For Shits and Giggles (complete first draft)

Chapter 13

"I can't believe you're enlisting," Giggles pouted.

"I won't do it," Flippy smiled, pulling her on top of himself. He lay back in her bed, Giggles straddling his lap. They were in her dorm room; there were pictures of her and Petunia, her and Flaky, all three of them together, all over the brown pinboard on the wall.

She looked down at him, his head on her pillow, his chest bare. She ran her fingers along his smooth skin.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... I won't do it, I won't enlist. Just say the word."

"Oh?" She giggled deviously, leaning in to nip his earlobe with her lips. She kissed along the side of his neck, just the way he liked it. "You'd miss me that much?" She kissed down to his collarbone.

Goosebumps formed up his arms, but he pushed her up gently.

"I'm serious," said Flippy, regretting the moment her lips left his skin. "If you ask me to stay, I'll stay. If you ask me to stop the wedding... I'll do it."

Giggles looked at him, he was dead serious. She unstraddled him immediately and began to pull on her clothes— first her bra, then her shirt.

"Giggles," Flippy sat up slowly, watching her as she sat on the side of the bed, facing away from him. "What is it? Say something."

"Are you crazy," she whipped her head around to look at him. "Stop the wedding? That would crush her."

He looked at Giggles, annoyed by the indignance in her voice, "Right, and I'm sure what we're doing now would make her so happy."

Giggles narrowed her eyes and stood up, bending over to snatch her underwear from the rug. She slipped them on with a light bounce, Flippy tried not to stare.

"We have to stop this," she said finally.

"That's not what I meant..." there was a subtle panic in his voice and he sat up fully at the edge of the bed. Flippy grabbed her waist and pulled her close between his knees. She stood there, reluctantly.

"She's my best friend, Flippy... you love her..."

"What if... now I love y—"

She slapped her hand over his mouth and kept it there, the sting of it bringing a tear to his left eye.

"Shut up," she said. "Shut. Up. Don't say that. You love Flaky. I'm crushing on Splendid..."

Flippy nodded, her hand still over his mouth.

"This is just sex, okay? That's all this is."

Flippy removed her hand, placing it on his chest, "What if I want more?" His voice was low, raspy— the way his eyes stayed locked on hers, it drove her crazy.

"Don't call off the wedding. Make Flaky feel like the luckiest bride in the world, she deserves that."

She peeled herself away from him. She reached for her pants, making herself a promise in that very moment— a promise she had genuinely intended to keep, at least in that moment— to only ever be happy for Flippy and Flaky. She wouldn't, ever, lust over her friend's soon-to-be husband again.

"Is that really what you want?"

She turned to him, wearing the brightest, fakest smile she could possibly conjure, "That would make me so happy."