Misconception

21: The Walk

Clementine's POV

I'm caught off guard by Ricky's kiss, but quickly melt into him. He sits up against the headboard of my bed and pulls me onto his lap, straddling him. As we're kissing, I feel something hard beneath me. I break away from our kiss as Ricky begins to trail his kisses down to my neck as I rasp,

"Do you have something in your pocket?"

He chuckles and in between placing kisses on my neck he says,

"That's me, baby."

It takes me a second to register what he says, and a deep blush grows on my face as I feel my core wake up. His lips capture mine again as he gently eases me onto my back on the bed in front of him. He sits me up a little to pull my shirt off over my head and I blush again when he sees that I'm not wearing a bra. He lays me back down and trails kisses from my neck down to my chest, where he gently flicks my nipples with his tongue before sucking them into his mouth. I moan. Ricky looks up at me with a grin of approval before trailing his kisses from my sternum, to my ribs, to my stomach. His kisses travel to my hips and as he hooks his fingers into the waistline of the pink sleep shorts I'm wearing, he looks up at me and asks,

"Is it okay if I take these off?"

I nod and he slips my shorts off my legs. I feel his gaze land on my white, lace panties. I blush as I remember that I bought these with Vinny, when I was still so naïve to everything. Ricky notices my blush and must assume it's because of him because he asks,

"What's the furthest you've ever went with a guy, Clementine?"

I blush at his question too before answering,

"U-Uhm... I've been fingered before a-and other stuff..."

"Other stuff as in?..."

Ricky asks as he slides my panties down my legs and drops them on the floor. I somehow blush even harder as I say,

"I-I've been licked too..."

"Like this?"

He asks, before diving his tongue into me. I moan loudly before he reaches his hand up and clamps it over my mouth, as he swirls and sucks at my core. He breaks away for a second, hand still clamped over my mouth, to say,

"You need to be quiet, baby. Nobody can know about us."

before he dives his tongue right back into me, and I completely unravel beneath him. 

The next day I feel like a prisoner trapped in my room with Vinny and Delilah downstairs as I'm doing schoolwork. 

Towards the late afternoon as I'm wrapping up my online classes, my phone goes off. I grab it excitedly, thinking it's Ricky, but am disappointed when I see it's Chris.

Chris: I'm coming over. 

Me: Thanks for asking??

Chris: What? I'm not allowed to see my own girlfriend? Be ready to answer the door in 5.

I roll my eyes at how bossy he is, but reluctantly head downstairs.

Before Chris can even finish knocking, I swing the front door open, not particularly wanting to draw attention to Vinny that Chris is here.

"Someone's eager to see me."

Chris says, looking down at me. 

"What do you want?"

I snap, shutting the door after he waltzes inside.

"To see my girlfriend."

He says with a smirk, making himself comfy on the couch. I cross my arms,

"If you're doing this to make Vinny mad, you can cut the crap. He's downstairs with Delilah right now, so just tell me why you're here and leave."

It almost looks as if I see hurt flicker across Chris' face, and I remember what Ricky said about getting Chris to let his guard down before Chris sarcastically says,

"'Cut the crap'? Isn't that a little vulgar for you?"

I roll my eyes and make my way over to sit on the couch that's across from the coffee table to where Chris is sitting.

"Why are you here?"

I repeat, nicer this time, looking into his eyes. He stands up and extends his hand down to me,

"Come on a walk with me."

Before we left I texted Ricky that I was going on a walk with Chris, so that if anything happened he could come to rescue me, but as we're walking awkwardly down the sidewalk I can't help but feel like that text was unnecessary. 

"Chris, what're we doing?"

I stop walking and look up at him. He walks ahead of me a couple paces and stops, his back to me as he says,

"I've never really been anyone's boyfriend before. I've just had hookups, so I'm trying to figure out what to do that couples do."

I can't help bursting into laughter, and as he turns to look at me with a confused look on his face I say through my laughter,

"For one, you ask a girl to be your girlfriend, you don't blackmail her into being one."

He chuckles,

"I suppose you're right about that."

He interlaces his fingers with mine and continues walking as he says,

"I suppose couples hold hands when they walk too, huh?"

I struggle to keep up with his long strides and he must notice because he slows down considerably. If he wants me to hold his hand, I can hold his hand, right? If that's what it takes to get him to lower his guard then so be it. We walk in silence holding each other's hand for awhile before curiosity gets the best of me and I ask,

"Why haven't you been in a relationship before?"

He just shrugs,

"I haven't really met anyone that I've wanted to put the effort in with."

"But why pretend with me just because I want you to keep a secret? You could be spending this time looking for someone you actually want to put the effort in with."

I say. He stops our walking again and looks down into my eyes as he says,

"Because maybe I'm hoping that eventually this won't be just pretend anymore."

He breaks the gaze and we continue walking again as my heart and brain internally fight over how I feel about Chris. My brain remembers every bad thing he's done, but my heart can't help but to believe that maybe there's still some good left in him.