“Hey sleepy, it’s time to get up.”
I groaned at the voice, burying my face deeper into my pillow. I didn’t want to wake up yet, reveling in the darkness sleep offered me after a long night of studying. The bed shifted next to me and the voice came closer to my ear. “Carlos, get up. You don’t want to be late for your test.”
“Go away,” I mumbled into my pillow, pulling the sides up to cover my ears. I heard a muffled laugh and even through the pillow and being half asleep, I recognized it as Jessie’s. Her fingers touched my hand and managed to pull one side of the pillow down. I turned my head to face her and she smiled at me.
“Why ask me to get you up, if you’re just going to tell me to go away?” she asked.
“So I can see you’re beautiful face first thing in the morning,” I smiled back. She rolled her eyes at me and I had to laugh.
“I see you’re just as cheesy as ever this morning,” she said.
“You do bring it out of me,” I winked and she laughed.
“Well, that doesn’t change the fact that you still have to get up,” she said.
“I’m up,” I said, turning my head in the opposite direction again. “I’m just not up.”
“Well then get up,” she pushed on my shoulder and I pretended to go back to sleep. “Carlos, get up!” I didn’t respond and she stayed quiet as I felt the bed shift again. Suddenly I felt something drop down on my back and I involuntarily groaned. I looked over my shoulder to find Jessie sprawled across my back. “So are you up now?”
“I told you to get me up,” I said. “Not leave bruises.”
“Oh please, I did not land that hard,” she laughed. I shook my head at her before burying it in my pillow again, thinking she would get up and try again. A minute passed and she still didn’t get up.
“Do you plan on getting up anytime soon?” I said into the pillow.
“Not really,” she answered. “I’m too comfortable to get up now. I might just go to sleep.”
“And make me late for my test?” I asked, looking over at her.
“You mean the test you weren’t planning on getting up for anyway?” she asked, smiling and propped up on one elbow.
“Yup, that’s the one,” I answered.
“Hm.” Jessie looked at the wall behind me, pretending to consider the situation. I rolled my eyes at her and quickly turned, taking her wrists in my hands and pulling her over the bed next to me. She laughed in surprise and looked at me, now only inches apart.
“That’s no fair,” she said. “You’re stronger than me.”
“So?” I shrugged, still holding her wrists.
“It’s not fair.”
“And it’s not fair that you’re so beautiful but you don’t hear me complaining, do you?” I answered seriously.
“Cheesy,” she smiled.
“You know it.” I smiled back and then kissed her. Even after almost a year together, I couldn’t get used to it. Everyday I woke up feeling like it was a dream; like I was back in high school trying to figure out what drew me to her so much. How to tell her I wanted to be more than just friends. But then I would see Jessie in the hall or class and she would hug me, kiss me or hole my hand and it would hit me all over again that this was my reality now and I loved every second of it.
The form room door opened and my roommate, with always the worst timing, walked in. Jessie pulled back from the kiss and blushed. Jeremy looked at us awkwardly from the doorway. “Did I interrupt something?” he asked.
“Yes,” I answered at the same time Jessie said “No.”
“I was just waking Carlos up for his test,” she added.
“Right,” he smiled. “Well looks like it’s a mission accomplished then, huh?” Her blush grew deeper and I had to stifle a laugh.
“Do you have somewhere to be?” I asked him.
“Yeah, sorry,” Jeremy answered quickly and rushed over to his bed. “Just forgot my phone. I’ll be leaving now though. Carry on.” Jeremy grabbed his phone and quickly walked back out the door. Jessie and I exchanged a silent look and then we started laughing.
“Is it me, or does he go from one extreme to another?” she said.
“Hey, your roommate is the same, okay,” I replied.
“True enough,” she shrugged. “I should leave now. You have to get ready and I have to work on my paper or I won’t be going anywhere with you this weekend.”
“So you haven’t decided to leave me alone at the wedding?” I asked.
“I said I wouldn’t,” she smiled. “Besides, Cassie would be heartbroken if I didn’t go after I told her I would.”
“She would,” I said. “And so would I.”
“And I just couldn’t handle the guilt of hurting the two of you,” she said. She leaned forward to kiss me again and then slipped her wrists out of my hands and off my bed. “Now you need to get ready for your test.”
“Of course,” I groaned and got up after her. Looking at my clock I saw I still had 45 minutes before my exam. “Hey, you said I was going to be late.”
“If you didn’t get up, yeah,” she laughed. “But now you’re up with more than enough time to get ready. Congratulations.”
“You’re lucky you’re so cute,” I said dropping back on my bed.
“Right back at you,” she winked and opened the door to leave. “See you at lunch?”
“Yeah see ya,” I said.
“Good luck.” She walked out of the door and looked at the clock again. Jessie was right about one thing; I was up early enough to get ready. I might as well make the most of it.
* * * * *
I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not, but the exam didn’t seem that bad. I was sure of about most of the answers and the ones I wasn’t sure about I answered the best I could. After about twenty minutes I was done, which could have been a good or bad thing. Whichever it was, I chose not to dwell on it. I had about a half hour until I had to meet Jessie for lunch and decided to take the time to call Cassie.
Her and my mother had already gone out to the family house for my cousin’s wedding and I hadn’t spoken to her in two days. But for Cassie, two days was forever. I sat on the bench in front of the dorms and called my mom’s cell phone. It rang twice before someone picked up.
“Loco!” Cassie squealed and I laughed. She was trying to learn Spanish for fun and when she heard loco she decided it would be a cute nickname for me. Further proof I would let my baby sister get away with anything.
“Hey Cassie,” I said.
“You haven’t been calling me mister,” she responded, trying to sound tough but I knew she felt sad. When Jessie and I left for college, Cassie felt like she was being left behind. We promised to call her everyday to talk, and for the most part we did. But with my exams and Jessie’s paper it was a little harder the past few days.
“I know, I’m sorry,” I said. “But I had a lot of tests and Jessie has work too. You know we wouldn’t purposely not call you. We love you too, you know.”
“I know,” she answered. “I miss you. When are you coming?”
“As soon as Jessie’s last class is done on Thursday, I promise.”
“Jessie’s still coming?” Cassie asked, instantly perking up.
“Of course she is,” I answered. “She misses you too, you know.”
“Yay! Mommy, Jessie’s coming!” I laughed to myself as I imagined her jumping up and down and smiling wide at our mom. Besides me, Jessie was the only one who could invoke that kind of reaction from Cassie. And knowing that I wasn’t the only crazy about her made me smile even more.