mamma mia | jeremy jordan

11. sober and high

"Alright, thank you so, so much. I will see you then. Okay, goodbye." Ana bit down on her bottom lip, suppressing the urge to jump around and squeal.

It was nearing nine PM, and Laura was already sleeping in her bed down the hallway. Ana had been curled up in her bed, watching a movie on her laptop, when her phone started ringing.

She half-expected it to be Jeremy, who had told her he would call to tell her she could come over. Disappointingly, it had been two weeks since their deed had been sealed. She figured by now, he would have called. She felt like a pathetic woman, peeling over the phone for him.

Ana answered anyways because the area code was familiar to her. And to her delight, it was the coffee shop in which she'd grown so fond of in the past few weeks. They'd hired her because she was so sweet and promising during the multiple interviews they'd had with her.

She was extremely happy with the outcome of the situation and even did a little- silent- dance around her room. Ana settled back down in bed, pulling the covers up to her chin, which held a big grin above it.

The movie Ana had been watching continued when she un-paused it. Pretty soon after, it ended.

Ana's eyes were flickering to a close, the distant light of her lamp becoming a nuisance behind her eyelids, when her phone began ringing again. She flinched, sitting up quickly in her bed as a response. Ana rubbed at one of her eyes, attempting to push away the sleep that was fighting her.

She set the phone loosely against her cheek, mumbling a, "Hello?"

"Ana, hi," Jeremy sighed from across the street, pacing the floor of his patio. He was shivering beneath the material of one of his sweatshirts, and the coldness was evident in his tone. He had been on the patio for quite some time, wrestling with the idea of inviting Ana over for another endeavor or not.

He decided it was time to finally call her.

"Yeah, Jeremy, hey. What do you need?" Ana tried to not sound rude, but it was somewhat hard when he'd woken her up at 11:30 because he was 'sexually frustrated.'

"Can you- uh, do you-" he cleared his throat nervously, "do you want to come over? Or do you want me to come over there?"

"I'll-" she responded fiercely because there was no way in hell he was coming over here, "I'll be over in ten."

Ana hung up first, remembering suddenly that her legs were patched with hair and her face was oily from a skincare routine she'd done earlier that evening. She rushed around the bathroom, all the while trying not to awaken Laura.

She squirted loads of lotion down her legs, shaving and ruining the single razor she had left in the bathroom. Ana washed her face rapidly, and then stabbed herself in the eye while putting on mascara. Afterwards, Ana creaked back over to her room and tore open her closet.

What says casual-I-didn't-rush-around-my-apartment-in-order-to-put-this-together, yet sexy? A simple silk dress with a long sleeve turtle neck underneath.

Ana grabbed her heels by the heel and speedily locked up her apartment. She raced down the hallway and very impatiently waited for the doors of the elevator to open. When they did, she stuck her body into the contraption and nearly broke the lobby button.

The couple-floor ride down left her time to think. Her heart was driving a million miles an hour, pumping not only blood but adrenaline down to her fingertips, which were shaking as she slid into her shoes. She squeezed her eyes shut and ran a finger over her brow, removing the sweat sticking to the shirt hairs protruding over her oily lids.

The doors opened at a grudging pace and Ana walked at a slower pace past the doorman. She crossed the somehow-still-busy street towards his building.

She could barely feel the frosty air biting at her skin, but the cells that didn't completely register in her brain were screaming for her to cover shelf up. Ana, unlike her tissue, was smiling lightly as she pressed the buzzer. Jeremy buzzed her in straight away, and she caught the elevator at a- luckily- fast pace.

Ana was in front of his door, holding two knuckles against the wood. She rolled her eyes back and took a deep breath- the only normal breath she'd be taking for awhile.

Jeremy was pacing on the other side, adjusting the buttons on his button-up shirt. He had cleaned up his messy apartment prior to calling Ana, though the cleaning didn't need much work considering he'd been sober for two weeks.

It was strange, not constantly feeling the urge to press glass to his lips and drown himself in yeast. But, it felt amazing. He felt so amazing.

When Ana knocked, Jeremy flinched. He glanced at his watch, out of habit, and smiled. Exactly ten minutes, how precise.

He felt a rush of excitement course over his goosebump-kissed skin. Jeremy's arm jutted our and opened the door. Ana looked up from her shoes, her hand dropping down to her side.

They met eyes and the air turned hot. Jeremy reached out, but Ana had already stepped forward. Her lips latched to his immediately, and his hands found the curve of her hips.

Her back hit the wall, and they played and forth down the short hallway. He fumbled to open his own bedroom door, and a giggle emitted from Ana's lips. His heart leapt, but he caught it and locked it up. It mangled inside the crumbling cage, urging him to let go.

Ana was doing the same, her mind sweating with nerves at what would happen. But, as soon as her shoes flew off, the fear of falling surprised by the courage to kiss.

Pretty soon, they fell asleep, Jeremy's arm over her shoulders and her head against his chest. She felt like tossing and turning, but liked it better in his arms than on the cold side of the bed. But, when the sun began rising and created striped patterns on the floor from the blinds, her eyes flashed open and she sat up.

Jeremy turned over, facing away from her, thankfully. She bit her lip as if it were some consequence to her having fallen asleep in his arms. Ana dressed quickly, cursing her own name to the root, and left as soon as she was able to.

She snuck back into her apartment, but didn't go back to sleep. She was high on some sort of energy and kicked off her heels. She pulled her dress up and off in a similar manner that it had been tossed a few hours ago. Ana grabbed a random hoodie from her closet, pulled it over her nearly bare body, and sat down determinedly at her desk.

She tore a piece of paper out of a notebook, and pressed it down against the table. Ana grabbed a random pen, one which ended up being sparkly and pink, and wrote, 'the rules of friends with benefits.'