“You sound like you’re on a treadmill.” Sitting on the sofa with your legs tucked underneath yourself, you listen to Jude panting over the phone; if you close your eyes and decide to suspend some of your disbelief, you can almost feel the sensation of his hot breath fanning against the side of your neck, even though you’re separated by hundreds of miles and are in completely different time zones.
“Fucking – don’t make fun.” Though you’re not on FaceTime, you can still picture his exact expression: holding back a laugh with his eyes all scrunched up as he tries to contain himself. It’s an expression you’ve seen a dozen times over that appears nearly every time you sleep together, when he becomes overwhelmed at the sight of you beneath him, sounding all needy, and he needs to pause for a second to grasp back a bit of his sanity.
“I don’t mean to.” It’s far from your intention, and although you know he’s joking, you still feel the need to clarify yourself. “I’m just no good at this.” It’s not like you haven’t tried, since there’d been a handful of times you’d hopped on a video call and tried to pan down to the sight of your hand dipping into your knickers for the sake of his enjoyment, though it’d always ended in you being desperately shy, with every sexy thing you’ve ever done or said suddenly escaping your mind.
“I'm not trying to embarrass you or anythin’.” Still breathing heavily, he reassures you sweetly; phone sex or no phone sex, you know he loves you desperately, in a way you can't quite fathom. It makes your insides go all funny to hear all his little whimpers and whines, and to distract yourself, you fiddle with a loose thread on the end of your jogging bottoms, twirling it around your finger as you wait for him to speak again. There’s some more panting, and a pause before he blurts out those gut-wrenching words: “I just miss you.”
“I miss you, too.” You reply without a second thought. It’s a sentence that seems so silly in the grand scheme of things, and in your opinion, doesn’t quite capture the yearning and heartache of a long-distance relationship; the horrible goodbyes in airport lounges, and how cold their side of the bed feels when you sleepily reach out expecting the other person to be there, all curled up asleep. “Loads, actually.”
“I’m just – I’m dead close.” His accent thick as he slurs his words, you try not to imagine the way he looks right now, for fear your heart might thud out of your chest; the way he’s probably covered in a light sheen of sweat, with his mouth slightly agape as his hand works over himself. “I was thinking about that – Halloween when you wore that cute fairy costume, and we shagged in the bathroom.”
“Really?” Suddenly at a loss for words, your stomach does that funny lurch at both the memory and the sound of him explaining it out loud. It’s so remarkably Jude that even the memories he touches himself over are somehow romantic in their own way; a pirate and a fairy locked in the bathroom at your friends' Halloween party, desperately shoving the material of their expensive costumes out of the way so that he could fuck you while you were all pressed up against the sink, planting kisses to the back of your neck with each sloppy thrust and muffling his moans into the material of your dress.
“Yeah. When you got glitter everywhere, and it wouldn’t come off.” Upon leaving the bathroom, he’d suddenly realised he was covered in a layer of glitter that looked rather suspicious when he stood next to you; all over his hands and his cheeks from where he’d been desperately draped over you, murmuring compliments and giggling drunkenly as you both tried to stay quiet. It had taken three showers before it had started to disappear properly, and for months after that his hairdresser always remarked there were random flecks of it still in his hair and against his scalp.
“You’re cute with glitter.” It was what you said all those months ago, and it’s what you’ll say forever, about nearly everything when it comes to Jude; cooing at him when he smiles brightly, or when he furrows his eyebrows in concentration, and needing to press a bunch of kisses towards his face to let out all your cuteness aggression accordingly.
“You’re always saying I’m cute.” Voice still all breathy, he complains, like he doesn’t usually grin ear to ear when you give him that exact compliment. “Say I’m handsome or something. I can’t wank over cute.” Though it’s probably obvious since you’re in a relationship, the idea of him getting off to the thought of you still never fails to make you all flustered, and you readjust yourself against the sofa cushions, ignoring the throbbing under the waistband of your knickers.
“You’re handsome then.” You correct yourself, suddenly feeling breathless yourself once you hear the little noise he makes at the compliment. It’s becoming torturous now, hearing him like this and not being able to do anything about it. Perhaps after you put the phone down, you’ll get in your pyjamas and try to do the same thing yourself, closing your eyes and trying to concentrate on that time he did that thing with his tongue or that time you’d ended up riding his thigh until you were both red and sweaty in the face.
“Thank you.” It’s barely even proper words, just some more panting that you manage to translate thanks to knowing him so well. It makes the back of your neck go all hot, listening to him like this, and you wonder how on earth you’d survive if you were able to see him on FaceTime, if you'd even make it out alive.
“It’s okay.” You say sweetly, just as quiet as you answer back, almost a whisper. It makes him moan again, and you definitely feel like you’re gonna die now, right here on this sofa, in your old jogging bottoms and the t-shirt you’ve been wearing to bed since you were fourteen. “You’re welcome.”