At lunch, I walk into the cafeteria with the girls and my heart stops when I see Jay, Toby and Seth at another table than our usual one.
"So, I guess it's girls against boys, now" Yazmin huffs under breath annoyed.
Seth looks glum with his beach boy blonde hair falling over his eyes while he listens to Toby blab on about something next to him. I see Jay sitting across from him with his toned back turned to me.
It's like this signal told Seth that I would come into the cafeteria because as soon I look at him, his eyes meet mine with the biggest frown ever.
Suddenly, Toby stops talking and follows his stare to see what the fuss his about. His mouth dangles open as he realizes that I'm the problem. Then, Jay turns around quickly, exposing every muscle in his back as he does so.
In my dream world, I would be able to walk up to the table with my friends and proudly sit across from my childhood best friend and right next to the boy who made my heart do backflips with his hand on my leg as I enjoyed my lunch.
But, that was unrealistic and not happening any time soon. So, I go with my friends to our usual table and drown in my own pity.
"Well, this sucks," Violet says as she digs into her lunch.
"Vi, you can go and sit with Toby if you want," I insist.
"No, it's fine," she answers, shaking her head.
"No, actually maybe it's better if she does go," Yazmin interrupts, straightening up in her seat. "She can kinda see what's Seth saying and what's going on,"
I feel my stomach churn from anxiety and the food in front of me isn't helping either. "I don't know,"
"I mean think about it. He doesn't even want to talk at least Vi can tell you how he's feeling and stuff after,"
I contemplate on it for a few seconds realizing that I really do want to hear how's Seth doing and if I would have the chance to talk to him more about us. "Actually, you know what? Yaz is right. Go check out the situation," I decide.
Violet starts to gather her stuff and pauses heistantly giving me a "are you sure?" look. I nod quickly to give her reassurement.
"Pray for me," she jokes as she gets up and walks over to their table. My eyes follow in the direction to see both Toby and Seth give her awkward smiles. However, they nevertheless welcome her into their little circle.
In front of me, I hear my phone buzz and I drop my stalkerish stares to see who texted me. The letter J as my saved contact makes an instant blush appear on my face.
"Did Jay text you?" Yazmin sings while nudging me in the shoulder. "What did he say?"
I cautiously look over the message privately just incase he's written anything about his "secret life". Yazmin doesn't seem to notice since she's too busy chewing away.
144 Creek Drive. Meet me there tonight at 9- J
What's at Creek Drive?- I type quickly on my phone
You'll see:)- J
"He wants me to meet him at Creek Drive?" I shrug in confusion with a secret feeling of excitement in my gut that I would have longer time to see his beautiful face.
"That's literally a neighborhood. Why would you meet there?" Yas asks.
"No idea," I answer honestly, hoping I didn't give anything away.
Later after lunch, Violet lets me in on what happened at the table and what was talked about. She tells me that Seth has no interest in talking to me and that he's still shocked. He also said that he's torn on whether or not he should take this seriously because he thinks that this is a temporary thing. Him saying that reminded me of the similar words my dad had said last night.
However, there was no turning back nor did I want that.
At 9 pm, I park my car in front of a beautiful white house with a gray roof on 144 Creek Drive. I'm heistant getting out of the car and confused as to why I'm parked in front of a strangers house. I decide to text Jay that I'm there before I see a man in a suit come out the front door. He looks oddly fimilar but it's also too dark to really see who it could be.
I squint as he walks towards the black Mercedes parked in his driveway and that's when my vision gets clearer. The buzz cut and his similar body shape to his younger cousin help me remember where I've seen him before.
In the kitchen in New York.
Vinny.
I quickly scramble to get out of the car to make sure my eyes aren't lying to me. He looks up from his phone when he hears the commotion with a small smile on his face.
"Ella, we meet again," he greets. His voice is calm and peaceful but underneath you can hear the power of it, hidden. It's the voice of a man who's seen enough harm for a lifetime.
I approach him awkwardly, not knowing what to say since we didn't even exchange many words the first time we met. All I knew, is that Jay saw him more of a brother than Matteo. So, I decided to trust Jay's opinion.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, fumbling with the strap of my bag.
I see Vinny tilt his head curiously to the side, showing more the right half of his face which reveals the scar under his eyes. He's nevertheless ridicously handsome and the scar is what a lot of women would find sexy. It holds a dangerous secret that people would be dying to find about. "Jay didn't tell you?"
"I didn't really get a chance to talk to him today," I admit, thinking to how much I missed him today.
"Well, I moved here. This is our new place," he answers, holding up his arms to show the premises around him.
"Ours?"
"Jay moved in his stuff today. There was no point in Jay being at the Roger's place anymore since he's not a mafia runaway. The big boss wanted me here. To you know support him and help out with the gym," he winks, knowing that we both share the same secret.
"Well, you guys don't waste any time," I breathe out surprised that in only 24 hours Vinny was able to get a furnished house, car down here and Jay to move in with him.
"Comes with the job," he answers and I can't help but feel a glum tone laced to his reply. "Anyways, Jay's inside. Make yourself at home. I'll be at the gym,"
"Thanks, Vinny," I awkwardly say giving him a small smile. He puts his hand on my arm politely as a goodbye before hopping into the car.
As I make my way to the door, it suddenly opens, making me hesitate in my steps. I think it was safe to say that I had enough surprises for one day.
However, my nerves are immediately calmed as I see him standing there in the doorway dressed in dark blue ripped jeans and a black T-shirt that exposes the necklace buried into it.
"I swear that wasn't on purpose," he smiles sheepishly. "I just heard you a second ago out there"
"Vinny's here," I announce as if it weren't obvious as I enter the beautifully furnished house with my eyes still on his amazingly toned body.
"Yeah," he laughs, scratching the back of his head.
"Did you know he was coming?" I ask with a slight edge to my voice, since I didn't want him constantly hiding what was going on in his world.
"No, Francesco likes to surprise me time to time," he answers with a clenched jaw which makes his prominent jawline even more sharp. "At least this one wasn't a bad one for once"
"I mean, I guess this is good. You like Vinny, right? And he can help you out?" I suggest.
"Yeah, for sure. I can always count on Vinny," he nods. "Do you want anything? Sorry, I'm not good as this house guest/host stuff," he chuckles.
"You did fine in New York," I breathe out, thinking back to when we were at his place and how he took the best care of me. "And, no thank you," I add on quickly to make my first sentence less awkward and creepy.
His voluminous lips are pursed before breaks into a toothy smile revealing his pearly whites, "Well, I'm glad to hear that."
"So, you moved out from Seth's after school today?" I ask, trying to change the subject after that awkward sentence of mine. He nods before I carry on, "How did he react?"
"Honestly," he pauses with a frown on his face. "He was pretty bummed out especially because he needed more of a distraction at home," he finishes with furrowed eyebrows. "I feel like an ass," he adds.
I gulp as I hear the words come out and feel all the more guilty for the situation in place.
"But I still think it was perfect timing somehow. I mean Vinny coming here. It might've not been the best idea me still staying at Seth's much longer," he says slowly, leaving the meaning behind his opinion in the clear open for me to realize myself.
I won't lie, as soon as I saw his tan muscular self with ruffled espresso hair open the door, my mind went to thank the Gods' that he was out of Seth's house.
I couldn't ever go to Seth's house with Jay as my potential new boyfriend/lover staying there. The level of disrespect would be out of this world. I would never do that to him or his family.
"I couldn't agree more," I reply with a blush approaching on my face.
A comfortable but almost uncomfortable silence because of the sexual tension in the room is cast upon us. About a thousand and one things go through my mind and all of them have to do with his lips on mine or my skin on his.
"You wanna watch a movie?," he asks with slight uncertainty to his voice as if he were nervous. I feel a bit better knowing I'm not the only one. "We have this movie room,"
"Yeah," I smile. "As long as I pick the movie," I smirk.
We go into this massive room with a projector screen and cinema seats. Some of them have single or couple seats. While Jay gets the movie ready, I find myself guilty taking the couple seat so he's next to me with no boundaries.
He walks over to me with a surprised look on his face and luckily I don't hear him complaining. However, he manages to keep his distance away from me with not even our legs brushing against each other. He looks tense and so uncomfortable sitting next to me.
I guess he's just trying to be respectful. So, I take in his comforting scent and take quick peaks at him while he's focused on the movie.
My arm suddenly brushes against his bare one on accident as I try to move the pillow away that was crushing into my side.
"Jesus, Ella, you're freezing,"
Am I? I couldn't even notice sitting next to you cuz I feel like I'm melting.
"Let me get you a blanket," he says, about to get up.
"No, I'm fine, I swear," I reassure him, watching every muscle in his arm flex as he sits back in his seat.
His calloused palm suddenly runs over my hand and exposed arms. I feel the difference of the warmth of his skin and the coldness of mine. His touch sends excited tingles up my spine.
"Then, come here," he murmurs, flexing his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him.
I'm perfectly molded into his warm muscular body and I let out a silent sigh of relief as I snuggle into him.
How long I've wanted just to be in this position for him.
"Is this comfortable for you?" I whisper, not wanting to destroy his focus on the movie.
His chin brushes against the top of my forehead as he looks down at me with the most serious and happy look on his face, "This is the most comfortable I've ever been,"
I break out into a grin as we both go back to the movie and it literally doesn't disappear for the rest of the movie. He rubs circles on one of the sides of my hips and I feel so content in his embrace.
I could stay like this forever.
Sadly, forever isn't my reality. The movie finished way too quick as so did the time pass by way too fast. After, I wait in the hallway as Jay jogs upstairs to get something.
I give him a confused look as he comes back down the stairs with a black leather jacket.
"Look at what you're wearing. That's ridiculous for January," he says sternly, handing me his jacket.
I look down at my Julliard hoodie I got back ages ago, "Its cold outside but I'll be in the car driving with the heat on," I argue playfully, secretly loving inside that he was being so protective of my health.
"I don't care," he shrugs. "I don't want you getting sick,"
I smile sliding my arms into the humongous sleeves and smile even harder when I smell his cologne on it.
"How do I look?" I ask, modeling in the jacket.
"Beautiful," he replies, staring into my eyes earnestly.
The look of admiration I get from him makes my heart beat faster. "Thanks.I better get going," I tell him, even if I really really don't want to. It's the best thing to do.
Jay walks towards me and I gulp thinking he's gonna plant one on me. Instead, he pulls me into him for one of the longest and comforting hugs I've ever experienced. His cheek rests on the top of my head as I wrap arms around his torso, feeling the heat of his body.
As we come out of the embrace, he kisses the top of my forehead sweetly and I swear I still feel that kiss lingering there as he opens the door.
What's behind the door is what ruins the whole night.
We're met face to face with Seth who's taking the last step up to get to the porch. He pauses in his tracks, shocked, as he looks at the scene in front of him.
Me standing next to Jay, at Jay's house, with Jay's leather jacket on.
This did not look good. My heart felt like it stopped beating and I was gasping for air.
It takes miliseconds before Seth charges up to Jay, pouncing on him and punching him straight in the face.
To be continued...
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