catch me, love me

"What?" His body half turned towards Ava, staring back. "Don’t be silly." He scoffed slightly, walking over to her. Wrapping his arms around her, he rested his chin on the top of her head. This was the moment. This was the time that he could tell Ava the truth before her sister got to her with the news. Not that it would have sounded any better coming from him. His mouth slightly ajar, Nate hesitated. He couldn’t do it. He just couldn’t hurt Ava anymore than he had already done and he knew this would destroy her. "I had a pretty rough night which has left me with a pretty rough hangover." Technically, he wasn’t lying but he wasn’t advocating the entire truth either. A soft chuckle surpassed his lips, nerves taking over. "I was supposed to have a shift later on this evening but I called Heather and got her to swap with me so why don’t we both just grab some food and kick back with some TV or a movie?" Maybe spending time with Ava was exactly what he needed to push past this hurdle. 

"Clearly we both are in dire need of some relaxing. As for work, why don’t you push them a little? Sometimes you just gotta force it if you want to be noticed." Releasing her from his hold, Nate held onto her hand guiding her over to the bed. It was still messy from the last time Nate was in bed. He never saw the point in making the bed when he knew he’d be back in after a few hours but this time he regretted it. It only made him think about Alana more than he wanted to. He wanted Ava. He loved her. Nate knew that much yet he couldn’t shake his mind off the other twin. 

  “I’m sorry it was rough. It might help if you take something for the hangover, you know.” She turned her face slightly more into Nate, not wanting to leave his arms. Something caught her attention, the smell of clean laundry mixing with something else. She couldn’t quite figure out just what it was, but she felt like she should know what it was. “Food and a movie on the couch with my amazing boyfriend? That sounds like the best thing in the world.” After everything with work, that was all she wanted to do. Later she’d hang out with her sister, maybe tomorrow, but for now she just wanted to spend time with Nate.

  She considered what he’d said, nodding slightly as he pulled away and she looked at his face. Her hand fit nicely in his, something she always loved. “I suppose you’re right. I’ll have to make them notice me if I want to move up any further and get my name out there.” Ava moved to the bed with Nate, sitting down and taking a deep breath as she relaxed for the first time. “By the way, if you changed your body wash, you should switch back. Whatever it is leaves a weird smell.” She said with a laugh, leaning over to kiss his cheek when he sat down.

  The sudden feeling of his hand running up and to her shoulders made her nerves light up, a shiver running down her spine. Ava let out a soft moan as Nate’s hands went to work on her shoulders and back. “Oh god, it feels amazing.” She closed her eyes, a smile on her lips as the tension slowly dissipated. “Your hands are magic, seriously.” The brunette enjoy it, the feeling of his hands on her and the way the knots and tension in her muscles came undone. These were her favorite moments.

Whatever alcohol and drugs he had mixed in his system had completely flushed, leaving him with the aftermath effect. A banging headache and exhaustion. His eyes were sore and droopy, anyone would have thought he was currently still dosed up. Turning on the faucet, Nate splashed cold water over his face before rummaging through his cupboard for some pain killers. Popping one into his mouth, Nate threw a second one the back of his throat. He leant his head down to the sink, drinking straight from the tap. The urge to pop a few more played in the back of Nate’s mind but he decided against it, replacing it with another substance.

Walking back into his bedroom, he immediately went to his jacket placed on the floor in search for a roll up. “Something to take the edge off.” He reasoned with himself, eyeing his room for a lighter. Finding it by his bedside table, Nate began to blaze up a joint. The first inhale made Nate feel relaxed. The next few intakes caused Nate’s body and mind to ease up. 

Rolling the joint in between his fore finger and thumb, Nate almost dropped it as he heard Ava’s voice call out for him. “Shit! Shit!” He panicked, moving back and forth in panic mode, trying to figure out what to do with the joint. Rushing over to the window, Nate chucked it out and left the window open. The smell of weed was lurking in the air and he knew the minute Ava stepped into the room, she’d know what’s up. Grabbing himself deodorant, Nate began to ridiculously spray the entire bottle. When the door opened, he pretended to spray himself, stopping once he caught a glimpse of Ava by the door. “Oh you did babe?” He stared at her emotionlessly before pushing a smile across his face that was beyond natural. Play. It. Cool. He thought to himself. 

"I can see that." She smiled and laughed, more than happy to be in his arms. Her hands moved to his shoulders, kissing him back softly before groaning at his question that followed. "Horrible. I had to do so much work and I think I only slept for two hours. Everything got done though and it seemed like they all liked it which is what's important." Ava ran a hand through her straightened hair, still watching Nate closely. "I don't know why I stick with it honestly. I feel like I'm so close to not being an intern anymore, but no offers so far." The brunette looked down at the floor, her tone showing just how exhausted she was from the all nighter.

"I don't know, Nate. Maybe I should just...Nate?" Ava stood up straight, looking at her boyfriend with a worried expression. "Is something wrong? You seem off. Did I do something? Did something happen when I was at work?"

Not that he was trying very hard. Dominic knew, in this moment, that he couldn’t deny Ava anything; and he knew he didn’t really want to. The space between them widened as she moved to towards the bed, but his eyes pursued her almost involuntarily, darting to the curve of her hips and the sweep of her hair above her neckline and the smooth, subtle dip of muscle at her calves. And then, the deliberate, sultry gaze that locked on his, tossed over her shoulder like bait. 

"Fuck," he muttered. Then came a small, resigned groan as arousal curled in the pit of his stomach. Raising his voice, Dom summoned his bravado to smirk at Ava. "Don’t talk like that unless you’re prepared for the consequences, Myers."

In a moment, his grin flashed from playful to predatory. It took a few quick steps to bring himself close to Ava, and a few more to corner her, backing her against the wall of her room. The music was faded into the background now, as were any thoughts of Alana and Dylan; all Dominic heard was their mingled breathing, heavy with desire. His palms were spread flat on the wall on either side of her head, and he pressed his chest flush against hers, leaning forward so his mouth was right next to her ear. His heart was pounding, loudly and frighteningly quickly, and he wanted her to feel it through his chest. He wanted her to know, he wanted her to inhabit him for just a moment.

She knew she had him. He was in the palm of her hand and she was more than happy to tighten her fingers and pull him off the last bit of edge that would send him falling into her. The smirk sent her way made her laugh, tucking her chin into her shoulder as if she were embarrassed. "How would there be consequences if no one but the two of us know?" Ava asked innocently, turning around to look at Dom completely. Every part of him only aroused her more, the lines of muscles that she could see and even just the look in his eyes. The moment they looked at her as if she belonged to him, she knew they'd fallen down the rabbit hole.

Her back hit the wall, Ava pressed up against it as her eyes stared up at Dominic. There was little space between them, allowing the lust to cloud around and encircle them. When he leaned closer, arms on either side of her, the breath that had was just about to fall out from her pink lips stopped, hitch in her throat. His heart was racing, just as fast as her own was beating, and for a moment it seemed like that was all she could hear. Their two hearts, beating loud and taking up the entire room. His question broke her from being lost in the sound, eyes closing at the kiss pressed to the shell of her ear.

"Plenty." Ava whispered, her hands coming up slowly, dipping themselves under Dom's shirt and pressing to the hot flesh that was underneath. "So take me. Make me yours." She added, turning her head to the side so she could kiss the corner of his mouth, what she could reach.

There was always a part of Ava that was a bit darker than her normal self, the part that wanted to make a disaster out of everything and turn life into something wild. With Dominic, that part of her was coming out. She was a good girl by normal standards, a little less than her sister, but that took effort. This took nothing but a release and Dom was her release.

And she meant it; for truth be told, Alana had no intention whatsoever of going for more than half a day without seeing her sister.

  Dropping the box on the toilet seat, the brunette returned to the room and searched for other boxes with the word "bathroom" written on it in bold sharpie. She let out a heartfelt laugh as Ava spoke. “I highly doubt it..” She paused for a second, as if suddenly she’d gotten lost in her own thoughts. “.. I’m.. nervous. I know it’s going to be different and I know they are going to be expecting a certain level.. I just don’t know what kind of level exactly and that makes me..” She picked up a box and glanced toward Ava before returning to the bathroom. “.. well, nervous.” Gently dropping the box on the sink, Alana opened the cabinet above it. Sliding her right index  finger along the shelf, then inspected it — it was clean, surprisingly. 

A couple hours without Alana, sure. A whole day, possibly more? No.

Ava grabbed a box label with the word 'desk' and moved over to her desk in the room, setting her books out on the little bookshelf and getting her pencils, pens, and other stuff all lined up and neat. "You should be a little nervous to keep you on your toes, but don't freak yourself out, Alana. You're gonna probably be one of the best, if not the best, dancer.They're gonna be begging for you." She had full confidence in her twin, especially after all the practice and hard work she'd seen her sister put into getting to where she is now.

Finger gripped a stack of sketchpads and set them out on the desk to organize them by the kind of paper that was inside of them. She made sure that none of them were ruined by the drive over too. "I think it's going to be amazing. I mean, we get to do what we love to do and learn more for it and at the same time we get to have fun in the best city over." Ava grabbed her littler container with three drawers, organizing her colored pencils, sketch pencils, and other art materials for when she works on her designs.

Why not why not why not, the voice in his head singsonged ecstatically. He could feel the warmth of her skin through her shirt, beneath his palms. His grip on her waist tightened as he let out a desperate gasp, and he wasn’t dancing so much as grinding his hips against hers, the music setting a slow, throbbing beat that made him shudder down to the curl of his toes. This was all happening too fast, just the way Dom liked it. 

He bent lower to touch his nose to her neck and inhaled, and maybe it should’ve been weird that he couldn’t tell the difference between her scent and Alana’s - maybe that should’ve set off warning bells in his head, but he couldn’t care less. He was this close to throwing himself off that cliff, to crossing a line that he wouldn’t be able to turn back from, and he was unshakeably aware of it. Groaning softly into her neck, heady with arousal, he tugged her closer to him and moved to meet her lips.

The whirring noise of the stereo startled him, as the song ended and faded into the next. He shook his head and pulled away dazedly. 

"I can’t," he said, but he said it around a smirk, and he said it like he didn’t mean a word of it. "You know why." He ran his hand down the smooth curve of her back for a last time, before reluctantly releasing her and stepping backwards. 

Her head tilted up slightly when she felt his head at her neck, his nose touching the skin there and she could feel his breath ghosting over her skin and down into her shirt. And oh god, the way her body reacted to that. All she wanted was for him to kiss her right then and there and when she felt herself being tugged closer, she was giddy at what was to come.

But then it was over. The kiss was like an added temptation to drive her wild and she fed into it, wanting more. Those two words had her glaring, unhappy with the fact that he was saying no, but he wasn't really. Ava let out a little whine when she felt his hand moving down her spine, the spot that always got to her. Something about her spine was sensitive and the way he ran his fingers down her back lit up a fire that had only been a small thing.

"So I'm only good enough drunk?" Ava said with an accusing tone, trying to make him feel bad for being mean even if he did laugh. Besides, no one told her no. It was simple as that. The next song was playing, but she wasn't paying attention to it now. He attention was all on Dom. "Dom..." Ava whispered, that sweet whisper that she used so often on Dylan and on any guy in her past. She moved closer to him, her hand reaching to touch his arm delicately. "Dominic, look at me." Ava's voice was a bit more stern, enticing.

Noticing Ava wrinkling her nose, she smiled. “It’s just a few years Ava, it’ll go by in the blink of an eye, you’ll see.”  In all honest, Alana wasn’t looking forward for that to happen - while she was a fairly adaptable person, not being at school was something that scared her a little. Perhaps it was a silly fear, but school, classes, papers.. that had always come fairly easy to her (some days more than others but, overall, she knew she was good when it came to academics), it was being a fully independent adult that scared her — she didn’t fear the responsibilities that came with it, no, she knew she could take those, the fear of failure on the other hand…. 

"You're gonna have the busiest schedule in the world and you're not going to know what to do with yourself. Just don't forget that you've gotta be able to have lunch with me every day and be back for dinner." Ava said the last part with a bit of a stern tone. That was a rule that she had when it came to going to college. She wanted to make sure the two of them saw each other as much as they could. With the two different areas of study they were doing, it was going to be hard as it was but Ava wasn't going to let her and Alana get separated in any way. She loved her sister too much and couldn't be without her for too long as it was.

"Get classes going, audition when the time comes, and you'll be set. You'll impress the people there and they'll never look at anyone else the same every again because everyone is going to have to live up to you." Ava finished the first box of clothes and move on to the next. It seemed like forever before she'd finished the the closet, even putting in the rest of the stuff.

Finding the box for her bed, she grabbed it and moved to put the sheets on it. "You think it's all gonna be fun, Alana?" Ava asked, looking over her shoulder. "This whole college thing. Do you think it's gonna be fun or all work?"

"You’re right," he said, a grin widening across his face slowly. "Fuck dinner." They’d never been the sensible halves of their respective relationships, anyway. He let himself be pulled forward, nearly tripping after her, and laughed boldly as he felt the music thudding his heartbeat along with it. He danced, and he was well aware that he looked pretty stupid dancing like that, hands waving everywhere and gangly, lean hips swaying, but all that self-consciousness melted away. The surge of childish, carefree delight that swept him up was overwhelming; he was happy, really happy, and nothing but happy.

Dancing closer to Ava, he leaned towards her ear and said, over the music, “This is fucking great.” His smile was manic and involuntary, and so were his hands, when they settled on Ava’s hips. She was right about knowing how to work them; they moved smoothly under his palms, all soft, welcoming curves. He swayed with her, which was even better than dancing - dancing together, inhabiting the music in the exact same way, felt a crazy kind of good. 

She was acutely aware of the hands on her hips, his voice in her ear, and the feeling of him being so close to her. There was something about Dom that electrified parts of her, made a part of her feel so alive and on top of everything. There wasn't a voice that rang out in her head to warn her as she moved her hips against Dom's hands and to the pulse of the music. Ava rarely had that popular little voice ringing in her head, only because she tended to throw herself into everything and hope for the best.

"Oh, it’s accelerating" He kissed her passionately before pulling away "and I wouldn’t have it any other way" Dylan ran his hand through his hair and smiled. "I do make days shine. Your sister often says the sun doesn’t shine out my ass but I think it does"

She curled into him, fingers of her left hand knotting in his shirt. Ava had a thing about doing that, a natural reaction whenever she cared about people and didn't want them to leave. With her sister, she'd always grab the girl's hand, but with Dylan, she clung to his shirt...if he had one on depending on the moment.

"Yes, poor me!" Ava kissed under Dylan's chin a few times, peeking at him from under her eyelashes. "Oh yeah, I figured we'd try some new things. I'm sure we can make you that flexible. Maybe I'll send you to Alana's dance place to try and work on that." Ava joked with her boyfriend. "But really, I was reading." The brunette grabbed the magazine on the bed. "The wedding issue for the magazine comes out next week so I have to do some research."

"That much make working pretty hard if I'm bouncing around in your head." Ava said quietly, pulling away enough so she could look him in the eyes. "My day was pretty good, but now it's even better."

Dylan smiled as he walked into the twins apartment. “Ava? You here, hun?” He shouted as he walked the hallway to Ava’s room. Dylan had been a good boy lately and kept the cheating to a nil these past few months. He was trying to make right by Ava. Dylan loved her and the thought of losing her scared the hell out of him. 

The click of the door closing was audible from where he sat at his desk. “Alana?” he called, closing his laptop and standing. There was no reply; probably next door, then. Dominic stretched, relaxing after a few hours hunched over his writing, and pulled on a comfortable old shirt before hip-checking the door to the apartment open. Writing, and writing something good, always improved his mood tenfold; sometimes it was better than any kind of high. It had replaced the Adderall, back in those days.

He didn’t bother putting on shoes or changing out of his sweatpants - it was Ava and Dylan, for Christ’s sake - before opening the door to their shared apartment. “Anyone home?” he asked the empty living room. Music drifted from one of the rooms within, and he moved down the hallway, following it like a hound on a scent. Dominic sure hoped he wasn’t about to walk in on the two of them having sex - then again, hey, kinky.

Smirking to himself at the thought, he stopped in a doorway and leaned against the frame. So there was the source of the music - one dancing Ava Myers, lost in her own world. She was a good dancer, he observed. Not as good as Alana, of course, but she could move with confidence and grace. And she was so obviously happy and carefree that he couldn’t help enjoying it, that the watching was just so satisfying. That was the thing - he’d never seen Alana doing anything like this before.

Hearing a voice, Ava spun around at that moment and still swayed slightly with a smile on her lips. It was just Dom, although she would have expected Dylan out of the boys. Not that she wasn't close to Dom, the two were great friends and had been a long time now. "Nice moves? My sister gets the credit for that. I just know how to work my hips." Ava swayed over to the stereo, turning the volume down just a bit. "Of course, they're great and this is a great song. Anyone who says otherwise is just crazy and needs a bit of a reality check." She looked over her shoulder with a smile. "As for dinner, you'll have to ask the others. I don't know what they wanna do."