A Beautiful Struggle (20 page)

“Allegations like that could cost me my job
Beth. Now you and I both know that I have been nothing but professional with
you. So I would appreciate it if you would set these rumours straight before
they get out of hand.”

Beth immediately started stammering,
“Elliot, I-I-I don’t know w-what you heard, b-but I would never try to cause
you any problems. I will make sure whoever is spreading rumours knows that
they’re false.”

“Thank you Beth, you can go now.”

I heard her get up and leave his office,
and the click of the door behind her. Elliot then picked up the receiver to
speak to me again.

“Did you get all that?” he asked me.

“Yes, I did. But you didn’t have to do that
– I believed you when you said nothing happened.”

“I did need to do that. The rumour needs to
be stopped before it goes any further. Plus, I wanted to make sure there was no
doubt in your mind.”

“There wasn’t, I trust you,” I said
sincerely. “I’ll see you at lunch?”

“See you then.”

I met Elliot at the sign I was reading the
first time we ran together. It was now our usual meeting spot inside the
botanical gardens.

As we started running I had to talk about
something that had been playing on my mind, “Elliot,” I started. “Why did you
go and visit David?”

He looked at me to gauge my mood before he
answered, “You were upset, and I wanted to try to help things a bit by letting
him know that I wasn’t planning on challenging your friendship with him. Do you
mind that I spoke to him?” he asked with raised eyebrows.

“No, not really. It’s actually kind of nice
that you did.” In truth, it was. Elliot was the first guy I had dated, that
actually tried to work things out with David instead of fighting it. It was
just a pity that David didn’t seem so willing this time around.

We ran along in quiet for a moment before
Elliot said, “Did it help at all?”

“Yes and no, he is talking to me again but
not like he was before.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, I thought he might
be ok now.”

“I think the stuff with Christopher just
messed with his head a bit too much. He’ll come around in time – or so my mum
says anyway.”

“She’s probably right.”

“I hope so… So, why
don’t
you have a
problem with David? I only ask because every other guy I have dated has a
huge
problem with him.”

“At first, I’ll admit, I was a bit worried
about him. Especially seeing how close you two were, but then I thought about
how I’d feel if David was a woman and it was just your typical best friends
situation, it was then that I realised I had no reason to be jealous.”

“That’s the way I always thought about it,”
I told him.

With my exams finally over I was looking
forward to spending the weekend with Elliot and not worrying about having to go
home to study or train, it was a weekend off everything, and I was bursting
with excitement.

I was heading down to the parking garage
when I ran into David, we hadn’t spoken since the weekend, but we had been
exchanging texts. So things were improving, which is better than the radio
silence I was getting from him before.

“Hi,” I said to him as brightly as I could,
“are you going up to meet Beth?” I tried to keep my voice friendly, even though
I really disliked that he was dating her and I hated that our friendship was so
strained.

“Yeah, we’re going out to celebrate the end
of exams,” he told me, not really making eye contact. “You’re not staying for
drinks?”

I shrugged. “No, not this time. Have fun
though,” I said, feeling awkward. We stood there looking at each other, trying
to overcome the tension that was between us. I desperately wanted to hug him
and tell him how much I missed him, but I knew that wasn’t going to help
anything right now. I gave him a tight smile and nodded. “See you around,
David,” I hitched my overnight bag higher on my shoulder and left the building,
giving him a small wave as I walked past the glass exterior and saw him
watching me as he waited for the lift.

The parking garage was about a ten-minute
walk away. Elliot had texted me that he was on his way down before I left so I
was expecting to see him waiting outside the entrance.

“Hey stranger,” he said to me as I got
close enough, holding the door open and ushering me through. He took my bag and
caught my hand as soon as it clicked shut.

“Thank you,” I said leaning into him, it
was so wonderful to be able to touch him again after spending a week near him
with nothing more than stolen glance here and there. It made it all the more
important to be in as much physical contact with each other when we could.

“I was thinking we could eat Chinese for
dinner,” he told me casually.

I couldn’t help myself, “I’m not much of a
cannibal Elliot, but if that’s what you're into – I’m not going to stop you,” I
replied jokingly. Elliot was shaking his head and smiling his amusement at my
good-natured jibe.

“I thought we might get some take away
Chinese
food
for dinner.”

“Oh Chinese
food
! I love Chinese
food - that would be amazing. I’m starving!”

Elliot dragged my head towards him and
kissed me roughly in my hair, I looked at him wondering what that was for and
he told me, “Because you’re funny.” 

We stopped at his car, and he opened the
boot to put my bag inside. Pulling me to him, he kissed me passionately. “Mmm
perhaps I should just have you for dinner,” he murmured as we parted.

“Is it as hard for you as it is for me –
the weeks between?” I asked as we got into the car and started on our way.

“I think it’s harder,” he said looking at
me hungrily; it sent shivers through me as my own world fell away and I became
Elliot focused once more.

We drove straight to Elliot’s flat, not
bothering with small talk but instead just luxuriating in the sexual tension
that was filling the air between us, arousing and intoxicating. Racing up the
stairs to his door, we didn’t even realise that we had left my bag in the boot
of his car, our need for each other was too over powering to care about trivial
things like clean clothes.

As soon as the locks clicked he turned and
took my face in his hands and kissed me, breathing me in as he did so, making
me feel as if I was melting into his body. He took me by the hand and let me
straight to his bedroom, kissing me again as he slowly undid the buttons of my
blouse to slide his hands over my bare skin.

Everywhere his hands had been screamed for
more as his touch moved on, my body was craving him like he was the sustenance
that kept me living. He let my blouse drop to the floor as he guided me over to
the bed, unzipping my skirt and sliding it down my legs as he urged me to lay
back, propping a pillow under my hips as he removed my panties and positioned
himself between my legs.

“It seems a little unfair that you still
have your clothes on,” I spoke, my voice husky with desire.

“You’re still wearing your bra,” he
murmured wickedly, as he started kissing a trail across my stomach, while he
teased my opening with his finger. He groaned, “I love that you're always so
wet for me.”

With his finger, he slid my juices up
towards my clit. I let out a slight gasp as he began to circle it. Around him,
it seemed to always be throbbing; a result of the desire I continuously felt
when in his presence.

He kissed a trail down my stomach and over
my mound, flicking his tongue over my swollen clit and sucking it as he slid
his fingers back towards my opening until they were inside me. I moaned,
clenching myself tightly around his fingers, “Oh, it’s so hot when you do
that,” he let out.

Returning to tease my clit with his tongue,
his fingers continued to massage my depths. There was little warning as my
orgasm ripped through me, sudden and explosive. He withdrew his fingers and
held onto me tightly while my hips spasmed and he continued to lap at my folds.
When I screamed out enough, he released me, wiping his mouth as he sat back on
his haunches. Prepared to continue our sexual encounter, I was surprised when
he stood up and offered me his hand.

“Let’s go and order something for dinner,”
he suggested, pulling me up off the bed towards him.

“What about you?” I asked, boldly running
my fingers over the erection straining the zipper of his pants. He closed his
eyes for a moment and caught my hand, kissing me softly.

“What about me?” He had a look of mischief
about him as he backed out of the room, leaving me standing there with just my
bra on and wanting him badly. I took my bra off and grabbed a shirt from over
the back of a chair and dropped it over my head, following him out. I lifted
the shirt to my nose and breathed in his scent, which to me was everything I
found erotic. 

I found him in the kitchen pulling take
away menus out of a drawer; he smiled appraisingly at me as he took in my
clothing choice.

“That’s now my favourite shirt,” he said,
taking me in his arms and kissing me, hooking his finger in the neck of the
shirt and pulling it towards him to look inside. He saw that I was completely
naked underneath and raised his eyebrows at me, snaking his other hand down
from my waist to slide under the shirt and caress my bare behind. “My absolute
favourite shirt,” I melted into his hard chest once more as we kissed again,
his hands roaming over my body underneath the shirt.

In a show of great restraint, he stepped
away and said, “What would you like to order?”

“Elliot, with a side of more Elliot,” I
purred reaching for the button of his pants and undoing it. He caught my hand
again.

“Soon,” he told me, kissing my nose and
guiding me, so I was sitting on a chair - pouting. “Is satay and fried rice
fine with you?”

I nodded and listened as he called the
restaurant, asking for home delivery.

“It’s going to be about an hour,” he
informed me when he was finished.

“Well, what are we going to do with all
that time?”

He moved towards me, lifted me from my
chair and sat me on the table, taking the seat in front of me. “This,” he told
me as he leaned forward and slid his tongue into my folds for the second time
in less than half an hour. I was still sensitive from coming the first time, so
he was careful not to press his tongue too firmly on my clit. He used soft
gentle laps to ease me into the build-up of another orgasm. I moaned out my
pleasure as his mouth and fingers teased me until I was once again writhing in
ecstasy while his mouth drank me in.

This time he followed through, undoing his
pants as he stood, ramming his cock inside me causing me to gasp from the
suddenness of it. I clutched myself against him and breathed into his ear,
“Yes. That's what I needed – you inside me.”

He pushed deeply into me and lifted me from
the table, walking with us still connected until he was sitting on the couch,
and I was on top of him, grinding my hips, so I could take in every millimetre
of his length.

He held me tightly to him and pushed back,
touching me deeply. When he let go, I lifted myself up until he was just about
to slide out of me before I slid back down again, griping him tightly as I
repeated the process. He threw his head back and moaned, his hands resting on
my hips as he guided my rhythm.

His body shuddered and he held his breath
as he came, burying his face in my neck and kissing me. I curled my fingers
through his hair and tilted his head up, so I could kiss him back, wriggling in
his lap to enjoy our continued connection.

The intercom buzzed with what I assumed
would be our dinner delivery, “I’ll catch it this time,” I said to him.

“You don’t have to, I’m prepared,” he told
me as he nodded towards a box of tissues on the coffee table in front of us.

Grinning, I reached for them, “Well done,”
I praised, impressed. I slid off him and used the tissues to clean myself while
he did his pants up and went to answer the intercom.

I could hear Elliot talking to the delivery
guy at the front door and went into the kitchen, threw the tissues in with the
rubbish, washed my hands and pulled two plates out of the strainer next to the
sink to set the table.

I turned as I heard the rustle from the
plastic bag Elliot was carrying, “I hope you’re hungry,” he stated, holding up
the take-away containers. He placed the bag on the table, and I started to
unpack it, opening each container and setting it on the table in front of our
plates. He moved over to the drawer and took out forks and spoons for us,
setting them on the table also. He then went to the fridge and poked his head
inside. “Beer, wine or coke?” he offered.

“Hmmm, wine I think – is it white? If not,
then beer.”

“Yeah it’s white,” he told me taking out
the bottle and getting two glasses and a corkscrew from the cupboard above his
head before he poured us both a glass.

“Here’s to a full weekend together and the
end of your exams,” he toasted me, clinking our glasses together and looking me
straight in the eye. I could lose myself in those eyes of his, like gleaming
deep blue beacons, shining in a sea of white.