"Her curves aren't a curse. Her body is a blessing. Her thighs are thunder and her hips are heaven."
"Nora." A voice whispered above. I groaned and turned around, it was too early to wake up. My bed was warm and so was my body. I hadn't been this comfortable in ages. Actually, I was this comfortable yesterday morning lying in bed, trying to convince myself that school was more important than sleep.
"Nora." It sounded like Jason. I scoffed mentally. Now I was hearing things too. "Nora!" A hand shoved me, my eyes flew open, settling on a beautiful form hovering over me. "Jase?" I croaked.
"Finally," he commented, smirking proudly. "Get up."
"What time is it?" I asked, my eyes battling to remain open. "Time to get up." He ushered me on, tugging at the blankets. "You never left." I stated, watching him sit down on my sheets, his hair messy, still in the shirt from yesterday.
"Thought that much was obvious." He chuckled. "Your mom left about an hour ago, but she said we should make breakfast for ourselves." Jase stared at me. "What?"
"Nothing."
I rolled my eyes, kicking him gently off my bed, sliding out at the same time. "I'm starving." He moaned as I headed for my closet, pulling out a new set of clothes. "Let me just take a show-"
"I'm hungry now." He insisted, tossing my clothes onto my bed. I scoffed, baffled by his directness. "So go eat cereal."
I walked over to my bed and grabbed the clothes again. "Cereal is for Mondays and Tuesday and every other day of the week, except today. Go make some eggs and bacon and french toast and grilled tomatoes."
I laughed, "okay, you're kidding." I caught on, moving to step around him. "Hey!" He grabbed the pile from my hands and tossed it carelessly behind him, my clothes strewing everywhere. "Jase." I said incredulously.
"Nora." He echoed my tone.
"Why are you so annoying today? Don't you have a house?" His brown eyes glimmered with amusement. "Sure, but my house isn't nearly as fun as yours. Eggs and bacon, Nora." He repeated, dragging me by my wrist down the stairs towards the kitchen.
"You're seriously controlling, do you know that?" I huffed. Jase pulled a chair from the breakfast bar, pushing me towards it. "Could you stop manhandling me?"
"You have no idea what that even means." He winked, moving around in the kitchen as if he had been living there for ages. He whisked out a tray of eggs, beating them in a bowl. "Do you need help?" I asked.
"I'm good."
"So then why did you drag me from my bed? You're clearly competent enough to cook yourself breakfast." He shrugged, "I wanted your company." He replied nonchalantly. I'm not gonna lie, though, there was definitely something about watching Jase cook that beat sleeping in. He chopped tomatoes and onions, tossing it into the egg mixture before opening several cupboard doors. "What are you looking for?"
"Pan."
"Oh," I jumped up, rounding the bar towards the right cupboard. "Here." I pointed it out to him, bending down to grab the pan. I walked over to the stove, placing it on top, Jase followed me quietly, I could feel him behind me. As I turned I realized how close he had gotten, making me stumble back, my hands grasping the stove behind me. "Ouch!" I cried out, heat searing at my hand. "Why did you put the stove on?" I accusingly asked, swallowing the tears that threatened to spill. I rushed over to the sink, flipping the cold water as it gushed over my burning flesh.
"Let me see." Jase demanded. Keeping up with me, tugging at my arm. "No." I bit back, pissed that I managed to embarrassingly hurt myself in the stupidest way. "Just let me take a look, Nora." He tugged again. "I said no-" he tugged harder, making me lose my balance, "Jase!" I tumbled to the ground, taking him down with me, he landed on top of me, knocking the wind from my gut.
I moaned, my eyes squeezed shut tightly. "Get off." I demanded, oblivious to how his body was pressed to mine. Or maybe I wasn't that oblivious. "Actually, this is not a bad position to be in." Jase notes.
Mortified my eyes snapped open and I glared at him. "Get off." I whined.
He chuckled, placing his hands either side of my body. "Why?"
"Jason."
"You're blushing," he whispered, his eyes holding my gaze. I brought my hands up to his chest, and shoved him. He didn't even budge.
"Are we interrupting something?" My head snapped to the side, taking in the presence of Ben and Sarah watching us from the kitchen doorway. "Jason!" I shoved him harder, and he rolled off, giving me space to breathe. I pushed myself up from the ground. "What, no, don't be crazy." I answered the same time Jase answered, "actually, yeah."
I glared at him with questioning eyes. "Okay then." Ben answered. I caught Sarah watching me with a smile. "Nora-" Ben cut Sarah off. "Let's go." He winked at her. "What? No." She refused, but he dragged her out of then kitchen by her hand. "Ben!"
I sighed. "Don't give my sister and ideas." I told him.
"Ideas? About what exactly?"
"About you and- nothing." I shook my head, feeling my face become warm, I quickly turned away from him. "About you and I?" He finished my previous statement. I frowned, shaking my head and walking out of the kitchen. Jase was hot on my heels, I already sensed he wasn't going to just drop the subject. "What about us, Nora?"
"Jase..." I started, stopping halfway up the staircase, turning around so that I could look him in the eye. The stairs worked to my advantage, I was an entire head taller. "It's not what I meant." I shrugged it off.
"Right." He murmured back.
"Jase."
"Nora, I told you to call me Jason. Not too difficult is it?" Jason hummed, winking at me before taking another step up, making my body brush against his. This was called stepping into my intimate bubble. I froze. "Jason-"
He smirked, "much better. Now, about us..." he slid his hands into his pockets. Jason's body heat rolled off of him like waves, embracing my own body.
Snapping out of the Jason trance, I moved back, going up another step up. He mirrored my actions, barely giving me a chance to escape. "We..." I said a little breathlessly. His intense gaze made me shiver, and then it hit me. I didn't like him as a friend. He was more. He meant more than a friend.
With realization, dread hit me hard. I stumbled back, then whirled around and sprinted up the remaining half of the staircase into my bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind me. "Nora?" The door handle turned, but the door never opened. "I'm- I'm going to get ready for work." I wasn't sure if I had work today, though. "Go home." I told him loud and clearly.
"What?"
"Thanks for the visit, but I have work, see you at school!" I hurriedly ran to the bathroom, stripping out of yesterday's clothing and starting the shower. Crap. I liked him. I wasn't supposed to like him. I tried hard not to like him.
I took my precious time in the shower, washing my hair twice, letting conditioner set, shaving my legs and brushing out the knots in my hair. Even when I was done, I continued stalling in the bathroom, finding anything to keep myself busy. To keep my mind busy. This is how my hair ended up blow waved and my face painted with soft makeup. I decided to go to work anyway, just in case Candy did need me.
I texted my mom about my whereabouts as I went down the stairs, asking if she could pick me up later this afternoon. I was going to have to take the bus today. "Nora." I spun around, taking in the figure spread out on my couch. "Jason. I thought you left."
"What happened?" He questioned me, with a genuinely concerned look on his face. "What do you mean?"
"Did I say something wrong?"
"No... but I have work..." he gave me a disbelieving look. "You bolted. What's wrong?" I shook my head, "Really, Jase-"
"Jason."
"Jason, I have work." I grabbed the front door keys and left him behind. "Fine, let me drop you off."
"No, it's okay, I'm going to take the..." he glared at me, then grabbed my wrist and tugged me out out the house, he took the keys from my hands and locked the door before nudging me along to his car. "I've told you before you're controlling, right?" I sighed, sliding into the passenger seat. We drove in silence, not that I expected anything else. What I didn't expect though, was Jason getting out of the car and following me into the cafe. "Uh... what are you doing?"
"Me?" Jason smiled.
I my eyebrows rose, "who else?" Even I was fighting a smile now. "I'm going to buy myself cake."
"That's not true." I told him, pushing the door open and letting him walk through first. "Did you just call me a liar?" He feigned hurt.
"Nora?" Candy appeared from the kitchen with a few mugs of hot chocolate on a tray. "You don't have work today." My eyes widened and I glanced at Jason briefly before begging Candy with my eyes. "Yes I do." I said urgently.
She smiled. "I suppose the extra hands wouldn't hurt. And you can meet the new girl." Of course. A little while ago Candy gave me a choice to choose new help. I turned down her offer later though, it was her shop, she deserved to decide who got to work there. "Ella!" Candy called. Jason gave me smile before seating himself down and scanning over the menu.
"Yes Miss Candy?" A bright looking redhead popped up out of nowhere, or at least, I never saw her walking in. "Ella, dear, this is Nora, she'll be working with you." Ella smiled at me. She was pretty, her green eyes popped against her pale complexion. "Miss Candy really speaks a lot about you." She said. Candy winked then whisked away with the tray, apologizing to her customers for the hold up.
"Nice to meet you." I told her with a smile and she nodded. Jase ended up staying the entire shift with me, even sending poor Ella away when she tried to bring him his donuts, saying he would only accept it if I brought it. She was flustered by him. "Is he your boyfriend?" I laughed out loud, giving her a look of disbelief. "No." I rolled my eyes, "That's a little impossible."
She gave me a hesitant look but then nodded, handing me his order and leaving for the next customers. When my mom arrived, Jase greeted me and left, he didn't need to stay but I was happy he did. I never wanted my feelings to ruin this friendship we had built. I was happy as his friend, and I didn't need more, no matter how badly my heart wanted it. And all I had was a silly crush, the kind that could be forgotten any day.