A Little More than Just Friends

Chapter Thirteen-

    Chase avoided me for the rest of the day, he didn't return my calls or answer my texts. So in layman's terms, I was officially screwed.  I told Lee this as we walked towards the car after school, I argued with him in muffled whispers in the back seat about it, and I even told him to go fuck a cow at some point. But he still insisted on thinking he could sort it out. You know what, I wish him luck. Chase didn't seem to be 'coming around' any time soon, that's for sure. 

    Yet I continued to whine and bitch and moan to him as I slammed my bedroom door shut and threw myself, face first, into my mattress. My words were muffled as I said, "My life sucks ass." I realised how ironic that sentence was after I'd heard Lee try to stifle a laugh. I turned to face him with my eyebrows low. 

    "Sucks ass..." he managed to churn out between the giggles. 

    "What? We're back in primary school now, are we?" I grabbed one of my pillows and launched it at him, he just stood there as it hit him in the face before succumbing to gravity and falling to the floor. His expression barely changed, except for becoming less amused and more playful. "Oh no, no. I know that look, and just no, Lee." I held my index finger out towards him, fuck I don't know, maybe I expected myself to have magic freezing powers or something. Anything to keep him from doing what I knew he was going to do. 

    "Primary school, hey?" He cocked a golden eyebrow, taking agonizingly slow steps. I shuffled further up the bed, a feeble attempt to put some distance between us. Then, as sudden as the change in English weather, he pounced on the bed and pinned me down. He left no moment for me to breathe before he began the most cruel torture anyone could ever have to endure. 

    He started tickling me. 

    I giggled, high-pitched and girly - yep I went the whole nine yards of being a complete and utter chick when I was tickled. I tried to push his hands away from my sides, where his fingers were incessantly jabbing me in a way that made my body shiver. My stomach was beginning to hurt from all the laughing, but it wasn't a joyful laugh, it was a 'oh my fucking God, get the fuck off me before I kill you' laugh. See, back in primary, me and Lee used to have tickle wars. I don't know how it started, it was one of those things that just were.

    "Okay, okay!" I breathed. "I give up, you win, or whatever. Just stop." I heard him laugh before collapsing down by my side and releasing a content sigh. The room settled into silence as I caught my breath. 

    "I always win." I turned my head to glare at him, but found myself just staring. Taking in the way his skin glowed in the yellow lighting of my room. The way when he closed his eyes, his eyelashes curved against his cheek. And, when they opened, how they just seemed to watch the view above him as if he weren't seeing a plain white ceiling; but as though he was looking out into the stars, into the universe. And I swear, if I watched closely, I could see the world glimmering inside his eyes. 

    Then he looked at me. And my breath caught in the back of my throat. I felt like I was watching us from above when my hand began to slide across the space between us, grabbing onto his shirt and pulling him towards me, holding on tightly. His forehead pressed against mine, our noses touching, our eyes staring. The only sound was of our breathing, mingling together between us each time we exhaled, in perfect sync. I briefly imagined the world spinning to a stop, everyone else freezing in time, leaving only us, only our moment still in motion. The thought sent a shiver down my spine.

    "I know it hasn't been long since we started this, Jake." His voice sounded husky, a noticeable tremble as he spoke. "But I know when I'm sure about something." I stayed silent, waiting for him to make sense of what he was saying. I don't know if it was just me being stupid, but I wasn't quite catching on. "And I'm sure about this."