Stayin' High

Chapter 2

*Jai's POV*

Nora's hand was on my lap for the whole drive, sometimes she would even caress my leg, causing me to shiver. I wasn't used to this, I wasn't used to have her by my side at all.

"Are you sure you're okay?" she asked me, a worried expression was taking over her face, she really was concerned about me. She's concerned about Luke, you piece of shit, not about you, my mind wouldn't shut up.

"I am" I faked a smile. I'm pretty sure it was obvious that I was faking it, but she didn't say anything about it. And I was grateful she didn't.

"Okay sooo" she was looking out of the window, probably trying to understand where I was taking her "where are we going?"

"It's a surprise, I told you"

"You did tell me, but I want to know. Please, baby, tell me" she whined a bit, making me chuckle. And from that point I couldn't stop thinking about her calling me baby, I had imagined it a lot of times, but hearing it was totally a different feeling. The way her lips moved as she said it, her accent, her voice in general. It was all so perfect. But none of this is real, I thought.

Just thinking about the various times she proably called Luke baby and he didn't appreciate it enough made me want to throw up.

"I'm not telling you"

"You're such a bad person, we haven't seen each other in person for three months and you don't even tell me where you're taking me" she giggled, trying to convince me.

"I want it to be a surprise"

"Fuck, okay" she gave up, a little bit of exasperation in her voice.

"Don't be maaaad" I hold her hand into mine as I tried to look at her without losing sight of the road.

"I'm not mad" she ressured me, and I knew she wasn't lying.

"Tell me something more about Rome" I told her

"What should I tell you?" she thought out loud. That you love me, my mind considered.

"Okay, got it" she smiled "there was this time that me and Francy were out with some italian peeps named Matteo and Lorenzo"

"Two guys?" I wondered, imagining her and Beau's girlfriend walking around Rome with two italian guys who couldn't stop thinking of 50 different ways to bring them home and fuck them.

"Yep, they're quite cool. They run a YouTube channel and have plenty of fans, so we couldn't walk 30 meters without them having to stop for taking pictures or signing things. It was so funny"

"Sounds fun" I lied. My mind was obviously trying to kill me.

"They are pretty hot as well" she smirked. It was like she was trying to give my mind enough material to drive me crazy.

"I'm joking. I mean, they're cute but you are waaaay hotter" she ran her hand up and down my lap, making me want to stop the car and fucking kiss her like nobody ever had.

"I'm not hot" I started "and I am sure you're trying to drive me fucking mad right now because I want to rip my hair off for the things you said but at the same time you and your hand are teasing me like hell so I want to stop this car like right now but I can't and I won't" I was going crazy, I was exaggerating and I was aware of it. But this girl was trying her best to break me right now.

"I was just kidding, love, c'mon. Since when are you so serious?" she wanted to smile, I knew it, but she couldn't. She was slowly starting to break, too. And I didn't want it. It was my fault, fuck, good job, genius.

"I'm sorry for saying that" I mumbled; I saw her nodding her head slowly "I really am sorry, I shouldn't have told you that you're driving me mad"

"I'm fine, I really am. To be honest, I am happy. How long has it been since you were this sincere to me?" and my fucking heart broke when I saw a single tear pour down her cheek. I rubbed it away with my thumb and I felt the smile growing on her face. She was happy because I was honest? What of a shitty boyfriend had Luke been, if she was fucking happy because I told her she was driving me crazy?

Now I wanted to kill my own brother, my twin.

All I wanted was to shout and to kiss her until she was out of breath, until we both were.

"You know what? I wanted to take you to an open concert on the beach but we aren't going" I said. Nora turned to me, disappointment clear on her face.

"Why not?"

"I have other plans" I told her as I turned the car around, driving in the opposite direction.

Direction: supermarket.

"Can you tell me where we are going now?" she wondered

"I don't really know yet. We have to go to the mall first"