Chapter 6: She Woke Up Needing Her, Nothing Else Mattered
Aria woke with a gasp like she'd been drowning.
Her sheets were tangled around her legs. Sweat stuck her shirt to her skin. Her chest rose and fell so hard it felt like someone had slammed something heavy into her while she slept. Her hands clawed at the pillow as her eyes tried to adjust at the dim light bleeding through the blinds.
She couldn't remember the nightmare, only that it had swallowed her whole.
A phantom weight still pressed on her chest. Her head buzzed. Not from noise, not from exhaustion, but from something deeper. Like her soul had been screaming while her body lay frozen. She stared at the ceiling, her skin crawling like it knew something she didn't.
She dragged herself out of bed, legs shaky, and turned on the bathroom light. She looked wrecked. Her eyes were rimmed red like she hadn't slept in days. Her lips were pale. Her neck was tense like she'd been holding her breath through the entire dream.
She splashed water on her face. It didn't help.
She stood there for a while, gripping the sink. Her reflection almost shimmered for a second. Not in a dramatic way, but just enough to make her blink. Like a glitch. Like bad pixels on a screen, just for a moment. She rubbed her eyes and shook her head.
Aria dressed in silence, brushed her hair quickly, pulled on a hoodie. She picked up her keys, paused at the door, then dropped them back in the bowl.
She wasn't going to work. She didn't even want to text anyone.
She left the apartment like she was chasing something — or running from it. She didn't care which. Her heart was already ahead of her body, sprinting across the street to Jules's place.
She didn't even check if Jules would be awake. She didn't care. Her hand slammed into the door once, twice. She was breathless by the time it opened.
Jules stood there, sleepy - eyed in nothing but a soft black tee and boxer briefs, her auburn hair a chaotic mess.
Aria didn't say anything. She lunged forward and kissed her. Hard.
Jules didn't resist. She barely had time to gasp before Aria's arms were around her neck, their lips colliding like magnets yanked together by raw hunger. The door swung inward, but Jules never broke the kiss.
Her hands fumbled behind her, found the handle, slammed it shut.
The lock clicked.
Aria pressed her body flush against Jules, kissing her deeper but still tongue - less, just the pull and push of lips like she'd missed the taste of her more than she'd missed her own skin.
Jules leaned her body forward, slowly pressing Aria into the door.
The thud was soft, more of a claim than a collision.
Jules grinned against her mouth, her voice low and teasing. "It's early in the morning, sweetie. You show up unannounced just to kiss me like that?"
Aria's lips pulled back just slightly, breath brushing against Jules's cheek. "I needed you," she whispered, voice syrupy - sweet. "I'll leave if this is inconvenient."
Jules shook her head slowly, letting out a breath like a growl. "You're a troublemaker," she murmured, her mouth already dragging to Aria's neck. "But god, I love when you're greedy for my attention."
She started kissing down Aria's throat, soft at first, then harder, letting her mouth bruise. Her lips sucked just below Aria's ear until her skin turned flushed and warm.
Aria moaned, head tilting back.
"This is bad," she whispered, her voice shaky through the heat. "We promised. Remember?"
Jules didn't stop.
Her hands cupped Aria's fullness through her hoodie, thumbs brushing over where she knew her rosebuds had already hardened.
Jules's voice dropped into something thick and wild. "You're not dating anyone anymore, Aria. I can do whatever I want."
Aria didn't answer with words — just another quiet moan. Jules pulled the hoodie up, lifted her shirt underneath, and finally took Aria's soft crown into her mouth like she was starving for it.
Aria's knees weakened instantly.
Her back arched into the sensation. Her fingers threaded through Jules's messy hair. "We should — your room," she managed between gasps. "Jules… I - I can't take it anymore."
Jules paused just long enough to look at her.
Aria's face was flushed, lips parted, her pupils blown wide.
"God, you're so freakishly beautiful," Jules said, as if she hadn't meant to say it out loud.
She grabbed Aria's hand and pulled her down the hallway.
Clothes disappeared with each step. A hoodie tossed against the wall. A tee flung over the railing. A trail of lace and denim until Aria collapsed onto the bed, legs still weakening.
Jules didn't waste any second.
She dropped to her knees at the edge of the bed and buried her face between Aria's thighs like she belonged there.
Aria's breath hitched hard. "Wait — Jules — I—"
But Jules's tongue was already moving. Slow, then faster, licking through the slick heat like she knew every angle of her, every sweet spot and pleasure point.
Aria's thighs shook as her head fell back. "Ahh — Jules…"
She came fast, too fast, breath exploding from her lungs, body pulsing under Jules's mouth.
But Jules didn't stop.
She grabbed Aria's legs, hoisted them onto her shoulders, and lifted her hips slightly, holding her in place.
Aria tried to speak but couldn't form words.
"I'm just giving you one of your favorite positions," Jules whispered before diving back in, tongue deep inside her, lips curling around her pearl like she wanted to drown in her.
Aria lost in lust.
Her hands clawed on the sheets. She moaned Jules's name louder now, voice raw and breathless.
Jules devoured her with wild hunger, like she wasn't just doing it for Aria — like she was feeding on her. She licked through her second release, then her third, and when Aria finally splashed, Jules didn't flinch.
She drank every drop.
Aria cried out, hips thrusting, fingers tangled in the blankets. "Jules — please — I — I can't—"
But Jules didn't stop until Aria was shaking, until her voice broke into soft whimpers and her body went limp across the bed.
Only then did she crawl up, kiss her forehead, and lay beside her, pulling her close with one arm, like she was never going to let her go again.
Aria was dazed, drunk on her afterglow.
Her voice was a whisper. "You really didn't hold back."
Jules leaned in and kissed her again, slower this time, softer, the kind of kiss that lingered in her chest as much as on her mouth. She pulled back just enough to breathe the words against Aria's lips, her voice hushed but steady.
"You came to me," Jules murmured, as though reminding her. "You said you needed me."
Aria's lashes fluttered. Her voice was quiet, almost fragile. "I did."
Jules searched her face, her hand brushing along Aria's jaw, thumb resting at her chin like she was holding her steady. "You still do."
Aria gave in to the closeness, curling into Jules as if the smallest distance might undo her. "I don't want to think about anything else," she confessed, her words carrying both exhaustion and hunger.
Jules pressed her forehead to hers, her breath warm, her tone a vow as much as comfort. "You don't have to," she whispered.
For a moment, the city outside didn't exist. The strange dreams. The glitch in the mirror. The petals leaning toward the glass. None of it mattered.
Only this did. Only this moment. This heat. This connection that made everything else disappear.
Jules didn't move right away. She kept her lips on Aria like it was the only place she wanted to live. Aria's hands fisted on the sheets, gripping them like they were her last anchor.
She was flushed all over, legs rippling against Jules' shoulders. Her eyes were heavy, mouth parted, a soft whimper falling out every time Jules flicked her tongue in slow, teasing circles.
"Jules…" Aria gasped, barely able to speak, "you're… you're gonna kill me."
Jules looked up, breathless but smiling. Her lips were wet, her cheeks flushed. "I told you I wasn't done," she murmured, dragging her tongue slowly back over Aria's slick heat. "You came too fast, sweetie. I didn't even get to enjoy you properly yet."
Aria shook her head, her hair a dark mess around her face, wild and beautiful. "That was… that was more than properly."
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When the night burns deep inside the chest,
the world outside falls silent, useless,
and every pulse screams toward the only warmth,
the only place that makes it matter.
No shadow, no echo, no lingering fear remains —
just the pull of flesh and breath,
the gravity of need folding the universe in half,
where nothing exists beyond that touch.