Bridget bounded ahead of Asher and wrenched the door to his small studio open, entering the room and plopping down on his bed unceremoniously.
"Wow, I'm so out of shape. That run kicked my ass," she laughed as Asher joined her and began pulling off his running shoes.
"It wasn't so bad, but I've seen better days," he agreed.
The two were best friends, brought together despite their differences. While she was no taller than five feet, eighteen with hazel eyes and brown hair, he was tall (6'1), with strawberry blonde hair that hung over muted blue eyes, and 1 year older. Whereas she was completely subjective and emotional when it came to her decisions, he viewed the world objectively and considered himself to be somewhat cold towards others. As it were, there were few people with whom he could spend time with for such long periods of time. Somehow they just meshed. They kept each other in check and never missed an opportunity to poke fun at the other.
Currently, she had begun tickling his ribs, so that both fell backwards in a heap of flailing appendages onto the bed. Breathing heavily, Asher pinned her on her stomach and launched a full-scale assault on her feet. Luckily, she managed to slide off the bed and landed with a thunk on the floor below. Lying on her back, Bridget lay laughing on the floor as Asher's head appeared above her from atop the bed.
From his vantage point, he couldn't help but glance quickly at her chest, which was heaving slightly each time she laughed. As a friend, he knew he shouldn't, but as a guy, he couldn't help himself. She might be small, but she wasn't small in all aspects. Her pert 36 C's earned her attention (wanted or not), and Asher had received more than a few jealous glances in his direction. He knew it looked like they were dating. He wouldn't deny she was beautiful. He glanced down the length of her legs, which were beginning to tone now that they ran almost daily. She was wearing shorts (a rare occurrence because she disliked them), and they just happened to have ridden up in the tussle so that they rested at the tops of her thighs. Her wife beater lie slightly askew as well, exposing the tiniest piece of bra beneath and a sliver of flat stomach.
Feeling his cheeks heat up, Asher stood and held out a hand, which she took.
"If you don't mind, I'd like to shower off," he said, pointing to his sweat-soaked shirt for emphasis.
"No problem Ash, I'll just watch some TV," she replied, oblivious to his gaze as she reseated herself on the bed and picked up the remote.
I'm a horrible person, thought Asher as he turned and pulled his shirt over his head.
On the bed, Bridget stared after as he retreated into the bathroom. She admired the lean muscles in his back as he walked. He might look gangly, but she knew he was strong and fit. In all honesty, he was gorgeous. She knew she shouldn't think so, but in any case she couldn't help it. She loved his eyes and the way he always hugged her when it was time for her to go. He'd always been so good to her. True, he had a tendency to be callous at times, but he was always there when it really counted. It was Asher who had helped her through her recent break-up with her first long-term boyfriend. Still, it wasn't right for her to be thinking the kinds of thoughts about him that had been keeping her up every night for the last 2 weeks.
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In the shower, Asher allowed the warm water to cascade over his body. Although his body felt the heat from the shower, his mind was still in the other room, where Bridget lay casually in the very same placed he imagined her every night. He couldn't count how many nights he'd lay awake, tired of sleeping alone and wishing he could roll over and feel her warm body beside his or how many time he'd awaken from dreams where she was in danger and he had had to save her, usually coming close to death himself in the process. And this was before she'd broken up with his best friend. He hated that she'd always been off-limits because she was his best friend's girlfriend and still hated that she was off-limits for that same reason, even thought they'd been broken up for 2 months.
He pictured her sitting on his bed, tank top sticking to her skin, lightly beaded in sweat as she cooled down from their run. Her hair would be tussled from the wind off the beach, falling limply onto her tanned shoulders or hanging seductively in front of her eyes.
Oliver stifled a groan and leaned one hand against the wall in front of him to steady himself. Something in him stirred.
I can't, he thought, determined not to give in to a temptation that he was finding harder to ignore.
Focusing all his energy elsewhere, Oliver picked up the soap and began scrubbing himself furiously with the hopes of washing away all his negative thoughts. However, as thoughts tend to do, he felt himself wandering back to his time with Bridget.
He remembered a day when the two had been at the hot tub. Her boyfriend had been at work, so they had been hanging out just the two of them, which was nothing out of the ordinary. Teasing, Bridget had taken his bottle of water and proceeded to pour it all over him. In retaliation, he had attacked her, using his strength to pin her against the edge of the tub where he had demanded an apology. Giggling, she had of course refused, and he had pulled her onto his lap and proceeded to tickle her. What he hadn't counted on, however, was the reaction his body gave to her perfect ass wriggling against him. He had released her unexpectedly, excused himself to the bathroom on the grounds of a stomach ache, and masturbated furiously for the next five minutes. Later, his guilt had so consumed him that he had never allowed himself to think of her as more than a friend again. Until recently...
Now, he felt himself spring to life, and looked down to see his eight inches staring back at him. He groaned audibly in agony.
This can't be happening...
He knew however that he couldn't leave his bathroom like this for fear of being noticed, and so he took himself in hand and began to pump forcefully up and down. Like a floodgate, images of Bridget began to wash through his mind: her showering off after a visit to the pool, her dressed in her pajamas with wet hair, her flashing him a look that he couldn't decipher. And suddenly it wasn't his hand working himself, but hers. His eyes were clamped shut as he pictured this scene vividly in his mind. He hadn't meant to do it, but suddenly an audible gasp escaped his lips as he reached his final release.
"Bridget..."
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Outside on the bed, Bridget flicked aimlessly through channels of meaningless daytime television. She finally settled on one of those shows on MTV that you hate to love, but her mind wasn't in it. Hesitantly, she felt her thoughts wander through the door to her right, and wished her body could follow. She stared unblinking at the door, and it was then that she heard the noise. A gasp? A moan? Light on her feet, she slipped off the bed and in no time had her ear pressed to the door. At first, only the sound of rushing water was audible, but as her ears adjusted, she picked up a lower, more guttural sound.
No way..., she though, He wouldn't. Not with me in the other room...
But she was quite sure of what she was hearing. She stood against the door, transfixed, trying to catch even the faintest sound. She felt so horrible for doing what she was doing, but this did nothing to stop her.
No further sounds emitted from the bathroom, and it was as she was turning to return to the bed that she heard...
"Bridget..."
WHAT!?