Scars (A JeromeASF fanfic)

Chapter 5

The light shined through my window, waking me up. I looked over to my left and expected to see Danielle or Maya, maybe even Ariel. To my surprise, it was Jerome.

I poked him, and he stirred a little. "Jerome?"

"What, Lottie?" He groaned, holding a hand over his eyes. "I'm trying to sleep."

"Why are you sleeping here? Like with me?" I propped my head up on my hand and stared at him. He rolled over and didn't answer. "J, talk to me."

"Can we just talk about this later? I'm exhausted, Charlotte." I decided to drop the subject because I knew when he called me by my full name, it was serious. He always called me Lottie. I let out a sigh before rolling back over and pressing my back against his.

+

When I awoke a second time, the light was dimmer and I felt.. warmer?

I opened my eyes a smidge to find Jerome's face directly in front of mine. He was sleeping soundly, breathing slow and softly. An eyelash was on his cheek, and I brushed it off lightly, as not to wake him up and make him mad.

His arms were wrapped around me, and our legs were tangled together. If you didn't know us and you saw this, I think you would say we looked pretty romantically involved. Sad to say we aren't.

I moved my legs and repositioned his arms around a pillow, and I quietly got up out of the bed, the strong scent of vanilla and chocolate getting less penetrative in my nose. I looked back at Jerome, peaceful as ever. I wanted to wake up to that every single day.

I made my way downstairs. The smell of pancakes and sticky syrup seemed to float around the kitchen, and got even more potent once you walked in.

At the stove, I saw Danielle's hair bouncing as she made quick and very sudden movements, probably flipping the pancake. When I saw the pan fly up and heard the simmer of the uncooked batter, I knew I was right.

"You know you didn't have to make breakfast right?" Danielle jumped a little when she heard my voice. "Sorry."

"I know, but I wanted to." She smiled, turning back to the stove. "Mat, Preston, Ariel, and Maya left to go get orange juice and some bacon. You ran out last night."

When I opened the fridge, my bacon stock was gone. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I'm glad you invited Ariel to hang out with us. She's really cool." She put the finished pancakes on top of the other ones. I counted seven. "I think she might even like Mat."

"Yeah, I think he likes her back too." I grabbed a wet paper towel and started to clean the counters. "But you know Maya's always had that thing for him. Even though she's dated her fair share of guys, she still always wanted Mat."

"I know, but I think it's clear, at least it should be, that Mat doesn't see her like that. I don't know." She shook her head as she poured more batter in the frying pan. "That's just my opinion."

"I agree." I threw away the towel and started to grab glasses for everyone to have a drink. "Where's Mitch?"

"Still asleep. Where's Jerome?"

"Sleeping, in my bedroom." I scoffed. "Care to tell me how he got there?"

"Hey, he went there on his own free will." She laughed, throwing her hands up. "I don't know. He just kind of wandered in there."

"Wandered or did you and Mitch tell him to?" My tone was a little more serious considering she knew that I liked Jerome as more than a friend and this information could mean a lot to the development in our 'relationship.' "Dani, seriously. You know how much I want me and him to be together."

"Okay, okay." She moved the newly made pancake to the stack. Eight. "We hinted at the idea, and maybe convinced him to see what it was like. But he stayed, whether it be that he sees you in that way or it's just a habit of being friends for so long."

"That's all I needed to hear."