hit my line (jb.)

13

justin
there is no way this is a coincidence. absolutely no way. when dylan called and asked if him and his girl could crash at my place i didn't at all think his girl would end up being zoë.

i've been crushing on this girl for like three months now and she was going to be here... with her boyfriend. who is also one of my close friends.

after cleaning my already spotless house, i went for a shower. then rebrushed my teeth, actually styled my hair. no matter how much i kept moving, the nerves wouldn't go away.

zoë was going to be here. she was going to be in my house. sleeping in the room just a few feet away from me, with her boyfriend, but that was beside the point. she was going to be here.

while changing into a pair of nice fitting jeans and a t-shirt that i've been told accents the muscles in my chest, i tried to calm myself down.

she was just a girl. it was no big deal having her here. she was a girl with a boyfriend and gorgeous hazel eyes and an adorable smile and the cutest little nose. she was just a girl.

i was in the middle of putting the finishing touches lunch when there was a knock at the door. the sound of esther's paws scraping against the floor followed by the chime of the doorbell filled my eyes.

repeating to myself to 'stay cool' i made my way over to the door. my heart wouldn't stop pounding. i had no idea how she'd react to seeing me. shit, i had no idea how i'd react to seeing her.

i pulled the door open. there she was, standing there in a pair of black leggings and a t-shirt. her hair was pulled back into a wavy ponytail and her face was free of makeup. oh god, she was beautiful.

her expression must of mirrored mine, shocked. she leaned back to check the number on the building scratching at the side of her head.

"jay? what are you doing here?" she questioned.

"i live here."

before i could say anything else, dylan was making his way up the walkway with a bag hanging of each shoulder. "jay-man!" he shouted once he was close enough, clapping his palm down on my shoulder.

"good to see you, dude. gonna let us in?" he grinned wide and i stepped to the side, allowing both him and his girlfriend entrance to my place.

esther, who hadn't moved from the door, rubbed herself against zoë's leg letting out a happy sigh. me too, est, me too.

zoë squealed, leaning down and scooping her up off of the floor. "oh, hello beautiful!" i watched as she brought my dog up to her face, letting her lick at her nose.

"jay, this is my girlfriend, zoë," dylan set a hand down on the small of her back, presenting to me like some kind of prize. i plastered the most convincing smile on my face.

"nice to meet you, zoë." she still held esther in her hands. leaning forward, zoë pressed her cheek against mine and made a kissing sound.

"likewise," she grinned as she pulled away.

i tried to act unaffected how the smell of her flowery perfume tickled my nose.

"i've got lunch made in the kitchen. you guys want to eat after i show you your room?" quickly becoming the hospitable host i intended to be. which did not include sexual thoughts about your guest's girlfriend.

the walk up the stairs seemed to last forever. there were only 23 of them! zoë was right in front of me and in that moment i discovered the leggings she's wearing? 100% see-through. god was testing me.

as we sat around the kitchen table, shrimp pasta and garlic bread on our plates, dylan filled me in on the direction his life had went since we seen each other last.

after graduating, dylan quit his internship at FOX and started working in the copy room at some prestigious sounding magazine. that's where he met zoë who was eighteen and waiting for her cousin to go to lunch.

without wasting a second he asked her out that night and they've been together since. dylan looked at zoë with this obvious longing. he loved her, he just wasn't good at showing it i guess.

i needed to step back and ignore this stupid crush that i've got. it was just a crush. i didn't even know her.

zoë picked the tomatoes out of her pasta as dylan and i spoke. she made them into a neat pile at the side of her plate. it was all quirky and extremely cute. i forced all my conversation on the story dylan was telling me.

+

after lunch zoë wanted to go walk around. so we did. her and i hardly talked and i didn't think we would ever. how do you even approach a situation like this?

continue on as if it's nothing? i had been trying for hours and it's just uncomfortable. we ended up grabbing chick-fil-a for dinner and going back to my place to watch a movie.

zoë sat comfortably in dylan's lap on the arm chair while i sprawled on the couch with esther on my chest. we watched the entire hunger games trilogy, then finally headed up to bed.

it was now well after midnight and i couldn't get myself to sleep. i couldn't figure out why i was so bothered by this. it was just some girl. honestly. it wasn't like she was living here. this was just until sunday.

but what would happen after that? would we go back to texting like normal? could we? the knowledge that she was dating one of my friends was now out there. it was different when dylan was just any random joe, but now: it was dylan blanchett.

my roommate, my best bud. the guy who punched cole thomas in the face after he had knocked me out cold. the guy who stayed up all night to study for finals. my official beer pong partner, dylan. i couldn't do that to him.

a light knock on my bedroom pulled me from my rambling thoughts. just before i could grant access to whoever was knocking, a mess of raven hair peaked through the crack.

"jay?" zoë. i sat up.

"yeah?" zoë entered room after i spoke. she stood there in the smallest tightest black shorts and the same t-shirt from earlier. her hair was let out of the ponytail, falling wildly around her face.

"did i wake you?"

"no. why are you in here?" she was not making this easy.

"i wanted to talk. we didn't really get a chance at all today."

"okay." i thought of suggesting we go down to the kitchen, instead of being in the bedroom where there's a bed. i didn't.

zoë sat down cross legged on the edge of the bed. "i had no idea you were dylan's friend."

"i had no idea you were dylan's girlfriend."

there was a pause. she sat there looking as if she had a million things to say but couldn't form a coherent sentence. me too, zoë, me too.

"normally i wouldn't even think about cheating," were her next words which caught me off guard.

"who's cheating?" she looked at me like i was an idiot.

"i am! texting you the way that i had been, that was cheating, jay. me being in here right now, cheating." zoë pushed her hair out of her face.

"we didn't do anything." i pointed out.

"yeah, but i wanted to." that, that floored me. she wanted to. i need an award or something. here was this extremely gorgeous girl, in my bedroom, on my bed admitting to wanting to do stuff with me and ive been keeping my hands to myself.

"i think it would be best if we just act indifferent towards each other. i'm just your friend's girlfriend and you're just my boyfriend's friend." i couldn't even be annoyed by her suggestion, it was for the best.

"okay." i smiled. as she rose from the bed, she reached her hand out and squeezed my arm. "i'll see you at breakfast." she grinned before turning around and sauntering out.

my eyes instantly fell to the roundness of her ass and the way it swayed as she walked. this was not going to be easy.