Chapter 8: Tangled
"So, uhh, sit wherever you want. Make yourself at home," Ander said, gesturing around his room that sat on the second floor of the house.
Reina gingerly perched herself on the chair next to his study table, while Ander decided to plop onto his bed.
On hindsight, maybe it wasn't the best idea to invite a girl back to the house – especially when she had a boyfriend who already disliked him for various reasons. And Ander was pretty sure that this would give Matteo the biggest reason ever to hate him.
Because of the goods that were about to be consumed, Ander and Reina couldn't exactly hang out in the living room. Though Ander's parents were out at a dinner party, they could come back anytime.
"Here's your pizza." Ander awkwardly passed to Reina her box.
"Thanks," Reina answered with equal amount of awkwardness. "Umm, I think I should make it clear, that we're purely here to eat pizza and smoke weed."
Ander nodded. "No problem. We're on the same page."
"Nothing else can happen. I mean, nothing else will."
Again, Ander nodded his head. Never mind that the two previous times they'd met, they had ended up kissing. And there were drugs involved tonight...
"Right." Reina looked around the room. "So do you have the stuff we need to roll our joints?"
"Yeah."
Ander retrieved what they needed from his desk drawers and they got started at constructing the weed joints.
"So... This is your family house?" Reina inquired.
"Yeah, it is. Why?"
"It's just – not quite the kind of house I imagined a Las Encinas student would live in..."
Ander smirked. "You mean, it's not a grand mansion with ten rooms, seven bathrooms and five maids?"
Reina's eyebrows shot up guiltily. "Well..."
"I'm not rich at all, if that's what you're asking. I only got into Las Encinas because my mom's the headmistress."
"Oh. What's that like, being the headmistress's son in school?"
"It's not a big deal. Nobody treats me any differently because of it."
Soon, the joints were ready. Ander opened the door that led to his room balcony and lit up. He leaned against one side of the doorway, while Reina took the other side.
Ander's first intake of the joint got him coughing badly and Reina laughing hard.
"You okay there?" she asked.
"Never better," he wheezed. "It's my first time smoking weed," he admitted.
"Aww, I'm honored that you're sharing your first time with me," Reina teased.
"So. How many rooms, bathrooms and maids does your house have?" Ander queried, his second puff going down a lot more smoothly.
"Too many," Reina remarked dismissively.
"You don't like your house?"
"Why do you ask that?"
"Just a feeling I had."
"Ander Muñoz, you're quite the observant one."
"So why don't you like being at home?"
"It's just a house to me, not a home."
"You're not answering much."
"Some things are better left unsaid."
"Well, since you know my last name, you should tell me yours. At the very least."
Reina rolled her eyes. "It's Velásquez. Now, no more questions."
"Fine."
By the time they moved on to their second joints and had wolfed down a couple of pizza slices each, Reina appeared to have loosened up. She requested for more Drake music, which Ander obligingly blasted from his set of Bluetooth speakers.
"This is a great song to dance to," Reina announced as 'Toosie Slide' came on. She threw her arms up and began to shake her hips, right there in the middle of the room. "Come on, Ander. Dance with me."
Ander looked at Reina warily. "Didn't you say that – "
"Say what?" She inched ever closer to Ander, giggling softly – no doubt from the effect of the weed. He could smell her delicate mango-scented hair.
"You said that nothing can happen," Ander reminded her, trying to maintain a sense of realism amidst the bubbling, chemically-induced euphoria he was feeling.
"Are you going to agree with anything and everything I say?"
"If it makes sense, I guess."
Reina tilted her head. "So if I say that Las Encinas sucks, you would agree?"
"Hmm... I don't know."
Reina sighed. "What kind of lame ass answer is that?"
"School pride isn't my thing. It's not a crime."
"Oh, that's right. The whole school rivalry thing is stupid to you."
"Isn't it?"
"It's not stupid," Reina insisted. "Two years ago, your football team cheated and robbed us of a hard-earned victory. Nothing can change that."
"It was just a football match. And neither one of us were involved in it at all," Ander pointed out.
Reina huffed, "You wouldn't say that if your team had lost that day."
Ander shrugged. "I don't know what to say, Reina. It really doesn't matter either way to me."
"You're impossible," Reina declared in frustration, running her hand through her dark wavy hair furiously.
Ander knew he should've been annoyed or something. But for some reason, the more riled up Reina got, the more amused he felt. Was this all because of the weed? If so, he should be smoking it all the time so that he could breeze through his entire life without giving too much of a fuck about anything.
He stood there, arms crossed, looking at Reina with a slight smile. She was still standing dangerously close to him.
Seeing how Ander didn't respond, Reina scowled and said, "Honestly, Ander! You must be cold-blooded. Don't you have a single ounce of loyalty to your school? How could you just stand here and not even say –"
Ander didn't let her finish the sentence. In one quick move, he leaned down and pressed his lips against Reina's lips.
It worked – Ander got Reina to stop talking.
She blinked once. Twice. Then she started kissing him back, slowly at first, but the intensity quickly built up. Ander's arms found their way around her waist, pulling her in until their bodies were pressed against each other, warm and pulsing with desire.
Ander could feel Reina's lips curving into a smile as their kiss deepened. Then he realized he was smiling too.
His right hand caressed the small of her back and he heard her utter a soft moan. His hands wanted to keep going, wanted to explore every part of her. And judging by Reina's fingers that were traveling to where the zip of his jeans were, the feeling was mutual.
Drenched in unmistakable passion, they stumbled and fell into Ander's bed. Sinking into the covers, Ander reached for Reina's white silk top and slid it off, revealing her white bra and smooth, kissable skin. He moved in, his hot breath tickling her neck, and she giggled incessantly. He left a trail of tiny kisses on her collarbone, feeling the rise and fall of her rapid breathing.
Reina reached for the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Next, she went for his jeans and underwear. Unzipping, tugging. Suddenly everything felt urgent. Ander did his part too, swiftly removing Reina's mini plaid skirt and undergarments.
Bare-skinned and limbs tangled in the bedsheets, Ander and Reina exchanged lusty gazes. Ander gave her one last lingering kiss before he pushed in.