Tully pulls up at a red light and takes a second to look over at me before scoffing at the memory. “He started spouting all the usual crap about how we can’t be together because of Noah and how he’s not good enough, but the conviction wasn’t there. Usually, when he says it, it tears me down, but this time, he wasn’t even trying to push me away. It was like he didn’t even believe what he was saying.”
“What do you think about his reasons?”
“They’re complete bullshit and that’s exactly what I told him. Actually, I really don’t know where my balls came from, but all of a sudden, I couldn’t hold it back anymore,” she tells me. “I told him how Noah would probably have the shits about it, but in the end, if we were happy, he’d be happy. As for him not being good enough, that’s…I can’t even comprehend how he could possibly think that. Out of all the guys I know, he is the only one, apart from Noah, of course, who would lay his life down for me. If he’s eating at my place, he always makes sure I have enough before he digs in, he always checks that I’m ok. He’s there when I’m hurting. He beats the shit out of boys who dare break my heart. He’s just…” she lets out a deep sigh. “I know he has a shady background and has got himself into some…questionable things, but how could he possibly think he’s not good enough? He’s everything.”
“You told him all that?” I murmur, watching the pain behind her eyes.
She slides her gaze to me as a soft smile plays on her lips. “Well, I sort of summed it up. I mean, I didn’t want to sound like a stage five clinger.”
“Good plan,” I laugh.
“Right?” she chuckles as she pulls into the student parking lot of Haven Falls Private. She parks her car but she’s not nearly close to finishing her recap of her night. Besides, we have plenty of time so I’m expecting all the juicy details.
“I’m kind of struggling here,” I tell her, failing to understand how him pushing her away ended up with them in bed together. “So, how does it go from talking to sleeping together?”
The soft smile on her lips turns into a beaming grin. “Well,” she says. “As you can imagine, him trying to push me away kind of sucked, so I got up and went to go back inside, but he caught my hand and told me not to go. I don’t know, but the look in his eye…it sucked for him just as much as it was sucking for me. So, I stayed.”
“Come on,” I groan. “Stop being stingy with the details.”
“Fine,” she huffs with a wicked, excited grin. “I didn’t just stay, I found my balls for the third time and straddled him so we were face to face, and then I just…kissed him.”
“Whoa,” I howl. “Who would have thought when it comes to Rivers that you were the one to have to make the move?”
“Don’t get me wrong,” she laughs. “He’s kissed me a few times, but not like this. This meant more. It’s like the walls between us were finally coming down, and when we finally went inside, you and Noah were gone and it was just us and well, I’m not one to skip out on an opportunity.”
“Oh, you dirty, dirty girl,” I laugh before my eyes widen with curiosity. “Was it actually pierced?”
A grin rips across her face as her cheeks turn bright red. “Holy shit,” I gasp. “It is, isn’t it?”
She looks up at me and she can hardly contain her excitement. “Oh, my God, Henley. It’s so fucking good. I mean, he has ruined me for all other guys. When he moved inside me…Damn, it was incredible. I’m swearing off all other men unless they have a piercing. Shit, babe. So. Fucking. Good.”
My mouth drops open before I physically have to close it. “Are you shitting me? He actually has it pierced?”
“Yep.”
“Whoa. Who would have guessed?”
Tully shrugs her shoulders. “It’s always the dark, mysterious ones you have to watch out for.”
I shake my head, still a little in disbelief as I jump down from her Jeep and meet her around the front of the car. I can’t help but look across and notice that Noah’s car isn’t here yet, but I’m not surprised. He’s never here until the bell is just about to ring. “So,” I say as we make our way up to the main entrance. “Where does it put you two? Was it just a once off or are you going to see how it goes? Take it slowly?”
“I have no idea,” she says with a deep sigh. “He didn’t give me anything to go on so I’m assuming we’re maybe a thing and going to take it slow. I’m hoping for the best.”