The Dating Game

Chapter Fifty-Five

Juliet

After Justin and I had dried off and put on our clothes again, he phoned his mom to notify her that he was staying the night at mine because Dad was out of town.

Actually, Dad couldn't flee the house fast enough. It was more like an ensnarement for him rather than his loving home.

"I don't want you staying at home all night on your own, sport," Dad sighed. That was his only argument for going... even though he had packed his suitcase already.

"I can call Justin," I suggested.

Dad was dubious and conflicted instantaneously. "Would you two be alright on your own at night?"

"Yes, Dad."

"And you won't get up to anything... bad?"

I had an idea where this conversation was going, and I didn't particularly want to venture into those wretched waves. "No, Dad, we won't."

"Fine," he said. Then he checked his watch and muttered, "The taxi should be here any minute. I'll stand outside. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, alright, sport?"

I nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow, Dad. Be careful and don't exert yourself, please."

"I won't," he promised. "And make sure you tell Justin a happy birthday from me, alright?"

Dad left five minutes later and that's when I texted Justin for a meet up by the lake for skinny dipping. And now, we were ambling back home to an empty house which felt rousing in a strange, bizarre way. And Justin's mom, mercifully, was calm and agreeing with the idea of Justin staying over. We dumped the towels in the bathroom over the bath edge and made our way downstairs.

"It's not even dinner time yet," breathed Justin.

I turned to Justin, reclining back on the sofa. "Are you hungry?"

Justin shrugged. "Well, not really, I guess. I can wait for food."

Justin didn't get my euphemism, but nor did I really expect him to considering my past history of sexual experience or boyfriends, at that. Instead I leaned to Justin, letting my lips just hover beside his ear as I murmured, "I wasn't talking about food."

Shocked by my statement, it took a good few seconds for Justin to even respond wordily or by actions. In the end, he tugged a little on his jeans by his crotch and turned back to me. He gulped and stammered with a, "Are you being serious?"

"Depends if you are." I retained the proximity between us.

"I am," he said. "Hungry," he clarified. "And serious."

It was somewhat adorable and cute seeing him nervous like this. Surely with previous ex girlfriends, he was never this nervous? My first thoughts would have been that Justin would be the one to initiate everything between him and a girl/girlfriend. Seeing him spluttering and anxious seemed like I was witnessing him in a whole new light now.

Justin ran a hand through his spiked up hair and said, "Yeah, I am. Are you?"

Nodding, that was my reply.

"Shall we go upstairs?"

The walk upstairs felt somewhat awkward, however. Justin walked behind me as I lead the way. Trepidation was beginning to seep through my veins now with every passing moment and every step I made to get to a higher elevation in the house. Previously I had thought I was ready and I wanted to do this with Justin, not only because I felt ready, but because it was the right thing to do for our relationship. But right now, everything was beginning to dawn on me.

Did Justin even have protection? I surely wasn't on the pill or anything. But did he just assume I was on birth control? How many times before has Justin done this? Ten? More? Less? How much was this going to hurt?

By the time we got into my room, Justin sat down on the bed. I closed the door behind me and stood in front of him. He placed his hands on my waist and brought me forwards. My knees brushed against his thighs as I ended up scooting closer to his body. Already I could feel the warmth radiating from him. The room felt abruptly hot and stuffy.

"Are you nervous?" he asked, caressing my waist.

"A little," I replied candidly.

"Follow my lead, okay? Tell me if you're not comfortable with something and I'll stop."

"Okay," I said, voice cracking slightly.

Justin leaned up and let our lips lock in a slow and passionate kiss to begin with. When our tongues slipped through, he began to vary the pressure but upheld the slow speed. It was comforting but then he began to pull a little on my waist. At the point where I couldn't hold my own weight back, I fell forwards onto Justin and he rearranged us on the bed so he was lying back on the pillows.

Minutes of kissing and roaming hands later, that's when Justin began to slip my cardigan off my shoulders and arms, and then yank my top leisurely over my head. Straddling him, he leaned back from the kiss and let his eyes roam down the front of my body now. Nothing had changed since a few hours ago when he saw me like this.

He kissed along my shoulders a few times as his hands wandered down to my jeans. Once stripped of those, I began assisting him on taking his clothes off. His jeans were a little harder to yank down so whilst I anxiously sat back, Justin tugged them down and chucked them to the floor.

Left only in our underwear, Justin carefully began to take them off. Then he rolled us around so I was on the bottom. This time, he picked up a little more courage to get a bit more adventurous with exploring my body, every once in a while checking if I was okay or if I wanted to stop.

"This is going to hurt," he said. "Just tell me if you want to stop. I'll kiss you to make you less nervous, okay? Focus on that."

It was just as we were about to become one, did I squeak slightly out of fear. Justin halted suddenly and began quizzing me. He leaned back, too.

"I just... I'm not ready yet," I said. "I thought I was. I'm so sorry."

Justin shook his head and kissed my forehead. "That's perfectly alright with me. We don't have to go any further, okay? We can stop right now." He fell off from hovering over me with a smile. He crash-landed on the bed next to me and asked, "What do you want to do now then?"

"Get changed," I said abruptly.

Justin chuckled but concurred. We both turned away as the other one got changed until we both landed back on the bed with a little thud. It was still an hour or so before dinner so instead of doing anything else, we just laid in bed and held one another, as cheesy as it sounded.

We even put a film on my laptop in the end. By the time dinner came, we had to pause and begin preparing for that. There wasn't much food in the house, so we also ordered a Chinese takeout, too. Justin got the door when the doorbell rang and paid the guy with the money I handed him from Dad upstairs in his room.

Although there was potentially to complete three things tonight on the bucket list and we only completed two (skinny dipping and Justin staying the night), I didn't want everything to be about the bucket list. I guess I wanted do have sex with Justin so that we could complete the list and it would validate the fact that I could complete something. But I was doing it for the wrong reason which is why I had to stop.

If I want to do something, I'll do it for either Justin or myself, not for some list I'm moronically petrified of not completing it before I die. I feel like any moment now I could just collapse or deteriorate and everything would come rushing back and I would begin to feel overwhelmed that I haven't crossed off ten things on a silly piece of paper.

It scared me that I knew time was running short and unknowingly running out of time... but how much time did I have left?

A year at most.

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Author's Note:

THEY WERE SO CLOSE!!! How did you guys feel about that? Don't worry though, when the time is right, they will have sex :)))) I gotta give you guys a hint lmao.

Thank you :) x