Chapter 33 Avalon
thirty-three
Avalon
January
We spend too much time together. I knew when we became friends with, scratch that, acquaintances with benefits, that most of our nights would be spent together. I never thought most of our days would be spent together, too.
We mainly watch Bones together every chance we get. This is the excuse I use for why we’re together so much… because neither of us is patient enough to wait to watch the next episode.
But I don’t think either of us believes that’s why we’re together.
Half the time, we aren’t even having sex anymore.
Our nights feel much more like a relationship than anything else.
We have dinner together, cuddle on the couch or in bed, and Zeke spends the night without expecting us to do anything.
I never would’ve let a guy spend the night, especially if we weren’t having sex.
But something about Zeke changed my perspective on everything a relationship means.
Not that I’d tell him. But maybe I don’t have to.
I think kissing him during sex before he left told him just that. Now the ball is in his court.
We both know we missed each other. We talked every day he was away; I might’ve even sent him some sexy pictures to keep him tied over until he got back.
Something I’d never done before. And the second he got back, he was here, and I stayed up until one in the morning just waiting for him to show up.
And since he’s been back, we live our days on repeat. Sex. Eat. Bones. Sleep.
Which is why we’re lying naked in my bed, wrapped up in blankets, watching Bones. His fingers are trailing lazily up and down my exposed back, our legs are intertwined, and my head rests on his chest.
“Booth’s totally into her.” Zeke’s hand stops just for a moment before continuing its lazy motion. “Like, why can’t he just admit it?”
“Given that we’re only on the fourth season, I have a feeling we got a little longer before we can expect those two to be in a relationship.”
We both stare at the screen as the credits disappear from the last episode, and a new episode starts. I recognize the episode immediately and jump off of Zeke’s chest.
“Oh, this is a good one!”
He sits up, eyeing me, and then looking at the TV.
“Excuse me?”
Oh, shit.
“I mean… it looks like a good one?” He crosses his arms, and I bite my lip. “I may have watched a few episodes while you were gone.”
“How many is a couple?”
“I’m like halfway through season five,” I whisper.
“Halfway through season five?! That’s what you constitute as a couple of episodes?! And you’ve been letting me think you’ve been so good at guessing the killer these last few episodes, but it’s because you’ve seen them!”
“I’m sorry.” I shrug.
“We’re supposed to watch this together, Stewart. I could’ve watched it during our bus rides or while I was chilling in the hotel, but I didn’t because—”
“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I was just missing you, and I was gonna watch one episode, and then one turned into two, and next thing I knew, I was too far in to quit.”
He stands up, shaking his head, and pulls on his sweats as I pull his Rockford Hockey T-shirt over my head.
“Wow. You think you know someone, and then your girlfriend lies to you about watching the show you’re supposed to watch together.”
He pulls his shirt over his head while I stare at him. Did he just say what I think he just said?
“What did you just call me?” I crawl over to the side of the bed he’s standing on and watch his shoulders tense when he realizes what he just called me. I run my hands over his shoulders to try and relieve the tension, and then he turns and looks at me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Did you call me your girlfriend?”
“Doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Will it ring a bell if I told you I didn’t hate it?” I play with a loose thread on the hem of my shirt, and that smug smile of his decides to make an appearance.
“Oh yeah? You wanna be my lady?”
“If you don’t call me lady again, I might consider it.” My hands dangle over his shoulders as his calloused fingers meet the soft skin above my butt.
“Did I change your stance on relationships, Avalon Stewart?”
“I think you changed my stance on relationships a long time ago, Zeke Harris. I was just waiting for you to realize this was no longer a friend-with-benefits situation.”
“Acquaintances.” He jokes, and I push off his chest, rolling my eyes, but he pulls me back and kisses me.
It’s soft, but I feel the heat it causes throughout my body.
“And just think how much better these benefits will be now that you’re my girlfriend.
There’s a whole side to Zeke Harris you’ve yet to witness. ”
“What are you waiting for?” I question, leaning forward to whisper in his ear. “Show me.”
Did I see your mom here yesterday?” Zeke turns on the shower. “I could’ve sworn I saw her leaving when I pulled up.”
“Your eyes did not deceive you.” I shrug. “She just wanted to grab some stuff.”
“At least you know she’s okay. For now, anyway.” He whips his shirt over his head.
“Yeah, you’d think she’s here all the time with the way she walked in yesterday.”
“That bad?”
I shimmy out of my pants, pull my tank top over my head, and climb into the shower.
“She acted like nothing was wrong with how she’s been acting,” I speak a little louder so he can hear me over the water. “She was definitely on something, though, so I can’t be surprised.”
“I’m sorry, Stewart.” He climbs in behind me, kissing me on the shoulder, as he turns me around so he can be under the water.
“I get why people have multiple shower heads in their houses. This is less enjoyable when someone is hogging all the warm water.”
He rolls his eyes, gripping my hips and turning us around so I’m back under the water.
“Just wanted to get my hair wet,” he replies. “This better?”
“Much.” I smile.
He grabs my shampoo off the shower shelf and squirts a small amount on his palm, lathering it between his hands before massaging it into my scalp.
I rest my body back against his as he does so.
This has been a part of our routine for a while, but it wasn’t as consistent as it is now. And it feels different now that I’m a girlfriend. It feels more domestic, somehow.
I look forward to these moments in the shower. We just talk and decompress, and I love to feel Zeke’s skin against mine. Weirdly, it makes me feel safe.
“Can I ask you a question?” Zeke asks.
“You technically just did.”
“Ha ha.” His hands fall to my shoulders, a way to let me know he’s done massaging the shampoo into my scalp.
“What’s up?”
“If I brought up you meeting my mom,” he begins, “how would you feel?”
“You want me to meet your mom?” My heart picks up its pace just a little bit as I move under the water to rinse out the shampoo.
“Only if you want to. And not just yet; I’ve just been thinking about it, and I thought I’d see where you were at in terms of meeting her.”
“When did you have in mind?” I ask.
“Well, it’s still a few weeks away, but maybe you could come with me to the hospital on my birthday.”
“Really?” I run my fingers through my hair to get out the soap.
“Really. Only if you want to, though. I don’t want you to feel obligated because it’s my birthday. I just thought because we’re officially dating that maybe it’s time for you to meet my mom, but if you feel like it’s too—”
I push up on my toes and press my lips to his, which stops his rambling.
“I’d love that.”
“And maybe after you meet my mom, you can meet the rest of the crew?”
“I’d like that.”
“Me too.” He grabs my conditioner and works it through my ends.
“Cause I’m sick of them trying to set me up with girls.
I don’t know how I’ll make it through the Hawks game with those idiots.
And don’t even get me started on Marcus.
He asked me the other day if I’m joining a monastery because he hasn’t seen me trying to get laid at parties recently. ”
I can’t help but laugh.
“I’m not kidding. I’m running out of excuses for why girls haven’t been leaving my room recently.”
He rinses his shampoo before shifting over so I can rinse off my body and out my conditioner.
“What do you say?”
“I try to change the topic. You know, make a joke about them being jealous.” He shrugs, turning off the shower and opening the door. He grabs my towel and wraps it around my body before grabbing another one to wrap around his waist.
“I bet when they see that smug smile of yours, they give up.” I wrap my arms around his waist.
“You know it.” He kisses me.
“Should I pick up some food on the way home from the game?” He squeezes my shoulders. “Maybe have a Bones marathon because I don’t know if you’re aware, but I have to catch up to where my girlfriend’s at in the series because she watched it without me.”
“I’ve apologized a million times.” I roll my eyes.
“And it’s still not enough because it wasn’t as fun watching the last two episodes of season four because you already knew what was going to happen.”
“But you were still finding out for the first time!”
“Stewart, you practically force-fed me the finale's plot,” he argues. “You kept making little comments, so I knew how it would end.”
“That’s fair.” I give up. “I give you permission to watch the rest of season five without me.”
He shakes his head. “You know I won’t do that to you… because I’m a good boyfriend.”
“Shut up.” I push him away, and he laughs as he pulls his sweats on.
“Alright.” He pulls his sweatshirt over his head and then layers on a jersey before fixing the hood. “I gotta hit the road.” He kisses the side of my head. “I’ll see you later.”