Chapter 13: Hoover

x

x

x

Grimmjow had stayed for dinner, and then he had gone home. As soon as he had left, I had gone up to my room for a shower. Again, my panties were soaked from our earlier encounter. And I felt so damn frustrated… like, unsatisfied, in a way… just what the hell was wrong with me? I took my shower quickly and changed for bed. I was tired, but I forced myself to do my homework. It was late by the time I finished it.

After I packed everything back up into my new bag and got ready for bed, I found myself wanting to peak out onto the balcony… so I crept over and opened the curtains just enough to see out of the glass door. Sure enough, he was on his own balcony, smoking a cigarette as he stared up at the sky. Since he couldn't see me, I took the opportunity to watch him. He was dressed in the same black silk pants, so I figured they were his usual sleeping attire. And, to my shameful pleasure, his torso was bare. But there was a towel draped over his shoulders and his hair was damp… which made him look quite attractive. I watched the way his muscles moved as he casually smoked his cigarette, seemingly lost in thought.

It was a while before he finished it. But instead of going back inside, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. I saw him typing away on it… and then my phone beeped. I jumped, startled by the sound. Surely I hadn't just watched him text me… had I? I stepped over to my phone and checked it. Sure enough, there was a text from Grimmjow.

FROM GRIMMJOW: Are you coming out here, or what?

Oh, no! Had he seen me watching him?! I turned like ten million different shades of red. But then I brushed the thought aside. He hadn't looked over at my balcony at all… so he couldn't have seen me. Feeling more relaxed, I set my phone back down and walked out onto my balcony.

His eyes immediately met mine, a cocky grin spreading across his face. "Hey, babe."

I huffed. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that?"

He shrugged, still grinning. "You can keep count to find out, if you want."

I sighed, rolling my eyes as I leaned onto my railing. "So, did you want something?"

He chuckled softly. "Just to see your gorgeous face before I went to sleep."

I blushed at his comment. "Well you've seen it… so is that all?"

His gaze raked over me, looking me up and down. His lips tilted as he smirked at me. "Cute PJ's."

I blinked, then looked down at myself. My pajamas had fluffy teddy bears wearing sleeping caps and yawning adorably… but OMG! What was I thinking, wearing these out here where he could see me?! I started blushing, and then he started laughing, so I blushed even harder.

"Damn… too bad there's a two story fall between us." He narrowed his eyes at me, still smirking. He almost looked like a dangerous predator… "I'd love to get my hands on you right now."

"Grimmjow!" I spluttered, taking a step back from the railing.

He laughed again. "Relax, babe. I'm not gonna come flying over there after you."

I got a mental image of him leaping over the yard and pouncing on to me… and it made me wonder if I had maybe stayed up to late, since I seemed to be thinking such strange thoughts…

"Besides…" He mumbled, still looking at me, almost seductively. "If I got a hold of you again I'd probably end up needing another cold shower."

It took me a few moments to catch his meaning. Cold showers meant… OMG! Did I really have that affect on him? And he had said another so… did that mean that he had to take one already? Jeez! I felt uncomfortable all of a sudden. "Ummm…" I wrapped my arms around myself, shifting my weight nervously. "I don't think I know how to talk to you right now."

He tilted his head at me, and then burst out laughing, harder than he had before. "Damn, babe!" He tried to speak through his fits of laughter. "You are just so fucking cute!"

I sighed. "You know…" I mumbled quietly, though he could still hear me. "It's starting to feel like an insult when you say that…"

He stopped laughing and stared at me. "What do you mean?"

I bit my lip and shifted again. "You always call me cute when you're laughing at me… like you're making fun of me, or something."

He frowned, but there was still humor in his eyes. "Awww, babe. I don't mean it like that! I just like the way that you react… all sweet and innocent… and I think it's cute. I like it. Really." Then his smirk stretched back across his face and his blue eyes sparked as he looked at me. "I'm not making fun of you. You're just so adorable that it's fun to see the way you react, is all."

I chewed on the corner of my lip as I thought about what he said, watching him carefully. "So you like teasing me?"

He chuckled softly. "Heh. Yeah, I guess I do."

I pouted. Why did everyone seem to like teasing me? "Goodnight, Grimmjow."

"Goodnight, Juna." He winked at me.

X

X

X

I woke up the next morning to my doorbell ringing and an incessant pounding on the door. With a groan, I rubbed the sand from my eyes and dragged myself downstairs. "I'm coming!" I shouted to my early morning visitor. I opened the door to see Yumichika, Ikkaku, and even Rukia. I blinked in confusion as they all stared at me.

"Hello! Why the hell aren't you answering your phone?!" Yumichika broke the awkward silence.

"Yeah! You haven't been answering me at all!" Rukia gave me a stern, unhappy look.

"Is there breakfast?" Ikkaku mumbled sleepily.

I scratched the back of my head, stepping aside so that they could come into my house. "Ummm… I dunno…" I was trying to think of where my phone even was. "My phone is still upstairs."

Ikkaku collapsed onto the couch and started snoring.

Yumichika pushed me down onto the couch opposite of our sleeping friend and sat beside me, pulling out his makeup bag. "Now we're behind! I'll have to hurry… and it won't look as good as it did yesterday…"

I wasn't sure if he was mumbling to himself or to me. And I was still too tired to really care.

Rukia came storming back into the room with my phone in her hand. "Your phone was dead! Again! You have fourteen text messages, six missed calls, and two voicemails!"

I tried to look at her, but Yumichika pulled me back to face him. My phone had actually died? What kind of shitty act of karma was that? "Are they all from you?"

She came into my line of vision and rolled her eyes at me. "No, they're not all from me! There are some from Yumichika, Rangiku, Renji, Grimmjow, and even your uncle!"

Uh-oh… "I missed a call from my uncle?" I tried to reach for my phone, but Yumichika would not allow it.

"One call and a voicemail from him." She answered.

I sighed. "Will you text him for me? Tell him I'm sorry, that my phone had died and I hadn't realized it."

"Yeah, yeah… I'm on it." She was already typing away on my phone.

"Oh, dear!" Yumichika jerked away from me, then leaned back in, scrutinizing my neck.

I looked at him strangely. "What are you doing?"

He made a disgusted face. "First a bruise and now a hickey?! Juna, you have to learn to take better care of your skin!"

"A what?!" Rukia and I both yelled together.

She rushed over and pulled Yumichika back to look at my neck. "What the hell, Juna?!"

I grabbed Yumichika's mirror to look at it for myself. Sure enough, there was a red mark with little purple dots right there on my neck… where Grimmjow had been kissing me yesterday. I blushed horrifically. "Oh my goodness!" I had seen hickeys before, but I sure as hell had never had one myself… and to think that I had gotten one so easily! I looked at Yumichika desperately. "Can you cover it up?!"

He scoffed at me. "Of course I can."

As he set to work, Rukia started yelling at me. "How in the hell did you manage to get a hickey, Juna?!"

I glared at her as best as I could, what with Yumichika monopolizing my head. "It's not like I got it on purpose!"

Ikkaku started laughing, even though he was still face down in the couch. "So you accidentally let some guy suck on your neck?"

When had he even woken up?! "Shut up, Ikkaku!" I pouted when he started laughing harder. "Things just… got a little carried away yesterday…" I mumbled quietly.

"Oh, my GOD!" Rukia shouted. "Did you have sex with him?!"

I almost died at just the thought of it. "NO!" I shouted right back at her, earning a smack from Yumichika when I jerked away from him. "It was nothing like that!" I felt completely flabbergasted with the turn that the conversation had taken. "We just made out a little."

"Well next time don't let him Hoover your skin. This looks absolutely atrocious." Yumichika grumbled as he worked to cover it up.

"I just don't get what you were thinking… a few days ago you were freaking out about having your first kiss… with Renji! And now you're getting all marked up by this Grimmjow guy." Rukia was pacing around the room, stomping at various words to emphasize her points.

I gaped at her when she came into my vision. "Rukia!" I couldn't believe that she had just blurted all of that out. She had promised to keep it a secret… and she had already mentioned Renji in front of Rangiku… and now she was just spurting everything out in front of Yumichika and Ikkaku! "Shut the hell up!" I was starting to get pissed off.

She stopped mid-pace and covered her mouth with both hands, realizing what she had done.

I huffed through my nose.

"Renji already told us he kissed you." Ikkaku grumbled, rolling onto his back.

"Yeah, that's old news." Yumichika rolled his eyes in a bored manner.

I bit my lip. Renji had told them? Well… that didn't matter. The point was that Rukia was supposed to keep quiet about it! Ugh.

"So the kiss you had with Renji… was your first kiss?" Yumichika prodded.

I sighed. "Yeah…"

"And now you're getting it on with the neighbor man!" Ikkaku laughed. "Nice…"

I groaned. "It still isn't like that!"

"So what is it like, then?" Rukia questioned, sitting on the floor to look at me.

"I don't know…" I mumbled. "Grimmjow is really nice… in a strange, crazy way… and I like him."

"So what about Renji?" She asked as soon as I had finished speaking.

I wished that I could just go back to sleep. "I like him, too."

"So who do you like more?" Yumichika asked curiously.

I took some time to think about it… Renji was warm and considerate. Grimmjow was charming and attentive. Renji was fun to talk to. Grimmjow was fun to be around. Renji made me feel light and he gave me butterflies. Grimmjow could give me butterflies… among other things… and he made my entire body go crazy sometimes… but I wasn't sure if that was a good thing… even though it certainly felt like a good thing. Being around Grimmjow was like being around an untamed animal. He was friendly, yet wild and unpredictable. I liked that about him. And he could be so endearing. And he made me feel things that I had never felt before… not just when we kissed, but when he touched me… when he looked at me… when he spoke to me… I realized that I adored the way that he smirked and the mischievous spark in his eye.

"I, um…" I saw that everyone was waiting for my answer. I sighed heavily. "Well… with Renji, other than the kiss, I've never really known where we're at. And Grimmjow has made an effort to spend time with me every day since we met… and I've never doubted how he feels, because he makes it perfectly clear… so…"

"So you like straightforward guys." Yumichika concluded for me. "That makes sense."

"So you like him just because he likes you?" Rukia pressed.

I groaned, exasperated. "No… that's just one of the reasons that I think I like him more." I had to close my eyes when Yumichika started applying eye makeup… and I was actually kind of grateful. "Grimmjow is exciting and charming. He's fun to be with and I like spending time with him. And… he really cares about me."

Rukia sighed. She was about to say something else, but Yumichika cut her off.

"Do whatever you want to, Juna. You don't have to justify your choices to anyone." He pulled away so that I could open my eyes, and he was smiling broadly at me. "You just have to give me all of the gossip." He gave me a wink.

I giggled at him. "Of course, Yumi."