Jericho doesn't text me that evening. As much as I want to text him first and check up on him, I know that I have to wait for him to make the first move- after all, he had clearly stated he wanted to be alone. What Darren said left its effect, and if Jericho doesn't want to get pushed to talking about it then I can't force him to.
At two in the morning, though, I'm awoken by the sound of a text message.
Jericho: Are you awake?
I know if it was anyone else, I'd be annoyed to be woken up at two in the morning by such a question, but since it's Jericho I simply can't feel any anger. Rubbing the tiredness out of my eyes, I sit up- my legs still tangled in my blankets- as my squinting eyes type out a reply.
Natalie: Yup. What's up?
Jericho: I know it's late, but can I see you? Or at least call you?
Natalie: I can sneak out. Where do you want to meet?
Jericho: I'm already by the school, if that's okay with you. Or is it too far?
Natalie: No, I have a car. Be there in five minutes.
I waste no time getting out of bed, putting my hair in a bun so it doesn't look like a cow has been chewing on it, and throwing on sweatpants and a hoodie. Slipping on my Birkenstocks, I grab my car keys from my nightstand and tiptoe my way out the house. As long as I'm back before five, my parent's shouldn't know I've been out. Hopefully.
It doesn't take me long to reach the school, considering the streets are empty so there's no traffic. When I pull up the vacant parking lot of the school, I see Jericho sitting on the curb, head in hands. He looks up once my headlights cover him in a white light as they pull up beside him. Jericho gets to his feet, giving me a shaky smile as I get out of the car.
"Hey," I mutter. Jericho doesn't reply with words, simply pulls me into a hug that sends sparks shooting through my system. My arms wrap around him, and suddenly, it's clearer than ever to me that this is where I'm supposed to be the rest of my life. In Jericho's arms, but Jericho's side- just with Jericho.
Jericho inhales and exhales slowly, his fingers scrunching up the fabric of my hoodie as his grip on me increases. In a soft whisper, he murmurs, "Thank you. Just- for everything."
"Thank you," I reply, "For giving this a try after all the hurt you've been through."
Jericho's finger unclench the fabric, instead flattening his palms against my back. "All my life I've believed that love can destroy. But- if you can promise me that you'll be there to pick up the pieces, I'll risk being destroyed. For you."
"I promise, Jericho."
I really don't want to let go of him, but Jericho's grip is loosening on me, and I know what that means. Pulling back, I give him a soft smile before latching onto the sleeve of his large sweatshirt, not wanting to break the contact between us. "Are you okay? After yesterday, when you said you wanted to be alone-"
Jericho shakes his head, cutting me off. "I realized that I didn't want to be alone. I wanted to be with you. And that kind of scared me, but I told myself that it was time for me to get some courage and face the things that scare me. Like trusting you, or getting sparks every time we touch, or starting to believe the stories of soulmates being in love with each other. It scares me but I want to face my fears."
And fuck- I really want to kiss him right then and there. But I don't, because if Jericho doesn't want that then there's no way in hell I'm ruining this moment. So I just stare into Jericho's amber eyes and he stares into my hazel ones, my fingers gripping onto his sleeve as my knuckles brush against his wrist. He smiles before wrapping his hand around the wrist of the hand that is gripping onto his sleeve.
Jericho's eyes finally drop from mine before he says, "Can we just walk?"
So we do. We walk around the school, through the soccer field and end up sitting leaned back against a tree, Jericho picking at the grass underneath him while I close my eyes, enjoying the moment for what it is- peace.
"What're we going to do?" I finally feel the need to ask, breaking the silence. "About the rebels? They're going way too far."
Jericho nods, breaking a blade of grass in half. "I know. This evening... Someone had broke into Arsenio's house- I guess they know I'm staying there- and painted the Italian saying on the living room wall. They're being ruthless. This time I know it was Noel, Silas or Dominick, though- they're all at the police station after what happened."
I furrow my eyebrows, "Then who could've it been?"
Swallowing painfully, Jericho admits, "The girls I used to... be with."
I purse my lips. "Oh."
"Yeah."
I don't want to make Jericho feel bad- after all, I'm trying to teach him that the past is the past, and holding the fact that he was with other girls before me is quite counterproductive. "Well, that's breaking and entering. Can't you get them in jail too?"
Jericho shrugs, "I don't know exactly who did it yet, just a vague idea. Besides, throwing everyone in jail isn't going to help anything because more people are just going to join their rebellion against soulmates. Maybe... I think we might need a different approach."
"Like what?"
Shaking his head, Jericho sighs. "I don't know, Natalie. I really don't know, but we need to think of something fast, because things are starting to get out of hand."
x
By a miracle, I manage to sneak back home without my parent's noticing I ever left. I only manage to sneak in a couple more hours of sleep after that, but I don't mind because the tiredness I feel for the rest of Tuesday only reminds me of the night I spent with Jericho and how good his hugs felt.
Arsenio drops Jericho off later than usual, so I don't get to see him in the morning, but we still text during class. It seems like whenever I don't see him for too long that tightness in my chest comes back, and I have to make it loosen up by talking to him in some way. I've always known that the feelings someone develops for their soulmate is intense, but experiencing it is completely different than hearing about it.
When I finally meet Jericho at lunch, he asks, "Can we go to your house? I miss Jude."
I simply laugh and grab my car keys from my backpack. Jude is more than happy to see Jericho when we arrive, which puts a smile on Jericho's face. Jericho bends down and scoops Jude up in his arms, taking one of Jude's small paws and making him pretend to punch me in the face.
Eventually, Jericho puts Jude down and we make our way to the kitchen. "Okay," I say as I search the cabinets. "We have Alphagetti?"
Jericho nods, "Okay, should be easy enough to make."
Thankfully, Jericho's right and soon enough we have that warming up. As I look through the cabinets through something else, I find some red velvet cake mix and pull it out, showing it to Jericho. He cocks an eyebrow, "Can we make that in less than an hour?"
"I don't know. Let's find out."
Jericho gets the task of finding the ingredients while I grab the bowls, mixers, measuring cups and spoons. "Okay," Jericho says, eyes squinting as he stares at the box. "First, we put in the cake mix." Jericho opens the box and tosses me the bag, letting me open it and pour it into the bowl. "Now we need a cup and a half of water."
We continue on like that for a bit. Things are going fine and dandy- that is, until we reach the flour.
Jericho stares at the extra flour we need to add with furrowed eyebrows. "I wonder what flour tastes like."
"I don't think it has a taste."
"I kind of want to try it."
My eyes widen, "I don't think you're supposed to do that." Jericho continues to just stare at the flour in his hand. Finally, I lean over and try to flick the flour out of his hand, except it ends up flying ever and coating Jericho's face with white.
I explode in laughter, but it's abruptly cut off when Jericho throws the rest of the flour in my face. My jaw drops in shock as I cough when some gets in my mouth. Jude's paw tap against the tiled kitchen floor as he runs over, trying to catch the flour in his mouth as it floats down. I laugh, bending down and picking him up in my arms.
Bad idea.
Jude sees the cake mix and his excitement has him leaping out of my arms and straight into the mix, resulting in it to splash everywhere- including all over Jericho and I. We look at each other before bursting out in laughter.
Let's just say, between eating the Alphagetti, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning Jude off and cleaning ourselves off, we don't exactly make it back to school on time.
Sorry for the short chapter! But it's cute so hopefully that makes up for it! :D If you liked this chapter, please be sure to COMMENT AND VOTE!
This story is #70 in romance so thank you all so so much! I love you all! (: xoxo