Eight
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I ended up sleeping with him in his bed that night. Since my clothes were wet too and it was pretty late at night, none of us really wanted to go out again. I could swear I was literally trembling and blushing blood-red when he, completely nonchalant and composed, shirtless and bold, leaning back with his elbows on the pillows, invited me to share his bed with him.

Standing by the curtain in one of his t-shirts and boxer, my nails sunk into my palms and I struggled to keep my composure. Sure, we'd kissed but the quiet, calculating look in his eyes as he waited for me seemed to wrecked me right in my gut. I had never slept with any other guy besides Drew before and I had been sleeping with Drew ever since kindergarten. It was different with him. And it was different with Jay too.

"Why are you still standing there? Come on in."

"Sure." I nodded and went forward. His gaze never left me even as I quietly climbed in and settled down at the far edge of the bed.

Jay laughed and said, "You sure are a virgin, aren't you, Lola?"

Strangely, I felt comfortable enough to tell him truthfully that I haven't had sex at all. "Today was my first real kiss."

He looked at me for a long moment without a word, with a face so straight and unreadable. He shifted his gaze away and got under the cover, saying, "Don't let anybody else touch you."

Flustered by his rather odd demand, I asked him, "Why?"

He simply gave me a cryptic smile and said nothing more. I dropped further questions, thinking it would come across as being too pushy and overly curious. Without another word, I too quietly slipped under the cover.

"Come closer," he said.

I moved over towards him a little. His hand came under the sheet to grab me by my waist. Then he yanked me in and hooked his arm around my chest. He snuggled closer, buried his face into my neck, and closed his eyes.

For minutes that followed, I was very conscious of my rapid pulses, my galloping heartbeat, my breathlessness, but when he didn't open his eyes again or said nothing more, I too drifted off to sleep.

A noise from the street below, someone calling out for Jay, woke me up from my slumber the next morning. Forcing my eyelids open and stretching out, I found myself alone on the bed. I rolled over to my front, hugged a pillow, and listened for a moment, trying to guess where Jay was and what the guy wanted with him. Then I heard Jay pull up the shutter and open the window.

"Send it up!" He said.

I stepped down from the bed and ran my fingers through my hair. My breath hitches immediately in panic. I ran to his dresser and got my heartbroken, seeing that I looked as if an angry hairdresser had given me a new perm during the night. Jay didn't have a hairdryer so I had slept with damp hair.

I shouldn't have.

I tried to smooth it down but nothing helped. I looked for my hair tie everywhere only to realize it was in the pocket of my jeans that I'd left on top of the washing machine in the bedroom. So, no matter how funny I looked, I had to see Jay this way.

I moved the curtain and walked out to the middle of his apartment, holding my hair behind my neck so it wouldn't spring open like a giant nest. Jay, still shirtless and in his jeans, was leaning through the window and peering down at the street below, a clanking noise of metal chains clashing together coming from the outside. With his broad, inked back facing me, he reached down and pulled up a metal basket. In that, I saw a packet of milk and two boxes of phones.

"Did you get our phones repaired?" I asked him.

"No," he replied, a puff of smoke filling the air in front of his face.

"Anything else, Jay?!"

Taking the cigarette from his lips in between his fingers, he shouted back, "Nah. I'm good. Thanks, Al! Owe you one!"

"No problem! Just gimme a call if you need anything else."

"Sure! What did you tell them?"

"Nothing. Just said 'Jay asked'. Just like you told me."

"Good. I'll see you later!"

He took out the contents, left the basket outside, and strode in, his cigarette back at his lips again. He threw one of the boxes to me.

"That's for you."

I gaped at the picture of a phone on the cover and I was pleasantly surprised to see my very own device model. I followed him to the kitchen where we opened the boxes. He had got me a new phone.

"I'll definitely pay it back to you."

"No. There's no need for that."

"Are you kidding me? I will."

"I got them for free. So, there's no need for payback."

"You get free phones?"

"Yeah. I have people I know."

"Okay. Well, thanks a lot."

"Mhmm." He nodded while his eyes stayed trained on the device in his hand, a smooth frown on his forehead and letting out another puff of smoke. "Nice hair, by the way."

A smile instantly crept up on my lips. When my clothes had dried enough after breakfast, he drove me back to campus. We kissed again in the elevator, catching the building security, Rick, by surprise when we landed in the parking area, lips entangled and in heat. We left Margarita this time and instead took out his Chevy Corvette.

"Nice drive," I said as we settled inside.

"Another present."

"You get a Vette for a present?"

"It was Ricardo's. I always used to drive this when I lived with them. He gave it to me when I moved out."

"That's nice."

"Mhmm."

He dropped me off at my dorm and I got out without the sweetness of another kiss that I wasn't sure if I actually looked forward to. I wasn't also sure if I expected him to say he looked forward to seeing me again, tonight, tomorrow, sometimes. He said nothing and left. I went inside, questions swirling in my mind but I shuffled them all away and concentrated on telling Vanessa that Jay and I kissed and getting animated at it.

"So, you guys didn't have sex?"

"No! No! I wasn't. . . I mean, we just met. Sex is a bit too far, for now, I guess."

"Yeah. I guess? But guys like Jay. . . take any chance girl!"

I laughed a lot talking about Jay with Vanessa. Her excitement and zeal made everything extra funny and interesting. I went to college wearing a smile on my face that I found very hard to suppress, now that the weight of saving the first kiss had gone. I had always imagined it in a way that's quite enchanting, ground-breaking, passionate, sweet. . . but what I had with Jay, I'm not exactly sure what to call it. It was in no way enchanting, it wasn't exactly ground-breaking either, not quite passionate or sweet, but I remember being very present in each second of it.

He kissed me real and hard. Simple as that and true as my existence. And I found myself lightly teasing my lower lip with my teeth throughout the day, reliving what had passed, a momentary spark of desire and fervor.

Apparently, Drew noticed that I continuously keep on drifting away in my own thoughts. He asked me twice in the cafeteria, during lunch, where I had been last night, and why the hell I was in such a great mood.

It's funny to say but, having kissed by Jay made me feel more on earth, more solid and alive deep in my conscience; and thinking over and over about it filled me with a strong sense of accomplishment. I had really done it. It just felt so good. Like I had actually become a part of the flock now, of people, not much of the odd person anymore.

We didn't meet for the next five days. It honestly drove me mad inside. I had wondered if he would come back and get me again or ask me to accompany my friends but none of that happened. I had decided not to go out without being invited in case I come across expectant and clingy so, I stayed inside campus most nights. Even Vanessa stopped going out with them for a while just to get a breather. Carli met Grayson every night but I didn't ask her either. I had started to think if Antonella was actually right. Is he already done with me?

But when Vanessa went out again after three nights, she came back and told me she didn't see Jay or Fabio anywhere. Antonella was there though so, I told myself maybe he was busy somewhere and I shouldn't really care. It was just one or two kisses. Jay never even talked about commitment. We were both only having fun and that's it. There's nothing more.

But maybe I liked it more than I should.

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Hope you liked the chapter!
Next two chapters are on Inkitt and I had fun writing the latest update there 🤓

Have a great time reading and stay safe! ❤❤❤

Love, Hermyne