Little Things -Jalbert

[6]

"Come on, I really need to record!" I was essentially begging Jake to record with me. He was lazily sprawled out on the couch, and complaining about anything he could.

"I'm so tired, though. I can't sleep on this stupid couch." I rolled my eyes and grabbed his arm. His lazy ass might not want to get up by itself but I can force him up.

"It's like 5 PM. Just a couple hours ago you were chasing me around for that stupid hoodie and now you're just sooo exhausted?" He nodded and sighed dramatically as I finally hoisted him to his feet.

"Fine, one video." I snickered and sat down at my laptop. He made his way into his room and we started a discord call to record the audio.

~~~~~

"Dude that's like four videos that we recorded right there." I had moved my laptop to his room and I looked up at him. He smiled and shook his head so I shut my laptop.

"I guess you're right. It's three in the morning, so I'm going to bed. Should I take the couch this time?" I shut my laptop as I spoke and I began to make my way past his chair and towards the door, when he grabbed my arm. It was a little sudden so I jumped.

I tried to read his features and figure out what he was trying to do. He was staring at the floor with a furrowed brow, obviously trying to think about something very complicated.

"You should stay in here." I searched the room for an empty space and put my laptop on the desk. When I turned to ask if he was sure, he was staring directly at my face.

"Uh, alright, if you're fine with sleeping on the couch again." I shrugged as I talked, mostly just trying to fill the weird silence with any sort of noise.

"No, no. I'm sleeping on the bed, I was just saying you could also if you wanted." About half way through his sentence his confidence dropped and he started stuttering. I just laughed.

"I mean, if you're fine with that then I am too." I was thankful for the dark, it was covering the heavy blush spreading across my face.

We layed down together, and I turned my entire body away from him. He fell asleep extremely quickly and I listened to his quiet snoring, and eventually the slow rhythm put me to sleep.

~~~~~

It couldn't have been that long after we went to sleep when I woke up again. Jake was twitching and mumbling something, and the movement had woken me up. He shook his head and stretched his arms out. I smiled to myself and took a moment to just take in how he looked while he was sleeping.

His eyes moved around so I carefully turned over to make it look like I was sleeping. I continued to hear the quiet mumbling behind me, so I knew he was still asleep. I was beginning to fall asleep again too.

I jumped when I felt gentle arms slowly snake around me from behind. I held my breath and tried to calm myself down. My heart was speeding and all I needed right now was to sleep, but if I moved his arms he would wake up and I'd never hear the end of it.

I was just about to go back to sleep in this uncomfortable position when Jake rested his head in the crook between my neck and shoulder, sending another rush of adrenaline through me.

~~~~~

I woke up by myself this time. Jake still held me tightly to his chest, but my memories of last night were fuzzy so I was extremely confused.

"What the fuck..." I whispered it to myself as I tried to wiggle out of his grip. He groaned and opened his eyes, quickly retracting his arms and laughing.

"Oh shit dude, sorry it's a habit." We scooted to opposite sides of the bed and he scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

       "That's alright, it was just a little surprising, you know?" What the fuck was I thinking, just straight up saying it's alright like that? He probably thinks that means I like him.

       You have to tell him eventually. Why not now after you said that? Before I could even dismiss my thoughts I was already opening my mouth to talk.

       "Things have been really different since I came here." I looked to my side to see Jake chewing his bottom lip. I was being really vague, but there's no point in stopping myself.

       "What do you mean?" My body shivered with nervous energy. I was genuinely scared of how he would respond.

       "I don't know, just, the past few days I've been feeling differently about you and it makes me, uh, nervous to talk to you and stuff." His expression changed from one of concern to one of regret. He placed his hand on my arm and moved closer to me.

       "I'm sorry, did I--" I didn't let him finish his sentence because I knew his wording was way off. I just pulled him closer, to the point where our noses were nearly touching.

       "You didn't do anything, it's a good nervous." The colour appeared in his cheeks and he closed his eyes. I watched as his head tilted to the right and he cautiously leaned in.

       I hesitantly followed, and when our lips finally touched I felt like I was jolted wide awake. My heart skipped a beat and my insides twisted. Everything about the kiss was so sweet, from the way he wrapped one arm around my waist to pull me closer to how gentle he was being.

       I pulled away, breathless, and tried to regain composure enough to say something. Apparently he was just as speechless as I was, because he just sat in silence, smiling like an idiot.

       "Yeah, that's what I meat by different." He laughed and buried his head into my shoulder, just like what he did last night.

       "You know, I've known for a while now. You're really bad at hiding it, so I knew you wouldn't mind me making a move." My face burned with embarrassment. He knew the whole time and decided not to do anything about it until just now?

       "So, wait, was the whole hoodie thing you trying to flirt with me?" He laughed and nodded into my shoulder.

       That's a really shitty way to flirt.