☿ shards of glass, TAGGING ALYX AND NOLAN!!!

[LEAH LEVITT]

Oh, they were going to have fun. But then again, very little wasn't fun, where Leah was concerned. Especially with Nolan. There was something so fundamentally awkward about him that it was almost an irresistible temptation to pull all his strings, to push all his buttons. He was as naive as a child, as easy to mold as a puppy. And Leah couldn't help but grin when she thought of it. She could picture it now: Nolan on her couch, watching her television screen upon which flickered images of couples in compromising positions, probably either extremely uncomfortable and blushing a violent shade of red or trying so hard to study the movements and interactions that he would miss the whole point of why she was making him watch porn. Which was, of course, to fuck with his head. A flustered Nolan was like catnip to Leah; she couldn't get enough. Rising up from her bed, tossing her phone aside, Leah fluffed her hair and tugged her tank down. Whenever Nolan was involved, cleavage had to be visible, otherwise he'd never learn. And much as she found the physiology professor cute, his overwhelming sweetness and general guilelessness sometimes irked her. How was it that he, born with that face, had so escaped all of life's more disgusting facets? Ugh. He'd just been born lucky. But innocent. She'd just have to fix that. So it was with a decisive sparkle in her eye and a mischievous smirk lurking at the corner of her mouth that she bounced towards her front door when she heard his familiar, tentative knock. Pulling the door back, Leah felt her smile widen into an impish grin. "Well, angel face." She stepped back to grant him entry. "About damn time."

[NOLAN YOUNG]

No matter how much he turned his car stereo up, Nolan couldn't drown out the sound of his heartbeat humming in his ears, twitching with every thump he felt against his ribcage, a steady drum that had only increased in pace as he got closer to her house. He still had her text message open on his phone, positioned in the passenger seat conveniently enough so that if Nolan glanced down he could see her telling him to get his ass over. She had insisted that he come over, and when Leah insisted there wasn't much room for arguing. Not that Nolan ever would. He jumped at any chance to see her, to talk to her, to just be with her. Since their first real encounter a few weeks ago (aka that time they had sex), Nolan couldn't stop thinking about her. No matter how hard he tried, everything just came back to Leah. Not that she helped, with her decision to take him under her wing and teach him how to be....actively social and romantic with women. She was teaching him how to be more confident, the right things to say, the right things to do, how to be more sexually active and comfortable with himself and with other people. With women. The ass grabs, the random kisses; it was all shocking and scary but Nolan did appreciate it. He just...didn't understand why she had thought to go into such detailed lessons. He thought he had understood after their first night together, the first night in years for Nolan and oh, what a night it had been. But they were friends. Strictly friends. She was just his professor in the guide to wooing women. You don't really buy flowers for your professors. She confused, and terrified, the shit out of him. He rapped his knuckles against the door quietly, rocking back and forth on his heels while he waited for her to come to the door."Hello," was all he could manage out when she opened it, standing there in her short shorts and that tank top that drew Nolan's eyesight immediately drew to her cleavage. His stare was far from discreet, strayed for a few seconds too long, before he jumped to look her in the eyes again. She was probably thrilled. With a nervous swallow and a flicker of his eyes towards the ground, he stepped through the door. "Sorry, it's hard to play Fast & Furious in a civic," a gentle laugh spilled from his lips before he shoved his hands in his pockets, looking back at Leah with an earnest grin.

[LEAH LEVITT]

It was getting harder and harder to play "sex ed teacher" with Nolan. His adorably endearing smile made Leah want to kiss his face, grab his junk, and laugh as he flushed red (which he inevitably would). The angel in him pulled out the vixen in her -- and heightened it. His gaze had, as planned, zeroed in on her chest. Good. At least he actually had some heterosexual male impulses (she'd started to wonder). Dropping her arm to her side, Leah flashed him a grin in return. "You need to get a better car than that piece of shit," she commented lightly, and closed the door behind him. "But thanks for coming! Nice to know I can still manipulate a guy into dropping his responsibilities." A wicked smile, and she rose on her toes to press a quick, rapid kiss to his lips. But she pulled back just as fast, spinning away from Nolan to sashay into the living room, where she'd set up, of course, a perfectly inappropriate array of porn DVDs -- most filched from her ex-boyfriend's stash -- and the TV on pause with two -- no wait, this was Three's Company, so three -- people tangled around each other in a sweaty, lush mess of limbs. So, she watched porn. What was the big deal? Leah was so fundamentally cavalier about sex that she held no qualms about discussing various methods of fellatio with anyone who was curious about the subject (personally, she liked using her teeth). But Leah was also aware that, for certain people (especially those whose name started with N and ended in olan), being quite so open about her sexuality was somewhat offensive. So, she mostly took babysteps, easing Nolan into an awareness of his own sex appeal with cute, flirty quips. But they had all bounced off of him. Thus, time to move into the big leagues. Picking up her remote, Leah glanced at Nolan, one hand on her hip, vision sharp in the darkening light. "So! We've got ... couples, threesomes, orgies, bondage, porn with a plot, porn without a plot ... What are you feeling like?" She gave a casual shrug and beckoned him closer, her face suddenly breaking into a grin. "You did bring the Kleenex, right?"

[NOLAN YOUNG]

"There's nothing wrong with my car!" he protested, furrowing his brows and frowning at her as he raised a finger to waggle in her direction. "It's a hybrid,"with a nodat his own statement as if the fact that his car was a hybrid made it the equivalent of an audi. He couldn't think of a witty reply to her comment quick enough, too distracted by the sudden urge he had to cup her face in his hands and pull her close as her lips collided against his. It was of course a mere fraction of a second in real time but it seemed like forever in his head, and by the time Nolan leaned forward to equal the kiss she had bounced away towards the television, leaving the man bent forward in a position that vaguely resembled a turtle. If he hadn't been careful he might've fallen over, and he was quiet surprised that he was able to compose himself almost as quickly as she had kissed him. See, it was things like that that made this whole situation completely unfair in his eyes. So simple of an act, like a greeting of an old friend, quick and light like it hadn't even happened, and yet his lips still tingled with the memory of her touch. Following Leah into her living room like an obedient puppy, he didn't even realize what was paused in such.....nice high definition until he could see her exchange a look from the tv screen to him, which of course stopped him in his tracks just before reaching the couch. He cocked his head to the side, lips pursing together as he tried to make out the situation of the..uhm, trio on her screen. His mouth formed around the word "oh" but it never quite got out in the open as she addressed him. Laid out on her coffee table was an array of dvds, and without trying to seem too curious Nolan leaned forward to try and examine the covers of each of them. All very peculiar positions with various members of both sexes, sometimes the same and sometimes not, and he was pretty sure he saw a pirate ship on the cover of one of them. Well, he had always liked pirates.... Shaking his head, he swallowed a nervous gulp and looked back at her to see her finger encourage him closer. He finished his journey around the couch, stumbling a bit as his foot ran into the edge of her sofa. At the mention of kleenex a hand moved over his right pocket, where he padded a small pack of tissues tentatively. "Yeah I uh...I brought them..." He felt like an idiot, but when did he not feel like an idiot around her? Nolan rubbed his lips together before studying her coffee table and the tv carefully. Really, she wanted him to pick? "I mean, you uh...already have this one on, why bother...changing?" he offered her a slight smile. I mean, he had always been curious about threesomes...not that he'd volunteer that information to her right this second.

[LEAH LEVITT]

Fucking precious. Leah would have to write up a thank-you letter to whoever Mrs. Young happened to be, for having birthed such a splendid specimen as her son. That pink tint on his cheeks -- yes, she saw it, even if she was determined not to comment. Leah had to actually, physically restrain herself from running a hand through Nolan's hair. She wondered if he purred. Lifting one brow, she let her mouth purse. Really? He wanted to watch a threesome? Personally, Leah didn't care what they watched, so long as it was amusing to her -- which porn always was. She rarely ever watched it to be aroused. It was entertainment. Plus, the lack of music and the shitty dialogue and the faux-desperate moans always made her want to laugh. And it was strange, to think that these people had sex on camera for money. That half of them didn't like it. Hell. She'd fuck for free; that was how much Leah enjoyed her sexuality. But she didn't want to be exposed. However, there were no such qualms about watching other people be exposed. Oh well. Leah shrugged, waving towards the couch and gesturing to the left so that Nolan could seat himself properly. "You sure?" Reaching forward, she snagged the remote. "It's got a great cumshot at the end but -- you sure?" There it was, the quick, nervous look, but he nodded, and Leah smirked. "Okay. Here. Remote. Unpause it, I'm gonna get snacks." She moved, swift and silent, into the kitchen, pulling open cupboards and taking whatever snacks she could find (there was an inordinate amount of granola bars, but Leah had the sneaking suspicion that her anatomy professor wasn't too keen on oat at the moment). Sighing, she opened the Do Not Open Unless It's An Emotional Emergency cupboard. And grabbed the gummy worms, the sour skittles, the Reese's cups, and the beer. Nothing like watching porn with a sugary snack. Hauling back her load to the living room, Leah smirked at Nolan's expression and plopped down next to him. She handed him beer, skittles, and gummies, keeping the Reese's for herself. "So. How are you liking it?" As her voice rose, she turned her attention to the screen, watching as one man pounded the poor blonde from behind, the other smacking her face with his dick. And she sounded hungry for it. Leah could barely keep the giggle trapped inside.

[NOLAN YOUNG]

It wasn't that Nolan was completely and totally in the dark when it came to sex and things regarding sex. Despite Leah's constant skepticism he had been with women - okay really one or two when it came to actual sex....and one of those didn't even really count so one....and those were years ago - before coming onto her radar. Before being swept up, caught in her snare and unable to claw his way out. Not that he wanted to. Lured in so easily by her beauty and charm with nowhere to run should he have sought escape. But Nolan knew that night that opportunities like that did not just present themselves in front of a guy like him every day. And really what man, even someone like Nolan, could say no to a woman like Leah Levitt throwing you onto her bed and giving you a night you wouldn't forget? Nolan may have been a bit naive, but he was not stupid. And porn? Porn was something Nolan was aware of; aware of it's existence but hardly educated and curious enough to dive into it. A staple in so many people's lives and yet the thought of it made Nolan shift uneasily in his seat. Over the years he had experimented, he had tried watching....but it just never clicked with him. Something about the whole situation, viewing others having sex on a small screen knowing it was strictly for profit rather than pleasure....it just never really did anything for him. I mean on occasion it had evoked a...reaction out of him,. And it wasn't that Nolan wasn't attracted to breasts or butts or the way a woman's hip bone protruded from her side. He just had a hard time enjoying it when it wasn't in front of him. When it wasn't able to be touched, to be explored. Which explained a lot about the man, because when did he ever get the chance to explore a woman's naked body? When Leah questioned his decision, there was a flicker of panic in his eyes - had he made the right choice? He had no idea, he was just trying to do what she wanted and he didn't have a clue as to what made a good porno. Fighting the urge to stammer something stupid out he simply nodded, watched her smirk and drop the remote in his open palm before jumping into the kitchen. A few seconds passed, his eyes just staring at the remote and refusing to grip it or move it or press any buttons but he knew he'd have to eventually or she'd just come do it for him and tease him some more. It's just porn, Nolan. You're a goddamn anatomy teacher, it's the human body. They're just....moaning. He clasped the remote tightly in his hand and found the play button and pushed down quickly. Leah continued to rustle in the kitchen and he sat on the couch transfixed, head just slightly turned as he watched the scene unfold. It took him a second to realize that it was two men simultaneously frisking the blonde onscreen, each taking their turn exploring a different part of the body. Two. Men. "Oh..." Nolan said quietly, without thinking, stating to get severely confused as to how this was happening. There was a dramatic shift in the music and Nolan knew what had to be coming (quite literally) next. He hardly noticed Leah's return to the couch until he felt the cold beer bottle graze his thumb. He grabbed the snacks from her, raising the bottle to his lips. It felt insanely cool against his mouth, and Nolan realized how warm he was starting to feel. Not so much out of pleasure as to what he was seeing, but out of nerves. "It's uhm.....interesting?" he offered, not very convincingly, turning his attention back to the screen. It was almost horrifying, what he was witnessing, watching the two men seemingly attack her and yet she seemed more than pleased. "I mean is it...uhm...do you think they feel weird? Doing that....to her...at the same time?" He tried to keep his mind focused on the blonde, and only the blonde, and the way her boobs looked as she sprawled out on the bed. They were nice. Not as nice as Leah's, Nolan couldn't help thinking to himself. He glanced over at her when he suspected she wouldn't notice, and the increase in his heartbeat was not from the porn.

[LEAH LEVITT]

Typically, she didn't do this -- porn wasn't meant to be watched on a television screen, not during late afternoon when the sun was still out, and certainly not in a casual setting, as if they were just as easily watching I Love Lucy. It was built for computer screens, in the dark and privacy of one's bedroom, for singular pleasure and entertainment. But what was "typical" didn't really apply to any scenario where Nolan was concerned. She was messing with her own head as much as his. But she didn't regret it. Chewing on a Reese's cup, Leah snorted at his words. "No. This is their job. And it sounds like they're having fun." Eyes keen on the television screen, Leah let the depravity and irony of their situation wash over her. Maybe it wasn't exactly moral or ethical to push Nolan into this -- he was visibly uncomfortable (that was a noticeable pink tinge on his cheeks). And there was that strange twinge in her chest when she glanced over at him. She didn't want Nolan to be unhappy -- this was supposed to be fun. Primarily for her, yes (Leah would never deny her own selfish attitude), but also for him. As a way of titillating his senses, so to speak. But he mostly just looked like a fish out of water. She cleared her throat, looked away for a second, and came back to smiling at his face with a bright grin. "What's got you stuttering?" Leah leaned over, hand sliding over Nolan's -- ooh, nice -- thigh to squeeze his junk. Mmm. He jerked, and a teasing smile played on her face as she pulled away. "Come on, you're just as hung as those guys, there's nothing to be scared of." But she could sense it, in his tense shoulders, the way he was averting his eyes from the tv screen. The trouble was, the only way Leah knew how to dissipate any sort of tension was to make an inappropriate remark. And, of course, inappropriate remarks were what had started the tension in the first place. Doomed. They were doomed. Sitting back, Leah decided to try a more analytical approach. Couldn't hurt, right? "Your problem is that you're scared of being judged," she started, and leaned back, tucking her legs underneath her. "But it's sex, or, you know, flirting, so obviously people are going to judge, but on the other hand they might be impressed. You're hot as all hell, so I'm betting they'll be flattered." A shrug. She popped another Reese's into her mouth and took a swig of the ice-cold beer. "I know I was." Not a lie, either. She remembered, that evening, drunk on laughter after a night out with some of the staff, seeing Nolan sway as well, his fumbling hands on her waist. She'd been shocked, amazed that he was being bold, that she was the one he'd gone after. Speculations on Nolan Young were not rare among her friends. She knew a fair number who would have liked to get him herself. But Leah, Leah had won out. And maybe, yeah, "teaching" Nolan how to flirt was a good excuse for spending time with him. He'd get there eventually. But Leah had earned her prize. And fuck everything, she was keeping it.

[NOLAN YOUNG]

"I know that, but I mean like realistically is that -" he stopped himself yet again. Always realistically. Or logically. He never knew how to turn his brain off. Trying to pinpoint the reason as to why he was so particularly freaked out by this, he concluded that it had to be because it was two men. Which was his own fault, he supposed, because this was her porn collection and despite the fact that Leah appeared to be quite adventurous when it came to sexual encounters he was certain she'd rather watch this than the opposite ratio. Nolan took another nervous gulp of his beer, and by now he had downed almost half of it. But he couldn't feel anything. Not even the slightest tingle on his tongue from the alcohol. It was probably already having a hard time combatting the nerves that flooded through his whole body. The second he felt her hand glide across his thigh he froze until he felt her hand squeeze down and he practically fell off the couch. A yelp crossed with a word that sounded kind of like jesus! escaped his lips. He'd just have to take her word for it. "Uhm...thanks?" he couldn't hold back the awkward laugh as he tried to focus on something - a picture from her cheerleading days hung up on the wall - while his hands fell on each leg splayed out and frozen. "...I was drunk," he mumbled, waving a hand in the hair as if that was an acceptable excuse. Well, in his eyes it was. Never in a million years would a sober!Nolan have even approached Leah in the first place. He would've just stared at her from across the room, the ever-perplexing what if dangling in his mind but unable to act on it. Unable to act. Sometimes Nolan thought he would never change. But his confidence had been boosted by the immense amount of alcohol in his system that night - he couldn't even remember what he had said or done to her to get her to pay attention to him and his mind had been so clouded that it wasn't until they were back at her place that he even fully registered just what the hell was happening to them. To him. But she had also been quite buzzed that night, and a twinge of fear tapped Nolan on the heart. "you were drunk..."he shoved a handful of skittles into his mouth, looking back to her. That had to have been the reason, right? The only way Leah would've slept with him. Or that's what he kept telling himself. That she had been so drunk she couldn't ward off his stammering, made sense of the incoherent blabbering he had probably spewed out. And they were here now because she felt sorry for him. She wanted to help him and make him better because he had just been so awkward and had only increased that in buckets since that night. He was her charity case. This was the reality Nolan had accepted. But he did nothing about it. He pretend to put up a fight, when really he just loved the idea of being in the same room with her - alone - for whatever reason. It terrified him, but drunk or not, she was what he wanted. What he needed. He just had no fucking idea how to let her know.

[LEAH LEVITT]

Wow. Ouch. Resentment simmered along the base of Leah's spine. She was irked that Nolan considered the fact that she'd been drunk to mean she had taken leave of all her senses. Which she hadn't. "Drunk, sure. Not stupid or blind or forgetful, though." She hadn't blacked out. Could still remember the two of them, laughing low, stumbling in the dark as they headed back to her bedroom, the door falling half-shut behind them. She could remember not caring about much of anything besides the firm warmth of Nolan's skin, his mouth at her neck, and the spinning realization that it was he, Nolan Young, who'd landed there that night. It made her smile, soft amusement tickling the corners of her lips. "Look. I had fun that night, okay? And don't write it off as a 'we were drunk' thing, because I don't care. All right? I don't. It's not a big deal. You were loose, Nolan." Frustrated, she grabbed the remote, hit pause on the TV, and twisted to look at him. To his credit, his eyes were decidedly fixed elsewhere. "You get caught up in the mechanics of this. There's no science to talking to people, you know. Sure, I mean, having a sense of humor works wonders, but there's no right path or wrong path, unless you talk about politics." A frustrated sigh, and Leah scrunched up her nose, tucking her legs further underneath her and hugging her arms around herself. She wanted to talk, wanted to explain to Nolan that things didn't matter, that opinions didn't count for anything, that he could just give a girl a smile and bring her to her knees. She wanted to tell him all of that and more, but the words wouldn't come. They were on separate tangents, widening further and further apart, apparently destined never to intersect or understand each other unless one of them made the jump. And Leah was trying, she was; nobody could say otherwise. But it wasn't enough. Twisting to look at him, she slid a hand forward to grip his chin and look him straight in the eyes. "Okay," she started. "Here's the lesson I should have started with: honesty? Best policy, when positive. Flattering helps, and exaggerating is always good, but you never want to flat-out lie. And you don't want to be demure or anything." She shrugged, taking another swig of beer. "So once you get out of that mindset, you'll be fine. If you need a boost in confidence --" An impish smile stole across her face as she grinned at him. "You know where to go."

[NOLAN YOUNG]

Nolan hadn't realized his words would've hurt her. There was a twang of guilt that prickled up his spine when she responded, a frown marring his face as he kept his eyes away from her. He had convinced himself that that was the only reason she would have ever agreed to hold a conversation with him for more than 5 minutes, liquor the puppeteer for the night as it pulled the strings. But she was reassuring him that it wasn't that, that it had been her laughing and smiling at his corny jokes and embarrassing stories, her limbs tangled up with his in the sheets of her bed and her kisses that had skirted the edges of his jaw. She had been drunk but not drunk enough to lose control, sober enough to remember the moment and revel in it and the thought made him want to melt. He, on the other hand, remembered it in fragments, puzzle pieces that he couldn't quite piece together. Loose. Unchained from the straight-laced professor he normally was, uninhibited and carefree and not focusing on trying to say the right things. They had all just happened. So where was that part of Nolan Young? Cooped up deep within his body, provoked forward only by the taste of alcohol on his tongue? If it was there, it was there permanently, and Leah was just trying to help coax it out to stay forever. "I'm trying...." he said quietly, and couldn't help the small sigh of defeat that fluttered from his lips right after. He didn't resist when he felt her fingers curl under his chin, jutting it in the direction she wanted and doing his best to maintain steady eye contact with her. They were fairly close; close enough to where Nolan couldn't help but notice the flecks of copper reflecting in Leah's eyes as she stared back at him determinedly. But he knew he needed to focus and listen to the advice she was giving him. She was only trying to help Nolan, not make everything worse. He nodded a bit stiffly, still clutched in her hand before pulling away from her to mirror her sip with his own bottle and mull over her words. Honesty. Well, Nolan had always considered himself that. Of course, he knew he wasn't being completely honest with Leah when it came to everything, but it wasn't like he was telling her any lies. Just....holding parts of the truth back. Be honest, flatter women, but don't lie...exaggerate. Don't be demure. Well, that was certainly going to be the biggest challenge. Nolan wasn't exactly the most outgoing person in the world. Confidence. It was the one thing Nolan lacked, had the potential for in heaps but could never quiet unlock it; just shy of grabbing hold and utilizing it. He was confident when it came to teaching, and his knowledge on his subject, but everything else? Being social? Flirting? It was like he used up all his confidence in the classroom, stored there, and once out of his comfort zone he completely lost it. He knew he had to work on that, but he'd known that before Leah came into the picture. And yet somehow, hearing the words come out of her mouth, made it reality. "I do?" he perked up quizzically, shooting her a confused look. He - no surprise - wasn't quite sure what she meant by her comment, and took a few moments to dwell on it before coming back to the advice she had just given him. Not that it had any correlation to her latest comment, but he was just going to do it anyway. Straightening up a bit, he swung his shoulders towards her and mustered up the most charming smile he could materialize before looking Leah right in the eye and saying "You look really nice today. Well....every day really...but I mean...especially today. Yeah."