Friday morning my body was drained. I didn't want to go to class, I didn't want to get out of my comfy pajamas, and I sure as heck didn't want to turn my alarm off in two minutes. My bed was so soft and comfortable. Leaving it every morning makes me sad.

Sitting up rubbing the sleep from my eyes the digital alarm clock on my nightstand started to blare its terribly annoying tune. Turning it off instantly I thought of the consequences if I skipped school today or even my first two classes.

What kind of example would I be if I skipped school just to sleep? I would also be a hypocrite.

Quickly taking a shower now that it was fixed, I wrapped a towel around my chest heading for Siannah's room to wake her up. Siannah was more of a night owl than me. As much as I loved to sleep I could stay up pretty late but preferred to go to bed before eleven if possible.

"Siannah." I knocked on her door. "Siannah, wake up." Knocking again I heard a knock in return.

Was she trying to be funny?

Knocking a third time there was a knock as a reply.

"Stop playing around Kit and wake up." Hearing the knock again I turned my head towards our apartment door unsure if someone was knocking or if it was Kit. Opening her door I looked inside, finding her still asleep curls wild from forgetting her bonnet.

The knocking sounded again a little louder this time earning a glare. Looking around the floor in Siannah's room I grabbed the balled-up sock throwing at her hoping to hit her shoulder, but it hit her boob instead.

"Ow!" She grabbed her boob opening her brown eyes to me. "What the hell Kat?"

"Wake up Si." Closing the door behind me I walked over to our front door when there was another knock. Slowly opening it I peeked out the small crack.

"I don't know why I thought you'd be up baking muffins or something."

"That's reserved for the weekends."

"I came on the wrong day then." He smirked. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." Stepping aside I let Jace inside where it was a lot warmer. Closing the door behind him I watched him put his hands in his pockets taking in the apartment as if it was his first time inside.

Nodding his head as he turned his eyes widened for a moment once they landed on me. Rubbing his bottom lip he smirked, making the butterflies in my stomach awaken. "Sweets?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you know you have beautiful skin?"

"Um, thank you?" I could feel my cheeks warm. Looking down to my toes I realized that I was still naked aside from my wet towel. "Oh my goodness!" I covered my chest sprinting to my room. "Be right back!"

"You need some help?" He called after me.

"I got it!" I yelled back slamming my bedroom door behind me.

Putting on my favorite pair of jeans along with a long sleeve shirt I grabbed my Trenton hoodie that completed the simple but warm outfit. Standing in front of the mirror I tried to think of hairstyles like I did most days.

Searching my room for the spray bottle I spritzed my hair bending over to brush it up into a decent looking bun bobby pinning the other uncooperative curls in place. Putting my silver hoops up to my ears I turned my head left to right seeing if it would be cute but decided against it putting in my diamond studs instead.

Back in the living room Jace leaned against the wall scrolling through his phone. Looking up when he heard the floor creek his eyes seemed to darked to more of an emerald green taking me in from toe to head.

"You look -"

"Comfy?"

"Sexy."

"What?"

Watching him standing from his position on the wall my feet felt like they were stuck to the ground as he walked towards me slowly taking one step at a time. Stopping once we were less than seven inches apart he lifted his hand to my hair when I felt my bun move as he replaced my bobby pin. "I said you look sexy."

"In this?"

"In anything." He lifted my chin.

Was he -

Was he about to kiss me?

Jace was about to kiss me!

He's head tilting!!

HE'S TILTING HIS BEAUTIFUL HEAD TO THE LEFT!!

Closing my eyes ready to merge our lips I heard a door open and out of fear I pushed him back making him stumble . . . again.

Crap

"Fucking A." I heard him hiss.

"What are you doing here?" Siannah looked up from buttoning her jeans to Jace. I smiled at the way her hair was done exactly the same as mine.

"Morning Siannah." Jace smiled earning him a wave in return as she bent down to put her shoes on. "I stopped by to ask your sister if she needed a ride to school."

"You think I'd leave her to walk alone in the cold?"

"No, I just - I'm just trying to be a good friend."

"Friend?" She scoffed then looked at me with a raised brow. "Friend?" I nodded. "Wow. Okay . . . well congrats on the blossoming . . . friendship?"

"Thanks." Jace smirked, making me regret not kissing him.

"So you're riding with him Kat?" Siannah asked me while grabbing her bag and the two books from the coffee table shoving them inside.

"Um, yeah. If that's alright with you."

"It's fine. Guess I can save a few bucks not having to buy your tea." She laughed heading for the door. "Love your hairstyle by the way. Baby sis forever copying me."

"Wha-"

"Bye Carter!" She called out, closing the door behind her.

Turning back to Jace he laughed quietly. "Oh hush." I grabbed my bag and house keys. "Let's go."

Once we were inside Jace asked if I wanted something for breakfast and I gratefully declined not wanting to upset my stomach because he was already giving me butterflies. I thought he had taken no for an answer when not even ten minutes later we were pulling into Margie's Donuts.

Putting the Jeep in park Jace unbuckled his seatbelt. "I'm going to grab something real quick and be right back. You sure you don't want anything?"

I nodded my head, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from drooling at the sweet mouthwatering smells coming from Margie's and the handsome driver with green apple eyes. His hair was a little wet from his previous shower making my fingers ache to just slowly run them through his hair.

Raising his brow he tilted his head slightly reminding me how he did the same thing when we were about to kiss this morning. "I'm fine Jace. Go ahead before the line gets too long." I smiled trying to cover the fact that I want to pull his face to mine and let our lips do the talking.

Once he was safely away from me inside the shop I exhaled loudly closing my eyes. I couldn't believe that I had become one of the many girls that had a crush on Jace Carter. I thought I was supposed to see past his cheesy lines and eye rolling worthy flirting but instead I had to cause myself physical pain to keep from smiling not that the blushing helped any.

I almost kissed Jace . . .

TWICE !!

I almost kissed Jace twice.

"I need to talk to Tink and Jia." Searching my bag for my phone I found it pulling up our group chat. Not sure how to ease into telling them that I want to, but kind of afraid to, but would really like to kiss Jace without them screaming at me through text and possibly for real.

I need you both to come over today . . . Are you two free??

{Jia}: What's wrong? Tell me now!!

{Tink}: I'm free boo. What's going on though?

I want to tongue kiss Jace and move our bodies together unclothes . . . or at least the closest thing to unclothed because I'm not sure I'm ready to have sex but I would love love L O V E to see him without a shirt on . . . or pants . . . maybe just in his underwear and he's driving my body crazy without doing anything but we've almost kissed twice and I keep chickening out because I don't want to just kiss him once . . . So please HELP ME!!

Hovering over send I looked inside the building spotting Jace in line looking up at the menu just standing there being cute. Deleting the message I typed out something more simple.

I almost kissed Jace twice but I keep pushing him away last minute

{Jia}: H O L Y   S H I T   T U R D S !!

{Jia}: You & Jace FREAKING Carter?!?!

{Tink}: Girl if you don't put your big girl panties on and suck face with that gorgeous Adonis!!

Remembering that Jia wanted to have sex with him I needed her to know that I was sorry about my stupid feelings.

I know that he was on your list Jia and if you really like him then I'll just shut my feelings down

{Jia}: Savannah it's fine. Tink talked me up really nice with Jake and we've been texting a lot . . . and sending nudes like . . . a lot 😜

{Tink}: The next time he leans in to kiss you KISS HIM BACK

{Jia}: She's right Savannah. Take that bull by the horns!!

Just as I was about to reply, Jace's radio screen lit up and the Jeep started beeping. Wide eyed and afraid I looked around not sure what to do. Reading the name on the screen it said Paige with her number underneath. Looking at the building again I could see Jace pull out his phone and look at it when the beeping stopped and the screen went back to its normal color.

Shaking my head trying to calm my racing heart when Miguel's voice softly sang from the speakers. Jumping at the sound even though it was quieter than the phone call, I looked back at Jace who was clearly enjoying making my heart race. He looked down at his phone before putting it back in his pocket stepping to the woman taking orders.

{Jace}: Sorry about the call. Enjoy the song as part of my apology

Smiling at the text I closed my eyes resting my head against the seat. There wasn't a time when I didn't enjoy Miguel. His voice was so soothing and gave me goosebumps every time faithfully.

The driver's door opened just as the song was ending. Jace closed the door behind him quickly trying not to let the cold in. Handing over the white paper bag he smiled at me. "There's something in there for you too."

"Jace you didn't have to -"

"As part of my apology and here." He pulled out Simply Orange. "They were all out of milk." He winked, putting the Jeep in reverse.

Making it to my first class with ten minutes to spare Jace asked if I wanted to enjoy our breakfast in his warm Jeep. Agreeing to his offer I opened the bag, closing my eyes as the baked frosted dough filled my nose with its sweet smell.

"Mm, that smells so freaking good. Thank you Jace."

"No problem Sweets." Opening his own cranberry juice I handed over his donut taking a bite of mine after.

Eating in silence I looked around the campus area thinking of the potential outside pictures I could take. The Arts & Crafts Fair always has a booth where artists could sell their own work but it costs money to put your own work up and if you didn't sell then you just paid them to hold your work. Mr. Drew has said something about possibly renting a booth so we could sell our work without a showing charge but he hasn't said anything since. Maybe I should ask since the fair was this weekend.

"I never asked what you were going to school for Sweets. Friends know that kind of stuff, right? Let me guess . . . something like Fine Arts Photography and something on the side with cooking. By the way I've been eating your cupcakes and I'm down two trays. They're amazing."

"Have you been eating them all by yourself?"

"Was I supposed to share?"

"Yes Jace." I laughed, "You have roommates. That's why I gave you so many."

"Yeah no. I've been eating them right here where no greedy hands can try to steal them from me because they will Sweets."

"Why do you call me that? Sweets I mean." I picked a piece of donut of and ate it.

"What would you rather I call you? Baby doll or princess . . . or wait - baby girl. You want me to call you baby girl Sweets?"

"No, I was just wondering where it came from. You started calling me that like two days after we met."

Jace lifted his hand to my chin brushing frosting crumbles from my lip. "You should get to class Sweets. I wouldn't want you to be late." He said, letting his hand fall.

"Um right, yeah. I should - I should go. See you Jace. Thanks for dropping me off and breakfast . . . and the apology song." Closing the door behind me, I hurried to class already knowing that I wouldn't be able to focus.

Did Jace really like me more than a friend or was this just him still trying to have sex with me?

After my second class I had a break long enough for me to go in and help Mrs. Grier in the library. Wrapping my scarf around my neck I pulled my hoodie strings tighter mentally yelling at myself for not bringing something to cover my ears.

Finding my orange earbuds in my jacket pocket I turned on some music heading for the library. If I continued to walk everywhere I was sure to lose some of this extra thigh . . . and if I stopped making so many batches of cupcakes. Yeah, that would help a lot too.

With the library in view I felt a tap on my shoulder. Looking over to the guy who tapped me he gave a friendly smile. Removing the earbuds I returned the smile confused as to why he touched me.

"Hey, not sure if you remember me or not but I'm Hector. Your sister introduced us."

"Oh yeah. Hi." I slowed my speed. "What's up?"

"Siannah was talking to me about your photography skills and I saw some of your work - which is some pretty dope shit, I also showed my coach and suggested that he think about booking you for our soccer calendar. Anyway, he got back to me today and said that he would love to meet you."

"Really?"

"Seriously. He said whenever you're free to drop by his office during the day or when we're doing weight training around four-thirty."

"Oh my goodness thank you so much!" My cheeks were starting to hurt from smiling so hard.

"You're welcome and if you could tell your sister to use my number sometime I would really appreciate it."

"Um, sure. Of course."

"Great." He winked with a wave before turning around going back the other way. Shaking my earbuds in the palm of my hand a few times I stuffed them back into my pocket wondering how long Hector was following me.

Stepping into one of my favorite places on campus I inhaled the smell of books and the cleaner we used to wipe off the study tables. Heading over to the help desk Mrs. Grier wasn't in her usual spot scanning the returned books.

Entering the backroom unwrapping my scarf a few of the other library workers sat at the computers looking over their schedules. Mrs. Grier usually sent the work schedule to our student email and personal email along with posting it up on the bulletin board in this room.

Quickly finding my name I took a picture of the schedule and sent it to my sister just in case something happened and I deleted the picture and the email. You can never be too careful.

"Savannah dear, how are you doing?" Mrs. Grier walked in the room rubbing her hands together. I could instantly smell the hand sanitizer she was rubbing in.

"I'm doing good. How are you?"

"I'm well. You came on a not so busy day. I'm not sure if I have anything for you to do today."

"Hey Savannah." Looking behind Mrs. Grier I waved to Michi.

"I'll call you if I need anything from you okay?"

"Okay, no problem. I'll be back later for my study session with Luke."

Patting me on the shoulder I grabbed my things heading for Michi. She was Jace's tutor and I wanted to know how things were going. "Hey Michi, do you have a sec?"

Looking up from the stack of books she placed the papers inside closing the books. "Sure, what's up?"

"I was wondering how things are going with you and Jace Carter."

A different smile spread across her face. Grabbing my arm she pulled me closer, lowering her head. "He's fucking amazing. Oh. My. God. There isn't a single word that describes how," her eyes rolled to the back of her head as she bit her bottom lip, "amazing he is. The way his hand just - just held me in place and lifted me up and down I didn't have to do much work. It was -"

"Mich stop, please stop. Please . . . stop." I wanted to cover her mouth but didn't want to take a chance of being bit or licked so I lifted her jaw to close her mouth. "I thought you were going to tutor Jace."

"We did study. In between our . . . sex breaks." She whispered giggling.

I couldn't believe this! Jace was supposed to be studying trying to pass his class but instead he was screwing his tutor! He was supposed to be learning from his mistakes, not learning Michi's body parts. All while trying to kiss me too. You know what - I could believe this.

"So you two are like . . . a thing?"

"No no no." She waved me off. "We're having fun. I know Jace doesn't do relationships and honestly neither do I. I'm just trying to finish the fun I started with him before I found out he screwed my sister."

Wow

Clearing my throat to make sure my jaw wasn't somewhere on the floor I shuffled from one foot to the other. "Do you think he'll be able to get back with the hockey team by the end of the month?"

"Mrs. Tully wants him on the bench for the rest of the season but I think Coach Morris is trying to talk her into letting him retake the test within the next two months."

"Do you think he'll be ready before that?"

"Jace is really smart despite what people think they know about him. I think he'll be ready within a few weeks but it's really up to his professor. Whenever she gives him the okay to retake the test then we'll all know."

"Could you talk her into letting him take it at the beginning of next month?"

"I barely know the woman Savannah but . . . I can try. I don't know how much help I can be but I'll talk to her on Monday."

"That would be really nice of you."

Michi raised her brow at me. "Why are you so interested in Jace's progress anyways?"

Looking at her curious yet defensive stance I had to make sure what I was about to say didn't wither. "I'm a concerned friend."

"Friend?" She scoffed, not believing me. "Since when does Jace have female friends? He barely has any male friends."

"It's new." I tried to laugh casually. Michi nodded her head probably seeing through the wall I was trying to build around my feelings for him.

"Well like I said. I'll talk to her on Monday."

"Thanks. See you around."

Finishing out the day of classes Siannah dropped me off at home before heading to work. It was Friday and she usually worked till two in the morning. Not in the mood to do homework I grabbed my camera heading back outside to take some shots of the outdoors.

The sun was still shining brightly off the snow making you squint just a little. Checking the street to see if there were any cars coming I stood in the middle of the street taking a wide picture being sure to include the snow covered cars. Walking down the street letting my eyes take in the flakes of snow I moved toward the perfectly dusted trees.

Walking around until I could no longer feel my fingers I headed back to the apartments. Just as the complex came into view Jia's car pulled into the parking lot. Hurrying to catch up with them I called out their names as they reached the sidewalk.

Giving both of them a hug we quickly made our way to the second floor into my warm apartment. Discarding my outdoor clothes I went to my room to change into a pair of sweatpants and an oversized sweater letting my hair spring free from the bobby pins and ponytail holder. Pushing a headband on top keeping them out of my face I headed back out to Tink and Jia. They sat cuddled on the couch underneath the throw blanket trying to keep warm.

"Do you two want some hot chocolate and some cupcakes?"

"Mm, cupcakes sound good. What flavor are they?" Tink asked.

Walking to the kitchen I looked around for the cupcake trays slapping my forehead remembering that I let Jace have them. "Crap. Sorry ladies. I forgot that I let Jace have them." Tink and Jia both turned around to look at me with wide eyes. "Don't look at me like that."

"Don't stand there like that young lady. You have some explaining to do." Tink scooted over making room for me in between them.

Exhaling loudly I took the cover from Tink sitting between her and Jia before giving the cover back. "Okay, so where do I start?"

Jia scooted closer, lifting her knees to her chest. "How about when did you start liking him because last I recall, you didn't know too much about him and he wasn't your student."

"Well, I'm technically still not his tutor and he's not my student but he's persuaded me into teaching him -"

"With his mouth?"

"With his dick?" I narrowed my eyes at Jia. "What? Oh come on. You haven't thought about his third leg?"

"Jia stop." Tink laughed.

"We've all thought about it at least once. No shame in it but go ahead Savannah, he bribed you with what?"

"Donuts then we agreed to be friends."

"So where does the kissing come in?"

"But first." Tink interjected. "When did you start having feelings for him?"

"The first day unfortunately."

"Why unfortunately?"

"I walked in on him receiving oral sex from some girl."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Jia shouted.

There was really no reason for me to even have feelings for Jace. He was exactly the kind of guy I shouldn't have feelings for. He would want one thing from me and that one thing was what I didn't plan on giving anyone anytime soon.

"He apologized. He begged for my forgiveness. He offered to be friends! Not me!"

"Okay okay. So he offered friendship without sex. That seems legit."

"But he does want to have sex with me or at least he did when I lied about being Siannah to avoid being his tutor."

"What the hell kind of friendship is this?"

"Clearly a messed up one because I started to like him but then I recently found out that he's having sex with Michi and I set them up."

"Wait? What?" Tink asked, confused.

"When I told Jace that we wouldn't work I gave him to Michi. When I talked to her today simply asking how she and Jace were, she basically said there were no words to describe how amazing he is."

I could see Jia mouth, wow.

"So what now?" Tink asked.

"So I bury my feelings and continue this friendship because I'm not out for something casual. I want the night I have sex to be important. Speaking of." I turned to Jia. "How's Jake?"

Jia smiled from ear to ear bringing the blanket up to try and cover her mouth. "He's so freaking cute and he's a big show-er."

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