The Significance of Orange Juice

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

"How come we've been dating for this long and today is the first time that I've been in your house?"

Arms snaked around my waist and I leant back against the comforting warmth of Jay's chest. "Perhaps I don't trust you with my deepest, darkest secrets?" I teased, the faint pink tint on my cheeks masked by a shield of long brown hair.

My body trembled as Jay's chest rumbled with laughter. He rested his head on my shoulder. "Well then," he murmured softly in my ear, "I'll just have to find them out for myself."

My heart pounded in my chest, but for the first time, I welcomed the feeling. I wasn't going to run away from Jay anymore. All I had to do now was keep him from meeting my parents... I didn't want Jay to meet the charming people who bought me into this world.

Embolden by my decision, I turned around in the circle of Jay's arms and stretched up to press a light kiss against his lips. Jay's warm brown eyes widened slightly, his traditional crooked smile gracing his face. There was something else in his expression though, something that warned of danger to come.

I noticed it too late. It was only when Jay loosened his arms that I connected the pieces together. I shrieked and tried to escape from Jay's embrace, but no matter how much I struggled, he wouldn't stop tickling me. Laughing breathlessly, my fingers tugged on his sleeves as I threatened him just as ineffectually.

The world around me shrank as everything but Jay's warmth and strength faded from my notice. His hands stilled and I gasped as his cold fingers slid under my shirt. A question shone in his eyes and without even thinking, I nodded in agreement. Jay's intoxicating presence coursed through my veins and clouded my vision as his lips crashed against my own and we fell back onto my bed, an arm behind my back so I didn't fall too quickly.

But then Jay swore. Loudly.

Reality began to creep in, cooling the edges of the burning haze. I sat up, my cheeks now a full on red and my heart thundering. I coughed awkwardly and averted my gaze but Jay was already rummaging around, a disgruntled expression evident on his face. With a tug, he pulled the offending object free. He turned to me, extending the sketchbook towards me. The unspoken words 'Why the hell do you keep a hardback book in your bed' hung accusingly in the air. I shrugged wordlessly, unsure how to even begin to explain the tension that my art caused.

The room was silent apart from the turning of pages as Jay leafed through my sketchbook. I bit my lip. Jay's opinion mattered more to me than I cared to admit.

To my surprise, a small smile lurked on the edges of Jay's lips and a pink flush was tinging his cheeks.

“When I mentioned discovering your deepest secrets, I was talking about finding how ticklish you were. I wasn’t expecting to find a book full of sketches of me.”

Seeing Jay's shyly embarrassed smile more than made up for the shame of my previous actions. Who would have thought the sure, confident Jay could be blindsided by some charcoal sketches? He had started at the back of the sketchbook where the more recent sketches were, so more than a few were of him.

I sat on edge, waiting for the final verdict, but Jay said nothing as he continued to flick through the book. He paused on one page and looked up at me for the first time, one eye browed raised curiously. He turned the sketchbook around and there, carefully preserved on the page, was a pencil sketch of Jay, being hit over the head with a bag of coffee beans.

I grinned. "You were infuriating." I replied simply. At the time, it had seemed like a much better idea to draw out my anger than actually act upon my desires. It seemed like an even better idea now - I doubted that any relationship lasted long if it began with the grievous bodily harm of the other.