Flame and Leah

“Hi,” Flame greeted Leah. He leaned against the doorframe somehow looking even better than he had earlier. In baggy jeans and a plain white wifebeater, his tattoos and muscles were the only things Leah could concentrate on at first.

Smiling, Leah turned her focus on his gorgeous face. “Hey,” she said back to him. She could hear people and music in the house. “This place is a party 24-7, isn’t it?” she asked as he moved out of the way to let her pass by.

Closing the door behind him, Flame shook his head. “Only on the weekends. The rest of the week, we all work or go to school, so we try to keep the noise and visitors to a minimum.” He took her hand and started leading her towards the kitchen. “Let’s get some beer,” he suggested.
“Okay,” Leah agreed, complimented by the touch. “I can’t drink too much, though. I have to drive home later.”

Looking back at her, Flame offered a sexy smile. “Don’t worry,” he told her. “We always have someone sober to drive people home. Or you could spend the night…” Not waiting for a response from Leah, he greeted a short guy in all black that was standing in the kitchen doorway. “Joe, this is Leah, the girl I was telling you about.”
Leah blushed at the realization that Flame had been telling people about her. “Hi,” she said to Joe.

“Hey,” he replied. “Good to meet you.”

Flame grabbed two beers from the fridge, handing one to Leah, and starting introducing her to the dozen or so people around the house; apparently, he had mentioned Leah to everyone he knew already. Finally, they wandered into the backyard again to sit down and talk alone. Sitting at a picnic table near the fence, Flame smiled at her, and his deep blue eyes seemed to be dancing.

“I’m so glad you came by tonight,” he told her. “I think most of my friends assumed I had made you up. After all, this beautiful, funny, smart, cool, sexy girl… Some of them thought you were too good to be true.” He laughed a little and drank some beer. “When I woke up this morning, there were a few seconds when I thought you were too good to be true; I thought maybe you were a dream. That’s why I had to call you right away. Callie was not happy about being woken up to get your number.”

Leah raised her eyebrows and shook her head. “I’m definitely not ‘too good to be true,’” she objected, embarrassed. “Don’t say stuff like that; I don’t need that kind of pressure.” She smiled at him. “But I am glad I came by, too.”

“So how’d the studying go?” he asked.

Appreciative that Flame seemed so down-to-earth and interested in talking about normal stuff, Leah relaxed and drank some of her beer. “I didn’t get too much done,” she admitted. “Callie came by and she was really hung over, so I let her sleep in my room. What’d you do with the rest of your day?”

Pulling out a cigarette, Flame shrugged his shoulders. “We had practice for a couple hours, then we stopped by the skate park. Then I cleaned my room.” He looked down a little to light his cigarette, but didn’t raise his eyes again when he continued. “I wanted it clean, you know, in case you wanted to see it later on.”

“How’d practice go?” she asked, ignoring his last statement.

Leaning forward, Flame took a drag of his cigarette. “Good, I think. We’ve been apart so long, it feels good to come back and pick up right where we left off. That’s a rare thing.”

Leah and Flame kept talking for the next two hours, pausing only when Flame would get up to grab more beer. When he returned with the fourth round, he put the bottles on the table and, instead from sitting across from her like he had been, Flame sat next to Leah, straddling the bench. “So,” he said, “what do you think?”

Feeling a little tipsy from her three beers, Leah looked confused. “What do I think about what?”

Looking a little shy, Flame smiled. “Have you made any concrete opinions of me?”

Biting her lip in mock concentration, Leah pretended to think hard about the question. “Hmm,” she said. “Well, you’re arrogant, but in a good way. And you’re a little strange, also in a good way. But you smell funny…” she joked.

Without replying, Flame leaned forward to kiss her again. His mouth was firm and one hand moved to Leah’s waist. Pulling away after a few moments, Leah smiled at him. “And you are an amazing kisser,” she added in retrospect.“Right back at ya,” he told her. “Want to go inside?” he asked. “I’ve got some movies in my room we could watch.”

“Sure,” Leah replied, standing up. “Let’s go.”

-----

Flame’s room was much like Leah imagined it would be. There were band posters decorating the walls, a couple guitars in the corner with an amp, and a twin bed in the middle of the room with a TV stand at the foot of it. It was a small room, but it had a comfortable feel about it.

Closing the door behind them, Flame looked at Leah. “Welcome to my humble abode,” he said. “What are you in the mood to watch? I hate to admit it, but basically you have three choices: anime, sci-fi, or Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, season one.”

Leah laughed. “I don’t usually tell people this when I first meet them,” she told him, sitting on the edge of the bed. “But I am obsessed with that show.”

“Buffy it is, then,” Flame said, moving towards the television set and putting in the DVD.

“Is this your sister?” Leah asked, picking up a framed picture of a cute pink baby from the nightstand. “She’s adorable.”

Flame moved to the other side of the bed and smiled. “Yeah, Libby’s really cool. I miss her a lot.” He took off his shoes and climbed onto the bed, sitting up leaning his head against the headboard. “Luckily, Virginia isn’t too far. I’ll be able to visit them pretty frequently.”

Leah took the suggestion from Flame’s actions and slid off her own shoes. Nervously, she climbed next to Flame and sat on the bed.

“First episode, or would you prefer another?” he asked, turning off the lamp next to him and pressing ‘play’ on the remote.

“I like the first one,” Leah said, fully aware of the darkness of the room. She reached over and took her beer from where she had placed it on the nightstand next to her. “It’s so funny to see how much Sarah Michelle Gellar has changed since the beginning.”

Flame was a perfect gentleman while they watched the show. “It’s a good episode,” he said as it ended. “But I prefer the ones with Spike. Listen, I’ll go get us more beer, and you choose the next one.”

When he returned to the room, Leah smiled at him from the bed. “That’s a nice thing to walk in on,” Flame told her. “A beautiful girl waiting for me on my bed.” He handed her the beer, joining her again, but this time he put his arm gently around her shoulder. “What’d you choose?” he asked.

“It’s a surprise,” Leah said, hitting play.

“I like surprises,” Flame told her. He leaned over to kiss her gently, and within a few minutes, their beers were on the nightstand and they were making out heavily. Laying side by side and facing each other, Leah felt Flames’ hands running up and down her back. She loved the way his lips felt against hers and the way his mouth felt as he began kissing her neck. She closed her eyes and felt him slowly moving his body on top of hers.

Running his hand over the front of her tank top, Flame kissed the hollow of Leah’s throat. Slowly, he began to slide his hand beneath the fabric of her shirt. Leah breathed heavily as she felt him massaging her chest. Then his hand ran down her stomach and started to play with the button on her jeans. Leah opened her eyes and stiffened a little. “Wait,” she said nervously.

Without hesitation, Flame removed his hand and pulled away a little. “I’m sorry,” he said genuinely. “Was I going too fast?”

“A little,” Leah said meekly. “I’m sorry.”

Flame shook his head and smiled. “You have no reason to be sorry. We only met yesterday,” he said with understanding. “I totally respect if you want to wait longer.”

Sitting up and pulling her shirt down, Leah stared down at the patterns on the comforter. “Actually,” she whispered nervously, “there’s a little more to it than that.” Using all her willpower to meet Flames curious gaze, she felt her heart beating in her chest. “It’s just that, I’ve never… I’m a virgin.”

“Oh,” Flame said, unable to hide his surprise. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t even think… I just assumed… Wow, you must think I’m an asshole, don’t you?”

Shaking her head, Leah’s eyes got wide. “No, not at all,” she said. “How would you know? I should have told you before, but I didn’t know how or when to bring it up.”

Silent for a few moments while he thought this over, Flame finally locked his warm gaze with Leah’s. “Well,” he said, smiling. “Now I know.” He nodded, considering the implications of what he had just been told.

Leah bit her lip. “So what does this mean?” she asked him.

“Well,” he said, putting his arm around her again and nudging her head until it rested on his shoulder. “I guess it means that I’m going to be taking a lot of cold showers for quite some time,” he laughed. “Because, if I have anything to do with it, I still plan on seeing you. Repeatedly and frequently.” He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her shoulder. “Of course, that’s really up to you.”

Leah closed her eyes and leaned in more to Flame. “That sounds perfect to me.” With that, they turned their attentions back to the television and cuddled until the episode was over.

-----

“I should get going soon,” Leah said. “It’s getting late.”

Flame nodded. “Joe’s not drinking, so he can drive you home and I can drop your car off in the morning.” He pushed a wisp of hair off her forehead. “Unless you could find an excuse to tell your parents, in which case you’re welcome to stay here.”

Crinkling her forehead, Leah looked questioningly at Flame. “You’d still want me to stay here, even though-”

But Flame wouldn’t let her finish her sentence. “Yes,” he said. “I would. Even though.”

Leah’s eyebrows rose. “Well,” she said. “In that case, I guess I can tell you that they’re out of town now until Monday, so I don’t have to go home.”

Flame smiled. “Here then,” he said, rising. “Let me get you something to sleep in.” Walking over to a small dresser near the door, Flame took out a t-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts. “I’ll go downstairs to give you a few minutes to change.” Opening the door, he walked out of the room and shut it behind him.

Leah quickly changed into the t-shirt, which went down to her knees, but decided against the shorts. She climbed into the bed and under the covers. When Flame returned a few minutes later, he had a bottle of water for her. “Here, so you don’t have a headache in the morning,” he told her.

Opening the water and taking a sip, Leah tried to ignore Flame as he undid his jeans and let them drop to the floor, leaving him in his boxers and wifebeater. “Is it okay if I sleep like this?” he asked her. Leah just nodded as Flame joined her, asking if she was tired.

“Kind of,” Leah said. “More likely, a little drunk.” She watched as Flame shut off the TV with the remote.

“Then come here,” he told her, pulling her back to his chest and wrapping his body around her. “Is this okay?”

Feeling warm and safe, Leah closed her eyes. “It’s perfect,” she said. They lay there for an hour in that position before Leah finally dozed off, happier than she ever remembered being.