Lea’s POV --
I look into my dressers and poke my chin skeptically.
For the past hour I’ve been looking over possible outfits to wear as I leave the house and when I return. Tonight I’d be over Kira’s place since we haven’t done anything together in a while. It actually baffled me that she was willing to cut off a night with Brody to have me in her presence instead. I expected tonight to be full of laughter and enjoyment. Long talks about boys, mainly about boyfriends of course. I was a little too over excited to be able to call Jason my boyfriend. It’s been awhile since I’ve dated anyone and Liam was my first boyfriend, so technically I never had a real boyfriend. I don’t consider Liam a knight in shining armor for obvious reasons. Jason was more of a dark knight anyway, so mysterious and carefree. My complete polar opposite.
I clawed at shirts and shorts, looking over them briefly and then tossing them into a pile on top of my bed. My mother was blasting music downstairs while she cooked herself something to eat. My father had grown bored of not working, so he ended his vacation and hit the road. I don’t blame him, this house has nothing to offer and I know he hates the thought of spending gas to find pleasure.
My phone begins buzzing from within the clutter of clothing. I fling what remained in my hands to the right and stuff my hands into the mess. Clothes began toppling to the ground and I groaned, dreading the thought of having to pick everything up eventually. At last, I found my phone and came to realize it was Lana giving me a call. Perplexity constrained my entire facial expression as I answered the call. I sit with my legs straightened out over the bed, my ankles barely hanging off, and my arms holding me up by clutching the opposite edge of the bed.
“Hey Lana.” I finally say, eyes skimming over to what I considered to be the ‘cute clothes’ pile.
“Hey love, what are you doing?” She sounded as if she were as frustrated as I was right about now.
“Picking out clothes.” I scoot forward until I can stand up properly.
Placing the phone comfortably between my ear and shoulder, I stare into the cute clothes pile and place my hands on my hips. Lana began talking and telling me about her day. How working wasn’t as great as she thought it’d be but the bright side consisted of finally having her own money. As she speaks, I multitask between listening and giving small responses like ‘yeah’ or ‘wow’ and folding clothes. I decided to toss in a skirt I bought awhile ago that I never thought to wear. It was long, reaching to the ground, exotically designed, and I had the perfect top to match with. I sighed in relief, stuffing underwear and bras into the duffle bag. Now that clothes was no longer my biggest concern, I engaged in folding the unwanted things and replacing them back into the dressers.
“You should come over, I’m so bored.” Lana says after finishing her novel length story.
“I can’t today, I’m staying over Kira’s house.” I shut the drawers and grab some perfume, deodorant and a towel to shove into my bag as well.
“Ugh fine.” She cooed happily. “I’ll just go bother Ace.”
“We still need to double date.” I nod my head with full on certainty. “I also have a lot to tell you, I almost forgot.”
“Does it involve you and Jason?”
“Yes.” I replied, adding an over exaggerated amount of emphasis on the word.
She considers and the light tone in her voice made it clear she was more than interested in finding out what she’s been missing. “Call me when you get home tomorrow and I’ll come over, we’ll talk then.”
After we hang up, I decide to give Kira a call. I knew after a while my mother would grow tired of waiting for me to leave and she’d eventually state that I can no longer have this weekend of freedom. My punishment wasn’t over until the upcoming Monday but after seeing how well Kira and I did on our chemistry project, my parents made an exception. Instead of calling I send a text and wait patiently. To keep myself occupied I also text Jason and then I clean up the mess that remained on the floor of my room.
Even if it’s been a couple days since the incident, I couldn’t quite pull myself together one hundred percent. I mean, it’s not everyday that you smoke weed for the first time and then practically molest your boyfriend. However, the aftermath of my mistake was more than enjoyable. The way he touched me, so delicately and his voice drove my state of sanity into the pits of hell. I honestly felt like an idiot the minute I rolled off of him. I could tell that my face was as red as a tomato.
I stood by the head of my bed, staring at myself in the mirror on top of my dresser.
He didn’t just put his hand in my shorts, he touched me. The minute I felt his finger, my entire body stiffened. It’s not like I wanted that to happen though, it was pretty obvious that I was enjoying the moment. I should have let him keep going because I have to be completely honest, even if it was just a simple stroke, it felt so good and I could just imagine him touching me again and again.
I was well into my thoughts until my phone vibrated. Snapping back to reality, I inhale and exhale all while running my hands into my hair to release my self arousement. My hair falls over my shoulders and I stretch my arm out to snatch my phone off the blankets. Jason replied to me and although I knew there was absolutely no way of him knowing what I was recently thinking, I still feared he did know somehow. Kira also replied, explaining that she would be at my house in the next five minutes.
Ecstatic, I reply to them both and then shove my phone into my back pocket. I didn’t feel like making my bed and it’s not like my mother wouldn’t do it later on anyway so I simply grabbed my duffle bag with both hands and trudged out of my room. Music was still playing and it came from the kitchen, however it wasn’t as loud as it was before and I could easily decipher the sounds of Jasper clawing at the back door. After descending to the first floor, I drop my bag onto the first stair and then quickly head down the hall to allow Jasper access to the outdoors.
Kira didn’t live that far from me so I knew she’d be here any second. With that knowledge, I scurry into the kitchen and wait for my mom cast a glance in my direction. She was too busy singing along to that song ‘Listen to your Heart’ to even pay any attention to my existence. Rolling my eyes lamentably, I furtively stroll over to the radio and turn down the volume until the only thing belting into my ears was my mother’s horrible singing voice. She stops abruptly and looks in my direction, turning off the stove with a quick flick of her wrist. Instead of getting upset, which I expected since she hated when Lana and I would lay our ‘dirty fingers’ on her radio, she simply laughs and makes a small remark of how her singing voice is a complete disaster. I laughed slightly to keep the mood light on it’s toes.
“Kira’s on her way and Jasper’s outside.” I exclaimed, my hands were snowballing each other nervously.
“Alright, make sure you’re home by six tomorrow.” She tells me, grabbing a plate with one hand and using the opposite to raise the frying pan off the stove.
Six was a good time. It would also be Saturday so I could use that time to spend with Jason while I can. A good hour or two with him because I can’t just ditch Kira after spending the night. Besides that, there’s a lot you can do within two hours. Jason and I always find ways to keep ourselves occupied and I wouldn’t mind having a repeat of our last moment together. The thought of it made me smile grimly, never in a million years would I picture myself thinking these kinds of things. Sexual things. Everyone knows I’m probably the most innocent and prude girl you’d ever meet. Yet, there’s something about Jason; I don’t know what it is but he has the power to taint the angel and reveal the demon.
“Lea can I ask you something, I want you to be honest.” My mother did the honor of pulling me back to reality.
I was leaning against the threshold, back facing her direction. My eyes were glued to the wall but I wasn’t staring at it, I stared beyond it to visualize my thoughts. Blinking, I gulp like the nervous wreck I am and turn myself gradually. A couple minutes ago I had the fear that Jason possibly knew what I had been thinking and now I was contemplating the exact same thing with my mom now. I doubt my mother had the secret talent of being able to read thoughts, but she is a mom and mother’s always know everything. Or so they think they do.
“Sure.” I sway my right hand and keep my voice nonchalant, straightening my posture.
“You’re not still seeing that boy, are you?” She asks, scrutinizing me as she’s speaking.
It was quite obvious who she was talking about. Ever since that incident between my father and Jason, my parents have kept a distance. We’ve only ever talked if I needed to come down for breakfast and dinner. Their reaction isn’t much of a shock to me, however I always seem to expect more from them. More anger and fury like they’ve displayed many times. Jason didn’t seem affected by the encounter with my father but I’m sure if they were to cross paths things would result in worst case scenarios.
I could never confess to my parents and say that I’m now dating Jason. They think lowly enough of him as it is, I don’t need them grounding me for the rest of my life to ensure an outcome of me never seeing Jason again.
“Jason? No. Not since what happened with dad.” I lie, trying my absolute best to keep my voice from shaking. My mom was her own personal lie detector so I had to be extremely careful not to set off an alarm.
“Are you sure?” Her eyes were hard as steel.
“Yes mom.” I reply with much enthusiasm.
The moment she looks away from me I release the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding in. I finally hear a car honking outside of the house and I smiled so wide. I didn’t want to give my mom a chance to ask further questions so I run up to her and peck her cheek.
“He seemed like nothing but trouble anyway.” She says as I’m walking out into the main entrance. “There’s a lot of Jason’s around here. All trouble.”
I didn’t let what she said get to me, instead of standing around to get a better understanding I lift my duffle bag off of the ground and hurry out the door. Outside, Kira waited in her car with her favorite band, Sleeping With Sirens, blasting loud enough to shatter her windows. The music blared so loudly it wasn’t surprising that she didn’t even notice how quickly I plopped into the back seat. Similar to my mouth, she was too busy singing along and texting to even pay me any attention. I turn down the volume once again and she looks up like a deer caught in headlights. Realizing it’s only me, she laughs faintly and apologizes.
“I was just texting you.” She says, flashing her phone in my direction. Then she settles it on her lap and grabs the steering wheel.
“I had a feeling it was you.” I state, looking back at the house before we speed off down the street. “My mom was going to start lecturing so I literally ran out the house.”
“Lecturing about what?” She asks and at the first red light we reach, she glances at her phone then at me. “Sandrine’s at my house already by the way.”
“Alright.” I nod and adjust the seat so I could lie back as the wind hit my face. “And she wasn’t lecturing about you or anything, she asked me about Jason and I didn’t want to hear it.”
“Oh.” She stretched out the word and nodded her head slowly to follow the length.
“Yeah.” I imitate her and we both laugh afterwards.
“It’s been awhile since you’ve spent the night.” Kira said with a bit of disbelief.
I can’t really explain this properly but basically, Kira and I would spend the night over each other’s houses a lot more. Practically all the time until it reached a point where we might as well be living at each other’s houses. Kira could easily walk into my house and be welcomed, on certain days, and the same goes for me except I was welcomed into her household at all times. I don’t want to put the blame on anything but something clearly happened in between all this to have caused us to grow apart. I didn’t like it, the idea of becoming distant from Kira frightened me.
Hopefully this would be enough to bring us back together. I wasn’t worried about seeing Sandrine, I knew she’d be spending the night as well. It wouldn’t be much of a slumber party with only two people anyway, now would it? Besides that, it’s not the first time I’ve stayed over Kira’s house at the same time as Sandrine. It’ll probably be the fifth time if I remember correctly. We would be having the house to ourselves since her mother would be hitting a club with some coworkers and Kira’s little brother would be spending the night at a friend’s house as well. We already had a routine set, we’d bake cupcakes or just a cake in general and eat it all ourselves. We’d watch movies with the largest bowl of popcorn being passed left and right. The movies would consist of something scary and then something funny so as to drown out the fright. After that we’d talk for hours and hours, about anything. Celebrities, boys, school, girls we don’t like, clothes, and anything else you can imagine taking place in a typical girl conversation.
At her house, we arrive just in time to see her brother leave off. Her mom was in the shower and she wouldn’t be leaving for the next hour or so because she took years to apply make-up and get herself settled. I found Sandrine sitting on Kira’s bed, painting her toe nails a light shade of blue. Kira tosses my bag beside Sandrine’s and we both plopped onto the bed. While removing my shoes, Sandrine twisted the cap onto the nail polish and hopped onto the ground. Taking two careful steps, she sits down on Kira’s computer chair and keeps her eyes on her toes, waiting patiently for the polish to dry off neatly.
“My mom is going to take forever but she won’t stop us from having fun.” Kira informs us after the room became awkwardly silent. “What should we do first?”
Neither of us could decide. Sandrine didn’t want to do anything just yet until her nail polish has dried completely. Kira wanted to get started on the baking because she was hungry and I had no problem with that. Eventually we convinced Sandrine to simply sit on a stool and pass us the ingredients, that didn’t require a lot of moving around. In the kitchen, I sit on the counter and we all talk the entire time. Sandrine was explaining how she was sick of school and she couldn’t wait to graduate and hit college, while Kira was talking about how she recently got into an argument with Liam over his dumb antics.
My smile was as fake as a mannequins, “He’s rude and he doesn’t want me around Jason.”
“Who cares what he wants?” Sandrine says, dipping her finger into the bowl to taste the cake batter.
“If he doesn’t leave you alone I’ll punch in the face.” Kira shrugs and also dips her finger to get a taste. “Or to make things fair, I’ll have Brody do it.”
“I’ve never seen you hang out with Brody.” I pout, crossing my arms over my chest. “Probably because we don’t hang out either.”
“Yeah, because I see them together all the time.” Sandrine says, watching as Kira stirs the batter around roughly.
“Isn’t weird,” I begin saying, kicking my feet back and forth, “How you’re dating Brody, Lana is with Ace and I’m with Jason?”
“That’s a huge coincidence.” Kira nods along with Sandrine.
After the stirring is done and we help Kira set everything into the stove and check the heat, we roam into the kitchen and collapse onto the couch. We took this time to decide on which movies we’ll be watching later on. As we’re skimming through the options, Kira’s mom begins making her way down the stairs. Either time was already speeding by or her mother just decided to wear that without giving it a second look. Not that she looked bad, she looked stunning, it just seemed as though it was too soon for her to be already heading out the door. None of us complained though, now that she was gone we were able to do and say whatever we wanted. Sandrine hopped up and danced her way into the kitchen with Kira following from behind, while I continued searching for a comedy flick.
“I think it’s about that time.” Sandrine was saying and I look over to find her standing with two large bottles of Bacardi. Kira appeared next with a bottle of Loopy and three cups in her hand.
My eyebrows pulled together and I shifted uncomfortably, “Um, we’ve never done that before.”
“Exactly why we’re doing it now.” Sandrine smiled, sitting on the floor in pretzel formation.
Kira sat beside her and handed me a cup, kept one for herself and handed the other to Sandrine. I looked at the screen and frowned, supposing that our plans to watch a movie were being thrown out the window. Sandrine opens the first bottle of bacardi and pours herself about half of a cup, then she hands it to Kira who opens up the Loopy and mixes it into her drink. From where I sat I could smell Froot Loops and I then understood why the drink was called Loopy. Grinning mischievously, Sandrine raised the cup to her lips and chugged it down. Her eyes shut tightly and she grimaces, curling up her face as if she tasted something bitter. Kira follows after, mixing the drinks and chugging it down. I refused and I wasn’t giving into the peer pressure this time which somewhat upset them but at least caused them to close up the bottles and set them to the side.
“The cake has about ten more minutes.” Kira says, grabbing the remote from my lap to shut off the TV.
“We’ll just talk then.” Sandrine shrugs and turns her attention on me. “What do you want to talk about?”
I shrug, scratching my head and running my finger through my hair. “I don’t know.”
Groaning, she looks at Kira who shrugs as well. We remain quiet and eventually Kira asks what our opinion is of the Algebra teacher. I never paid much attention to him so my opinion wasn’t that interesting and since Sandrine was in an upper grade, she couldn’t share hers as well. instead of discussing teachers we soon we reached the topic of the seniors that swore they were the kings and queen of our school. Even Sandrine hated her class, which explains why should hung out with us most of the time. Kira spoke of Bethany, some senior, and how she’s been wanting to fight her all year but she’s waiting for Bethany to step to her first. It’ll save her the price of suspension if things happen that way but we all know Bethany wasn’t trying to get herself kicked out of graduation.
Sandrine was talking about a boy in her grade who has been trying to screw around with her since the moment she first stepped foot into our school. His name was Charles and I guess you could say he was extremely popular. Most of the girls in my school thought he was pretty hot. I never paid much attention to him either.
I told them about a girl named Julia and Kira was first to comment. Neither of us liked her, she was so obnoxious and she was one of those girls that raised her hand to answer every question even if she didn’t know the answer. She raised her hand to do everything, read, write on the board, solve an equation, and just about everything but you’d never catch her raising her hand to use the restroom.
“She’s so fucking annoying.” Kira shakes her head and looks at Sandrine, “I’ll show you who she is at lunch on Monday.”
“Good.” Sandrine laughed, “Do you guys know Zack in my grade? Really tall, skinny, and he plays basketball all the time in the gym.”
“Yeah, he’s so cute.” I say, shifting to lie on my stomach.
“I fucked him.” She grins.
My jaw drops to the ground along with Kira’s. Our reactions caused her to burst into hysterical laughter and she falls back on the ground. Kira hops up, to check on the cake and Sandrine and I stand up to follow after her. Still laughing, Sandrine boosted herself up onto the counter while Kira grabbed a mit and opened the stove.
“Isn’t he dating that cheerleader Morgan?” I ask, trying to concentrate but the smell of the freshly baked cake distracted me.
“Yep, he sure is.” Sandrine smiled, “I still fucked him though, like two days ago. His dick is huge for a white guy.”
“Stop.” I wave my hand, “I didn’t need to know all that.”
“Sorry.” She teases and hops off the counter so Kira could replace her spot with the cake.
“We’ll let it sit for a few minutes.” Kira nods and shoves us both back into the living room.
“Seriously though Lea, you’re going to see a dick one day so get comfortable with these types of conversations.” Sandrine placed her arm around my shoulder and smiled at me cutely, “You don’t plan to be a virgin forever, do you?”
“Obviously not.” I pout, “But I’d rather not talk about that stuff, it makes me uncomfortable.”
She straightens her facial expression and looks at Kira who held her fingers to the bridge of her nose in sheer disappointment. “Lea, you’ve got a really good looking boyfriend, I don’t know how you’re holding back.”
“I agree.” Sandrine nods, looking at me again.
“It’s hard.” I laugh innocently, “He knows I’m not ready for that though...trust me he knows.”
They exchange suspicious glances at one another and I duck under Sandrine’s arm to free myself from her grasp. I back up until my back pressed up against her couch and fold my legs together. Kira smirked at me, squinting her eyes in a knowing gesture.
“How far have you guys gone?” Kira asks.
“What do you mean?” I stare at the both of them, bewildered.
“How far did you go with Jason? Like, kissing, touching, undressing?” Sandrine restates, “For example, I went all the way with Zack.”
“I went all the way with Brody.” Kira shrugs, “Multiple times.”
“You guys,” I wave my finger from Sandrine to Kira about ten times and grimace, “Are disgusting!”
“Sex isn’t disgusting, you’ll find that out eventually.” Kira laughs, “But answer me, how far did you guys go?”
“Other than kissing?” I somewhat shut my eyes but stare at them through my lashes. They both nod slowly and I chew on the inside of my cheek. “Well, the other day I went to his house and things got a little heated.”
“You’re going to have to be more detailed than that.” Sandrine shakes her head in disapproval.
“I don’t know how to explain what happened!” I raise my voice but not high enough to yell at them. Sighing, I try to think of a way to explain to them without having to sound like a pornstar. “I mean it was an accident, that’s how it started. He was smoking and he blew the smoke into my mouth, then on my neck and I...touched him. It was an accident, I wasn’t even paying attention.”
“You touched his dick?” Kira beamed, “No way! Is he big?”
“What?” My eyes widened and my cheeks were on fire. “I don’t know, yes?”
“Did you freak out? I bet you did.” Sandrine laughed, resting her arm over the couch.
I shake my head, “I was in too much shock to do anything. He made me grab it and then he pulled me on his lap.”
“Holy shit.” Sandrine’s jaw was touching the floor, “You let him?”
“Well, yeah.” I laughed, nervously scratching the back of my head. “I liked it.”
They both screamed at the same time. I nearly jumped out of my skin from the sudden eruption. Still shrieking, they high fived each other and then out of nowhere I was tackled to the ground. Kira was showering my cheeks with kisses and repeating the phrase ‘my baby is growing up’ over and over again. I couldn’t help but laugh and Sandrine was too busy clapping her hands to save me from Kira’s attack. I manage to push her off of me so I could sit up but she still found a way to wrap her arms around my neck and hug me tight enough to choke me.
“I’m proud of you.” She kisses the top of my head and then finally releases me.
“But!” Sandrine raises a finger and arches her eyebrow, “You haven’t lived until you’ve experimented so tell me, would you ever kiss a girl?”
I flushed, “Um I don’t know, probably not.”
“You’d kiss me, we’re best friends.” Kira giggles, patting my shoulder.
“I mean, yeah I’d kiss you guys since we’re friends. I guess.” I shrug unsurely, “I never think of kissing anyone besides Jason.”
“Kiss one of us.” Kira elbows me, “I bet I kiss better than Jason.”
“I highly doubt that.” I laugh and scoot over, pinning myself against the edge of the couch. “That’s weird, I’m not kissing you guys.”
“Why not?” Kira laughs and looks at Sandrine who was laughing to herself. “I kiss Sandrine all the time.”
“So?”
“So don’t be a pussy about it.” Sandrine jokes. “Look.”
I didn’t want to but I forced myself to keep my eyes open. I raise my knees and pull my legs into my chest, hugging myself. My chin rests on top of my knees and as I’m watching I felt my stomach acting up, I would probably throw up in the next thirty seconds. I witness Sandrine and Kira peck each other and laugh about it like as if it’s something they’ve been doing since birth. They look at me and slump their shoulders, waiting for my response. I don’t say anything and Kira quickly grows tired of my games. On her knees she makes her way towards me and instructs me to lower my legs. Groaning, I do as I’m told but cross my arms over my chest half heartedly.
“It’s not that serious Lea.” She mutters and grabs my face, “Look at me.”
I refused to look at her but that didn’t stop her from kissing me once. It went by quickly so I didn’t really react to it. Nevertheless, she still held me in her hand and I remained with my eyes shut. It’s silent and the only thing I process is her lips against mine again. I still didn’t react, my mind was too focused on how soft her lips were. Not as soft as Jason’s but close enough. The hands on my face disappear but the kiss was still going. Within seconds, she pulls away and I open my mouth to find Kira drinking from a cup.
“What the hell.” Sandrine says, looking at me, “Your lips are so soft.”
“Stop, don’t say that.” I place my hand over my mouth, “Jason tells me that all the time.”
“Shit, I don’t blame him.” Kira laughs, passing Sandrine a cup. “If I were him I’d kiss you everyday.”
“Ok stop.” I laugh, “I don’t even know what I’m doing when I kiss someone.”
“There’s not much to it.” Sandrine jeers after taking a large gulp.
I shrug dumbfoundedly and watch them continue drinking from the cups. Sandrine looks at me and sets the cup down. I cowered, getting a small idea of what her intentions were. Giggling she leans in and presses her lips to mine. I figured this would be a normal kiss but what I didn’t expect was alcohol to find it’s way down my throat. I pull away, not liking the way it tasted. Although it smelled like Froot Loops it didn’t taste like it at all. Sandrine kissed me again and more alcohol flooded my mouth. It tasted it completely horrible and even her tongue tasted similar to the drinks. Eventually I gave in, if I tried fighting this off I’d probably end up choking on liquor altogether.
The way she kissed me was so hypnotizing. I wasn’t sure if I liked this or not. In fact I couldn’t quite fathom anything at all. I did kiss her back though because it seemed like the right thing to do. Her hands were on my shoulders and something about the way our lips smacked together made me shiver. She pulled away but something in me kicked forward, pushing me to reconnect our lips. I guess this was the meaning of experimenting and getting to know who you are. I’m not sure but either way, I couldn’t stop myself. I could feel her grinning against my lips and eventually our tongues touched but not for long. I touched her the way I touched Jason, feeling her neck down to her chest. I touched her breasts and quickly brought my hands up to her neck again. It felt so weird to feel that, they were way bigger than mine of course and so perky. I’d rather touch Jason’s chest since it was purely muscle and on top of that, covered in gorgeous tattoos.
“I always knew Lea had an inner lesbian.” Kira was saying after she burped loud enough to disturb our make-out session.
Sandrine was laughing and I realized her hands were on my ass, holding me in place. I flushed again and backed away, licking my lips. Half of me was embarrassed for getting so carried away but the other half felt like a brand new person, who has just won a nobel prize. Kira and Sandrine were chuckling to themselves and eventually things took a turn. Within a few minutes we were talking about a whole new subject as if Sandrine and I didn’t just kiss for a solid three minutes. Finally we decided to dig into our freshly made cake. I cut myself a nice large piece and grabbed a poured myself an equally large glass of milk.
Sandrine and Kira begin talking, I listen in on their conversation but refrain from talking since I was too engrossed with this food. I glanced at the clock on the stove. It was close to one in the morning and I hadn’t even realized how fast time flew. I grab my phone from my pocket and unlock it, searching for Jason. As Kira and Sandrine continue their conversation, I dial his number and hold the phone to my ear.
He answers but neither one of us say anything just yet. I was too busy shoving a piece of cake into my mouth and it sounded as if Jason were rustling around with something.
“Hey.” He says and it became clear why he took a while to not only answer the phone but speak up. His voice was the definition of rugged and worn out, it sounded amazing all the same but I felt bad because I knew I must have just woken up him from a nap or something.
“Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t think you’d be sleeping.” I say and take a sip from my cup.
Kira and Sandrine fall into silence once their hear me speaking into the phone.
“It’s fine baby, what’s up?” My heart was beating as fast as a humming bird’s from the low tone of his voice.
“I just wanted to hear you.” I smiled and poked the fork into the final piece of cake. I knew both Kira and Sandrine were listening and making noises similar to that of someone puking. “And I miss you.”
He chuckled and I almost fell out of my chair, “Well, I sound like shit right now. Sorry.”
I shook my head and adjusted the phone against my ear. “No you sound perfect.”
“I sound tired.”
“Still perfect to me.” I reply in a sing-song voice.
I wanted to squeal every time he laughed but I couldn’t do that with Sandrine and Kira eavesdropping. I kept my cool and acted as if I wasn’t phased by how perfect Jason could be, even in his most tired state. Right now, I wished I was lying beside him so I couldn’t just hear his tired voice I could see his face and watch him fight to keep his eyes open. I’d stare at his lips and watch as he fights to mumble simple sentences without falling unconscious. I’d cuddle with him and shower his face with kisses until he smiled tiredly and made a smart remark.
“Jason?’ I say after the silence dragged on for longer than a minute.
“Hm?” He sounded as if he were on the verge of falling asleep in the next couple of seconds.
“I’ll let you go to sleep now.”
“Ok, I’ll come get you tomorrow beautiful.”
I smiled, “I’ll call you and let you know when. Goodnight.”
The low rasp purifying my eardrums as he says a soft goodnight, is all I awaited for. Once he says it, I felt like my day had been completed.
The rest of the night consisted of chips, soda and movies until we fall asleep one by one. Sandrine fell asleep first and Kira tells me it’s because of all the alcohol. I laughed silently, muffling it with my hand. We watched at least four different movies until Kira decided she was going to fall asleep too. Before that we ran upstairs and found Kira’s makeup supplies. Gathering everything we head back downstairs and mess around with Sandrine. Just like Kira, Sandrine was a deep sleeper and it took a lot to wake her. We took that to our advantage by drawing a mustaches unibrow, we applied lipstick onto her lips and I gave her whiskers and a black dot on her nose. Kira drew teardrops under her eyes and we both laughed because in the midst of all this, Sandrine didn’t move an inch.
Kira fell asleep and I stayed for another hour or so. I decided to hit the sheets once Kira’s mother returned home. Before she enters the house I hide the bottles of liquor under the couch and shut off the TV. Kira had passed out on the couch and Sandrine was lying on the floor. I took my spot on the arm chair and stretched it out so I could lay back and raise my legs up comfortably. My mind was a cluster of thoughts but the only thing that helped me fall asleep were the thoughts of Jason.
The next morning, Kira made us breakfast while Sandrine and I took turn using the bathroom to take care of our morning routines. After breakfast, not much was planned but we found a way to pass the time. From Kira’s house we walked around the neighborhood until it came close to four o’clock in the afternoon. During the walk-moments prior to heading back to Kira’s place-we managed to run into Brody and I was surprised we didn’t see Ace. I called Jason and told him to come get me. I wanted to use those two hours to be with him and only him while I can. Maybe if I got lucky I’d spend the night and come up with some excuse for my extremely late arrival. Sandrine left about a half an hour after we got back from our walk and Kira was too busy on tumblr to strike up a conversation. The minute Jason told me he was outside I hugged Kira tightly and told her we needed to have another night like this again, maybe at my house but it’s better at her’s.
She walked me outside and waved at Jason from her porch. I was all too excited to sit beside Jason right now. He looked great and actually happy for once. A smile came across his face as soon as I waved to him. Courteously, he takes my duffle bag out of my hands and opens the back door of his car, tossing the bag onto the seat. I opened the passenger door but before I make a move to sit down, he grabs my waist from behind and pulls me in the opposite direction.
“You look beautiful today.” He says, his arms were wrapped around me from behind so tightly. I felt his chest to my back and he leaned downwards to place a kiss on my cheek.
“Thank you.” My smile glowed brighter than a single light bulb illuminating a dark room. I turned my face to kiss his lips and he smiled again. I would say I felt butterflies fluttering in my stomach but not this time, not with all the happiness. They were dead now because all of this affection was too much for them to handle. As he pulls away, he kisses my cheek again and then fully releases me so I was able to step into his car.
Once he’s sitting beside me, I look at him skeptically. He looks at me, twisting his hand on the keys to start the ignition. I blink and he blinks as well, waiting in a sea of miscomprehended my expression.
“You’re so happy today.” I say.
“I am?” He laughs, “I feel the same.”
“Hm.” I extended the notion and look away from him. “I just figured.”
While he’s driving he laughs and looks at me, “I’m only kidding. I am kind of happy right now.”
I smiled and looked at him, “Why?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugs, “I just am today. It’s a rare thing.”
“Oh.” I nod, “Well that’s good because I’m happy too. We can be happy together.”
I place my hand out in his direction and he looks at it. Patiently, I wait for him to set his hand over mine and eventually he side glances at me and releases his right hand from the steering wheel. I take his hand and entwine our fingers together. During the car ride, I tell him that I purposely wanted him to pick me up a little early so we’d have an hour or two together.
Smiling slyly he says, “You’re such a badass.”
“Shut up.” I roll my eyes, hitting his arm softly. “But guess what happened last night.”
“What?” He says, still too busy laughing at my small attempt to harm him.
“So we were all talking and stuff, you know, normal girl conversations. You don’t care about that.” I waved my hand and he nodded in full agreement. “But we started talking about you and then I don’t know how it happened but Kira and I kissed and then Sandrine and I kissed too. It was so weird, they were telling me to experiment and stuff...now that I think about it, it’s so funny to me.”
I was laughing and hoping Jason to find it funny that a bunch of girls acted wild for a night. It seemed like something Jason would pay to watch anyway. All the same, his expression was the opposite of what I expected. The smile on his face had vanished and I felt tension settling into the car in a matter of seconds.
“Isn’t that funny?” I repeat myself and squeeze his hand, hoping I didn’t ruin the mood.
“You kissed Sandrine?” He asks and that happy-go-lucky tone in his voice vanished just like his smile.
“Yeah, we were just messing around.” I laughed once but it didn’t ease any nerves.
“Didn’t you tell me you didn’t like her or she didn’t like you? Something along those lines.” He released my hand to place it on the steering wheel. “I don’t like her.”
“We settled our differences last night.”
“I can fucking tell.” He scoffs, “She’s the same bitch who’s telling you all that bullshit about me. Why didn’t you tell me she would be there?”
“I thought it would be pretty obvious. Kira and her are really close and it’s not much of a slumber party with only two people.” I shrugged and my voice grew smaller the more I spoke.
I thought telling him was doing the right thing. I don’t like keeping secrets from him, I’d tell him everything if he wanted to know. It’s better that way than me keeping it from him anyway. I guess I still don’t know much about relationships after all.
“What I’m trying to say is, I don’t fucking like that bitch.”
“Well, I’m sorry...I thought I should tell you.” I shrugged again.
“You know she’s trying so fucking hard to get me to sleep with her?” He laughed but it wasn’t a friendly kind of laugh you’d join in on. “Even now, she’s still trying.”
“I didn’t know that.” I frown, sinking into myself. “I’m sorry Jason, don’t be mad at me.”
“Whatever, I don’t give a fuck.” We were down the street from his house and instead of stopping there he keeps going. I didn’t say anything, I figured he’d decide to simply take me home anyway, I didn’t like being around him when he was upset. “You could have at least told me you kissed her stupid ass before I kissed you.”
“Jason, please stop.” I groan, “Ugh, I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“You’re right. You shouldn’t have.”