"We shouldn't even be here together, Chuck," Jordan said, sitting on his bed, attempting to study, biology book in hand.
"Why's that?" Charlie asked, feigning innocence. "It's perfectly all right for us to study together."
"We never study together, Charlie. We always find ourselves into dangerous territory."
"Hey, you kissed me last week. So don't even go there," he teased.
"It was just to prove a point," Jordan argued, rolling so she wasn't laying on the edge of the bed. One sudden movement from Charlie, and she would be on the floor.
"How well you can tease me?" Charlie grinned at her. "Was that your point?"
"I didn't hear you complaining."
"No complaints were necessary." He lifted his hands above his head and yawned. "But you did it to me on purpose just to tease me."
"You can always tease back, Charlie," Jordan said with a self-satisfied smile. "I just know you won't."
"What makes you say that?" Charlie asked, feeling he was just insulted.
"Because of your self-control. But let's just say if I wasn't with James..." Jordan let her voice trail off as she turned her attention back to her book.
"Oh, really?" He looked surprised and sat up to look at her. "If you weren't with James, then what?"
"It's not important," Jordan amended, realizing she just put her foot in her mouth. Charlie was not going to let this go now.
"Yes, it is. You wouldn't have brought it up if it wasn't." He lightly stroked his thumb along her stomach that was bare from her cropped sweater. When she didn't say anything, he kept going.
"For starters, our relationship is weird, Charlie. You can't get around that."
"And?" he prompted.
Jordan rolled over to face Charlie, and his hands continued to travel the width of her slender waist. She was silent, taking in the feel of his soft fingertips on her bare skin. "I've never been able to hang out with someone like you before."
"Someone like me?" He looked down at her and began playing with her belly chain. She's so beautiful.
"Someone I'm attracted to," she whispered. She looked directly in his eyes, her desire mirrored in his.
"So you're attracted to me, huh?" Charlie said with a smirk on his face, and Jordan reached over and slugged him in the shoulder.
"Don't make me regret I told you," Jordan said, looking into his eyes.
"You didn't say anything that wasn't true," Charlie whispered. Her skin was soft and warm beneath his fingertips. When he brushed very lightly along her waist, she squirmed slightly and winced. "On both sides of the coin, or bed in this case."
"Then you feel it, too?" She looked directly at him, looking for signs that he was bullshitting her. She got very nervous when she realized he wasn't.
"Of course I feel it," he affirmed. "I felt it the first time you touched me. I can't do anything about it." Charlie sighed heavily and raked a hand through his hair.
Jordan took his hand and placed it over her stomach again. "You didn't have to stop."
Wordlessly, Charlie caressed her stomach and let his hands travel up in soft circles up to her ribcage. He worked his way up to the bottom of her bra. When she didn't say anything, they drifted to the underside of her breasts. He looked at her and her eyes were closed, clearly enjoying what he was doing.
One of us is going to have to call a time out soon, Charlie thought, but it won't be me, and not yet.