Five Times~ Pearce Joza

Chapter 9

Ten thirty-two. It was currently ten thirty-two in the morning and Pearce and I were standing outside the apartments. He told his mother he would take an Uber to the hotel, so that gave us a bit more time to be with each other. I looked over at him and smiled. "That's my hat," I said to him. It was a Harry Potter hat I got back in 8th grade when I went on a field trip to Universal Orlando. He grinned slightly and looked down at me. "That's my sweatshirt." He pointed out as I looked down at it. "Oh." I muttered and took it off, handing it to him. Okay okay don't get the wrong idea here. I just asked if I could wear his sweatshirt when we were inside the apartment and he said I could. It was super cold and I just forgot to take it off. 

Every time a car drove by I would get nervous thinking Pearce was going to leave soon, but it was always just someone who was going in or coming out. "Are you nervous too?" He asked me, breaking the silence. "Is it that obvious?" I asked nervously. "Wait, 'too'?" He looked at me and nodded. "I mean I didn't exactly tell my mom I got summoned to someone's house. I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to tell her." He admitted. I'm going to be honest- I didn't really think of that either. "I mean, I guess just say that you took a spontaneous, last minute trip to Miami and lost all of your stuff." I shrugged and watched as a red car with an Uber sticker on the front pull up. Already? Why'd they have to come so soon? "Are you Pearce Joza?" The driver asked. 'No dude, it's Channing Tatum.' I thought and mentally cursed myself for being salty. "Yeah. That's me." He responded to the driver. And here I am trying not to be emotional. 

Pearce turned to me and pulled me into a big hug- and I would've been an idiot to not hug him. "Thank you for summoning me against my will. We should definitely not do this again." We both laughed at his corny joke then broke apart the hug. "I'll try my best to fight the urge but it'll be so hard," I joked and wiped my eyes. Sometimes I wonder if I was ever really joking. "Oh gosh look at what you did Pearce, you got me emotional." I laughed and watched as he was about to get in the car. The car that would separate us. He stopped for a moment and looked down at the sweatshirt, then gave it to me. "Here. You might need something to hold on to when you get sad." He choked out. He was definitely just as emotional as I was. The moment the sweatshirt was in my hands, something erupted inside of me. I don't know what it was, but it made me make the best decision I could've ever made in my life.

I kissed him. I walked right up to him and kissed him. And it was amazing. The kiss wasn't long, nor was it short. And the best part of it was when he kissed me back. It was like fireworks were exploding in my stomach and exciting all the butterflies. It felt like sitting on a roof with your favorite person and making wishes on shooting stars. Or looking at the sunset from the top of a really tall building then shouting 'I Love You' at the top of your lungs. I'm not good with explaining how things feel to me, but in this case it felt absolutely euphoric. 

Poor Uber driver though. They had to sit there and wait. 

The moment we pulled away I couldn't help but let the smile on my face grow wider. "Well now I really don't want to say goodbye." Pearce hugged me again and held me close. "This isn't goodbye anymore. This is definitely an 'I'll see you again' hug." I responded and tried not to scream. Pearce pulled away and kissed my forehead. "I really should go now. And try not to scream so loud, the neighbor's might think you're dying." He remarked with a teasing grin on his face. "Ha ha very funny I wasn't even going to scream." I stuck my tongue out at him. Yes I know, I'm childish. "Okay, sorry to break up your moment, but If we don't leave now I won't pick up the next person on time." The driver said impatiently. "Right, yeah," Pearce quickly kissed me again the got into the car. "Try not to miss me so much." I called before he closed the door. The driver let him put the window down so he could quickly say "It'll be hard not to." And then I watched the car drive away. But I wasn't so upset anymore; I knew that I'd see him again, whether it was through another ritual or a planned meet up. 

Once I got back inside I put on Pearce's sweatshirt, grabbed a notebook and pen, and sat on my bed. I opened it to the first empty page and started writing. 

'Have you ever watched a movie or a show about saying some person's name in the mirror a few times and they appear and start attacking and killing people? Well, I tried it and it went a lot different than I thought it would. My name is Janyne Karoff and this is the story of how I accidentally summoned a person into my house.'

'Five Times' was what I called it. I closed the notebook and put it on the dresser. The dresser where the mirror was. The dresser where all of this started. I stared at my reflection and I swear I saw a transparent glimpse of Pearce standing in the mirror next to me. The story isn't really over is it?

"Libby's going to love this."