"Because I like you," I think.

"Okay, do you remember freshman year, you were on the volleyball team, and we all had that Sports Week thing?" Gavin managed to say, seemingly grinding against the words to get them out of his mouth.

"Yeah, we did that whole sports expo thing where each of the teams played a game against ... another school, I'm not gonna' pretend I remember who. Why? Did I spike a ball into the crowd or something and nail you? I'm also not going to pretend like that sounds ... not like me." Madison blushed slightly, happy he was at least speaking again and frantically trying to go over what she might have done there to make a bad impression.

"No! I mean, you did spike a ball into the crowd and hit someone in the face, but it was kind of before the game."

"OH, that was the year I nailed Stephen McCann in the face! I can't believe I got away with that. I mean, I just remember he did some shitty cat-call to a girl on the soccer team, I was holding a volleyball, and ... well, nature took its course. Okay, so what was it?"

"It was that," Gavin nodded, managing to finally look back up. "It was you nailing Stephen McCann in the face with a volleyball. Um, fun fact, the person he made that comment to was Chloe, which was sort of why Zack and I were there at all since none of us had met yet."

"I didn't even see who he'd said that shit to, it was really Chloe?"

"Yes, and, um ... that's sort of the point. I know you didn't. She wasn't even sort of in your line of sight. You just saw someone being an asshole, and you didn't let it stand. And from that point, I was done."

"Done?" Madison tilted her head.

"Around you. In general. It ... look, I can take any response if it's not a laugh, okay?"

"Sure ..."

"It made me like you. Not, y'know, just a little. A lot. And I sort of had a crush on you for ... you know ... that was in the fall, so all of high school. And I'm not bad at talking to girls ... just the ones I really, really care about impressing. Which is probably not what I'm doing right now."

"Wait, wait, wait," Madison shook her head and hands, trying to get him to slow down. "So the reason you were all Dr. Cold Shoulder around me ... was because you were worried you'd fuck up?"

"In retrospect, it's kind of self-fulfilling, but yeah."

Madison stared at Gavin for a bit, breaking down each line of thought running through her head. On the one hand, she barely knew Gavin. They'd been pretty distant for all of high school except having similar friends, and they hardly had ever sat down and gotten to know one another. On the other, she was having a great time with him tonight, she thought it was an incredibly sweet reason to have a crush on someone, was generally overwhelmed with relief this hadn't ended in her weeping in a corner from guilt over some past sins, and ... honestly, he was pretty sexy. Gavin wasn't in the same kind of shape as Kevin (or Brandon, she guessed, but also ew). He clearly wasn't a gym rat. But she could tell from the way his shirt hung near his midriff and what she could see of his arms he could still handle himself ... or, more to the point, her. And she loved the glasses and hair she could tell looked messy, but probably took at least a few minutes of work each morning. And she loved, above all of that, feeling like someone fucking got her.

"Hey, Gavin?" she asked, sliding a little closer to him on the couch. He tensed again, but a lot less than before, and he certainly wasn't backing away. "Is that ... you said 'had,' a crush. Is that strictly past-tense?"

"It's really, really not," he admitted, a visible wave of relief washing over his body from the admission. Before any more tension or doubt could jump in, Madison did. She almost lunged forward, kissing him deeply and pulling her towards him with one hand on the back of his head and the other on his chest. To her surprise, Gavin didn't hesitate at all in responding, one hand finding her waist and the other pulling her tighter as well. After what felt like forever, their grips loosened and she slipped back, opening her eyes to look at him. Both of them looked flushed, heat almost pouring out of their bodies, and a sinking feeling hit Madison, viciously.

"I ... have to go do something ... really stupid ..."

She sprung up, ran towards the hall, then stopped and turned back towards Gavin.

"You have done nothing wrong, you're a great kisser, and I'd love it if you could stay here for a few minutes while I go do this absolutely insane thing, 'kay?" He just nodded blankly, obviously in a state of shock.

Madison bolt for the door and out towards Kurt's tent, then smacked one of the metal poles pinning it to the ground as hard as she could. She heard swearing from inside before the slightly-older boy unzipped the front and gave her a cocky smile.

"I mean, I know I'm fine, but I wasn't expect-"

"Hush. I need you to kiss me. For science." Madison didn't even wait to hear his line, feet barely restrained from tamping in place as she waited for an answer.

"I mean, whatever does it for you." At that, Madison threw her arms around him and kissed him, just as hard at first. Kurt responded, but she slowed quickly, then backed away.

"Oh my God, thank you!"

"It was just a kiss. If you're interested in-"

"Oh, no, it was awful! Thank you again!" Madison ran back inside, leaving Kurt standing more than little befuddled at the entrance of his tent.

"Hey, Mads, are you feeling-," Kevin began as he opened the door to frantic pounding.

"I need you to kiss my face. It's for research."

"Like, actual kiss, on the mouth, or just the face?"

"Mouth, full-on, not trying to jump you. Fair?"

"Alright." It went slightly better than Kurt's, namely because at least Kevin was someone Madison had realized she wouldn't mind hooking up with over break. But still, she found herself disengaging sooner rather than later. "Got what you need?"

"No, but that's the point of the experiment. You good?"

"Absolutely. Let me know how ... whatever this is goes?"

"At some point!" By the time he closed the door, she'd already cleared the corner of the hall.

"Oh, hey, Maddie-" Zack started before Madison abruptly cut him off.

"Zack, I need you to do Gavin a favor and kiss me."

"... you lost me."

"Hush. Trust me. Can you do this?"

"Um ... okay, sure, if I'm helping out?" Zack was honestly a better kisser than Kurt or Kevin, Madison noted, but surprised herself at how clinical the note was.

"Okay, did you get anything at all from that?" she asked, eyes hopeful in a way that Zack was getting extremely worried about.

"Um, no? I'm sorry if that's bad. I just don't really see you that way." He was being very polite, considering the weirdness of the request and the time of night.

"Awesome! Thank you so much!" Madison barely suppressed squealing the words as she turned on her heel and was off one final time. Zack watched her go this time, a little worried, deeply confused, and, more importantly, too tired for this right now.

In the living room, Gavin was giving the wall the thousand yard stare when Madison came streaking back. He barely had time to register she was there before she jumped onto his lap and kissed him again, this time harder, hungrier, her arms wrapped around his shoulders as she pressed her body into him.

"Hi," she managed to say, a little dreamily as she broke contact a few seconds later. Gavin, bewildered, but not exactly disappointed, looked back at her.

"Did you do the crazy thing you needed to do?" he asked. Very carefully, Madison noted.

"Yeah, I went around and kissed every boy I'm not related to in this house."

"What? Why? What?" His expression looked almost hurt, something Madison had been worried about, but she didn't want to give up just yet.

"Okay, so, I haven't had a boyfriend in, like, three years, not that you're my boyfriend, I'm not Ms. Pushy, but I haven't been with a guy in a long time, and all of my hook-ups have been just that, and it's been a while for those, too, so I'm all bent out of shape and hormonal and needy, emotionally and physically, and I know I am, but I had a really great time with you tonight and it's very soon, so I wanted to make sure I really liked you a lot, which I thought I did, so I wanted to see if anyone else made me feel, you know, butterflies is the expression, and they didn't, and you do, and that means I know I like you a lot, and it's not just 'Madison hasn't gotten action in a while,' behind the wheel, because it's really important to me that if you really had a crush on me for, like, three years, I make sure I'm not just being impulsive, and maybe hurtful later." She gasped at the end her thought, not taking a break to breathe. "Does that make sense? I'm sorry if that sucks, I just ..." She trailed off, losing confidence in her plan looking back at it.

"Butterflies?" Gavin responded, his worried expression breaking into a thin, but obvious grin.

"Big. Fucking. Wings." Madison kissed him again after saying it, then groaned as she felt him pull her closer to him as well. Some of her responses were definitely pent-up sexual urges, but she really only cared about her motives, not her actions. Madison ground herself into Gavin's crotch as they made out, feeling him going from halfway hard to completely erect against her. The feeling of his cock pushing against her like that made her let out a slight gasp as they kissed, her pussy drenching her panties as she felt him respond, both of them writhing against each other in a loose collection of hard breaths and soft moans.

"Jesus, I am so sorry I've been so weird," he panted out as they stopped for a moment, catching their breath as they looked into each others' eyes.

"It's fine." She ran a finger down one of his cheeks. "But I do want to make up for lost time." She then let out a distinctly frustrated groan, closing her eyes as she tilted her head back, then refocused on Gavin. "But I should probably not be 100% Impulse Girl, so ... over the clothes fine with you? I mean, for tonight. It's spring break, I'm not made of self-control."

"Over the clothes is pretty much all I've done and was way more than I was expecting," he said, brushing his nose against her, pulling a light giggle from her. "So that's an enthusiastic yes."

"I mean, me, too. Mostly. I mean, I've gone down of a guy or two before, but ... yeah, I've only fooled around, but if I just run on this track, I'm going to screw you right here on this couch, and enough of my rational brain knows that's probably not smart." She bit her lip, feeling his bulge jump a little at her words, pushing more firmly against her crotch. "Mm, not that you're making it easy."

"Should I tell Brandon or something? I've heard he gets really shotgun-dad around you with guys."

"Oh, I'm not thinking about him even a little bit right now," Madison answered, leaning in and kissing Gavin's neck. The way his body tensed this time was different than before, and Madison felt a jolt of satisfaction that she was doing something right. "But, um, let me handle it. Because you're not wrong. Just don't think about him right now." She slid her hands up his chest, then kissed him on the lips again, legs squeezing around his.

"You know, my thoughts are drifting somewhere else ..." Gavin teased, this time kissing down the line of her jaw lightly and swiftly to her neck, then giving her a slight nip. Madison laughed at first, then groaned, the sensation almost unbearable if she was going to be even sort of responsible tonight.

"Okay, good. So you know, I'm wearing a bra, so I'd count anything over that as over the clothes stuff still. Not that I'm telling you I want you to stick your hands under my shirt or anything, but I'm absolutely telling you that." Gavin actually laughed at that, but spun her down so her back laid against the couch. Madison gasped as he kissed her while his hands snaked under her loose t-shirt, slowly soaking in the feeling of her taut stomach, up her sides, and to her modest, but perky tits. She moaned into his mouth as he squeezed them through her bra, wrapping her legs around him as they surged against one another feverishly. Madison's eyes snapped open, even while Gavin was kissing her ravenously, as she felt a familiar tingle from her clit that completely shocked her. "Gavin," she panted out, trying to tell him they should probably slow down. "Please keep doing that, I swear I'm going to cum right through my goddamn pants!" 'Trying,' being the operative word.

She could hardly believe that this was the shy boy too scared to talk to a cute girl as he redoubled his efforts, mauling her breasts with skill she hadn't entirely been prepared for, listening to her noises and motions to know when to back off, when to tease, and when to go harder. As Madison inched closer and closer to orgasm, she could only imagine what actually fucking him would feel like, something that only slid her deeper down into wanton abandon as she felt her pussy start to gush into her panties.

"Gavin!" she moaned as they almost fucked each other through their pants, relentlessly squirming and thrusting against each other, Madison's legs firmly locked on his waist as Gavin buried his face in her neck again, sucking on it in a way Madison was almost certain would leave a hickey, but not caring even a little in the moment. "God, I want to fuck you so bad right now, Jesus, this feels so fucking good!" Madison trailed off into whimpers and screams she muffled with one of her hands as she rode out the unexpected climax, silently willing the young man above her to strip her clothes off and screw every single hole in her body until she couldn't stand. Her labored breathing slowed as the shocks of pleasure subsided, Gavin's insistent throbbing against her slowing down as he tried to find enough air for words as well.

"Yeah, I'm not making it easy," he whispered when he had enough air. Madison laughed and kissed him, this time shorter, but still deeply and barely holding herself back. "God, you're amazing."

"Well, I'm not the one who just made someone cum in their fucking pants." She nipped his ear gently as she answered, her legs loosening and sliding down his. "Christ, I need to go to bed or I am seriously going to fuck your brains out on this couch, and I really like you, and I super don't want to make this too weird. Am I doing that already? I kind of don't filter very much."

"It's weird, but it's a kind of weird I like. I get so scared trying to figure out what people want, having someone just tell me the whole thing up front is actually great."

"And you're not just saying that so I will fuck you right now?" Gavin grinned and kissed her very gently.

"No, because I also need to go to bed before I make any bad decisions. Well ... any more."

"They're not wrong decisions, though." She looked up into his eyes, flames of her lust giving way to the simpler, elated feeling of being wanted and wanting as she beamed up at Gavin.

"Not even a little. I'll see you in the morning?"

"Bet your hot, little ass on it," Madison told him before they stood up, her admittedly with some help from him. By the time Madison reached her room, Vicky and Lisa were already sound asleep. 'Small mercies,' she thanked no one in particular as she carefully removed her now-soaked panties and shorts and deposited them in her basket for laundry later. Slipping on her pajama bottoms, she settled in to bed, exhaustion overtaking her swiftly and bringing on a slew of dreams that suddenly seemed less like distant fantasies and more like some promises she'd like to keep.