Anyone Else But You

Chapter 21 - Where Battle Lines Are Drawn

Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud

It was weird being in Jasper’s bedroom Maddie thought to herself, he’d texted to say he’d finished work early and she could come over if she wanted to. Maddie had gone straight round to his house, she’d spent the afternoon doing some work on their project and wanted to show him how far she had got.

An hour and a half later they had packed their work away and were lying on Jasper’s bed together. Maddie rested her head on his chest and felt his arm curl strongly around her shoulder. Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud played in the background and Maddie smiled as Jasper began to sing along gently.

“I love this song.” She whispered against his t-shirt and smiled into the soft, warm material, she could stay like this forever and didn’t want to even contemplate moving. She snuggled closer and closed her eyes, breathing evenly as she dropped off to sleep.

*

Maddie stretched her body into the warmth of the bed, she kept her eyes closed as she sighed deeply. A strange movement under her head and chest made her sit bolt upright, she looked around and saw Jasper grinning at her. She’d fallen asleep on his bed, checking her phone it was half past ten at night; her parents were going to kill her.

“Hi.” Jasper reached a hand towards her and stroked her arm.

“Why didn’t you wake me up? I need to get home or my mum is going to kill me and my dad is going to kill you.” Maddie pushed herself off the bed and reluctantly away from the warmth of Jasper.

“You looked so peaceful, besides you were talking about me in your sleep.” He stood up and grinned as he walked over to her.

“You’ve told me that before, I was moaning your name and whatever else about wanting you.” She began to pull the shoes on she’d taken off earlier and felt his arms circle around her waist from behind. She needed to get home but he felt so good wrapped around her that she never wanted to leave his embrace.

“That was a joke before, this time you just mentioned odd words including my name. It was seriously cute.” Maddie twisted in his arms to look into his eyes. When she was facing him he smiled and kissed her nose making her heart skip faster. “I thought you needed the rest after what happened with Ali earlier, I couldn’t face waking you up.”

Maddie bit her lip as she listened to him, she felt comfortable in his arms like this and right now she didn’t want to be anywhere else. Unfortunately she had to get home to her own bed. “I have to go, I wish I didn’t but I have to. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.” She smiled as her lips brushed his lightly and she pulled away leaving him wanting more. Jasper reached for her as she pulled out of her arms but she was too far away. “Goodnight J.”

“Goodnight Mads.”

*

Monday was the worst day of the week by a long way, Maddie slumped in one of seats in the common room at lunchtime and closed her eyes. She’d been given even more work while her and Jasper’s project was due at the end of the week. On top of everything were the looks and snide comments from Ali and her friends, the people Maddie had used to call her own friends.