Meant To Be: A Jerika Story

Chapter Sixteen

Jake POV: I wake up to the sunrise; the rays of light shining through my blinds. Stretching; I look down, and am startled to see a mass of brown hair spread across my chest. "Fuck, who did I sleep with?!" I think in a panic. I reach down to move the hair away, and see that it's Erika. Oh right, I had let her sleep in my bed. Halfway through the night I had felt lonely in the office, so I came up to sleep here too. I couldn't remember what happened after that though. Erika starts to shuffle around, then slowly opens her eyes. Looking up, she gives me a sleepy smile; her eyes full of warmth. "Good morning Jake," she says with a yawn, her arms still wrapped around me.
"Erika.. we didn't do anything, did we?" I ask nervously. She laughs.
"No, you just came up here and fell asleep. I thought it was really cute." I laugh. Guess I managed to control myself.
"I know, I know I'm adorable. But you know what? This right here, us in bed together, would be a great thumbnail. Like "I SLEPT WITH MY HOT ROOMATE?!!" guaranteed to get at least 3 mill." She laughs.
"But you have that thing going on with Amanda Cerny." "But that's different, that's only for the vlogs," I reply. "So your crush on me isn't just for the vlogs?" She asks slyly. I could feel my face redden. "I don't know. You tell me," I say with a wink. We both laugh, then lay in silence, still holding onto each other. In a way it's peaceful and happy; the birds chirping outside, the sun lighting up the room and the comfort of having her wrapped up in my arms. In another way, however, it's awkward and weird; I feel like I'm waking up with my girlfriend. But I'm not.

Erika POV: Despite all the reasons not to, I knew I was falling for Jake; at this point it was it beyond my control. I would catch myself staring at him one second too long, frequently going through his Insta and even laughing at his stupid, corny jokes. Of course I had to have a crush on an idiot like him. Anyway, at the moment Jake, Nick and I were in the office doing business and Jake was explaining an idea when Nick interrupted him mid sentence. "Alright, do you two have something to tell me," he asks, looking back and forth at Jake and I.
"Umm no? Why," I say confusedly.
"Literally you haven't looked away from each other for more than two seconds. What's going on, it's like I'm not even here," he says with a laugh.
"We're just talking business," I reply, but I could feel myself start to blush.
"Of course, its just business," Jake says with a slow nod, his eyes still on me.
"Uh huh, I'm sure it is." Nick says with a smirk. We go back to talking about business; and I start to take notes just to avoid making any eye contact with Jake. Jake continues to talk when Nick interrupts him again.
"Seriously? Now she's not even looking at you, but you're still staring at her," Nick says. I laugh; but I feel my face blush even more. I look up and see him smiling at me, his eyes in a trance.
"Look I know I'm stunning, but you're getting kind of creepy," I giggle.
"It's just your eyes. They're unreal. Like literal emeralds," Jake replies. I roll my eyes, but on the inside I'm melting.
"Let's just go back to work," I say, looking back down at my paper. I try my best to maintain composure, but I couldn't hold myself back from smiling. He was just too cute sometimes.

After a long day full of appointments, meetings and phone calls I snuggle into my bed; enjoying the plushness and comfort of my new mattress. I guess a part of me is glad Jake burnt and trashed my old one. Jake. I honestly got nervous thinking about him; thinking about us. If there even was an "us". I mean, he didn't really try to hide his feelings for me, and I knew I couldn't pretend forever. His incessant flirting, touching and smiling was getting to me.  Not only that, but I noticed that he had stop texting and inviting girls over, something he hadn't even stopped when he had his thing with Alissa. Could this mean he was serious about his crush? Ugh, having feelings for someone you live with isn't easy; I really didn't know what to do. I continue mulling over my thoughts when I hear a knock at the door. I wait for someone else to answer it, but when the knocking continues I sigh and get up and walk down the hallway. I swing the door open, and I'm met with the sight of a leggy, tanned blonde; dressed in a tight black dress and matching stilettos. She smiles at me.
"Hi, I'm Marie. Is Jake Paul here?"