Teen Idols And Happy Meals

Caramel And Colors

Nikki’s POV

The world outside the window was frozen. Fat white flakes fluttered down, sticking to the frosted glass like intricate, paste-on stars. Beyond the window, hills of white rolled on as far as the eye could see. There was nobody around for miles, and that was how Jacen liked it.

Lying there in his arms, warm beneath the heavy blankets, I couldn’t help but admire the privacy as well. It was like we were the only two people in the whole world – or at least, the only two who mattered. Everything else seemed like a faraway dream and this – this was a real life fairytale.

“Never have I ever had sex in the back of a pickup truck.”

Well, maybe our topic of discussion wasn’t fit for a Cinderella story, but this was better. It was certainly more interesting than a conversation about carriages or the black plague or whatever people in the sixteenth century talked about.

“Guilty,” I replied, leaning in close to kiss Jacen tentatively on the lips. Traditionally, Never Have I Ever was a drinking game, but we had modified it slightly. Basking in the glow of our revealed love, neither of us felt the need to numb ourselves to this moment. Besides, Jacen’s kisses were more intoxicating than any Tequila or Bourbon I’d ever tried.

“It was that Colton guy wasn’t it?” Jacen said knowingly, without a trace of anger. Jacen wasn’t petty like most guys. His ego wasn’t so fragile that he couldn’t handle the idea of me with other men. He knew I wasn’t a virgin, and I’d have to be blind and mentally incompetent to think he was.  It didn’t bother me though, and it didn’t bother him either. We accepted each other’s pasts with grace.

“Carter,” I corrected with a smile, fiddling idly with Jacen’s feathery soft hair. From where I rested atop him, he looked worn and beautiful. His anguish fueled, vice filled weekend had taken a toll on him I knew. He needed some recovery time but after our monumental fight and even more monumental make up, he had insisted I stay with him. “And yes. A few times actually. We had a thing last summer.”

“I knew I hated that guy for a reason,” Jacen teased, soft blue eyes laughing, “At first I thought it was just his dismal fashion sense. I mean seriously a wife-beater and a trucker cap? But now – now I know it’s more than that. He deflowered the love of my life. You know, in the old days it would’ve been pistols at high noon for us.”

I laughed, so hard I had to bury my face in his neck. “You’re ridiculous,” I told him, “And besides, Carter wasn’t my first time. My ex-boyfriend Nate was. God he sucked. I should’ve known before hand to be honest. He was such a stick in the mud – his idea of foreplay was doing our homework together.”

This time Jacen laughed. “Well, you know, if that’s what gets you hot we could always like I don’t know, conjugate verbs – or maybe multiply complex fractions together,” he purred in a mockingly seductive tone as his hands clutched the fabric of my shirt and his lips teased the skin of my neck. “Yeah, you find those common denominators you dirty girl.”

I was shaking with laughter and if his arms weren’t so tight around me, I probably would’ve rolled out of bed. “Yeah baby,” I teased through fits of laughter, “I’ll cancel those like terms all night long.”

He laughed, shaking his head. “Alright tone it down with the dirty talk. We have a game to play, and I believe it’s your turn.”

“Alright, alright,” I replied, pausing to think for a moment. “Never have I ever . . . been so drunk I forgot where I lived.”

Jacen pulled me down for a kiss, longer than the last. “To be fair,” he said, smiling as he pulled back, “I move around so often, sometimes I forget where I live when I’m sober.”