The Perfect Storm 2

Chapter 160

I hear faint sounds and I slowly open my eyes, realizing that the sounds belong to something real and aren't a part of any dream I just had that I can't remember. 

I blink a few times and scrunch my eyebrows before sitting up on the bed, realizing that the sounds are coming from Cody and the microwave.

"Oh, uh, you're awake, I'm sorry . . . did I wake you?" He asks with an awkward smile before taking out his noddles.

"No, um, that's okay." I answer with a smile, "Do you microwave your noodles?" I ask and he smiles awkwardly.

"Yeah, for uh, extra heat, our water heater isn't the best, it's kind of a piece of junk . . . well more of a piece of shit but it works I guess . . . for now." He smiles and I chuckle.

"Where is, um . . . Jace?" I ask and he shrugs.

"He must have hit the gym earlier." Cody answers and I smile at him kindly.

"Oh, right." I push a strand of hair behind my ear.

"You have these, uh, little spot things on your, uh, cheeks," Cody says, approaching closer, his finger pointing slightly at my cheeks.

"Are you allergic to fucked-up water heaters or something?" He asks but I shake my head with a giggle.

"Something like that, I'm allergic to Miles," I tell him and his eyes instantly shine with curiosity.

"Miles?" He sits down on the very edge of Jace's bed.

"Yeah." I simply say, not wanting to bring up anything too much.

"So he's your ex?" Cody asks and I feel slightly disgusted. Thinking of Miles as just some ex doesn't feel right but I still give him a small nod.

"So what did this guy do?" Cody asks, handing me the bowl of noodles in his hands but I shake my head.

"I don't know," I tell him softly and his eyebrows scrunch up.

"You don't know?" He asks with a small smile threatening to show itself on his lips. I've contemplated this same exact question over and over again in my head and it hasn't helped that everyone around me is doing the same. 

The truth is I don't know what Miles did, and the even bigger truth is that he didn't do anything. It isn't his fault that he had a past and it's not his fault that secrets cling to him. 

He didn't do anything, it's me who decided that I can't live with it all.

"It was stupid." I smile before quickly getting out of the bed to try and avoid any further questions that I won't know the answer to. It's not that I mind talking to Cody about this it's rather that I don't want to be judged for not being okay with Miles at Crystal's bar.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that." He says with a small smile as his eyes run down my body and to the bare parts of my legs sticking out from under Jace's white shorts.

"Thank you," I say, not having anything else to tell him. I hear the door opening up and I turn in hope of seeing Jace but instead I see a girl with light brown hair in a towel. 

I can't help but stare in shock. She glances at me for a mere second before walking in as if she doesn't have a care in the world.

"I should probably go," Cody says and I nod with a kind smile, trying to stay afloat through my mixed emotions. I feel my wide eyes slowly closing but as soon as I lay my eyes on her and hear the door opening up again to reveal a nonchalant Jace, my eyes widen up again.

"Jace . . ." I start but don't know what to say. I'm somehow hoping that he'll bring up the girl next to us in a towel who's now putting a large top over her head and slowly dragging the towel down from her upper body beneath the long shirt.

"Sorry, I left, I got us some breakfast, I figured you wouldn't want to eat noodles. That's not exactly the impression I want you to have of TXSU." Jace smiles as if he couldn't be less surprised that there's a naked girl next to him. 

Don't want to be rude which is why I wait for the girl to slip into pants beneath her long towel and very long shirt. She exits the dorm after five agonizing minutes.

"Jace, are you okay with that?" I ask as soon as the door clicks shut.

"With Rosie?" He asks and I raise a brow.

"The girl who swims all day and was wearing a swimsuit underneath her towel?"

"But I didn't see—"

"Straps?" He asks and I nod. Jace gives me a small smile before explaining, "They apparently bother her, she always takes them off her shoulder after swimming practice." I feel myself releasing a deep breath and somehow I'm finally able to breathe normally.

"Madison, you don't have to worry about me. I know it's weird that we have a girl staying here but she didn't have another dorm available, so she had to be here."

"She got a swimming scholarship and everything you know, petty impressive," Jace says and I give him a small playful swat at his arm.

"I don't mind what you choose Jace, it's just . . . I know how hard it is to—"

"I know, Madison. I'm waiting for marriage, that's what I want to do and no girl in a swimsuit and a towel will change that. I take my faith very seriously, besides . . . it's only you that I want. And I'm waiting for it to be you, you know . . . officially." He says and I smile, unsure of what to say to my best friend.

"I'm going to get ready for class, I'll see you after?" He asks and I nod with a small smile. I'm surprised that school has started already, which only reminds me that I have three more days until mine do.

"Will you be okay here?" Jace asks and I smile.

"Yeah," I say quietly, still trying to process my thoughts about the whole mess I'm in. It feels odd to be here, to have slept in Jace's dorm, to have met Cody and Rosie, and to be so far from Miles and especially to know that Miles isn't a part of my life anymore and I'm not a part of his.

"I only have an introductory class so I won't be long." Jace explains and I nod before he gives me a small wave and exits through the door, clicking it into place, and closing me from the outside world that is the unfamiliar dorm hallway of TXSU.