Mine • Jaren Jackson Jr.

•26•

"Is the coast clear?" Cyn asked when Rielle and Jaren entered the apartment suite, holding hands. "No bruises or blood, I see."

Arielle smiled. "You're hilarious, Cynthia."

"Y'all good now?" Ja asked, eating from the food he and Cyn ordered.

"Yeah, we're fine."

"Is Rielle officially taken or should I go find some good looking Indonesian men to hook her up with?"

Jaren chuckled. "Cap."

"We're not back together, Cyn. Sorry." Rielle said. "We're gonna try and figure something out, though."

She didn't know exactly how they were gonna handle their friendship or whatever they were so after everyone went off to their own rooms, Rielle did the exact same. She wasn't going to go into Jaren's room because he hadn't invited her.

Rielle didn't know what kind of friends they were because even a couple of months ago when they were friends, they shared a bed. Things were much different now and they were mending things that needed to be fixed.

Arielle was seated on the middle of her bed for about an hour, searching for jobs in and around Memphis to apply for. Jaren called her out of the random, and she smiled softly, answering.

It was comforting to see after over a month.

"To whom do I owe the pleasure?" She murmured, falling back against the bed. "Hi, Jaren."

"What's up?" His voice came through the phone quietly due to the way hers affected him. "What you still doing up?"

"Bored." Rielle expressed.

He took a deep breath. "Same."

The line went mostly silent with the exception of Rick and Morty playing on Jaren's TV. He played it when he was on the road and Rielle wasn't with him. It reminded him of her.

"Why'd you call?" Rielle's voice had dropped to almost a whisper. "Why didn't you just walk over?"

Jaren shrugged, realizing he could've just walked to the very next room. "I ain't know if you wanted me to or not."

"I do." Rielle said, almost shyly. "But I didn't want it to be weird asking."

"Here I come."

The power forward stood from his bed and walked over to his bedroom door, making sure Cyn or Ja weren't lurking in the hallways. When he saw that the coast was clear, he soundlessly got to Rielle's room and shut the door behind him with no sound.

Arielle sat there, an oversized hoodie on with her washed hair down. She had no pants on but she had completely disregarded that when Jaren approached the bed.

He set him knee into the bed as Rielle moved over. "I ain't even think you would be up when I called you."

The 21 year old almost came clean and told him that she couldn't sleep if he wasn't next to her but decided that could wait. She would maybe tell him later but for now she was happy he was here.

"What's on your laptop?"

She watched him settle into the bed in his long sleeved Memphis shirt and shorts. "I was looking for Nursing jobs in Memphis but I didn't see any. There aren't any close either."