Little Earthquakes
By: Renay Walker
Author's Notes & Disclaimer
Author's Notes: The 4th in my new "Crash" series. Pretty adult stuff. 'Nuff said.
Summary: Adam & Ami learn that the kiss was only the beginning.
Disclaimer: Adam Newman, Ami Jackson, Megabyte Damon, and Jade Weston do not belong to me. They belong to Roger Damon Price, Thames Television, Tetra Television, and Nickelodeon. I am borrowing them, having a little fun and not making any money.
Feedback: Send it to angstqueen@hotmail.com
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Part 1
Ami couldn't stop thinking about it.
It had been two weeks since that night at the movies. Two weeks since Adam had kissed her in the middle of a public London street and still when she least expected it, her mind came back to taunt and tease her with the memories. Even though in the intervening time, life had gone on as normal, with Adam behaving as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Which Ami supposed that it hadn't. After all, it wasn't like he had asked her out or anything along those lines. They had shared a kiss and nothing more.
So why did she hang onto the memory? Why did she watch him covertly with an incredible longing and desire? And why did she sometimes get the feeling that he was watching her in the same way?
Oh, there was a good chance that it was all in her very fertile imagination. She had never caught Adam watching her, or behaving any differently towards her than he had before he kissed her. No, it was more of a subconscious thing, more of a gut feeling than anything else. And this was the first time in her whole life that she was afraid to trust that gut feeling.
Why? Because it would mean that Adam's kiss had been more than a kiss. That it been more than a favor and a gift from a friend. But wasn't that what she wanted?
Ami shook her head, and attempted to banish her thoughts to some other part of her mind while she focused on the words written on the page. It was nearly impossible. When under normal circumstances reading a book would have been a pleasant and desirable distraction, today the letters seemed all jumbled. She couldn't focus on the book for more than a few moments before her thoughts returned to a certain Australian male she knew.
Moments like now.
With a soft sigh, Ami dared to lift her head from the book she was making absolutely no progress in reading and cast a covert glance across the beach. Her fellow Tomorrow Person sat beneath the shade of a palm tree, his back against the rough bark and his familiar and somewhat worn sketchpad propped up on his knees. Catching her eyes, Adam gave her a soft smile before lowering his head once again to his work. Life went on like normal.
It was what her mother called a "lazy day," a day when a person simply wanted to lounge around and do positively nothing. Ami chose to do nothing by relaxing on the warm island of Taphaini with a good book. While she hadn't expected company when she decided to slip into her bathing suit and make her way to the island, Ami wouldn't lie and say that she hadn't been earnestly hoping for it. But now that she'd had it for the last hour or so, she was beginning to wonder why she had wanted it at all.
It wasn't that things were strained between them. There was no tension in the air between them at all. But, they had exchanged few words beyond simple pleasantries and small talk. Adam seemed content to rest beneath the palm tree, drawing whatever it was that occupied his imagination. And Ami continued to have to force herself to concentrate on every single word she read. He was so close and yet, he was also a million miles away.
And why did it matter to her so much, Ami wondered.
Because she was desperately craving his attention. It was foolish, it was childish and it was immature. It was wishful thinking, but that didn't stop her from wanting what she wanted. And what she wanted was for him to shower her with attention, to tease her and fawn over her - and yes, she would admit it, she wanted him to kiss her again.
Better to pull the moon from the sky, Ami sighed to herself.
The chastisement didn't stop the wanting.
Part 2
I was here because she was here. I wasn't going to lie about it and I wasn't ashamed to admit it. The moment I had discovered that Ami was spending some quiet time at the island, I decided that I would be here as well. Well, maybe decision wasn't the proper word to describe how I came to be here. I never really decided anything. There was no logic, no reason. She came and so did I. And I had the very distinct impression that Ami hadn't the slightest idea that she was the only reason that I was here.
Watching Ami recline across the beach from where I sat, I smiled softly and returned my attention to my sketchpad. I couldn't help but wonder what thoughts were going through her mind. I'd been watching her, naturally. I'd been watching her and I knew that she had been on the same page in that book for the past ten minutes. Every now and then she would glance my way, we'd make eye contact and then her attention would return to the book she had and I would return to my drawing. It was a though we were doing some sort of complicated dance that neither of us really knew the steps to.
No, that wasn't necessarily true. I knew the steps and I knew where my thoughts were leading. I knew what my intentions were; I had known and acknowledged them the moment that I grabbed my sketchpad and teleported to the island. Despite my better judgement and my self-chastisement, I was going to pursue this seditious attraction just to see where it led.
Not that I had any intentions of either attacking or seducing Ami. I wasn't that far defeated by my hormones to have lost any shred of common sense and decency. Ami was still a friend, a close friend whom I respected. I didn't intend on starting anything that she didn't want started and I would keep my distance and not dare cross that line between platonic friendship and wanton lust. Rather I hoped that Ami had some sense of what was happening here and that she would make the first move. I would simply follow her lead.
I felt her eyes on me again and I looked up meeting that doe-eyed gaze. She held my gaze for a moment, and for one brief instance I thought that she was going to say something. However, with a simple shrug and a half-smile she lowered her head again to the same page, and no doubt the same paragraph, that had occupied her for the last ten minutes.
"Ami," I called her softly and waited for her to meet my eyes again before continuing. "Come over here. There's something I want to show you."
No hesitance; not even a flash of indecision. The moment the invitation left my lips, she was on her feet and gathering her beach towel up in hand, trudging towards me across the hot sand. Perhaps she had been waiting for an invitation all along. That wasn't at all like the Ami that I knew.
Well, you kissed her, idiot, I chastised myself, that changes things if only just a little.
"What?" She spread her towel and plopped down onto the sand beside me. As she did, one strap of her bikini top slid down her shoulder and our hands touched as we both moved to guide the errant material back to its proper spot. I imagined that I could feel an electrical current charge between us and I quickly backed off, allowing her to handle it herself. Still my eyes lingered on that spot, watching as her hand slid the strap back in place with seemingly agonizing slowness.
Grounding myself fully on this planet, and forcibly preventing my eyes from making the short journey beyond her shoulder, I handed her the sketch I had been working on. "Tell me what you think."
Holding the sketchpad, Ami looked from it to me and back to the sketch again. "This is me?"
Her intonation asked the question and I had to wonder for a moment if my drawing was that terrible or if she was simply surprised that I had drawn her. I hoped that it was the latter and not the former.
"I hope so, or else I did a pretty good likeness of your evil twin," I replied.
Ami's mouth quirked into a smile. "Nope. No goatee."
I laughed softly at her joke. Now, there was the Ami I knew. "So, is it that terrible?"
Startled she looked at me then back at the sketch. "No! No, it's good. It's very good. It's just," Ami paused a moment and she seemed to be searching for the right word. After a few beats she simply gave up and turned those chocolate eyes on me intently, her next words a question. "Is this what you see when you look at me?"
There was something in her tone that I couldn't quite place. Not quite sadness and not quite wistfulness but something that seemed to lie somewhere in between. Her reaction made me wonder precisely what the proper way of answering her question was. I chose the way that she never liked; I answered her with a question of my own. "You don't like it?"
"No, I do. It's just it doesn't really seem like me. She's prettier."
Wonder. Maybe awe. That was the inflection that lined her voice that I couldn't place before. It wasn't the sketch that she didn't like; it was the fact that she couldn't see herself the way I saw her. The way I drew her.
"It's you, Ami. She can't be prettier or uglier because she's you," I spoke softly, bringing my hand to gently stroke the soft curve of her shoulder.
"You think I'm pretty?" Ami laughed slightly as she poised the question, perhaps readying herself with a joke or awaiting the playful teasing that I would have given her under any other circumstances.
Under any other circumstances. But not right now. I smiled and gave her elbow a tender squeeze. "No. I think you're beautiful."
I didn't know what I expected. A flush of embarrassment maybe. A bit of stuttering and a joke and a laugh while she changed the subject. What I didn't expect was the fiery intensity in her eyes as she looked at me.
And I certainly didn't expect the question that followed.
"Can I kiss you Adam?"
Part 3
Ami didn't know who was more surprised by her question her or Adam. She hadn't intended on blurting it out like that. Actually, she hadn't intended on saying those words at all, but what was done was done and there was no taking it back now. Her heart pounding and while she very much wished that the ground would open up and swallow her, Ami waited for the rejection that never came.
Instead, Adam merely nodded, "Yes, you can."
Ami hesitated before leaning towards him and pressing her lips lightly to his. Never having done this before, she wanted to do it right and she wanted to not make a complete fool of herself. Her heart was pounding so loudly in her chest that she was certain that Adam could hear it and she clutched her sweaty palms into tight fists, not quite knowing where else to put her hands. She felt Adam's lips part slightly, responding to and returning her tentative kiss and for half a moment, she wondered if she was doing it right.
She needn't have worried. She had her answer when Adam's hands slid around her waist, drawing her closer to him than she would have ever thought possible. Adam's tongue traced the outline of her lips, compelling them apart to allow him entry. This kiss was different than the one he had given her before, Ami knew that the moment he had begun to kiss her back. There was something deeper present this time, something a bit more brazen as he devoured her mouth, his tongue leaving no part unexplored and making her tremble in a way that had nothing to do with the slight balmy breeze blowing in from the ocean.
Of their own accord, her arms wound round his neck, her fingers wrapping themselves in the dark hair. Ami clung to him, encouraging him, her breath swallowing his own. This was what she wanted. No, this was more than what she wanted she realized as the kiss grew stronger and deeper, his teeth nibbling her lips, tongues twirling around one another as Adam gently guided them downwards and backwards onto the blanket. Only then did Adam break their kiss, allowing her to draw the air into her lungs. Air that she desperately needed but hadn't realized that her lungs were starving for. While she drew long draughts of air, his mouth seared a path from her lips to her cheeks, her temples, her forehead and finally returning to seek the solace of her waiting mouth.
Ami lost track of time as he kissed her, seemingly to draw the life out of her and pour it back in again. Even the beach and the sound of the waves splashing against the beach were forgotten until nothing existed but she and he, and the connection between them. Her fingers buried themselves in his hair, memorizing the silky feel of it beneath her fingertips. The first touch of his lips to her throat made her quiver with excitement and a bit of trepidation as well as the hand that had been so firmly planted on her waist began snaking upwards along her abdomen until it lightly and possessively closed around her breast. With only the thin material of her bathing suit between them and never having been touched in such a way before, Ami gave a sharp gasp of surprise, her body instinctively arching towards him. Something inside of her sprang to life at that touch, something vital and electric, something maddening and hungry that she had not even known existed until that moment and somehow she knew that it would not rest easily again.
"Stop?" Adam whispered the words against her ear, his warm, moist breath causing an entirely new ripple of sensation.
Frantically, Ami shook her head, her words a breathless rush. "No." She didn't know what Adam was doing to her, but she most definitely knew that she did not want it to stop.
As if her breathless whisper was the sanction he had been waiting for, his thumb encircled the nipple, caressing her through the material of her bikini top. Of its own volition, the nipple puckered and tightened, straining against what little covering she wore. Ami writhed beneath him, both terrified and fascinated at what she was experiencing. While one hand continued to tease her breast, Adam's mouth explored her neck and shoulders, lips and tongue leaving no part untouched. She startled at the sound of a low moan until she recognized it as her own.
Adam's tongue dipped into the hollow between her breasts before moving upwards to kiss the tops of her breasts where they peeked out of the bikini. Then deftly, using skilled fingers, the offending material was pushed aside and his lips enveloped the full, hard nipple that he had teased only moments past. Ami cried out, pleasure mingled with surprise as he sucked and lathed her with his tongue causing a rising, fluttering within her abdomen. It fluttered briefly, then moved downward, spreading where it became a heat and ache like nothing she had ever known between her legs.
She clung to him fiercely, grinding her body desperately against her own. What she wanted Ami didn't know what she wanted, only that she was drowning in sensation and hunger and that Adam was the only one who could fulfill her.
Then abruptly, with a string of curses that she was relatively certain she had never heard from Adam's mouth before, he backed away from her, tugging her bathing suit back in place. Confused, and burning inside, she opened her mouth to protest but was cut off as he saw the question in her eyes.
"Company," was all he said. Was all he truly had time to say before the air charged to life before them, depositing Jade and Megabyte onto their beach.
Bloody hell, was Ami's only thought before she turned a smiling and somewhat flushed face to her friends. She surprised herself with the steadiness of her voice. "Hey guys, what brings you?"
Part 4
I was taking a silent tally of all my sins. It was the only thing I could think of to do at that moment because it was the only explanation I could find for Megabyte and Jade's intrusion. It had to be the result of some sort of karmic retribution, and I wanted to know what I had done wrong. Whether it was in this life or a past one, I wanted to know so that I didn't repeat my mistake again.
Ami's reaction to their impromptu appearance told me that she had been completely unaware of their impending arrival. I myself had only barely heard the bits of conversation that they directed in our direction, being more distracted by other things and other persons. The other person in question seemed to be composing herself and adjusting rather more quickly than I had expected she would. She was even composing herself more quickly than I was composing myself. Right now, she was engaged in a rather animated conversation with Jade regarding a movie both of them wanted to see, and I was the one struggling to control my pounding heart. And trying not to draw attention to the rather uncomfortable erection in my shorts.
I had to congratulate myself. If I thought that kissing her once had been asking for trouble, making out with her was asking for far worse. Looking at her now, still slightly flushed, I wanted to do nothing else than simply grab her, teleport us elsewhere, allow nature to follow its natural course and to hell with Jade and Megabyte. Not exactly the most mature or rational way of dealing with things, but the parts of my body that I was thinking with at this moment didn't have anything to do with reason. No, reason had flown right out the window at precisely the moment she had told me not to stop.
I tried to summon up some level of guilt and remorse for my actions, but I was coming up empty. Because while it was easy to feel guilt over a few several erotic dreams and fantasies, it was hard to feel anything other than a deep, nagging desire towards a surprisingly willing participant. But, the question was, did she have any idea precisely where my interests lay and what my intentions had been?
"So, now that they've bored us both to tears," Megabyte was saying to me, "Want to help me out by suggesting a real movie, pal?"
I stared at him blankly. It was clear that I had missed a good portion of the conversation.
"Just because there aren't any guns or anything getting blown up doesn't mean it's not a real movie," Jade argued.
"You're right, squirt." I saw Jade's eyes narrow at the derrogatory nickname, but Megabyte, as usual didn't notice. But for once, I was actually grateful for his obliviousness. It also meant that he had never noticed how slightly flushed and out of sorts Ami and I were when he and Jade first arrived. "If it doesn't have guns or something getting blown up, it's a chick flick."
Ami rolled her eyes. "Typical."
Megabyte ignored her as well, although I was pretty certain that our eyes locked and met for a fraction too long before she averted her gaze.
"Your call, Adam," Megabyte was saying.
"Actually, I don't think I'm much in the mood to see a movie tonight."
Megabyte snorted, teasing me in his own fashion. "What? You have other plans?"
I didn't miss a beat. "I did."
I didn't dare look at Ami when I said those words. Even without glancing in her direction though, I could feel that she was trying equally as hard not to look at me.
"Come on Jade," I heard Ami's voice, sharp and sudden. "I need to get changed if we're going to a movie. You can help me pick something out."
"It's just a movie!" Megabyte protested.
Turnabout was fair play and both of them ignored him, blinking out of existence on this side of the world as they called out hasty good-byes.
Megabyte pondered the place where they had been standing for a moment. Then crooking his head to the side, he raised an eyebrow at me. "Was Ami acting kind of weird to you?"
I nearly burst out laughing at his question. That was certainly one way to describe Ami's behavior. There were also several others that came to mind, but I didn't want to examine them right now.
"No, Megabyte, I didn't notice anything unusual at all."
For a brief moment, I thought that he was going to argue with me, or accuse me of lying. But the moment passed quickly, and Megabyte dismissed the question with a shrug, launching into a detail list of the multitude of reasons he didn't want to go to see Ami and Jade's choice of movies.
I sighed, barely listening to him. My mind was occupied with other things and other people, and I knew that it would be a long while before I stopped thinking about it.
***
End