Something There

Chapter Forty-Five

I check the time on my phone to see that it's just past midnight, and I'm in awe of how early this girl goes to sleep.

I'm quite envious of her, but it allows me to spend time with her without me ending up saying something dumb and screwing it all up.

I'm beyond pissed when Jasmine walks into the room, but that's probably unfair of me because it is her room too, after all.

She doesn't really look my way before she collapses backwards into her bed, curling up on her side away from Blossom and I.

"So I'm not allowed to have college boys in the room but you are?" she asks, and I stifle a laugh as I imagine her and Blossom having that conversation sometime.

Blossom obviously doesn't answer, and instead I do, saying, "Hello to you too, Jazz."

Jasmine rolls over in bed, and I look to my side to find her staring at me, her eyes narrow.

"Please tell me you did not let her lose her virginity in a college dorm room that's not even her own," Jasmine sighs, and I roll my eyes at her.

"No. Of course not," I snap, annoyed that she would assume I would make her first time that bad.

I mean, I just gave her her first something, but we didn't actually have sex.

Not yet, at least.

"Good. You should at least take her back to your place and make it nice for her. She deserves that. You probably have a huge ass bed, huh?" she says, and I look down at Blossom, grateful that she's such a heavy sleeper.

I nod to Jasmine. "Noted. And yeah, I do," I answer, and she sits up in bed, pulling her hair up into a bun at the top of her head.

"You're good for her, whether you agree or not. She needs you to help her get out of her comfort zone," Jasmine tells me, before she tugs her sweatshirt off over her head, dropping it on the floor beside her bed.

She then curls up under the covers, shutting her eyes without saying another word to me.

I feel as if I'm intruding in her and Blossom's space right about now, which is why I reluctantly pry Blossom's body off of me, getting up out of the bed and kneeling down on the floor beside her.

No matter how badly I want to stay the night with her, I don't think it's very fair of me.

I tuck her covers back around her so that she stays warm, kissing her on the forehead before I stand back up.

"I love you," I whisper to her, running my thumb across her cheek before walking towards her desk to retrieve my shirt.

It's interesting that after all these years, I finally have the courage to say the words out loud, even if she isn't awake to hear them.

"What did you just say?" Jasmine asks me, and horror washes over me.

Shit. Shit. Fucking shit.

"Nothing," I say quickly, pulling my shirt quickly over my head before I try and walk straight out of the room, avoiding this conversation.

How could I be so damn stupid and totally forget that there's a whole ass other person in this room?

"You love her," Jasmine repeats, and I spin around to glare at her, now hovering right by her bed.

"Yeah, I do. Is it not painfully obvious?" I ask, and she laughs, shaking her head at me.

She leans up on one elbow, her eyes twinkling with amusement at how uncomfortable I am right now.

"No. I thought you were just obsessed with her," she teases me, and I really want her to suffocate by burying her face into that pillow right about now.