Thats Life

Chapter Forty-Four

The sun shines through my window right into my eyes, pulling me out of the best sleep I've ever gotten. I look over and see Josh still in my bed curled up against the wall sleeping with his back towards me. He is the sweetest sleeper, his soft and even breaths are the only sound filling up my room. I lay on my back and smile up at my ceiling biting my lip as yesterday's memories fill my head. He likes me. He tried to kiss me, I've never felt this way about Ian. Never.

"Good morning" His voice comes out sleeping and rough when I stand up. I kneel on the floor and lean into my elbows on the bed. His voice alone is enough to turn me on, I wonder if we had kissed last night if I'd be able to lean in and kiss him now. I have no idea how these things work. I kneel on the floor and lean into my elbows on the bed.

"Morning" I smile back at him. His hair is a mess, and he has lines on his face from where he was laying on the pillow. If I slept well last night, I bet he slept amazingly. "I um... I don't know how to do this part." I admit.

He laughs softly. "Does this house have any coffee? I have a wicked hangover, and I am not ready to be awake yet."

"Yeah, I'll go get you some. The bathroom is down the hall, second door on the left if you need it."

He reaches out and runs his fingers along the outside of my wrist "Thanks for letting me stay here."

"Of course." I nod. I get up and head back out to the kitchen where Tyson and Suzie are hanging out arguing over something I don't give a shit about. I try to remind myself to act natural as I walk to the kitchen, no doubt there will be questions if I walk in there smiling like a fool. I drop the smile, but nothing can be done about the way I'm blushing. Knowing I'm blushing puts that dumb smile right back on my face.

"How was last night?" Tyson asks.

Josh appears in my head and I have to fake rubbing my nose to hide the smile. "Not too bad. I had a bad moment for maybe 10 seconds but overall, it just solidified my hate for other people."

"That's fair, I'm glad it wasn't too hard for you. But did you have fun?" He asks as Suzie places some coffee in front of me.

"It was alright." I take a few sips "Not really my scene I guess."

"Will came back early this morning, how did you get home?" She asks.

I assume both her and Tyson haven't seen the car in the driveway yet. Which means, Will got home and kept his mouth shut. Very unlike him.

"I got a ride from a friend." I take more sips of the coffee, the image of Josh looking at me in the car with those sexy eyes. Another smile breaks out on my face without me noticing.

"You came in so quietly. You didn't even have your music on last night, I only knew you were home because I heard you laughing."

Suzie shakes her head in disbelief "You heard him laughing?" She asks Tyson then looks back over at me. "You were laughing? In your room by yourself in the middle of the night?"

I give up trying to take the smile off my face and stand up instead. "What? A guy can't laugh?" I chuckle.

"A guy can laugh, just not you." She jokes. "Is Katie in your room?"

"Nope" I pop the P as I pour coffee into a second mug.

"I told you!" Tyson yells.

"Why? Do I even want to know?"

"I'm 98% sure she slept in Will's room last night. Is that not strange to anyone else?"

In perfect time, the sound of my bedroom door opening and closing pulls everyone's attention from the Katie and Will argument.

Suzie and Tysons heads lean around the wall to look down the hall towards my room. I stay with my back to the room and close my eyes tight scrunching my face like it's going to lower the volume of the real world.

When I open one eye, they both look at me at the same time, both with shocked expressions.

"Alright, well I'm going to take my coffee back to my room." I say it through an embarrassed and dismissing smile.

"Jace! Is there someone in your room!?" Suzie asks amused.

"Umm... no. It sounds like there's someone in the bathroom, so my room would be empty currently." I scratch my head, then turn and leave before anyone can ask me anything else.

Once in my room I put the coffees on the desk and figure I should probably clean up this mess.

A few moments later Josh walks back in and leans against the closed door watching me pick up my books. "You read a lot?" He asks.

"Yeah, I used to. I'm trying to get back into it."

He looks around at the shelf, my arms and the floor "It usually helps to read one at a time."

I pull my lips into my mouth and nod my head sarcastically, "Ah, that's what I've been doing wrong. Thanks for the advice."

He takes a few steps towards me and touches my fingertips with his. "Any time." His hand tightens around mine and he softly pulls me to him. With his left hand still holding mine, he brings his right hand up to my Jaw, and traces a line from my ear to the back of my neck. He pulls my head closer letting his bottom lip barley touch mine. "Any objections?" He whispers.

"No" I breathe.

His lips meet mine, softly at first. I feel the butterflies that live in my stomach for him burst and spread across every inch of my body. I can feel his hand on the back of my neck, his other now firmly on my hip. The one on the back of my neck tightens enough to cause a soft moan from me. Which apparently was the approval he was looking for, his kiss gets rougher, he's kissing me like he's feeling all the spark and electricity that I am. His tongue grazes hungerly across my bottom lip before he pulls it into his mouth. He pulls away and looks into my eyes. His eyes really making me melt now. I have never experienced a kiss like that. So full of emotion and want and need. Not need for anyone though, a need specific for each other.

"I'd lay you down on your bed, and take this further, but there were like, four people out there that watched me leave the bathroom and walk in here."

I rest my head on his and laugh. "Well, I'll need a second before I can walk out there."

"Think it's too late for me to jump out the window?" His laugh filling the room.