in the night | the weeknd

eleven

Jasmine

I wake up, feeling all hot and sweaty. Abel's arm is slung over my body and his head rests on my shoulder. He breathes lightly into my neck, causing it to tickle.
His leg is slung over me too, locking me in his grasp. I don't want to move though.

I twist my neck and look at him, smiling. Telling him about why I left really took a heavy weight off my shoulders, but I felt so guilty seeing him cry. He rarely showed emotions and just seeing him like that broke my heart.

I stroke his cheek gently now and he groans a bit before nuzzling into my neck even more. I bite my lip, trying not to laugh, while continuing to stroke his cheek and admire him.

"Why are you staring at me?" he suddenly asks, causing me to freeze. What the fuck?! How long has he been awake? Abel opens his eyes and smiles at me. "Well?" He shifts a little and takes his leg off me, finally allowing me to breathe properly.

Instead of answering him - because I'm too embarrassed right now - I just turn my body to face him and lean my head against his chest. I also put my leg around him, just to make him feel how I felt, but he doesn't seem to mind.

"I'm glad you told me," Abel whispers into my hair. "About why you left."

I look up at him. "Are you still angry at me?" I want to know.

Abel frowns. "Definitely not," he answers. "There's no reason why I should be angry at you anymore."

I nod and lean up to kiss his cheek. I would love to kiss him on the lips, but it doesn't feel like the right time. I hover over him. "Abel," I say quietly. "You don't think that I'm disgusting, do you?"

"What? Why would you think that?" Abel wants to know. "Of course I don't!"

"Because of what happened to me, because I let it happen to me," I answer. "Because I was with Dre, who used to abuse me. Because I work as a stripper, despite everything that's happened to me."

Abel cradles my cheek. "I don't think you're disgusting at all," he says and I smile. He moves my head down and brushes his lips against my forehead and I lay back down on his chest. "Speaking of the strip club, are you still going to work there?"

I chew my lip, thinking about it. "Yeah," I decide. "It pays well."

"I'm not being rude or anything," Abel starts to say. "But don't you get paid a lot?

"Yeah. And?"

"What happened to all your money?" Abel questions.

"Dre," I say bitterly. "He used it to pay off everyone he owed and the rest went to either drugs, alcohol or the rent for the house." I let him because I was scared of him, scared what he'd do to me. I didn't want to get beaten up, so I let him.

"Oh," Abel says now. "Well, at least now, you can keep the money."

I smile. "Yeah, I guess," I say, fiddling with the fabric of his t-shirt. "That's what I went back for yesterday. I remembered that Dre kept a stash of my money, so I went to get it back. I'm sorry again, Abel, I didn't mean to scare you. I thought you'd still be asleep by the time I got back."

"It's okay," Abel replies. We stay silent for a long time. "I know I've talked about this already, but do you remember the first time we kissed?" I nod. "I was so nervous. I had the biggest crush on you."

I feel my cheeks burning and I look up at Abel and prop myself up on one elbow. "You did?" I ask, grinning. "I did, too."

Abel smiles, brushing my hair back. "It wasn't just a crush, though," he says now. He sits up, leaning against the headboard, while I just stare at him. "I loved you, Jasmine - I still do. I always have and always will."

The breath catches in my throat and my heart thumps against my chest. I feel the butterflies flutter around in my stomach. I stare at Abel for a long time and he stares back at me.

Slowly, I lean down, until our lips are inches apart, and then I kiss him. Abel immediately responds by bringing up his hands to hold my face. My hand rests on his chest as we continue to kiss and then I pull away, looking up at him. "I love you, too," I tell him and he smiles and leans in to kiss me again.

I climb onto Abel's lap and I'm reminded of the first time we kissed in his bedroom. I smile against his lips and so does he - he's probably remembering that night too.

Just when I'm about to lift my top up, Abel stops me. "Maybe we shouldn't go that far," he says quietly. I look at him, confused and he shifts. "After hearing what you told me laat night, I want our first time to be perfect. I don't want to rush things with you."

I look at him, feeling the tears come. Abel is the only guy who's respected me when it comes to this situation and the fact that he doesn't want to have sex straight away is nice. Even though I want to have sex with him right now, I think he's right about waiting.

I smile at him now and lean in to peck his lips. "You're amazing, you know that, right?" I tell him.

Abel grins. "I've been told," he says and then starts stroking my cheek. "I love you." He sighs. "God, it feels so good to say that."

I laugh. "I love you, too, starboy," I say, before kissing him again.