6 1.5. Good Old Days

"Well, these cashmere gloves I need as it is winter, and I have... Hands"

Rebecca Bloomwood's voice resonates through the whole apartment as we chew on popcorn in front of the in-house theatre TV set, on the couch.

Watching 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' for the hundredth time with a bucket of popcorn in between us as we slump on each other.

It's our usual Saturday night or movie night agenda of the day. We've not been able to have time for it lately and after a really long time doing this seems like a homecoming.

Especially to me.

I smile at the thought.

"You know what, I can't imagine how Luke couldn't see Rebecca's love for him", Jason comments from beside me, while chewing on popcorn not so messy-ly.

I give him a look that says, 'Say what?' but he's too engrossed in the movie to actually notice it.

"Well, if not for 'Alicia fucking long legs'", I air quote and grumble as I stuff my face with popcorn before shrinking into my seat.

Instantly a memory of our high school pops into my head as I remember how Jason was crowned the prom king and one of the the literal queen bitches of high school and one of my favorite(note the sarcasm) bullies of mine A. K. A. Alexandria Campbell who was crowned the prom queen.

Even though I was Jason's date for prom because obviously being the kind one Jason is, he volunteered to be mine when Alexandria warned everyone to not ask me out for it.

I was confused as to why nobody wanted to go to prom with me when Jason told me about what Alexandria has been cooking behind my back.

Hence, he took me to prom with him as his date. Alexandria was hoping he would take her and asked him to be his date but when he told her he already asked me and I said yes, she was fuming.

Yeah, not a pretty sight but we dealt with it together or he did for me.

Pretty much the same thing.

Poor Jason had to dance with her for atleast a song, as per tradition after he was given the title of prom king. Even though I was a bit mad that he had too, I couldn't hold in my laughter when I saw him literally squirming in her arms while she was all over him.

That was a sight for sore eyes.

The thing that he hooked up with her at a party which I didn't attend because I was a nerd back then(still am), once when he was drunk, hurt me but I didn't object it and I had no right to anyway. Though I did express my distaste towards it. He was sorry himself too about it so I forgave him without much of a hassle because honestly who can actually deny his puppy face? I bet, no one.

Don't mind me, Jason and I have both dated a few people in the past; me, significantly less because I hardly had or still do have no love life. I dated because I wanted to not be reminded of the fact that he was probably sleeping with someone else; drowning the pain it brought along. And he dated because he could.

It's always been like that with us.

Jason would bet that I would leave the guy I started dating about in a month's time and would always include with him drunk dialing me while at some random girl's house(probably sleeping with her) to pick him up.

He's always been a kind of a player no matter the how much of a gentleman he is but suspiciously those months included a significant increase in the numbers which was pretty exhausting with him but I managed.

Now, looking back it still hurts but it's already in the past now, so I try not to fret over it.

"Well, she's not that bad to be honest", he half smirks before shrugging.

I hit him with a couch pillow instantly on his arm like it's a reflex.

"Hey!", he shouts.

"I thought we were team Rebecca and not Alicia", I retort frowning at him.

"Well, I'm... Partially", he says the last word lowly as if ashamed of admitting it.

I hit him again.

"Hey!"

"Hey you!", I shout and hit him.

I keep hitting him, laughing as the popcorn flies on the couch here and there but before I'm able to do much hitting, his hands find my arms somehow as he protects his face from my hits simultaneously.

As soon as he has a firm grip on my arms, he pulls me on his lap and locks my arms behind my back.

I screech like a child as it hurts a little from the awkward angle and curse him despite it all.

I look down at him from my position and gasp in shock at our proximity.

Since I'm sitting on his lap, straddling him, I gained a bit of height on him which leads me to lean on him with my cleavage in his face, literally an inch away from him.

My breaths come out short as I see him look up from underneath his lashes(and my cleavage) with that mischievous glint in his eyes and I don't know if I imagine it but I think they darken a bit too.

He smirks in that flirtatious way of his and I feel my legs weaken at just the sight. My whole body tingles in anticipation of what's to come next of this situation but I can't look away from his eyes.

I'm mesmerized by them, caught in their spell like never before. It's like I'm dreaming a dream which is too good to be true.

His breath hits the valley of my breasts that is bare for him, curse my brain to have thought of wearing a thin spaghetti strapped top with a deep V-neckline. I shiver as a shuddering breath leaves my lungs and my core clenches in need.

Fuck.

"Well the view from down here seems pretty awesome to be honest", he whispers huskily as one of his hands comes up to brush my hair away from my face, tucking it behind my ear and circling it to cup my chin.

"Jay", I whimper as his hand holding my arms squeezes them a bit and his smirk widens.

And just like that he releases me. I catch myself just in time from the falling on him smack dab and hitting his nose with my chest.

Phew.

My hair curtains around us as I take support of the backrest of the couch with my arms stretched in front of me.

He smiles at me from below while leaning his head on the back of the couch, in between my outstretched hands.

His hand comes forward to twirl the ends of my hair in between his fingers. His fingers lightly but effectively brush my sensitive nipple, just beneath my hair and I think, I imagine his eyes darken as his sole focus is on his hand.

I hold in a gasp before pulling away from him completely and take a seat on the far end of the couch before stretching my legs towards him in case he decides to close the gap that I created.

I'm probably imagining stuff.

I think to myself and ignore it as I focus back on the forgotten movie.

From the corner of my eye, I feel like I see him smirking but dismiss it as another one of my delusional head's imagination.

***

Next morning I wake up to the sunlight streaming in through the balcony.

I squint at the bright light and try to get up when I notice a large arm holding my torso in a firm grip.

What the...

That's when my eyes trail it's way to the owner of the arm and I freeze.

I'm definitely dreaming.

Shifting my head from his shoulder a bit to get a good look at him, I turn my head and almost hit him in the nose.

Phew. Atleast I didn't wake him up.

Keeping my eyes on his face which is just a hairsbreath away from mine, I reach out from my free hand and gently try to peal his arm off of my waist but end up waking him.

Shit.

His eyes flutter open, locking on mine and I freeze.

Uh-Oh.

I refrain from gulping down the nervousness in my throat. My breath gets up caught up in my throat when he raises his free hand to tuck my unruly mess of a hair behind my ear.

His thumb caresses my jaw softly as his eyes follow the movement. But I stay transfixed in my position, still not breathing as goosebumps rise up on my skin and I refrain from fluttering my eyes close at it.

"Justine", he breathes out my name like a prayer and I almost turn putty in his hands.

Oh God, so much for a movie night.

His eyes flicker up and meet mine.

"I should go make some breakfast", I rush out, lowering my gaze from his.

His grip loosens on my waist and I take that moment to get out of his grip and head straight towards the kitchen.

***

"'I should go make some breakfast?' That's the best you could do?", Liza shouts, incredulously at me.

Why does she seem so appalled?

I give her a weird look and fall back on my bed.

"What else was I supposed to do?", I trail off in frustration.

"I don't know. Kiss him, probably?", she replies and falls down beside me on the bed.

I give her a look at that.

Ever since that 'Good Morning' at Jason's apartment things became awkward afterwards.

Be it during the breakfast we had or the awkward handshake we did in the lobby.

Everything was weird.

So I came back to my apartment and called Liza to come over for some much needed girl time we hadn't had because of work.

"What? I'm sick of watching this sexual tension between you two. It's crazy", she says.

I sigh at that.

"Tell me about it"

"You know what, you need a shopping spree. A spa, a manicure, pedicure-", she starts counting them all and I instantly cut her off.

"No, no, no, no. I do not need all that at all", I sit up.

"But why not?", Liza pouts and follows suit.

"Because...", I trail off but come up with nothing.

"Come on, it'll be fun!", Liza jumps on the bed like an excited pup and pulls on my hands.

I sigh because honestly she's giving me the puppy-eye-look and that's something that's kinda irresistible, also a tiny part of me wants to splurge too so...

"Fine", I agree to her.

"Yes!", she literally shouts in glee and pounces on me, hugging the heck out of me.

And that makes me wanna wish I hadn't agreed because she is literally choking me. Makes me feel like I signed a death warrant for my credit card.

Sigh.