Consequences

Can't We Just Talk... What's Wrong With That?

Can't We Just Talk... What's Wrong With That?

It was a long day, and Rae's hand was throbbing. Some don't realize how much fingers can cramp when holding on to a pencil all day long. The porch light was on, Avery's car was no where to be found, proof that she was at work, and Xander's car was the only one left, so Rae knew he was there. She hoped that tonight would have a “PG-13” rating, but depending on how the flirting and the conversation went this evening, Rae may turn into the woman that Xander would be cheating on her with, and that was something Rae didn't want to happen. The TV was on, and it illuminated Xander asleep on the couch, she tip toed her way towards the steps. She didn't take the first step before she felt arms snake around her waist, “Where are you going?” As much as she didn't want to admit it out loud, let alone herself, she loved when he showered her with attention. Made her think that he was still interested, and hope that there was some chance that he wanted to be with her. “Just going to get changed, and relax a bit,” he was leaning into her back, and she could feel his breath on her neck as she continued to make her way up to her bedroom. “No worries, I won't be too long.”

Only twenty minutes had gone by before she emerged again from her room, and made her way to the kitchen. But, as she entered the hallway, a savory smell suffused every inch of every room. The closer she came to the kitchen, the more intense the aroma had become. As she peeked around the corner she witnessed Xander attempting his best at cooking dinner. Only when she made it to the counter was she close enough to see he had almost burnt whatever it was he was cooking. “Wait! Wait! Wait!,” she raced over to his side, and turned the flame down, and was able to remove the charred piece of meat, blackened from the pan. He removed the pot holders from his hands, “Look I tried, I didn't mean to waste this. I wanted it to be nice. This is what I get for trying to cook for a chef. I'm sorry,” he lowered his head in shame. Rae smiled, slipping in front of him, wedging herself between his body and the counter top. “We can save this, don't worry. You didn't ruin a thing.”

He didn't want to move, feeling her body against his own was the closest they had been in a while. Xander tried to convince himself that he needed to come clean, tell Avery, and hope that Rae would break her rule and be with him. She shimmied her way from beneath his body, and ran around the kitchen trying to salvage the meat. “What kind of meat was this?”, she asked as she glanced over the charred blackened slab before she actually tried cutting into this thing. “A beef roast, I think,” laughing when he heard his own words leaving his mouth. “I wanted to do something nice tonight, since I knew it was going to be you and me here,” she caught his cheeks deepen in a reddish color and she returned his comment with a smile. As Rae carved into the meat, it was becoming quite apparent that there was no way this could be eaten. Giving up hope she turned to Xander, “How about we just order some food?” He nodded in agreement, and with speed he was already on the phone calling in an order.

Just as they had finished cleaning up the kitchen, the food was delivered in perfect record time. “I set something up out back,” his voice echoed from the backyard. As Rae walked out, he had truly gone above and beyond. The patio table was covered in a velvet tablecloth, a bottle of wine was sitting at the table, along with a small bucket of ice with her specialty beer, two padded chairs sat on either end of the table, and everything was enclosed by what seemed like hundreds of lit candles. Rae was speechless, never in a lifetime had she had someone do something like this for her, and sadly it was her best friends boyfriend that was doing all of this to begin with. Standing there speechless Xander had started to worry, “You like?” He looked at her with a childlike excitement, like awaiting for presents on Christmas morning. Rae smiled and gave him a hug trying not to show that she was truly excited about what he had done, “You're too sweet. Although... Avery now thinks that you're cheating on her with another woman,” she said as she sat herself down at the table. “What!?! Why?,” Rae wasn't sure who he was trying to convince more of his concern, himself or Rae. “So, that's what this whole night was for. She purposely left us together so I could figure out if you are or have been cheating.” Rae opened a beer, and started to eat her food, watching Xander follow her lead.

“I've got one other surprise for you. I think you're going to love it,” he immediately ran back into the house, only to emerge with an acoustic guitar. He sits down in front of Rae once again and starts tuning its cords making sure the sound was just right. He starts strumming and the song sounds very familiar, but it wasn't your ordinary song in an acoustic form. Xander is humming a little, before he starts to sing.

“You give your hand to me

And then you say hello

And I can hardly speak

My heart is beating so

And anyone can tell

You think you know me well

But you don't know me”

Rae smiled, “Ray Charles huh?,” she applauded quickly and he started to play another song. “I thought you would know that one. But.... how about this one.” With that he began. He started like he had with the first song, humming along until he started to sing.

“Childhood living is easy to do

The things you wanted

I bought them for you,

Graceless lady

you know how I am

you know I can't let you

a dull aching pain

Now you decided to

show me the same.

But no sweeping exits or offstage lines

could make me feel bitter or treat you unkind

Wild Horses

couldn't drag me away

Wild, wild horse

couldn't drag me away.

I know I dreamed you

A sin and a lie

I got my freedom

But I don't have much time

Faith has been broken

and tears must be cried

Let's do some living

After love dies

Wild Horses

couldn't drag me away

Wild, wild horses

couldn't drag me away

Wild, wild horses

we'll ride them someday

Wild horses

couldn't drag me away

Wild horses

we'll ride them someday”

Rae's jaw dropped, and she seemed locked in a euphoric haze. She had never had someone serenade her. He arose a new sensation in her, to where he made her feel special, since he focused all of his attention on her. She did initially think that was only reason was because she was the only one at the private concert, but the look in his eyes as he sang the lyrics were intense and pulsed heavy with desire. Rae applauded once again, but never once released her gaze from his. “So you liked that one too,” he laughed and placed his guitar on the table behind them before returning next to Rae. “I enjoyed that very much,” she said lowering her head, trying to hide her blushing cheeks. He made her feel special, and she could feel the emotion in his voice as he was singing. Anyone whose anyone knows that song and it's words were about a secret relationship. Truly he was professing his feelings subliminally, and he was hoping that Rae would pick up on it.

It was turning out to be a great night, there wasn't a cloud in the sky that could cover the full bright moon that now was illuminating the backyard. Xander had taken out the fire pit and started a small little fire to keep them both warm. “How is that?”, he asked after pulling up a chair and planting it next to her. Rae had now switched to bottles of water and took a swig, “I told you, you didn't have to do that,” she responded as she snuggled under a blanket. She felt his eyes lingering on her, “What?” He shook his head and inched a little closer to her. “Nothing. Just enjoying the view right now. Is that a crime?”, they both laughed. “Well, it depends on who you ask really. Because if Avery was here, she would be pissed that we were sitting this close,” she reached over to grab another water. Xander felt as though if he asked any questions it would only spur some deep repressed feelings that their friendship had. “You don't trust her, do you Rae?” Rae smirked before she blurted out her answer, “Hell no!” This conversation just got interesting, and now Xander wanted to take advantage of this whole thing. “Did something hap...”, he didn't even finish his sentence and Rae had already cut him off, “Yes, something happened. She slept with my boyfriend.” There it was, Xander knew this is where this stupid rule came from. Avery had already violated this in the past, and before Xander asked for her to elaborate, it was as though Rae was reading his mind, she was getting ready to explain.

“This was even before I met you in the elevator. I was in a bit of a dark place then, and had been in the hospital a few times, but I did have a great support system. Markus clearly, Avery on occasion, and then I had Aaron. I met him at the worst possible time. We were together for about three years before my “sickness” started to get the best of me. I was seriously depressed, wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep, wouldn't do much of anything. I ended up becoming dehydrated and ended up, well, you know where. He was supportive, until the last time I had gone into the hospital. Aaron and Markus would visit, Avery never really did. So the day I saw her walking into my room I had a feeling that something was going on. She proceeded to tell me that Aaron was coming on to her and forced her into some kind of s****l activity. And she thought telling me in the hospital was the best thing for me, especially being diagnosed with depression,” Rae looked over at him and sipped more water. Xander just sat next to her eyes wide, mouth open, and completely in shock. “Of course I freaked out at him. I did blame him and didn't give him a chance to say anything. I believed that he took advantage of my friend, who was SOOOO concerned about her friend in the hospital. After we went out separate ways, I was surprised about a year or so after that we crossed paths again. She has no idea that we talked, but he told me that she was playing like she was the concerned and supportive friend for me and even more so for him. She told him that she didn't want to spend time alone. That she would constantly try to touch him... all over. Under the circumstances he had a moment of weakness, to which he apologized so much for, and that's when he gave in to her. I know there are three sides to every story, so it came down to finalizing the truth. So... she played off the innocent victim, making him the evil villain, and he made her out to be a succubus chipping at his moment of weakness. It didn't take much convincing me who was the true culprit. But after that... that was the day that I stopped trusting her.” Xander realized this was the whole reason for this ridiculous rule the girls had made between themselves, the whole reason they would never touch each others men. He had a bitterness building up inside of him towards Avery. It was becoming so much clearer just how different these two girls were from one another, and not being able to fight off the growing fascination his feelings were towards Rae. As he concentrated on Rae, he continued to struggle on whether he should initiate some kind of affection towards her.

Rae had started to play ALL of the conflicts she and Avery had shared over the years in her head, weighing the pros and the cons of their friendship. She realized that absolutely nothing had changed, AVERY had not changed. Avery was still the conceited individual she had always been, the selfish friend who craved all the attention, the victim in every situation, and the friend that was never really there. All of those memories led back to the day Rae had met Xander in the elevator. She smiled thinking about how he was able to make her smile and laugh, and forget about everything Avery had done that made her angry. There was no denying it, no more pushing her feelings aside, no more holding back, she couldn't continue to lie to herself. She wanted Xander.

As Rae turned to look at Xander, he became completely focused on her eyes. Those green gems gleaming from the fires light, he couldn't fight the fact of how much he truly desired her. He found himself leaning in towards her angelic face, and he watched her eyes glance down at his lips. It was obvious, that they were both thinking of the same action. They both inched closer and closer towards one another, “What are we thinking of doing?,” he felt the pressure of her hand resting on his thigh, as they were mere a hair lengths distance from each others lips. Without even saying a word, they both closed in the minuscule gap and felt the warmth from each others lips. For a few seconds as they leaned back, staring at one another in disbelief that what happened truly did happen. Without hesitation Rae's hand wrapped around Xander's neck and she pulled him in for another kiss. Not sure if her affection would be reciprocated by him, that thought was quickly thrown out the window when Rae felt his tongue gliding over her bottom lip. Opening her mouth, she welcomed his tongue to slide in and roll around against hers. His hands had remained on her thighs, until the kiss became much deeper and lustful, did she suddenly started feeling his hands moving towards her hips, to the sides of her torso, until finally they were under her shirt and heading towards her breasts. This is a touch that she had dreamed about since they had shared a moment like this in the past. Xander was trying to hide the fact that this situation was starting to excite him when he felt his pants starting to tighten around his c**k. It had been such a long time that just only a kiss had caused his body this kind of reaction. As his hands started to caress the skin on her breasts, he heard her moan into his mouth, which only heated the flaming passion he was feeling for her right now. “f**k how I have missed these lips,” he managed to say through shortened breath. He pulled her in tighter towards his body, lifting her by her hips and letting her rest on his lap. Her legs wrapped around his waist as they sat on the padded reclining sun chair. “I have thought about us being able to to this again the moment I almost hit you with the frying pan in the kitchen,” she rocked herself against his lap, feeling his stiffened prick rubbing against her core. She felt his lips trickle down her chin and along her neck, she felt him lifting her shirt and his tongue grazing her breasts paying close attention to her n*****s, “God YES!” But just as she had exclaimed her phone had started to ring, in the one ring tone that was designated for Avery. Neither of them wanted this moment to end, but the ring tone continued to alarm. Rae pulled herself away from Xander, and she lifted herself up off of his lap. Staring at her phone, he watched as she moved herself from his lap. Standing in front of him as she touched her lips and fidgeted with her tussled clothes. He didn't want this to stop and reached out to pull her back to his lap, he wanted her so much and couldn't turn off his arousal for her. “We can't do this... we have to stop,” she grabbed her phone and started to make her way into the kitchen. “Wait Rae, don't go... ,” but she was already in the house, thumping her footsteps on the stairs, and slamming her door behind herself.

Why do I have to care so much? Why can't I be as heartless as she is? Looking down at her phone, she saw that there were voice messages, and she had no want to listen to either of them, but also saw that there were a few text messages as well. “So who is she?”, and “I will kill her who ever she is,” Rae cleared them from her screen. She silenced her phone buried it under the pillow, turning off her light, and crawling under her blanket. “What have I done?”