Mr. Shapiro let them choose their own groups. That was the get in his class. You wouldn’t end up with somebody you didn’t like because he let you choose. But there was a sub and she broke everyone into groups having the kids number off which meant Paxton ended up in a group with Eleanor (fine) but Devi was in a group with Ben and Ben was across the room practically drooling in Devi’s direction. She did look cute today. She was wearing this shirt that he liked that had several straps on the shoulders that melded into one strap on each shoulder and it rolled up at the bottom so he liked to find excuses to touch her skin at her waist that was bare.

It was his own thing. He knew Devi was solid. She was giving Ben her tired but listening smile. Paxton only got that one if he went on too long about pool chlorination or if he was talking about all the ways he would have fixed Game of Thrones. But that twerp reached over his desk and brushed some invisible something off Devi’s arm and Paxton almost ripped his textbook in half.

The minute the bell rang, Paxton was up and across the room, taking Devi by the hand. She was mildly surprised at his pace to get her out of there but even more surprised when he pressed her into her locker before she could open it and kissed her deeply enough to have gotten both of them detention. Ben Gross walked by and didn’t even stop at his locker. Good. Devi opened her eyes and looked at him like she was drunk.

“What was that for?” she asked, her eyes a little hazy. He put his hand on that stretch of skin on her back, just above her waist, and slowly moved his fingers into her waistband. “Nothing,” he lied. “You wanna skip next period and go to my garage?”

Devi shook her head and turned to open her locker. Paxton kept his hands on her, they just moved as she turned so now they were on her hips. He kissed her neck, licking the spot first and then kissing it.

“I can’t miss Chemistry. We have a test,” she said, laughing when he blew across the skin of her neck. “And no cheesy chemistry jokes.” She looked over her shoulder at him and he took the excuse to kiss her again. His tongue slid past hers, she put her hand on his cheek and groaned before smacking his cheek playfully. “I have to go to class!”

“Fine.” But he pouted. -

Paxton took Devi lunch. She was filling in for a model UN kid who blew chunks all over the judges of the previous day’s events and they had to get special permission for her to even step in.

“You got banned from Model UN?” Paxton asked again, as he handed Devi her burger.

“For starting a coup at the Model UN thing at UC Davis a few months ago.” Devi took the burger and handed him her phone. “Can you plug this in behind you?”

He took the phone and the cable she was offering and plugged the phone in on the wall behind him while Devi bit into her burger.

“But they let you back in?”

“Because Mr. Shapiro promised I would not start any coups and since we’re the home team, they allowed it.”

“You started a coup,” he said again. “But you’re not gonna start one today. Or you’ll be perma banned.” Devi nodded.

“Why’d you start a coup?”

“Funny story, actually.” Devi made a grabby hand in his direction and he handed her the soda. “Ben Gross-”

“I don’t even need to hear the rest of the story,” Paxton cut her off. “I do not care. If he was involved, whatever you did was totally the best choice.” “Thank you,” Devi said, vindicated.

Some of the other Model UN kids walked by, all of various nerd degrees, including a kid who was easily a foot shorter than Devi wearing a suit that was too big for him, and he winked at Devi. And see, that didn’t bother Paxton. He wasn’t at all jealous of that little guy.

“Looking like Hillary Clinton!” the kid shouted at Devi.

“Hillary Clinton?” Paxton asked surprised and Devi shrugged. “No, that kid is wrong, you look like AOC, deeply intelligent and smokin’ hot, ready to change the world.”

Devi smiled so wide she was beaming. He loved when she did that. He loved when he said something or did something that made her smile like that.

“Hey, David, we gotta get back in there.” Ben Gross ruined everything.

“Be right there,” Devi responded, perfectly reasonable. But something in Paxton snapped.

He nodded and listened to her talk while she finished her burger but the minute she was done, onion breath and all, he tugged on her arm and made a beeline for the nearest girl’s restroom.

“What are we doing?” she asked, giddy and breathless from the way he dragged her. She had to run to keep up and she did not like running.

He lifted Devi onto the bathroom counter, wedged himself between her legs and started kissing her. By the time the other girls of Model UN walked in, he had her blouse unbuttoned and was kneading her breast while she moaned every time he licked into her mouth. Her tight bun was undone and she was using the heel of her foot on his back to pull him closer to her, desperate for friction.

“Devi, we need-” the red headed girl stopped the same time Paxton turned to look at her and just behind her, the door was open to the hall, and Ben Gross stood, his mouth open like a fish.

“Get out!” Devi shouted. “I mean, I’ll be out in a minute!” she offered nicer. “Someone get her phone, it’s still plugged in by the table in the other room,” Paxton ordered, making sure his body was blocking hers from everyone else. Then he went back to kissing down her neck. “Sorry, you’re gonna get banned from Model UN again,” he said into the skin of her neck, not sorry at all.

She pushed against his shoulder while he reached for the buttons on her blouse. “You liar,” Devi said. She started pulling her hair back up into the bun. “You’re not sorry.” “Sorry…” he trailed off as he did the last button and tugged her skirt down. “I couldn’t get you off before they came looking for you.” Devi rolled her eyes but kissed him one more time before hopping off the counter. -

He didn’t want to be at this party.

“Why are we going to a party at your ex-boyfriend's house?” he asked, annoyed. He pulled into her driveway and turned the Jeep off.

Devi made a face. “Don’t call him that.”

“That’s what he is,” Paxton replied plainly. “Everybody is going to be there,” Devi explained, ignoring his comment. She unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her book bag from the back. She turned back and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.

“Everybody as in Eleanor, Fabiola, and Aneesa or everybody as in people I know?” He reached for her shoulder, sliding his finger under the strap and bit his lip to not smile at the way he saw her skin pebble at the touch. God, these days even just her mentioning Ben Gross and he was ready to fuck her into a mattress to forget that tool existed.

“Rude,” she leaned in and kissed him, slower this time, nipping at his bottom lip. “You know Eleanor and Fabiola and Aneesa. But yes, it’s a whole big party. He’s trying to impress some girl and Aneesa wanted to stay home but we convinced her she should show up looking hot and make Ben jealous.”

So he was at this party. But he’d already come up with a great plan. He brought Devi’s two piece, (yes, he kept it at his house. Sometimes they went swimming and if he wanted to be prepared for any moment they might swim, he needed to keep one of her swimsuits in his possession.) and handed it to her the minute they pulled up. “We’re swimming? But I did my hair cute,” Devi whined.

“Then I won’t get it wet,” he replied, tucking some hair behind her ear. “It is cute.”

Devi talked to her friends, Paxton assured Aneesa she looked very good and whatever freshman Ben was interested in, he was just embarrassing himself. And Paxton was sincere because he liked Aneesa. He was deeply confused what Aneesa or Devi had ever seen in that douche canoe but whatever. He also dropped that Eddie might be interested in Aneesa so he felt like he’d done his good deed for the evening.

“Why didn’t you mention that Eddie liked Aneesa sooner?” Devi asked, kicking her feet in the water from where she sat on the edge of the pool.

“How did you not know? He’s a simp for girls who play soccer. Even the lesbians. He’s got a type and it’s emotionally unavailable soccer players.” Paxton stood up and bounced on his toes. “What?” Devi asked, before Paxton hopped from foot to foot before doing a front flip into the pool. “Jesus!”

Paxton sunk into the water with the familiar whoosh that made him feel like he could take on the whole world. As he came up, he saw Devi shaking her head at him, but she was gnawing on her lip and almost smiling. More than that, she was looking at him like she wanted to eat him up. He stood up and tugged on her waist, lifting her into the pool while she squealed. “You gotta stop jumping into the shallow end like that, you, of all people, should know that’s dangerous,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and sliding her legs down and around his waist until she put her feet on the floor of the pool.

“I’m an expert, I can flip into the shallow end,” he said, pressing his whole body against hers. He leaned in and kissed her shoulder, twisting his finger in the strap of her bikini top as an excuse to touch her further.

“Oh my god,” she said with a giggle. “People are going to see us!” “They’re not watching us,” he said, using his hand to smoothly turn her around so she could see out at the party. He kept his hand on her stomach, just under the water, and tugged her against his chest. “Feels like you’re getting off on being caught in public these days.” She wiggled her ass just barely, causing his dick to react. With one hand still on her stomach, he moved his other from her hip down her thigh before moving it back up to the band of her bikini bottom, slipping his whole hand down the front of suit. She gasped and leaned into him. “Fuck,” she let out slow. “I know somebody is calling me a slut right now. I’m sure of it.” Paxton nipped at her ear. “Look,” he said and she shivered as he spoke against her ear. He moved his hand that was resting on her pubic bone so he could turn her in the direction he was looking. “Nobody is watching us.” He pointed with his chin towards a small crowd by the patio. “The only people outside are your friends and Trent. He’s mad Eleanor is ignoring him.”

“What’s that about?” she asked, putting her hand over his and pressing it into her further. He rewarded her for that by following her lead and sliding his hand down further, so his fingers could brush her clit. Her sharp intake of breath had him feeling lightheaded. She liked it and he liked it and this party wasn’t so bad now.

“I don’t know, but it’s getting weird.” “Hm?” Devi asked, confused, her eyes closed now as he moved his finger around in an oval, just missing her clit every third stroke. “What’s weird?”

“You asked about Trent and Eleanor,” he answered before sucking a spot on her neck and then brushing his nose against the back of her ear.

“People are gonna-” she stopped, when he slipped a finger inside her. With his free hand he moved her chin towards another group of people on the side of the house. “None of them are looking at us,” he assured her, sliding a second finger inside her. She whined just barely, her muscles tightened, and she pressed further into him. “Marcus is teaching Zoe how to roll a joint which is stupid. He should just give her an edible and be done with it.”

“Are we about to fuck in this pool?” she asked, breathless.

“No,” he said as he took a step forward, giving them the privacy of the pool wall, but able to keep his eyes on everyone else, just in case. She reached up and put a hand behind his neck. “There’s no friction in a pool,” he explained. “I could get off, but you couldn’t so why bother?”

Devi’s breathing was erratic and her skin was tight, she was pressing into him and riding his hand, her feet weren’t even on the floor of the pool anymore as she tried to discreetly position herself for more of what he was offering.

“If you just-” Her nails dug into the skin of his neck as he curled his fingers inside her and worked his thumb around her clit.

There was a crash inside the house but Devi didn’t notice. Paxton looked up and saw everyone running towards the sound, then people were laughing, some idiot probably fell over and now everyone was inside, leaving Devi and Paxton as the only ones outside. Devi ground down on his hand, her nails on his neck were going to break skin if he didn’t- “So close,” she muttered, pressing her own fingers into her clit and then her whole body went stiff.

“You were so quiet,” he said, kissing her cheek as he slowly removed his hand and rested it on her waist again.

“Seriously, what is up with you lately?” she asked, still out of breath. “Nothing,” he lied.

“Let’s go back to your house.” Devi grabbed his hand and started walking towards the stairs of the pool. “That wasn’t enough?” he asked, feeling smug. Devi spun on her heel, the water moving made his dick twitch. Well, the water moving and the way she was looking at him, all that fire in her eyes. “You could just take me home, but I don’t think you’re ready to do that.” She moved the hand she was holding to her mouth so she could kiss his knuckles. “I’m not gonna make it home,” he said. “Let’s just go inside. To change. And then we’ll go home.”

“To change, yeah whatever, dude,” Devi said, dragging him out of the pool.

They didn’t have towels but Devi knew where the linen closet upstairs was, so she grabbed them as he led her through the hall until he got to the master bedroom. He shut the door and took a towel Devi offered and dried himself off as best he could. Devi was rubbing the towel across her stomach and Paxton couldn’t help himself, he tackled her (gently as he could) so they landed on the bed. She laughed and used her legs to roll him over so she was straddling his waist. She leaned in and kissed him. Softly at first, but then she started to rock her hips against his and her kisses became frantic.

Paxton held her back, his fingers deftly working the clasp on her bikini top. Once he got it undone, he rolled, putting her underneath him again. He kissed her along her collarbone and palmed her breast under the loose fabric. He tongued the nipple of her other breast through the fabric and Devi moaned.

“You locked the door, right?” she whispered, putting a hand in his hair and scratching at his scalp. “Definitely.” But actually he wasn’t sure he had. Didn’t matter though. Nobody was going to find them up there. He licked into her belly button while he dragged her swim bottoms down her thighs, exposing her cunt. He kissed her knee and then up her thigh, tossing the swim suit over his shoulder before he moved the small tuft of hair out of the way with his thumb and sucked on her clit. Devi’s hips jerked up, she could have broken his nose with the force if he hadn’t been prepared for her to do exactly that. He had his forearm across her stomach to keep her down. Devi finally cried out. Besides whines and moans, she’d been incredibly quiet, likely because she was so worried about being caught when they were in the pool. She rested her leg over his shoulder and he got to work. Devi was huffing, these tiny breaths and whines like she was close already. They hadn’t been having sex that long but Devi was very clear in telling him what she liked and he was happy to oblige. Having sex with her was fun and easy and incredibly hot.

The door opened and Paxton immediately lifted himself enough to block Devi from view of whoever opened the door. She screamed and he shouted, “Get out!” at the same time.

But the door didn’t shut so Paxton was forced to turn his head and see who interrupted them.

“In my parents’ bedroom?!” Ben Gross stood horrified at the door. Paxton tried to keep himself from being too smug about the situation. Devi would kill him if she knew. “Be grateful I didn’t pick your room, now get the fuck out,” Paxton snapped and Devi tried to move around him to see. “Babe, if you move like that, you’re gonna give him a show he doesn’t deserve.”

“Ben!” Devi shouted, she’d given up trying to see the door and instead was just shouting at the ceiling annoyed. “Stop being a perv and get out!”

For some reason, Devi’s request was heeded by Ben and Paxton lifted himself up and off of her. But when he moved down to continue at his task, Devi shook her legs and huffed. “Nope,” she said, reaching for his face and urging him to move up. “Actually, get me my bag over there.” He reached for it and she dug a shirt out of her bag and put it on. She pulled her shorts out and put those on next and then handed him his shirt. “If we’re sitting here half dressed I’m not gonna be able to get through to you. You’re gonna do something and I’m gonna get horny and it’s not gonna work.”

“Or you could let me finish and then everybody will be happy?”

But Devi was all business now. She had that look like when she pretended to be his Indian mother and it easily softened the boner he had. He put his shirt on and sat next to her on the bed. “I thought you were just getting hot from the public stuff but I’m beginning to worry that being caught by Ben is actually turning you on and I’m just wondering why that is?” She didn’t seem mad, just perplexed. Paxton could just come clean but he was embarrassed to even say it.

“It’s not that. I’m just super into you lately and you being this hot and this smart and funny, how am I supposed to not-” “Bullshit,” Devi cut him off. “I know you think I’m hot and I know you like to have sex as much as I do which is a relief because I thought maybe I was just a slut or something but-” “You’re not a slut! And you’re not weird for wanting to have sex, sex is fucking great!” Paxton hated that she thought she was weird like that. She was weird in plenty of good ways but liking sex was not one of them. “And I like having sex with you. It’s a lot of fun. You’re not shy about what you like and I like that.”

“Great,” Devi said. “But we do not usually mess around this much. I thought you were hormonal or something. Yesterday I googled if men were like cats in heat.”

“I’m sorry.” He hung his head.

“You don’t have to apologize, I like it! It just feels like something is off and I want you to feel comfortable telling me.” Devi put her hand on his knee and held his gaze. “And it feels like it’s something about Ben Gross which is weird and I really want to get it sorted out.”

Paxton looked away. If he looked at her, he’d probably just spill out all the shit he pushed down and all his insecurities. Devi moved her head to catch his gaze. “Please?” He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it rip, “Ben Gross still likes you and it makes me furious.”

Devi’s serious face turned softer, a smile just barely forming. “You’re mad at me?”

“No!” he didn’t hesitate. “No, I hate him!”

“Okay,” Devi said, nodding and mulling over what he’d said. “It annoys me too but I can’t change the way he feels. Are you,” she paused and bit her lip. “Are you afraid that I still like him? That what happened before might happen again?”

She hated talking about the couple of weeks when she dated both of them. She did her best to never bring it up. But she did now. And the look on her face told him Devi was worried how he would respond. He thought about it a second because he wanted to be clear.

“I trust you.”

Devi seemed to relax instantly. She gave him a little smile and squeezed his knee.

“It’s just…” Paxton started and Devi’s face fell. “We don’t make sense.” He gestured between the two of them. “We have so much fun, I have so much fun and I love hanging out with you and I love…” he stopped. Maybe he should change direction. “If I were to make a pros and cons chart of Ben Gross vs me, all I’ve got on him is being hot and being way better at making you cum.”

Devi’s brows furrowed and he worried this would be it. The jig was up. He’d accidentally convinced her she should go out with Ben Gross instead.

“Holy shit,” Devi whispered. “Have you been trying to use sex to keep me?”

“What? No,” Paxton replied easily. He hadn’t thought of it like that at all but as the words clicked into place, goddamn she was smarter than he was. “Maybe?”

Devi looked at him like he was pathetic. He put his head in his hands, embarrassed. But Devi tipped his chin up and then held his cheek. “You don’t have to fuck me into loving you,” Devi said, firmly, like she meant it. Paxton tried to swallow but there was a lump in his throat. “You don’t just have good looks and sexual experience. I mean, you do have those things, and your tongue should probably have papers written about all the things you can do with it, put it in a mold of it in the MoMA but that’s not all you have. That’s not why I like you.”

Devi sighed and straightened her shoulders. “You have this weird superpower that gets me to say things I wouldn’t tell somebody else. Like even my therapist. And I want to tell you things. Even if I’m afraid you might think I’m weird, you’re the person I want to tell my shit to.”

Devi put her other hand on his other cheek so she was cradling his face. “You have the butterflies in my stomach when you compliment me. The way you reach for my hand anytime, anywhere. You always want to be holding my hand. At first I thought you’d get tired of it because my hands get so sweaty and gross but you don’t care, you always wanna hold my hand.” Paxton wanted to kiss her and hold her hand some more but he really wanted to hear what else she was going to say because she was still going and he was on the edge of his seat. He’d never been so happy to be wrong about something. “And you’re kind and you’re considerate and you’re smart and you never look down on anybody which is legit bonkers because you could look down on people. You deserve to look down on people. You’re exactly the kind of person who is allowed to do that. But you don’t.”

“That one sounds like a very specific gut punch at Ben Gross,” he said, almost smiling. “Yeah, it is. And I should explain, I figured it out after we’d been dating a few weeks. I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner but I didn’t even know you needed to hear it.” Devi closed her eyes and put her forehead against his, her hands still holding his face. “I know I said I liked you both so much and that’s why I tried all that shit before. But I know now that I was just so worried that nobody would like me, that I would miss my chance for anybody to like me, I thought that would be better. Unfortunately, I fucked around and found out.” Paxton let out a small laugh and Devi opened her eyes to smile at him.

“I liked Ben in between because you said we didn’t make sense. And then Aneesa liked him and I thought I liked him but really I was just mad that someone else did and I thought he was my last chance at an attainable boyfriend. But he’s annoying and he’s mean and when he’s not interested in me, he’s actually really cruel. And that’s pretty fucked up.”

“He’s an asshole,” Paxton couldn’t stop himself from adding.

“Yeah, he is. So he can stare at me all pining or whatever but I want you. I’ve always wanted you. I love you,” Devi said the last bit quieter, like she wasn’t sure how he would respond but he couldn’t hold back anymore. He leaned in and kissed her. Hard. He put his hands in her hair and moved closer to her, as if there was any space left. She smiled against his lips. “So maybe I’m not the only one?”

“I love you, Devi.” He felt himself grinning wide. He probably looked so stupid. “I’m sorry. I just never liked anybody enough to be jealous and Ben was making me so jealous. It was weird. I didn’t like it.”

She smiled and for the first time in the last week, he felt lighter.

Devi’s phone started vibrating and when she looked at her phone, the notifications just kept popping up. “Everybody is looking for us,” Devi said, pulling the swim top out of her shirt and handing it to Paxton. “Where are my bottoms?”

Paxton picked them up at the door and tucked them into his pocket with the top. “Got ‘em.”

When they made it downstairs, the party was clearing out but Ben stepped in front of them when they tried to leave. He held his phone up to them and Devi gasped. Paxton had been holding her hand but immediately let go to snatch the phone out of Ben’s hand.

“What the fuck?” Devi asked Ben, horrified. “I’m deleting it,” Paxton told her, stopping the video from playing. He knew what it was immediately and the fact that Ben had the nerve to show them made Paxton want to hit him. Now was an appropriate time. Surely. But first he deleted the video.

“You took video of us in the pool! That’s gross!” Devi shook her head and Ben stood there smug.

“You’re having sex in my pool! I think the whole school should know that’s the kind of person you are, Devi, a slut.”

Paxton verified he deleted the file off the cloud and the phone and then chucked it right at Ben’s face. It hit Ben squarely in the nose and he yelped before covering his nose. “Don’t call her a slut!” Paxton shouted. “Don’t call anybody a slut, you prick. You’re lucky I deleted that instead of sending a copy to the cops. I thought you were smart but you’d look real stupid in court while your dad is trying to defend you from becoming a sex offender.”

Ben looked confused. “What?”

“That’s underage porn you just showed us, dumbass,” Devi explained. “That shit will get you registered as a sex offender. He’s right, that was top shelf stupid. Massive fuck up.”

The phone was on the floor, but Paxton stomped on it for good measure.

“The chlorine in your pool will cover any germs you’re worried about, but you should probably shock it tonight. And fire your pool guy, he sucks. The PH is all wrong in there.”

Devi took his hand and walked past a fuming Ben.

“You know, if we can get you to understand chemistry in terms of pool PH, I feel like you could easily ace it,” Devi said, lifting his hand to her mouth and kissing it.

“I passed chem last year with a C, I’m not retaking it.” He opened the door to the Jeep so Devi could get in. “Not even for you. No matter how much I love you.”

Devi laughed. “Now we know for college.”

“Yeah, for college.”