this fire

chapter sixteen

"Aaron?" Laney called, making her way towards the pool. The place was almost deserted. It was a long weekend and most of the school had gone home. They weren't at the pool; that was certain. Taking a deep breath, she pushed open the door to the men's locker room, fully aware that she was heading into very dangerous territory. The thing was, she'd looked everywhere else for him and this was the only other place he might be. She stopped and listened for any sign that there was anybody there. She sniggered when she heard what was clearly Aaron's voice singing "Everybody Wants You," the song that had been stuck in her head that one night in Irvine. Praying he wasn't showering, she crept silently toward the back of the locker room, peering nervously through her fingers.

She yelped and whirled around when she found him, cursing furiously.

"Laney?" Aaron's voice was high pitched and sounded rather panicked. "What are you doing here?" he asked, embarrassed, frantically trying to grab a towel.

"I just...I wanted...Fuck!" she exclaimed, both hands over her tightly shut eyes. "I'm sorry, oh God, I'm sorry."

Aaron, fully covered at this point by a towel wrapped securely around his waist, laid a hand on her shoulder. She recoiled. "It's ok; I'm...decent," he assured her with a chuckle.

She peeked cautiously out of her fingers and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw he was. "Oh God," she said again. "I'm so so sorry."

"It's fine. A bit surprising, but fine," he said, smiling. "What's up?"

"I–" She stopped. "Shit."

"My gorgeous physique made you forget," he said with a knowing nod. Laney gave him a look and he laughed. "You're sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Pissed that I forgot what I wanted to talk to you about, but fine."

"Right. Well, are you hungry? I was going to call you after I was finished and see if you wanted to come over to my apartment for dinner."

"You cook?"

Aaron tilted his head to the side. "If by 'cook' you mean 'microwave a frozen dinner' or 'order take out,' I'm the best chef in the US."

Laney laughed. "That sounds pretty good," she said. "I'll just wait outside then, shall I?" she pointed at the door and left, hearing him laugh until she closed the door behind her. "Oh my GOD!" she said, leaning against the wall so hard she banged her head. "Oh shit."

She shook her head, trying both to rid herself of the stars from cracking her head against the brick wall and to rid herself of the image of Aaron in the shower.

It wasn't a bad image; far from it. But frankly, she didn't want to be in danger of jumping his bones all night. Already she was having a hard time not going back into the locker room and laying a kiss on him he'd never forget. Sighing and knowing she'd never get rid of it unless she let herself dwell on it, she allowed herself five seconds.

Because it was the way of things, Aaron appeared before her five seconds was up, his hair still damp. "Ready?" he asked.

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath. "Absolutely," she told him with a grin. He gave her a look and they headed outside.

Where it was raining. "Of all days to wear a bloody white T-shirt," she said with a groan. Aaron laughed and grabbed her hand, and they ran.

By the time they arrived at Aaron's apartment, they were both completely soaked. Laney was freezing and didn't care that her shirt had turned completely sheer and was clinging to her. She was a bit put off by the fact that her bra, too, was white, but mostly she was focused on getting inside and warm. Once they were inside, Aaron glanced at her before turning away. "Er..."

Laney shrugged. "It's only fair, I guess, right?" she said, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I'll...uh...get you something to change into." He went into the bedroom and handed her a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt. "You can hang your clothes on the shower rack if you want."

"Thanks," she said, giving him a soft smile and going into the bathroom. She undressed and stood, naked in front of the mirror, looking at herself. She sighed and put a hand on the back of her neck, closing her eyes against...well, she wasn't really sure.

When she opened her eyes and looked in the mirror again, someone had joined her. She turned and went to grab the shirt that was on the floor. "Aaron? What are you doing in here?" she asked, using the T-shirt to cover up.

"Laney," was all he said, but his voice was lower than she'd ever heard it. He took a step towards her.

"Aaron, are you feeling ok?"

"I'm sorry," he said. He cleared his throat. "I didn't mean to..." he trailed off, staring at her. "Laney...what would you do if I kissed you?"

"What are you–" she stopped talking abruptly when he grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her towards him, pressing his lips to hers fiercely. Even though she wasn't expecting it, she couldn't help but kiss him back. She dropped the shirt and wound her arms around his neck. His hands slid down her arms and gripped her hips, pulling her even closer. She trailed one hand down his back and slipped it up under his T-shirt. Using her other hand, she tugged it off. As they looked at each other, he reached up to brush a piece of hair out of her face. "You're beautiful," he said softly.

She melted into him and pressed her lips to his again.

*

She woke up in an unfamiliar room, half covered by a single sheet, wrapped in a pair of arms. It took her a minute to realize where she was and who she was with. And what had happened.

She glanced at the clock. It was only three in the morning. Turning her head, she smiled at Aaron's sleeping face and closed her eyes to fall back asleep. She'd deal with it in the morning.

Just as she was drifting off, a clap of thunder sounded outside. Her eyes flew open and she froze. She relaxed a minute later but jumped when a bolt of lightning lit up the dark room and was succeeded by more thunder.

Aaron stirred. "Laney?" he muttered groggily.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"It was the thunder. Are you ok?"

She stiffened as another clap of thunder sounded loudly. "Mostly. But I hate thunder. A lot."

Shifting, he pulled her closer to him and kissed her shoulder. "Do you want to watch a movie or something?"

She shook her head. "No, I'll be ok. I feel really badly about waking you up and I'm sure you want to go back to sleep anyway."

"You didn't wake me up. And are you sure?" he asked as she curled up against him when it happened again. "I don't mind, really."

"Really?"

"I swear."

"Then yeah, ok," she said softly, as though she was afraid he might be angry with her. Turning on the bedside lamp, he kissed her. He got up and pulled on a pair of boxers. She stood up, wrapped in a sheet, and padded into the bathroom to see if her underwear was dry. When she was that it was, she pulled it on and then pulled on the shorts and T-shirt that had been forgotten on the floor. She went to the kitchen, where he was standing, making coffee. He chuckled when he saw her dressed in his clothes and still clutching the sheet. "I'm cold," she said.

He nodded. "Go ahead and put something in; I'll join you in a second." She sat down on the couch and pulled a blanket over her after she stuck in a random movie. When Aaron came in, he kissed her and handed her a mug of coffee. "Thanks," she said as he sat down next to her on the couch, pulling her close to him.

The storm died down and the movie played, but Laney barely registered what movie it was. "Aaron?" she asked softly.

He looked down at her. "What's up?"

"What happened last night?"

Smiling, he said, "Well, we had sex."

She rolled her eyes. "Thank you, Captain Obvious. I mean...why?"

He shifted and sat up. "I’m not really sure. Laney...if you think I was just being a guy, you're...well, you're partly right. But I'm not just going to be a fuck and run guy."

"I wasn't implying anything like that. I just thought about it and I can't figure out why or how."

"I'm sorry if I freaked you out," he said, concern written all over his face.

Laney reached up and kissed him soundly on the lips. "It was fantastic," she said. "I'm just unsure of how we got here. I mean, yesterday we were like brother and sister, and now...well, now we're not."

"I certainly hope not," he said with a laugh. Then he got serious. "Laney, if you want to forget this ever happened and go back to the way things were, that's ok. I guess by way of explanation, last night, I was feeling something. You were really cute in the locker room and I really wanted to kiss you. And I couldn't get the urge out of my head. I'm sorry if I violated your privacy or something when I went in the bathroom last night, but God, Laney. You are so beautiful. I don't want to sound like a pig, but I couldn't help myself. Laney," he repeated her name and she stared at him, taken aback by what he'd said and the tone of his voice.

"Aaron," she said. He looked up and caught her gaze. She took his face in her hands and kissed him, falling less than gracefully on top of him.

She'd been cold, but it didn't take very long for her to warm up.