Benefits

Chapter Seventeen: Awkward

"Well, I had a really good time tonight."

I smiled, looking down at the floor outside of the elevator in my apartment building. "I'm glad. I did, too." It was three days later, and I'd just had a first date with the boy I met on Tinder, Andrew. It was unlike anything I'd experienced before, drama-free and fun. "Do you maybe want to come up for a drink?"

He gave me a small smirk, leaning in close to me, "Oh, a drink, huh?"

I giggled. "Yeah, yeah, a drink sounds great..."

"Nothing else?" he leaned a little closer.

I let out a giggle, grabbing him by the leather jacket he was wearing and pulling him into a kiss. At the sound of the elevator dinging, my eyes shot open and I pulled away from him, only too late.

The door had almost opened completely, and Justin was standing there, his eyebrows raised.

Andrew let out a low chuckle, unaware of how we were staring at each other. "Hey, man. Sorry for the PDA. You getting out?"

"Actually," Justin made eye contact with me briefly before turning back to look at Andrew. "I forgot something upstairs. I gotta go back up to get it."

"Oh," Andrew sounded slightly disappointed. We stepped in the elevator, him stepping in before me and going to the side, leaving me to stand between him and Justin. I kept my eyes locked ahead of me on the wall, even though I felt Justin's eyes burning a hole in the side of my head.

"Well," Justin said once we got to his floor. "You two kids have a good night..." He hesitated, trying to catch my eye one more time, but I stepped forward, pressing the button to close the door.

"Did you guys know each other?" Andrew asked. When I could only respond my turning my head so fast to him that my neck cricked and staring at him wide-eyed, he chuckled. "You could just cut the tension with a knife..."

"We, uh, we went to high school together... We were neighbors, actually. It was kind of unexpected that we both lived here..."

"Oh, so it's like a protective big brother thing? That's why he followed us up?"

In my head, I was screaming, but what came out was, "Uh, yeah, you could say that..."

"You still wanna go back to your place?" he asked hesitantly.

I smiled, "Yeah, let's go!"

I took him inside, pouring two glasses of wine before joining him on the couch.

We sat and talked for hours, until way past Jaida and Gabriela had gotten home from the club and then gone inside. We talked and talked, until we weren't talking anymore, until I brought him into my room, and then no talking at all was happening.

The next morning, I woke up to sunlight shining in my face. When I opened my eyes, Andrew was still sleeping next to me, his long dark brown hair covering his face. I smiled to myself. In all the time Justin and I had been together, we never slept in the same bed overnight. I always woke up alone because we couldn't be caught by either of our parents.

I ran my hand through his hair, causing him to stir and open his light brown eyes. "Well, hey there," he said in a sexy raspy voice.

"Hi!" I said, smiling. "I had fun last night."

He chuckled, wrapping an arm around my waist. "I did, too... You had some moves..."

I giggled, burying my face in his shoulder. "Come on, you wanna get breakfast?"

"Actually," he squeezed my hand, "I gotta go."

"You do?" I asked, slightly disappointed.

"I do. I'm sorry. I'll see you later, though." He kissed me on the cheek quickly, before getting up, getting dressed, and walking out the door. Just a few minutes later, when I had gotten up to start making breakfast, there was a knock at the door.