Miss Jefferson

Chapter 29

It didn't even last a second. He pulled away and turned around so he didn't have to see my reaction.

I took a step back.

"Sky..."

"Clean everything up, guys!" Ben shouted, interrupting our much-needed private conversation.

We gathered up the blankets and food, and loaded them into Josh and Ben's cars.

"Sky, Jada, do you need a ride back to the hotel? I can take you." DeMarius offered.

"That's okay, DeMarius." I said, my eyes never leaving Sky's face. "We'll take a taxi."

He shrugged. "Okay. See you guys tomorrow."

I don't know how I managed to hail a taxi at that time of night, but I did.

We rode in silence, and we didn't even look at each other until we were in my hotel room with the door closed.

Even then, he had his back turned to me.

"Sky."

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Turn around." I commanded.

Slowly, he obeyed, turning to face me.
"I'm sorry." He repeated. "It didn't mean anything."

I nodded. "I know it didn't. We know it didn't. But will anyone else?"

"Oak isn't going to—" he started.

"How do you know?" I strained to keep myself from yelling. "I know how I deal with stuff like this, but I don't know how he does!"

"He's done this to you?"

"No, he dumped me really early in our relationship." I shook my head, my eyes stinging. "But that's irrelevant."

"We need to tell him what happened."

"I don't know what he'll say."

"Then at least know what you'll say. He'll appreciate honesty."

"He trusted me! This is the first time I've been somewhere like this without him, and he trusted me!"

"He should have!"

"You don't understand, Sky. If he trusted me the first time, and then this happened—"

"Nothing happened," he insisted.

"That wasn't nothing."

"It meant—"

"It meant nothing, but that doesn't mean it was nothing."

Sky gave up, staring at me helplessly. "Don't dumb it down. But don't blow it up." He crossed the room to where I stood, his hand hesitantly hovering over my shoulder. "And, I'm sorry I did that."

I pushed his hand aside and wrapped my arms around his neck. "I forgive you. It wasn't okay, and I don't ever want you to do that again, but I forgive you."

He returned my embrace. "I swear I won't."

I released him. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded. "Goodnight, Jada."

"Goodnight."

He turned and showed himself out of my room.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and was alerted of two missed notifications.

Oak

«I can't FaceTime tonight, sorry. It's Amber's birthday and we planned to surprise her, but I didn't know about it until like five minutes ago.»
«How was your afterparty?»