Between Friends

Song: Holler by The Spice Girls

You watched TV a little while longer with Chris cuddled against your side, his arms wrapped around you tightly as if he was afraid that if he let you go, he'd lose you. You suspected he might need some reassurance for a while that you weren't going anywhere and that he had won your heart completely. You would be more than happy to do just that if it's what he needed. You soon drifted off yourself.

The next morning, you started to roll over to get out of the bed and Chris gripped you tighter, pulling you closer against him. You groaned at the resistance of your action; damn he was strong. His voice was a low croak, "No. Where you going, baby?"

You chuckled and rolled into him more to face him, swinging your leg over his waist, inciting a hum from him as he gripped it tighter against himself. He opened his eyes sleepily and you stroked his face and kissed his lips softly, "I'm just gonna get up, handsome. Go back to sleep, you need it."

"Don't.", was all he replied with.

You laughed, "But I'm hungry."

"I'm hungry too." He leaned over and grazed your neck gently with his teeth in a biting motion, pulling your leg over him even more.

"Oh God.", you whispered wrapping your arms around him, titling your head back. He started kissing your neck softly and let out a low chuckle against your skin. Then you asked, "So, have you courted me enough?"

He moved to your jaw with his lips, "Mm-mm."

You let out a whimper, feeling the heat rise between your legs quickly. "We should go on like, five dates today. That's enough, right?"

He let out a quiet laugh and his lips danced across you collarbone, "What's wrong, sweetheart? You gettin' all worked up?" He wanted you so badly himself and he couldn't help but tease you, he loved your reactions. It really pleased him to see how much you wanted him.

You sighed and whimpered again, "Yes."

He kissed your lips quickly, "Love you, baby girl. Now go eat." He smacked your ass and rolled onto his back and closed his eyes.

You narrowed your eyes at him. Two can play this game. You crawled on top of him, putting your hands at either side of his neck and kissed him deeply.

His hands went to your hips as he hummed against your mouth. He was caught by surprise as he didn't consider that you'd counter his actions. For all the time he knew you, he never would've thought you had an ounce of dominance in you. You kissed his neck, soft and slow, using your tongue. He moaned and gripped your hips more firmly. When he did, you bit his neck gently and rolled your hips against his steadily hardening length.

He sucked in a breath, "Ah. Shit."

You hummed and smiled against his skin, assaulting his neck with rough kisses. You moved against him more, wiggling around, reveling in the sensation that rubbing your sensitive little bundle of nerves against his hardness through both your clothing afforded you. You lifted your head, tilting it back and you let out a loud vocal sigh.

He grunted, his face strained as he pressed your hips against him tightly. Not to spur either of you on, but to halt your motions. He had wanted to wait a while before sleeping with you so that he could be respectful and not rush into it. Not to say that what he kept doing to you was completely respectful, but you deserved more before moving on to the next level. He hadn't meant to push you so far and now that you were the one seducing him, he was losing control of his own restraint and the pace of your relationship. And what he didn't expect is the guilt that crept in. For the first time, he was so close to just letting go and making love to you. His own feelings of betraying his best friend bubbled up quickly, suddenly, in that moment. He loved you and wanted you so much, but he realized he just wasn't ready. "Baby, stop.", he panted.

You stopped trying to move against his strong hold and pulled back, smirking, "What's wrong?"

"All that squirming...", he closed his eyes and sighed.

You raised your eyebrows and asked coyly, "You don't like it?"

"I really do, but let's wait, okay?"

"Okay.", you said quietly as you slid off him, but still laying close with your arm over his ribs. He held your arm against him, his other arm around your back. "Chris?"

He turned his head to look at you.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Let's just give it a little time, alright, sweetie?" You nodded and he kissed you again, "It's just what I told you before, you deserve more than rushing into this and I think it's a good idea to work up to it slowly, okay? I'm sorry I pushed you." "And now I've got some of my own feelings to work through.", he thought.

"You didn't. It's fine. Don't worry, okay?"

He smiled lovingly at you, "You're so amazing." He stroked your cheek, "Let's get some breakfast."

"You should try to sleep, if you can.", you chuckled. "I'll go make breakfast and bring it to you if you're still awake, okay?"

He sighed, smiled slightly and nodded, "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you, honey.", you kissed him once more and rolled out of his arms to go make breakfast.

When you were finished making breakfast, you checked on him and he had fallen asleep again. So you covered his plate with foil and put it in the oven to keep it warm.

The next two weeks were wonderful. Chris was so sweet and loving, spoiling you every chance he had. He got up early every weekday day to make you breakfast. He sent you flowers at work, even though you worked in the same office. He took you out to dinner a few times a week and to the movies once or twice a week. He took you shopping a couple times for anything he could think you might want. You declined at first, but he talked you into it. You figured that if he wanted to do it so badly, there was no harm in enjoying it. His favorite thing to buy you was clothes. He liked picking out things he'd like to see you in and he liked seeing you try them on even more. What you liked was when girls, and some guys, gawked at him in public, but he never even noticed them. He was too busy fawning over you all the time.

There were also quite a few hot make out sessions between the two of you. They had actually become pretty thrilling considering that you had both agreed to wait on sex. Getting so worked up without having a release was quite amazing in itself. Though, it actually encouraged you to take care of yourself in the shower often. You suspected that Chris was most likely doing the same for himself. At least you hoped he was considering that you knew you always pushed him to his limits.

On a Saturday you had the group over since the weather was starting to warm up again. It was still cold, but not the biting cold of mid-winter, so you had a fire going that night. People were rotating in and out of the house, coming in to warm up before heading out the the fire again. At one point you and Nat were sitting in chairs alone near the fire as Chris was inside with the others playing cards and talking. You and Nat both had a few drinks in you by now, swigging some beer.

"So... How's it going?", Nat inquired, with an eyebrow cocked.

You smiled slightly and sighed, "Really good. Thank you so much for helping us out Nat. You did so much."

"I had to.", she grinned. "You two are perfect for each other."

You furrowed your brows, "I thought Seb and I were perfect for each other."

She titled her head, "You were. You can be perfect with more than one person, (Y/N). They're both right for you."

You thought over what she said for a beat, "You wanna hear something funny?"

"Always.", she scooted forward in her seat to lean in closer as you did the same and spoke low.

"Before I decided to be with Chris, I had a dream where Seb was basically handing me over to Chris."

She nodded.

"Then thinking back over all our time together, the three of us, I realized that Seb never stepped between Chris and I- on any level. Nat, he even seemed to be nudging us together at times."

Her eyebrows shot up, "Reeeally? How so?"

You nodded, "Yeah, like when Chris left for two weeks and then came back home. I was hugging Chris for a long while and then Seb told us that he was going to give us some time alone and he went out front."

She hitched her head forward, "Uh-huh..."

"And when Chris punched him and after we all talked it out- Chris was apologizing to me. He was so close, holding my face in his hands, speaking so lovingly and I thought for sure he was going to kiss me. He didn't, but Seb was standing right there. He said and did nothing."

She leaned back a little, "Wow. I mean, I could tell that Seb was okay with you and Chris still being close friends, but that- (Y/N), it sounds like he could see how you and Chris really felt about each other. Maybe he was trying to silently tell you both that he would be okay with you being with both of them."

"That's kind of what I was thinking. It blows my mind."

"Yeah, but I mean, you all have always been really close. It actually makes a lot of sense now that I think about it. Seb loved you so much. I think he just wanted you to be as happy as you could be. And if he could see that you loved Chris too... It makes sense, hon."

You took a sip of your beer, "Yeah. It was that realization that finally pushed me to accept that I could be with Chris without feeling like I was wronging Seb."

She nodded, "I'm glad. And I hate to say it considering how it might make you feel, but I regret that you couldn't all be together. I think the three of you would've been really happy. I'm sorry, (Y/N)."

You teared up a bit, "Yeah. Me too."

She leaned over the armrest of her chair to hug you, "At least you know that he wanted this for you."

You nodded and smiled a little, "Yeah."

Chris came out with his hands in his jacket pockets and meandered over to the fire. As he approached, he spoke, "Hey, baby girl, aren't you two freezing out here? Why don't you come inside for a bit? We're gonna start a game of Taboo."

Nat stood as Chris took your hand and pulled you up. She chirped, "I love taboo things!"

Chris looked into your eyes as he pulled you to him, "Me too." He winked.

The night wore on and the drinks kept disappearing. You were just over the drunk line. Chris had stoked the fire again after the game and everyone had enough booze in them to be less affected by the cold, so you all headed out back again. You were sitting sideways on Chris's lap, just watching him talking to everyone, admiring him. At one point he turned to you feeling you staring at him and he smiled, "Hey, little love." He kissed your lips.

You smiled back, your eyes relaxed, butterflies tickling your tummy, "Hi, handsome." You loved the way he looked at you, all affection and adoration. You settled your head against his neck and closed your eyes, listening to his deep voice. It soothed you. He kissed your head and kept talking. You felt yourself starting to drift off.

It was then that you announced that you had to pee, quite loudly. Everyone laughed and Chris tilted away from your shout, scrunching up his face, "Damn."

"Oh. Sorry, honey.", you giggled and squeezed his face in your hand, then kissed his cheek.

"It's okay, sweetheart. I've got another ear, didn't need the that one.", he chuckled. "I'll take you in."

He led you inside by the hand and took you to the bathroom. "I'll be in the kitchen.", he gave you a little pat on the ass. You giggled and closed the door.

When you came back out, he was unloading bottles of beer from a box and putting them in the fridge. You walked to just behind him and hoisted yourself up to sit in the island countertop. "I miss you.", you said just as he put the last of the beers in the fridge, shut it and turned.

He chuckled and stepped in front of you. Resting his front against the counter between your legs. "I miss you even when I'm this close to you, baby." He rested his hands on your thighs and your arms went around his neck as he leaned in to kiss your lips softly.

You smiled lazily, blinking slowly.

He grinned, "You're kinda cute when you're drunk."

You leaned foward and kissed him slowly. He wrapped his arms around you, stroking your back with his thumbs as he kissed you in return. When his tongue entered your mouth, you hummed sweetly and he hummed back in response. His tongue caressed yours gently. You felt yourself getting aroused quickly. He broke the kiss and rested his forehead against yours and whispered, "I love you, sweetheart."

"I love you." You paused, "I want you tonight, Chris."

He sighed and pulled back, "You're drunk, honey."

"I'm well aware.", you cocked an eyebrow and scooted closer, pressing your crotch against him.

He put his hands on your hips and slid you back a bit, "I'm not gonna do that when you're drunk. Not when I'm not also drunk and especially not our first time. Not like this. Not tonight."

Your face showed disappointment as you looked downward.

He dipped his head down and lifted your chin with a finger, looking into your eyes lovingly, "It wouldn't be right, baby girl. It's not because I don't want you. You should know by now that I really want you. It's because I respect you."

His words were completely reassuring and you greatly appreciated that he was being such a gentleman and actually considered yourself really lucky for that. "Okay."

"And I just gotta get through my own shit. I'm almost there.", he thought.