A tad overdue but small update.

Not much to say but thank y'all for being patient and thank you for discovering this fic to any newcomers 3

Enjoy~

Cold air tickled Spinelli's nose as her eyes slowly fell open.

It took a moment for her brain to wake up and process what she was seeing. Blue walls plastered in posters she couldn't quite see, a ceiling fan that definitely needed to be dusted, and window adorned with heavy black drapes. Drapes that Spinelli knew she didn't have in her room.

It took her longer than she'd like to admit to realize she'd never left T.J.'s the night before. She was lying in his bed with nearly all of the duvet wrapped around her body. She turned her head to the side and saw the side of T.J.'s; her eyes followed his bare chest as it rose and fell with sleepy breaths. Spinelli gripped the sheets as slowly a wave of anxieties began to bubble up within her.

What had happened last night? Wait, they'd definitely smoked together, she remembered that much. Weed, however, was not notorious for improving one's memory. They hadn't had sex, had they? Spinelli's hand slipped down to her thighs and she felt that she definitely still had her underwear on, so that most likely hadn't happened. The only thing that kept coming back to her mind was maybe a bit of making out? Nothing stood out enough for her to definitively assure herself that it had happened.

She exhaled. She really needed to stop smoking more than she could handle.

Spinelli's eyes darted to T.J. as he finally began to stir. He dragged his hand down his face as he yawned with the heft of a bear, his eyes lazily fluttering open. Within a few seconds, his gaze turned towards her, and the soft smile he gave nearly sent Spinelli into a heat flash.

"Morning."

"Hey..." Spinelli began to sit up. "Please tell me my mom thinks I'm at Gretchen's."

"She does." T.J. yawned. "You sent a text right before you crashed for the night."

"Oh thank God." She breathed. "Wait, when did I crash?"

When T.J. started snickering to himself, she furrowed her brows.

"What?"

T.J. joined her against his headboard, leaning on his arm. "Well, it was late but we were making out."

Spinelli blinked. She was right then.

"And you stopped us and said you needed water cause you got cottonmouth, but you didn't wanna leave the room because you didn't have pants on."

"Uh-huh..." That also did happen, now that she thought about it. "And?"

"So I went to get a glass, and when I came back you were knocked out."

Spinelli's eyes widened and she couldn't stop her lips from trembling into a grin. "Real shit?"

"I swear."

They were both laughing now. As embarrassing as it may have been, she still couldn't keep it together over the image of T.J. coming back to her practically catatonic body.

"Sorry if I killed your boner dude." Spinelli stretches her arms above her head. "To be fair though, weed always makes me sleepy so you knew what you were getting into."

"True, true." T.J. admitted. "I'd be more let down if it weren't Saturday."

Spinelli blinked. It was Saturday, wasn't it? Of course, it now made sense, considering neither of them had gotten up at six a.m. to catch the bus or drive to school. She looked past him towards the flickering clock on his bedside table. It was noon, and she wondered how in the world she managed to sleep twelve hours uninterrupted.

"You're right, aren't you?" She said. "You have work later though, I assume?"

"Nah actually. Not today." That made Spinelli's brows raise in surprise, and he continued. "For some reason, Menlo didn't schedule me today. For like, once in three months."

"How convenient." Spinelli shifted onto her knees. "That the first night I spend at yours happens to be one where you're free the next day."

"Hey, you wanted to stay the night." T.J. teased. "And to be frank, I don't think I would've been super comfortable letting you drive home as high as you were."

"Okay, okay. Fair enough."

Spinelli wasn't sure how she felt about it, but this was...nice. It was nice to wake up next to someone. She hadn't realized she was staring until she noticed T.J. was staring back.

"So. What do you wanna do today?"

Spinelli blinked. "You mean like, later today?"

"I mean, yeah I guess. I also meant in general." T.J. said. "I thought since we're both free for once it'd be cool if we just y'know. Chilled for a bit. Unless you want me to kick you out."

"Like you'd want to."

"Guilty as charged."

Spinelli blushed "Shut up dude."

Her legs began to go numb beneath her body and she decided that she'd probably be better off actually getting out of bed. Spinelli looked over at him inquisitively, her head cocked to the side.

"Are your parents home?"

T.J. looked up, obviously searching his brain for an answer. "If I had to guess, I'd say no? My mom's definitely not. She usually goes to a Pilates class on the weekends and then runs a shit ton of errands. Much of which I'm glad I'm not dragged along on anymore."

"Hm," Spinelli said. "And your dad?"

"Probably down in the basement, per usual."

"Mhmm."

She wasn't sure if she'd stick the landing on the leap of faith she was about to make, but Spinelli hoped to God she wouldn't fall flat on her face. She finally planted her feet on the ground and recoiled at how cold the wood floors were. T.J.'s oversized grey t-shirt nearly fell to her knees, and she was irritably reminded of how short she was in comparison to him.

"Well then. I think I could go for a nice, afternoon shower, wouldn't you agree?"

"Yeah, you smell like shit."

Spinelli grabbed whatever object was closest to her, which happened to be a box of tissues, and chucked it straight into T.J.'s face.

"What the fuck, Teej!"

"I'm kidding! I promise!" He dodged the box as it narrowly missed his head. "If you want to that's totally fine. You want me to show you where the towels are?"

Spinelli deadpanned. Was he really being this dense?

"That'd be great...but..." Her hands went to the hem of his shirt. "I was kind of hoping...y'know. Maybe you'd care to join me?"

T.J.'s freckles flushed red as she pulled his shirt over her head. He hadn't really had much time to gawk last night, but Spinelli had practically given him no other option at the moment. Seeing her body in soft, afternoon daylight was way different than barely getting a glimpse in the early winter nightfall. T.J. had known before that he generally was attracted to Spinelli, but those feelings were sent into overdrive the moment her like this, dressed in only plaid black boyshorts and a red bra that looked awfully familiar.

"Is...is that the bikini top you sent me a pic of last week?"

Spinelli smirked. "Maybe it is. I'm not gonna be using them for another two months anyway so. Why put them to some use?"

God. T.J. thought if he got any hotter he might pass out.

Spinelli placed her hands on her hips. "Well? Are you coming with?"

"To the shower?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, to the linen closet. Yes in the shower, genius!"

"Of course! I mean—yeah totally. If you're comfortable with that. I'm down."

A smile pulled at Spinelli's lips. Although she was a bit over T.J.'s hesitance, she couldn't be mad at his effort to make sure she was one hundred percent okay with everything taking place. It was unfortunately refreshing, seeing as how the norm with guys their age was a strong disconnect with when a person did and didn't want to do something.

She watched as T.J. shuffled awkwardly out of his bed, clearly trying to hide his obvious semi. His shirt has been strewn aside at some point last night and Spinelli wasn't mad at the view. He was much hairier than she remembered. The last time she'd seen him shirtless however had been freshman year at the digger kids' pool party where he'd barely sprouted peach fuzz. She should've known that had changed given the fact that his forearms were basically covered in dark brown hair.

"Why are you still trying to hide your boners from me dude?" Spinelli's neck tilted back as he approached her. "It's been down my goddamn throat for god's sake."

T.J. blinked. "I guess I'm just used to it."

"Well get un-used to it." She was behind him now, urging him out of the room and down towards the bathroom. "It's not like we're gonna start taking things slower anytime soon."

It wasn't necessarily far from his room, but it wasn't close enough for T.J. to not feel a bit anxious knowing that someone could come strolling up the stairs at any given second. Thankfully, they'd made it there without a hitch. Before Spinelli had a chance to slam the door shut, he grabbed a few towels from the linen closet and gently closed it behind them.

T.J. turned back towards the bathroom and was instantly met with Spinelli, bottoms already off and fumbling to undo her bra clasp. Whatever semblance of a semi he'd had evolved into a full hard-on, and she was right. He'd have to stop being so bashful if they were going to be seeing each other naked a lot.

He did admit, however, any attempt to hide his sly glances went straight out the window the moment her top hit the floor.

All he really could do was stare, because holy fuck. Spinelli was hot. Truthfully? She was gorgeous; T.J. just knew using words like that would probably make her embarrassed.

Tomboyish or not, her body was mesmerizing and T.J. didn't think he was even capable of looking away. Her curves, her legs, her chest; seeing everything all at once was enough to make his heart race. He cautiously stepped closer to her, and Spinelli knew exactly what effect she had over him given her shit-eating smirk.

"Goddamn." His hands daringly snaked around her hips as he pulled her chest to chest. "You really like teasing me, huh?"

"What if I do?" She had a lazy look in her eye. "You make it so easy."

"Then I just might have to return the favor."

T.J. had practically growled into her ear, and Spinelli wasn't aware she was into dirty talk until that very moment. With her body temperature rising by the millisecond, she swallowed.

"I'm not stopping you."

She'd tried to match his level of sensuality in her voice, and it apparently worked

The following minute happened so fast she barely even remembered it. T.J. had leaned away and turned the shower on to what looked like blistering heat; he yanked his red boxers down over his waist and let them drop to the tile without a care. Spinelli was strong-armed into the steaming heat and she made a mental note that a little bit of roughness turned her on.

T.J. backed her into the corner of the shower until she sat back on the granite shower seat jutting out from one of the walls. She made another mental note to be grateful for the Detweiler's choice to remodel their bathroom. The heat of the water made her recoil a bit, but not enough for her not to feel T.J.'s hands grip her thighs and nudge them apart.

The look in T.J.'s eyes was hungry, and she wasn't sure of what he planned on doing before he caught her lips in a rough kiss. He was slightly hunched over and it hurt his spine a bit, but he couldn't have cared less.

The water turned his hair a dark, slick umber color and Spinelli realized that this was actually a good look on him. That same head of hair sank lower and lower until it was eye level with her legs, and suddenly she felt a surge of heat overtake her as she realized what was about to happen.

"If it's too much, just let me know and I'll stop, okay?"

She scoffed. "Damn, those are pretty bold words for—hahH!"

The moment Spinelli felt his tongue graze her, her stomach tightened and her eyes fell shut.

This was actually happening. T.J. Detweiler, her best friend of nearly a decade, was face first between in her legs. Scalding water streamed over her neck and shoulders as she leaned back against the tile, inhaling as she let the moment overtake her. T.J. gripped her thighs with an unmoving hold, his hands cemented to Spinelli's skin.

No one had ever done this to her before. There had been that one night junior year where she'd regrettably hooked up with Bob after junior prom, but no clothes had ever come off. It was vanilla at the most. There was something incredibly vulnerable about letting someone this close to her, something terrifying within her that Spinelli never dared trespass in. The moment she'd looked down, only to be met with lustful, hazel eyes, she knew. She was way past the point of being emotionally closed-off.

Spinelli admitted that it felt strange at first. The sensation of having something wet and warm lapping at her was foreign and almost felt wrong. That same sensation traveled upwards, slow circles moving from nondescript areas to a bundle of nerves that made every muscle in her stomach tighten. She inhaled, hands moving from the stone shower seat to the mess of brown hair in front of her.

T.J. had done this a few times before, but nothing had felt this right. Everything about this was intoxicating. The steam of the shower, the blazing heat of her wet skin, the taste of her on his tongue. Every aspect had him high on lust like he'd downed a cocktail of uppers, and as much as he knew getting addicted to it would come with consequences, he didn't care. At least, not in the moment.

It almost felt like a private show. A separate, exposed side of Spinelli that no one else saw but him. He got to feel her legs tremble the moments before she came, her bitten-back cries and heavy breaths as she neared the edge.

"T.J."

His name fell from her mouth with a desperation that made T.J. groan. Spinelli wrenched her hands in his hair the moment his lips closed around her clit, a broken whine escaping as her legs clenched.

"Fuck-fuck-" She panted. "I wish you would've warned me how good you are at this."

T.J. paused for a moment, looking up before speaking. "Are you okay? It's not too much?"

She shook her head. "No, not at all. If anything, I wish you hadn't stopped."

Just as T.J. shifted his head back to the task at hand, the feeling of cool water streaming out of the showerhead made the two of them nearly jump out of their skin. Spinelli instinctively scooted back from the water's reach, pressing her back against the still somewhat warm tile.

"Fuck." T.J. climbed to his feet, reaching to towards the faucet. "Well, I guess that's what we get for turning the water on so hot."

Spinelli scoffed as he turned back. "Is a shower even a shower without boiling hot water?"

"Debatably, no." He replied. "But it definitely made all this like, ten times better."

"Speaking of which," Spinelli looked him up and down, her eyes lingering around his groin. She scooted back down towards the edge of the seat, spreading her legs a bit as her eyes settled on his face. "You wanna finish what you started?"

"Even without the shower?"

"T.J., I wanna cum. I don't give a fuck about the damn shower."

Any further concerns lept back down T.J.'s throat. He looked down hesitantly, his gaze catching hers in a heated stare that said more any shared words would. He returned to his knees, face caught between wet thighs and a determined hand in his hair.

It was at the familiar sensation of those quivering legs and broken cry of his name that T.J. realized, yeah, he could get used to this.

"I can't believe you guys never noticed." Sleep pulled at Spinelli's lids. She brought a rough fist to her eyes and tried her best to rub away the call of her bed. "I mean, we were secretive about it, but definitely not that secretive."

Gretchen leaned onto her elbow, her eyes darting between Spinelli and the rising sun in the window behind her. "You were sloppy, at best." She admitted, gesturing to one of the several hickies that peppered Spinelli's neck. "There were times where Vince and I thought something was up. We usually just wrote it off, though. Vince thought maybe T.J.'d slipped back into his old habits with Ashley A."

Spinelli grimaced. "Like hell, we'd ever let that happen."

"It made sense with how covert he was being. Low and behold, however."

"We could've been better about hiding it." Spinelli slid down onto her back, her head tucked between overstuffed pillows. "Part of me thinks he didn't exactly want to hide it, though."

"Forgive me for thinking the same might've been true of you, Spinelli."

Her lips tightened at that. She blinked a few times, eyes searching the cracks in the ceiling for a response. "Maybe."

"I may be getting ahead of myself, but," Gretchen hesitated. "I'd say it's safe to assume that the reason you're here right now instead of at T.J.'s is that that original 'no strings attached' agreement ended up with a few threads hanging from it, no?"

"...A couple."

"Mhmm." Gretchen chuckled. "Yes, that's the trouble with flings. I almost wish you would've told me for that reason."

Spinelli looked over. "Why?"

"So I could've warned you about the pitfalls of fucking your friends."

Spinelli laid a faux-distressed hand over her heart. "Language, Gretch."

"It's five a.m., give me a break."

"By all means, take it." Spinelli's brows furrowed in concern. "What's going on with you and Vince anyway? If you don't mind me asking."

Gretchen laughed through her nose at that, rolling her eyes. "I wish I knew, Spinelli." She replied. "This started in such a clunky, inelegant way because we both thought we were too busy for a real relationship. Which is somewhat true, but with a little effort, we could've made it work."

"Is this better, though?" Spinelli asked. "Personally, with Teej...I just. I don't know. I feel like we tried to jump into this without acknowledging the fact that we already had feelings for each other."

"Mistake number one."

"Yeah, no kidding." Spinelli let her eyes fall shut, exhaling shakily as she juggled responses in her head. "Gretch?"

She turned her head. "Yes, Spinelli?"

"T.J. told me he loved me, tonight." The words felt heavy on her tongue. "And I panicked. That's why I left."

"While I'm not surprised, I will say I am a bit confused."

"About what?"

"You don't love him?"

The question shot through Spinelli's head like an arrow to the skull. Time froze around her, and suddenly she was back in that moment. Being cradled by his arms and smothered by his heavy comforter. His head in her neck and bare chest to her back. Hearing that single phrase fall off his tongue in a tone so affectionate it shook her to her core.

She shook herself back to reality, and chewed her cheek before replying. "I don't know."

Gretchen gave her a knowing look. "Now, is that a genuine 'I don't know', or is it a thinly veiled excuse to not have to examine your feelings any further?"

"Gretch, I don't know," Spinelli repeated. "All I do know is that everything was fine until he said that to me."

"Was it really?"

"I guess? I never had to think about it until that moment." Spinelli admitted, her hands rubbing achingly at her forehead. "I wasn't scared until he said that to me."

"'Scared'?" A puzzled look spread across Gretchen's face. "Why were you scared?"

She hesitated, slowly cocking her head with a pained smile. "Because I think I am in love with him." A strained laugh escaped. "And I have absolutely no fucking idea how to deal with that."

Like I said, it's a shorter chapter but I wasn't sure how long it would take for me to finish the scene I intended, so I thought I could wrap it up a bit sooner without sacrificing quality. Either way, thank you to faithful reviewers for keeping this fic on my mind. You guys are out there doing the lords work lol.

To the reviewer who asked for clarification on Vince and Gretchen's relationship, I hope this cleared it up for you. It's funny, because I wasn't sure how to answer your question at first. their relationship is just that, kind of murky and unclear. I tried to illustrate that as best i could.

Let me know what y'all think. Thank you again for reading ~