Drifting on a String - Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Tao Jin was a very good kisser. And wonderful to kiss.
Chen Piaopiao had finally learned how to set a hook. Tao Jin's gentle sucks and breaths were the hooks, tasting her unhurriedly.
She felt Chen Piaopiao freeze. She even opened her eyes and glanced at her before closing them again and taking the tip of her tongue into her mouth.
The alcohol was being drawn from the ends of her limbs. Chen Piaopiao felt as if her very essence was being drained away. Her body grew softer, completely devoid of strength.
But a fire was igniting in her lower abdomen, and she really had to pee.
She took a deep breath. Tao Jin's fingers caressed from her face to her ear, kneading her earlobe before letting her go.
Chen Piaopiao didn't want to let go. She kept her arms around her neck, her dewy eyes, a product of the kiss, glued to her. She stared at Tao Jin's moist lips, panting slightly.
Tao Jin tilted her chin, wanting to kiss her again, but someone had woken up. They got up and staggered to open the door.
So the two of them let go of each other in the darkness and sat side by side. Chen Piaopiao drew her legs up, curling into Tao Jin's arms. She watched their friend return from the bathroom, sit down, pick up a slice of watermelon, and take a couple of bites before asking Tao Jin, "Want some?"
Tao Jin's chest rose and fell with her breathing. She was looking down at her phone. Hearing the question, she looked up, shook her head, and gave a faint smile. "No, thanks."
The classmate asked again, "Is Piaopiao drunk?"
Chen Piaopiao buried her head in the crook of Tao Jin's neck, secretly kissing her skin.
Tao Jin nodded. "Mhm."
The sound was a hum from her nose, and the fine hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, tickling the tip of Chen Piaopiao's nose.
Chen Piaopiao's hand on her waist tightened, pulling her closer. Tao Jin raised a hand to cover the back of hers, lightly hooking her fingers. She turned her head and asked in a low voice, "Need to use the restroom?"
"Yeah." Chen Piaopiao got up from her, slipping on her sandals and staggering to her feet.
Tao Jin grabbed her wrist at once, helping her steady herself, and accompanied her to the restroom.
Beer really makes you bloated. After a trip to the bathroom, her dizziness subsided quite a bit. As Chen Piaopiao washed her hands, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her flushed face was pink, her lips, kissed by Tao Jin, were pink, and her hazy, misty eyes were also pink.
She thought, with such a beautiful expression, it was time for something memorable to happen.
She washed her hands again, pinned up her cloud-like curly hair, and opened the bathroom door. Tao Jin was waiting outside.
"Are you going?" Chen Piaopiao's voice was a little clearer now.
Tao Jin shook her head.
"How come you never get drunk?" Chen Piaopiao walked over and looked up at her, her voice soft, as if she were whining coquettishly.
Tao Jin had responded to her. That alone was enough to make her heart surge. Even now, her chest felt tight, like a balloon that had been inflated for too long and was on the verge of bursting. It was lodged in her heart, making her breathing frantic, her silence frantic.
Tao Jin smiled, raised a hand to rub her head, and then rested it on her shoulder. "Let's go back in."
Oh, this person. They had just shared a kiss, yet her expression remained so composed.
They sang for a while longer before the Glasses Vice President arrived. She said she was taking over the shift to look after the club members, and that once everyone was awake at dawn, they would go for breakfast and then she'd send them back to their dorms one by one. She knew Tao Jin rented a place off-campus and asked if she wanted to go back and get some sleep.
Tao Jin left the scene to the Vice President and then took Chen Piaopiao with her.
The summer breeze blew, and some of the alcohol's effects wore off. Chen Piaopiao was annoyed. Why hadn't she had a few more drinks? After a few trips to the bathroom and several hours, the dizzy feeling was gone. Sitting in the taxi, she no longer dared to cling to Tao Jin as wantonly as before.
They each gazed out of a window, watching the early morning of Beicheng.
Someone selling egg-filled pancakes was pulling their cart out to set up their stall, while the all-night roasted gluten vendor was still shrouded in smoke.
The lights of the skyscrapers had been on all night, and the announcement for the train was about to sound.
Then they returned to the rental apartment. And they did it.
Perhaps it was Chen Piaopiao who first wrapped her arms around Tao Jin's neck, or perhaps it was Tao Jin who wanted to continue the kiss from the KTV that had been left unfinished.
Chen Piaopiao lay on the wide bed in the master bedroom, kissed breathless by Tao Jin. From the corner of her mouth to her earlobe, then patrolling her jaw and neck. A long, soft hand came to rest on the full curve below her collarbone, but then Tao Jin stopped.
She stopped, lost in the throes of passion.
In Chen Piaopiao's peripheral vision, there was the faint, circular halo of the overhead light. In her pupils, there was the faint, circular ripple of Tao Jin's gaze.
She blinked, thought for two seconds, then lifted her eyelids and gave Chen Piaopiao a deep look.
Chen Piaopiao sensed her withdrawal, but she didn't want that.
She grabbed Tao Jin's hand, her voice a chaotic whisper. "I want to."
Tao Jin smiled. First, a smile with her lips pressed together, then she tilted her head to study Chen Piaopiao carefully, her eyes bright with amusement.
She confirmed in a soft voice, "Are you sober?"
Just those three words were like a polite knock on the door before devouring someone completely. And the visitor was smiling, smiling as if to say—I'm about to offend you.
Chen Piaopiao was so aroused she thrashed her body heavily on the bed, like a fish gasping for air.
"I'm sober," she said, hugging Tao Jin impatiently. "I've been wanting this for a long time."
The words pushed past the tip of her tongue with a slight, aggrieved whimper.
As if to say—Don't you dare spare me.
They started kissing again on the bed. They did more than just kiss on the bed.
Tao Jin's technique was truly excellent, and not just her kissing.
Before going further, Tao Jin tested the waters with her fingertips while asking softly, "Have you ever... before?" She was worried Chen Piaopiao wouldn't be able to handle it.
Chen Piaopiao's heart contracted, then felt heavy and full. She said, "By myself, yes."
She heard a soft, trembling breath. Tao Jin smiled again, glancing at her as if to say, You naughty little fox.
Then she said no more. A whale diving into the sea, its tail calming the waves with the same frequency as a human peck on the lips.
And Chen Piaopiao had always been highly adaptable.
This rushed yet endless night was also like a daze. Chen Piaopiao lay alone on a cloud, reading her own body. It soared in ecstasy; it died in ecstasy.
This body was astonishingly pale. When she occasionally zoned out and turned to look at her own wrist, she could see the blue veins there.
It guided her fingers, which hung helplessly, aimlessly, and limply over the edge, occasionally clenching into a fist.
Like its owner, who was lost in the experience, her consciousness adrift, instinctively trembling, yet calm.
When they started again, Chen Piaopiao accidentally got her own hair in her mouth. Tao Jin noticed, gathered her long hair with one hand, and then gestured for her to hold it herself.
Then she knelt up, found an eye mask in the drawer, and used her clean right hand to loosely tie a knot.
Her wet left hand was held up by the wrist in front of her body, careful not to touch anything.
This was the third time Tao Jin had tied her hair. The first time was at the club, because she was sweaty from moving tables and chairs.
The second time was in the dorm, because she was sweaty from playing mahjong.
The third time was here, because she was sweaty from that finger that was so carefully kept from touching anything.
After tying her hair, Tao Jin bent down and continued.
So this was what the senior was like. She would gently and meticulously tie a person's hair, and she would also, mercilessly, mess her up.
Mhm-hmm! Now she's probably back to square one.
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