10 9

Erica's POV

I walk down to the kitchen with a new motive; stay away from Joe.

Yep. I've realised that the more time I spend with him, the more he manages to steal what others failed to. My heart.

I know that if I make a mistake of falling for him, I'll end up hurt. That's how it goes, right? He's a player for goodness sake.

Though, I know avoiding him is going to be pretty hard, considering we'll be staying together for the next three months.

I enter and find myself face to face with the very person I want to avoid. Joe. Fact, he's looking more handsome than ever. Is that even possible? I must be losing it.

I stare in his aqua eyes, determined not to look anywhere else. But as fate would have it, my stupid goddamn body betrays me. My eyes trail down to his slightly full lips. My tongue flicks over my lips and the I bite my lower lip. Jeez. I want to have his on mine again. What. The. Fuck.

"Morning to you too, princess," he says, "but really, if you want to kiss me again, all you have to do is ask instead of daydreaming." He winks.

What!! My cheeks turn red.

"Aww, she's blushing."

"Shut up." I roll my eyes.

"You enjoyed it. Last night. You enjoyed it." He says, his voice dropping an octave and his face a bit seriously. But if you didn't look closely, you would miss it.

How does he know that?

"No, I didn't. Now please get out of my way. I need to have breakfast. I'm famished you know."

"Famished for more of my awesomeness. Well, see you tonight," he whispers and walks away.

For a moment, I feel his voice caressing my insides like a very gentle breeze. I'm seriously losing it.

Wait. See you tonight? What the hell does that mean? Is he going to kiss me again?

I start feeling giddy.

I get my breakfast and head back to my room after. I try to choose a simple but comfy outfit for tonight when a knock at the door startles me.

I place my top on top of the bed and head for the door. I hold my breath and contemplate what to say if it's Joe standing outside. I'll slam the door in his face. Yeah. I'll do that.

I open and to my relief it's Star and Moana. "Oh, hey guys. What's up?" I greet the duo, opening the door wider for them to enter. They head straight to my bed.

"What's happened here? Why are clothes covering your bed? You having a date?" Star asks, her mouth dramatically hanging. That's Star.

"Oh. Is it the guy at the beach? I know I saw you two together last night," Moana pipes in.

"Are you serious? She was with a guy and didn't tell me?" Star.

"Yep. And a good-looking one at that."

But nowhere near Joe.

"Erica, you backst..."

"Hey, hey. Listen. First off I'm dating no body, so no dates. Secondly, I'm not trying to hide anything from you." Except for my encounter last night with Joe.

Star narrows her eyes at me, but smiles nevertheless. "So, what's with the clothes?"

"I'm just trying to choose something for tonight. I mean, for the bonfire. But what brings you here?" I ask motioning between the two.

"We just want to hung out," Star says.

Well, it's only healthy to get out with your girlfriends, right? And besides, I haven't spent quality time with them. So yeah, I accept their invite.

***

I walk out to the entrance hall and I'm immediately joined by Joe. This guy. When you want to avoid him, he keeps hanging around. Good thing he doesn't say anything.

I hear voices as we approach our designated fire pit. Jaime spots me and hurries over. I steal a glance at Joe to see him scowling. Oh dear.

"Hey, how was your day?" Jaime asks as soon as Joe walks away.

"Oh. It was fun. I went out with my girlfriends and now here I am." I giggle a bit.

"Alright, let's join the group." We walk to where the rest are.

Of course, Joe had a girl sitting on his lap. Already!! I mean, come on. He kissed me just last night. I can't help but feel a little, teensy-weensy bit jealous. Fine, I am jealous.

I'm broken out of my trance by Jaime holding the small of my back, gently pushing me to where I can sit.

"Hey Joe, where were you this morning? I looked everywhere for you" Moana asks.

"I was at the gym. Or maybe you didn't bother checking."

The whole gym thing just made my imagination run wild. I imagined just how his bare torso would look like. How it would feel having my fingers run across his abs.

Goodness Christ. I'm sitting with another guy and I'm thinking like that about Joe? What has this world gotten to?

The bonfire is uneventful, if you leave out the part of Joe flirting with the girl right in front of my face.

I suddenly get tired and excuse myself and go take a walk.

Jaime joins me.

"Is something the matter?"

Everything's messed up. "No, I'm fine. Just a little bit tired."

"Alright, lemme walk you home then."

I slowly nod my head in acceptance.

I lay in bed and look at the ceiling. Unable to sleep. After about half an hour I hear Joe's room open and close. Should I go to his room? No, that will only make me look desperate.

I wake up to some noisy commotion coming from next door. I look at the clock beside my bed and see it's three in the morning. What the hell is going on?

I jump out of bed and head to Joe's room. I open the door without thinking. Joe lies on his bed, his legs are tangled in a mass of comforter and sheets, his eyes are closed while his hands fisted the sheets near his head. His legs kick out and get even more tangled.

"No...no please, don't do it... please." He must be having a nightmare.

I rush to his bed and climb on top of it, calling out his name and urging him to wake up. His forehead is all glistening with sweat.

I decide to shake his shoulders hard. "Wake up, Joe, please." That works.

He springs and sits up, almost knocking me off the bed. His breathing is hard.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. You are alright now," I say, as though speaking to a six year old, "it was only a dream." Geez, I suck at calming people down.

He passes his hand through the thick masses on top of his head. He looks at me for a moment, then stands up and goes to the bathroom.

He comes back seconds later and sits back on the bed. He lets me tuck him into bed. After making sure he's alright, I turn to walk back to my room.

"Erica?" Joe asks.

"Yeah?" I halt in my steps.

"Can you spend the rest of the night here?" My heart stops.

"What?" I ask, bewildered.

"Please stay. I swear no one will ever know tonight happened. Just please..."

I look at him for a second. He looks like a broken child with a terrible past. I give in, against my better judgement. I walk over to his bed and crawl under the covers.

I lay on my side, facing the balcony. I feel as Joe shifts closer to me, wrapping an arm around my stomach. His face nuzzles into my neck and I feel his warm breath brushing against it.

I close my eyes to try and suppress the shudder that threatens to run through me. I'm suddenly feeling hot all over.

Must be the weather.

His arm starts rubbing small circles on my stomach underneath the sweatshirt I am wearing and an involuntary shiver runs through me. I hear Joe chuckling behind me, only fueling the feeling and thoughts running through my brain.

"Thanks Erica," he says.

I swear I'm not going to be able to sleep anytime soon. I lay there, feeling his breath even out at the back of my neck. And I too slowly start to drift into the world of dreams.

***

TQ17

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