Chapter Seventeen

I was sleeping on a cloud, a big, soft and very comfortable cloud.

In the distance, I could hear my phone ringing but the cloud wouldn’t let go of me. And I couldn’t blame it. We had some great sleeping relation-ship going on there. I smiled, burying my face in the cloud.

However, my phone wouldn’t stop ringing and it was starting to get on my nerves. Lazily, I extended my hand towards the night table to grab it which ended up with my hand knocking down my phone until it landed on the floor with a thud. I groaned, opening my eyes. I waited for my sight to adjust to my surroundings. My room was still a little dark.

What time was it?

I dragged half of my body out of the bed to pick up my phone. I lay back down, answering it.

“Hello?” my voice sounded thick and sleepy.

“Hey, Jules!” I didn’t recognize that voice.

“Who’s this?”

“It’s Mike.” He replied energetic, “Did I wake you up? I’m sorry.”

“What time is it?”

“6: 40 am.”

“What?” I glanced at my window. The sun was not up yet but I could see the orange tinting the sky, “You better have a good reason for calling at this hour,” I said annoyed. I hated people waking me up, specially so early on a Saturday morning.

“Listen, I just wanted to thank you for last night,”

“You could have wait for a decent hour to tell me that,” I groaned, closing my eyes.

“Sorry. I couldn’t wait. I had a great night with Linda and it was all thanks to you,”

“Mike, the credit is all yours. I was just keeping you guys company for a while.” I heard a noise coming from my side. I glanced at my window, frowning. Something seemed to be hitting it.

“But without you, she wouldn’t have gone to the club at all.” Mike kept talking but I tuned him out. I sat up, staring at my window. I saw something small clashing against it. Was that a rock?

I frowned, pushing the covers off me and swinging my feet out of the bed.

“Jules? Are you listening to me?” Mike asked seriously.

“Yeah? Sorry, what were you saying?”

“I was wondering if you want to grab a cup of coffee. You know to thank you for last night.” I peeked through my window and my eyes widened.

“I can’t. I gotta go, Mike.” I hung up, gazing down at my front yard.

Jason was standing among the bushes, he looked pretty bad. His hair was all messy but not in a disheveled way, more like in a homeless way. His lips were purple, and he shook every once in a while. He was probably cold. Why? Well, he only wore his black boxers. He looked up to throw another rock when he saw me. Relief went through his face. I pushed my window up, opening it.

“What the hell, Jason?” I whispered.

“Open the back door.” He said, rushing to the back of my house. This wasn’t like my previous house where he could climb up the window. Here it was too high for that.

Sometime later, Jason walked inside my room. He was shaking pretty badly. I touched him and he was so cold.

“Jesus! You’re cold, like Edward Cullen cold.” I wrapped one of my sheets around him, “Are you trying to get sick?” I reprehended. Summer was gone and the weather was not the most appropriate one to be walking around the trees in a pair of boxers.

“Believe me-me, I di-din’t plan this,” he stuttered. His lower lip was trembling.

“I’m gonna make you a hot coffee. You may catch a cold.” I headed out of the room.

When I came back, two cups in hand, Jason was buried among my bed’s covers. I could only see his head.

“I’m gonna die,” he said dramatically.

I rolled my eyes, sitting next to him, “No, you’re not. Come on, drink this.”

“I can’t move.”

“Yes, you can. Come out of your shell, little turtle.” I teased. Jason glared at me, but sat up, pushing the covers down his chest. He grasped the cup, sipping on it. His lips were not purple anymore but they looked pretty pale to me.

“This feels so good,” he closed his eyes, taking another sip.

“So, are you gonna tell me what happened or are we going to pretend this is normal?” I asked, gazing at him.

He sighed, “Helen kicked me out of her house,”

“At 6:00 am?”

“Yep,”

 “Why were you there?” I took a sip of my coffee.

“I stayed the night,”

I frowned, “Does Evan know this?”

“No,”

“Her aunt?” he shook his head, “Okay, where are your clothes?”

“She didn’t give a chance to pick up my clothes or my phone,” he placed the cup on the night table.

I squinted my eyes at him, “What did you do? She must’ve been pretty upset to kick you out like this,” Jason opened his mouth then shut it. I cocked an eyebrow, waiting for him to speak. He rubbed his face, averting his gaze, “Jason?”

“I… I didn’t do it on purpose I swear,” he raised his hands in a defense manner, “I don’t know what I was thinking,”

I grabbed him by his shoulders, “Jason, what did you do?”

“It’s kind of embarrassing,”

“Okay, you’re officially scaring me,” I said honestly.

He let out a long breath, “I woke up a little excited and well, we started kissing and touching. One thing led to the other and we ended up having awesome morning sex,”

“And?” I pressed, drinking some more of my coffee.

He lowered his head, “I called her Laura.”

I spat out coffee on his face, “What?!”

“Ew! Jules! Gross!” he grimaced, wiping his face off.

“You what?!” I repeated again in shock, “Are you serious?”

He kept his head down, “I really don’t know what happened.”

“I do.” I retorted, “That is a big subconscious betrayal,”

Jason looked up at me, “I wasn’t thinking about her,”

“Apparently, your subconscious was.” I spoke worriedly, “Poor Helen!”

“She can’t be mad at me for saying something when my brain wasn’t functioning right,”

I scowled at him, “What do you mean?”

“We were having sex. All my blood was south, if you know what I mean,”

I made a face, “Unfortunately, I do.”

“Helen was furious,” Jason added.

“Who wouldn’t be?”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,”

“I know.”

“You think she’ll forgive me?” he asked hopefully.

I rubbed his shoulder in a comforting manner, “I don’t know, J, but that’s not what concerns me the most,”

Jason frowned, “Then what is it?”

I touched his chest, “This. Your feelings,”

“What about them?”

“Jason, you can probably fool everyone but you can’t fool me.” I explained sadly, “Whatever you feel for Laura doesn’t seem to be going away.”

He rubbed his face, “I’m trying, okay? I just…” he sighed, “I don’t know what else to do.”

“I wish I could tell you what to do but im not really experienced in this area,” I admitted, “But maybe, feelings cannot be fought or stopped.”

“I don’t wanna hurt anyone, Jules and we both know a lot of people will be hurt if I don’t handle this the right way,” I’d never seen him this serious before.

“I know but what else can you do? I mean, you’re trying but it’s obviously not working,”

“I shall try harder then,”

“Jason…”

“What else can I do?” he wondered, staring at me seriously, “I feel like the most selfish guy in the world. Why now? Why do my feelings decide to come to the surface now? When Lau and I are already involved with other people.”

“You’re being too hard on yourself,”

He shook his head, “No, it’s true and you know it. I grew with her. Why did I wait this long to realize the way I feel about her?”

“Jason, feelings are not controllable,” I retorted, “They are not thoughts or words. They are invisible emotions you cannot control no matter how bad you try.” I explained, “I’m not saying this is right but this is definitely not your fault. I won’t let you blame yourself for something you cannot control.”

“Oh fuck!” he exclaimed, laying back down. I extended my hand towards his.

“We’ll figure this out just like we always do,” I promised, squeezing his hand.

“Code triple Z.” he mumbled. I chuckled, getting inside the bed with him.

“That is the best code we have ever come up with.” I said, cuddling next to him. Code triple Z was for sleeping together. Why triple Z? Well, they were like this: ZzZ, like the sleeping letters on comic books. 

“Don’t let me screw this up.” He pleaded softly.

I closed my eyes, “I won’t.”

“And Jules?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

I smiled before dozing off.

--

The cloud and I were back together after our little break-up.

Unfortunately, nobody seemed to have some respect for this beautiful cloud-human relation-ship. Why? Well, I was waken up by a very abrupt shake on my shoulders. Groggily, I opened my eyes to find Laura standing next to my bed. She was in her purple pajamas, her hair in a messy bun. She stared down at me disapprovingly.

“What?” I said with a dry mouth.

She cocked an eyebrow, “You two seem to take the best friend’s thing to a huge new level,” she pointed Jason with her mouth. I looked back to see him right behind me, his arm was wrapped around my waist. The sheets had rolled down so his body was pretty much on sight.

I buried my face back in the cloud, “We’re just sleeping.”

“Explain that to your mom when she comes upstairs.” I jumped out of the bed, landing on one foot and limping until I could put my other one down. I lost equilibrium, swinging from side to side until I steadied myself.

“Mom’s here?” my voice was still a little hoarse.

Lau smiled guiltily at me, “Not really but I needed you out of bed,”

“Lau!” I groaned, “You scared the hell out of me.”

“Sorry!” she muttered, dropping a bag I hadn’t noticed she was holding.

“What’s the urgency?”

“Well,” she started, “You texted me yesterday about some event you needed to look decent for today.” Oh! She folded her arms across her chest, “Actually, you said you need to be ready at 5 pm and I’ve got news for you: it’s 4:15 right now.”

“What?” I exclaimed shocked, “I’ve slept the whole day?” How could I? I knew I had Evan’s grandparents’ anniversary was that day. That pillow/cloud was the one to blame.

I’m sorry, cloud but I think we need a break.

“Staring at the wall is not saving you any time,” Lau reminded me, crunching to get some things out of her bag, “I was going to ask you to come over since we’re next door neighbors now but we don’t have time.”

“Oh God!” panic kicked in, “I’m going to meet his grandparents in less than an hour and I haven’t even taken a shower,” I walked around the room in circles. Full panic attack was in motion, “What if they don’t like me? What if they think he’s too much for me? I wouldn’t blame them when I’m looking like this. I wouldn’t li-”

“Jules,” Lau held me by my shoulders, “Calm down. Breathe in, breathe out,” she instructed and I obeyed her, “You’ll be looking smoking hot by the time I’m done with you.” She assured, grinning at me.

“You promise?”

She nodded, “Yes, twinny. I promise. Now, let’s move.”

There were many things I loved about Laura. One of them was her ability to make anything look beautiful and sophisticated. She knew every single accessory, make-up and hair trick to ever existed. She knew how to combine everything to make it all work.

So there I stood in front of my mirror, gawking at my reflection. She had done an incredible job. I was wearing a baby blue strapless dress that reached my knees. According to Lau blue was my color. My hair was loose falling at the sides of my face. Lau had straightened it and then made a few curls at the ends.

My make-up was simple yet elegant. Lau had started with powder, then blue eye shadow, black eyeliner, and finally finished with a soft pink lipstick. I didn’t feel myself but I couldn’t deny how great I looked. I put on the strawberry necklace Evan had given me back in the river some time ago and some silver earrings to match my heels.

“I rock at this, don’t I?” Lau said, gesturing her work.

“Yes, you should do this for a living,” I recommended.

“Nah, you know exactly what I want to study when I get out of school,” Yeah, I knew she was passionate about the movies industry, and dancing as well.

“Yes, remember me when you get famous as a movie director,”

“What are you talking about? You’re so going to be in my first movie,” she grinned at me through the mirror. I heard some noises behind us and we both turned around to look at the bed. Jason was snoring loudly.

I rolled my eyes, “How he can sleep with all the noise we’re making is beyond me,”

“That, my dear friend, is a talent,” an evil look crossed her face, “We should write something on his face,”

“With what?”

Lau raised her red lipstick, “With this,”

“You are evil.” I grinned at her.

“And you love me for it.”

We both approached my sleeping male best friend.

Time for fun!

xXx

A/N: This is what I like to call an Evanless chapter :) it was more of a best friend’s chapter. We get to see Evan’s grandparents’ event in the next one. What are they going to think of our Jules? It will be interesting. Be patient, people.

On a gossiping side, what do you think about Jason’s feelings? What do you think he should do about them?

Hugs and sleeping, snoring best friends,

Ariana.