0 4.
•••
Scott looked at me very seductively as he pulled his shirt over his head.
I sat cross-legged on the hotel bed, scrolling through my social media which wasn't even that interesting if I was being fairly honest.
He was undressing infront of on purpose — to test me, to see I'd give him — well, sucks to be him because I wasn't going to give in that easily.
Even though I told myself this, I ogled him glancing between my phone, and his body. I know, creepy. Scott was athletic, and the fact that he knew that — he used it to his advantage. It made me wonder if he charmed his ex girlfriends too, or maybe seduce them with his body.
What? Knowing Scott, he'd do anything just to get laid.
Standing infront of me with just his Spiderman boxers, I tried not to laugh at how ridiculous he looked. He rolled his eyes, and crossed his arms over his chest.
"What are you laughing at?" he asked, brows furrowed.
I hid my smile behind my hand. "You're choice of boxers are hilarious. It makes you look like a child."
"Hey," he accused, but there was so malice in his word as he pointed a finger at me. "There is nothing wrong with having Spiderman boxers okay? It makes me look cool and... sexy."
He growled the last part sending unwanted shivers down my spine. Fuck. That was so sexy.
Shaking my head, I tried to hide how much he affected me. "Keep dreaming, Scott, it suits you," I told him with a nod of my head. "Definitely does suit you."
He rolled his eyes at me. "We both know that's not true," he replied, and scoffed. "Stage one is denial, after all. I'm pretty sure you know that."
"You're crazy," I settled, not really knowing what to say because that was the truth. "Go take a shower and take as much time as you need."
He raised his hands in a surrendingmanner. "Alright alright." He chuckled. "I'll see you in twenty," he told me with a cheeky grin, and winked at me.
What the hell was up with him?
Disappearing behind the bathroom door, I checked my phone again to see if Jason got back to me. He didn't, and I was starting to get worried. Usually we'd text back, and forth so it was a matter of worry. Or maybe I was just overthinking.
Throwing my phone on the bed, I sighed and glanced around the room. Everything was neatly packed, and updated around the room. The small oak coffee table with two chairs was standing in the corner of the room, and the brown curtains were open giving me a clear view of the city below us.
I threw my head back against the soft quilt, loving the soft feel underneath my touch. It was really busy as I could hear the faint chattering of people, and passing vehicles.
Staring up at the ceiling, I realized that my mother was going to marry someone I wasn't really comfortable with. Someone I didn’t fully know yet. He was basically a stranger. It scared to be honest.
I know that's a very selfish thing to say, but it's true. I was not comfortable with the idea, but at the same time I didn't want to ruin things for her especially her happiness. It hurt to know that she moved on from my dad's passing, and I was clearly still mourning over his death.
But it was only a matter of time before she found someone again, and I was happy for her because she deserved to be happy. I wasn't judging her — I was just concerned about her like I'd always been since the passing of my father.
Suddenly, the bathroom door swung open, and I leaned on my elbows for support to glance at Scott. He was standing in the doorway, half naked with a white towel wrapped around his waist that hung dangerously low for my sanity.
The first thing I noticed was the water dripping down his chest. I could literally see the lines between his abdominal muscles, and I had to force myself to look away — and there was a buldge behind the towel.
I'd be lying if I said he wasn't smoking hot.
Not sure what to do, I awkwardly cleared my throat, and looked at his face instead of ogling him like the creep that I was. We instantly made eye contact, and my stomach felt uncomfortable like a flower blooming in the sun.
His deep brown hair made the color of his eyes stand out. A part of me believed that he did this on purpose — to come out of the shower looking like that. What was he trying to achieve? A rise out of me?
"You could've taken the shower with me," he said after some time as he walked over to the side of the bed. "It was really nice. And warm. You know, the way you like it."
I sat up straighter, and rested my head against the headboard. "What do you know about what I like?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "I wouldn't wanna shower with you even if I had a choice, or even if you were the last man on earth."
He took his suitcase, and dropped it on the bed. He unzipped it, and started looking through it for something to wear. "I know a lot about you, actually," he said grinning all too widely for my liking. "And you wouldn't get to shower with me considering I'm the only one on earth."
Rolling my eyes at him. Did he always have a comeback for everything? I threw my hands up. "Can you please keep it shut for a few months please?"
Scott looked at me so intensely, I felt nervous all of a sudden. "Everyone has a choice in life, you know," he said to me, changing the topic. "And sometimes people take the easy way out."
Instead of responding with my usual sarcasm, I averted my gaze to the silent television that was playing in the corner of the room. "Meredith said we could order room service," I responded, and cleared my throat awkwardly. "And uhm... I don't know what you're into, or what you like."
Scott grinned, and pulled a grey sweatpants out of his bag. "Call me cliché, or whatever, but I'm into you."
Now that made me whip my head back around at a very dangerous speed. His eyes were glowing with mischief. "Seriously? You need to stop this," I sighed, and ran my hands down my face. "We're never going to happen, Scott. Yeah we kissed, and it was great but that doesn't make it right to go behind my sister's back."
I didn't have time to react when Scott crawled onto the bed, and stopped inches away from my face. He placed his right hand on the side of my face, his thumb caressing my cheek. "Stop worrying about what other people want, or think," he whispered to me. "What do you want? That's what matters the most."
Closing my eyes to reopen them, Scott's green eyes never left mine. "If only this were as easy you make it," I told him, "but it's not so..."
He leaned in, and I placed my hands on his chest to keep him at bay. I couldn't do this. This was not how I wanted to do things.
Scott removed his hand from my cheek to raise his hands in a surrending manner. "Okay sorry," he replied, shrugging. "I'm only doing what my heart is telling me to do," he said to me, looking distracted. "There's nothing wrong with that anyway. At least one of us knows what a heart is."
Was he being serious right now? Just because I didn't want things to escalate, he suddenly thought I didn't have a heart? I scoffed.
If only he knew how hard this was for me too. I had to protect myself as well. I wasn't going to let him juggle my feelings like a damn snow globe.
Maybe he didn't want to believe that we could never happen. Or maybe he was scared to face reality. Yeah, the latter sounded legit.
"Well, your heart is misleading you so I wouldn't count on that," I replied chuckling under my breath shaking my head slightly. "You should take your brain with you."
When I looked at him again, the usual glow in his eyes seemed to fade. He smiled at me, but it wasn't his usual dimple smile.
He got off the bed, and started rampaging through his bag again. "I think we should order some champagne, then."
I eyed him warily. "For what?"
"Since we can't be lovers, we're going to make a toast to our our new friendship," he replied slipping his left leg into his sweatpants, and doing the same with his right leg. "That's what we are, right? Friends?"
"Where'd you get that idea from?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "Scott, we can't even stand each other, how do you expect us to be best buds all of a sudden?"
He pointed a finger at me. "You can't be friends with me," Scott shot back, smiling annoyingly. "I don't know what your deal is honestly. I can be with you anywhere in the world, and I'd be happy about it. But you? I don't know..."
I rolled my eyes at him. "You're crazy for sure," I told him honestly because his brain must've not been functioning properly.
"Crazy for you," he retaliated almost instantly.
I groaned out loud, and threw myself back against the bed. He was truly impossible, and it did make me wonder if he was this flirtatious with my sister too. And I know my sister — she was very affectionate so I immediately cut that thought out of my mind before I barfed my guts out.
Feeling the bed dip as Scott crawled up next to me. He had his arms behind his head, and stared at the muted television. His muscular yet surprisingly sweet scent invaded my nostrils.
Swinging my legs off the bed, I got up but Scott grabbed my arm. "Seriously?" he asked, annoyed "you're leaving because I'm next to you?"
"The world doesn't revolve around you," I told him as I pried his hand off my forearm. I successfully got his grip to loosen. "I'm not one of those people that fall at the sight of you. I'm not predictable, okay? So get with the program?"
Never taking his eyes of me, he ran a hand through his curls. "That's what makes you so special because you don't swoon at the sight of me," he replied, "I have a different vibe when I'm with you."
He was weirding me out so I wanted to keep a safe distance between us by getting up from the bed. I turned around and said, "I'm going to take a shower." Without giving him a glance, I added, "you can order whatever you want."
I disappeared into the bathroom making sure to lock the door behind me because I had trust issues. For a moment, I leaned my head against the door as the cold feel against my sculp soothed my heated face.
Running my hand through my hair, I didn't know how to act anymore. He was really persistent. I just had to keep my sister in the front of my brain.
I tried to ignore the voice in my head that told me I should give Scott a chance, and that maybe he wouldn't be as bad as I initially thought. But a bigger part of me knew better.
Then there was the 'what ifs.' What if I made a mistake by giving him a chance? What if this whole 'friendship' thing turned into something more? — something that would hurt my sister, and destroy her relationship with both Scott and I? There was way too much negatives in this.
I was just being realistic. I took my time in the shower, collecting and draining my thoughts. Feeling refreshed, I egressed from the bathroom in a pair of boxers and a oversized white t-shirt.
Scott was browsing through Netflix. He looked over at me, and I suddenly felt like jumping out of the window when his eyes ate me alive. I pulled the end of my t-shirt uncomfortably.
"I ordered your favorite — chinese, and sushi and steak," he stated gesturing to the closed trays on the silver-serving stroller. His voice sounded low and distant. "I got you your favorite latte too. And there's free WiFi so we're watching a Marvel movie. Also your favorite."
Shifting my weight from one side to the other, I asked, "how'd you know this is all my favorite things?"
Scott smiled sadly. "I don't." He added, "I have my ways, squirrel. Never question a man in love."
I narrowed my eyes at him, and snapped my fingers. "Out with it."
His smile turned into a grin. "Okay okay," he said chuckling. "I know you're not going to believe this, but I've been at your house for almost a year now, and I know a lot of things about you that you don't know about yourself... so I know you better."
There was truth in his words though I didn't know about the latter, and he was taking advance psychology classes after all, so figuring people out was his specialty.
I got my heart broken once, and I wasn't going to let it happen again. It hurt too much. My walls were too high, and indestructible to climb over, or break. And I'd been planning to put soldiers around them.
I was pretty sure he knew that.
"I hate romantic things by the way," I told him as I got comfortable under the quilt. "It makes me want to throw up."
He turned his head to look at me and chuckled, "oh I know. That was never a secret."
We fell into silence after that, and drifted into the movie. It was quite a relaxing night. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was Scott's words;
Never question a man in love.
•••
A/N:
you’re beautiful and that’s a fact, so slay.
you can follow me on
Instagram: zunaid_lawrence
メ.