Oaklynn: There's a raccoon on the porch with me and I know I'm not supposed to try and befriend it but I'm afraid if someone doesn't take me away I'm going to try it anyway!
When Oaklynn had made her basket for this year’s auction, she hadn’t known quite what to expect from the night, but she certainly hadn’t been prepared for multiple bidders on her basket. She’d been even less ready for the person who won to be Beau, one of her very favorite people in Auradon to talk to. As soon as the results were final, Oaklynn swung her basket over her arm and skipped off to find her date, all smiles as she approached him. “I thought you were buying me a toaster, not just buying me,” she laughed as she gave him a quick one armed hug, the thought that he might not be as excited about the result as she was never even crossing her mind. “Should we head off to find a spot before all the best ones are taken?”
Oh no, don’t misunderstand, I’m not setting them up. I mostly said it because I didn’t want to be that person who fully cops out and doesn’t say anybody, but the last time I played a game like this someone came to yell at me about my answers, so I thought I’d put the names of the two people I know won’t get mad over nothing. It’s not like it’d actually happen.
That makes me more concerned for you, not less! Sometimes the things you least think are going to happen do happen. People are weirdly susceptible to subliminal messaging, haven’t you ever seen Josie and the Pussycats? Or read psychology books about that sort of thing? Because sometimes you just make a harmless comment about how two people could maybe get along, or could maybe kiss, or... or something totally innocuous, and then before you know it, your whole life has changed and years later you’re going to be a bridesmaid in their wedding or something! Or not even, you could be at Table 15 as an afterthought who barely got invited!
SUMMARY → Aimee invites Beau over to Crownflix and Chill, and chilling ensues.
Thanskgiving had been strange, to the point that Beau was kind of relieved when he got to go home. It felt like breaks from school from now on were just meant to be assosciated with feeling ignored, and he didn't ask for much, he didn't think. Just acknowledgement. That's why when Aimee texted him asking him to hang out when break was over, it hadn't even taken two seconds to text back a big yes. Someone actually making time for him, especially someone as fun as Aimee, was impossible to resist. With a quick stop by a grocery store for some ice cream, he hurried over to her dorm that afternoon. She'd mentioned something about a Christmas movie or a board game or something and honestly, the specifics of it didn't matter to him so he hasnt asked for elaboration. Quality time, no matter what they were doing, was more than enough. He knocked on the door and waited for it to open, waving the ice cream at her like it was his hand as soon as it did. "Hey," Beau greeted, doing a quick sweep of the room to see if her roomie was there. "Thanks for inviting me. Is DJ going to be here or is it just us for now?"
Aimee was really starting to have second thoughts as she waited for Beau to come over. She didn't know anything about actually trying to seduce a boy! Sure, she'd read about it over and over again in all her favorite books but she couldn't even get the boy that she knew wanted her in that way to so much as kiss her! Straight up trying to hook up with a guy that had really only just called her "hot" was in a different universe of impossibly hard!
Aimee was just about to bitch out on her plan and change out of her red booty shorts and "ho ho ho" hoodie in favor of less suggestive hang out clothes when there was a knock on the door signaling that it was too late to back out now.
"Sup! Thanks for coming!" She cheerfully replied, backing up to let him in the door and figure out what flavor ice cream he'd been waving at her at the same time. " It's just us, I don't think DJ's supposed to be back for awhile.
"Alright, sounds good," Beau smiled, not quite sure what to do with the chocolate ice cream he'd brought so he awkwardly handed it to Aimee. "Since my Grandmama says I'm not allowed to go anywhere without bringing a gift, this is for you. So, uh, what are we doing exactly?" he asked, taking off his coat and just holding it. He liked Aimee and really wanted to hang out with her but he felt like he was doing this all wrong already. He hadn't hung out with someone new one on one in a long time and even though this wasn't a date or anything, it did leave him feeling like he had forgotten to study for this social interaction.
"That's cool, I like ice cream and I didn't really think to buy a bunch of hang out snacks either sooo I guess this will be useful?" Aimee shrugged, before taking Beau's coat in addition to the ice cream and hanging it up on their coat rack.
"I'm not really sure what we're doing yet, I was waiting on you to get here." Aimee said leading Beau to the living room area and setting the ice cream on the coffee table, "subtly" bending over to show off her shorts as she did so. "So we can watch The Grinch, Polar Express or Moulin Rouge. OR we can play Board Games, we have way too many so if you name one I bet we've got it."
"We can always order something in later if we get hungry," Beau suggested, letting Aimee take his coat as he started making himself comfortable and following her into the living room. His eyes kind of found their way to her shorts when she bent over and he gulped, looking away as fast as he could. It was a great view but it wasn't his to stare at. "Uh, sounds good. Either one. The only board games I'm really good at are trivia games or Twister and those aren't as fun with just two people. We could watch The Grinch?" he suggested, getting onto the couch.
"Yeah totally!" Aimee agreed. She tried to sneakily see if Beau had been looking at her butt when she bent over but was disappointed to see he
was looking away. Well only partially disappointed, after all Beau being respectful and not ogling her like she was a piece of meat was definitely not a bad thing and the kind of quality she'd ordinarily like in a potential virginity taker. But respectfulness wasn't going to get her railed, so Aimee made a mental note that she was probably going to have to be a little more direct to get what she wanted.
"The Grinch works!" She replied, flitting off to the kitchen to grab spoons and coming back just as fast. "You're right about Twister and the only trivia game we own is Scene it? Twilight and it's rude to invite a guy over just to kick his butt at a game like that." She laughed and picked up the remote before joining Beau on the couch, sitting much closer next to him than she ever would under normal circumstances.
Beau laughed, the idea of going head to head with Aimee on a Twilight trivia game downright funny. "The only thing I know about Twilight is that the baseball scene is supposedly the coolest scene in all of the movies," he admitted. "You'd kick my butt so hard. Not that I'd mind, but you know." He shrugged, trying to relax onto the couch as the movie started. The key word there was 'trying' -- something about how close Aimee had decided to sit to him made it hard to totally loosen up. She was probably just one of those people who had no physical barriers with anyone, it probably didn't mean anything, but it made his body feel kind of warm all the same. Damn, he really needed to get out more; if he hung out with more people more often, he wouldn't get flustered by a simple hang out. Thinking that she'd maybe back up if he scooted in, Beau tried to subtly close the gap between them.
Aimee's jaw dropped in exaggerated surprise that Beau had never seen the Twilight movies before. "That's it? I mean you're not wrong but oh my god, that's like knowing the vampires sparkle at this point! It's too bad I didn't know you were so deprived, I definitely wouldn't have picked a bunch of Christmas movies to watch.
Aimee briefly glanced over at Beau as he scooted in closer on the couch, wondering if he was onto her scheme. It would definitely make her job a lot easier if he was. So Aimee didn't really react otherwise to the new lack of space between them, at least for a couple minutes as she waited to see if he would do anything more. When he didn't, Aimee decided to pull what seemed like a very obvious pick up move on him, the good old fashioned "pretend to yawn and put her arm around him move". Sure, Aimee had no idea what the move was really supposed to do seduction wise, but there had to be a reason it was so universally beloved right?
Beau chuckled at Aimee's reaction. "I like Christmas movies but hey, maybe we can watch Twilight next time," he suggested. He hoped it wasn't too forward to suggest they'd do this kind of thing again but he really hoped they would. Speaking of forward... Aimee wasn't scooting away. Beau had fully expected her to reestablish the space between them but she didn't and so there was none and that was weirdly distracting. He tried to refocus on the movie and let his overthinking go away but then Aimee did something he never expected. She yawned and put her arm around his shoulders, like a horny guy in a movie theater. He bit his lip so that he didn't laugh at the move, but he had to admit that it did kind of work in that it made his heart beat faster. Their faces were closer than he'd been to anyone's in a bit as he turned to her and asked, amusement evident in his tone, "Aimee, are you trying to Crownflix and chill right now?" The question would've felt crazy presumptuous, especially knowing how Aimee felt about DJ and that she hadn't even kissed anyone, but her arm was around his shoulder, she'd invited him over to watch movies, she was wearing tiny shorts. All of those things seemed to be adding up in one way he couldn't ignore.
Aimee's nose wrinkled slightly at Beau's question. She hadn't thought of what she was doing as an attempt to Crownflix and Chill. Like now that Beau said it out loud, that's clearly what it was, but in her mind it was definitely not something so memeable. "I don't know, is it working?" She asked, looking up at him with wide eyes. She would've tried to bat her eyelashes as well but she wasn't trying to completely over kill it and make Beau ACTUALLY laugh at her.
Okay, so a nose-wrinkling in response to that question felt like a no and Beau's stomach sank. There probably wasn't anything more embarrassing than accusing a girl of trying to seduce you when she was just hanging out. But then Aimee kept going and something about the way she looked up at him made his throat dry. "You know the crazy thing? It kind of is," he admitted, looking down at her face, and her mouth in particular. But while that might've been a good moment to go for it, he still wasn't sure of her intentions and his thing with Aspen had been so lacking in communication by the end that he couldn't stand not knowing. "But why though? I know I'm not who you want," he reminded her as if Aimee could forget that she'd confessed her love of DJ to him.
Aimee's face lit up with a smug grin when Beau admitted that her seduction attempt was kind of working for him. Aimee was insecure about a lot of things about herself but her looks had never been one of them so she was kind of living for the validation Beau was giving her. She did however cringe when Beau started asking questions. Not that she didn't think he WOULDN'T have any questions about the situation, but the mere mention of "who she did want" Reminded her of how perfectly matched and coupley DJ and Karmen had been over Thanksgiving in order to appease his crazy grandmother. "I don't want to want him anymore. Remember when when we were talking about basically being in the same boat of loving someone we really shouldn't and you said that if one of us was going to find a life raft, it was going to be me? I think I figured it out." To make her point clear, Aimee closed the already minimal space between the two of them and pressed her lips onto Beau's. Only for a few seconds though since Aimee's newfound boldness was just about at it's about limit and she still had more to say. "To be clear, I think we should hook up and be each other's rebounds. I think we could be really good at it, is that okay??"
Beau listened, nodding as she spoke. He really did understand what it felt like to want someone he shouldn't, and Thanksgiving break had only really served to make him feel lonelier. He wondered if it had had the same effect on her and realized that it probably had; after all, like she'd said before, they were in the same boat, the same sinking boat. And when Aimee leaned in and kissed him, for a brief moment, it felt like the holes in his heart that had been leaking love since he and Aspen ended were plugged and his chest felt lighter than it had in so long. Maybe Aimee was right, maybe this was their life raft moment that would get them through the hardest parts of getting over someone. He found himself nodding in agreement before the words reached his mouth. "I think we'd be really good at it too," he agreed. "Okay, I'm in. Operation Life Raft is a go, so long as we stay open and honest with each other. And honestly? I wanna kiss you again more than a firefly wants to shine."
As cliche as it was, when Beau began to verbally agree with what she was saying, Aimee let out a breath she hadn't even noticed she'd been holding. As nice as it had been for her to kiss Beau, she was 75% certain it wouldn't be worth the humiliation she'd feel from even the kindest rejection. After all, she'd just used her first kiss on him, that was a pretty big deal in itself! "Operation Life Raft, I like that!" She chirped, trying to seem like her heart hadn't practically tried to bounce out of her chest when he admitted he wanted to kiss her again. "The open and honest part, especially. Since honestly, I wanna kiss you again too." Which she did. This time practically mounting him like a horse as she pushed her way onto his lap to comfortably deepen the kiss.
One of Beau's favorite things about Aimee so far was how she said what she meant and she meant what she said, and so when she said she wanted to kiss him again, it wasn't a surprise at all that she did. What was a little bit of a surprise was that she got onto his lap on their second kiss. He and Aspen hadn't moved that quickly, had they? Not that it mattered. Not that he should even be thinking about Aspen. Wasn't that the point of this? To forget? And man, did he want to forget. His hands slid up Aimee's mostly exposed thighs before settling on her butt, pulling her in just a little bit closer as the kiss deepened. It then occurred to him that maybe that was Too Much and he pulled back from the kiss. "Sorry, is that okay? I'm not sure how much is too much too fast now. I feel like we're going to need a safe word," Beau laughed.
As new as she was to this whole kissing thing, Aimee felt like she was really taking to it like a fish to water. Especially once Beau's hands started to move up her thighs, that seemed like a pretty good indicator that she was doing something right. But then he was suddenly pulling back, which probably would've made her second guess herself but Beau had been too quick with his apology. "Huh?" Aimee laughed breathlessly, already a little too drunk on the excitement of kissing him to even begin to guess what he was sorry about right away. But when she finally did, she couldn't help but laugh more. Didn't he know by now what she was trying to do? "That was great. I'm not sure either but I'm down to go whatever speed you want to go. But just in case, we can make our safe word um...Puffin?"
Aimee's laughing made it easy for Beau to laugh too, and his body felt light all over; there really was something different about doing this sort of thing with someone that was just a friend. It immediately felt like it had way lower emotional stakes than any relationship where feelings were involved; it was more about just doing it to have fun, and it honestly felt like he could afford to have mindless fun more often. "Puffin," he repeated, committing it to memory with a smile and a nod. "Got it, got it. Sorry if a safe word's a weird request when we're just making out but its honestly kinda hard not to wanna go a little overboard with you right now. You're really hot," he laughed, "like, really really hot. Like 'I think I'd die if I got to see you naked' hot and I just, don't know, don't wanna rush you." She had just had her first kiss, after all. People didn't generally jump from that to their first time, especially not in the amount of time that it took for the movie to start to when the Grinch finally left his cave.
Aimee couldn't help but laugh again as Beau clarified why he'd asked for a safe word, this time mostly out of slight embarrassment at how hot he said he found her. Aimee rarely doubted that she was what most people would find conventionally "hot" but being called so hot that he "thought he'd die if he got to see her naked"? That was brand new territory. "You don't want to rush me? The girl sitting on your lap...wearing this?" Aimee asked, cheeks burning pink as she unzipped her hoodie to reveal a generous view of her cleavage just barely not spilling from the bra that was the only clothing item underneath the jacket. "Do you really think you'd be rushing me? If anything, I'm trying to rush you ."
Beau was the kind of guy who always tried not to stare too hard at pretty girls -- it wasn't polite. But if Aimee's boobs were distracting under a hoodie, they were even more distracting when they were right there in front of him. "Fuck," he cursed under his breath, taking in the view. He was sure Aimee could feel him getting harder under her, but he was even more sure that that was exactly her intention; in fact, Beau felt kind of oblivious for not 100% realizing, up until this moment, that this entire thing had been part of her plan. He felt weirdly flattered to have clearly been so carefully chosen for Operation Life Raft, and it just made him want to get closer to her as soon as possible. "Believe me, if I was the kind of guy who walked around with condoms in his pocket, I'd be rushing into this like a frog rushes after a fly," Beau chuckled, leaning in closer to her. "If you have one though," he said, kissing her jaw, "well, then I'm honestly down to go as far as want," he finished as he kissed her neck.
Aimee bit her lip as she watched Beau's reaction to seeing her chest upclose, it was both flattering and arousing, especially once she could feel her effect on him. She would've kissed him again if he hadn't started talking and kissing down her neck and jaw in a way that made a sharp warmth shoot from her belly all the way down to her toes. Rocking her hips forward into his, a move that was more grinding than functional, Aimee dug a hand into her pocket and pulled out a short strip of condoms. "Well lucky for you, a girl scout is always prepared and I just so happen to have more than one."
Beau groaned a little against her neck at the feel of her hips against his. It'd been so long since he'd been this turned on -- he'd been single for so long now, and in his last relationship, they'd never gone as far as to have condoms be part of the equation. It felt almost too good to be true that a super cool, super hot girl was into the idea of being sex friends, but he didn't want to question it too much, not when he was rearing to go. "Perfect," Beau praised at the sight of the condoms before taking her mouth in a kiss again and grinding up against her, holding her tight against him as he did, like she was a life raft and he was lost at sea. Whatever happened next, this was definitely the start of something awesome.
