Chapter 3: Relationship Status?
"I cannot let you burn me up, nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand in a fire and not be consumed."
-Possession by A.S. Byatt
-Jessie-
Later that night William walked me home holding my hand the entire time. The thought crossed my mind that if I let him walk me home he would know how to easily find me. I wasn't entirely sure that was something I was ready for. Yes it had been a wonderful day with him and I was starting to like the way he would brush his thumb across my flushed cheeks before kissing me softly, but even still I barely knew him. One could argue that we knew each other better than most do on their first date, but even so I was nervous to know where this was going. I sighed, I shouldn't let a guy distract me from school not when it was so close to finals week.
"What's the matter brown eyes?" William asked squeezing my hand gently as we turned the corner onto my block.
"Nothing I was just thinking about school." I said biting my bottom lip. Why did I lie, why not just explain to him that I needed to only focus on school?
"Hmmm. You are worried about finals." The way he said it made me think he knew it was really something else bothering me but was going to wait for me to talk about it.
"Yes, and I worry that I have too many distractions right now to focus on finals. I mean with Laura being well Laura... and..." I was basically word vomiting now. We stopped under the street light nearest my apartment facing each other.
"You are worried about this." He said softly lifting our hands. I nodded hesitantly. "Why are you so worried, if you don't mind me asking." He said as he brushed a strand of stray hair behind my ear, and my skin warmed at his touch however brief. When I looked at him not knowing what to really say or how to say it he pulled me closer and kissed my lips softly. "This isn't about school brown eyes, you could finish your finals with your eyes closed. So tell me what is making you so worried about this. You know more about me than I do you so if anyone should be worried it's me. And I am not." He said when he pulled back from the kiss.
He was right about that, I wasn't one to talk about my personal life even to my friends. The only person that truly knew me was Laura, not even her parents, who basically raised me while my mom was always working elsewhere, knew everything about me. I wasn't about to spill my hectic life story to a guy I just met no matter how amazing our first date was. Damn I said first date, that meant I wanted there to be more than just this one time. He watched me thinking over my thoughts patiently.
"How about we make a deal." He finally said when again I said nothing. "If we both pass finals in two weeks, you tell me what you are so worried about. But until then, don't think about it and we will just hang out as friends. Does that work?" He asked me a smirk on his face.
"You realized friends don't hold hands or kiss or go on dates like the one we went on today." I said with a half grin.
"Details, brown eyes, just details. However if you must go there, starting tomorrow I won't hold your hand, take you on dates or kiss you until you ask me to." He said grinning mischievously.
"Deal." I relaxed as I said this, this could work. The look on his face told me he immediately wished he hadn't suggested it. "Do you want to come in for a second?" I asked trying to look anywhere but at his eyes that were surely going to make me cave.
"Yes, I promised to walk you to your door after all." He said and still holding my hand he let me lead him to my apartment door.
I went to unlock the door but as I did it was flung open and an irritated Laura stood in the doorway glaring at me.
"Where the hell have you been. You were supposed to meet me for lunch today, and when you didn't show up I left you like a hundred messages! I thought you had been kidnapped or something..." her eyes then fell on William and she stopped yelling at me, smiling big. "Well damn, Jessie, the least you could have done was text me that you were on a hot date with your mystery man from the party." I groaned at the suggestive tone she used. William laughed and apologized to her for keeping me.
"I'll let you go brown eyes." He said to me and to my horror pulled me close laying a hot and steamy kiss on my lips for Lauras benefit. "I'll see you tomorrow." He said with a wink to me before saying a polite goodbye to Laura and started to head towards his house a few blocks away.
"Damn girl!" Laura said grinning wide and pulling me into the apartment shutting the door behind us. I started to head for my room knowing she was going to start throwing out questions in rapid succession. "Hey wait, you have to tell me everything, and I mean every little sexy detail." She said following me closely.
When we got to my room she sat on my bed making it clear that she wasn't leaving until I indeed told her everything. I sighed and started stripping out of my clothes and heading for my bathroom as I began to talk and like a faithful dog she followed me, sitting on the counter top. It was funny how normal it seemed. We were practically sister and we told each other everything.
"I ran into him at school when I went to pick up your finals packet, which is in my bag by the way. And when I say ran into him I mean I literally ran into him." I said as I turned on the shower and got in.
"Oh nice." She said and I could picture the grin on her face.
"Anyway, he told me he had been looking for since the party and wasn't about to let me just leave."
"Damn pop the popcorn this is getting juicy already. Please tell me he kissed you after that." Laura said, I rolled my eyes.
"Yes he kissed me and then asked if he could take me to lunch, to which I said it was only right he by me food since I let him kiss me." I smiled at the memory of his cute smirk when I had said that.
"Naturally." Laura retorted.
"So he brought me to this absolutely beautiful little coffee shop a few blocks away from the school."
"Ah yeah, Sally's, wait aren't they closed during lunch hours?" she said and I stuck my head out of the shower.
"You knew about it too?" I said before resuming washing my hair. "Anyway the owners are family friends of his. So he introduced me to them and made us lunch..."
"Mmmm, a man that cooks, sexy."
"Will you let me finish you damn perv." I said sticking my head out to glare at her again.
"Sorry, continue." She said holding up her hands. I narrowed my eyes at her but went back to showering.
"He brought me to the roof where there is like this secret garden, it was amazing Laura." I went on explaining how the rest of the night went, and told her how sweet he was the entire time. When I got out of the shower and dried off, wrapping the towel around me she looked at me thoughtfully.
"So not only is he a total hottie that you so want to maul, but he is perfect boyfriend and maybe more material. Is this what you are telling me." She said following me into the bedroom. She laid down on the bed as I got dressed in a white tank top and a pair of baby blue boy shorts.
"Basically except the mauling part." I said and she raised an eyebrow at me smirking. "Okay fine maybe I do but can you blame me you saw that damn kiss." I relented laying on the bed next to her.
"Yes I did and it was like a, throw me on the bed and rip my clothes off, kind of kiss." She said wagging her eyebrows suggestively. I bust up laughing at her words, good hell the woman was a sex addict. "What I'm just saying it was hella hot." She said cracking a grin.
"Yes, you were just saying. Now will you get out, I want to go to bed." I said gesturing to the door.
"Yeah yeah, just admit that you want to go to bed so you can dream about having sex with your hottie, save us all the time." She said as she sauntered to the door stopping only to wag her eyebrows again at me before she left. I rolled my eyes, that woman needed to go to bible camp.
I turned my bedside lamp on before I shut my door and turned the main light off. As I was pulling down my comforter I heard my phone ding and went to grab it. Seeing it was from William I opened it, sitting back on my bed.
William: Goodnight brown eyes.
Involuntarily I smiled at his endearment for me.
Me: Good night William.
William: Can I meet you for breakfast in the morning?
Me: That would be a date.
William: Not if we go as friends. We could bring our friends with and make it a group thing.
Me: Alright, where at?
William: Sally's?
Me: Okay. But remember it's not a date, so no holding hands or kissing.
William: Not until you ask, brown eyes. ;)
Me: Okay, going to bed now, goodnight.
William: Sweet dream Jessie.
I smiled putting my phone down on my nightstand plugging it in. I fell asleep quickly after that and I couldn't help but dream of a certain green eyed, handsome man with a smirk to dye for.
***********************************
The next morning I woke up early wanting to get a good start on getting ready before Laura got up and started to question me about William more. I changed into a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and a old white v-neck tee that said, I'm silently correcting your grammar, across it. Then I brushed out my curly hair putting a little product in it to make the curls more defined. Deciding I wanted to wear a light layer of mascara I put in contacts so that the mascara wouldn't get on my glasses. When I finished with my light layer of natural makeup I went back into the bedroom to try and find my light pink flats and nearly jumped out of my skin when I noticed Laura sitting on my bed.
"Shit." I said glaring at her. She was already read for the day wearing a dark pink spaghetti strap sun dress and strappy wedge heels that matched. Her long blonde hair was curled and she had a light layer of makeup on ass well.
"Sorry remind me to let you know I'm here when you are daydreaming." She said sarcastically.
Finally finding my flats I turned to her again. "We are going to breakfast in about thirty minutes okay."
"It's Saturday, you don't go anywhere on Saturday." She said eyeing me suspiciously.
I shrugged and told her that William and his friend invited us. She smirked at me a wide grin spreading across her face.
"Sweet I'm in just to see you two react to each other in public." She said.
"We are just friends Laura."
"No, friends don't kiss like that, and don't even get me started about your all day date." She said pointing her finger at me smugly.
"I'm serious Laura, we are just friends right now." I said rolling my eyes at her.
"Yeah we'll see."
"Ugh you are just as bad as William." I groaned and instantly regretted what I said as she smiled wolfishly at me.
I hurriedly explained to her our deal as we left the apartment. She listened intently as we walked and didn't interrupt me which was a bit surprising to say the least.
"This 'deal'," She said with air quotes. "Is never going to work. I mean come on, you like him a lot, other wise we wouldn't be going to breakfast with him and his friend." I rolled my eyes at her and she grabbed my hand stopping me. "No I'm serious Jessie, you are not just attracted to him you really do like him. You just set yourself up to fall hard for him." She said seriously.
"What?" I asked as we continues walking.
"The longer you go the more tension, the more tension, the hotter it's going to be when you break. Man the man is a genius." She said with smirk.
I thought about her words and realized just how right she was. The only problem with it was that in the back of my mind I knew that I had already fallen for William. I fell for him the second I saw his beautiful green eyes and smirk at that party a few weeks ago.
When we reached the little Coffee shop William and his friend, I think I remember him saying his name was Sean, were waiting outside by the patio for us. William was wearing a pair of plane low rise jeans that hung on his hips sinfully and a white t-shirt that hugged his muscular chest and arms. His curly brown hair hung in his face slightly and he had a light stubble that dusted his face. Fuck me, the man was gorgeous. My mouth was practically watering when my eyes met his and he smirked as if he knew exactly what I was thinking. Damn Laura was right, I was totally and possibly quite literally going to be screwed.
"Who is the that blonde hottie with him?" Laura asked interrupting my not so innocent thoughts.
I blinked and looked at her. "Um I think his name is Sean." I said before we approached. Laura unashamedly was checking him out. And from the looks of it he was doing the same to her.
William introduced us to Sean and Laura instantly started a conversation with him as we started heading in side. I was consciously aware of William walking next to me and his side lightly brushing against mine as we walked.
"Hey brown eyes." He said warmly and I swear my heart nearly stopped.
"Hey." I said blushing.
"What would you like for breakfast?" He asked me as we followed Laura and Sean to the counter.
"Probably just a blueberry muffin and some Coffee with creamer." I said trying not to look him in the eyes.
When we reached the counter William ordered the our breakfast and paid for it before I could refuse. To which Sally smiled from behind the counter. We said hi to her and George before heading towards a table with Laura and Sean both of which seemed thoroughly engaged in their conversation.
"How long do you think it will be before they end up together?" William whispered leaning in close so they wouldn't hear. I eyed him suspiciously.
"You planned this didn't you." I whispered back.
"I'll admit, I figured they would hit it off." He said still leaning in close. I could smell his body wash and it was intoxicating.
I rolled my eyes and sat down next to Laura at the table. We are our food all the while talking about school and what we planned on doing after. I was surprised to hear that William was going to be taking over his fathers law firm. He had told me that he was finishing law school yesterday but I didn't realize that he was taking over C&E Law.
When we finished eating we moved over to the book section. Laura automatically, to my irritation, sat down next to Sean in one of the two loveseats available. I huffed and grabbed a book off the shelf sitting down as far as I could manage, which wasn't much, away from William.
Williams breath brushed my neck lightly as he leaned in to whisper something in my ear. "Do you want me to read to you again?" He asked as his hand brushed ever so slightly agains my leg. I blushed, biting my lip as I tried to think clearly.
"I'm good." I practically squealed as I scooted closer to the edge of the chair and away from him. He chuckled at my nervousness and leaned forward.
"What's the matter brown eyes, you seem flustered?" He asked overly sweet.
"Friends." I said as I tried to control my breathing. His breath his my neck again right where he had kissed it yesterday and I jumped up quickly. He laughed and Laura and Sean looked our way.
"You Okay Jessie?" Laura asked a smirk on her face.
"Fine. Just putting a book away." I said moving to the bookshelf. She gave me a knowing look and I just ignored her.
So William was going to play dirty. I should have known when he said he'd make a deal until I asked for him to break it. How could this man affect me so quickly. It was like I was a fat kid seeing ice cream for the first time.
Placing the book back on the shelf I turned and nearly ran into Williams chest. He steadied me like he did yesterday only this time his fingers brushed my waist sensually.
"If you want I'll give you a free pass on the deal, one kiss, no strings attached." He whispered leaning in close so his lips were barely and inch from mine. I sat there staring mesmerized by his eyes for a moment. Blinking I snapped out of it and pulled back slightly.
"You'd like that wouldn't you." I said with a smirk before pulling away from him. A somewhat confused look on his face, as he tried to figure out who just played who.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
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stone