Chapter Thirty-Eight: "Don't Do It In the Kitchen Either!"
AVEN SNORED.
His hands were folded under his cheek and his long body took up most of the bed. He emitted heat like a furnace even though the only clothing on him was a pair of boxers and the red durag covering his hair.
I had only been awake for a few seconds when the leg that was draped over my own shifted. His eyes opened enough for him to recognize me. A small smile settled upon his pink lips.
I could get used to this. The sight of him in the morning. But not the alarm blaring from his phone.
"Shit, sorry." He rasped, reaching over me. Silence quickly filled the room.
"It's okay," I said with a yawn removing the scarf he had let me use last night from my head before sitting up and crossing my legs. I took my phone from the nightstand next to his, looking at the messages my roommates sent me after I told them I wasn't planning on coming home last night. Iman had explained everything to them and most of what I missed were a bunch of exclamation marks, emojis, and 500 new messages as if they weren't all in the same house last night.
Setting my phone down, my gaze drifted around the room as a warm hand came to the skin exposed at my hip. Plates of food and Twizzlers were on his nightstand. The projector that was on its stand was still on.
Last night we barely left his room, save for the conversations I had with Dev and Laurence when Aven had taken a phone call from his dad. I learned a few things from talking to them.
One, they both were excited to see me and I, them. Laurence had embraced me tightly while muttering 'I knew it would work' under his breath. Dev had done the same except he mumbled, 'hockey night on Sundays'.
Two, Dev and his girlfriend broke up.
When I had asked why, Dev had shrugged, "A few days before Christmas. She saw me back in Calgary and we talked. Really, we fought. We'd been fighting a lot. Couldn't take long-distance anymore, you know?"
"I'm sorry, Dev." I had said.
"It's okay," He had taken off his hat, flipping it in his hands. "You know what would cheer me up? If you two made some of those cookies again."
"Seriously?" Laurence said, but he had already started to make his way towards the kitchen. "Do we still have flour?"
While baking cookies and listening to Laurence tell us about his time at a cabin with his sister and hometown friends, Dev had suggested that we play Kings for old times' sakes. In reality, he wanted a chance to get out of cleaning the kitchen we had messed up. Aven had put a halt to Dev and Laurence arguing about where the cups were when he walked in, said "save us cookies" and proceeded to yank me out of the kitchen.
Catching up consisted of the two of us speaking about December, and looking at various pictures and videos of family and friends over the break. Aven told me about how his dad had insisted to come with him to go for his flu shot and confessed his slight relief. I told him about my family, the chaos of Christmas dinner where one of my cousins broke their Christmas gift three seconds after being given it. To having shows in the background as we spoke well into the night.
When I brought up my roommates, speaking about Mariam had led to me asking Aven, "Did you talk to him?" Kyle.
"Yeah, he said sorry."
"Were you mad?
"I was pissed," He huffed, bending a Twizzler in half. "It was a mistake, but I'm still a little mad. I have an idea of how Kyle views me for him to come to that conclusion but it's not--"
"It's not accurate," I interjected. "It's not you."
Aven had tucked me into his arms. "I know."
The third thing I learned that night? Aven had gotten into a law school in Ontario. It was three hours away from Jasper Bay. One hour away from my own hometown. I was beyond happy for him but that wasn't his dream.
The fourth piece of information I learned that night: Aven had gotten an interview at a law school back in BC. Close to his hometown. His dream school.
I felt that joy for him, of not being rejected and being a step closer to his goal that I knew he worked hard for. To be close to his sister.
Currently, I couldn't help my hand from reaching out and touching his face as his own stroked my hip. Aven pushed his face into my hand. "Stalking me?" He mumbled.
"How is this stalking you?"
"Staring at me has to be an element of stalking,"' Aven squeezed my hip, his hand skimming underneath my shirt to full wrap his arm around me and shift me closer to his body. "Can't believe I'm sleeping with my stalker. I can't believe I allowed my stalker to enter my house—"
What?
"To sleep in my bed."
"What?"
"To wake me up—"
"It was your alarm!" I exclaimed, matching his laugh as he got out of bed. "You're never going to let the Instagram thing go, are you?"
He linked his hands and raised his arms high over his head as he stretched. "Never."
My attention went to his abdomen and the smug expression on his face when he caught me looking made me scowl. I got both versions of them. All. "You better be wiping that smile off of your face."
"Or what?" He walked around the bed.
I swung my legs over, looking up at him. "I'll do it for you."
Aven reached down, taking my hands to pull me up faster than I expected. I almost bumped into his chest, but he had a good hold on me. He lifted me up until we were nose to nose, and I let out a breath at the suddenness of it all.
"Then do it." He whispered, his nose nudging along my jaw to tilt my head up so he could kiss my neck. His strong arms gripped me tightly, each touch driving me crazy as he shifted us towards the door. Aven moved us over to the quiet hallway, not keeping his eyes off me as he before he entered the bathroom and shut the door with his foot.
He set me down on the counter. "You're not doing it, Jaiyesimi."
"Doing what?" I asked, unraveling the red fabric around his head for him and letting it drape across his broad shoulders.
"Wiping the smile off of my face."
I jerked back, ruining the moment even though I would have done anything to do whatever he was thinking. "No, no, I'm not kissing you with stank breath."
Aven burst out laughing, the sound making my heart swell. He dropped his head onto my shoulder before pressing another kiss to the side of my neck. "That's what you're worried about?"
"That's what everyone should be worried about," I said. "You should be too."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, bet," He made the motion to dive for a kiss and I swerved him, his lips collided with my cheek. He chuckled against my face, gripping me towards him until I was flushed against his body. Warm hands gripped my thighs, encircling my legs around his waist with the intention to make it known that I could feel his morning erection.
My mouth was starting to hurt. I couldn't recall a moment when I could go five minutes without beaming around him. He brushed his nose against my own, lighting every neuron within my body the more his touch graced my skin. "I'm happy you're here."
I hooked my fingers on the chain around his neck. "I'm happy to be here."
"You know," He whispered into my ear as if we weren't the only two people in a cramped bathroom. As if hundreds of people were around us and he had a secret he wanted to share with only me. "We don't have to kiss to fuck."
He shifted once again, pressing his crotch against my own. I sucked in a deep breath, my fingers tightening on his body out of need. This feeling, the familiarity of him pressed on me, it was all mine. He was all mine. I moved closer to him, brushing my hand against the stubble on his cheeks.
"I don't want to skip the kissing," I couldn't stop looking at his mouth. "That is definitely part of our foreplay."
"Kissing as part of foreplay," He didn't say that as a question. He said it as if he was contemplating the words ten times over. He said that and looked at me as if he was in a haze. As if he was in a dream. Sometimes that's what we felt like. He handed me the toothbrush he had given to me last night. "Our foreplay. I like the way you think."
When we exited the bathroom, Aven was about to usher me into his bedroom when someone left their own.
I met Dev's wide eyes and dark hair up in different directions, a sign that he had recently woken up.
"My fucking god." He muttered as Aven moved away from my neck to look at our friend. "It's too early for this. Actually, it's not. It's too early for me to see this."
Dev shook his head, turned around, rubbed his eyes, and sluggishly made his way back down the hallway. "The two of you better not have fucked where I brush my teeth. And don't do it in the kitchen either! That would be great!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I had finished a question and flipped to the back of the textbook to see if my answer was correct when my stylus was yanked out of my hand. Suddenly, I was lifted up from my seat, barely having time to put down my stylus as Aven pulled me down row by row of bookshelves in Lambton library.
"What are you doing?" I whispered, trying to get him to slow down but he flashed me a smirk and kept pulling me forward.
This didn't happen that often. With midterms beginning, him deep in preparing for playoffs, we managed to see each other with or without our friends. Him and Iman would show up at my work after I had a shift and they finished practice, and we'd talk before splitting ways. Sometimes when he came over, he'd watch Days of our Lives with me and Yasmeen. He had even met Clayton one night when we went to a party together. Sometimes I would go over, almost every Sunday to watch hockey with them all. I didn't speak much to Kyle but he had apologized for causing confusion. Kyle and Mari were still having occasional fights, but she didn't talk much about that anymore.
Right now I was supposed to be practicing for a quiz to do later tonight. I was supposed to be doing my bio methods assignment that I wasn't looking forward to doing.
Those things could wait for a second.
He was so lucky that people rarely came to this area of the library, especially on a random Thursday night in February. I was suddenly surrounded by high shelves, pressed against one and everything fell into place.
His lips found my own, my hands going to his hair as his went to my waist. We kissed, getting lost in each other until the sound of a book falling to the ground with a slam broke the two of us apart.
I was left startled while Aven chuckled as the two of us panted for air. He picked up the book and placed it back into its spot near my head. "Hi." I breathed.
"Hi, dumbass." He tugged on my olive-coloured hat. "Why are you alone?"
"I have physics and biomethods to do." My fingers curled on the fabric of his sweater. "And by the way, that album you sent was horrible."
Aven's lips parted. "It was not."
"Yes, it was. Iman said the same thing."
"He told me it was good."
"He lied," I lied. It was fun to see him try to defend something. If I had a laptop in front of us, I knew he'd pull up the critic reviews. "I sent it to Yas too and she agreed."
Aven's frown disappeared as realization crossed his face. He reached for me but I jumped away from his touch. I took another step away from him as he tried to get close to me again. "And then yesterday I made Laurence listen to it when we were in the music rooms, and he said the same thing."
"Dev said he liked it." I stifled my laugh at his irritation, moving from aisle to aisle to get away from him.
"Dev only listens to SoundCloud rap artists. Even when he's high." I teased, remembering when I had tried to get him to listen to something else the other day and he flat out refused.
"Iman told you not to discriminate SoundCloud artists."
"I'm pointing out that Dev's expertise is limited."
"You're--"
I held in a shriek when he reached out for me again and barely scraped by when he brushed my hand. "You're going to get us kicked out of the library!" I whispered and he leaped towards me but I was quick, dashing his hands and moving backward as he proceeded forward.
"Take it back."
"Never."
"Jay."
"Nope."
"Jaiyesimi."
"Full name card?" I started walking backwards, admiring the way even the dull lighting of the library seemed to love him. "Who are you? Yas?"
This time, he managed to grab my hands, gently stopping me from backing away once again. I intertwined our fingers, walking us back to where we first had been, hidden between the shelves. "The album was a solid 8 on my scale."
"Only an 8?" He squeezed our fingers.
"An 8.2," I bargained. "Do you have to go back to the office again?" I asked him, regarding his thesis project. It was where he had been for the past two hours.
"In a bit. Are you going to stay here for a while?" He enveloped me in his arms, surrounding me in a bubble of only him.
"Yeah. I have to start studying for my genetics midterm next week."
"What? Midterm already?" He sighed. "No Aven distractions at the library, huh?"
"No Aven distractions," I agreed. Or else we'd end up hidden between bookshelves every single time. "Clear focus or I have to hole myself up in my room."
"Is that why you're studying here alone?"
"Mmhmm," I peeked up at him. "Although I'd study a lot better with iced coffee."
"This is why you'd sleep in until 12."
"Okay, how about bubble tea?" I suggested.
"The one you like has caffeine in it."
"So?" He shook his head at my antics. "Oh, what are you doing on Saturday? I don't have work."
"I got a tournament. I'm away all weekend. What about Sunday night?"
"You're going to be tired."
"I'm never tired of you." Oh. "Sleepover. I'll drop you off at bio methods before I go to the gym with Iman."
"You know my schedule?"
"It's not hard to figure out. Your only morning class this semester is biological methods and that's from 8:30 to like 11:30 on Mondays and Wednesdays. It was the same as last semester, but you also had organic chemistry in the morn--"
He stopped himself once my eyebrows rose. "I pay attention." He mumbled adorably.
The corners of my lips started to rise. "I think you're obsessed with me, Aven Montaque."
He glanced to the side, trying to hide away from me. But his ears were red. "A lil' bit."
"Only a little?" I teased.
Aven shot me a look. As if little was an understatement. It was for me.
"Oh shit," A voice suddenly said and me and Aven both tensed. Laurence's startled expression turned into one that suppressed his amusement. "Sorry, guys."
Aven groaned. "Laurie, we need a bell for you."
"Or you can be aware of me coming by my footsteps but you're too busy sucking face."
"I'm going to kill you."
"You're going to kill me for interrupting you mauling your girlfriend in a public space?" Laurence scoffed. "I saved you from a possible police write-up. And to be fair, I was looking for Jaime. Hi, Jaime."
"Hi, Laurie," I grinned. I wasn't embarrassed about getting caught with Aven. While I had said before that PDA wasn't something I was fond of, it flew out the window with Aven who found a way to touch me no matter who was nearby.
"I got your coffee."
"You got her what?" Aven glared at me. I attempted to reach out for the iced coffee in Laurence's grip but Aven held me still. "And you wanted me to get you another?"
"I am a firm believer that iced coffee is always the way to go." I pressed a kiss to his cheek before managing to take the drink from Laurence's hand.
"It's negative 20 outside," Laurie said. "You're weird."
"I know." I agreed.
"I'll be at the table while you two finish," Laurence made a face before disappearing from our sights.
I sipped the iced coffee, hoping my expression was hard to be annoyed at, "You're not mad at me?"
"For trying to take advantage of me?"
"Taking advantage? If I said that--"
"If you said what?" He stepped closer, purposely towering over me.
"That is what I was going to say. This is you using your height to your advantage."
He shook his head, "Don't change the subject. Don't be mean, Jay."
"I'm not being mean, you said—stop doing that!" The two of us convulsed into quiet laughter.
"So tonight," he said, "After I finish up some work, I can come over?"
"Tonight?" I furrowed my eyebrows. "I thought we were talking about Sunday."
"Tonight, tomorrow night, and Sunday night I'm coming over?" He asked as if I didn't speak. "If it's not a problem?"
I laughed at the eager expression on his face. "Of course, it's not a problem."
"Yay."
"Yay?"
"I'm excited, okay? I want to see you before everything gets busier for both of us again," He glanced down at his phone. "I have to run, c'mere," He kissed me, stealing my breath for a quick moment before pulling away. "You sure you don't want another one?"
Another? He lifted his chin in the direction of my coffee. I quickly shook my head. "No, no, you're right. I wouldn't sleep if I had more caffeine in me."
"You sure?"
Oh, Aven. "I'm sure, thanks."
He flashed me another smile before he disappeared from my sight. For a second I leaned against the bookshelves, shaking my head. "And he's obsessed with me?" I scoffed in disbelief, taking a large gulp of my iced coffee before meeting Laurence at the table.
By the time I had arrived home, I had finished a call from my sister and was making my way to the kitchen after dropping my things in my room. That's when I found Mari outside of Yasmeen's closed door.
She put a finger up to her mouth as she directed me a meter away from the door. "I think Yas is crying." She murmured.
"She's what?" Yas reminded me of Abisola. Neither of them cried easily. In fact, I had never seen Yas cry a day in my life.
"You don't have to whisper," Yas's voice came through the door. She sniffed and my heart dropped. "I can hear you."
I pushed the door open, noting the textbooks surrounding her from where she was seated in front of her bed and her laptop in front of her.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
When she looked up at me with red eyes, my arms encircled her instantly. Mariam glanced at her laptop once she reached the bed, "What the hell? Why do you have so much going on? Is this for both ASAs? Since when are you part of that leadership thing? You have ten projects due next week?"
Yasmeen sniffed. "I'm a little overwhelmed. It's not that big of a deal."
"Yes, it is," Mariam said, closing Yas's laptop.
"You always do that," I sighed against her temple.
"Because it's not a big deal," Yas whined, taking a deep congested breath.
"It is," I said, fed up for her. "You're always checking in on everyone, Yas. You can't let others check in on you?"
She took a deep breath, "You're not obligated to."
"You're not either," I told her. "But we ask because we care."
"Yeah." Mariam let out an exhale, tightening her hold on our friend. We sat there in silence, waiting for Yasmeen. The most put-together individual of us having a breakdown scared the shit out of me. I watched her carefully, feeling her body relax between us before she let out a long exhale and opened her eyes.
"I still got work to do." She sighed.
"Then we can do the work together," Mariam suggested. "You have extra-curricular stuff to do?" Yasmeen nodded. "Then Jaime and I can take care of that. We'll talk to your teams. You need to focus on getting each assignment done and try to see if you can get an extension on some of these."
"But--"
Mariam was ready to rebuttal but I spoke up with a more softening tone. "You can't take on too much. I did the same thing, and I couldn't. And you do so much. You need to focus on one thing at a time. You may not think people will understand but they will."
Yasmeen still looked worried but she relaxed a bit. "Okay."
"Okay," I glanced over at the tabs open on her laptop, narrowing my gaze. "Are you looking for another major?"
"You don't like psych and sociology anymore?"
"Not as much as I thought I did," She mumbled, sniffing. "I only continued it because, I don't know, no one in my family switched majors. Everyone knew what they wanted to do and an extra year would be mean graduating later--"
"And that's fine," Mariam said. "People don't always graduate in four years. It's normal. Do what makes you happy."
Yasmeen nodded, contemplating her words and I squeezed her arm as we settled into silence. But this new knowledge had me stare at Yasmeen. And when Yas sniffed again I couldn't help but laugh and the two of them looked over at me in confusion, "Sorry, but a few months ago I could never imagine this reality."
"What do you mean?" Yas asked.
"I mean, I kept thinking everyone had it all together. That everyone had their futures set out and I was the only one who didn't know what the hell. But then, here you are changing majors. It's interesting because we never really know how everyone's feeling, you know?"
Yasmeen tightened her arms around me when Mariam made a face, "Altogether? I was crying in the library yesterday. The guy next to me ignored me and kept working."
The silence in our room was deafening after we glanced over at Mariam. Who did so well in every subject she encountered? I didn't ever imagine that she had ever struggled in university while she was here with her brain. All my assumptions were bullshit.
I couldn't help but laugh again. Yasmeen's shoulders shook and Mariam joined in. "It's not just you, Jaime."
"Definitely not." Yasmeen sighed.
When we loosened our hold onto each other, Yasmeen went to the bathroom and came back with a clean face. Before we started to do our own tasks, Yasmeen paused. Then she wrapped her arms around us tightly. She let go quickly, wiping away the leftover tears before she grabbed her pen and flipped open the textbook. I watched the familiar and admirable determination of hers settle on her face.
Over her head, Mariam and I shared a smile.