Mutual Benefits Ch. 18

Because Kevin always knew everything, mid-conversation he turned his gaze to me. I saw him say something to the girl and could read his lips to make out, "and that's Quinn over there." The girl peppily waved to me and I waved hesitantly back, then the two continued to talk.

"Poor girl," I heard Morgan joke behind me. I turned around to hug her and slip my arm around her, and the two of us watched Kevin for a bit longer.

"She actually seems to like him," I remarked. "Do you know her?"

"I think her name is Maddie or Marley or Melody or something. Something beginning with an M," she replied. "I'm amazed he came to the party at all. Apparently after we went in, he spent like an extra five minutes debating stuff with Doug."

"I didn't think those two out of everyone would hit it off," I noted.

"I dunno if they did," she replied. "Doug will debate anyone who disagrees with him. Those two in a room together is just an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object."

"Is that Han Fei?" I asked, still looking at Kevin.

Morgan snickered. "It's the Joker from the Dark Knight, babe," she replied.

"Oh," I simply said. I didn't know movies.

I felt a drunken head hit my lower chest and a pair of arms looping around me from the other side. "Mission failed," I heard Lexi's tipsy voice declare. "I couldn't find a guy. Wait, why the fuck is Kevin here?"

"I heard Taylor invited him," Morgan replied.

"I mean, I just told Jackson he was getting a bit nicer," Taylor's voice replied defensively. Confused, I turned around to see the whole gang -- Taylor, Milo, and Crystal -- had shown up. Milo had his arm on some girl's waist. I didn't recognize her. "If he's here, it's because Jackson said so."

"How fucking nuts is it that Jackson of all guys is hosting this?" Crystal asked, clearly more drunk than the others. "Like, he looks like a total fuckin'-"

"Theater kid, we know," Morgan dismissively replied. "That's what Student Council does to a guy. I mean, he is gonna be President next year."

"How'd he even get elected? I didn't vote for him," Crystal replied.

"I did, he seems sweet," Taylor said. "Who was he running against again?"

The group talked and talked about Jackson while I had Morgan leaning against one side and Lexi clinging for dear life to my other. I watched on as Kevin changed his posture and gave the girl a sweet kiss on the cheek. She giggled in response, clearly pleased. He asked her a question and she eagerly nodded. The two of them wandered off.

"Oh, fuck you," Lexi angrily murmured beside me, also watching Kevin. "Even he gets some and I can't."

I caught Taylor's eye and we exchanged looks. I hoped he didn't completely forget about me in his quest to secure some girl. I looked beside Taylor and saw that Milo and his girlfriend were showing quite a bit of PDA.

Lexi noticed as well and lightly shoved Milo, or at least, attempted to. Milo barely moved, and finished the kiss before looking at Lexi with a less-than-thrilled expression. "Yeah, okay, we need to talk," he told Lexi. He quickly handed me his beer can. "Hold this." He then grabbed Lexi's hand and dragged her into another room, with his girlfriend or whoever awkwardly walking after him.

Holding an unopened beer, I turned back to Morgan and Taylor, awkwardly looking at the scene that unfolded. It seemed Crystal wandered off. Taylor noticed the beer was unopened, then grinned at me and suavely snatched the beer out of my hand. "Have fun, you two," she said, opening the beer and wandering off.

I turned to Morgan and she shrugged. "Did you want something to drink too?" she asked.

I gave her a look. "Um..."

"Water, brain genius. But I'm definitely having a beer." She looked around her. "Do you know where the kitchen's at?"

"I think Taylor's been here before, I can ask her," I replied, before rushing off to chase after Taylor. I moved through the crowd, trying to find her, and managed to see her walking off in some direction.

"Hey, Taylor!" I yelled when I got close enough. "Morgan w- Morgan wants to know-"

She turned around to face me, and behind her, I saw a person turn to look at us. Joel. As soon as he registered it was us, he stood there, unmoving. He didn't stop looking at us, he didn't move, and he didn't bother doing anything else. He just stared.

She took a few steps to face me. "What is it?"

"I..." I was tongue-tied. Joel unabashedly stared at me, his eyebrows slightly lowered. I tried my hardest not to look at him, which just meant staring at Taylor's eyes like a dummy.

"You what?" she asked impatiently. "Are you okay?"

I lowered my voice. "Don't look behind you. Joel is down the hall."

Taylor's look only got more confused. "...Okay, so?"

"He's staring at me."

"Yeah, you're talking to me and he knows our history. I'd stare too, Quinn."

"Don't you want him to, like, stop?"

"I mean, he can do what he wants," she said with a shrug. "Don't make such a big deal over it. People will always stare at you, or talk shit on you, or whatever. That's a thing you can't avoid."

"So what do you do about it?" I asked.

"You can start with this." She turned around and locked eyes with Joel. I couldn't see her face, but I presume she gave him a polite smile. He gave one back, and then turned and walked away. She turned back to me and shrugged. "See? Didn't take a year off of my life to do that."

"Yeah, but, you're used to this stuff. You're popular, Taylor. I'm just a shy nerd. You can't expect me to just adapt to your ways."

She slowly shook her head. "No you're not," she began. "You have to stop lying to yourself and accept that you've changed. It's not a bad thing, but, like, you're popular now too. You sure as fuck aren't shy anymore. You couldn't even talk to me when we met. This is your lifestyle too, but you're, like, too proud or too traditional or whatever to believe it's you."

"I'm not nearly as well-liked as you though!" I protested. "I'm not popular. I don't have guys fawning over me like you do."

She laughed. "Yeah, it comes with the boobs," she joked. "Nah, Quinn, popularity doesn't mean everybody likes you. It means everybody knows who you are. You can be popular and hated. You can be popular and shy. Just quit... lying to yourself about not being like me. You are like me now. You go to parties, you have a girlfriend who's popular-"

"Though not as popular as you," I replied.

"Don't let her forget it," Taylor joked with a grin. "So just like, own it. Stare back at people. Don't be a jerk obviously, but... c'mon. You got the jacket and everything. We worked hard to teach you not to let people walk all over you. You gotta put in the final steps yourself."

"You talk like you never needed tutoring," I admitted with a smile. The rest of the crowds around us were fading away.

"Smart isn't a one-way street, Quinn," she replied. "Dealing with people is a lot like math. Once you solve enough problems, you just get good at it. And if you wanna see it that way..." She took a few steps towards me. Her look shifted. It no longer was a conversation between friends. I didn't know whether she was flirting with me, or if she was looking at me the way a predator looks at its prey. "I'm pretty smart, aren't I?"

There wasn't a lot of space between us now. The reality of the crowds around us began to fade back in, and yet, at the same time, I felt my heart beating in my ears, and my dick swelling in my pants. "I, uh..." I stumbled.

"See, that. You're doubting yourself. Stop," she lightly ordered. I saw the same look in her eyes as when we were in her basement, and she was ordering me to crawl. Only now, she saw I was crawling and wanted me to learn to walk.

"I can't," I replied.

"Why not?"

My throat was dry. "Because if I listened to my instincts I'd be kissing you right now. I told Morgan I'd stop. Plus, even if I didn't, kissing you at a party would make things hell for both you and her." I breathed heavily.

Taylor stepped back, and yet, she smiled. "See, that's your instinct, Quinn," she replied. "Kissing me was your temptation. Knowing what to do was your instinct. You basically just stared back at Joel. Congrats on being faithful to her."

"...What, so this was a test?" I asked. "Did she make you do this?"

She smiled. "Ha, no," she murmured. "I probably would have kissed you back, but I think you know that. Confidence is sexy, Quinn. Maybe you should go show Morgan that." She looked around and saw nobody was looking at us, and leaned into me. "And maybe after, you can tell me what you did to her," she breathed in my ear.

I shivered. My dick throbbed. "You'd want to hear about your own friend's sexual escapades?"

"Fucking 'escapades,'" Taylor chuckled. "Leave her name out. But I'm suuuch a gossip Quinn, and I wanna hear about everything you want to do. Think about it." She lightly trailed her hand along my pants, and I shivered again. Her look had gained a kind of hunger to it, but also a smugness, as if she knew she had me. And she did. "I'm gonna talk to her about this little sharing problem of ours someday too. You're not the only one involved in this. Go see her."

I remained still as she walked away, no doubt a grin on her cute little chipmunk face. For the first time, possibly ever, it dawned on me that whatever my relationship with her was, it probably wasn't going to just end after I went to university.

I started to walk back towards where I left Morgan when I heard an "ooooh" echo from the room she was in. I knew that an "ooooh" of that magnitude meant that there was some kind of public fight or drama or something, and was worried that I was going to walk back to see some couple catfighting or something.

I increased my speed, jogging back, just in time to see a guy walking past me. His face was soaked; his hair matted to his face. He had a strong build, but was looking pretty defeated. Nearly all of the eyes in the room were on him, including mine.

I turned from him to Morgan, who had a near-empty beer can grasped in both hands and a circle of people formed around her. She turned to me with a blank yet attentive expression. "You took too long, I already found a beer," she joked.

"Wait, what happened?" I asked.

She pulled the can back, shrugging. "Some guy got too close, so I warned him, then warned him again," she replied.

"You fuckin' sprayed Arin!" one of the onlookers jeered.

"Yes, that was the second warning," she replied coolly.

"That was the warning?" the same guy obnoxiously asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"What the fuck happens after that?" he asked.

She shrugged. "No boy has tried it and lived," she replied again, still cool but starting to blush. "And I'd prefer it be kept that way. Out of my way, please." She shoved a few guys out of her path and made off towards the front of the house, with me obviously following close behind her.

Eventually, she left out the front door and shut the door behind her, but I persisted, opening it and re-shutting it after me. Morgan was leaning against the wall, and some other girl was out there smoking.

It was clear Morgan was stressed, so I tried opening with a joke. "If you were going to do that to any guy there, I'm kinda surprised it wasn't Kevin."

Surprisingly, it hit. Morgan instantly smiled and started to giggle. "I love you," she replied warmly, getting up from the wall and giving me a hug.

"Hey, I... love you too," I awkwardly told her. "Was that guy getting on your nerves?"

"Yeah," she simply replied.

"Arin," I said out loud. "He's your ex, right? Or, your 'ex?'" I said, using air-quotes, mimicking her wording.

"Your memory is really good," she commented. "Yeah."

"There's obviously history there," I noted.

"He knows enough about me to push me around, but not enough to know I don't like it," she remarked, not letting go of me. "This was a long time coming. Sorry if I just added fresh drama or anything."

"Hey, it was your turn to add some anyway, I don't get to throw stones here," I joked. "Did he... touch you?"

"No, but he probably would've," she admitted. "I probably shouldn't have led him on or something."

"...You're blaming yourself because Arin was going to touch you when you didn't want it?" I asked.

She smiled sadly. "Not every guy is going to be as considerate as you, Quinn," she muttered.

"Sounds like a problem they need to fix, not you," I said defiantly. "Besides, who cares if you talk to him or you danced with him at the Love party? It doesn't mean anything."

She turned pink and lowered her head. "You, uh, have a really good memory," she muttered.

A beat of silence passed between us, and I thought about a lot of the past few months. "Did you two do anything?"

"Huh?"

"Like, since you and I got together. Did you and he do anything?"

Her expression lost its humor, quickly. "No, why?"

"I was just wondering if that was the thing."

"The thing?"

"The thing that burns going down."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" she asked.

"You know, the... you know what, never mind."

"Okay."

We stood there together for a bit, before I spoke up again. "The thing that we talked about last time I slept over. You were mad about something."

"Yeah," she said quietly. "I'm definitely not ready to talk about it at a party."

"We're outside the party now," I replied with a cheeky smile, but she didn't return the smile. "Yeah, sorry." I put my arm around her waist and she turned to face me. Before long we were kissing again, emboldened by the fact there wasn't a crowd of people around us. I held her body close and felt our hips touch as the kisses became more long and passionate.

Morgan moaned into the kiss and I could feel my sense of self-control loosening. I was still hard and throbbing, and damn near exploding from Taylor's earlier teasing. I felt my hand snake up Morgan's front and close around her neck, which made her shudder. I felt every fiber of her being aching to get closer to me. Just as she ran her tongue over my bottom lip, I gently broke away and looked at the stoner chick, who was pretty obviously looking away from us deliberately.

"We should probably hold off," I noted.

"How many times today is this going to happen?" Morgan asked with a slight chuckle.

"After the party," I promised. "Your place?"

Morgan's face broke out into a slow smile. "Okay," she replied quietly, before beginning to kiss me again.

***

Doug was not thrilled with having to drive to my place even though I was not getting out, but at least he had time to talk to his new best friend on the way there. Kevin was elated; knowing him I was guessing he got to have a fun time with that girl he was with, but from the conversations I overheard, it sounded like he got to talk to every single person at that party but me.

Morgan, ever the observant one, noted that since both people were distracted by each other in the front, she could get away with more than usual in the back seat. Locking our lips would be too noticeable, but she could get away with slowly stroking her hand up and down my leg, which I gladly did to her right back. Eventually, she stopped stroking and just focused on what I was doing to her, and leaned her head on my shoulder. I was all too happy to keep on stroking her leg, and eventually, got a little bolder with how far my hand went.

When she first felt my hand going further up her leg, she opened her eyes and showed me the true desperation on her face. She kissed me quickly, and leaned her head back again on my shoulder. I started stroking her leg further and further up her thigh, eventually starting to make my way between her thighs. She responded by opening them slightly and giving little quiet moans. The kind that only I, with my ear inches from her mouth, could hear. The front seat duo wouldn't have been able to hear, even if they had stopped arguing and debating with one another, which of course, they didn't.

It was crazy to think that I was openly stroking Morgan's pussy above her clothes in full view of both of our brothers and that if they just looked at us, we'd be caught. But, to my knowledge, we got away with it the entire way back to my place.

***

"Thanks for driving us," Morgan quickly told Doug as we hopped out of his car. "We'll be in my room."

"Okay," Doug simply said, watching her leave. I nearly followed her, but hesitated, looking at Doug. He caught my gaze and asked, "What?"

"Is something wrong?" I asked in response. "You seem upset. If I can ask."

He looked at me. "Nah," he said. "Just tired."

I didn't respond, and just awkwardly nodded before heading after Morgan. She was fairly tipsy, and if I knew her enough...

I burst into her room and sure enough, upon seeing me entering, she reached below her bed. "One shot, that's all," she assured me. "Then I'm cutting myself off."

I didn't even mind her drinking, but it was sweet of her to phrase it like that. "I trust you," I reassured her. I still felt like an alien around drinking, but I didn't want her to feel bad for something she already enjoyed doing before me. She could handle herself, and that was good enough for me.

"Za zdrovie," I told her as she poured her shot. She grinned at me in response, before downing it, handing me the bottle. I put the cap back on and put it back below the bed.

"Agh," she winced, shuddering. "Alright, alright, I'm good."

I looked at her and she gave me a reserved little smile. "You're looking at me," she murmured.

"You're not emptying a beer in my face," I replied as a joke.

"Ugh, don't ruin the moment," she commanded. I smiled as she got up and sat on top of me, wrapping her legs around my back. One of my favorite things about this position was that we had to be close to each other or else Morgan would fall off, so we made the most of it.

Like lovestruck teenagers, we picked up right where we'd left off the hour prior, not even bothering to start off subtle. Within one or two kisses, she was running her tongue along my lips, and within six or seven, our mouths were fully open and clumsily running up and down each others' faces. There was something so pure about wanting to kiss each other so badly that we didn't even care if we were doing it right anymore. We just wanted each other so badly that our brains were just on autopilot.

My hands stroked and gripped her back, keeping her close. Her breasts were the biggest obstacle between us, but of course, I wasn't complaining when they were mashed against my chest. And I sure wasn't complaining when Morgan broke the kiss, leaned back a little, and started to take off her shirt and bra.

As soon as the bra came off, I was on her. I was gentle before, but I sure didn't feel like being gentle today. I started a little too eagerly, but after a few 'aah's of warning from Morgan, found a nice happy medium, and soon was leaving marks on her big boobs while she cooed and moaned softly. Her nipples were standing firm and erect, letting me know just how much she enjoyed my oral attention.

Clearly my oral attention wasn't enough though. A little too quickly after I started to worship her boobs, she quickly stood up. "Take your fucking clothes off," she breathed, as she rapidly did the same with her pants. I chuckled, opting to stay on the bed, ditching my shirt and my pants.

As soon as both of us were naked, we got up and kissed each other. It was becoming a little ritual of ours, and this time, it definitely felt less tender and more animalistic. Before long, she was against the wall, pinned by her wrists. We were kissing each other passionately, with me grinding my throbbing dick against her wet pussy. We had both wanted this all day, and the promise of release was killing us.

As I ground against her, my dick started to move against her pussy lips, which were so wet that my dick was effortlessly sliding in and around her lips. She broke the kiss and moaned as I, unable to contain my passion, immediately attacked her neck with my mouth. I was so far gone that I wanted my mouth on something, anything.