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Justin

I had barely tugged my jacket off and closed my bedroom door behind me when my phone buzzed with a message from Rowan.

Rowan 18:23

I feel like the only way to begin this conversation is to ask how Tyson is... =/

I flopped onto my bed guiltily before replying.

Justin 18:27

I’m not sure... Everyone’s at the hospital with him now, I came home alone.

Rowan 18:29

... Alone?

Justin 18:30

XD Yes. Nate disappeared with Julia, and Rosaline is at the hospital with my parents.

Rowan 18:32

Well I’m not trying to impress you or anything, but I AM pretty bloody and muddy right now.

Justin 18:34

Oh dear =/ What are u gonna do about it?

Rowan 18:37

I was hoping you might have some suggestions?

I could feel my heart start to pound just a little bit harder in my chest. He wanted to come over, but he wanted to make sure I was okay with it; I had to be the one to invite him. Somehow, I knew that if he did come over, it wouldn’t stop at a PG13 replay of our kiss outside the Montague changing rooms... It would go further, maybe a lot further.

Justin 18:45

U should see how spacious my shower is.

He didn’t even need to text me back; he just turned up fifteen minutes later and announced his presence by throwing pebbles from the garden at my window even though he knew I was home alone and could have used the doorbell.

                I leaned over the edge of the balcony to grin at him, trying to ignore the lump in my throat when I noticed he really was still all dirty from the non-football game. ‘Door’s open, you can come on in,’ I said, trying to be casual and normal-ish.

                ‘That’s just as well,’ he admitted, moving towards the door. ‘Your cousin really knows how to throw a punch; I don’t think I’d be up for any drainpipe-shimmying tonight.’

                ‘I don’t think I could ever take you seriously again if you even tried,’ I called after him. Seconds later I heard his footsteps on the staircase and moved to my bedroom door to open it; just in time for him to round to corner and push his body against mine, kissing me flush on the mouth.

                ‘Hey,’ I managed to choke hoarsely once he pulled away, smiling.

                ‘Hey, yourself.’

                I tore my gaze away from his eyes and took in the rest of him: there was dry, flaky mud crusting the left side of his face and both of his arms, and a cut on his right cheek from which blood had trickled down to his jaw. I brought my thumb up and ran it over the graze, pulling back when he flinched slightly.

                ‘Did Tyson do that?’

                ‘Nah, fought off a terrorist on the way over.’

                ‘Ha,’ I said sarcastically. ‘You should probably clean it up; if you don’t put a bandage on it, it might-’ he cut me off by pressing his lips to mine again, and again I melted and lost my train of thought. ‘Or we could just do that,’ I said weakly, before dragging him back down to kiss me some more, stumbling backwards towards my bed as I did so.

                I sat on the bed and fell backwards willingly as he crawled on top of me, one knee beside my left hip and the other inching between my legs as his lips continued their assault on mine. He eased my mouth open and my tongue met his; to my embarrassment I realised I was moaning quietly at the sensations that were running through my body.

                Rowan lowered his hands and slipped them under my t-shirt, running his fingers over my skin and shifting his body so his lower half was pressed against mine. Almost subconsciously, I lifted my arms and laid them on the mattress over my head so he had complete access to my body; he took the hint and started to tug at my t-shirt until it was somewhere at the other side of the room.

                He brought his lips to mine again and I kissed him back shamelessly, taking him in with all of my seemingly heightened senses: I could feel him everywhere; taste him acutely; he smelled of earth and sweat and cologne.

                ‘Have you ever done this before?’ he murmured, as his thumb ran across the skin just over the waistband of my jeans suggestively.

                I shook my head, swallowing. ‘Have you?’

                He paused, tilting his head. ‘Not like this.’

                I shot him a sceptical look. ‘You mean with a guy.’

                ‘Well, yeah. But also with... Somebody I loved.’

                I breathed out sharply, unable to stop my face from registering my shock.

                He opened his mouth to speak again, but I clapped my hand over it firmly before he could. ‘Don’t say it if you don’t mean it,’ I told him warningly.

                He didn’t do anything until I tentatively moved my hand away again; then he smiled and said, ‘I do love you, though.’

                I gazed up at him in disbelief; we’d only known each other for a week. But even as my rational brain tried to argue that this was completely nuts, my mouth was operating under the control a different organ and I was saying it back, ‘I love you too.’

---------------------------------------------------

Rowan wanted to stay the night and make sure I didn’t wake up feeling used, but after a few hours I forced myself to kick him out. If my parents came home and found us in bed they’d freak.

                Still, when I got back into bed after he left, it felt bigger, like I had too much space, like he was missing.

Rowan

‘It’s not like we can even get in that much trouble,’ Ben was saying nonchalantly as we walked to school on Monday. ‘I bet nobody remembers for sure who threw the first punch, plus it’s not like anyone was seriously injured.’ He seemed to be conveniently forgetting that if it hadn’t been for Mitch, he would have broken Tyson’s arm with his bare hands. ‘So it was just a scuffle. Slap on the wrist, no biggie.’

                Mitch was walking silently alongside us, shaking his head in bemusement and disbelief.

                ‘I think we need to prepare ourselves for the possibility that we might actually see some consequences this time,’ I suggested lightly. Seeing as Mitch hadn’t been involved this time, there wasn’t a whole lot his dad could do for us.

                ‘Nonsense,’ Ben said gaily. ‘They’ll give us some detentions, everyone will love us even more for what we did, and Hayley Fucking Tate will come down from her high horse and start giving me attention again.’

                ‘Wait,’ Mitch finally chimed in. ‘She’s still not talking to you?’

                Ben glowered. ‘No. But that will all change when she realises she overreacted.’

                ‘You miss her!’ Mitch exclaimed, surprised.

                ‘I do not!’

                ‘Yes you do! You took her for granted for the last four years and now suddenly you can’t be without her. She played a very long game with you my friend, and she’s finally winning.’

                Ben’s jaw clenched but he didn’t say anything more as we finally entered the grounds of the school. The first bell had barely finished ringing when the principal’s voice echoed over the airways, calling the entire football team to the dressing rooms immediately.

                ‘That’s us,’ Mitch muttered, even though he was probably the only innocent team member we had.

                Principal Escabel was standing at one end of the room with our Coach, both wearing expressions like thunder, while we all filed quietly into the room and tried not to look too confident.

                ‘Your behaviour,’ she started in that deathly threatening voice she can pull out when she wants to, ‘has been completely unacceptable. This rivalry has gotten way out of hand, and I’m not going to sit back and facilitate this hooliganism any longer. I might have turned a blind eye when these fights happened on your own time, but this weekend you were representing your school, on school grounds. As of today you are all suspended for the remainder of the academic year.’ There was a sudden outcry of protest but she merely raised a delicate hand and it died down almost immediately. ‘You will be permitted to return to school premises for your exams only. If you are caught on the grounds for any other reason, you will promptly expelled and not allowed to graduate.’ She paused to let this sink in before finishing, ‘Do I make myself clear?’

Justin

‘Have you heard from Rowan yet?’ Nate asked when he passed me in the hall between first and second period. I shook my head worriedly, once again glancing at my phone, which had been glued to my palm all day.

                Rowan would have found out by now what his punishment for the fight would be, and I was becoming more and more worried that he might have gotten into some real trouble. If they’d cancelled the Montague Prom you could pretty much bet that Tyson was a dead man walking.

                ‘I’m sure it doesn’t mean anything,’ Nate said kindly, even though I could tell from his eyes he was just trying to reassure me.

                ‘Justin!’

                We both turned, cringing, to see my cousin standing by the wall a few feet away, grinning cheerfully. He had, typically, received absolutely no reprimands for his own part in the fight, either from his parents or from Principal Escalus.

                ‘What?’ I called, deadpan. He’d been released from the hospital hours after arriving, having received nothing more fatal than wounded pride, but now was the first time I’d seen him since before the fight. Oddly, he didn’t seem upset that I hadn’t turned up at the hospital, and as he fought his way through the crowd and I noticed who was following him, a feeling of foreboding swirling around my abdomen warned me why.

                Parker Count came to stand beside us as our group doubled in size from two to four, blocking up the hallway as people tried to get to class.

                ‘Good news,’ Tyson proclaimed happily, but I didn’t miss the flash of malevolence in his eyes. ‘You have a date with Parker tomorrow night.’

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A/N: Please remember to vote and/or comment! :D

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