Sleeping With My Best Friend - (Complete)

Chapter 31 - Telling the Parents

Dean wrapped an arm around Berkley's waist and pulled her body up against his, snuggling her to his chest.

"That was fucking amazing," she said with a sigh, smiling.

"Yeah it was," he whispered, smiling over at her, before leaning in and kissing her forehead softly, wrapping his arms around her body and pulling her even closer.

She laid her face against his warm chest, taking a deep breath in and then letting it out, as she traced her fingertips across his smooth, tan chest. Being with him just felt right. His body heat made her feel safe and comfortable, and it felt so good being held in his arms again.

They laid there in silence for a minute before he said, "So now that we're officially together, I guess you can stop picturing that I'm someone else when we have sex."

That made her laugh and she raised her head off his chest and looked up at him. "For your information, I have NEVER pictured that you were someone else."

"Not even the first time?" he asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow.

"No!" she said, shaking her head with a laugh. "Especially not the first time."

Then her smile slowly faded away as she laid there on his bare chest, looking into his eyes. "The truth is," she said quietly. "I think deep down I had always kinda hoped my first time would be with you. That's why I never could bring myself to have sex with anybody else. It never felt right."

"Really?" he asked, rubbing his fingers up and down on her bare back lightly.

"Yeah, I ummm, I know my brother told you I used to have a crush on you back in middle school, but what I felt back then was so much stronger than a crush. I really felt like me and you were meant to be together. I was practically in love," she laughed, feeling her cheeks flush. Then her smile slowly faded away again as she looked into his eyes, thinking.

She took a deep breath in and let it out with a sigh before saying, "But then you started getting really good at football and basketball and suddenly you were dating the head cheerleader and telling me all about how great she was. I knew I didn't stand a chance against her, so I shut those feelings off so I wouldn't get my heart broken."

She broke eye contact and looked down at her hand that was resting on his chest, fidgeting with her fingernails.

"And it worked. I really thought I was over it. I convinced myself that I only saw you as a friend after that, but I don't think those feelings ever completely went away. I was just in denial."

He was quiet for a couple seconds before saying, "If you had just told me how you felt back then, I might've ...."

"You might've what?" she laughed, cutting him off. "Dumped Sydney for me? You and I both know that would have never happened. You were WAY out of my league."

"Who says?" he asked with scrunched eyebrows.

"Me," she told him, hesitating before adding, "And Sydney."

The memory of the conversation she had that day with Sydney was painful and reminded her how sad and tortured she had felt back then.

"Somehow she figured out that I liked you and she confronted me about it one day. She laughed and told me I was delusional to think a guy like you could ever like someone like me." She let out a sigh before saying, "The way she said it might have been mean, but I knew it was the truth. I never stood a chance against her. She was the most popular girl in school and I was nobody," she said quietly.

Dean put his hand under her chin and lifted her head and she slowly moved her eyes back up to look into his.

"You have never been nobody, not to me," he whispered softly, giving her a weak smile as he looked into her eyes. "Sydney might have been more popular than you, but I never gave a shit about any of that. Love isn't a popularity contest Berk."