Water Under the Bridge ›› n.h. mature

Ten

Kate Marshall

"Hi," I greeted Niall at my door. He stepped inside and immediately wrapped his hands around my waist and kissed me. "Oh so that's how this works," I mumbled against his mouth.

"Basically."

"Okay."

He pulled me closer, practically crushing me with his intense embrace as his lips moved against mine.

"Actually, wait."

"What?" Niall sounded frustrated.

"Let's set some ground rules."

He paused for a second and stared at me before letting out an impatient sigh. "Okay, go."

"Well I don't actually know what kind of ground rules to set," I admitted. "You do this all the time, you do it."

"Alright you've got to stop saying that. Your track record doesn't seem much worse than mine."

Ouch. I don't think he intended to be mean, I think he was just trying to be funny. But still, is that what he thinks of me? I've been a little lost lately but still, it's not like I've slept with that many different guys. But I guess I wouldn't include this moment in a case for my defense.

"So..." Niall moved closer to me. "When you asked if I wanted to sleep with you again, did you mean like just this once, or do you want to make this a regular thing?"

"That's what I mean about ground rules. What do you want?"

"Honestly?"

"Yeah." I tried to look more confident than I actually am. He moved closer so his face was inches from mine.

"Honestly, I know I'll want you even more after tonight. I can't commit to just one more time." His voice was deep and his eyes were intense.

"Then let's not," I managed to get out.

"Good." He leaned in to kiss me again.

"Wait," I said, stopping him again.

He sounded really impatient this time. "What now?"

"Will we still be friends or will it be weird? Like can I still come over to watch football and drink beer or is it going to be strictly...that?"

"Friends with benefits."

"So we can still hang out?"

"Yeah, of course. We're still friends. Plus sex."

"Okay."

He pushed his body against mine. While pressed to me, he brought his lips to my ear and spoke deep and soft. "Any other ground rules or can I fuck you now?"

His lips connected with my neck and I struggled to make words.

But somehow I managed to. "I don't want anyone else to know."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Don't make douchey bragging comments to your friends or anything."

"Okay. Well I like blow jobs." He was leveraging.

"Okay. As long as you don't get it in my hair. And you return the favor."

"Definitely. You have to wear some lingerie every now and then because if it's going to be boring sex, we might as well just start dating," he joked.

"You always have to use a condom. That's your responsibility every time."

We threw stipulations back and forth like rapid fire, laying down the law before any of this starts. I feel stupid and guilty but even more than that I feel excited. Usually my stupid actions are one time in the moment things. But this is very much premeditated and not going to be a one time thing.