If You Miss It

31. jasmine

CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

JASMINE

—

"I can't believe you didn't bring Juno," was the first thing that Tariq said when Dmitri got to his house after work.

Rolling his eyes, Dmitri let himself into Tariq's house, removing his shoes beside the door because when they were at work, Tariq had repeatedly told him that he wouldn't let him in if he didn't remove his shoes before entering.

Frankly, Dmitri didn't trust anyone who didn't remove their shoes when they entered the house.

The worst kinds of people, however, were the ones who entered their fucking bedrooms with their shoes on. That shit was fucking nasty.

"Juno never leaves Eden's side when she's got cramps, I couldn't do anything about it," he defended, taking in the house that he had only been to once.

Well, twice if he counted the day that he and Tariq had gone to meet his parents for dinner.

That felt like so fucking long ago, but like it was yesterday, all at the same time, when in reality, it had been a little over two months. Not long ago, but definitely not yesterday either.

"Guess I'll just have to infiltrate your house when you least expect it. Just to hang out with your cat. Imagine that," Tariq huffed out, taking a bottle of water out of the fridge and tossing it in Dmitri's direction, letting out the most dramatic groan when he didn't catch it.

"The fuck did you throw it for?" Dmitri muttered as he bent down to pick it up, his legs aching from work and from standing behind a counter for that long.

Work was genuinely exhausting sometimes, but it was especially exhausting today because he didn't take any breaks for himself, didn't go back home to check on Juno, didn't even disappear into the back room to have his regular meltdowns over how stressed he was.

The back room of the coffee shop had literally seen him at his worst, it was almost funny.

He could only imagine how exhausting it was for Tariq to spend the entire day on his feet, completely focused, on high alert all the time so as to not fuck up someone's tattoo and permanently ruin their skin.

"Are you not tired at all?" Dmitri asked, crashing down on the couch, waiting for Tariq to do the same.

But he just got a shrug from him as he took a seat on the ground instead, looking up at Dmitri as he said, "Used to it. I'm always tired, I always have a headache, I always have a sore throat. Don't you love that?"

Dmitri couldn't help but frown at that. "I hate that for you."

A small laugh escaped Tariq's mouth and he shook his head, resting his back against the same couch that Dmitri was lying down on, such that when he tilted his head back a little, it was resting on Dmitri's leg.

Fuck.

"Shut up, it's not that bad." Closing his eyes, Tariq sighed, his head only sinking further into Dmitri's thigh. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fu— "Your leg is so fucking comfortable and for what?"

There was no way that Dmitri would get out of that evening alive, and he meant that in the best way possible.

I want to kiss you, was what he wanted to say, what he wished he could say, but instead, all he got out was a laugh and a small, "Fuck off."

"It's a compliment, bitch."

Laughing, Dmitri glanced down, only to find Tariq's head still in his lap, eyes still closed, fuck, he had the longest eyelashes. The prettiest eyelashes.