Suite Mates (bxb)

Chapter 15

This boy was a fool if he thought I was going to let him slip between my fingers.

"You're not good at just friends," James huffed, glaring at his hand like it had done something wrong. "Just friends means no hand kissing."

I put the car in drive and resisted the urge to hold his hand. "What if it's platonic hand kissing? ...Or can I hold your hand maybe?"

"Too desperate."

Ouch. This guy definitely wasn't a sugarcoater.

But, to be fair, I was willing to be desperate for him. "I think friends hold hands all the time. Don't you remember those girls from high school that would always cuddle up on each other? We could be like that," I suggested, moving my hand to James' thigh.

His gaze dropped to my hand and he picked it up by the pinky. The visual was similar to how I held used condoms.

"No," James said. "No thigh-touching, no hand holding, no kissing. We're just friends now."

I frowned. "Why?"

I wasn't pouting per se, but I was definitely disappointed.

"Because of Ryan, obviously," James grumbled. He gave me a little eye roll, like the connection was obvious.

"I don't understand," I said, genuinely confused. "Ryan supports us, remember? We figured it out at the lunch we had all together."

James worried his bottom lip and then gave me a nod, but I wasn't convinced that he was convinced.

Hopefully I'd be able to win my James back by the time dinner was over.

Deciding that asking questions clearly wasn't going to clarify anything, I moved on to wooing James. I held the door for him when he got out of the car. I settled my hand on his lower back and guided him into the restaurant. I even sent the hostess a charming grin and spoke first so that James wouldn't have to.

When I turned back, he was giving me a deadpan grin. "Why are you acting like you're Daddy Warbucks?"

"...Am I treating you like a ginger nine year old?"

"A little bit! I can hold my own doors and talk for myself."

Ah. He was an independent man. Message received.

I cleared my throat bashfully. "Sorry, darling."

He rolled his eyes.

Although James started a little bit salty towards me, his mood shifted the second he had some buttered rolls in his belly. I was getting a sneaking suspicion that James' mood directly correlated to how much food was in his stomach.

Which was so hot.

"What are we even doing here?" James asked me, exasperated. We had kept it to light talk while we ordered and gotten our drinks, but his tone suddenly grew serious. "What we had before was sex, that's all. But now you're suddenly interested in dating me, despite what Noah heard..."

Wait. I tilted my head. "What Noah heard?"

I was staring to think that there were some misunderstandings happening.

"You and Ryan having sex, of course." There was just enough miffed in James' voice to give me hope. "I know I never said that I wanted to be exclusive, but you could've at least let me know what was going on."

"...Hold up. There's some confusion here."

James gave me an expectant look.

"Ryan had me pretend to have sex with him to piss off Noah, because they're always at each other's throats," I explained. "There wasn't actually any sex involved. Ryan and I aren't like that."

"Ryan wants to be like that," James sighed, burying his face in his hands until he was just a mop of messy brown hair. "You can't lead him on like this."

"Dude, I told him straight up that I wasn't interested. I'm interested in you," I said earnestly. I wanted James to know how serious I was. I felt something click with James, the way I'd never felt before. "I like you, James."

He blushed just a little, but his eyes were filled with guilt.

"Derek..."

I held my hand out over the table and with reluctance he took it.

"C'mon, James. I can tell that you're interested. And you know I am. I told Ryan how I felt about him and Ryan can't dictate my love life. Can't we just try this?"

With a sigh, James squeezed my hand. "Fine. No more dude bro behavior. Ryan's going to kill me."

"Again, he can't manipulate me out of finding a really great boy," I said. A bit of understanding entered James' eyes, and I knew that I'd convinced him. "And I know I have."

Shyly, James looked up, all red cheeks and reluctant bashfulness and charm. My heart stuttered just a little bit and I knew I just had to have him.

"If you really think we're so great together, prove it," James said. A little bit of fiery determination filled his eyes, which I was much more familiar with that the soupy look he'd been giving me before. "Kiss me."

He really didn't have to tell me twice.

We kissed and even though all the romance novels told me that true love's kiss would taste like rainbows and sunshine and electricity, James tasted like buttered rolls.

Which was honestly so much better.

We kissed until I was light-headed. It had never been like this before. We'd briefly kissed, using it as a pathway to get to the main event. But now there were no promises of sex, we were just kissing for the sake of kissing each other.

Our dinner flew by fast. I moved to his side of the bench so I could have my arm around him, and all of a sudden James was looking at me with affection in his eyes. He laughed easy and leaned into my chest.

I walked him back to his dorm, hand-in-hand. It felt amazing to be bringing him back to his place rather than boning in my bedroom. I kissed him before he went in and nearly bumped into Ryan on my way out.

All in all, our date was perfect.