Page 2 of Down Memory Lane
“Not so fast. I never said I didn’t need the help,” he told his brother. Felix did not need the help, but the fact that his brother was opting to leave the farm and had spoken in more words than grunts was significant enough that he decided to fib a little. “You can come along and help me unload these.” A smile came over his face again as he walked to the driver side of his car. “After that, maybe we can head over to Aiden’s place and convince him to make us lunch.”
Travis grunted in the affirmative, a smile playing behind the shaggy beard he was sporting at the thought of popping into their grumpy brother’s restaurant. Aiden hated surprises, but he would put up with the two of them coming over for some food, especially if his girlfriend slash restaurant manager was there to convince him to play nice. With nothing more from Travis, Felix hopped into the car and started off toward The Branch and Brew.
Now that Aiden had a girlfriend and Beckett was engaged, Felix felt an even greater desire to settle down, and there was only one person he could think of to do that with. There was a lot of history between the two of them due to their decade plus long friendship, and there was a lot to risk in him telling her that his feelings had shifted from platonic to romantic. It could ruin the relationship they had now, but it could also make it that much better, stronger, and longer lasting.
If she didn’t feel the same way, Felix wasn’t sure he could just push those feelings aside, but he would do it if she asked him to. It would hurt, but Autumn had been and always would be his friend first. Now all he had to do was find the right time to tell her how he felt. When that would be, Felix wasn’t sure, but he needed to do it soon. A woman as amazing as Autumn wouldn’t stay single for long, and this time, no boyfriend was going to force him to put that genie back in the bottle.
Chapter Two
Autumn
A smile spread across Autumn’s face as she smoothed her rubber potter’s rib down the side of the clay vase she’d been working on all morning. Some days went smoothly and she was able to bust out numerous pieces before calling it quits, but others like today were a mess from the start. The day had started out normally enough with Autumn waking up at her usual hour of eight o’clock.
One of the biggest advantages of throwing clay for a living was that she got to make her own hours which meant not waking up at the crack of dawn. It also meant Autumn got to be her own boss, take her lunch breaks whenever she felt like it, and generally do as she pleased without any muss or fuss from anyone else. It was a great life, one she cherished and couldn’t imagine being any other way...with one big exception.
That exception happened to be her best friend, Felix, and was the reason the vase she’d been wanting to make for her mother’s upcoming birthday had taken much longer than anticipated. Autumn wasn’t sure when she had started to fall in love with her best friend since high school, but she was pretty much there now and had no idea how to go about telling him. She’d always loved Felix in some way. How could she not when he was reliable, trustworthy, so friendly and loyal that he gave most Golden Retrievers a run for their money?
He had always been a great friend to her. Felix got her through science class, but had also been there through so much more. His shoulder had been the one Autumn cried on when crushes she had didn’t manifest into anything, relationships that did eventually fell apart, and the times in between when she wasn’t sure what her love life should look like anymore. He had been with her through all of her major life transitions as well.
Felix waved her off with a sad smile as Autumn left for college and her parents moved back to Arizona, welcomed her with open arms when she returned to Applewood with an incomplete nursing degree, and helped her set up her own pottery studio in a small building adjacent to their apartment. Felix was the most constant thing in her life, and she loved him for it. Somewhere along the line, that love had shifted from one of appreciation to one of adoration and arousal.
Autumn was used to Felix walking around with only a towel on from their shared bathroom to his bedroom, but before she would look at him and maybe offhandedly notice some small change to his body without reacting much. Now, every time he did his half-naked stroll she noticedeverything.If his arms looked a little more muscular, she imagined feeling them as he held her closely, the increase in the hair on his chest was now something she wanted to feel tickling her fingers as she ran them across the planes of his hard body, and the new cinnamon-colored freckle that she spotted just above his collarbone caused her lips to twitch with the desire to kiss it.
Felix came from the most genetically gifted family in Applewood, so there was no way that he was ever going to escape his destiny as one of the pretty people. He was and always had been a handsome man, but until now it was just how things were. Now every time she looked at him, clothed or half-naked, she turned into a horny, drooling mess. Autumn could blame the last eight months of living celibately, or she could own up to her feelings. She loved Felix, always had in some way, and probably always would. The question was, what was she to do about it?
The whole “will-they, won’t-they” that seemed so popular in television and movies had never been something Autumn was drawn to. It was too much drama. Couldn’t people just figure their shit out and be happy? Now that she was in the unenviable position of not knowing if she and Felix could work romantically, she felt a pang of envy for all those couples she had sneered at in the past. At least they had a whole writers room filled with people choreographing every step on the way to their happily ever after. The only person she had to rely on was herself, and wasn’t that a scary prospect?
Autumn had friends other than Felix that she could talk to, she had her parents, and she even had Felix’s parents at her disposal. The problem with all of those options was that she already knew the outcome of any conversation that might happen with them. People have been trying to get her and Felix together for years, but they’d never been single at the same time until now. The last eight months had been wonderful, and really the only thing differentiating their relationship from other more romantic ones was a lack of physicality. Sure they hugged, cuddled on the couch, and even held hands on occasion when they were in a crowd and didn’t want to lose each other, but those had all been friendly touches. Well,mostlyfriendly anyway.
Lately, it seemed like every brush of his skin against hers was loaded with more sensation, more feeling, and a whole other meaning behind it. Maybe it was just her wishful thinking, but every time they embraced, like earlier that morning as she chased him down to give him a tool she knew he would have been fine without, they held each other more closely, clinging to each other for much longer than they used to. Their couch cuddles were also a lot more snuggly with their legs entwined instead of just bumping together lightly. Then there was what had happened a few nights ago.
****
Autumn blinked openher eyes, the pizza box on the coffee table nearly empty after she had her two sliced and Felix crushed five after his long day at work, and the end credits of the movie they’d been watching playing in the background. It wasn’t abnormal for them to fall asleep in front of the television, but instead of her head resting gently against his shoulder, Autumn awoke with her cheek plastered to Felix’s firm chest, his arms at her waist and the rest of her body cradled between his legs.
What struck her first was just how natural it felt, lying there in his arms, her body plastered against his, but after reveling in that feeling for a moment, she shifted and noticed that there was something else she was feeling beyond the butterflies in her stomach. Autumn tried her best to ignore the very obvious, very impressive erection that was pressing into her belly, but it was difficult, and more than that, she didn’t want to ignore it. She wanted to ride her best friend’s cock until he spilled inside her, her hands on his chest and her name on his lips.
