Adult-FanFiction.org : Celebrity

The Guidelines of Sex & Friendship	By : delicatektheory Category: WWF/WWE > Het - Male/Female Views: 1885 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the WWE current or former talent. I do not own any of the lyrics featured later on. I am not making money from writing this. All I own is Lil, Jas, and Jenn.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
This was it. Today, Matt and Jeff would be off to
Europe. I looked at the clock on the mantel and sighed. They were probably on their plane by now. Matt had left before I had gotten up this morning, so I didn’t get to tell him goodbye. He left a note—that I could barely read—telling me that he would call as soon as they landed and that Shannon or Jenn would be by to check on me every so often. She had dropped them off at the airport more than likely, so I was expecting her to stop in at any minute.
            Lucas was curled up in my lap as I sat on the couch and attempted to watch the morning news. I had no idea what I was supposed to do for the next two weeks. Sure, I could hang out with Jenn, but that would only further my depression, because she would be in full wedding and baby preparation mode. Shannon was another option. Then again, his girlfriend despises me and hates it when I come within two centimeters of him. She still hasn’t forgiven me for showing him my breasts when he was wasted at Matt’s Christmas party last year.
            I shut the television off at the sound of a car pulling into the driveway. Lucas instinctively jumped down and followed me to the front door. I had it open for Jenn as she made her way up the walkway.
            “Afternoon,” she greeted as she reached the threshold. “I brought some Chinese.” She held up two plastic bags.
            “Awesome.”
            I stepped aside, scooting Lucas out of the way, so she could come inside and get out of the cold.
            She followed me into the kitchen. I was walking slower than usual because the weather had the arthritis in my knees acting up. Jenn went ahead and pulled out a chair for me. She knew her way around the kitchen, so she single-handedly fixed our lunch.
We made some small talk, but mostly ate in silence. Well, that was until Jenn snorted in her food container and burst into an unexpected laughing fit.
“What the hell’s wrong with you?” I asked, raising a brow.
She tapped the kitchen table. “I hope you and Matt Cloroxed this thing,” she giggled. “What in the blue hell possessed you to do it on the table?”
I blushed a little bit. “Duh, it’s the only place we hadn’t done it.”
“Can I ask you something kind of personal?”
“Sure.”
Jenn looked down at her food container for a second. “Matt is a pretty straight-laced guy. So, how in the hell do you get him to do…all the things that you do?”
“He’s a man,” I shrugged. “He thinks with his dick most of the time. But, other than that, any simple sexual innuendo can get him off. He’s got a bit of a dark side, so I just play off that.”
“I kind of got that,” she grinned. “You were, uh, enjoying yourself.”
I laughed. “You should hear me when he really gets going.”
She laughed and then went back to eating.
“Now, can I ask you something?”
“Weirdest place we’ve done it is a tree,” she replied, nonchalantly.
“Yeah, uh, I could’ve gone my whole life without picturing that in my head,” I wrinkled my nose. “I was actually going ask something else.”
“What?”
“Well, there’s no way to ask this without sounding mean, so I’m just gonna say it. Why the hell does Jeff hate me?”
Jenn frowned, sitting her container down on the table. “Jeff doesn’t hate you, Lil.”
“Yeah, and I’m a born again virgin,” I snorted.
“Jeff doesn’t hate you, Lil,” she reiterated.
“Well, then, why does it look like he wants to Swanton Bombard me, or whatever he calls it, every time he sees me?”
“Swanton Bomb,” she corrected, “and I don’t know. Sometimes you make really smartass comments and stuff towards him, or me. He's just…defensive over me. You know he has been really uptight lately.   But trust me, he doesn't hate you. He really...he thinks…” She trailed off.
“I’m a neurotic little shit that needs to stay away,” I offered.
“He thinks you're good for Matt. I think he's so mean to you because he's afraid to see Matt get his heart broken again.”
“I’m not Amy,” I sighed.
I hated the woman. I didn’t know her, of course, but I loathed her very existence in this world. She had been with Matt on and off for six years, and I view her as the other woman—Matt’s reason for being so guarded. Despite all the pain and deception, he’s still in love with her (as if my situation isn’t already as bad as it could possibly get). But to add the cherry on top of this clusterfuck sundae, he’s still friends with the little two-timing hussy.
“Yeah, I know,” she nodded and took the wrapper off her fortune cookie.
“I would never do that to him. Hell, we’re in a pretty casual relationship as it is, and I can’t bring myself to see other people. If anyone’s getting the shitty end of the stick here, it’s me. He could hurt me more easily than I could hurt him.”
Jenn shook her head in disagreement. “Matt worships you,” she said. “I know you can see that. I don’t think he would ever do anything to break your heart.”
“Think being the operative word,” I laughed dryly, falling silent a moment. I cleared my throat, adding, “I told him the other night.”
“Told him what?”
I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks as I spoke. “What do you think?”
Jenn looked at me in shock. “What did he say?” she demanded.
“Nothing,” I shrugged. “He was asleep. And I wasn’t going to wake him up to retell it.”
“So, you told him while he was a sleep?” she asked. “What, were you just practicing for the real thing or something?”
“No,” I spat, and then sighed again, “We had been talking about you and Jeff… He wanted to bottle your love shit up, and I came up with some dorky line. When I told him, I thought he heard me. He went silent, and I thought I had fucked up.”
She looked at me, sympathetically. “Maybe you should say it when he calls.”
“No,” I shook my head. “I think it’s better left unsaid. Just be happy I’m admitting it, at least.”
She just nodded, deciding to change the subject. “I have another question for you.”
“What’s that?”
“Well…I was wondering if you’d be my maid of honor?”
“Well, yeah,” I laughed. “You’ve seen Shannon in a dress. I’m not about to let you ruin your wedding by subjecting people to that kind of emotional trauma.”
“Thanks, Lil,” she laughed, hugging me. “I wouldn’t want anyone else…You’re my best friend.”
“Ditto,” I smiled as we pulled back.
After lunch, Jenn and I headed into the living room and settled on the couch. I had rented Amélie to do a film review for my online French class. The two of us read thirty minutes worth of subtitles before we gave up and watched the rest of movie on mute.
“I can’t believe they allow them to promote soft-core porn,” Jenn frowned as another sex scene flashed across the television screen. The scene lasted maybe a second, and she didn’t see much of anything, but I guess it was the principle of the matter.
“That’s tastefully done, at least,” I pointed out, gesturing to the television. “It’s got to be better than the rough pig-sex you’ve witnessed.”
“True,” she laughed, “But my sex tapes with Jeff are much better.”
“Dude,” I turned to her, wide-eyed. “Why didn’t you bring them over?”
“Why the hell would I want to do that?”
“You’ve seen Matt’s ass. If I see Jeff’s, it’s a fair trade.”
Jenn looked at me a moment. She knew I had a point. “Okay,” she sighed, almost teasingly, “but you can never tell Jeff that I let you see them.”
I really didn’t think she was serious about the explicit tapes. Jenn didn’t strike me as the type of person to willingly do that.
“Seriously, you two have a tape?”
“No.”
I could tell that she was lying by the slight hitch in her tone.
“Liar, liar,” I chuckled. “I can’t blame you, though. Being the observant young lady that I am, Jeff is a fine piece of ass. He’s top of the line fucking material. I’d be documenting that shit, too, if I were you…I’ve tried doing it with Matt, but he busts me every time.”
            “That’s because you’d probably post it online.”
            “Possible,” I agreed, nodding thoughtfully. “What do you think of the title ‘Wrestling between the Sheets: the Matt Hardy Sex Chronicles’?”
            Jenn smirked, but didn’t respond.
            “I’m dead serious,” I continued to pester her. “If you have sex tapes, I want in.”
            “Lil, Jeff would kill me.”
            “He doesn’t have to know, remember?” I pouted, making my lower lip quiver. “It could be like an educational film. Maybe, I could get a few pointers.”
            “It’s too weird, Lil.”
            “No, you catching me giving Matt a blowjob and then him fucking me on table—that’s weird…This will just be like watching a regular porno, except you’re the star.”
            “Why do you want to see them so bad?” she asked, raising a brow.
            “Duh…I’m a sex addict. Any form of sexual communication appeals to me.”
            Jenn was clearly irritated with me as she rose from the sofa. She got her keys from the table by the door and shrugged on her jacket. “I’ll be right back,” she sighed. “If Jeff ever finds out, I swear…” She mumbled something else and walked out the door.
            By the time Jenn had returned, I had lit some candles and got some saxophone music playing on the stereo.
            She furrowed her brow as she walked into the living room. “What the hell is all this, Lil?”
            “What?” I smiled, looking up at her from my spot of the sofa. “I figured one of us will get aroused. We might as well do it right.”
            She rolled her eyes, walked over, and put the tape in the VCR. She then settled in next to me. When the movie began, she burst into an obnoxious round of laughter. She and Jeff were bickering because he was trying to steady the camera, and she was about to start the fun without him.
            I eyed her. She was about to fall off the couch she was laughing so hard. Honestly, I couldn’t see what was funny about it. I’ve had more amusing situations.
            “How can you not be laughing?” she asked.
            “Because, I’m used to incompetence,” I replied. “Matt’s rammed my head into the headboard so many times.”
            “Oh, c’mon…That’s funny shit.”
            “Eh.”
            “Fine,” she spat, getting up to shut of the tape.
            “So you wanna go back to that foreign flick?”
            “Yeah, after you begged me to watch this?” She gestured to the tape that was still playing.
            “You know,” I began, tilting my head to the side as Jeff’s bare butt came into focus. “From the back, Jeff’s ass looks a lot like Matt’s.”
            “Jeff’s is better,” Jenn grinned proudly. “His dick is also bigger …They got drunk and measured.”
            “Yeah, uh-huh,” I nodded, ignoring her statement. My head was still tilted as I looked at Jeff’s backside. “Well, will you look at that? He does have a birthmark on his left ass cheek.”
            We watched a few minutes of the tape, then like clockwork, my phone rang. Jenn and I both looked at the clock on the VCR. Matt was calling. I picked up my phone, which was lying on the coffee table.
            “Hey.”
            “Hey, Lil, are you all right?”
“Yep,” I nodded, “Just watchin’ a porno.”
Jenn elbowed me.
“What?” I hissed, “It’s not like I told Jeff.”
Matt must have heard me, because Jeff called Jenn a few seconds later, and I got another elbow to the ribs.
            “So, Jenn and Shannon are coming by regularly like I asked?”
            “Yes, Matt,” I replied with an eye roll. “I’m never alone during the day.”
            “Good. Are you sleeping downstairs?”
            “Yes,” I lied, knowing he would lecture me about not following his rules for when he goes on long business trips.
            “Good,” he said again, silent for a moment.
            “Is there anything else that you’re sure that I’m not following?”
            “School work,” he replied quickly. “Just because I’m not there that doesn’t mean you should slack off on your courses.”
            “I’ve e-mailed all my assignment, except for the film review I told you about,” I sighed. “Will you quit with this Papa Bear shit? It fucking chaps my ass.”
            “Sorry,” he laughed. “I’m just trying to make sure everything’s in order for you. The Papa Bear has to look out for his cub, you know?”
            “Great, more nicknames.”
            “You started it, kid.”
            “Well, quit being the peanut gallery, old man.”
            “All right, all right,” he laughed. “I call a truce.”
            I sighed, trying to cross my legs, but realized that I looked pretty stupid doing it by hand. Jenn must have thought the same thing because she let out a small giggle.
            “When will you be back?” I asked, glaring at Jenn for a minute before looking at the paused video tape.
            “It will probably be on a Thursday.”
            “Okay,” I smirked. “I’ll have the table ready.”
            Jenn threw her head back and howled with laughter. Matt was laughing pretty hard on the other end as well.
            “All right,” he said. “Sounds like a plan… I hate to make this a short one, but Jeff and I have to get to the hotel. I will call you tomorrow.”
            “Okay. That’s fine.”
            I was just about to hang up.
            “Hey, Lil…” He hesitated.
            “Yes, Matt?”
            “Me, too…” He quickly hung up.
My face drained of all its color. “Him, too…Him, too…”
He had heard me the other night, but what did it all mean? Was he in love with me, or was it the kind of love that I had for Shannon? I was trying to get my nerves to settle, so I could call him back, but I kept dropping the phone in my lap.
“What is it?” Jenn asked, looking at me concerned.
“Him, too…Him, too,” I kept muttering, sounding like a broken record.
“Him, too, what?” she asked, confused.
“He fucking heard me,” I said, talking to myself more than to her. I smacked myself on the head. “It’ll be all weird and shit when he comes home. God, I’m such a fucking idiot. I was relieved that he hadn’t heard me, but he heard me.” Jenn was looking at me, even more confused as I continued rambling on. “Why does he have to speak in code like that?   He needs to just tell me. Fuck, I should’ve kept my mouth shut. This changes everything.”
“Chill, the fuck out,” Jenn shouted, grabbing my wrists. She was looking into my panic-stricken eyes. “What do you mean?”
“He heard…He said,” I stammered. A wave of nausea swept over me. “God, I’m gonna be sick.” I pulled away from her and grabbed my crutches. I stood up and start walking as fast as I could to the downstairs bedroom.
I tried to make it to the toilet, but ended up vomiting in the sink. There went lunch.
Jenn had called my name, coming in to check on me.
I looked up to acknowledge her, but my head went to the sink again; I lost my balance and almost took it off the wall.
“Are you okay?” she asked, covering her nose and mouth with one hand. The other hand was shielding her eyes.
“Peachy,” I grumbled, finally sinking to the floor and pulling myself into a sitting position in front of the toilet.
“I’m calling Shannon,” she said after moment.
“Why?” I asked. My head was in the toilet as I dry-heaved. “It’s not like he wants to watch me hurling any more than you do.”
“I can’t handle cleaning this up, Lil.”
“I’ll do it my damn self,” I spat, vomiting this time. There was nothing left to come up, but stomach acid.
Jenn called Shannon anyway.
I lifted my head up, flushing the toilet. “There was no point in that,” I said, forcing a smile. “I ralphed. I’m good now.” I could tell that I sounded a lot better than I looked, because she definitely wasn’t buying it.
“Yeah,” she laughed.
Jenn was anxious to rush off and have some video sex with Jeff, so she was a bit snippy with me. Here I was, throwing up all over the place, and she couldn’t wait to basically masturbate in front of a camera—I feel so appreciated.
By the time I was able to get up from the bathroom floor, Shannon was ringing the door bell. Jenn laughed when she opened the door. He was chewing on the remains of his meal and still had a napkin stuffed in his shirt collar.
“Look what you did,” I snapped at her. “He was in the middle of eating.”
Shannon shrugged and came inside, handing his chicken bone to Lucas. “No big deal,” he said to me. “We had chicken—I think it was chicken, at least. It looked more like charcoal and something else stuck to a pan, so I probably wouldn’t have finished it.”
“There’s some leftover Chinese in the kitchen,” I groaned, heading into the living room. He was following behind me. “Pretty good stuff until you puke up a lung.”
Jenn left without saying a word to me.
“I’ll take a rain-check, if you don’t mind,” he said, helping me lay down. He took a seat, putting my head in his lap. “You look like shit, babe.”
“I feel like it,” I grumbled.
“I had called you earlier and you were fine?”
“Food poisoning, I guess.”
He looked at me a moment. I could sense him reading my tense expression; he was teasing it apart. He knew me better than anyone, so he could easily tell when something was bothering me.
“There’s more,” he said, sounding rather certain with his observation.
“No.”
“You can’t lie worth a damn, girl.”
“I’m not lying.”
He scrunched his nose in disbelief.
“Fine,” I laughed a little bit. “I am holding back, but it’s confusing and too personal for me to disclose right now.”
“Too personal for me?” he asked, raising a brow in surprise.
            I reached up and played with a strand of his blonde hair. “Yeah,” I sighed. “I’m sorry. I would tell you, but I really don’t know what to make of it. I don’t want to jump to conclusions.”
            “Well, do I get a hint about what’s going on?”
            “No,” I shook my head, “But, feel free to guess.”
            He nodded, pursing his lips in thought. “Is it about your family?”
            “Sort of...”
“Something happen with you and Jenn…again?”
“No.”
“What about Jas?”
“Nope, hasn’t called since he kicked me out.”
“Well, it can’t be about me because I’m in the room.”
“Well, how do you know it’s not about you?”
He stopped, staring down at me with a cute furrowed brow. “Is it?”
“Yes, Shan-Shan, I have fallen madly in love with you,” I bite my lip, teasing him. “I can’t go along with this charade anymore. It’s you I want.”
“I bet you do,” he laughed, sticking out his tongue.
“Keep flashing me that tongue ring and I’ll bite it off.”
He laughed again. “Well, if it’s not about any of us…Matt, huh?”
“Duh, that should’ve been your first guess.”
“What about Matt?”
I shook my head. “No,” I replied. “I let you guess. I’m not saying another word.”
“You are so stubborn,” he said through gritted teeth, but there was humor in his tone.
We were silent for a moment. I could tell he was going through that mental check-list of possible problems. He was looking at it from every angle he could think of.
“He told you, didn’t he?” he asked, sounding relieved.
I wrinkled my forehead. “Told me what?”
“What?”
“What did he tell me?”
“I don’t know if he told you what I think he told you.”
“What do you think he told me?”
“I don’t know. Tell me what he told you, and I can tell you if I think what he told you is what I think he told you.”
“Shannon, knock it off with the damn riddles.”
“It’s no riddle. I just don’t want to say what it is I think he may have said, if he didn’t really say what I hope he said.”
I glared at him.
“Sorry.”
I gritted my teeth. “What has he said to you that you haven’t told me?”
“You first…”
“Well, there’s a damn long-ass story to mine,” I spat, “So, why don’t you cut the fucking corners and help us both here?”
“Well, I have time for a ‘damn long-ass story.’”
“Forget it,” I growled.
“No, you have me interested now.”
“You tell me what he’s told you,” I demanded. “Maybe it could shed light on my confusion, and I’ll know what he meant.”
“I don’t want give too much away,” he said. “I don’t know how much he’s told you.”
“Not a lot, apparently…Spill it.”
He was silent a moment, collecting his words. “Well,” he began, “given your—friendship with him, Matt cares about you more than you think.”
“No shit,” I laughed. “I know he cares about me, Shannon. He faxes everyone we know a set of responsibilities for taken care of me when he can’t.”
“No,” he shook is head. “I’m saying than he cares about you a little more than he should.”
“Once again, I know that, or else I wouldn’t be living with him.”
“No,” he sighed, clearly frustrated. “Do you remember when I told you that only he could say whether or not he loves you?”
My forehead creased in confusion. “Yes?”
“Well, keep in mind that he hasn’t actually said anything to me, but he does have a certain way—a familiar, old Amy Dumas kind of way—that he talks about you, so I figured…”
“Oh,” I gasped. “Oh!”
“So, I take it he said what I think?”
“I guess so. But is it like you and me?”
Shannon shrugged. “If I knew, I would tell you.”
“He speaks in code too much.” We both muttered.
It was nice to have my suspicions confirmed, but my stomach still wasn’t satisfied. Would things between us be weird once he was home? Would he pretend like he didn’t say it?
“I need a trashcan,” I mumbled, barely moving my lips.
Shannon nodded and quickly got up to get one. He returned a few minutes later, carrying the kitchen trashcan; he sat back down, putting my head back in his lap. He leaned forward, grabbing the remote control.
“What are we watching?” he asked, ready to take Jenn’s tape off pause.
“DON’T!” I shouted as I jerked my head out of the trashcan.

I knew it was a dream, a twisted, faux reality of my subconscious, but I couldn’t bring myself to wake up. I was standing, naked, in a windowless room with a full-length mirror. Shannon was there, kneeling down next to me and caressing my enlarged stomach.
We were both looking at our reflections. Shannon was smiling, content with the situation. Me, on the other hand, I couldn’t even recognize the hollow-eyed woman staring back at me. She looked fragile, frightened, and had guilt etched across her plain features. She was a stranger to me; I felt disconnect from her and wanted to leave her in the room. But, my overwhelming desire to have this child outweighed my need to try to escape, to run into the black abyss and never look back.
“I don’t want to hurt Matt,” I said to Shannon.
He ceased his movements across of my stomach and looked up at me. He had an unfamiliar gleam in his eyes, a slightly sadistic one.
I bit my tongue to keep from screaming in terror.
“It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?” he laughed, dark humor laced his words. He was the puppeteer, controlling this hell-hole I had become trapped in. He knew that I had realized that and only smiled, returning his attention to the mirror.
“You wanted this,” he reminded me, caressing my stomach again.
I nodded, coldly.
“I gave you this,” he continued, gesturing to our reflections.
“I know,” I replied, barely speaking above a whisper.
“Yet, you’re willing to give it up for him?”
“If I have to…yes.”
“That’s foolish. What has he given up for you?”
“Everything…”
Shannon’s callous laugh echoed into the darkness, causing the demonic creature—I could not consider it a baby as long as it was part of this Shannon’s creation—to kick violently within my womb. I cried out in pain, sinking to my knees.
“This is your life now,” he whispered into my ear.
I looked up to ask him why, but he disappeared into the shadows.
There I was, alone, in agony, and giving birth to his bastard child.
“You son of a bitch,” I shouted, jolting upright in the bed.
“What!” Shannon shrilled, quickly flipping on the light.
On Jenn’s request, he had spent the night. And on my request, he had slept in Matt’s room with me, which he would probably regret doing. He had jumped out of bed and was at my side.
“You asshole,” I screamed at him, tears streaming down my cheeks, “You motherfucking, sadistic asshole. How could you leave me there?” I was sobbing and overwhelmed by nausea, gagging in between cries.
“What are you talking about, Lil?” he asked calmly, even though I continued to verbally abuse him. “I would never leave you anywhere.”
I knew that I was no longer dreaming, but the harshness of it had caused me to distort the truth. “You fucking left me! How could you fucking leave me?”
“I haven’t left you,” he replied, wiping my tears with his index finger.
I shrugged him away, crawling out of bed and into the bathroom. He followed a safe distance behind me.
I threw my crutches to the floor, leaned over the toilet, and vomited.
After throwing up the Sprite and crackers I had before bed, I put my knees to my chest and leaned against the wall.
Shannon cautiously knelt down beside me. “Is everything all right?”
I nodded, closing my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I mumbled. “It was just the nightmare talking. I didn’t mean any of it.”
He gave me an understanding nod and sat down. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not with you,” I replied, turning my head to look at him.
He nodded again and offered a useless apology, “I’m sorry for whatever subconscious Shannon did to you.”
“It’s fine,” I said.
“No, it’s not. I scared the shit out of you. I should be ashamed of myself.”
I laughed dryly.
“Do you want me to get you anything?” he asked. “We need to try and get something to stay down, or you’ll get dehydrated.”
I nodded.
He rose to his feet and started heading for the door.
“Could you get my phone while you’re at it?”
He nodded, leaving abruptly. He returned a few minutes later, handed me my cell phone, and then shut the bathroom door to give me privacy. I waited until I heard him heading downstairs before I started dialing Jenn’s number. I didn’t even bother to check the time.
The phone rang for quite a while before a groggy, irritated voice answered. “Lil, is everything okay?”
“No,” I replied, trying to keep my voice even.
“Are you still sick?”
“I’ve been sick all night,” I replied, sighing, “but that’s only half of it.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I just verbally assaulted Shannon for no reason.”
“For no reason, what do you mean?”
“I had a nightmare. He was so evil. I was so pissed at him when I woke up.” I felt foolish telling her this, because she probably thought I was out of my mind.
I could hear rustling on the other end. She must’ve been getting out of bed. “What happened in the dream?” she asked.
“He made me choose between him and Matt, then left me alone to have his bastard child,” I replied in a huff.
“You,” I could almost hear her gulp. “You were pregnant in the dream?”
“Yes, and with Shannon’s kid. How fucked up is that?” I laughed, but there was nothing I found funny about it. “What the hell could that mean? Does it mean that I have unresolved feelings for him or something?”
“It’s possible,” she replied. “I mean, you two do have an unnatural friendship.”
“Matt and I have an unnatural friendship, too.”
“That’s my point.”
I laughed, shaking my head at the thought. “Impossible,” I said. “I love Shannon and all, but I’m in no rush to start a hypothetical family with the man.” Still, I couldn’t entirely dismiss the thought. I could love two people at the same time, right?
“Well, do you need me?” she asked, yawning, “Because I need sleep.”
“No,” I sighed, mumbling more to myself than to her. “Matt finally, kinda admits he loves me in some form, and I suddenly have potential feelings for his other best friend. This is getting annoying.”
Jenn insisted on getting some more sleep, so I let her go. Shannon came in a few minutes later, carrying a plate of crackers and some more Sprite. He sat on the floor and watched me eat. We talked for a few minutes, and then he helped me get back to bed. I fell asleep rather quickly—this time without the nightmares.

I woke up early, which was mostly due my internal clock telling me that Matt should be calling. Shannon was already up. I caught a whiff of breakfast as I started descending the stairs.
“Feeling any better?” Shannon asked as I entered the kitchen.
“Not really,” I replied. “I’ll skip breakfast, I think.”
“You sure?” he asked, showing me that he had homemade waffles in the waffle maker. “Made your favorite…Figured I had better do something nice for you since nightmare me was must’ve been a little shit.”
I smiled a little as I took a seat. “Never gonna let me live it down are you?”
“Nope,” he grinned, fixing himself a plate.
My cell phone was in the middle of the table. I eyed Shannon as he sat down in front of me.
“Matt’s been calling while you’ve been sleeping,” he explained, answering my questioning stare. “He called every fifteen minutes or so, but finally told me to tell you to call him when you were up…I told him you were sick.”
“Gee, now I feel so much better,” I grumbled.
“If it helps, I got lectured about how I should’ve taken you to the hospital,” he said, cutting one of his waffles in two with his fork.
I sighed, rolling my eyes as he slid the phone across the table.
The phone didn’t even make a ring complete when Matt answered. “I’ve been calling you all morning,” he sighed. “Shannon says you’ve been sick.”
“Yeah,” I admitted. I wanted to add that it was probably due to me missing him—and my newfound Shannon complication—but I didn’t.
“Do you need me to come home?” he asked, but it sounding more like it had already been decided. “I can take the first flight out of Milan and be home in no time.”
“I’m not letting a little stomach bug let you jeopardize your career.”
“It won’t,” he insisted. “I can call it a sick day.”
“We both know that you don’t have sick days,” I laughed. Matt was on the road three-hundred and sixty-five days out of the year, so calling in sick wasn’t an option.
“True. I can call it a family emergency.”
“No, Matthew. I’ve got plenty of people looking out for me.”
“If you get worse, promise me you’ll see a doctor.”
“I promise.”
“Good,” he said, the tension leaving his voice. He waited a few minutes before changing the subject. “I’ve e-mailed you several photos, some from France and some from Italy. I’ve also got some stuff for you.”
“That’s sweet,” I grinned. He was always bringing expensive stuff back with him, usually jewelry.
“No problem.”
More silence.
“So?”
“So?”
“Mr. Hardy, you don’t have an hour-long discussion planned,” I gasped playfully. “I’m shocked.”
“Not really, no,” he admitted. I could almost see him shrugging. “I mostly wanted to make sure you were all right.”
“I see.” I sighed, trying to sound as casual as possible. “Well, since I have you on the phone, there is something I wanted to ask you?”
“Okay, I’m all ears.”
“What did you mean when you said, ‘me, too?’”
Shannon’s ears perked up. I could almost feel him leaning forward to hear Matt’s response.
“Oh, that.”
“Yes, that. Your explanation is?”
“The last night I was home, when we were talking, didn’t you say…?” He trailed off, seemingly confused by my sudden attack on him.
“I’m perfectly aware of what I said, but I wanted to know what you meant?” I sounded a bit more demanding than I intended. The last thing I wanted was to get in an argument with him over the phone.
“Oh, well, I meant that I feel the same way,” he explained, ignoring my sharp tone. “I always thought my feelings were implied, so I never put them out there…When you did, I figured what the hell.”
“Y-you feel the same?” I stammered in disbelief.
Shannon was trying not to grin as he finished cleaning up. He put his dishes in the sink, gave me a wink, and went into the living room.
“Yes,” Matt laughed. “You knew you were bound to weasel your way in somehow.”
I frowned. I could feel my heart almost stop. I knew that tone; it was the friend tone. He loved me, but as nothing more than his friend.
“Yeah,” I forced a laugh, but it came out as more of a snort. I was getting that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach again. “Listen, Matt. I’m starting to not feel well. I’m going to go lay back down.”
“Okay. Don’t forget, you promised.”
“I know.”
“I’ll call later for an update.”
“Okay.”
“Bye.”
“Bye.”
I slowly hung up and took a deep breath as I waited for the nausea to pass. Sighing heavily, I stood up and drug myself toward the living room.
“What did he say?” Shannon’s smile fell when he saw my facial expression.
“He used the friend’s tone,” I grumbled as I stood in the doorway.
Shannon tried not to let me see him wince, but I did. He gave me a look of sympathy and gestured for me to come have a seat on his lap.
I complied, sitting crutches on the floor.
“I thought for sure that he felt more than that,” I sighed, wrapping my arms around his neck and resting my cheek against his forehead.
“You’ve still got me, you know?”
“Yeah,” I pulled back, grinning. “I still have you.”
Looking at him, I realized that I could easily fall for him. Maybe I already had without noticing. If I felt something for him, then this was the time to find out.
“Shannon?”
“Yes ma’am?”
“Can I ask you a really bizarre favor?”
He chuckled. “Coming from you, everything is bizarre.”
I forced a smile as I inhaled a deep breath. “Kiss me.”
He looked at me a second, as if he were waiting for the bizarre part of my favor to come about. He then shrugged and gave me the usual peck on the lips.
“No,” I rolled my eyes, “not like that. I mean, kiss me, as in open-mouthed.”
Shannon looked at me, astonished. “Say what?”
“Oh, for the love of Charlie,” I growled. “Kiss me, you dumb shit. It’s not that hard to comprehend.”
“I have a Julie—I mean a girlfriend. Why would you ask me to do something like that?” He was speaking several octaves higher now.
“What’s-her-ass will never have to know,” I reassured. “This will be strictly for scientific purposes only.”
“Lil…”
“Shannon, quit being such a pansy,” I spat. “I didn’t ask you to fuck me, so there’s no need to get your G-string stuck in your ass.”
“Who says I’m wearing a G-string?” he asked, hoping I would drop the request.
“I don’t give a damn what you’re wearing. Are you gonna kiss me or not?”
He rolled his eyes, placing one hand on the side of my neck, underneath my jaw. He slowly brought his lips to mine. The kiss was soft, hesitant at first. I moved my lips against his, trying to get him to work with me; I pulled him closer to me.
Once he realized that I had no intention of pulling away, the kiss became more intense. I didn’t mind kissing him, but he just wasn’t Matt. When my lips stopped moving, he took that as his hint and let me go.
“Anything?” he asked, obviously catching on to my scheme.
“Hell no,” I pouted. “Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn. This is even worse than I anticipated. I thought if Matt didn’t return my feelings, I could just move on to the person I love second-most.”
“And that’s not me, apparently.”
“No,” I frowned. “This is horrible.”
“Well, you can’t force it.”
I stared at him a second. I could never understand how he could be so calm about everything, even when this had to be bothering him.
“But I want to,” I whined.
He shook his head in disagreement. “No, you don’t.”
“I have to, or else I’ll stay in this perpetual romance from hell.”
“Even the fucked up situations have happy-endings,” he said.
“Oh, Shan,” I groaned, holding him close. “I don’t want your fortune cookie bullshit, just sit there and comfort me in silence.”
He nodded, staying silent for only a minute or two.
“How was it?” he asked.
I laughed.
“Not as awkward as I thought it’d be. Kinda fun, actually,” I replied. “We should make-out more often.”
He grinned, looking at the non-existent wrist-watch on his right arm. “Well,” he offered, “I don’t have to be at the shop for a little bit. So, for shits and giggles, we can have another go at it?”
“For shits and giggles,” I agreed.
Normally, this was a friendship guideline that I didn’t blatantly cross—except with Matt—but as Jenn had pointed out, Shannon and I didn’t have a normal friendship. A couple kissing sessions here and there would be fine.
We reached for one another again. This time our lips met in a more jovial manner.
“Wow…Holy shit!” I heard Jenn say.
Shannon and I both gasped, jerking apart. Our attention darted toward the doorway.
“Jenn, I thought we discussed this knocking thing?” I shrieked, almost falling off of Shannon’s lap.
“Sorry, guys…” she stammered. “I didn’t…I’m sorry.”
Shannon lifted me off his lap and sat me on the couch. “I should really get going,” he said quickly.
“Okay,” I nodded. “See you later?”
“You bet,” he replied, giving Jenn a brief acknowledgement as he rushed out the door.
She waited until she heard the door slam before she started. “Lil…”
“It wasn’t what you think,” I rolled my eyes, acting disinterested.
She looked down. “I was just going to apologize for interrupting.”
“What, that?” I laughed dismissively. “You have nothing to apologize for. As it turns out, I don’t have the hots for Shannon. We were just making-out because we were bored. You aren’t going to tell what’s-her-tits about this are you?”
She burst into laughter. “No,” she said, taking a seat next to me. “I won’t.”
“I can see why she’s with him,” I commented, grinning. “He does wonders with that tongue ring of his.”
“Crazy woman,” she laughed, shaking her head. “How are you feeling?”
“Like I’ve been hit by a semi-truck,” I replied.
“Ugh,” she groaned, leaning her head back. “Knock on wood, metal, tin, marble, or whatever…I haven’t thrown up today.”
“Well, to avoid throwing up, I’ve avoided eating all together,” I told her.
She looked over at me, concerned. “Maybe we should get you to the doctor.”
“Yeah, I promised Matt,” I nodded. “But you know how much I hate doctors; I want to give this another day or two.”
She still wasn’t thrilled about me not eating and offered to fix me something, but I declined. I told her I was going to go relax in the Jacuzzi for a little while and she could stay the day if she wanted.

It’s a terrifying thing to be under water, to be slowly losing your oxygen and having that little glimmer of the surface fade in the distance. What’s more terrifying is the knowledge that there’s not a soul around to save you. My lungs burned as they were filled to capacity with a soapy, liquid substance. Death had me by the throat and was guiding me downward. I wanted to scream. I reasoned that, if I did, the water could fill my lungs faster, killing me a little quicker than normal. All I wanted was a quick death.
Finally, my body was starting to relinquish to the water. There was no point in struggling to break to the surface. There was no surface, only a mirage. They often say your life flashes before your eyes the moment you have entered Death’s circle. Well, that’s bullshit. I had no recollection of my life; I couldn’t even recall a relative that would supposedly be waiting on the other side. The only thing waiting for me at the end of that proverbial tunnel was a vast amount of nothingness.
“Lil, what are you doing?” I heard a male voice ask, followed by a child’s cry. The male voice I recognized, but the young boy baffled me.
“Unk Shandon,” the child voice questioned, confused. “Why is she in wawer?”
“She’s lost,” was the reply.
“Find her,” demanded the child. His tantrum began to overpower my feeling of suffocation. “You promised, Unk Shandon. You promised!”
“Fight it, Lil,” was Shannon’s faint words of encouragement.
“Fight it, Momma. Fight the wawer, please!”
Momma…
“Momma!” I cried out, jolting up in the Jacuzzi, spewing soapy water from my mouth, which explained why I was drowning in soap. I was gasping for air and looking fervently around the bathroom for my son before I realized that it was another dream.
I was racked with an unexplainable guilt and sobbing in pain. I had felt my son’s presence, heard his voice, so he couldn’t have been part of my imagination. My brain was trying to find the logic behind this madness, but became distracted by the uncomfortable pains that were shooting through my abdomen, causing me to gag. I had to get out of the Jacuzzi before I vomited.
Lucas must have heard my screams because he was barking and clawing at the bathroom door.
“Lil?” Jenn called out, frantically knocking.
I didn’t respond as I made a weak attempt to get out of the tub; I was coughing up water, which was mixed with a bit of stomach acid.
Jenn came rushing in and looked at me for a second, as if she were trying to decide if she should help me or not. She quickly snatched a towel of the counter and wrapped it around me. “Come on,” she said soothingly as she helped me out of the tub.
“Toilet,” I grumbled with my hand over my mouth.
She helped me to the toilet, holding my wet hair back as I finished throwing up.
“Are you okay?” she asked as I flushed the toilet.
“No,” I grumbled. Forgetting that I couldn’t walk, I started pulling away from her and nearly took us both down.
“Shit, Lil,” she screeched, clutching me. “I think we should seriously get you to the doctor.”
“No,” I shook my head, reaching for my crutches. “I just fell asleep and just startled myself.” This time I was steady enough, so I quickly headed for the door.
“I have to get out of here for a while. I’m going crazy.” I told her as she followed me. I started looking through the closet for Matt’s extra duffle bag. My towel had fallen off somewhere in between, but I ignored the sudden draft and continued my hunt.
“Where do you want to go?” she asked, puzzled.
“Shannon’s,” I replied. Maybe if I got away from this house—and Jenn—things would settle down and I wouldn’t feel as if I were on the brink of insanity.
“Oh…Well, you could stay with me.”
“No offense, Jenn,” I began, pulling out the duffle bag and kicking it towards the dresser, “but I don’t think it’s a good idea. You being preggers and all, I’d be too much of a hassle.”
“I promised Matt that I’d take care of you,” she insisted.
“So did Shan,” I pointed out, opening the drawers and pulling out a set of clothes to wear. Then I grabbed another handful and tossed them on top of the duffle bag. “Put those in there for me, please.”
She sighed as she bent down and put the clothes in the bag. “Want me to take you?” she asked, looking up at me.
“No,” I shook me head. “I’ll take a cab.”
She looked a bit hurt by my rebuff. “Umm…Well, I’ll help you down stairs, and then I’ll leave you alone. I can take Lucas back to my house until the boys get back.”
“Thanks,” I forced a smile, pausing a heartbeat before I added, “It’s nothing personal, Jenn.”
“Ah, Christ,” I grumbled, noticing that she was trying not to cry. “I swear that it has nothing to do with you…Well, it does a little, but it’s kind of me more than it is you. I’m really…I’m really…confuckled right now.”
She laughed.
“Con-what?” she asked as a few tears trickled down her cheeks.
“Confused and fucked up at the same time,” I explained, sitting on the bed and trying to dress myself as quickly as possible.
“Want some help?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but another uncomfortable cramp cut me off. “Shit,” I grimaced, fidgeting a little bit.
She was already going to get a trashcan, assuming I had to vomit again.
“No,” I shook my head. “It’s just a cramp…I’m probably getting ready for my Aunt Flow.”
Jenn nodded in agreement and helped me finish getting dressed. I was helped down the stairs and then a cab was called.
I opted to be dropped off at Shannon’s shop rather than his house. I didn’t want to run into Julie. She would have me sent home the second the cab pulled into the driveway. So I figured that, if I spoke with Shannon first, his vote would overrule hers.
With my bag slung over my shoulder (and weighing my down), I walked into Shannon’s tattoo parlor. “Hello, secret lover,” I sang loudly, causing his employees and customers to turn and look at me.
“Hey?” He gave him a confused greeting from behind the counter. “What are you dong here? Better yet, how the hell did you get here?”
“I sprinkled fairy dust and flew,” I rolled my eyes. “How the hell do you think I got here? It’s a thing called a C-A-R.”
“You drove?”
I laughed, shaking my head as I approached the counter. “I question your intelligence sometimes, you know that? No, I didn’t drive. I took a cab.”
“Oh,” he said, returning his attention to the stack of papers in front of him. “So, where are you headed?” he asked, briefly glancing at my bag.
“Vacation,” I replied nonchalantly.
“You’re going on a vacation?” He looked up, confused.   “Is Matt allowing you to go on vacation? I didn’t see that anywhere in the lengthy To-Do list he e-mailed.”
“Oh, I’m not going very far,” I reassured him.
“Where are you going, then?”
“It’s a place called Casa de Moore, located in Whispering Pines.”
“Oh, I see,” he grinned. “You do know that Casa de Moore is expensive, right?”
“Yeah,” I nodded, “but I figured I paid for it this morning.”
He blushed. “I suppose you did.”
I smirked, leaning against the counter. “So, do I get to stay over?” I asked as my lips neared his. “I hate staying at Matt’s all on my lonesome. I think it’s starting to really get to me.”
“Of course you can,” he replied without hesitation, “Mi casa es su casa.”
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The Guidelines of Sex & Friendship