Summer of Like // Farleigh Start x OC

24: When We Talk, You Throw My Name in There, Even Though It's Just Us

The coke hits fast, and makes most of the night blur together. We dance, we drink, laugh until I feel like I might throw up, and then we laugh about that too. It passes like a glittery montage until we end up in the lake, absolutely soaked as we wade back out of the water from swimming out to one of the lotus lights that float on the surface.

He flops onto the grass, facing the sky. "I can see through your dress."

"It's a see through dress." I say, sitting down next to him. I look down at him with a smile. "I can see through your shirt."

"No, but I can see through the flowers now." He says, laughing.

"Nothing you haven't seen before." I say.

"Sure." He props himself up on his elbows. "But the rest of these people haven't." He glances to the shifting crowds of people out on the lawn.

I glance back towards the throng. "Fair point." I have no idea how I'm going to get back inside without completely losing any shred of dignity I might have left.

As if he senses what I'm thinking, Farleigh stands, holding out a hand for me to take. I do, and he hauls me up to my feet. "I've got an idea." He says, a mischievous twinkle in his eye. "But I need 100% of your trust."

"You've already got it." I say.

He grins. "I know. But I wanted to ask anyway."

Without any preface, he scoops me up, wrapping his hands under my thighs and holding me to his chest. I barely have time to wrap my arms around his neck and shoulders before he's taking off, running towards the house in long strides. I gasp, and then laugh, bouncing along in his hold as we tear through the crowd. I can feel his grin against the side of my neck as he runs, muttering halfhearted apologies as we rush into the house, heading towards the stairs.

It only takes us a few minutes before he gets to my room, bustling inside and dropping me on the bed without much ceremony. He darts back to close the door, and locks it, before turning around with a victorious grin.

I sit up on the bed. "Wow."

"Genius, I know." He says, flopping down beside me. "You're welcome."

"Thank you." I say, leaning down to press a kiss just in the corner of his mouth. When I pull away, he follows me for a second before letting his head fall back to the mattress. I bite my lip in a grin before leaning forward to slip off the heels I'd borrowed.

Farleigh sits up to watch me kick off my shoes, and then start on my dress, tugging at the soaked fabric until it slides off my hips into a puddle on the floor. A shiver runs up my spine as the air of the room hits the dampness of my skin. I start to work on my hair, pulling out the little pins that hold the flowers throughout my braid. "Aren't you going to get out of the wet?"

Farleigh rolls his eyes, but stands. "If you wanted to see me naked, you could have just asked." He says, shucking off his boots.

I plop back onto the bed, beginning to work my hair out of the braid, gently unraveling as I watch him undress. It's nothing I haven't seen before, sure - but it's exciting all the same, now that it's just us, in my room, away from the prying eyes of the field or the party outside. He pulls his shirt over his head first, and then kicks off his pants, his wet clothes joining my dress on the floor. Naked as could be, Farleigh flops back down on the bed, looking up at me as I finish unraveling my hair.

"So." He drawls. "Is this the part where we fuck?"

I lay down beside him, turning so that we're nose to nose, just like that night Venetia interrupted us - that night we almost kissed the second time. "This is the part where I ask you about that email."

"You made me get my dick out to talk about emails?" He deadpans. His tone is uncaring, but the way he shifts on the bed speaks volumes, folding his arms across his chest.

"I'm not mad at you about it - not my plates." I say. "I guess I'm just confused. I mean, I get it, we talked about how tired you were of having to ask, and its a little frustrating that nobody cared about those plates until you tried to take it-"

"I didn't-" He interrupts me, face tightening slightly. "Sorry. I just..." He trails off. "I have no idea what happened that night."

"Surely you have some idea..." I say, reaching down to play with his hands, gently prying his fingers away from his chest.

He lets me, looking down at where I run my fingers over his knuckles with hooded eyes. "I remember you totally cockblocking me."

"Sorry." I say, even though he doesn't sound mad at all.

He continues on, now with a smile. "I went back to bed, hard. And I fell asleep for a bit but then, I don't know." His tone changes. "I have no idea if it was just a weird wet dream or if this actually happened, because when I woke up he was gone, but I swear, Oliver snuck into my room, asked me if I was going to behave and then gave me a handjob. And then I woke up again and there was an email on my cell about those fucking plates."

I look at him for a moment, gauging whether he's serious or not. "Oliver?"

"I have no fucking clue what happened that night." He repeats.

I turn over what he's just told me in my head. It's crazy - crazy enough that it doesn't seem real. But I trust him - if he'd tried to just take them, I feel like he would have just told me. And he seems to doubt his own recollection enough that I know he's been letting it spin around in his head since it happened. Oliver's sour face as he'd stalked away from Farleigh on the lawn comes back to me. "You don't think..?"

"I have no idea." Farleigh says. "I know that I don't remember writing it, but we were drinking that night, and I'm not totally sure I didn't dream that he jerked me off anyway-"

I remember the look on Oliver's face once he'd realized what song Farleigh had forced him into at karaoke, and the way, in the aftermath of the morning, he'd kept asking and asking if anyone knew what had happened. "I think Oliver framed you."

Farleigh laughs. "You don't have to be nice just so I'll have sex with you-"

"I do." I cut him off. "You guys have never really got along, as far as I know, and I think karaoke was his last straw. I mean - what did you say when he asked you if you were going to behave?"

"No." Farleigh says. "Obviously I gave in once he had me by the dick, but I didn't mean it-"

"Right." I say. "And once you passed out, it would be really easy to send an email from your cell." I stop playing with Farleigh's fingers in favor of trailing my nails up his arm, watching the goosebumps rise on his skin.

"God." Farleigh groans. "I shouldn't have let him-"

"Obviously." I chime in, rolling my eyes. "I can't believe you let Oliver fuck you before me."

"You could have fucked me that night." He says, eyes meeting mine. I can see my reflection in his bottomless browns. "I would have let you."

"I know." I say. "If I had known, I would've. But I thought we had more time."

"We have time now." Farleigh says, the eagerness seeping through his nonchalance.

I laugh, trailing my arms up to wind around his shoulder, my fingers toying with the curls at the nape of his neck. "You can just ask."

Unabashed, he grins. "Fuck me?"

I only close the gap between us in response.