"Come in!" Danny shouted from his kitchen, straining pasta from the boiling water right as Lacey's knock came.
Danny shook off the excess water and turned, almost dropping the colander as he took in his friend in such a jaw dropping outfit.
"Wow, Lacey—you look so lovely."
Danny's blind genuineness always warmed her heart. Danny was typically so bold, confident. When he was surprised by something though, he wore it all over his face. You could always tell if he was telling the truth, which Lacey hoped would help her navigate their conversation tonight.
"Thank you, Phoebe made me wear it."
"Remind me to thank her later too then." He smirked, handing her a glass of wine.
"Ooo, thank you. Need any help?" Lacey asked, eagerly accepting the wine and praying he didn't need any help.
"No, thank you though. How's school going?"
Lacey watched as Danny made homemade Alfredo sauce and sautéed in some fresh spinach and shrimp. This man was perfect. She stole a few of the croutons she assumed were for salads he hadn't made yet and began snacking.
"Okay I suppose, I'm behind in economics, story of my life." She giggled.
Danny spun around and jogged over to the fridge, pulling out two prepped salads, chilled and ready to go, "Please, sit."
Lacey sat and Danny served her the salad, sitting to eat with her while the pasta rested in the luxurious sauce and the garlic bread was baking.
"I save all the assignments for each of my classes, text me what you're missing, I've got you." Danny offered, knowing Lacey just needed a little support to cross all her t's and dot all her i's. College was just another game, after all.
"Thanks, but I'll manage."
"I know how hard you work, a double major is no joke—let me help."
"I need to do it myself, I'll just take the lower grade."
"It's not like you won't catch up and actually learn the stuff, I'm just offering to help with the assignments, to free up some of your time." Danny winked.
"I'll let you know, thank you though, really."
"Okay." Danny gave her a nod as he finished his salad, she was so stubborn.
He cleared their bowls and plated some of the pasta, setting them up before carrying over the platter of garlic bread, still fresh from the oven.
"Ooo, garlic bread. Should we kiss now then, before it's too late?" Lacey giggled, testing him a little bit.
Her smile relaxed when Danny's face remained neutral. Something was off, but she couldn't figure out what. It didn't feel like Danny had some huge, guilty story to confess so why was he so hands off?
Lacey decided that Danny was allowed to have an off day and would find a way to ease in some questions to find out more about whatever was bothering him. He was such a good friend and now it was payback time.
"More wine?" Danny tried to change the subject.
"Yes, please." Lacey said before taking her first bite, "Oh my god, Danny, this is amazing!" Lacey groaned.
Lacey made more noise tasting his food than she did riding his dick. Noted.
Danny took a healthy bite and chewed for a long while, watching Lacey enjoy her meal. This was nice. He hoped tonight would go as well as he was hoping it would.
"I watched your games, your team is so good this year."
Lacey complimented him as she tore into the garlic bread, swirling it around in the sauce and shoveling it in her mouth as if she were ten years old, eating at home with her parents.
Danny smiled, "We lost both games."
"Oh, well, you looked awesome in those uniforms. Clean, stretchy." Lacey shrugged, she did watch some of the games but really knew nothing about football.
Danny laughed at that, "Stretchy, nice. Coach is stressed, we have extra practice running plays all week, home game Friday and then we're gone again for two weeks."
"Yikes, is that why you're acting so off?" Lacey asked, now filled with the good carbs, so much for easing into it.
Danny knew she'd pick up on his raging shift in thoughts. He needed to get into this with her, to start unpacking and talking through it to see if this was something worth pursuing or not.
"I'd like to talk to you about something—"
He was so nervous, this was not like him. Danny felt like he was on the precipice of something he had only ever dreamed of and he was ready to dive in. He prayed Lacey would keep an open mind.
"We are talking, what's up?"
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but, I think we should stop touching each other—"
Lacey deflated a little and leaned back from the table. She wiped her mouth, slid her plate away and reached for her glass of wine. This was not what she expected to hear, at all.
"Oh."
"The stories," Danny licked his lips, "I don't know for sure how you felt, but I was in that." Danny's eyes were sparkling, electric.
"Me too." Lacey smiled, her mouth pressed against her glass in an attempt to hide just how much.
"I'd like to try a new kink, with you."
"Abstinence is not the kink I'm looking for." Lacey admitted honestly.
"Yeah, no, me neither." Danny laughed, "I still want to make you come every fucking day, Porter, but maybe we can work on doing it by not touching each other in between our sessions? It's that sexual tension that's so addictive—"
His mind wandered back to the almost painful orgasm he had given himself after reading some of Lacey's words. It was right up there on his list of best orgasms ever and he wasn't even with her at the time
Lacey poured herself some more wine, Danny trying not to touch her or kiss her since he had been back on campus now making total sense.
Danny stood and cleared their plates for a second time, returning with some chocolate mousse tarts and raspberry sauce. He slid Lacey's tiny dessert plate in front of her and pulled his chair over to take up a spot closer to her.
"Did you make this too?!"
"Indeed. My mother is a professional chef, I can cook anything." Danny revealed and scooped up a spoonful of the treat.
Lacey watched as Danny made the slow pull of the spoon back out of his mouth look like the porn she never knew she wanted to see.
"More wine?" Danny chuckled, totally picking up on Lacey's soft, warm buzz and deep rosy cheeks.
"No more for me, I wanna be able to get it up later." Lacey joked back as she attacked her own dessert.
Lacey didn't use the spoon, opting to pick up the tart like a cookie and take a significant bite. The raspberry sauce was all over her top lip and as she worked to lick it off she realized that Danny was staring at her like the predatory animal she had expected to see from him earlier today.
It took her a few chews to get the rich dessert to break apart and melt into her mouth, Danny watching her the whole time.
"Do you want more wine?" She giggled back.
"Is it good?" He bit his lip.
"It's amazing, now I know why it's so small, it's super rich. I should have used the spoon." Lacey assessed.
He went for it.
"The anticipation of sending and receiving those texts, Lacey, I've never been more excited about anything before."
Lacey nodded and she spooned up the remaining bits.
"That starvation," Danny shook his head, "Fuck I want that—"
"Are we still fucking or not?" Lacey's wine brain could not follow this anymore.
"Hell yes. All the time."
"And then when we're not, it's all hands off deck?" Lacey laughed like she had strung together the funniest sentence ever.
Danny slid the wine glass away further, yep, she was cut off. He definitely didn't want to see this dinner come back up.
"Exactly." Danny paused, waiting for something back from Lacey. Anything. When she didn't respond he stood, time for a change of pace, "C'mon, let's take a walk. We'll head over to the frat houses?"
Lacey was up for a walk after such a filling meal. Danny tossed their leftovers in the fridge and they headed out to frat row to see what trouble was happening tonight. The cool evening air helped to clear Lacey's head.
"So, what happens with Regina?" Lacey finally began her critical thinking as they walked along, "Is all that changing too? Because if not, it's really not all that different than what we have now."
"You knew what this deal was, why are you singling her out? I texted you about it, told you I kissed people while I was away, I never said who—"
"So Regina wasn't one of them?" Lacey looked at him skeptically and crossed her arms across her chest.
"I didn't say that either—"
"Look, Desai. I want a better game than this. I was open to the casual hookup idea between us, then I sampled the goods and agreed to only taking your dick—now we've gotta be all alone with just our thoughts for hours and hours while still able to kiss and do whatever with whoever? Sounds like this will end up with both of us finding someone else's arms to hold us."
"What do you suggest?"
"Go backward or go forward, I don't care, but not this. If you're really up for this sensory starvation game, go all in. Commit, or what the hell are we doing here? You're the kinkmaster, remember?"
"Commit." Danny tested the words he never wanted to embrace.
"I'm not talking labels, promise. I'm saying, if you want to try this kink, let's starve the shit out of ourselves for a bit, not touch anyone until it's time to board the train, see what heights we can get to. Or, let's keep going with what works."
"Board the train." Danny shook his head.
He looked over at Lacey for a few steps, her face happy, excited. She was stunning in the setting sunlight. She understood him more than anyone ever had, accepted him at every twist. He had really missed her the last two weeks.
Danny had often asked a lot from her and she didn't always agree. He appreciated that more than he could explain. He was used to groupies and lonely people who would do whatever he asked them to do. Sure the total of all of those people filled in a lot of things he needed and things he wanted to try, but Lacey was different.
Lacey would never let him have free reign. She had just as much control and gave just as much as she took. There was a balance with her that seemed to keep growing and changing and Danny wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. It was scary and intriguing at the same time.
"Danny! Hey babe!" Regina shouted as she walked down the front steps of the frat house toward him.
Regina stepped right up as if going for a kiss, Danny taking a tiny step back. She reared back a little, eyes darting between him and Lacey.
"Hey." Danny greeted her with a nod instead.
"Yeah, hey—" Regina squinted at him, "Something wrong?"
Danny played dumb, "No, I'm good. You?"
"Danny—"
"I'm trying something new, Crane." Danny advised before walking past her, Lacey in tow.
"Wow." Lacey commented as they reached the front door, "What was that about?"
Danny turned to Lacey, "That was me starving myself."
Lacey smiled, "You're all in then?"
"I'm so fucking in this, Porter."
Regina was fuming.
If Danny wanted to try something new, he'd get it, she promised silently.
Regina knew this had everything to do with Lacey as did the cock-block she had been gifted from hundreds of miles away when all she wanted was for Danny to fuck her raw. She hadn't had him since he started sleeping with Lacey.
Suddenly coming in to more free-time now that Lacey was the one exclusively getting the Desai dick, Regina decided to use every minute of it to make Lacey's life hell until she won her man back. He'd regret ever dismissing her.