Sorry for the delay. I work so damn much. HERE YOU GO. VOTE AND COMMENT PLEASE.
This morning I plan on doing something productive. Or in all honesty take my mind off of Justin. See, it’s obvious that Jace absolutely hates Justin so I can’t just jump out and tell her I’m kissing the person she hates the most that lives across the hall. And who is to even say that Justin will kiss me again? What if this was a onetime thing?
I most certainly hope it is not a onetime thing because I can now understand why everyone is so obsessed with kissing. It makes me curious about other things. Like, what is it like to touch the thing? What’s it like for someone to touch my…things? Such curiosity, such unknown. And I feel like I’m waking up after a terrible and uneventful dream and am slowly trying to trudge my way back into reality.
With a smile, I slipped on some yoga pants and a sports bra, ready for my daily jog. I try to workout at least three times a week, which is great for me since I work a lot of the time. I left my bedroom and the apartment, heading for the elevator while slipping my hair up and into a ponytail. Whistling along my way, I reached to press the elevator button but another hand beat me to it. A stronger and tanner hand.
“Good morning, Kasey,” Justin greeted.
I turned red from my head all the way down to my toes and let my hand fall back down limp at my side. “Um, hi,” I whispered.
Justin let out a husky laugh that made me shiver and I averted my gaze. “How are you this fine morning?”
“Just a little anxious so going for a run.”
“It’s nice that you like to stay in shape.”
“Mhm, most definitely.” Jeez, why is the elevator taking so dang long?
“Alright, I can’t keep up with this game. What’s your deal?” Justin said in his normal voice instead of the cheerful and uplifting one he has been playing at.
“Nothing.” I shook my head.
He raised an eyebrow. “Are you seeing someone else and feel guilty about last night?”
“What? No!”
“Was the kiss terrible?”
“No.”
“…Oh, I get it.” He snorted a laugh and then turned away.
“What?” I frowned.
“Jace. You’re afraid of what Jace thinks.” I bit my lip against the immediate instinct to say no and just settled for silence. He shook his head and stepped into the elevator when it opened. I followed after. “Honestly, if you ask my opinion—”
“I didn’t really ask for your opinion, actually,” I snapped. I don’t want to talk about any of this. I just want to run. That’s all. That’s it. That simple.
The corner of his lips turned up into a sly smile. “I think I’m going to like this feisty side of you. It’s so interesting, like a light in the darkness, a needle in a haystack.”
“Justin…” I sighed.
“Yes, my little light?”
“All I want is to go on my run in silence. Please.” I turned to look at him and his face is all seriousness now.
“If that’s what you wish. I’ll run the opposite way. Later.” He waved off and then stepped out of the elevator and on his way.
I’m not sure if I hurt his feelings or if he is just honoring my wishes but I’m finally alone. Being alone is good. Being alone is normal. Being alone is cool. With a little smile on my face, I started a light jog along the sidewalk. I’ll make my daily route to the smoothie shop and then back again. Nothing tastes better than a banana ginger smoothie. Only one hundred and fifty seven calories of banana goodness. Nothing gets better than this.
I picked up my pace and started to feel the burn in my calves and thighs, in my core. My body began to heat up, sweat, and I took deep and calming breaths, letting out the air just as nicely. Breathing is very essential to my workouts. Approaching the smoothie shop, I slowed down and walked inside.
The bell above the door rang and the smell of an array of fruits hit me at my entrance. A couple of people are in the shop and the usual girl, Claire, is at the counter, all smiles and freckles with her brown hair tied up in a bun. I walked up to the counter.
“The usual?” Claire raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at me.
“Of course.” I pulled out a twenty and stuck it in the tip jar and she immediately turned around to create my smoothie. When she finished, she handed it over and I gave her a polite nod, stepping outside to sit and enjoy my smoothie.
The sounds of familiar laughter registered to my ears and then Justin came into view from the opposite direction I ran in, yet he is coming to the same destination, the smoothie shop. How is this even possible?
He stopped in his tracks when he saw me, ending his phone call. “Let me guess…you come here all the time and it’s awkward now that I’ve invaded your sanctuary?”
I laughed, stretching my legs out on the empty chair to my left. “I don’t own this smoothie shop. You can come here if you want.”
“Cool. I usually spend a good ten minutes flirting with Claire before I leave.” Justin smiled, his eyes lighting up his entire face. It’s moments like this that make me wonder how Jace can ever hate him. He is glorious in his little pool of happy light and youth.
“Then I’m sure you tip her pretty well then too I’d presume?” I lifted an eyebrow.
“Only if she makes me blush,” he joked.
I giggled. “Sit with me.” I patted the chair on my right and his smile grew wider.
“One second, I have to order a smoothie first.” He winked and then disappeared inside of the smoothie shop.
My phone vibrated and I looked down at it. It’s from Jace.
IT’S THE 17TH. I REPEAT. FRIDAY THE EFFING 17TH.
I can feel myself growing cold. The seventeenth means one thing and one thing only: Nicolette. Nicolette is an old friend of Jace’s since they were in diapers which means that I have to know her as well since Jace is a so called friend of mine. I only say so called because sometimes I’m not sure with Jace. But, Nicolette is nothing like Jace at all. I thought that Jace and I were opposites, Nicolette and Jace are on a whole new level of opposites.
Where Jace likes modeling, Nicolette hates the entire modeling industry for she believes the world makes skinny and attractive women slaves to the world’s ideal beauty concepts. Where Jace likes to shop, Nicolette hates having to be defined by clothing or a sense of fashion. Yet, she dresses just as well as Jace so I don’t know how that works. Where Jace does not enjoy eating huge meals, Nicolette believes food is the way to anyone’s soul.
So see, it’s just impossible for me to understand how they are able to get along. It’s almost insane how they get along. They argue every time they get together. Nicolette only comes to visit on the seventeenth of each and every month out of the year and she stays two days and then leaves to do whatever new thing she is into. She changes hobbies just as often as Nicki Minaj used to change wigs.
Nicolette is my worst nightmare because Jace and she argue all the time and then somehow I get caught up in the middle of it all. It’s almost as if there is a huge secret in between them but either of them know it yet. I groaned internally. I don’t feel like seeing Nicolette. I was in a fairly good mood at the start of this day.
Justin returned from inside of the smoothie shop and I rearranged my face into a pleasant expression, a welcoming one. He gave me a tiny smile and sat down across from me, his calves so pronounced after his run. I stared and then quickly averted my gaze, playing with my straw.
“Did you have fun flirting with Claire?” I teased.
“Nah, I didn’t flirt with her today, actually.”
I frowned. “Why not?”
“Because I kissed another girl last night. Didn’t really feel right in my gut.” He bit his lip, a mischievous smile lighting up his face.
I turned bright red and looked down at the table. “Justin, stop,” I whined.
He laughed. “Whatever. So, how was your run?”
“Very sweaty.” I snorted, looking back up at him.
“I know another way we can get sweaty,” he purred.
My eyebrows furrowed in and I cocked my head to the side. “You want to lift weights? I don’t own a weight set, but—”
“Kasey, stop, never mind,” he cut me off. I narrowed my eyes and then let it go. Whatever. “I wanted to talk to you for a second, okay? I wanted to talk to you seriously, no jokes unless I absolutely cannot help it but I’m serious right now. Do you understand?”
My eyes grew wide but I nodded that I understood. “Okay.”
“Okay. Look, last night…I don’t know if you liked it or not—” I started to protest but he put a hand up to cut me off. “Let me finish. But I really…” He turned red, clearing his throat. “I really liked kissing you.” His embarrassment is so cute I could squeal. I smiled. “No, stop it, Kasey, stop, this is really hard for me.” He scratched his head. “You are just really interesting, you know that? I’ve kissed lots of girls…some models…some actresses…some foreigners…but I kissed you and no offense, but, you’re a total dweeb I swear but it was like no one could ever be…” He turned his head, looking for words. Butterflies swarmed my stomach as I waited for his words. “No one could ever be as sexy as you.”
I swallowed, hard, and struggled for my own words now. “I’m not…I mean I’m really not like that. I’m not sexy at all that’s not me I’m just weird and good at my jobs. There isn’t really anything great about me.”
“Well I think otherwise.” He narrowed his eyes.
“You really shouldn’t.”
“And you really shouldn’t be insecure.”
“I am not!” I protested, leaning across the table to be in his face.
“Say you’re sexy then.”
“That’s stupid, who goes around saying that?”
“Me.” He snorted.
I rolled my eyes. “I won’t say it.”
“Say it.”
“No.”
“Say it, Kasey!”
“Make. Me.”
Justin reached over and curled his hands into my hair, his fingers touching my scalp. I felt heat from my scalp to my toes at his touch and then he yanked, hard, and my face was right in his face just as his was in mine.
“Say that again,” he challenged.
I didn’t even wince as the pain from his hair pulling radiated all over my body. “Make. Me,” I whispered.
He let out a husky breath and then he kissed me, hard. His lips roughly raked across mine over and over again and I continued to match his intensity, sending me into a wild frenzy of emotions I’ve never experienced before. I moaned, which is the oddest thing and he groaned against my lips, causing me to shudder. His hands pulled hard into my hair and I hardly felt it as his lips forced mine open and his hot tongue entered my mouth.
I gasped as his tongue touched mine, heating up my entire body and soul. I reached my hand up to clutch Justin’s face and he pulled away, kissing down my arm to my wrist and then pulling my hand away and kissing each and every one of my fingers.
“Hm…Are you real?” he mumbled against my hand. My hand is extremely tiny in comparison to his.
I laughed, breathless. My entire body tingling like a live wire. “I’m pretty sure I’m real.”
“I need proof. Take off your clothes.”
“Shut up, Justin.” I smiled.
“Ah, I like you, Kasey. I think it’s because you’re the first girl that hasn’t fallen for my charms, our gotten impressed by my immaculate beauty and perfection.” He did a dramatic hair-flip that made him look so absolutely ridiculous that I threw back my head and laughed. “I like it when you laugh,” he said, staring at me.
I blushed and bit my lip. “It’s better when you laugh because you barely do it.”
“Really? I barely laugh?”
“Yeah. When you do laugh though… it’s precious.” I smiled.
“Ew, stop!” he protested.
I chuckled. “I have to get back. Jace’s friend is going to be here soon and she’ll be hungry so I need to cook.” I stood up from my chair and stretched, heading back for the apartment. Justin followed after me, his eyes curious.
“Which one?”
“Nicolette.”
Justin’s face turned sour and he grew extremely quiet. “Oh…her.” He sounds angry, his voice hostile.
“You don’t like her?” I looked up at him and he looked down at me, his eyes hard at first and then turning softer.
“I hate her. Don’t worry though, we most likely will not cross paths so it’ll be okay. I’ll just stay in my room.”
“You aren’t going to come out?” I started skipping alongside him.
“Nope.”
“Not even to see me?” I batted my eyelashes and he laughed, his cheeks and one dimple poking out. He looks so cute I could scream.
“Ah, Kasey, what are you doing to me, huh?” He pinched my cheek and I blushed. “But no, the hate I have for her is unreal.”
“Is it greater than the hate you have for Jace?”
“Most definitely.”
“Jeez, what did she ever do to you?” I snorted.
“She existed.” He walked me up the stairs of the apartment and straight to my door. “Later gater.”
“Bye, lady hater.”
“It’s only two girls!” he cried out.
“What about your mother!”
“I love my mother!”
“Aw, momma’s boy!”
“Kasey, don’t make me do things you’ll like.”
“Oh, Justin! Oh how I wouldn’t be able to take it if you were to do what I like.”
“Oh I know. You just can’t handle it.” He took steps towards me and I held my ground.
“I sure can’t.”
“Such a shame.”
“Definitely.”
He is right in front of me now, his body heat mingling with mine. My chest rose and fell to the same rhythm as his. He lightly placed a finger underneath my chin and lifted it to where his lips could perfectly plant onto mine. I closed my eyes and all is bliss. The feeling of his lips against mine, his hand on my chin, so soft, so warm, so safe. I melted and he lapped me up, keeping me from oozing, from falling apart.
“Justin,” I gasped as his lips left mine.
“Yes?” he breathed.
“I don’t know why I like this so much but I do. I like this with you.”
“Hm…I’m going to need that in writing because—”
“Stop, Justin!” I laughed, pulling away. He laughed with me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me back into the encircling of his arms.
“Stop what?”
“Are you ever serious?”
“I was serious, earlier!”
“Besides that time, are you ever serious?”
“If I was…would you still want me this way?”
I thought about that for a second. “I don’t know.”
“Exactly!”
I rolled my eyes. “Bye, Justin.”
“Bye, Kase.” He kissed me on the cheek and then slowly let me go, letting me feel the sensation of his hands parting my heated up body. “Don’t let Nicolette kill you.”
“I’ll try.” I waved and then disappeared inside of my apartment door.
Someone call me a doctor. I keep kissing this boy and liking it.