Life After You

Chapter 20

*It Is What It Is by Jamie Miller* plays in the background.

"Oh my gosh Jeremiah you're such a slob" I giggle, messing his hair and then running to get one of the paintings we bought earlier.

"Excuse me?" he says, I smirk.

"You're excused, slob" I say with a mischievous grin. He shakes his head to himself before making his way to me with an even more evil grin. "Whoops" I say when he is just inches away from me, towering over me. Damn his height. Without another word, I'm thrown over his shoulder as he walks back to his sofa, tossing me on it and doing the most unexpected thing I've ever expected him to do.

He frikin' tickles me.

"S-t-o-p" I try to say between my loud giggles.

"You wish" he says, smirking as I scream, laugh, squeal..you name it, trying to get out of his hold but of course I fail.

"Jeremiah! I. Have. To. Breathe!" I scream through giggles, gasping for breath. He stops abruptly making me sigh in relief. "Meanie" I scowl like Addy would. He laughs looking at me. "Gosh, my stomach hurts" I groaned, rubbing my hand up and down on my stomach.

"You called me a slob" He defends. I laugh.

"Big deal" I playfully roll my eyes while sitting up only to have to be pushed again on the sofa as Jeremiah begins another tickle match. "Jeremiah!" I scream so loud that I think I lost my voice, getting him to stop.

"Sorry, you're just so ticklish" he smirks. I laugh, shaking my head, standing up to finish what we started. I grab the painting I was having earlier, looking for a perfect spot to hang it on.

"Where would you like to have this hung?" I ask Jeremiah, not facing him full-on.

"You're the boss, you tell me" he says with a smirk, leaning on the wall staring at me when I face him, a cheeky grin plastered on his pink lips.

"You're ridiculous." I mutter, standing on my tippy toes placing the canvas board on the wall the sofa's against. "Here? A bit higher though" I ask, facing Jeremiah halfway.

"Looks good. Maybe in the middle a bit...yeah?" he suggests.

"That actually does look good" I say and step up on the sofa, easily holding the painting in the middle of the wall. "Okay" I exhale, jumping down from the sofa on the floor. "Curtains next" I announce, pulling the big shopping bag that has the beige curtains we bought. "How are we going to do this?" I ask no one in particular.

"Easy. I carry you, you hang them" he says like it's simple.

"Yeah right." I mumble. "How's that easy?" I ask.

"Why not?" he questions back.

"Well, for starters, you'd have to carry me for who knows how long until I get all the hooks done on the curtain. Doesn't that sound a little I don't know.. Doesn't that sound a bit much, Remy?" I asked him, who seemed to look like there's no problem in what I just said.

"Not at all." he says casually and proceeds to get the rest of the curtains out of the bag, laying it on the floor.

Once both of us hook the curtains with the wooden circles, I get a blanket from the sofa and lay it on the floor by the sliding glass doors.

"Okay, let's do this" I sort of cheer with a laugh getting one end of the curtain as Jeremiah walks towards me.

"How do you want me to carry you?" he asks. Good question actually. I look at him and the curtain top wall a few times before deciding.

"Shoulders?" he nodded, squatting down so I could climb on his shoulders. "Okay." I say, holding tight onto his head squeezing my eyes shut as he slowly stands tall to his feet.

"Phew. Now that wasn't hard was it?" he says with a chuckle, holding my legs in his hands.

"Just try not to drop me" I mumble, not bothering to look down but proceed to connect the hooks on the curtain pole. "Can you walk a little to the right?" he moves to the right as I keep hooking the circles onto the rest of the pole. "Andddd, done!"

"Awesome! Wanna get down? Or are you liking it up there?" He jokes, making me close his eyes with my hands. He laughs just standing in the same spot as I run my hands in his hair involuntarily in silence.

That night after adding all the new accessories and belongings to his apartment we ended up having pizza over watching The Vow. Who knew your neighbour was a secret sucker for romance?

Like the saying, 'people are interesting at night'. That's what I thought while listening to Jeremiah talk.

The night didn't end for us. Even after the 2-hour movie, we kept talking about so many things I never thought I'd talk about to anyone. All those locked up conversations inside me suddenly were all in the open. All those stories I've been saving up in folders in my head were all out and spoken openly to him.

"You know, I've always liked how you love sharing things. I don't know if it's something you usually do..but with everything you've told me, I cherish them. It's like these beautiful moments you've shared with me." Jeremiah says leaving me speechless. "I like that you tell me these things Isabelle" he then says and that's the most intimate thing he's ever told me.