Chapter Nineteen - "Do Whatever And Whoever You Want"

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

At almost 6 o'clock on a Friday night the following week, my friends and I were bored. The three of us had been hanging out at Ashley's house since school ended, and I still wasn't over what Chase said that day he came to my house to try and "talk".

"You know, God, I can't believe he had the nerve to say those things to me," I growled, pulling my hair up into a high ponytail and getting it out of my face.

I'd been pacing around the room while Ashley and Brooke laid on Ashley's bed, obviously not phased by my ranting. They got pretty used to it by now.

"Maybe he's still hurting and this is his way of coping," Brooke shrugged, reaching into her bag of chips and munching on them.

"Yeah, well it's a pretty shitty way of coping," I rolled my eyes.

"Just forget about him," Ashley sneered. "He's a complete idiot and if he was really sorry and really loved you, he'd leave you the hell alone."

If only it was that easy.

"I just... I wish it was like a switch. And I could just turn it off and say 'hey, I'm over it. I don't love Chase anymore'. And then I could move on with my life and be happy and normal again. But no, love is a terrible, horrible thing that gets you involved with stupid people that never really leave once their gone," I spoke with my hands, unleashing my thoughts on my friends.

"It's not terrible if you get involved with the right person," Brooke pointed out.

"Not helping," I sang with annoyance.

"Why don't you booty call Eric and see if he can fuck the confusion out of you? I hear he's amazing in bed anyway," Ashley suggested jokingly, giggling with Brooke.

I paused, her words echoing in my head for a couple of seconds. My eyebrows raised and a smirk came to my face.

"What is that look?" Brooke said warily.

"Are you really thinking about doing that?" Ashley asked like she were disappointed in me actually wanting to go through with her idea.

"Yes, yes I am," I grinned.

"Lindsay," she scolded me with an eye roll.

"Hey, you guys want me to move on, and I'm going to do just that," I raised my hands in defense.

"Do whatever and whoever you want. If it's going to get your mind off Chase, I say go for it," Brooke shrugged with a sigh.

"Thank you," I said loudly, raising an eyebrow at Ashley.

"I'm not stopping you," Ashley just smiled.

"Good. Because it wouldn't work," I grinned cheekily. I took out my phone and scrolled through my contacts, finding "Eric Russell" and pressing my finger on it.

I put my phone up to my ear and smirked at my friends as it rang, waiting for him to answer.

"Lindsay?" He picked up and my smiled widened.

"Hi Eric," I greeted him, picking at my nails out of nervous habit.

"Hey, what's up?" His tone changed and lightened up a bit.

"What are you doing?" I asked, biting my lip.

"I'm actually home alone," he chuckled. "My parents went to a concert basically until like, three in the morning and my sister is staying at her boyfriend's for the weekend."

"Oh, well, wanna do something?" I raised an eyebrow and crossed my fingers.

"Sure, I'm pretty lonely anyway," he chuckled again. I smiled at the sound and gave my friends another cheeky grin.

"Cool. I know what that's like and it's not my favorite feeling," I laughed lightly. "How about I come over in a few, if that's alright?"

"That sounds great," he said with a smile in his voice.

"Okay, awesome," I grinned. Then he gave me his address, and I ended the call.

I straightened up and smiled smugly, stretching my arms. "Well ladies, it's been fun. But your friend here needs to get laid, so I'm gonna go do that," I sighed in satisfaction.

"Only you would make this plan actually work," Ashley chuckled. "Have fun."

"Be safe!" Brooke called after me.

"Always am," I grinned with a wink. I waved goodbye to them and hopped down the stairs, shooting Hunter a wave before I left their house. I walked to my car and plugged Eric's address into my phone's GPS, then started my car and pulled away from Ashley's.

A few minutes later I arrived, coming to a stop and parking out front. It was a cute white house with a pretty garden out front and a bright lamp post. I finally got out of my car and took a deep breath, clicking the lock and slowly walking up to the front door.

I texted him that I was here and waited patiently as the closed door stared back at me. A large oak door with a black, intricate handle. I rocked back and forth on my heels, putting my hands in the back pockets of my jeans and subtly whistling. He opened the door seconds later.

"Hey," he breathed with a smile. I smiled back at his messy hair as his fingers swam through it. "Come on in."

He stepped aside and I walked in, then he shut the door behind me. My eyes wandered around the cozy Russell household, taking in my first impression of the place and smiling.

"Yeah, my mom likes to pretend that we live in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere. But my dad keeps the place pretty modern and basic," he chuckled. I guessed he noticed me checking out his house.

"It's cute," I giggled.

There were all kind of adorable knick-knacks that made me feel like I was staying at my grandmother's house, but it went well with the feel of a new, modern home like Eric said. It was interesting, but cozy and homey. Unlike my house.

"So yeah, it's pretty quiet here," he nodded, shrugging his shoulders. "We can hang out in the living room, or go upstairs to my room... whatever."

"Your room sounds fine," I nodded. I tried not to seem to eager because I didn't want to come off as desperate, but I couldn't stop thinking about sleeping with him.

Is that wrong?

He led the way upstairs as we walked down a winding hallway and stopped at a door. "And here's my room. It's how you would imagine any teenage boy's room to look," he chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.

"Only cleaner," I chuckled too, walking inside it.

Sure, there were some clothes on the floor and on his bed. His drawers weren't shut all the way and there were papers and books in the most random places. But for the most part, it was really well kept.

"Sorry," he laughed out of embarrassment, grabbing some clothes off his bed and tossing them aside. I watched as he cleaned up and chuckled to myself, taking a seat on his bed. Once he was done putting things away, he sat next to me and turned on the flat screen TV that was mounted onto the wall across the room.

Snuggling up on his blue plaid sheets, I realized how big, comfy and soft his bed was. I couldn't help but picture us rolling around in it. God damnit, stupid hormones.

"So, what were you up to?" He asked, snapping me out of my sexual thoughts.

I turned to look at him with a playful smirk. "Oh, nothing really. I was bored and I figured you're a fun guy," I joked.

"I get that a lot," he grinned as he kept his eyes on the TV while searching through the channels. Meanwhile, my eyes were glued to his mouth, and he didn't even notice I was staring at him. Then his voice startled me. "So wanna watch a movie? Nothing is on TV."

"Oh, uh, sure," I nodded, turning back to the TV.

"I'll order one On Demand," he nodded too, waiting for the program to load. "Ever see The Wolf of Wall Street?"

"Yes! I love that movie," I agreed excitedly.

"Well good, 'cause we're watching that," he smiled, clicking on the movie to rent it.

As we watched the movie, we kept talking about random things but underneath all I kept thinking about was, how the hell am I going to get this guy to kiss me.

He was a great person to talk to and he made everything seem easy; except for making a move on him. And of course this movie was full of sex scenes and that really wasn't helping my situation.

Leonardo DiCaprio's character just met the woman that he leaves his wife for and after they went out to dinner, they went back to her place and had sex. As the scene played out before us, it was quiet in his room with the grunting and groaning of the characters in the movie the only sound filling the silence.

I absentmindedly rubbed my feet together, completely unaware of it. Then suddenly I was chewing down on my bottom lip. As the moaning and the sex kept continuing on in the scene, my eyes traveled over to Eric sitting beside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him look over at me and I turned my head to make eye contact with him.

I felt my breath hitch as soon as our gazes met, reminding me of the time we hooked up at Kate's party a few weeks ago. Although I practically cried in front of him over my ex-boyfriend, it was still a good time. Eric being an amazing kisser just made it better.

For a good moment or two, we stared at each other. Then his eyes dropped to my lips for the slightest second, but they quickly went back up to my eyes.

I thought about just throwing myself onto him and kissing him. Or even saying something so he'd get the point. It didn't seem like we were going to get anywhere with this anytime soon.

Then we both did the same thing and answered each others desires. We leaned in together and our lips collided.

A fire, similar to the one I felt the first time I kissed him, ignited inside me. A warm, swirling feeling grew in my stomach and if I wasn't mistaken, I think they were butterflies.

All I could do was think about how good it was to feel that again. After being heartbroken, you think those kinds of things can't happen to you anymore. But apparently with the right person, they can.

As the kiss deepened, I entwined my fingers in his thick hair and pulled him closer to me. I wanted him so close to me. His kiss was enough, but I still wanted more.

He carefully shifted us until we were laying against his mattress, with him on top of me. I felt his hand at the bottom of my light sweatshirt that had inched up at my stomach, showing just a little section of skin. I was dying for his fingers to creep beneath the fabric and seconds later, he did just that.

"Are you okay?" He muttered against my lips.

"Mhm," I nodded, continuing to kiss him.

His fingers played with the zipper of my hoodie, slowly dragging it down. He took it off for me and tossed it onto the floor. I pulled at the hem of his t-shirt and yanked it over his head, letting it fall to the ground as well.

His perfectly tanned, toned stomach was in my reach as my hands traveled down it, feeling the abs that I knew were always there. It was fine until he started laughing because I was pretty much tickling him. He pulled his lips away and leaned his forehead on mine, quietly chuckling to himself. I couldn't help but laugh too because it was so adorable.

Those bright, mossy green eyes searched mine and I smiled back, wondering what he was thinking about until he spoke up.

"Are you sure about this?" His voice came out small and hushed.

There was no way I'd ever find a guy as caring as him. He was way too good for any girl, and the fact that he asked me time and time again if I was okay was enough to know he was a good guy. It was enough to make any girl happy, really. He's too good to me and we're not even dating.

"Yes, I'm sure," I whispered, running my fingers gently through his strawberry blonde locks. Before I could stop myself, I blurted out my next question. "Why are you so sweet?"

"Because it's the right thing to do," he said simply, a small smile tugging at his lips. "It usually doesn't get many girls though. They still like the bad boy thing."

"Well clearly those girls are ridiculous," I replied honestly to that. How could a girl ever turn him down?

He breathed a light laugh. "You're a really awesome girl, you know that?"

"And you're a really awesome guy," I smiled, biting down on my lip softly. He leaned down and kissed me again for a response, and I felt yet another spark between our lips.

Without missing a beat, our clothes came off and he asked one last time if I was okay before we sealed the deal.

And I was. And I really, truly meant it.

☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼

A/N - So, Eric huh? Do you guys like him or nah? (I like him. But I'm biased because I made him.)

Was this a good stepping stone for Lindsay to get over Chase, or just a recipe for disaster? And do you think Eric is still going to be an important character in this story? Also, a familiar face is coming back in the next chapter- see if you can guess who it is :)

Just a friendly reminder that you're awesome. Thanks a bunch for reading my story and I love ya lots!

Song: #Getitright by Miley Cyrus

Photo: night sky so pretttttty

xoxo, sabbbycat