After 1 minute of trying to make a powerpoint together but on OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE ROOM, I huffed.
"This is so ridiculous" I mutter, getting out of the bed. We tried everything such as: holding the IPad's in the air so the other could see, trying to explain parts etc
"Why don't we send the link of the powerpoint and 'view' it at the same time" I suggest. We could work on our separate slides but my dyslexia was still playing up and it would've been difficult.
"I'll just look at the design aspects and you can do your slides if you'd like. Once the letters stop jumbling around, I'll work on my slides alone." I say.
"If that's what you want" he shrugs. "I don't mind helping you out though."
"No it's okay, you already helped a lot. Thanks!" I send him another smile
Jay was using his IPad now that he was sitting at my desk so I picked up my IPad and circled back to the bed, sitting where I was only seconds beforehand.
After a few moments of me making the presentation look vibrant and Jay typing his research onto some of the slides, he sighs
I send him a questioning look, "We should do something fun" he says, smirking
"Fun? Like what?" I ask. "Like making out" he teases, still smirking
"Jay!" I scold, my cheeks reddening by the second.
He laughs at my flushed state, "Fine fine fine, what about 20 questions?" he asks to which I instantly agree, I love this game! I would play it all the time with my friends from back home.
However, I'm a little hesistant to play it with him. He is a popular, arrogrant, badboy after all. "Can there be rules?"
He hums for me to continue, "There can be personal questions but can we have a rule where you can skip some?" I offer, he nods "Yeah but let's say no more than... 2 skips?"
"Okay" I agree so we start. "I'll ask first. What's your full name?" he says
"Gabriella Elizabeth Romano" I answer. Elizabeth had the option to give me a middle name when I was younger so gave me her first name.
"Alright ummm... what's your full name?" I ask back. "I'm not telling you my middle name" he laughs
"What? I told you mine!" I feign offence, "The only person that knows my middle name is my mom and sister" he laughs
"Pleaseeeee Jay!" I practically beg, he sighs "Don't laugh-" I giddily nod my head like a little kid -"Jayson Louie Cameron"
"That's not even bad" I pretend to sulk, leaning my back against the headboard. "I thought it would be something funny like your ancient grandmother's name or something"
"I don't know, I've ever really been a fan of it" he shrugs. "Alrightttt Beth, my turn" he thinks of a question but I realize what he has called me.
"Beth?" I ask him, "Yeah, thought it could be your new nickname... Gabriella ElizaBETH, get it?"
"Yeah but it's weird being called "Beth".." I think... "Actually I've never once heard you call me Gabriella before"
He shrugs "Good observation, princess". I guess he just prefers using ('pet') nicknames
"Wait but that means I should give you a nickname too-" I collect my thoughts "What about Louie? I know it's not crazy or anything but at least it's something only I call you" I shrug
"Trying to claim me, Beth? Bit possessive..." he mutters as if he was serious but the smirk on his face tells me he's only joking around
"Whatever, LOUIE" I emphasize his new nickname, this is fun!
"Alright, hmm.... relationship status?" he asks. "Single... your relationship status?"
"Taken" he says awfully seriously, how comes I didn't know he was in a relationship? Wow, who's the lucky lady?!
"Ooo, by who?" I'm intrigued. "You, sweetheart" he winks at me but I just roll my eyes. I thought he was being serious!
"Is it my turn or yours?" he asks genuinely, probably confused since I asked a follow-up question. Oops!
"Oh ummm... I think yours?"
"Any hobbies?" he asks to which I shake my head. I like reading but I wouldn't necessarily call it a hobby.
"You sure? You look like you have something on your mind"
"Nope, how old is your sister?" I ask, remembering he said he had one on a previous question.
"She's 5, turning 6 in a few weeks actually. Her name's Katie" he smiles. I can tell he cherishes her a lot!
"Ok my turn... are you a virgin?" he asks as he rolls the desk chair closer so he can prop his legs up on the end of my bed. Since my legs were laying straight out and my back was against the headboard, his feet come to around my knees.
"No, I'm not. Are you?" The question rolls of my tongue before I can think it through. Obviously, he's not a virgin-
Ugh! Now I've just wasted one of my questions
He seems sort've... impressed?... at my answer but nonetheless laughs "nah", "From now on, no more repeating questions"
I roll my eyes, "What's your question then?"
"Did you lose your virginity to an ex or something?" He asks, I nod "Yeah, do you have any exes?"
"Nope, more of a 'quick fuck' and 'no-strings-attached' guy.... I'll change that for you though" he smirks, leaning forward a little to watch my reaction. Such a player...
My cheeks flushed red and I scowled, "Yeah yeah whatever. Also I've ran out of questions so let's continue this another time, yeah?"
"You want to spend more time with me alone?" he taunts but I roll my eyes and get out of the bed.
Ignoring his teasing, "I think we should go downstairs. Would you like to stay for dinner?"
He looks hesitant "If your brothers say it's alright then I don't mind"
"Let's go" I watch as he gets up and tucks my desk chair back under my chair - that was nice, he didn't have to do that. We walk out of my room and down the stairs
Walking into the kitchen, I see Edna! "Hi, Edna. How are you?" I ask her. Yesterday when I wasn't at school, I spent some time getting to know her better.
"I'm fine dear, dinner will be ready in a few moments so is it alright if you call your brothers?" She asks me
I nod, "also please can you set out an extra plate for Jay?".
"Of course, hun" she smiles
I turn around subconsciously grabbing Jay's hand and dragging him to find my brothers. I wasn't actually dragging him since he's most definitely stronger than me for sure
"I see that you like your physical touch" he whispers into my ear despite walking behind me. I could hear the amusement in his voice. I turn around with my eyebrows furrowed before I realized we were holding hands, I rapidly take my hand away and look into his eyes
"I'm sorry, I didn't even realize-", "Princess! It's fine" he cuts me off, laughing in amusement
I let out a sigh of relief, "let's find Alessandro, he's our biggest hope to be honest" I mutter, this time NOT grabbing his hand
I lead him to Sandro's office and knock, hopefully he's in here!
A few seconds later, the door opens. Normally he would say "come in!" but I'm assuming he opened it himself due to having Jay around
"Hi Sandro, 2 things: one, dinner is ready and two, can Jay stay for dinner? We have more of the project left to do" I ask. He looks a little hesitant but faces Jay "Do you want to stay?"
Jay clears his throat but nods "If that's alright", "Very well then, let's head to the table now, Bri you can call the others" he nods at me
Wow, I know he only made me call them so I could tell them about our 'guest', ugh! I kind've wanted Sandro to do it.
I nod, sending Sandro a small 'are you serious?' look but he just smirks, ushering me to collect them.
---
After telling them all that he's staying for dinner and fighting off any comments they made, we are all now sitting at the table.
We're having pasta tonight and to say it looked so delicious would be an understatement. I practically shoveled all of it down the second my plate was in front of me. This dinnertime was quieter than usual but definitely not silent.
My brothers bombarded Jay with questions about anything and everything! After a while of listening to their conversation, I zoned out. This pasta is sooo good that I wasn't bothered to listen. Jay seemed a little 'on-edge' at first but became comfortable quite fast
He answered all their questions and even started good conversation points with Leo and Sandro. He tried to with the twins and Matteo but those got shut down realll fast...
"Thank you for dinner, Edna! It was so great" I smile politely as she collects our plates. I don't mind putting my plate away myself but she insists that she collects them from us all
"Thanks for dinner" Jay smiles as she picks up his plate also
"No worries, dears" she replies to us both
"Gabriella, I know you said you have some work left together which I don't mind if you both work on now but please don't be too long. It's a school night after all and I'm sure Jay's family is worried to where he is so late" Sandro says formally, using my full first name to emphasize that he's serious
"Of course, we won't be too long" I say,
"And sit on different seats" he smirks. Matteo is such a traitor! I send both Matt and Sandro an unamused look "Let's go, Jay"
We walk out of the kitchen and up the stairs, I'm leading us up when I feel two hands swivel onto my waist. Heat rushes to my stomach
"Nice ass" he says, I can practically hear the smirk in his voice. I put my hands on top of his and pull them off my waist. I'm weaker than him but after a few seconds of intense pulling managed to get them off - He's waaay stronger so he definitely let me take them off
"Stop" I whisper. Not only is it weird that my assigned partner for a project is touching my waist but doing it so openly in my not-so-empty house...
---
Jayson's POV:
I watch as her eyes flutter closed and her lips pout ever so slightly. She's laying on the bed, still in her jeans and jumper, asleep. I noticed her getting quieter and definitely more tired so I offered to finish up her slide for her
I could see she didn't want to go to sleep whilst we still had work to do but after hearing my offer, her body practically went limp on top of her covers/duvets.
Finishing the last slide of our presentation, I ensure it's saved and close the IPad. I quietly pack all my things into my bag and face a tired-looking Gabriella.
Getting up, I gently lift her body (1cm or so) into the air so I could wiggle the duvet out from underneath her. She probably wouldn't want me to be holding her ass like that but I can't help it, I had to get her body in the air.
I gently place her back down onto her bed and pull the duvet so it's covering her. "Goodnight, my love" I whisper faintly. Even though her eyes are closed, her nose cutely wiggles and she shuffles her back a little.
I stay still, not wanting to wake her up but she goes still and silent again. Her plump lips are still parted, her blue eyes closed, her brown locks spread all over her pillowcase
Walking out of the room, I quietly close the door and head downstairs. It's around 9pm and mom and Katie will be worried if I'm not home soon. I recollect my memories of where Alessandro's office was located and knock, unsure if he's even in there or not.
Much to my dismay, the door quickly opens, "Hi, I just wanted you to know that I'm leaving now but Beth- Gabriella" I nearly say Beth "is asleep in her room incase you were wondering"
His face remains stoic, not allowing any emotion to slip. "Thank you, have a safe journey home" he kindly replies
I curtly nod once and head to the front door, exiting, and closing it behind me. Surprisingly, my house isn't that far from here. It's around a 5minute walk so I set off my journey in the dark. I'll be home in not too long
Walking inside, it's eerily quiet. "Mom? Katie?" I call out but there's no response. I kick off my shoes and leave them by the door where all the other shoes belong
I hear small footsteps running closer, "Hi Tee" I smile down at her, scooping her up her arms and giving her a hug. Her name's "Katie" but I call her "Tee".
"Lou Lou!" she giggles. She calls me that because of my middle name, it's quite cute but a little embarrassing
I set her back down and crouch to her height, "Why are you up so late, sweetheart? Where's mom?"
She goes quiet and fiddles with her fingers, oh... "Mom isn't here, is she?". Her small face forms a frown as she shakes her head
I sigh, "That's alright, I'm sure she will be here tomorrow!" I try lighten the mood but suddenly remember that if mom wasn't here, who was looking after her?
"Have you eaten?" I ask but she shakes her head, "Hungryyy" she pouts, pointing at her stomach. I let out a small laugh, "What do you want to eat? It has to be something quick since it's wayyyy past your bedtime, little missy" I gently poke her sides, making her giggle
"Cheerios?" she grins. "Cheerios is a breakfast cereal, you're not meant to eat it for dinner" I inform her but the tears threatening to form in her eyes tell me that she is adamant she wants cheerios
I groan, "Fine but just this once".
After making her cereal and tucking her into bed, I change into comfier clothes and fall asleep myself. I know it's only 9:30pm but I'm exhausted.
---