Chapter 136: Liz and Crash

Towards the end of July, Crash flew to Los Angeles. There was an orientation session at the UCLA Law school, plus, he needed to find a place to live.

The tour had just ended, so Liz was there to meet him. They'd both be going back to Boston after about a week-Liz needed to work on choreography with Warren and Sophie.

Liz drove Crash back to her apartment, where they deliriously raced each other to her bedroom. They didn't emerge until late the next morning.

The orientation, which was Monday through Wednesday went well. Hunting for an apartment was not going well. He had looked at the paper every day and had visited some places on Thursday while Liz was at practice. He checked some more listings after eating dinner at her place Thursday night-but, after a few minutes, threw the paper on the couch in frustration. "This is ridiculous," he griped. "I knew LA was going to be more expensive than Chicago, but this is insane. Everything I've seen is either way out of my price range, or a colossal dump."

"I know. This place costs a fortune," Liz agreed.

"You have a fortune, miss Olympic Gold Medallist And Idol Of Millions," he teased. She hit him with a couch pillow. "Well, you do. I, alas, am just a humble law student, scraping away on a shoestring."

"Oh, what a sob story," Liz giggled.

"I know, ain't it a tragedy?" he grinned. "Seriously-I have some money, and I'll get a job out here part-time at a firm, but the rents really are insane."

"Jason? You could move in here," Liz said quietly.

"What?"

"You could move in here. We could live together."

Jason looked at her for a minute. "Isn't that a little bit premature?"

"Probably," she giggled. "But we have been going out for almost a year."

"Well, off and on," he pointed out. "We haven't spent more than a week together at any one time over the whole year. We've gone months without seeing one another. It'll be a huge change."

"I know," she said. "Jason, think of it this way, though. Why are you going to law school out here, and not in Chicago or Boston or somewhere else?"

"Well, you."

"Right. So I'm kind of responsible for you being out here, right? So, if you get yourself in financial difficulty, or end up living in a dump, I'm going to feel responsible. I have plenty of room here. The bed's a queen. You're coming out here for me anyhow, right?"

"Yeah, but, still..." Crash was still unsure.

"Jason. There's not someone else, is there?"

"Of course not!"

"OK. Is it that you're not over Jessie?"

"Sort of. Probably not the way you mean, though." He took a breath. "Liz, I love you. I don't love Jessie. Well, I do love Jessie, part of me will always love Jessie, but I'm not in love with her. I am in love with you." He sighed. "What it is, is this. Part of me thinks that Jessie and I ended because we just grew apart and wanted different things. But part of me thinks that Jessie and I ended because I fucked up, and badly. And now I have you, but we haven't spent much actual time together and now you're talking about moving in. I'm afraid of fucking up. And Jessie and I never lived together." He grinned slightly. "Good thing, there probably would have been blood on the walls. But taking this big of a step, after how Jessie and I ended-well, it's terrifying."

"I understand," Liz said. "I do. But I think we can make it work. Look, I didn't end with Rich all that great, either. And it's the same thing-either he was intolerant of my lifestyle, or I was too pigheaded about my lifestyle. Maybe it was me, you know? But, I don't know, it's just different with us. Even though we haven't spent enough time together, I just feel it." She grinned, but it was half-hearted. "Besides which, I'm gone a lot."

"And you're worried about that," Crash said perceptively. Liz nodded. "I'm not Rich, Liz. The fact that you're an independent, successful woman is one of the reasons I fell in love with you. Besides which, you're going to have to deal with me sitting here with my nose in law books."

"I can handle that."

"The other thing is, are you going to be able to handle me not being there?" Crash asked. "Nationals, well, I can pretty much always go to that, because of when it is. And I'm sure you really don't care much about some of the lesser competitions. But, OK, take the Olympics next year. February, in the middle of my second year in law school? I might not be able to go. I'm going to try my damnedest, believe me-but I might not be able to make it."

"I know," she said. "I hope you do. But I understand. We're both busy." She looked at him. "Honestly, this is one of the reasons I want to live together. Just think-when I come home from Skate America in October, you'll be here. I won't have to find you. I won't have to drive to some other apartment to see you. Likewise, when you have an exam or a paper or even if you're studying to death and need a back rub-I'll be here. With how busy we are, I think this is the only chance we've got to have any kind of normal relationship."

"OK. Then let's do it."

"Oh, thank goodness!" she exclaimed. "I've been working up to asking you this since the moment you got here."

"You have?" he laughed.

"Yeah. You getting frustrated looking for a place made it so much easier," she grinned. "Love you."

"Love you too."

"Shall we go celebrate?"

"Sure. You want to go out?"

"Hell, no. I want you to go try out your new bed," she giggled, "now that you know it's your new bed."

"Ah," he grinned and stood up off the couch. He took her hand and pulled her up to him. "That sounds like a perfectly wonderful idea." They went into the bedroom and fell on the bed, kissing and rubbing one another. "Yeah, this bed will definitely work," Crash joked.

"I hope so, you've been in it all week." Crash was reaching for her shirt and lifting it over her head. She wasn't wearing a bra. His hands went right for her boobs. She moaned as her nipples stiffened.

"I will never get tired of how responsive you are," Crash laughed.

"Good. I'm glad somebody won't." Crash heard something in that, so he withdrew his hands and looked at her. She sighed. "Rich didn't like it."

"ExCUSE ME?"

"He said he never knew if it was him. He said it could've been anyone, and I would've reacted the same way, and he didn't like that."

"You don't have to worry about that," Crash said with a grin. "I know it's not me, and I still love it."

"It is you. Look, I got a lot less responsive with Rich when things started to go downhill. Yeah, I get off easily-but a lot easier when I love the guy I'm with."

"I don't mind either way. You're a great boost to my confidence in any case," he grinned, and went back to her boobs with his hands. He fondled them and rubbed her nipples with his thumbs, as her breathing got more and more ragged.

When Crash got to the point where he'd usually move his hands down off her boobs and head lower, he didn't. He kept one hand on her boob, and moved his mouth onto the other one. He pressed his face into her boob and suckled on the nipple, curious as to how far he could take her just by this.