Tripping Over Themselves

[brian_campo]

The moment the final note of music faded from the sound system, Brian tugged his earphones off his head and dropped them carelessly on the synthesizer. For once, he was grateful that his band wasn’t popular enough for an encore. On many nights, he had gotten the short end of the stick when one of his band mates ditched after the show and left Brian to pack up their gear. Time to turn the tables. In fact, it was long overdue. “Mads...” He pulled a mic off its stand, swung it by the cord, and sent it sailing in an arc toward the brunette’s personal space.

She caught it. “Watch it!”

“Later, I’m out.”

‘Wait, what--?’

Too late, Brian thought. He shouldered past Seth like a shoplifter making a break for it and hit the ramp at a jog. Thump, thump, thump. He nudged through a throng of other musicians and regulars to creep up behind the petite blonde with the incredible body. He snaked his arms around her waist and raised her off the ground. “Hey, beautiful,” was muffled against her neck, and they were turning, turning, the room going ‘round and ‘round, the lights streaking purple and blue and neon orange. Brian’s shirt was drenched in sweat. He felt as rubbery and loose as a piece of stretched taffy.

Comments

[valerie_vause]

Cheerleaders would forever be a teasing reference associated with Brian, more so now that he said that because right then she rolled with it. The pill made her feel high, not intoxicated the way too much alcohol did. Valerie grinned at him, teeth captured her lower lip and scraped across as she raised her arms. “Go, go Brian, go go, go Brian.” Then she stopped and gave him a sly look just to mumble as he neared, “Maybe that would be more effective with pompoms and a short skirt.” The blonde felt so good with him that she was on the verge of dancing when he said they should be alone.

“I know where we should go, but first, a quick stop.” She said with a bright smile and tugged him into an open shop. The place wasn’t big but it stocked the usual. Valerie practically skipped down the aisles to get to the chiller cabinets. Whatever song played on the radio the guy at the checkout had on made Valerie’s hips move to the rhythm as she plucked up a six pack of beer she hoped Brian wouldn’t mind then vanished down another aisle to get a pack of mints. If Brian bought anything she was unaware. Even as the blonde paid she continued to barely contain herself, the change got stuffed into her wallet and she all but bounced back out onto the street, paper bag in hand.

Valerie didn’t say a word as she motioned to Brian to follow her, the look on her face said everything for her as she blinked up at him with a wicked little smile then turned on her heel to walk down the street. It didn’t take long before she found what she was looking for, and sauntered down a darkened alley at the back of an apartment building. The bag got set aside as she took a short run towards the wall, kicked off it, and used the momentum to grab onto the ladders of the fire escape. They lowered with her, a shuddering creak of metal. Valerie scooped up the bag and quirked an eyebrow at Brian, then began the climb to the top floor. “I found the best ways to get a layout of a new city was from the rooftops, coincidently they were one of the best places to go to get away from it too.”

Ladders never reached the roof but the jump up was easy enough for someone like her. Valerie set the bag down and leaned over the edge to offer her hand to him. “When things get hectic this is my breathing space, any tall building, where I can be alone with a view.”

[brian_campo]

“You could even skip the pom-poms,” he said, and he felt pretty magnanimous about it. Brian followed her into the convenience store and scratched his cheek absently as he mulled over a couple of potential purchases. The last of them was a pack of gum. Valerie had gone through the cash register first and he met her outside after he’d been rung up, a smaller paper bag crumpling in his hand. He tucked a piece of spearmint gum in his mouth. This ‘follow me’ activity reminded him of that first date when he led her to the planetarium, so he was game to go along and see what Valerie wanted to do.

When she started to climb the fire escape, he stuffed his brown bag in the large pocket of his jeans. He tried not to openly stare at her ass when he ascended behind her. “You sound like me,” he said, smiling, making the winding ascent to the top floor of the building. At the summit of the staircase, Brian caught her hand and used it long enough to grab the ledge with his free hand. Once he had purchase, Brian could manage his own weight as he hauled himself up onto the roof. He straddled the wall and swung his leg over it. “I go up on the roof of the record store.” And smoke pot. “I like to sit with my feet over the edge and think. Billie’s afraid of heights, so she’s not following me.” The concrete made his palms feel gritty, so he swiped them down his pants and looked around.

Light pollution made it difficult to discern any but the brightest stars and planets, but the clouds were thin and it was nice. The air moved easily up here, far above the narrow streets and hot car exhaust. The effects of the pill were hours away from mellowing, so when he looked over the edge, Brian was struck with an uncharacteristic bout of vertigo. He rubbed his forehead and stepped back, amused.

[valerie_vause]

“Just the short skirt then, hm?” The tone was light once Brian had made it onto the roof, picking up the conversation like it had never stopped. “I wonder if I could buy an outfit and claim it’s for try-outs that I have utterly no intention of attending.” The blonde pondered out loud as she walked to the middle of the roof and pulled out two beers. “Unless I have to attend just to get the outfit, then again party stores might have one.” With a flick of her thumb the first metal bottle cap sailed into the air and she passed the drink over to Brian before doing the same to hers. A quiet clink was given as she nudged his bottle then raised her own to her mouth. Three beers wouldn’t leave her drunk but the crisp cold bubbles were refreshing against her tongue.

Half the liquid had been drained already when she stopped to breathe. Laughter escaped her small frame as she thought about the parallels of their lives. She wanted to discover more, discover him in ways no other had. “Alright roof dweller, we are officially alone.” It was said with a grin partially hidden by the rim of the bottle, and she took another quick sip then set it down by the only door on the roof. No doubt used by maintenance workers. Someone on the top floor must have been throwing a party because the faint sounds of music reached her ears. It got louder when a window opened and she sighed happily. “How lucky is that?”

Valerie sauntered her way towards him just to grab the front of his shirt to guide him towards the closed door with gentle, insistent tugs. The blonde backed him against it and went on her tip toes to kiss him, lips and tongue working together to leave him breathless while her hands roamed across his shirt. He tasted of mint, her lips tingled from it, or maybe just from him. “Do you feel as warm as I do?” It was a teasing whisper as she pulled back to find his ear, teeth nipped at the lobe before she gave it a soothing suckle, a sigh of warm breath.

[brian_campo]

It was on the tip of Brian’s tongue to encourage her costume store idea, but then he realized that he might get stuck putting on a football jersey and pads, and no. That was the stuff of nightmares. He took the beer from Valerie and drank it fast. Bubbles traveled up the length of the inverted bottle as he gulped. “Yeah, we’re lucky it’s not terrible,” he said, smiling and wiping his chin. “It could’ve been Wham.”

Duran Duran, he could live with.

“A—” Brian had opened his mouth to say something else, but he got waylaid as his back hit the door and she kissed him, turning the sound into an ‘mmph’ and whatever had been on his mind was forgotten. His beer bottle clanked on the metal door. Did he feel warm? “I do now,” he said, giving her a wide-eyed look and laugh. She had a way of making him feel new at all of this. “Hang on.” He spit out his gum and stuck it to the side of the beer bottle, then bent to set it on the roof. Yeah, a real Casanova move, he thought, but he didn’t want to choke on his gum the next time she took him off guard. Brian stood back up. “C’mere,” was whispered as he took her face between his hands and stared at her from close range. Those pretty green eyes. Her mouth, full before they even kissed. He leaned in and touched her nose.

“There is nothing I don’t want to do to you.”

Thumbs stroked her cheeks.

“Just say go.”

[valerie_vause]

The idea of dressing up for him made Valerie grin, it played over in her mind as she gazed up at him, his hands strong yet gentle as they cupped her face. Brian’s words fueled the sudden fast pace of her pulse and she took a moment to absorb them. Lips parted ready to say that one little word but then another thought hit and she wound up blurting, “That’s really sweet until you realise that covers kidnapping and murder.” The blonde pressed her lips together until they formed a tight white line, self silencing with an apologetic look up. “Not that I think you ever would, I mean that’s not what you meant, so why would I.”

Nerves threatened to crash her chemical cocktail but she shook her head as if to dismiss them. Fingers gripped and tugged at the front of his shirt restlessly. Slowly fanned out to tickle downwards, found the waistband of his pants and the tips hooked inside possessively.

“I want to touch you.”

It was barely a whisper as she rubbed the tip of her nose against his throat. Inhaled deeply against skin. Valerie’s tongue traced along his pulse point, tasted the faint salty tang of sweat that stuck there like morning dew, then slowly captured his flesh between her teeth. There would be a mark left when she was done. Careful fingers found the button to Brian’s pants and popped it free, the zipper tugged down immediately after and she bit him a little harder, briefly, as one hand slipped inside his pants.

[brian_campo]

Kidnapping and murder? Jesus, who thought up things like that in the heat of the moment? Confusion flickered over his face. “Why would you,” he repeated with a dubious shake of his head, unsure whether to laugh or groan and blurt out ‘look, I want to have sex with you!’ just to make sure he got his point across. Maybe she was nervous. Sometimes Valerie swung between purring kitten and overly cognitive so quickly he had trouble keeping up and figuring out what to say.

Just when he was about to try and get the train back on the tracks, she was nibbling on his throat and ohhh god… His head banged against the door. Air whooshed out of his lungs.

“You can do anything you want,” he said. Croaked.

One of Brian’s hands combed into her blonde hair, just behind her ear. The other reached under the hem of her shirt and purposefully pushed inside the cup of her bra. He licked his lips and tried to keep his head screwed on straight. His thumb began a gentle rotation while he took the weight of her in his palm. She was soft and warm and he’d kill to see her. He tucked his face into her neck and tickled it the scruff on his jaw.

Now ducking down, he bit her shirt. Brian dragged it up high enough to put his mouth where his thumb had been. His tongue on her breast was still cold from the beer.

[valerie_vause]

There was a soft rush of warm air from her nose as she grinned around the skin she’d captured with her mouth. Brian’s voice told stories his words didn’t and truth be told it was empowering to Valerie. It let her know how she was doing, and so far she was pleased with the results. “Anything?” The word was whispered coyly against his ear once she’d freed his neck. Part of her just wanted to hear his voice like that again, it sent heat through her veins, every cell in her body craved him. The sound she made when his questing hand found her beneath the shirt was genuine, unreserved as she fondled him through his boxers slowly.

There was no real plan in mind as Valerie’s free hand wove around to Brian’s lower back. The need to feel his skin too much to deny herself even a second. Short bristles against her skin scritched and tickled in just the right way, Valerie tipped her head back to grant him better access only to take in a stuttered breath when he pulled her shirt up with his teeth. Valerie’s hand tightened against his hip when his mouth took over and a startled whimper escaped at the cool sensation of his tongue. She brought her hand up to tangle in the short hairs at the back of his head to indulge in the moment.

Valerie’s hand worked inside his boxers, swift and deliberate, to splay her warm palm against his length. A soft breathy noise of her own was offered up when she finally curled her fingers around him, felt the pulse throb within her hand. For all he was hard his skin was soft, smooth, and she gave him a tentative squeeze as she stroked upwards. “I want to make the stars seem like fireworks.” She mumbled against his shoulder, nuzzling as her thumb began teasing slow circles around the tip, then slid her hand back down him, and repeated. “Just for you.”

[brian_campo]

Brian lifted his dark head and his eyes were heavy-lidded, almost sleepy looking, under a messy thatch of hair. “Not just for me, Valerie.” His fingers massaged the nape of her neck. “That doesn’t work for me.” He had an intense urge to return the favor, that is, if he could keep his reaction to her hand under control, and fuck, that wasn’t easy. He wasn’t sure how there was enough blood left in the rest of his body to support life. The pressure was a pleasurable torture and he found himself straining against her palm.

Unsteady breath at her ear. An unintelligible word as he swallowed hard.

Brian settled her bra into place and reached down to unfasten and unzip her jeans. One side at a time, he worked them lower on her hips, making sure he had enough space to work with, and then he eased his hand into her panties. His fingers were exploratory at first, getting to know her intricate shape, and then he settled two of them into an opposing rhythm.

The harder he tried to keep himself from grinding against her, and the more the roof beyond Valerie’s shoulder wavered like heat above a highway, the less control Brian had over his mental faculties. She squeezed and his beer bottle tipped. Foam spilled out of the broken neck around their shoes. The door at his back rattled. Ignoring it, he maneuvered his hand into the tight space between her legs and gently, painfully slowly, eased into her.

“I’m actually jealous of myself right now,” he whispered on a laugh.