Chapter 18

Jaime Lannister POV

I'm going to Brienne's place to watch some movies today. She invited me over, and I really need to get out of the house. Cersei seems pissed off at me, and God only knows what it's about this time. I'm not looking forward to going back to school and having it just be us again. Of course I still love her, but I can't decide what I can handle for our relationship at this point.

I head out the door and get in my car, Cersei doesn't ask where I'm going this time. I know she wants me to apologize to her, but I don't even know what she's mad at me about. She can come and talk to me about whatever issue she's having, it's not my responsibility to figure it out.

Brienne answers the door after I knock and immediately looks happy to see me. "Hey," she says. "I'm glad you agreed to come over."

"Me too," I say, walking in. "I'm glad you wanted to see me again."

I give her a hug and we walk into her kitchen. "I was going to cut up some fruit," she says, getting some strawberries out of the fridge and setting them on the counter. "Do you want some?"

"Sure," I say. "That sounds great."

She cuts up some strawberries and puts them on a plate. I follow her out of the kitchen and we sit on the couch, she puts the plate on the coffee table in front of her. She then grabs the TV remote and turns the TV on.

"How have you been?" She asks.

"Pretty good," I say. "Not much has been going on, how about you?"

"I've been good, just preparing for the next school year."

"It's your last year, right?"

"Yeah, that's the plan," she says. "I'll miss it, but I know it's the right move for me."

"I'm sure," I say. "I go back to school in about a month, so I'm just trying to enjoy the summer as much as I can."

"How's your family?"

"They're okay," I say. "Tyrion went back to his apartment near campus early, he's got a pretty rocky relationship with my father and my sister."

"How is your sister?" Brienne asks after a long pause, she must have been nervous to ask about Cersei.

"She's okay, I think," I say. "She's a little mad at me lately, but I'm not sure why. She gets like that sometimes."

Brienne doesn't say anything to that, I guess she's a little uncomfortable. Even she's heard the rumors about me and Cersei, it would make me uncomfortable too.

"What do you want to watch?" She asks me.

"I'm down for whatever," I say. "You pick."

She puts a movie on and grabs the plate of strawberries, putting it between us. We eat them and then she puts the plate back. We don't talk much during the movie, I'm not sure what to talk about.

Eventually, I put my arm around her. She seems a little caught off guard, but she leans her head on my shoulder. She looks up at me, and we look at each other for a bit before I kiss her. We start making out, and eventually I'm on top of her.

"Can we move to the bedroom?" I ask her in between kisses. "It may be a little more comfortable there."

"Oh, um—" she says.

"We don't have to," I say. "Only if you want to, I didn't mean to overstep."

"No, it's fine," she says. "We can do that."

We get up and move to her room. We take our shoes off and get into her bed. We keep making out and eventually I take my shirt off, I reach for her shirt and start to take it off.

"What are you doing?" She asks me.

"I'm taking your shirt off," I say. "Is that okay?"

She nods and I take her shirt off. All of our clothes eventually come off. "Are you sure you're ready for this?" I ask her.

"I am," she says. "I'm nervous, but I'm ready. I need to get this over with."

"I've never slept with a coach before."

"I've never slept with anyone before."

After we finish up, we're just laying next to each other under the covers. We didn't have any protection, but Brienne has the birth control implant to make her periods almost nonexistent. She's laying her head against my chest, but I just feel weird about the whole thing.

"Was that okay?" I ask her.

"Yeah," she says, kissing my cheek. "I'm glad we did that."

"Good," I say. "I was worried you'd already regret it."

"I don't," she says. "I just hope we can hang out again."

"Definitely," I respond. "But I do have to go, I'll call you later."

"Okay," she says. "I'm looking forward to it."

I get dressed and get ready to head out. I get in my car and take a deep breath, leaning against the steering wheel. That was a lot of fun, but I just don't know how to feel. I'm wrestling a lot with my thoughts an emotions, but one thing is for sure: I need to talk to Cersei.

Cersei Lannister POV

I'm sitting on the couch when Jaime walks in, he's been leaving more lately and he didn't tell me where he was going. He doesn't have to, but he always has so it's really weird how closed off he's been lately. I turn around when he walks in and we make eye contact, I can immediately see on his face that something's different.

"Jaime?" I ask. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

"Let's go to my room," he says. "I need to talk to you."

"Okay," I say, getting up. "You're worrying me."

We get to his room and he shuts the door. He sits on the bed and I sit in one of his chairs. "What's going on?" I ask. "You're being weird, talk to me."

"I haven't been completely honest with you about what I've been doing this summer," he says. "I feel like I should tell you, but I'm worried you'll be mad."

"Well now you have to tell me," I say. "I can't promise I won't be, but I want to know."

"I've been seeing someone a little bit," he says, avoiding eye contact with me. "I wasn't sure if it was anything, so I didn't want to tell you."

I pause, that's not what I expected him to say and I'm shocked. "But now you think it is something so you're telling me?" I ask him.

He nods. "Yeah," he says. "It went further than I expected."

"What do you mean?" I'm getting pissed.

"I—" he stops. I can tell he doesn't want to tell me whatever it was that happened, but I'm not leaving until he does. "I slept with her today."

I let out a short gasp, I'm honestly shocked. Jaime's only been with me, I know that for a fact. I really didn't expect this, not in a million years.

"I'm sorry, Cers," he says. "I thought I should tell you."

"Who is this bitch?"

"Remember Coach Tarth?" He asks. "Theon knows her, we've been talking for a while and hanging out."

I take a deep breath, I'm trying not to cry. He can't see me cry about this. "I'll fucking kill her," I say. "You had to know I would get angry if you did something like this."

"I know," he says. "But you honestly don't have room to get angry at me about it."

"Are you fucking serious?" I'm raising my voice.

"Yes," he says, matching my energy. "You've been with other guys a lot, and I've never said a word about it. Come on, you know this isn't fair."

"Why her? She's literally an adult."

"She's only five years older than us," Jaime responds. "And I like her, she's a lot of fun to be around."

"I'm really upset, Jaime," I say. "You can't blame me, I'm so mad at you."

"You should be glad I even told you," he says. "I didn't have to, it's not like it's any of your business."

"I think it is," I say. "I've been sensing something was off with you, I just didn't know what."

"I'm not obligated to tell you anything," he says. "I just felt like I should."

I take a deep breath, he can't see me cry over this. "Are you going to see her again?" I ask him.

"I might," he says. "I like her, and it's not fair that you've gotten to be with other people and I haven't. Come on, Cers. How is that fair?"

"It doesn't mean it doesn't hurt," I say. "You can't blame me for feeling this way." I'm tearing up, I can't stop it.

"You don't think it hurt me when you were with Euron?" Jaime asks. "You think it didn't fucking hurt me to see and hear about things you did witb Bronn, and for drugs no less?"

I take a pause and a tear falls down my face, that was a low blow. He didn't have to go there. "I'm going to my room," I say, getting up. "You better not come in there."

I go into my room and bury my face into my pillow, I just let loose and start sobbing. I may not have any room to be upset with him, but I still am. He had to know this would hurt me. He's always told me he only has eyes for me, so this really came out of nowhere.

Maybe it would've been better if he just never told me. It still would've hurt if I found out and I would still be mad at him, but ignorance might have been bliss in this situation. I do love Jaime, and I always thought he would stay true to me. I have no idea what to do.

Arya Stark POV

I'm getting ready for the concert, I'm not sure what to wear. "Sansa?" I ask as I'm rooting through the closet. "What should I wear tonight?"

She gets up and walks into the closet with me. "Gendry said you should look older, right?" She asks. I nod. "Wear these black skinny jeans with this top."

She pulls out a lacy black top that I have, it's one of my nicer shirts. I thought she'd pick something with more cleavage, honestly.

"Isn't that a little covered?" I ask. "I'm supposed to look older so I can get in, and attractive."

"It shows off your figure," she says. "Guys are simple, they don't always need cleavage."

I shrug and sit down at her desk. She starts doing my makeup, she insisted that I wear some. "Are you nervous?" She asks me.

"About getting in?" I ask. "A little, I don't want to get Gendry in trouble."

"I meant about hanging out with Gendry late at night," she says. "You'll get into the club just fine."

"Why would I be nervous?" I ask. "We're just going as friends."

"Whatever you say," she says, shrugging.

She does my eyeliner really thick and my eyeshadow smokey, apparently that makes me look older. I'm waiting outside when Gendry drives up.

"Hey," I say, getting into the car. "You ready?"

"Yeah," he says. "Can we drive back to my place and Uber there? I want to be able to drink, but only if that's okay with you."

"Sure," I say. "I don't mind."

"We can Uber back to your place after the show," he says. "I'll pay for it."

"Thanks," I say. "That means a lot."

We go back to his place and he calls an Uber, it doesn't take us long to get to where the concert is. He greets the bouncers and they let him and me in without asking us for IDs. I guess he does know them and he was right about us having no problem getting in.

"I'm going to get a drink," he says. "Do you want anything? I have a fake."

"No, that's okay," I say. "Why do you need a fake if they just let you in and you know them?"

"I only know a couple of the bouncers," he says. "I'm 18 and can get in anyway, but the bartenders still card for drinks."

I nod as Gendry walks away towards the bar. I stand in front of the stage and wait for him, the view isn't too bad considering I'm short.

"I'm back," Gendry says once he joins me. "Good, they haven't started yet. Can you see okay?"

"Yeah," I say. "I'm excited."

"Do you want a sip?" He asks me, handing me the drink. I nod and take a sip. He looks around, making sure no one saw.

As the concert drags on, Gendry turns to me at about the halfway point and asks, "Do you want to go smoke outside with me?"

I nod and we walk outside. He lights up cigarettes for both of us and we start smoking. "Are you liking the show okay?" He asks me. "I know it's kinda loud in there."

"The band is actually really good," I say. "I'm enjoying it a lot more than I expected."

"I'm glad," he says. "I was worried you wouldn't like it."

"I'm having more fun hanging out with you," I say. "But the band is really good."

"I love hanging out with you," he says. "You know that."

We make eye contact for a longer period of time than feels natural, I keep expecting him to lean in and kiss me. I know we aren't dating anymore, but if he kissed me I wouldn't push him away. We finish smoking and then go inside to finish up the show.

…

We leave the show at around midnight, we danced a lot and I held on to him. He didn't seem to mind that I was sweaty, it felt nice to spend this time with him.

Gendry takes out his phone to call an Uber. "Do you want me to call you a separate ride home?" He asks me. "I don't mind."

"Is it okay if we go back to your place?" I ask. "It isn't late, I wouldn't mind hanging out some more."

"Okay," he says after a pause. "Sure, that's not a bad idea."

We get back to his place, and it looks like no one else is there. I guess I'm not surprised, I doubt he would've said I could come over so late if other people were here. We get into his room and he immediately lays on his bed.

"You okay?" I ask. "Are you drunk, or just tired?"

"I'm a little drunk," he says. "Not terribly, but enough to feel it. It's starting to hit me."

I lay on the bed next to him to take a breather. "I hear you," I say. "I didn't really drink, but I'm definitely tired."

He rolls over onto his other side to face me. "I had a good time tonight," he says. "Hanging out with you is way more fun than if I had gone alone."

"I had fun, too," I say. "I'm glad we can still be friends, you're one of the only people I feel like I can be myself around besides Sansa."

"Me too," he says. "Even with my guy friends, it's not the same as with you."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know," he says. "I feel like I can talk about deeper stuff with you, they just make everything into a big joke."

That surprises me, I've never thought of myself as an emotionally available person. Sansa is much better at that than me, I hate being vulnerable with people.

"I love hanging out with you," I say. "And I love that you can get me into places."

We laugh at that, and he stares into my eyes again. I'm hoping he kisses me, I'm still so attracted to him. I lean in slightly and we kiss.

"Arya," he says, breaking apart from me. "I don't know if this is a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Given our history and the feelings I still have for you, maybe we shouldn't do anything."

"We don't have to if you don't want to," I say. "But we're both single and just having fun, I don't see the harm in it."

He pauses and runs his fingers through my hair, he's being really touchy-feely for someone who isn't interested in doing anything.

"I just still really like you," he says. "It's hard for me to stop myself, but I'm trying."

"You don't have to stop yourself," I say. "But you can stop me whenever you want."

I start kissing him and he kisses me back. Pretty soon, our clothes are off and we're fooling around. I missed this, it's been a long time since I got some and he's good at it. Things keep going further and further, I'm leading the way on most of it. He doesn't stop me, and I'm glad he doesn't.

A/N: I'm back! Updates will be more frequent now that I'm back in town, let me know what you thought of this chapter! :)