Human

TWO

I strolled casually into the doorway of Jayden's room, giving a knock on the door with my knuckle. I heard his familiar footsteps before the door swung slowly open.

He was obviously tired with bloodshot eyes.

"Whoa. Did you just drink?" I placed my hands on my hips and said with an incredulous tone.

He smiled, his dimples appearing. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. Shit. "So?" I questioned again.

He placed his strong arms against his door frame. He was still dripping with sweat after his game. "Nah. I didn't." He chuckled, giving me a once-over.

Seriously, we were friends. But there was no hiding from the fact that he was one of the triple Js in the baseball team. There were Jackson, James and Jayden. They were the most popular guys on the team. And it was difficult to have no feelings or deny any feelings towards them, especially when one of them was actually my dorm mate and good friend.

"Y'all lost the match?" I asked with concern.

"Yep. But don't worry about it." His voice softened. "We can't always win in life."

I flushed.

"I'm gonna get going." I placed my hands back down around my two sides. I was getting flustered at him looking at me and I lost the confidence to even place my hands on my hips.

"You wanna go to spring formal together?" He asked suddenly. I blushed tomato-red.

"I'll consider..." I tucked stray strands of my hair shyly behind my ear.

"Mhm." He muttered as he leaned towards me, the warmth of his breath across my face.

He pulled me in towards his room while my heart pumped fiercely against my ribs.

He was a friend. I told myself. A friend. I'm not gonna screw things up. We slept together before when he lost a match for an international baseball competition. That was the first major defeat he suffered in his baseball life. But it was a brother-sister kind of a thing. I wanted to comfort him. And it's really sleep in the literal sense. But today seemed... Different.

I could feel the electricity surging in the air as we were alone together in his room, "Wait here for me. I'm gonna shower." He stripped off his jersey, exposing his ripped six-pack abs.

Calm down Zabelle.

He walked out with confident strides to the bathroom on the third storey, closing the door behind him. I could hear sounds of him fist-bumping with Ashton, who probably just returned.

Ashton whispered,"Oh my god. Is that Belle inside your room?" More like exclaimed. Hopefully Aly didn't hear that but my phone notification came in right after Jayden shushed Ashton. He went to the shower.

Where are you? You just disappeared SOMEWHERE! xD

Her and her emojis. I rolled my eyes. I replied.

...

And you're not gonna share what is happening with ur bestie huh?

Talk to you tmr <sighs>

She didn't reply. I slid off my Converse and dotted socks and laid on my stomach on Jayden's bed until he finally returned.

That's when the last message for the day came.

Have fun <winks>
-Ur dearest Aly

I giggled as I looked up, facing Jayden who had creases above his brows as he asked,"Elephant?" That was his nickname for Aly Phant.

I nodded. "Who else can it be?" I was swinging my legs back and forth.

"What are we gonna do?" I asked, ignoring the heat spreading down my cheeks to my neck to my chest.

Jayden had electric blue eyes. The first time I saw him when I arrived at the dorm, I even asked if he wore contacts. That seemed to allow him to have a lasting impression of me because of its ridiculousness. I was the first that asked that, he told me.

"What do I want to do? You think too much, Belle." He had a white bath towel around his head and was drying it by shaking his head like a cute puppy. Oh no.

"So you want me to go back to my room?" I asked with curious blue  eyes. He was finally done drying his hair and I awaited his response.

He sat in front of his pillow, leant forward and put his arm across my back. I shivered. His hand was still cool from the shower. He bathed with cool water. He did that all the time to wake himself up. I sat up immediately and turned over to face him.

"Princess, it's your choice." He yawned playfully.

"Mhm I guess I'm not going." I blushed.

Jayden was not the kind of guy that hit on girls. He was an over average baseball player with a four-point-zero GPA. And he was a virgin. I was sure about that.

That was one of my favourite things about him. He knew the boundaries and limits. And I got to admit I felt... Safe. Around him. He wouldn't force me into things and situations that I would feel uncomfortable and regret in future.

He nudged me and motioned with his arm for me to crawl into the quilt beside him. During the session when he lost that ultimate match, it was wintertime and he had his shirt on. Not this time. I also only had a night dress that revealed a large portion of my back. The lack of wardrobe should have been uncomfortable. But to my surprise, it didn't really matter and bother me.

I cuddled with Jayden. I snuggled into his chest and fell asleep in his arms.