- Espen Lind, Baby You're so Cool-

https://open.spotify.com/track/3qb1gam2V7q7FGfIO8RtGH

(A/N:
This is by far the dirtiest song going. It is super sexy. Just read the chapter and you will understand. I want this vibe to come through in parts of this chapter.)

- Star Wars Weekend-

Friday afternoon had rolled around. It was the first weekend of May and the trees were all out in leaf. We were just finishing our rehearsal and tidying up the band room for the weekend.

"What time are you coming over tomorrow?" I asked Simon.

"Don't know. Is noon too early?" he said.

"That would give us time to get food between Jedi and Empire," I replied with a nod.

"What's this? We're not booked up for gigs this weekend? Are we?" Odd asked suspiciously.

"No gigs untill the end of May, thanks to miss 'exam prep' over there," Simon said thumbing towards me.

I poked my toungue out at him.

"So what's tomorrow?" Odd asked.

"Star Wars weekend," Simon and I replied at the same time.
High fiving as we said it.

Every year someone asked and every year we aimed for the perfect reply. Simon was a pest, but he was my best friend pest.
Star Wars weekend was ours.

"Oh yeah. May the fourth be with you?" Ethan grinned from his crouch on the floor where he had been closing up at least five guitar cases.

His fingers were split in a Star Trek greeting.

"That would be 'Live long and prosper'," I pointed out before turning back to look at Simon.

"Seriously. Do your friends not have any education?" I asked mock-sarcastically.

"We could invite them too?" he suggested.

I looked at the other two suspiciously.

"I don't know. One mixes up fandoms and the other just wants to sleep all weekend," I said.

I had that exited Fridays feeling and we had completed such a great practice, getting all the songs right for the upcoming wedding season and the Academy summer thing.

And then there was Ethan.
And the look in his eyes lately that made my head spin with possibilities. I felt happy and silly.
Star Wars weekend would be epic.
I was looking forward to hanging out in sweatpants with Simon.

"You just watch all the Star Wars films in one sitting?" Odd asked.

"Yep. All three in one hit," Simon nodded.

"And usually argue about the sexism of Leia's gold bikini," I added.

"And throw popcorn at the stormtroopers," Simon grinned.

"To see if we miss as badly as them," I added with a laugh.

"And argue about who the hero is. Han or Luke," Simon added.

"It is of course Luke," I said.

"But Han Solo is just so cool!" Simon whinged.

I was about to argue my point when I was interrupted.

"Actually. If you consider it, Vader is the protagonist," Ethan grinned from down on the floor.

We both stopped to study him for a moment. Then Simon lay an arm around my shoulder and smiled at me. I smiled back.

"You know what?" Simon said.

"What?" I replied, knowing what he would say before he said it.

"I think we might have a padawan on our hands," Simon said.

"Or a potential Sith," I smiled.

"Nope. The Sith is over there," Simon said indicating Odd with a laugh.

"Then, this one must be a foundling," I giggled while eyeing Ethan suspiciously.

"Want to spend an afternoon in our geeky company?" Simon asked.

"I usually spend most afternoons in your geeky company. I'd love to," Ethan smiled while looking directly at me.

I smiled happily back at him.

"How 'bout you Oddball. You in the mood for some geeky sci fi?" Simon asked.

"Sure. Why not," Odd said with a shrug.

"See. They can't stand to be away from us. We are that addictive," Simon said before pulling me in for a quick hug.

I looked around the room at the three boys and felt extremely happy to be in their lives.

It turned out to be the most fun Star Wars marathon ever.

At least for me.

Not just because of the movies. Or the popcorn fights as we tried to hit the targets on screen better than the stomtroopers.

It was all about the flame that burned like a small sun at the pit of my stomach.

All day, Ethan was sending me sideways looks, nudging me, tickling me, whispering nonsense into my ear and generally being very, very flirty. I was deliriously happy and flirted back, quite openly.

He was sending me every signal. Every little hint.
I knew.
I just knew.
That if the other two hadn't been there, the touching would have escalated from small tickles and nudges to...
Well..
My mind was very happily wallowing in the gutter.

And by the look in his eyes his mind was at the same level.

I was wearing my boring old grey sweatpants - complete with worn-in knees - and an old ratty t-shirt.

But the way he looked at me.
I had never felt sexier.

My guts twisted as I considered asking him to stay after the other two had left.

I needed him on my own.
Without anybody else.
To figure this out.
To feel his hands on my skin and his lips on mine.
He was driving me crazy.

It became serious halfway through 'A New Hope'. I was looking at him out of the corner of my eye when I noticed he was stealing looks at me too. His mouth curled into a secretive, happy smile when he understood the meaning behind the quick looks I was giving him. He sat for a while looking at the film with a badly hidden mischeivous smile.

With a teasing gleam in his eyes he turned to look at me directly before he turned to look at Leia on screen and then back to me again.

"What?" I asked.

He curled his tounge up over his front teeth with a smile.

"I think we need to do something about your hair," He said and reached out to release my hair from the loose bun I had bundled it into that same morning.

With his fingers, he combed my curls out over my shoulders.
I turned to him but he shook his head with a small smirk before leaning in towards me.

"Pay attention to the movie, Izzy," He whispered into my ear, giving me delicious shivers all the way down my spine.
The way he said my name, made it sound like glass of expensive champagne.

I didn't miss the quiet chuckle as he noticed my reaction.

"Trust me," He said as he continued playing with my hair.

I spotted a very entertained smile on Oddball's face over in the armchair as he was looking at us rather than the movie. He gave me a small wink before he turned back to the film.

Next to me in the sofa, Simon was sat very quietly. His body was all tensed up and he seemed almost as if the rest of us weren't in the room. He had a very deep focus on the film.

My arms were breaking into goosebumps at the feeling of the hands in my hair. I wasn't sure but it felt like he was braiding. He finished the braid and wrapped it up around itself by my ear, securing it with the elastic.

"Done... Well one side is," Ethan said with a happy smile.

I brought my hand up to feel a messy aproximation of a Leia-style cinnamon bun hairdo.
I had to giggle.

"If I'm doing the other side I need to swap seats with you or Simon," He said.

"Will you two just chill out and watch the movie?" Simon grumbled on my other side.

I turned to see an annoyed look on his face that turned into a scowl at Ethan.

"Oups. Sorry," Ethan said with a small laugh.

We sat back but Ethan kept nudging me, 'accidentally' brushing my arm with his fingers and bumping into my leg with his knee. My goosebumps had become permanent and my skin was threatening to leap off me.
Despite knowing the film almost by heart I had trouble getting into it. My eyes, my attention, my fingers were drawn to Ethan.
Not touching him felt like a piece of me was missing.
Touching him made me feel like I was seconds from combusting into a big ball of fire.
There was no middle ground.
Suffer absence or catching fire.
So my fingers found the inside of his underarm, where I traced gentle patterns along his sinewy muscles and watched him squirm and shift in his seat.
My pulse raced everywhere but in my chest while my eyes were on the screen to avoid seeing how his hand hovered over mine, trying to decide if he should stop my fingers or not.
I didn't dare looking at his face.

I heard several heavy huffs of breath from Simon at the fidgeting, but I could not bring myself to stop it.

Somehow we got through 'A New Hope" and I got up to make some more popcorn for 'Return of the Jedi'. The plan was to order pizza to eat while watching 'The Empire Strikes Back'.

I was standing in the kitchen trying to get my hormones, my pulse and my breathing under control while resting back up against the counter with the pizza menu in my hand. I heard footsteps up the stairs and a pair of feet stopped in front of me. I looked up at the scowling look on Simon's face.

"What?" I asked.

"You missed all the good quotes!" He grumbled.

We had for years had a game of trying to say cerain lines with the actors. I had completely forgotten to play along.

"I'm sorry," I said trying to wipe the sheepish grin on my face as I recalled the reason for my distraction.

Simon cocked his head and studied me carefully.

"Just don't forget to call me a Nerfherder," He muttered without humor.

I laughed.

"You'll always be my nerfherder," I grinned.

"Good!" He said with a small smile and headed down the hall.

I looked back at the pizza menu.

"If he's your nerfherder... what does that make me?" Ethan asked from the doorway to the basement.

I lifted my eyes to meet his beautiful grey ones. He came up to me and stood resting his hip on the counter, his chest towards me.

"Jedi master?" I suggested as my brain prepared to shut down at the look of amusement in his eyes.

"No... Too many restrictions on lifestyle," he said quietly with a raised eyebrow while his hand crawled behind me on the counter and his fingers found the hem of my t-shirt.

My eyes were on his as his fingers found the skin on my back and started drawing patterns. By breath caught. His eyes were dark. The flecks were large and almost a pale yellow golden. His eyes were locked on mine across the six inches separating our height.

"Yeah?" I said breathlessly.

"Yeah," he whispered back.

We were both suddenly very serious. The tension was almost physical. I knew. If I followed my impulse and streched up to close the distance between us, there would be no turning back.

The moment was broken by the sound of Simon's footsteps along the hall. Ethan moved just a few torturous inches back, his fingers still on my skin and we both turned to look at the pizza menu as if we were deciding wich one to get.

"That one looks good," Ethan said as Simon entered.

"No! Yuck. It's got artchokes," I exclaimed.

"And? Trying new stuff can be a good thing," he said.

I did not miss the double meaning of his words.

"Not today. The other guys might not appreciate it," I replied giving him a double meaning back.

He nodded.

"Okay. Next time," he smiled.

I nodded. Next time...

"Just get the bacon and mushroom. It's what we always get," Simon said with his hands full of drinks.

"Fine. A hawaiian and a bacon-mushroom," I nodded.

Simon looked at Ethan and I with a suspicious frown before he went downstairs.

I looked at Ethan, feeling the hot ball of fire brighten at the sudden intense look in his eyes.

"Smuggler captain," I said.

He gave me a questioning look.
I nodded.
He was slowly stealing my heart, my soul and now my entire body.

"Yep. Big, thieving, smuggler," I said.

He gave me another heartstopping smile.

"What's the cargo?" He asked leaning just that fraction closer.

"Whatever you want," I whispered back.

I watched his eyes widen at the meaning of my words. The slightly naughty smile he had been wearing for the past couple of hours softened and suddenly the high intensity between us was almost gone, leaving a lingering, budding understanding.

"Where's the popcorn? If you've drowned in the toilet I'm not pulling you out!" Oddball shouted from the basement.

Ethan chuckled and gave me a small smile.
We'd have to finish the conversation some other time.
But that was okay.
The possibilities were endless.

I tore myself away from the touch of his fingers and poured the popcorn into the bowl.
Painfully aware that there was a very hot man standing two inches from my back with his hands raised by my arms as if he was resisting the urge to grab hold of me.

We got through 'Return of the Jedi' with a strange happy feeling growing inside me.
It was comfortable.
Even when I sat up against Simon with my legs across Ethan, it still felt like it was only him and me, and his beautiful strong hands massaging my calves, raising goosebumps in places where you don't normally get them.
His eyes kept finding mine with a little smile that sent shooting stars along my skin.

And, yeah.
I miraculously remembered to do the Nerfherder line with Simon.

Simon noticed the raised goosebumps along my arms and started rubbing.

"Why are you always so cold, Izzy?" He muttered and lay an arm around me for heat.

"Maybe I stood to close to the fire?" I replied with a look at Ethan.

Ethan laughed softly and muttered something that sounded like 'you have no idea'.

There was a sudden tension from Simon as he shot Ethan a warning "Dude!".

Ethan just shrugged with a small chuckle as he tried to ignore Simon completely.

I tried to figure out what the problem was. I had always been comfortable resting up on Simon, but suddenly his grip was that fraction too tight.
The urge to shake his arm off from around me was doubled by the strange, tense look Ethan sent Simon, but I couldn't bring myself to move. Something told me Simon was upset about something. And knowing Simon, the best cure for grouch was to hug it out.
Once I sensed Simon relaxing I sat up between them more comfortably and enjoyed the rest of the film with little pokes and nudges disturbing my focus. Ethan's fingertips were on my skin more or less constantly.
All out of Simon's eyesight and all a lot more subtle than earlier.
Something about the two of them was off, but I couldn't work out what.

During 'Empire Strikes Back' we were back to flinging popcorn at the stormtroopers. I think we hit more trees than them during the battle of Endor.
Suddenly I noticed Oddball looking at me with a crafty looking smirk.

"What?" I asked.

"I think Izzy wants an Ewok!" Oddball grinned and flicked his eyes over at Ethan.

It took me a moment to understand that he was talking about when Ethan had been in such a horrible mood, back in January.

"Yeah... just not a grumpy one," I replied with a giggle.

Oddball chuckled at Ethan's confusion.

"I think you have one ready to attack!" Oddball laughed causing an intense blush to crawl up my face.

I chucked a few popcorns at him.

"At least I'm not tied to a spit this time," I giggled.

"Ewoks?" Ethan asked.

"Yeah... Izzy has a thing for grumpy Ewoks," Oddball laughed.

I threw more popcorn at him.

"Ewoks?" Ethan asked again doubtfully.

"Yep. They're all fuzzy and cute, even when they are aggressive" Oddball said with an amazingly straight face.

"Sure you don't want one yourself?" I asked Odd with my eyebrow raised.

"Nah... You can have this one. I'm working on getting a wookie," Oddball grinned.

I started laughing.

"Actually... A smallish Wookie..." Oddball added thoughtfully.

"Halfbreed?" I asked.

"Something like that, " Oddball grinned.

"Or maybe, I'm the wookie?" He continued, before he lifted his t-shirt to reveal some belly-fur while growling out some Chewbacca sounding noises.

There was no stopping the laughter rolling out of me.

At the end of the evening, Oddball and Ethan were getting ready to leave. Simon had his dad's car and was going to stay to clean up all the thrown popcorn.
Everything in me was looking for a reason to ask Ethan to stay behind without it sounding desperate or weird. We hadn't had a single moment alone since I had called him a smuggler. When I had tried to get him on my own between 'Return of the Jedi' and 'The Empire Strikes Back', Simon was constantly there. Hovering just close enough to ruin any kind of moment or private conversation.

Oddball and Ethan had a quiet discussion in the hallway before they left. I caught Simon's name and the word basement.
Ethan had looked like there was something on his mind as he gave me a hug before leaving, but after a quick look at Simon, he left without saying anything more than a quick "see you later".
I wondered for a moment if that was an invitation for me to say something, but the look on his face was weirdly neutral, so I left it.

With a reluctant sigh I decided to see what Sunday would bring.