AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey guys! Just a little announcement for this fic. Another author, as well as friend of mine, Robotkitty5848, is doing a similar plot for a story. We were brainstorming one day and decided we both wanted to write the same idea but on our own instead of together. Our stories are different but since they have a similar plot we wanted to have it known so noone thinks we ripped off one another's fics. Anyways, I hope if you're reading this you also read hers! It's called "Desire" :D Thank you for your time! Hope you enjoy!

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I'd seen him countless times, the red-haired bitch who ran the salon. He was just an over glorified prick... but yet everyone loved him. Absolutely everyone. I didn't think there was anything quite so great about a person like that, someone who treated people like they were disposable. Allen could go around being a narcissist yet everyone thought I was the asshole. I was the asshole all because I didn't like my time wasted with idle chit chat.

But Allen, oh he could get away with insulting people right to their faces. All because he was charming. Charming my ass, he was a manipulative piece of shit and he damn well knew it. No one saw through his bullshit, though. No one except me. I was the only one not blinded by his good looks and charisma. To others he was great person, but I couldn't stand it. I just couldn't stand him.

That arrogance of his was enough for me to overlook he was undeniably attractive. Tall and slender with legs that went on forever, he was sex on legs. The way his hips swayed so sensually was just his natural rhythm. Shoulders thrown back and ass up just as high as his ego, Allen sauntered around with eyes constantly roaming his body. I couldn't stand him but I'd caught myself looking before.

He knew it too.

And that was exactly why he sat across me with eyes so smug. Used to getting his way, he took whoever he wanted even if only to play with them like puppets on string. He could pull in whoever he wanted with a curl of his lips and narrowed blue eyes. Except now who he wanted was me. Not that my hatred of him deterred Allen in the least.

"Allen it's your turn to spin!"

Rachel sat next to me on the floor, hip to the floorboards and legs stretched out. Her head laid on my shoulder as she sipped from the red solo cup filled with the concoction of fruit juice and vodka Tina had brought. Lots of it too. The blonde farmer had gone through cups of it and was drunker than the rest of us, the alcohol only making her loud, jubilant personality worse than Tina's.

Rachel's feet were rested on Rod's lap flirtatiously as she snuggled my side just as suggestively. I didn't try to shove her off because aside from lying her head on my shoulder she wasn't doing anything horrible, just taking up my personal space. Taking a swig from my own beverage, I ignored as her long blonde hair tickled my arm.

Immersed in what was going on, she was hyped and enthusiastic. It was time for Allen to spin the bottle after having just watched Tina kiss Rod. Both of whom had kissed after Rachel kissed me. The chipper brunette was excited for the game to go on, eagerly awaiting whom would have to pucker up next. Rachel smiled as Tina egged on Allen to spin the bottle, giving a holler of her own.

"My, my. Who shall the lucky one be?" The redhead himself drawled.

"Have your eyes set on anyone?" Tina teased, coming up from a drink. "Hmm~?"

"Don't concern yourself with that."

I scowled at him as he took the bottle between his long fingers, giving me narrowed eyes that no one else saw. Internally I cursed myself for letting Rachel convince me to hold a party at my house. It started with the usual crap, but then everyone had to go junior high and jump at the chance to spin an empty bottle around for kisses. It was just the five of us but one of those people was not welcome, and it was his turn to spin. A quick flick of the wrist and the bottle went in a circles. Tina clapped excitedly, caught up in the excitement brought on by intoxication. Rachel was just as enthusiastic.

"Oooo, who's it going to land on?" She chimed, bouncing excitedly rocking her body in to mine. "I bet it'll land on Rod again."

My work neighbor blushed, cheeks red from embarrassment and his complexion rosy from drinking. Red stained his skin like coals set to burn from a fresh match, the warm hue spreading before consuming the entire surface of his boyishly ample cheekbones. The poor thing had a bigger crush on Allen than anyone else, he had for years.

It sucked enough having such a shitty person for a best friend and on top of it he had to fall in love with the guy. Rod always denied he had any interest in Allen, but his eyes watching the bottle told a different story. The poor, unfortunate soul. He wanted that asshole's attention so badly. He probably would have rolled over and begged had Allen told him to.

Personally, I wanted nothing to do with the lusty smolder of Allen's watching me from across the small circle. But his eyes were glued to me, burning holes through the glasses rested on the bridge of his sharply defined nose. Saphire blue irises murky with intoxication held a smugness only a victor possessed. Like he was accepting a challenge he felt he'd already won, Allen watched me.

He smiled as the spinning bottle began slowing down, tapping his fingers across his thigh in a subtle taunt. The odds were stacked in my favor as it slowed, ready to land on Rod. But then that fucking bottle landed on me. Rachel squee'd and watched on excited as Allen crept forward on hand and knees like cat, his long back arched and his movements coordinated.

"Pucker up, Neil..." He cooed lowly, eyes narrowed as he crept in closer.

I knew he saw the look of disappointment in Rod's eyes. But he didn't care. His eyes were on me and that cocky smirk of his ate up his face as he came in even closer. Unmoving from my shoulder, Rachel looked up as Allen closed in on me. He kneeled and brought his face just within mine, neck stretched out and slender. With lips pursed coyly he silently rubbed it in my face what he was about to do.

He smelled like booze, peppermint and whatever flowery hair product he used to keep his long hair so fucking shiny. The satisfaction on his face was disgusting and I wanted to smack it off, my fist itching to collide with those shiny pearly whites he was so fond of showing off. I got a glimpse of them as he smirked then his lips were on mine.

The rules were to keep it tame, just a dry peck to the mouth. But the tip of his tongue grazed my lips just softly enough I almost questioned if I'd felt it. I did, there was a small wet spot between my lips. I glowered at him and he winked, backing off but not without twirling a strand of my hair first.

"Such a sour face" he patronized. "You practically just won the lottery."

I was pissed and he knew it. The smolder he gave me was interrupted as Tina suddenly bolted from the floor. All eyes were on her as she dashed for the bathroom without warning. The sound of her gagging and throwing up was heard and Rachel hurriedly put her cup down before attempting to stand up. She fumbled as she stood, having had too much to drink too.

"I'm coming Tina!" She yelled out, still trying to stand. "Hold on, girl..."

She managed to get on her knees, twisting her torso to lean on my shoulder. When she tried pushing herself to stand up, she slipped and lost her grip on me . Had I not reached out so quickly, she would have met my floor face first. Allen snickered, not caring at all. Withholding an eyeroll, I hefted Rachel up.

"I think everyone's had enough. Party over" I announced. "Rod, could you go check on Tina?"

"I can go check on her..." Rachel objected, trying to pull away to do so. "Hold on."

Her legs wobbled and she clutched my chest to keep standing even though I regained my hold on her immediately. She placed a hand on her head, blinking rapidly as the room began spinning for her. The quick movement set her vision to a useless blur and I picked her up, weary of her getting nauseaous like her best friend had.

"Don't throw up on me" I warned her. "If you're gonna be sick tell me."

"I'm fine... Just stop moving me around."

Rachel held her head as if I'd just spun her in a full circle multiple times. I'd been holding her perfectly still. When she curled in to my chest, clutching my arms to steady the vertigo, I knew she'd had more than enough for the night. More importantly, I had enough of everyone.

"Rod, check on Tina then bring her home." I announced. " I'm taking Rachel home right now."

"Oh what a killjoy you are, Neil."

Allen sat on the floor still, one ankle crossed over the other. He looked at his nails, not even having been looking my way when throwing out the remark. He raised his eyes to meet mine but with only a side glance. The corner of his mouth quirked when he saw my annoyed expression.

"Party over."

Xxxxxx

"Neil, I need help..."

Inside Rachel's home, I stood at her bedside. I'd just set her down to rest when she reached out to grab my arm, dizzily fluttering her eyelashes at me. She pointed to the curtains on her bedroom window and asked that I shut them for her. It was early evening, around diner time. Be it Summer, it was still fairly bright out.

"Fine. I'll shut the curtains. That all?"

"I forgot to feed the cows... I think."

Rolling her head to plop on her pillow, Rachel scrunched her face as she tried gathering her thoughts. She pouted when she couldn't remember if she had fed her cows and then tried sitting up to go check. There was no way she could make it to check on them, let alone actually feed them if she had in fact forgotten to already.

"What are you doing? Get back in bed. "

"The cows-"

"I'll feed them. Just lie down"

Clumsily, Rachel kicked off her shoes on to the floor while lying on her side. She gathered her pillow in her arms then shut her eyes again as I stepped away to shut her curtains like she had asked me to previously. I expected her to fall asleep but she made no attempt to, instead she was talking to me.

"Thanks for letting us have the party at your house." She said, laughing to herself. " It was fun."

"To each their own but you're welcome, I guess."

With her tipsy gaze she opened her eyes again and smiled an amused kind of grin. She stuck her tongue out at me flirtatiously, rocking her torso on the bed a bit.

"You got a kiss from me" she chimed. "And Allen~"

Her drunken voice became a teasing tone as she reminded me of my misfortune. I didn't respond, figuring she would just pass out soon anyways. She kept her eyes open and hugged her pillow tighter, flipping her long blonde hair to rest over her shoulder.

"So which did you like better?"

Not wanting to entertain the question at all, I didn't answer her. My silence was deemed suspicious to her because Rachel giggled and winked. Having had enough, I told her I was leaving to feed her cows. And that's exactly what I did.

When getting to her barn, not only were her cows unfed, they were filthy. The poor cattle were in need of being brushed as well as fed. The floor was a mess and they walked around, sniffing their barren feeders. I knew Rachel as someone who did her best to care for her livestock so it was clear to me the barn's condition wasn't an accurate representation of her everyday work. Still, it pissed me off.

It wasn't my job to clean the barn, animals or bins. But I did it anyways solely because the animals didn't deserve to go hungry and dirty all night. If Rachel was hungover the next morning I doubted she would be up bright and early to take care of them. Taking off my jacket, I set it aside went to work In just my jeans and black wifebeater.

"This is ridiculous." I muttered, bringing fodder to every fodder bin. "How is there no food at all? There should be at least leftovers."

The lack of leftover fodder from a previous feeding told me that Rachel may have let the cattle go without fresh fodder for more than just that day. After ensuring the feeders were filled with food, I set to work clean the floor of soiled debris as the cows ate. I was still cleaning when they were done eating, one cow in particular coming up from behind me to nudge me with their nose. That particular cow recognized me and still had a soft spot for me it seemed.

"Easy, Bessy."

Reaching back behind myself, I rubbed at her head as I continued cleaning the floor with one hand on the pitchfork. Bessy moo'ed loudly and lied down, watching as I finished cleaning the mess off the barn floor. When it was all said and done Rachel's barn looked great and her cows were walking around happily. I'd been in there cleaning for an hour and although satisfied her animals would have proper conditions, I was sweaty and smelled like the barn I'd just cleaned. As soon as I got home I needed a shower.

The sun was going down as I walked back home. Coming up to my front door, I shook my head as I spotted a patch of vomit in the grass down the path. Rachel and Tina just had to drink... stupid fucking parties. What were we? In middle school? Spin the bottle and spiked punch. So dumb.

As I entered my home I internally thought how glad I was the party was over. Everyone had gone home. Stalking through my living room I walked in and tossed my house key on my table. My coat came off next, being draped along the back of the sofa for the time being. My shoes were left by the door as an afterthought, then I made my way back towards my bedroom.

I went straight for the bathroom, pulling my wifebeater off as I went. I tossed it to the hamper, satisfied as it made it in. Shirtless I stepped inside the bathroom and turned the showerhead on, letting the water warm up as I undid my jeans and dropped them to the floor alongside with my underwear.

My shower was fairly quick for what was my usual. I washed away the day, rolling my eyes at the thought of having to clean Rachel's barn for her. Especially after her fucking shenanigans. The only think more annoying was a certain redhead who didn't know where a boundary was if you shoved it up his tight ass and it came out his smug mouth.

Allen's lips had been on mine and I hated to admit it, but it was hot. He was hot. He pissed me off to no end but he was one fine piece of ass if I'd ever seen one. Rod was a cute little thing with giant ,sparkling baby-blue eyes and a hundred watt smile that could blind you. Coppery hair that shimmered just like his eyes and a sunkissed tan that fit him so well. A modest person with a sincere personality... he was something. But Allen... just Christ.

He was sex of legs, hair red as passion itself. Legs that went on forever and such defined, cobalt eyes that could suck you in like smoke then cut you like a hot knife through butter. Those pants he wore, material hugging his ass so snuggly everyone knew what he was packing. Just... fuck. He was gorgeous and everyone knew it, including himself.

I really couldn't stand the fucking guy. He couldn't ever catch me in that web of his, his ego was huge as is. And so was my pride. There was no way in hell I'd ever let that arrogant prick weasel his way inside my bedroom. He could play seductive with everyone else but he was coming nowhere near me. Because if there was anything I could feel off him, was that when he decided to play... well, he would play to win.

Rinsing my hair of shampoo wiped my face and sighed in annoyance. Shutting the tap I swung the curtain open and stepped out, wrapping a towel around my waist. Hair wet and slick across my skull, it dripped to my shoulders and down my back. Picking my pants up from the bathroom floor, I walked past the fogged up mirror.

When stepping in to my bedroom, I was struck shocked as someone sat on my bed. With one leg crossed over the other, Allen himself sat on the edge of the bed facing my bathroom. He looked through his glasses at me, eyes flickering over my wet and bare chest before taking in the short towel I had wrapped around the low dip of my hips. Water dripped down from the raised surface of my pecs over the ripples of my abs. Allen quirked a brow, smirking.

"Well aren't you all squeaky clean."