A Promise Is A Promise

[15] Kayla

Sunday afternoon, I sank into the bathtub and let my head fall back against the rim. The hot water felt so good on my stiff muscles. I'd been aching since practice on Friday and now I could finally let all of the tension out of my body.

Well, I thought I could, anyway. The second I closed my eyes, I heard the sound of the knob turning and someone slipping inside the bathroom.

"What the fuck?" I hissed when I saw that it was Claire, and drew my knees up to my chest, folding in on myself just a little. "What are you doing in here?"

"Relax, K. I got bored, I wanted to come talk to you," she casually answered, as if she wasn't looking at me when I was ass-naked.

"Y-You what?" I stuttered. My shock multiplied when she started to strip her own clothes off. We'd been best friends for forever, but we'd never seen each other like this. "Claire!"

"Shh. Just stop worrying, everything's fine."

Everything was not fine, especially when she unhooked her bra, slid her underwear down her legs, and then got into the tub with me. I had turned my eyes away when I realized what she was doing, but that didn't stop my face from turning beet red.

"What if my mom comes up here to check on us and she can't find us and then she—" My words were cut off by her lips and I couldn't help but kiss her back. She inched closer to me until she'd settled between my thighs, which did not help a different kind of tension that was starting to build inside me.

Her fingers tangled themselves into my hair, locking into place just above the back of my neck. The other hand rested on my stomach. My attention was being pulled in what felt like ten different directions. "I told you to relax, didn't I?" she said when she pulled back from me for a moment. "Your mom came up and said she was going to the store. She had a long list, so we've got time."

"What about my brother?" I breathlessly wondered, hoping to God that he wouldn't try to go into my room. At least my dad was out of the question since he had gotten called into work for a few hours.

"Derek left to go somewhere, too. I heard him telling your mom that he was leaving." She'd barely given me her answer before she was kissing me again. We were starting to make a bad habit of this, but neither of us could seem to break the cycle.

"If we get caught," I started, pulling back this time, "I swear to God, Claire, if we get caught, you can forget about me going with you to your brother's next week. I'll never be able to see you again."

"We won't. You worry too much, baby." She was so sure of what she was saying, but my growing nerves were all I could think about.

Her lips did little to calm me down, even though she refused to keep them away from my skin for more than a split second. They moved from my mouth to my cheek and just kept going lower. She worked on a spot just above where my neck met my shoulders for a while before dropping to my chest. There was no doubt in my mind that there would be a mark there by the time we got out of the tub, which didn't bother me as much as I thought it would.

When the hand on my stomach brushed another, more private part of me, I took in a tiny gasp. I hadn't exactly been expecting that or any of this, really. I mean, sure, we'd made out with each other before, but never here, never like this. The idea was exciting, but I couldn't push away the expression that my mother would have on her face if she knew what we were doing.

"Claire, stop, I don't want to do this now." I grabbed at her arm and gently shoved it away from me.

She shifted back and studied my face as I grew more and more ashamed. I could never shake the feeling that we were doing something wrong whenever we were together like this. I didn't think that guilt would ever go away.