forum The Stars Among The Storm // oxo // Rated: Spicey(mature) // oooopeeeennn

Started January 03, 2020 by @croccin-champagne

tune

I like that second option if you're up for it lol, it sounds like it would be a fun thing to basically start with.

then that it shall be!

Essie was drunk.

Well, not fully drunk. More like…very, very buzzed. But the point still stood. And her reason for getting drunk was definitely a valid one, in her opinion. Seriously, what girl wouldn't want to go out and blow a paycheck on straight whiskey when she'd just found her fiancé in the bed she shared with him, with her step sister?

If that didn't make sense, then she was either drunker than she thought, or everyone around her was just really judgy.

The only problem was, most girls who found their husband-to-be cheating on them didn't also find themselves half drunk and at his best friend's house.

Let alone fully planning to sleep with him.

There was a method to Essie's madness, though, even if it made no sense right now. She was here for revenge.

So she knocked on the door. Once, twice, three times, and adjusted the dress she'd dug out of her closet before going out. At least I don't look like a mess. That would be a big issue.

Tom had finally sat down and relaxed into the couch, his hair still damp from his shower. After working for almost the entire day straight, he was ready for some time relaxing and not being bothered.

Needless to say, Thomas was surprised when he heard a knock on the door. Then a second knock, and a third. He wasn't going to answer the door since he had just gotten comfortable, but the knocking was getting slightly annoying. And so, he got up and headed to the door, expecting one of his buddies or some sales person. He was quite surprised when he saw Essie at his door though, wearing a good looking dress and smelling suspiciously of alcohol.

"Hey, Essie, what's up? Where's Lukas?" He asked, noticing as he stood there that he didn't have a shirt on. It was weird that Lukas wouldn't have texted him about coming over but he smiled anyway. It was also weird that he would've brought Essie with too, but hey, she was cool to hang around with too.

"He's not here." Essie said, shrugging a shoulder and running a hand through her hair. It really only made it messier, but there was something almost charming about the type of mess. "We had a…disagreement, of sorts." He was cheating on me, with my sister. "Then work called. So I'm alone tonight. Do you mind if I hang out?" She asked, her voice adopting just a slight purr. With the tilt of her head and the way she batted her lashes slightly, she looked slightly innocent. Like she didn't have a plan up her sleeve.

He shrugged, a little confused but satisfied with her explanation, "Sure, c'mon in and make yourself at home. I might start a game if you want to play, I have an extra controller. Otherwise, make yourself at home." He opened the door further for her and motioned for her to come inside, trying not to focus on just how good that dress looked on her. Thomas closed the door once she came in and disappeared to his room for a moment as he grabbed a shirt and pulled it on. He could at least be polite and not walk around without a shirt. Once it was on he came back out though and sat down on the couch once more.

She slipped inside, smiling sweetly at him as she passed. When he returned, Essie was already on the couch, spinning her engagement ring around her finger as she watched it almost blankly. She glanced up, eyes brightening slightly as she 'returned to earth', pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

Why was she almost disappointed at the sight of him wearing a shirt?

It's because this might all work better if he's already half naked. Sure. Right. Though, she really couldn't deny that he was good looking….

"Do you have any wine?" She asked, smiling up at him. Her multicolored eyes sparkled slightly, and one could probably attribute that brightness to the alcohol.

"I think I do," Thomas replied, really not wanting to get up once again but doing so anyway. He always had multiple forms of alcohol in his fridge, and most likely wine. The thing he didn't have was fancy glasses for the wine, meaning he came back with two whiskey glasses full of deep red wine. "Hope this works." As he handed her the wine, he caught himself checking her out once again and forced himself to look away. Damn it was hard though, even as he scolded himself over and over again.

Essie was Lukas' fiancee, not some girl he should be checking out.

Once she had her glass, he sat down to keep his eyes to himself and took a sip of his own wine. "So what happened between you two? How bad was this disagreement?"

Essie thanked him, taking a decent sized drink of the wine. "It works just fine." When he asked what had happened, she stilled, eyes dropping to her cup as she carefully swirled the wine, pulling her legs up onto the couch with her. "It was….not small, for sure. I'm not sure where it leaves us, though." She said, carefully dodging the question about what, and instead focusing on the 'what now'. She wasn't going to marry Lukas, obviously. In fact, she had left before he could even come up with an excuse, not even willing to listen to anything he had to say. That was one more heartbreak on the list, and Essie wasn't stupid. She wasn't putting up with that ass anymore. "I don't want to talk about that, though. You aren't out doing anything tonight? That's a bit surprising."

Thomas laughed and shook his head, still sipping at his wine, "Nope, nothing going on, don't usually have a lot going on. What about you? You're dressed like you were going to go out somewhere." Essie didn't seem like the type of girl to wear dresses around casually, at least in Tom's opinion. Especially that nice of a dress. It made him wonder even more about just how bad they had fought if they hadn't even tried to talk it out at least on the way to wherever they were going. He didn't even notice as he continued drinking away, even as his original plan was to only drink some to seem polite.

"I decided to go out." There was something about the way she said that that made it not quite clear whether or not she was lying. In actuality, she had had plans to go out tonight, with Lukas, of course. He didn't really let her go anywhere without him. But after what she'd seen, she decided a bar suited what she needed better than a fancy restaurant. And she was right, since it was the bar that reminded her of what her mother had said to her years ago. Admittedly, likely in a joking way. But oh well. She was here now.

And a De Vos never quit, that was for sure. Essie drank the rest of her wine maybe a bit too quickly, turning to face Thomas. She rested her arm on the back of the couch, eyes flickering over his form, looking him over, before finally finding his face again. "Realized that was a mistake, and decided that since you and I don't know each other as well as we could…" She shifted a bit closer to him, the corner of her mouth tilting up into a small and sly smile. "I figured we could change that."

He nodded as he finished his wine down to the last few sips, her explanation once again good enough for him. The fact that she still came her without Lukas though still made him curious, something he forgot about as he watched Essie finish the rest of her wine and turn to him. Thomas watched her eyes as they flicked over his body and he suddenly felt the conversation change a little. Either way, he drank the last of his wine though and shook his empty glass. "Want any more?" He asked, "Before we continue this conversation about getting to know each other better?" It was his last idea to keep himself from focusing too intently and letting his eyes flick over Essie, even if it meant his mind got a little fuzzier than it probably should be.

"I'm always down for another glass of wine." She said with a soft laugh, the shaking of her shoulders causing a few pieces of hair to fall into her face. She didn't bother moving them, just smiled up at him. "I can go get it this time, if you don't want to get up." Essie offered, her hand shifting. It just nearly touched him, brushing against his shoulder briefly before resting so close she could feel the warmth from his body. Somehow, the more she drank, the more she found herself looking at him. That jaw could cut glass…

"Thanks for the offer, I'll go get it though," He said, smiling at her and reaching over for a brief moment. Thomas was just going to grab the glass, but found himself brushing some of the stray hairs out of her face gently. There was no explanation for what he just did, and he grabbed her glass before standing again to bring the focus off of what just happened. "Be right back." It didn't take long for him to grab his glass as well and fill them up again with wine, bring them back relatively fast and sitting back on the couch a few fractions closer to Essie.

The action surprised her, that much was obvious, and Essie was left sitting on the couch, blinking a few times. He was so gentle when doing that. She wasn't even ware that someone could have a touch that gentle. It took her a few moments to shake off the strange flutter in her heart, but she managed before he returned.

Essie didn't miss the way Thomas sat closer than he had been when he'd gotten up, and she found a smile tugging at her lips as she accepted her glass, scooting a tiny bit closer to him herself as she took a drink. Then another. Then another. Each time she took a drink, she got a bit closer, until she was nearly in his lap, leaned forward so that the front of her shoulder almost brushed his. "You want to know a secret?" She asked, leaning in closer.

Thomas watched with an unreadable smile as she scooted closer, not taking as much time to savor this glass and instead finishing it by the time she was almost sitting on his lap. "I like secrets, tell away," He replied, the smile staying on his face as he watched her somehow lean closer. There was no denying that he may have leaned in slightly as well, but he continued to scold himself as he thought about even just making out with Essie. She was his best friend's fiancee.

Not anymore. But he didn't know that.

With her shoulder now pressed to his, Essie shifted so that she was stage whispering near his ear, lips maybe closer to his jaw than his actual ear. "I think…" She said, her hand finding his chest and trailing lightly along. "That I want you to kiss me." There. There was that. And now, she would just have to make her way from there. Something told her he wouldn't be too opposed to kissing her though, not with the way he was looking at her. Even if Lukas was his best friend.

"You want me to kiss you?" He asked slowly, his voice becoming slightly deeper. At this point it was becoming a struggle to keep himself in check, the wine making his thinking a little fuzzy and both her hand on his chest and her lips so close to his jaw making it even more difficult. Thomas found himself moving his head so that their lips were much closer than before as he groaned, "Essie..Shit…I..Lukas would kill me, I shouldn't kiss you." Stopping himself at this point was a victory of its own, even as his hand reached up and gently ran along the length of her arm from her shoulder to fingertips.

"I do. I want you to kiss me." Her eyes flickered down to his lips, and she shuddered slightly at the feeling of his hand on her arm. And God, that voice. "He won't find out. Nobody but us has to know what happens here." She murmured, shifting even closer. Now there really was nowhere to go but his lap, so that's what she did. Moved to sit on his lap, still trailing her hand long his chest. "Please?"

"Essie…he's gonna find out..then we're both screwed.." He said in the same deep and thick voice as before. He had really been trying to fight what he wanted as she talked and tried to get him to give in, when she saw on his lap though; that was his breaking point. Fine. One little kiss. Thomas was fairly certain what he told himself was a lie though as he moved until he was sitting normally on his couch, almost hoping she would take it as permission to move until she was straddling him. His eyes flicked to her lips and he cursed internally before closing his eyes and brushing his lips against hers.

She did. In no time, she was straddling his lap, hand pausing so that she could grip the front of his shirt. Of course she was banking on Lukas finding out eventually. Though, for some reason, she found that thought further and further from her mind as she leaned in, pressing her lips to his gently at first. Like she was wary. Not a few seconds into the kiss had her tilting her head, deepening the kiss as she pressed into it.

Thomas snaked an arm around her side, resting it on her lower back as he gave in and kissed her roughly. He could hear Lukas yelling at him already, but he forgot about it just as quickly as the thought came. It was only a kiss, though one that seemed like both of them were willing to take a little further even if it was a bad idea. This kiss had already gone on for longer than he planned it too, but he didn't stop as he ran his other hand up her arm and rested it on her shoulder.

((when should we hop this over to pms?))

Essie's hand, the one that wasn't gripping the front of Tom's shirt, came up, trailing along his jaw before threading her fingers into his hair. She shifted on his lap, pressing herself flush against him as she released his shirt. Instead, her arm snaked around his neck, holding him close as she kissed him. God. Lukas had never kissed her like this. Thomas kissed her like he wanted her, leaving her addicted to that feeling. To this. Reluctantly, she broke the kiss to breathe, eyes still closed and cheeks now flushed as her lips brushed his with every breath. "I don't want to stop."

(Probs soon, I'll post my part quick and then we can bring it over there if you want to)
His voice was unusually deep and had an edge that showed how much he wanted to continue, "This is a stupid idea to keep kissing you..but good lord I want to so bad." Her soft lips brushed his with every word and it just made it harder to not claim her lips with his as he started to rub circles on her lower back with his thumb. Thomas could feel her chest pressed against him and just the sheer amount of contact made him start to kiss Essie again, this time not staying confined to her lips as he kissed a trail down to her jaw and then her neck.

Essie hadn't seen Tom for weeks. That had been her plan, of course, so everything was going right. She needed to focus on herself, having already given that much attention to revenge. Now, she was focusing on her career, wedding planning. And with that, finding a date for her best friend's wedding.

Every wedding she had ever planned, she'd been invited to. Her clients loved her, and she considered it sort of a duty, watching the thing she'd put so much effort into unfurl into something beautiful. Having her there was good in case of hiccups, and her clients knew that. They also may have just liked her in general, but she had a hard time admitting that.

It was too bad Lukas had always fought against her going to them. He didn't like that he wasn't invited, that there were men there that might 'steal her away'.

Now, though, his opinions didn't matter. She was finally free. Free, and shopping for a bridesmaid dress with her best friend, Tori, in a wedding-apparel shop. Somehow, she'd never seen the guest list. Maybe if she had, she would have noticed that one of her friends had Tom down as a plus one. Maybe she'd have been more careful out and about. But it was too late for that.