After

Chapter 37.

Hardin climbs off the bed and walks over to the dresser. He opens the top drawer and grabs a pair of blue and white plaid boxers and holds them up in the air with a disgusted look on his face.

"What?" I ask and prop my head up on my elbow and look at him.

"These are hideous." he says and I laugh.

My earlier question about whether or not there were clothes in the dresser is now answered.  Landon's mother or Hardin's father must have purchased all the clothes in the room for Hardin. It is sad really, that they would buy clothes and fill the dresser in hopes that Hardin would come around sometime.

"They aren't so bad." I tell him and he rolls his eyes. I doubt anything will look as good as Hardin's usual black boxer briefs but then again cant imagine anything looking bad on Hardin.

"Well beggars can't be choosers, so I guess I will be back in a minute." He says and walks out of the room only wearing his wet boxers.

Oh god, what if Landon sees him? I will be humiliated. I need to find Landon the first thing in the morning to explain the turn of events. What am I going to say though? "It's not what it looked like, we were just talking and then I agreed to stay the night and somehow ended up in my panties and a t-shirt and gave him the closest thing to a hand job that I know of?" That sounds terrible. I will think of something in the morning. I lay my head onto the pillows and stare at the ceiling.

I consider getting up and checking my phone while Hardin is in the bathroom but I decide against it. The last thing I need is to read texts from my Noah right now. He is probably panicking but honestly, as long as he doesn't tell my mom, I don't care as much as I should. If I am completely honest with myself, I haven't felt the same about Noah since I kissed Hardin for the first time.

I know I love Noah, I have always loved Noah but I am beginning to question whether I really love him as a boyfriend and someone I could spend my life with or if I love him because he has always been such a stable person in my life. He is always there for me and on paper we are perfect for each other, but I can't ignore the way I feel when I am with Hardin. I have never had these types of feelings before. Not just sexually, the way he gives me butterflies just by looking at me, the way I find myself desperately wanting to see him even when I am fuming mad at him, and mostly the way that he always invades my thoughts even when I try to convince myself that I hate him.

Hardin has gotten under my skin no matter how hard I try to deny it. I am in his bed, he may never have never slept here before, but I am here with him instead of with Noah. On cue, the door opens and I am snapped from my thoughts. I look up and see Hardin in the clean plaid boxers and giggle. They are a little too big and they are much longer than his briefs but they still look great.

"I like them" I smile and he glares at me before turning out the light and switching on the television. He climbs back onto the bed and lays closer to me than I expected, well I never know what to expect from him.

"So what were you going to tell me?" He asks and I cringe, I was hoping he wouldn't bring it up once he got back from cleaning himself off.

"Don't be shy now, you've just made me come in my boxers" he says and pulls me closer to him. I bury my head in the pillow and he laughs.

I pull my head up and Hardin tucks my hair behind my ear before giving me a soft kiss on my lips. It's the first time he has kissed me that way and yet it felt more intimate than when we kiss with tongue. He lays his head back on the pillow and changes the channel on the remote. I want him to hold me until I fall asleep but I get the feeling Hardin is not a cuddling type of guy. "I want to be good for you, Tess" Hardin's words from earlier tonight play in my head and I wonder if he meant them or if he was just really drunk.