𝐼𝓃𝒻𝒶𝓉𝓊𝒶𝓉𝑒𝒹

Chapter 18- A Clash of Hearts and Gazes

Simone's P.O.V.

I woke up with muffled groan at the sound of my phone alarm. A headache had clotted up, and I held my head in annoyance as I got up, attempting to soothe the devastation the prosecco had pushed my head through. My brain pounded as I looked around the gorgeous but unfamiliar room in which I slept. Blame the bubbles of that alluring prosecco.
Where the fuck was I?

Then flashes of last night's activities, from the time my phone's battery went dead to when I picked up Julie's call and narrated a summary of the events of last night to relieve her worry. Her exciting exclaims were successful in bringing an annoyed smile to my face.

Chase had been such a gentleman last night, it was fairly surprising. And we talked so much, my jaw ached, but I'd never held such a long conversation with anyone except Ma and others in my past, and that too with so much comfort and camaraderie, it was hard to believe I was disparaging, insulting and hating on him just a couple of weeks ago. One sentence came to my mind:
He's was more civil last night, but I'm unbeknownst to what drove him to do so.

Last night's memories brought a smile to my face, as I turned to the bedtable. An aspirin and a glass of water were kept there, with a yellow sticky note.

Take these. They'll help with the headache. ;)

I rolled my eyes and fought a increasing grin. He was suddenly too kind. Should I call this capitulation?
After taking the medication, I checked the time. It was six in the morning, luckily. It was easily warmer in this room than my room, but the morning cold was indubitably present. I tied my hair up in a messy ponytail, wore my coat and buttoned it up, after I'd set up the bed.
Grabbing a roller ball pen from the bedtable which Chase probably used to write his note, I flipped the yellow note and wrote:

Got the aspirin. Thanks a lot for last night :)

I wanted to check up on him, so I decided to open the door slightly, to observe his beautiful sleeping form, which made me blush 'cause he was, well, shirtless and his left-pec and left-bicep tattoos, along with his thoroughly built frame, were visible in all their glory. His hair was disheveled, and he snored softly, fully in the world of sleep, but he still looked gorgeous.

Before he could wake up and deem me as creep, I quickly placed the yellow sticky note on his bedtable with a last look around his room. It was even bigger than the guest bedroom with a grey rustic theme that seemed so comfortable and awesome, I'd rendered our room design tastes were similar.
There was an upholstered Cal king bed and two huge bookshelves, one behind the bed and the other on the opposite wall, as the differentiators between the two rooms, save for the color theme and size, of course. Instead of a painting on the wall in front of the bed, the bookshelf stood of course, but with two console tables flanking it. A lamp stood on each of the two tables, with a charger and phone on one table.
There were Victorian sconce lamps on either side of the bed, too. Beside the bed, a walnut study table with a sliver laptop stood and some notes and textbooks in an organized arrangement.
On the other side of the bed, huge French windows led to a balcony with a pair of teal chairs and a rustic teal coffee table. The bed was pushed up against a rustic wooden wall, while the rest of the three walls were matte grey.

Woah. Pretty fucking neat. Much better than my boring mouse-hole of a room. And I'm at least refraining from replacing the word mouse-hole with shithole.

I quickly exited the condo, and within 15 minutes of walking in the freezing winter morning, I reached my apartment, unlocked it, and went straight to my room to put on two extra sweaters under my duffle coat, and hopped into bed with my blanket wrapped around me until I was toasted, which was approximately 30 minutes. The entire time I earned strange looks from Shady who followed me to my room. For extra comfort I wrapped the Siamese in my arms until my teeth stopped chattering, then hopped out of bed to get ready for school.
Shady did not appreciate my madwoman behavior and instead went to Ash's room to leave her fur on his bed.
To say I was jealous would be an understatement.