Page 28 of Mr. Principal

My eyes were closed, and I could feel Carter’s hand rubbing my hip, lazily up and down. I don’t know if I dozed off, but abruptly I opened my eyes, when I heard him give a gruff chuckle. He was sitting right next to me, staring down at me with amusement.

“What?” I said, my voice surprising me. I sounded drunk. Drunk with lust, obviously, I thought to myself.

“You have a dopey smile on your face.”

“No, I don’t,” I said.

“Yes, you do.”

“Whatever,” I said, trying to wipe the stupid grin off my face.

“Don’t be embarrassed. I like that I made you smile.”

I felt myself blushing. “You did a lot more than make me smile.”

“Don’t I know it,” he said, wiggling his brows and making me giggle.

I tossed a throw pillow at him that I found tucked under my butt. He easily dodged it and pulled me into his arms.

He held me in his arms and placed his head on the top of mine.

We sat like that silently, me enjoying the feeling of him holding me. But now that we were not having sex, I had to deal with the consequences of our actions. I didn’t want to. I just wanted to pretend all this was no big deal, but it was a big deal. It was a huge deal. We’d yet again crossed the threshold of being just friends.

I tried not to think of that one time years ago when I’d showed up at his dorm room. I tried to forget what had happened between us that night and what it said about me. About me as a person. And what it said about my morals or lack thereof.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked me, thankfully pulling me away from my own thoughts.

“Nothing…” I lied. “What about you?”

After a long pause, he said, “I’m thinking that we’re terrible people, because not only did we destroy Piper’s couch, but we have our bare-naked butts on it.”

I hadn’t thought of that.

“Oh my gosh. Do you think she’ll notice?” I said sitting up and looking around. We’d kind of made a mess of the whole living room and I hadn’t even noticed. The couch wasn’t where it had originally been. The rug was crooked. Throw pillows were everywhere and the cushions of the couch were askew.

And then to our horror, the front door opened.

I screamed and tried to hide behind Carter. Carter, being the gentleman that he was tried to hide me behind him, and in the hurry to get out of sight of whoever was coming in through the door, he accidentally hit me in the eye with his elbow and I accidentally kneed him in the crotch.

So that’s how Piper found us—Carter grimacing with his hand on his crotch and me holding my eye, naked on her couch.

She stared at us and dropped her bags, “Oh my God, you freaks. Put on some clothes and get your nasty butts off my couch.”

* * *

Ten minutes later,I made myself step out of the shower. I’d grabbed my clothes and sprinted into the bathroom after Piper’s shocking arrival.

I sheepishly dried off and put on my clothes and then peeked outside where I could hear Piper laughing. I didn’t hear Carter’s voice. I wondered about that as I made my way out.

“You’re ridiculous,” she giggled as I entered the living room and I thought she was talking to me when I saw that she was actually on the phone with someone.

She realized I was there and gave me a pointed look. And then pointed at a seat at her dining room table. Uh oh. I was in trouble, I thought, as I sat down at the table.

“I gotta go. I have to take care of some business. Call you later,” she said ending her conversation.

I looked around and to distract her from the conversation I knew I couldn’t avoid, said, “Where’s Carter?”

“Gone. He mumbled an apology and then hightailed it out of here.”