Rigby

Chapter 9

"I've never spent the night with a girl before and not..." Jacob's propriety halted his sleepy murmur.

I nestled deeper into his chest. We hadn't even shared a proper kiss. The night slipped away in whispered conversations until I fell asleep to the lull of his heartbeat. As we laid in each other's arms, letting the dreamy moment linger, his hand rose to my hair, brushing it from my face before smoothing the length of it.

"I must look terrible," I spoke aloud, but was really talking to myself. Still, in the soothing warmth of his arms, I couldn't muster panic.

"You look beautiful." It wasn't a deliberate compliment; it flowed out as an answer to my musings. "Are you hungry?"

"No, I'm still sleepy." I wasn't tired, but I didn't want to tear myself away from Jacob.

"I kept you up too late," he harshly admonished himself.

"Did you sleep at all?"

"A little; I don't sleep much," he admitted.

I lifted my face to let my eyes wash over him. Whenever I looked at Jacob, his striking appearance blew over me, stealing my breath and thoughts. My mind slowly defrosted as the insecure voice stammered an "oh shit" again.

"What's wrong?" The softness in his eyes gave way to sharp concern; it soothed my uncertainties.

"Nothing." A small smile blossomed on my lips.

Change was a funny thing. People change every moment of every day, but they rarely notice. Then some moments change you, and you feel it. Most people cite major events, graduations, or a child's birth. Jacob himself would've named his life-altering car accident. My life changed in this quiet moment, lying on Jacob's chest. The trajectory of my life shifted, the meaning of words changed, and even the songbirds' tunes altered. I felt it, just like I felt my heart beating against his. Two paths diverged for me, and I chose Jacob.

From the quiet came the oppressive feeling of his erratic emotion. It changed the pulse of my passions and heightened them. In the same breath, it silenced concerns. I was living without a safety net, but felt more confident than I had at any moment. I should've known then. Silenced thoughts are misleading; they should make you wonder. Instead, they made me careless.

I didn't decide; I just pushed up and met his lips. I crashed into him like the incoming tide against the rocky shoreline. It was brutal and unexpected, catching him off guard, and it took a moment for his lips to soften to mine and another moment more for his hands to settle on my waist, pulling me towards him. My ears filled with the satisfying sound of our breath rushing between us as our lungs struggled for air while our bodies refused to part as they melded into one in a mix of shed clothes and tangled limbs. Jacob was engulfing and intoxicating. I had lost myself in a blink and was too entranced to miss myself. The world had turned, and now Jacob was all I saw.

"I don't ever want to leave your arms," I contently sighed.

"I am sure that will pass, or we will."

"We?"

"I will starve before ejecting you unwillingly." He placed a soft kiss on the crown of my head.

Starvation didn't part us; it was a thunderous bang that separated us.

"Riley!" Joey's voice forced through the door. "Are you in there?"

"Joey?" His name came out as a yelp as I peeled myself away from Jacob's arms and frantically clutched at my clothes, pulling them on hastily.

"Riley? Are you okay?" His voice was so panicked that my heart raced in anticipation of the fright of the unknown news he carried.

Jacob did not react the same. He lazily pulled on his black pants just in time for me to rip open the door. That is the scene that Joey's eyes fell on; me in my disheveled clothes that somehow no longer seemed to fit and Jacob sitting shirtless on the edge of his bed, still buckling his belt.