boring!"

Jessie rolls her eyes, "It's not that boring - actually the reading's really interesting," she informs me then gives me her best motherly look, "Have you done the reading?"

"No," I complain, "I can't be bothered."  I'm really just in one of those moods.

"It's like three pages long."

I scoff, "Yeah, of tiny tiny print - so really it's more like six pages," I reason.

Jessie laughs at me again, "Six whole pages?" she asks with mock horror, "However will you manage?"

"Oh shuttup," I'm pouting again.

Jessie just nods, "Okay," she says simply before turning back to her work.  Dammit.

Everything goes my way five minutes later though, when it's Jessie's turn to sigh dramatically.

"What's up?" I ask, turning to drape myself over the back of my chair again.

"The essay."

I frown, "I know," I sympathise, "I'll never get it done by Monday," I smile at her, "Is there anything I can do?" I offer.

She shakes her head, "I dunno, I just don't know what I'm trying to say," she shrugs, "All my texts contradict each other, so I don't know what to think."  She gets up off the floor and stretches, before she saunters over to where I'm sitting and leans over my shoulder, "How's yours going?" she asks.

"This is all I have so far," I tell her, passing a few pages over my shoulder to her.

She slides into the seat next to me and reads for a moment, silently chewing her pen while I watch her, waiting for her approval.  "See, I hate that!" she exclaims suddenly.

"What?" I ask, concerned that it's my work that she hates.

"You never pay attention, you never do any extra work, and yet you manage to write something like this!"

I smile, a little relieved, but it soon turns into a teasing grin, "I'm just a genius."

"You are," she agrees a little distracted as she continues to read, "Ooh, I love this quote, what's the source?" she asks while thumbing through my pages.

"This," I say, indicating the book that's open in front of me, "I was going to give it to you when I was finished with it, it might help you."

"What is it?" she asks, leaning into me, and flipping through the book to examine the cover page.  As she does so, a lock of hair falls into her eyes and I reach up the small distance to tuck it behind her ear.  She smiles at this gesture and her eyes dart to meet mine.

Realising our close proximity, her expression becomes slightly more serious, and I'm sure I hear her breathing become shallow.  We just sit looking at each other for long seconds before finally, I slowly bridge the gap, bringing our lips together.

It's strange to me that this moment feels so charged, but when I think about it, this is the first real time that we've kissed since the whole Sarah debacle.  Sure, she kissed me when she told me forgave me, and there was that lingering peck on the lips today after class, but this is the first time in what feels like a long time that it's about longing instead of reassurance.  I know Jessie feels it too, because when I feel her respond, there's a heat between us that I don't think I've felt before.

The kiss deepens, and a little while later, I realise that I've somehow managed to pull Jessie onto my lap so that my left hand is tangled in her hair, and my right hand is at her waist, teasing the hem of her shirt.  Jessie's hands are in my hair and I feel so content just feeling her lips on mine.

Finally though, we progress a little - our tongues intertwine, and my hand that was lingering tentatively at the edge of Jessie's shirt travels under the fabric to rest against the warm, soft skin of her back.  Jessie responds, pressing herself to me, and I willingly pull her closer, causing her to shift slightly so that she's leaning over me so that I have to tilt my head back to maintain contact.

It's at about this point that I feel the chair that we're sitting on begin to tilt backwards and before I can do anything to stop it we both fall heavily to the floor with a thud.

"Are you alright?" I ask Jessie as she rolls off of my bruised ribs.

"Yeah," she says, before breaking into a fit of giggles. 

I join in, "Note to self, spontaneous make out sessions are fun, but not always safe."

Jessie laughs, "Yeah, don't try this at home kids."

I smile, "Well at least we can't fall any further," I sat smoothly, leaning in to resume the kissing, but I'm surprised when Jessie pulls away.

"I should probably go."

I'm confused, this was going so well, "What?  Why?"

She smiles gently, "I should go before we take this any further."

I furrow my brow, "What's wrong with that?"

She copies my action, "Katie," she begins, biting her lower lip, "I don't want to rush things."

"We're not."

"Katie," she begins again, why does she keep saying my name like that?  "We said we'd take things slowly.  This isn't slowly."

Oh yeah.  That was the deal.  I screwed up, and Jessie and I stay together under the promise that we take things slowly.  I hate my life.  Only I would go have sex, only to become more sexually frustrated. 

I nod, "You're right."

She smiles softly, "Yeah," she says quietly, "So I should probably be going."

"Yeah," I agree, just as quietly, and nod, "Okay," we both stand up and I help her gather her things before I walk her to the door.  When we reach the door she stops and turns, and I run my hand down her arm, seeking contact so she knows I'm not upset, "Do you want to come by tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'd like that," she affirms before lightly pecking me on the lips, "I'll see you tomorrow."

I smile, "Yeah.  See you tomorrow."

I close the door behind her and lean against it for a moment before walking over to the couch and throwing myself down on it with a disgruntled groan.  It was all going so well!

Dammit!

It's going to be a long night.

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