Barred Desires (The Deepest Desires 1)
Court: YAY! See you soon, babe. Xoxo
The guys and I fuck around for a little while longer, eating pizza and drinking beer. I’m genuinely surprised to see Aston and Knox talking to one another. Granted, it’s brief and they both look highly disgusted, but it’s progress. Weston is thrilled that Courtney and her friend are coming to the house. He appreciates when she brings friends over or to parties.
He’s slept with at least half of her friends by now, and we’re only a few months into the year. I don’t think he’s fucked Jessica yet, but I’m sure that’ll change tonight.
We Uber back to the house and arrive right before ten-thirty. Courtney isn’t here yet, but we get the fire going. This is easily one of my favorite things about the house—the firepit. There’s something so serene about sitting by a fire, drinking beer, and gazing at the stars in the sky.
I’m getting the s’mores stuff ready when I hear the front door open. I turn to look over my shoulder and see the girls coming in. Courtney is wearing a white long sleeve shirt with her Patagonia vest, skinny jeans, and UGG boots. Her friend is wearing something similar, except instead of the vest, she’s wearing a coat.
If I remember correctly, they met in their Psychology 101 class. Jessica seems nice, but she doesn’t talk a whole lot when she does come around.
“Hi, ladies, looking cute and warm tonight.”
“Hey, babe.” Courtney comes up and kisses my cheek. “We’re excited to hang out.”
She smells like alcohol, so they must have already been drinking too.
“Yeah, me too.” I offer a smile that doesn’t quite meet my eyes, before getting back to the s’mores.
Jessica pipes in, “We brought tequila!” I don’t think I’ve ever heard her sound so damn excited.
“Did I hear someone say tequila?!” Weston waltzes in from the backyard with a smile on his face. He has such a pretty boy look to him, with his baby face and dimples.
“Uh, yeah I did,” Jessica says, smiling. “Should we all do a shot?”
Weston grins widely, putting his dimples on display. “ABSO-FUCKING-LUTELY we should.” He turns and goes back outside to grab the rest of the guys.
Everyone comes barreling in through the back door. Branson is one of the last guys to come back inside. “Hello, Cuntney. So nice of you to join us tonight.”
He’s been drinking, so I know his dickhead nature is going to be on full display.
“Fuck off, Branson,” she bites back in response. I don’t miss the way she glares at me afterwards for not saying anything.
“Hey, Jessica, ready to party?” he asks with a half smirk, while he gets out the shot glasses.
We don’t have any lemons or limes, so we are substituting with lime powder we have lying around from Halloween.
Standing in a circle in the kitchen, we all add salt to the back of our hands and wait for everyone to be ready. I am actively trying to not look in Branson’s direction because I really don’t need to catch sight of that tongue ring again, but it’s hard when he’s the one doing the toast.
He clears his throat dramatically, lifts his shot glass, then says, “Here’s to staying positive and testing negative. Cheers!”
We all laugh, lick the salt, and toss the shots back. Between this and the shot and beers at dinner, I’m starting to feel nice and relaxed.
We all decide to do another round of shots and then migrate outside by the fire. Someone turns on the music and before you know it, the girls are dancing on the lawn to SO WHAT! by Jxdn.
I’m feeling good and people watching. Weston makes his way between the girls and is now dancing with them, Knox and Aston look like they’re in a heated discussion by the sliding glass door, Branson and Anderson are talking about football across from me, and Cash is texting on his phone; something he’s been doing all night.
Life is good.
* * *
Several shots later,it’s now almost one in the morning, and the girls have passed out on my bed. They got wasted as fuck and crashed about an hour ago.
I’ll probably end up sleeping on the couch, because there is no way I’ll fit on my bed with them both.
Coming out of the bathroom, I go to help clean up the rest of the mess in the kitchen. Seeing only Branson when I get there, I ask, “Where is everyone?”
He looks over his shoulder and holds my stare for a second before turning back around to finish the dishes. “Uh, Anderson and Cash are passed out cold in the living room, I don’t know where Aston is, and I believe Knox already went to bed. The girls are asleep?”
“Oh, yeah. They passed out a while ago. They’re taking up my bed. I was going to sleep on the couch, but that isn’t looking like an option.” I laugh a little while rubbing my hands over my face. The floor is always an option, I guess, since we do have the air mattress.
As if reading my mind, Branson looks over at me and says, “You can crash with me. My bed is plenty big enough and there’re tons of extra blankets.”
He says it so matter of fact, like it is the most normal suggestion in the world, and I guess it probably is for him. He probably hasn’t been plagued with weird and confusing thoughts for months, like I have.
Choosing to agree, and not be weird, we finish putting everything away and work in comfortable silence while we listen to Bones by MOD SUN playing quietly from the living room speaker. With me still feeling a little drunk and not wanting to feel like shit in the morning, I chug a water and hand one to Branson for him to do the same. Something as simple as that will do wonders in avoiding a gnarly hangover.
We both head up the stairs and once inside his room, we make quick work of undressing for bed. Normally, I only sleep in my underwear, but since we’re sharing a bed tonight, I opt for sleep pants. He clearly has no qualms about the sleeping arrangements, though, because he strips down to his briefs and nothing else.
Alrighty, then.