"J-Jessie." Rihanna breathed, her heart pounding louder than her own voice.
Jessie pulled away and smiled sweetly at her. Relief devoured his whole body as he finally came to conclusive terms with himself. "I missed you. I guess I've gotten so used to you now that its impossible not to miss you."
Rihanna stared at her shoes, her face flushed. "Thank you."
Thank you? THANK YOU?! You idiot, that's not how you answer. Tell him how you really feel. Tell him that you missed him too. He has the guts and you don't?!
But her fear won and she couldn't utter the words that she really wanted to say. Instead she looked up at him and said. "And for defending me, thank you for that too. I was really..."
His half grin took Rihanna's breath away. "Really what?"
"Um–" She looked at his lips. For a second, she was completely lost. What was I talking about again?
"Rihanna?"
She quickly snapped out of it. "Huh?"
"Really what?"
"T-Touched. I was really touched. Thank you."
"You've thanked me three times now. You didn't have to, not once."
Her gaze dropped again, and she felt her cheeks heat up even more.
"Well, your bed awaits you. I'm sure it missed you too."
"Right." She began walking towards it, but stopped short after and whirled around, her hands clenched into tight fists. "I missed you too." She quickly blurted out.
Jessie's eyebrows shot up, she's finally responding with emotion. "Really?"
"I mean. It was weird... not seeing you." She abruptly turned around and shut the curtain behind her. She continued her way to her bed, shoved her body under her blanket and pulled it over her head.
She put a hand on her heart. It pounded so hard, so fast, under her touch. Her face was hot, her neck felt sweaty, her hands shook, but best of all, she couldn't pull away the goofy smile on her face.
He missed me.
Two hours later, the room was quiet and both roommates were sound asleep.
That is... until the sound of fidgeting from behind the window came around.
Jessie was a light sleeper, so as soon as he heard the window being pulled open, he quickly put his head up to check on Lexis.
"Scoot over." Lexis said, skipping on the hellos.
Jessie slid his body to make room for Lexis. "Anthony's not here?"
"He has a doctor's appointment tomorrow." Lexis removed his shirt and tossed it on top of Jessie's desk. "He went with his father."
"You mean both of your's father?"
Lexis sighed and slid next to Jessie in bed. After both of them laid down with their backs to each other, Jessie began to speak again. "I finally figured out where I stand with Rihanna." He whispered so only they could hear.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for a long while I've been getting this feeling that I didn't quite understand. Today, I finally understood what it was. It wasn't attraction. It was simple love, care. I feel responsible for her. And I like having her around, a lot. I miss her when she's not there. I worry for her when I don't know where she is or if anyone is mistreating her. Really, it's no different than how I feel about you."
"So I'm right." Lexis said, his voice cueing that he couldn't care-less.
"It's so strange. I honestly thought–"
"You're not physically attracted to her. I got it. I'm trying to sleep."
Jessie sighed. "I wish I knew what your nightmares are about."
"You won't, don't worry."
Lexis is hypnophobic. In other words he can't sleep unless there is someone next to him. He has nightmares. Vivid nightmares. They eat him alive if he doesn't have someone next to him, someone that differentiated what's real from what's a dream. At one point, he fainted from one of his nightmares, and after that, he would always either sleep with Anthony, or when Anthony wasn't in the Academy, with Jessie.
What angered Jessie was, Lexis never shared what those nightmares are about with him. What they contained or what exactly is happening inside his head, Lexis' head, in the night that makes him this vulnerable.
"STOP!"
They both jumped in bed, straightening up into a sitting position. Jessie, however, laid back on his pillow and sighed.
"I said STOP! Please. You don't have to do this! Stop."
Jessie stood up, flicked on his desk light and pulled the curtain aside, revealing Rihanna's sweaty face, disturbed expression, and restless body as she squirmed in her bed.
Lexis came over and stood next to him, watching Rihanna as well. "What the hell is this?"
"It happens every night. Since the first day she enrolled into the Academy, the sweet and happy Rihanna becomes a complete mess at night. Nothing but nightmare induced words would come out of her lips, almost like you. It's killing me to know what it's all about."
Jessie walked over to Rihanna, slipped his hand in hers and like always, sat against her bedside table. As if he was an automatic switch for her, she abruptly calmed down and her entire body relaxed.
"But I can't ask her. I feel like I shouldn't. Whatever it is, it's something that she doesn't want anyone to know about."
Lexis, his sudden wild eyes not leaving her body, took a few steps back and sat on Jessie's bed.
More questions...
Well, I'm not in love with the book. When I fell in love, I fell in love with the person behind it. Girl, guy, goat. Whatever it was, I fell in love with it.
It was this mix of feelings that screamed SOULMATE and OFF LIMITS at the same time. Thus, I stayed away.
That is... after hours of understandable stalking *_*, and coming to a conclusion that yep, he's not a mating option. Want to know why?
YOU ARE READING
F.A.I.T.H.
Romance"I was broken. Nothing, no one could fix me. Until you came into my life again. I wish I had gone with you that day instead of him. Because, now I can't imagine how I spent the previous years of my life without you by my side. You are my savior. You...
