Finding James

1

It is Friday night, just before six and I am laying in my room waiting for James to come pick me up. Friday nights are movie nights at his place. They weren't always movie nights. It just became a thing a year or so ago after a big argument James and I had where we didn't talk for almost a year. James and I have a complicated friendship, its been on and off for the last 4 years. If I had to give you a reason, I'd say its because James has a bad taste in girls, mainly one but I'll just leave her nameless for my own good. 

"Kinsley" I hear my mom call from downstairs "James is here"

"Coming" I yell down as I hop out of my bed and grab my bag. I check the mirror one last time making sure my hair look good and that my clothes look sexy. They do. I run out of my room shutting the door behind me and I run down the stairs. 

My mom is waiting at the bottom of the stairs in front of the door, I grab my shoes and put them on. "I'm leaving now mom, Love you"

"Not so fast Kins" she says looking at me with a semi worried look "Remember, different bed, and please make sure you are polite to his aunt" she goes on and on

"MOOOOM," I groan "James and I are just friends" those words tasted bitter coming from my mouth. Between me, myself and James, he basically lives alone, his aunt is never home so I have never ever slept in any other bed but his and he is always in it. 

"Yeah okay" she laughs "Be safe, I love you" she says moving from the door.

I kiss her cheek "Love you too mom" and leave practically running to James's car. 

I get in and throw my bag in front of me. "Jeez, I'm sorry. You know how she is"

He looks at me and chuckles "yeah I know" he puts the car into drive and we speed away. 

James doesn't like to talk while he drives, so I turn up the radio and sit back taking in his scent. He uses a strong cologne called "Bourbon" and mixed with the pot on his coat it smells amazing. It smells safe. It smells like James. I'm not very good at being quiet, especially in cars when there isn't much else to do. So I just have to really hold myself back and try to get lost in the beat of the music.

After about ten very boring minutes in the car we pull into James's driveway. He turns off his car and gets out. I grab my bag and get out sighing with relief. I don't have to deal with awkward silence anymore. I follow James to the door and we go inside. After taking our shoes off he walks to the living room. He already has his bong and his weed out on the coffee table, along with his weed accessories. He has a Pepsi on the table for me and a coke for him. James likes to have everything ready at all times so he has snacks sitting close by for us and I can see he has a joint rolled in my favourite mango papers. I sit down beside James but not too close, as I haven't really figured out what mood he is in yet. 

James sits back on the couch and squeezes his feet into the only clear area on the coffee table. I chuckle in my head because that is just so James. He looks over at me and gives a half smile. "What do you want to watch tonight?" He asks me.

I shrug my shoulders and look back at him "Oh I don't know, what do you want to watch?"

James grabs the remote and sets Netflix up "I don't know, I was thinking something we have watched before and probably something like a romance or something?" He raises his eyebrow at me waiting for my response.

I smile at him "okay!" I put my hand on his knee "Can we watch Forever My Girl or The Best of Me or..."

James cuts me off "How about we start with Forever my Girl and then The Best of Me and then if we are still awake we can watch A Star is Born."

I look at James and kiss his cheek pulling away with a blush "you're the best"

"I know" he smirks at me "come here" he says patting his lap for me to put my head down.

I do just that. Finally figuring out that James is in a sweet cuddly mood tonight and selfishly I love that for me. I get comfortable with my head on his lap and my feet curled up towards me. James turns on Forever my Girl and puts the remote down. I then feel his strong hands on my head as he starts to play with my hair. 'This is perfect' I think to myself as I inhale his scent. I don't always get this with him. Sometimes he just wants to smoke weed and listen to music, other times he teases me with rough words and quick movements. But nights like tonight are one of my favourites. He shows me he listens to what I like with out saying it. James hates both mangoes and Pepsi so the fact that he had a joint rolled with mango paper and Pepsi sitting on the table for me showed me that he listens and respects what I like. He shows me he cares by putting on my favourite romance movies and playing with my hair. 

After a while James quits playing with my hair to reach for his bong. I sit up and look at him "Is it weed o'clock?" I ask him . He nods at me and I reach for the joint he rolled me as he packs his bowl. I watch as he grabs for the remote and pauses the movie. I can't help the way my face lights up. He wants to talk. I know that because some days when we smoke, he pauses the movie and we never go back to it so we can talk. Other days he takes his toke as the movie continues and he doesn't say a word. I grab the lighter, light up and pass him the lighter. He takes his toke and I watch him intently, I watch him inhale, followed by his exhale of cloud and a couple dry coughs. He puts his bong down and replaces it with his coke. He takes a swig  and puts it down. 

He finally makes eye contact with me and I try to look into the space behind him so he doesn't notice how closely I'd been watching him 

"I've been thinking" he says very nonchalantly. 

I was so right, he does want to talk. And apparently he really wants to talk because it usually  takes two or three tokes before he starts talking, this time it only took one before he started. James has only ever started a conversation like this two times in the four years I have known him.  The first time was when he was going to end things with his last girlfriend. The last time was when he when he wanted to "officially" make me his next "meaningless" fling. So needless to say I was very interested in what James had to say next.