The Girl Next Door > jariana (COMPLETED)

eight

Justin

I could still feel the warmth from her body on the sheets when I reached over, searching for her, and for a moment I wondered...had it been real? Bleary eyed I stared at the clock. It was only 7 in the morning. The sound that woke me must have been the door shutting - Ari sneaking away. We must have fallen asleep sometime after midnight.

She shouldn't have stayed over. She'd kept trying to leave, but I'd keep pulling her back into the bed. Not that anything had happened. We'd just talked and hung onto each other, horsing around. Kid shit. I sighed, rubbing my eyes as I sat back down on the edge of the bed. What did I expect? She was a kid. Ariana Grande. What the hell was I doing, hanging with a girl her age? If her parents caught her sneaking back in this morning...

I swore and tripped on the sheet tangled around my leg as I climb out of bed. I opened the door to the back yard to see if she was still visible, but I was too late. It was quiet and cool. I shivered, standing there, wondering when I'd see her again. I went back inside and reached for my phone as I climbed back into bed and saw that three texts had come through. They were all from Rachel Schaffer.

I didn't read them - I just tossed my phone to the foot of my bed. I seriously didn't even want to deal with that shit right now. One drunken hook-up and what, she thought she had dibs on me? Yeah, she was an old friend, and she helped out with our band stuff...but I've seen how she plays hot and cold with other guys, she should know what's up. And it's not like I've ever shown even the slightest interest in her. But still, I just knew that it was gonna rain shit-balls once she realized that I was into Ari. I pushed the looming issue from my mind and tried to go back to sleep. This was my last summer vacation and I wanted to go into my senior year with my future in music secure.

I could smell Ari's strawberry scented hair lingering on my pillow and closed my eyes, reliving our night. When she'd first arrived I'd sat down on my bed and she paced back and forth in front of me, I recalled how she looked in her little black cotton shorts. Her short but lean legs tan and smooth, it'd taken everything in me not to reach out and touch them. When I finally did, she had the softest skin I think I'd ever felt on a girl.

I guess I finally drifted off to sleep because I was startled awake by a knock at my door.

"Yeah, what?" I groaned.

"Rachel is here. It's eleven o'clock," my mom's muffled voice informed me.

Shit. Are you kidding me? "Alright, tell her to come in." I threw off the blankets, sat up, and before I knew it Rachel was standing there, glaring at me.

"What's up, man? What's so important that you had to wake me up?" I stood, grabbing a shirt off the back of my chair and pulled it on.

"Really? Man?" she huffed, shoulders slumping.

"What is up with you?"

"Me? What about you?"

"Are you kidding me, Rachel? I was up all night, writing." I turned, holding my arms out pleading. "Come on. What's up? What's this all about?"

"You totally blew me off, Justin. You fuck around with me and then you ignore me?"

"Ok, wait a second. I could say the same thing about you. You fucked around with me too, Rachel."

I knew trying to put it on her was a dick move, but I didn't even care. I'd had enough of this.

"Yeah, but I'm not blowing you off."

I stood there, mind racing to find something to smooth over our exchange. "Look, I don't mean to blow you off. Come on, I'm just doing my thing. You have no idea the shit that's about to go down - I have to focus."