Page 21 of Love, In Balance

Oli was right, I needed this, especially when I get to gaze at the most insanely gorgeous girl between my legs.

She doesn’t move for most of the night, other than to hide her cards from me during the game.

She playfully nudges my legs when I insult her choice of cards or when I get competitive on Mario Kart. I even fill up her drink for her each time I head into the kitchen. It feels good, and knowing she’s safe, away from Pierce helps.

I have to remind my body to chill the fuck out on numerous occasions, because having her so close to me makes me feel things I shouldn’t.

My dick twitches at the thought of her touching my thighs or leaning her head back into my lap and looking up at me.

I have to refocus my mind onto less appealing things in order to calm the bulge within my jeans. Looking over at Pierce being an arsehole does the job.

Pierce clearly riles up Lista a few times throughout the night. Her phone goes off whilst she sits near me, and although not meaning to, I see the name Pierce.

I don’t look past the name, because it’s none of my business, but I can see her tense up each time.

The way he looks at her is scary.

It’s a possessive glare that seems unhealthy. It makes me wonder if Pierce and Lista ever had something between them. Inside I’m hoping that’s not true.

I’d like to think she has higher standards than some dickhead like him.

It's 12am when most of us decide to head home.

Oli is staying on Drew’s sofa, and Flic sticks around too.

Pierce decides that the night is still young, and his beers are still flowing, so he stays for longer. Perhaps he’s drowning hissorrows for not getting his own way.

What a shame.

Pip, Si, Reed, Lista and I all head outside to wait for our rides home. Pip and Reed share one, since they’re house mates, which I can imagine is a bunch of fun (They’re both wild), and Si leaves on his own. He seems like a lone wolf to be honest, so it doesn’t surprise me that he departs solo in a cab.

Lista and I get another since we live close to each other; Something I discovered during our catchup at Cosy Corner Coffee the other day. Our taxi takes a while to arrive, so we see the guys off safely and wait near the fence under the streetlight until ours arrives. Although we could’ve waited inside, I think we both wanted to be in the fresh air and away from Pierce.

Lista uses our time to rant about Si, which makes me laugh. He’s apparently infuriating, and from what I’ve witnessed, I can see how he riles up Lista, but it’s almost a sibling type relationship with how they bicker. It’s weirdly endearing. And seeing them together doesn’t make me jealous. Not that I have any right to be, but it’s hard to separate that protective side when I’m around Lista. She’s captured my mind from day one. That’s why I’m so relieved that their relationship is clearly platonic.

I can see her admiration despite the ranting. She talks highly of him and the work he does in chemistry too.

She then moves on to discuss the others and explains how they all know one another from university, despite the age gap. She goes into brief detail about Drew, Pip, Si, Flic and Oli and how they created Five mountains in school before Lista and Pip were ‘recruited’ when they all met at the university that has strangely now, brought us together too. It’s nice to be let into her world. The guys are awesome, and I can see why they click so well.

When she’s finished passionately discussing how annoying, yet awesome she finds them all, that’s when I remember I’d forgotten to email Lista earlier about my advisory role for herresearch. It really doesn’t seem appropriate now I’ve spent an evening with her sat almost between my legs. She must notice me lost in thought.

“What’s up Quin?” she asks gently.

“Lista, I know this is shitty timing. I completely forgot to email you about it when I got home, but Professor Peter’s came into the office today. He asked me to be your advisor for your research. He wants me to work with you and guide you through it. If you’d rather not, I can email him first thing when I’m home”. She doesn’t react at all. She just takes it in and replies thoughtfully.

“I’m more than happy to have you as my advisor. If you’re comfortable with it too. If you just let me know what is and isn’t ok for you. I know going to a game night and there happening to be a student there isn’t great… plus our previous meeting too. I get it if you can’t be around me outside of work” she says looking down at her feet.

Although I shouldn’t, I can’t help myself. I move closer towards her, feeling the heat of our bodies warm the space that falls between us, a stark contrast to the crisp bite of the winter air. I tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear and move my finger down her jaw, lifting her chin and making her gaze move up to me.

We’re face to face, and I wish I could do so much more than just talk to her right now. Her lips, soft as she licks them and then squeezes them together to shield them from the cold. I want to press mine to hers and keep her warm.

“Lista, It’s absolutely fine. Like I’ve said, we knew one another personally prior to professionally.Wearen’t doing anything wrong and I’m more than happy to work with you”. I say reassuringly, meanwhile thinking of how the hell I’m going toget through this when all I want to do is crush my body against hers and hear her panting my name. Personally.Definitelynot professionally.

Chapter

7

Lista

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