This Won't Work

After All

"Been at it for hours, I know you thirsty
You kiss me so sweetly, taste just like Hershey's"

- Jeremih

It was two weeks after she'd met Jaxon. She spent her evenings chatting with him for hours.

She learned more about his family. He had a younger sister, whom he visited as often as he did his parents. He worked in IT. Soon after that conversation, she 'accidentally' discovered the salary his job instated. His pay was only a bonus to his personality.

He was a genuinely good guy and she couldn't wait for their date tomorrow.

Her life has been fairly normal recently. Well, as normal as it could get. Her and Damien still weren't talking, although she wanted to so many times.

They would stare at each other from across the table during dinner. Having Nova sitting a foot away from them made it even more awkward.

They would pass each other in the hallway sometimes. Their eyes would lock for just a second although it felt like forever, and they would move on about their days.

Except Damien never moved on because the slightest eye-contact with her meant so much to him.

Elana would go to work early in the morning. Return just after 5 PM. She would avoid Damien, making a beeline for her room. She would start readying herself for bed. Check the texts she'd missed from Jaxon and spend the rest of the night messaging back-and-forth. Not soon after, she would hear creaking in the room beside her.

She would roll her eyes, muffle the sounds of on-going sex with a pillow, yell at him to shut the fuck up and hope he would hear it through the wall.

Minutes, sometimes hours later, a woman Elana had never seen before would exit his room.

It was their routine, and although it proved to be boring and exasperating at times, it would stay that way for as long as possible. Her life was as stable as it could get, and his- though it wasn't back to normal- was all he used to know a few weeks back.

Sex, weed, and alcohol. Repeating over and over again everyday. He was back to getting no sleep. Back to having no job.

And as much as it sucked, it was normal for him.

Right now, Elana lay with her head propped on a pillow. Her bed beneath her.

"How was your day?" Jaxon texted.

She smiled because he actually cared. "Boring."

Just then, the murmurs of two voices started on the other side of the wall. Elana rolled her eyes.

The obnoxious giggles of a woman and the low grumble of a man's voice. Damien's voice.

Sometimes Elana would find herself accidentally getting intrigued. Sometimes it would weirdly turn her on. Sometimes she was so bored that she made the decision to listen.

Tonight, the noises were too loud to ignore. She found herself paying more attention to guessing what Damien was doing than the messages from Jaxon.

His voice was muffled hence the wall separating them, but she could hear a few words here and there.

"...Your knees..."

Elana could listen to his voice for hours.

"...So fucking good..."

Was it bad if Elana was the slightest bit jealous?

"...a good girl..."

He had called Elana that.