This time, I'm serious

What are you staring at?

Jas and Najuma wandered up to the roof terrace, where Jas was sure she'd find Youcef. As she opened the door, she found Bruno and Youcef sitting together.

Youcef smiled at her, but instantly turned his face away when Najuma stepped through behind her.

"This feels familiar... I feel like you boys should be in a hot tub or something" Jas grinned.

Youcef scowled.

Najuma approached him, looking extremely sheepish. "Babe, can we talk? Please"

Youcef stood, and walked toward the door. Jas closed it behind her, leaning on it so he couldn't leave.

He came and stood in front of her.

"Jasmine, please move"

"No"

His eyes pleaded with her. "If you don't move, I will have to move you."

She shot him a look, daring him to do it. "If you touch me, I'll tell Bruno to beat you up, and he does everything I say, don't you babe?"

"Yep, literally everything. I physically cannot say no to her. I'm like a Golem. I'd have to do it."

Youcef couldn't help but laugh. "That is so stupid" he chuckled.

"Yeah, just like you and Najuma are being. Now sit down."

He sighed, a little hurt. "I don't think I'm being stupid."

Jas furrowed her brow, sadly. "No, you're right. You're not. I'm sorry, I spoke too quickly."

Youcef turned to Najuma. "Do you see? Do you see that? That's what you do when you hurt someone's feelings. Jasmine understands this."

Jas placed a hand on Youcef's arm, and she heard his breath catch. "Please listen to her. She's trying to apologise."

"I am. I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have brought up your dad."

"You can't do that, Najuma. You can't talk about parts of my life you don't understand."

"But I do understand."

"No. You don't. Just because we had similar childhoods doesn't mean we had the same childhood. I went through a lot when my dad left. I had to watch my mother go through a lot. How do you think it feels to have someone say that I might be like him?"

Najuma held up her hands. "Wait."

She paused for a moment, thinking. But turned to Jas.

"I think I'm starting to get it now. And... in light of it... I think you were right, Jas. I think you and Bruno should go. We should be talking about this in private."

Youcef looked mildly surprised, but Jas couldn't help but notice a small glimmer of a smile in his eyes. He turned, and went and sat down next to her, taking her hand.

Jas looked at Bruno, feeling like she'd won a prize, and motioned toward the door for them to leave

He stood and slipped his hand into hers, and they walked back through the door into the dressing room.

************

As they reached the stairs, Bruno couldn't stop staring at Jas.

The four of them on the roof terrace... Jas's comment about the hot tub...

He couldn't believe it had only been a few weeks.

Jas noticed him staring at her, and stopped.

"What are you staring at? You've got a big dopey grin on your face"

"You. Up there. You mentioned the hot tub"

She laughed. "I know"

"Remember our first kiss?"

Because he certainly did.

He smiled at her, finding it hard to remember what life was like before he could kiss her whenever he wanted. The false start. The butterflies. No, not butterflies. Albatrosses. All smushed together in his stomach, flapping their wings at once.

"Oh god, I was bricking it " she said. "We could actually see you guys through the hedge before we came around the corner. I called dibs on you."

He burst out laughing. "You what!? "

She grinned at him. "Yeah, Najuma was hot for Youcef as soon as she saw him. She tried to climb a little wall to get a better look at him, and fell on her ass."

"And it turned out that we'd picked each of you as well."

"Yes, worked out quite nicely in the end, didn't it?"

"What were you thinking when we were about to kiss?" he grinned.

Jas beamed at him. " Oh, god . I was still laughing at how nervous you were. It was so cute babe. You were being all flirty and smooth and shit, and then the second I said I wanted to kiss you, your voice cracked and you looked like you'd just been slapped. It was honestly so flattering. I honestly can't wait to get home so we can watch it all over again." She laughed.

He grinned at her, blushing slightly. "You want to talk about flattering? How about the fact that you wanted to kiss me ? Fucking hell, Jas, I've never been so nervous in my life."

"It was a great kiss though. We should probably thank Youcef for wingmanning it at some point"

"Come here. I want to do it again. Now... How did I do this?"

He placed his hand on the small of her back, and brought his fingers under her chin. She placed her hand on his arm, her fingers confident and secure as they gripped him. He dipped her backward slightly, and brushed his lips softly against hers. She responded by instantly deepening the kiss.

Just like the first time, he felt the familiar electricity crashing through his body as if he was being powered through her. He felt every hair on his body stand on end. She opened her mouth to him, and their tongues gently brushed each other. He lifted his hand from under her chin and entangled it in her hair, taking a hold of it, and pulling her head back. He pressed her deeper into him, and they both moaned. But this time, there were no awkward giggles or breaking apart. Only their heavy breathing.

Bruno walked Jas backward, pressing her against the wall. She immediately lifted her leg to wrap around his waist, and he grabbed her other one, lifting her, spreading her legs wide open, and pressed his hips into hers. She scraped her nails along the back of his head, making him moan deeper into the kiss, and he started grinding against her.

Eventually, Jas was the one to break their kiss, giggling at how much kissing her was turning him on. "Get off" she laughed.

"I'm trying" he growled into her, making her burst out laughing.

But he relented, pulling his hips away from hers, but not completely letting her go.

She looked up at him, her lips red and swollen from their kiss. "So, verdict? Still nervous about kissing me?"

He sighed, brushing a strand of hair out of her face as he kissed the freckle on her cheekbone.

"Jas, I will be nervous about kissing you every single time I do it. I'm not nervous it will be bad , because you're a fucking phenomenal kisser and it never is. But I get nervous anyway. 'Cause I'm terrified that there might be a day where I can't kiss you anymore. So yeah, I still get nervous. But now, it's about losing you."

Jas blushed. "Baby... fucking hell. "

She wrapped her arms back around his neck, kissing him again.

"You don't have anything to worry about on that front, don't you worry. I'm not letting you go without a bloody fight" she grinned. "Now come on. I'm feeling good about today, now. Let's go downstairs and get everyone to play a game or something"

He beamed at her in agreement.

Today would be a good day.