Lila could admit it. She was kind of a brat.

But Sean? He was worse. He was a fucking troll.

In many ways, Sean was an almost perfect boyfriend. He was cute and smart, sweet and snarky and wickedly toppy when he wanted to be. He was the first guy she had dated who could put up with her bratty flirting style and push back at her in ways they both enjoyed. Their move/countermove felt like a dance-  a quick, witty tango. She loved (and slightly feared) the way he would look at her with that too-casual smile when she had finally pushed him a bit too far. It meant that he had a good idea. It meant he remembered how much control he had over her.

It meant that she was in trouble.

Lila loved being in trouble.

This time, the trouble started with her perennial teasing about his music tastes. Sean had a weird thing for 80s hair metal and Lila just couldn't understand it. How had she managed to get into a long term relationship with someone whose favorite band was Poison? Their music was so loud and basic. She couldn’t even blame his age- they were both babies during Poison's heyday. Maybe Sean had a secret cousin in the band? Or he had liked them ironically and slowly forgot about the ironic part over time?

Stupidly, she had let him prepare the soundtrack for a recent road trip. To her horror, she slowly realized every other song was by Poison. She hadn’t even known that they had more than 2 songs. She teased him mercilessly about it. What, was Whitesnake too classy? She insisted on listening to classical music (which he hated) during the sections where she drove.

Thinking back, she wondered if he had done it on purpose.

She wasn’t the only person in this relationship who pushed, even if she was a little more obvious when she was doing it. And she definitely wasn’t the most manipulative one.

A week later, Lila found herself on the bed masturbating to another Poison guitar solo. She still thought it was shitty music but- the crescendo in this one got her off so fucking much now. She could feel the ’high notes zinging through her nerves, winding her arousal up even tighter as the notes cascaded. Their music was so raunchy- it sounded like a dirty 80s strip club. Lila pictured herself dancing around a dark stage in a bikini top and Daisy Dukes, rubbing her breasts at a crowd of hungry biker dudes. She always imagined corny, base, lewd things like this when listening to Poison now. They made her so wet. Poison just made her uncontrollably horny. 

Sean hadn’t even had the decency to try and cover up what he had done to her with an amnesia suggestion, the smug bastard. And- ok, these particular suggestions might have been a bit too obvious to cover up- Lila wasn’t an idiot, after all, she understood cause and effect- but the pretence of a cover up might have given her some dignity. Right now, she remembered every suggestion she was responding to. She hated every suggestion she was responding to. She loved every suggestion she was responding to. She couldn’t resist any suggestion she was responding to.

She felt helpless and debased and embarrassed and so fucking turned on. She was so annoyed at how well Sean understood her and how he knew how to push her buttons like this. She couldn’t believe that such a sweet guy could also be such a frustrating, sexy, wonderful asshole.

She guessed every rose has its thorn.

But, on Sean at least, that might just be her favorite part.