We're Not Related Anymore...

Passing Notes

Tessa: That's not necessary. Just come by when you're ready. 

Tessa: By yourself.

I look at her messages, wondering why she only wants me to come. I leave my room, crossing the distance between mine and Jacob's room. I knock on his door and wait for him to answer. As I do, I take off his jacket, not wanting him to see me in it. 

When he opens the door, I see that he's shirtless and I groan. 

"What is it with you and not wearing a shirt," I say, handing him his jacket, he takes it from me, a sleepy smile on his face. 

"Good morning to you too," he says, running a hand over his already disheveled dark hair. He tosses the jacket somewhere in his darkened room. "So what's with the early wake-up call or did you just want to see me?" 

"That's not a very friendly thing to say," I tell him, crossing my arms. 

"It's actually really friendly. Too friendly, some might say but not unfriendly."

"Why are you in such a good mood this morning," I ask, trying to peer inside his room to see the cause for his jovial mood. Unfortunately, the room is too dark to see anything. 

"I just woke up on the right side of the bed for once. If you're not here to see me, why are you here?" He mirrors my body language and crosses his arms over his chest. As he does the muscles in his arms, chest, and shoulders contort and bulge, and I find myself taking a steadying breath. 

Stepbrother. Friend. Stepbrother. Friend, I chant in my head. For once, you're on the same page. Don't fuck it up. 

Oh, who am I kidding? If I could choose a page, it would definitely be the one where I could stare unabashedly at Jacob. 

The man in question waves a hand in front of my face. "Maddie, are you still there? What did you want?"

"Can you put a shirt on?" I ask and immediately regret the words coming out of my mouth the moment I see the grin spread across his face. 

"Now that was very friendly," he says, stepping back into his room and rummaging in a pile on his floor. I step closer to the room, wondering what his room looks like. 

"I'm not trying to be but you're making it hard," I say, and regret those words too. "I swear if you make a joke about something being hard-"

"Wow. I would never. But you, Maddie..." he tsks, pulling a black T-shirt over his head. "Your mind is in the gutter." 

"I preferred you when you were moping around," I tell him and he shoots me a half-grin. "And anyway, if you would stop distracting me, I could tell you that Tessa told me to tell you that you left your phone at the party last night." 

Jacob stills, his amusement fading. "She has it?" 

"What do you think, Sherlock?" I say, allowing myself to actually look around his room. My eyebrows raise. "Wow. I never expected you to be this messy," I say and his cheeks turn pink. I think he might be ashamed of how messy it is now that I've pointed it out. 

"She didn't look through it, did she?" He asks, forcing me out of his room and then closing the door behind him. 

"Probably. How else would she have known it was yours." It's definitely not my imagination. Jacob's face is beet red. "Why are you blushing? Is there something on your phone you don't want people to see?" I ask, poking him with my finger. He catches my hand before I can do more damage. 

"I'm not blushing," he says. "And I don't have anything to hide." 

"I guess I'll see," I say, backtracking out of his room.