Hate is a strong word

Chapter 21

I woke up the next morning to a knock on the door of my apartment. I confusedly got up, glancing at my alarm clock on the way to the door. Who in their right minds would wake someone up at 3 a.m.? 

I rubbed my eyes and opened the door. A very attractive man stood there, looking from me to the room number. His eyes widened, and he talked to someone behind him from the corner of his mouth.

"Uh, are you sure this is the right room? If looks could kill, I'd be in the ground."

I heard a familiar laugh behind him, and they pushed him aside. There stood Jessi, with Starbucks, her luggage, and donuts from the donut shop a couple of blocks down.

"Jessi? You realize what time it is, right? I told you to be here at 6, and it's 3."

She looked down at her watch. "Oh, sorry. No wonder people were giving us strange looks at the donut shop."

"I'm still trying to figure out how the donut shop and Starbucks were open at 3." Said the attractive man. I looked back at him just as he looked at me, and we both looked away. I was praying that my face was not as red as a tomato right now.

"Well, come on in anyway. No point in going back to sleep if Jessi's here." They followed me inside to the kitchen, Jessi leaving her suitcase in the living room.

We stood there and drank our coffee and ate our donuts. It began to get awkward, so I decided to start a conversation, only to realize I had just let a stranger into my house.

"Who are you, actually?" I said, trying not to seem too rude. He laughed and looked at Jessi. She looked up and saw us looking at her. She had a donut in her mouth, so she ate it and apologized.

"I'm sorry. Rebecca, this is my brother, James. James, this is Rebecca, my best friend. James is our ride to the airport."

I looked at James and waved, and he waved back. I started to see the resemblance, now that I knew they were siblings. 

We spent the rest of the morning watching Netflix, sitting on the couch and eating two dozen donuts. James was really funny, and you could tell that he and Jessi were close. I almost wish that I had a brother, but also remember how much I would have hated him as I grew up. 

We were just about to start another episode of Vampire Diaries when I glanced at the clock. 5:50, which means that we have ten minutes to get to the airport. 

"Ah!" I screamed, shoving James off the couch and running back to my room. They looked at each other before running after me.

"Rebecca, what's wrong?" Jessi screamed from underneath my locked door.

"We have ten minutes to get to the airport, and I haven't had a shower yet!" 

I ran into my bathroom and took the shortest shower I have ever taken in my life. I slapped on some makeup, but I put enough effort into it knowing that I would be seeing Shawn tonight. I put on some jeans and a nice shirt and ran to the front door. Jessi texted me and told me that they were in her car, so I grabbed my suitcase and ran to join them.