My Best Friend's Sister-In-Law

Chapter 48: Being With You

~ Jayleen's POV ~

Staring at the ceiling as I laid at the foot of the bed, with only the blankets keeping our bare bodies warm.

I felt Kassidy stroke my leg. My fingers met with her, lightly touching and playing.

"Baby, what time it is?"

"It's a little over two o'clock," I said.

"There's still half a day to go," she sighed, lightly groaning.

"Is the workaholic, Kassidy Rivers, already tired in the middle of the day?" I asked, trying to sound as dramatic as I could while I prop myself up on my elbows. She sighed, shaking her head at me. I winked at her, "You're welcome."

"Shut up," she laughed, hitting my leg.

I caught her fingers before she keeps hitting my leg trying to get me to stop laughing. But she suddenly joins in with me. I'm now sitting up, looking at how cute she is when she laughs.

I continued playing with our fingers. Her other hand lightly covered her mouth as she continues to laugh. When it dialed down, she looked at me. I could hear the short and small chuckles leaving her lips, still. I took her other hand, playing with the fingers too. I braided mine with hers before I pulled her to sit up. We're only inches away now.

I lightly stroke her cheek with a couple of fingers, tracing along her cheekbones and jawline before gently caressing it. My thumb brushed against her soft lips. I brought her face closer to mine, giving her a light and chaster kiss. She responded with the same amount that I put in.

Not long, we separated. She gave me a small smile. The hand that was free and wasn't laced with my mine, she opened it as I readjusted myself so I was sitting on the bed next to her. She laid back down, and I joined her. My hand ran over her stomach as I snuggled into her. She adjusted the blankets before gently stroking my hair.

I smiled as my head buried at the crook of her neck. I know she felt my smile because she turned to kiss the top of my head.

"I miss this..." she suddenly said out after a while of silence.

"I miss this too, and I miss you," I said.

She looked at me as I moved myself a little, giving her space to turn her body onto her side, so we're both facing each other.

"I'm not ready to forgive myself for everything that I've done wrong, how I treated you, and what I did to hurt you... I still feel guilty, but before you say anything that involves all that, I do want to give this another shot too. I'm scared that I might make a stupid mistake. I know this is also a risk for your job. But... can we take it slow?"

She smiled, "Of course we can, it might be best to take it slow since the semester is still a couple of months away from being over." I smiled, a hand came up as it stroked my cheek, caressing it, "I know it's hard, I know forgiving yourself is the toughest thing. You think I'd be mad, but I got over it. I met you at my best friend's wedding, and my, you were a person I will never be able to forget. Things have been great when all that happened before the year started. It was rough through the fall semester, the holidays didn't help much, and the start of the new semester was plain awkward. You will always be the person who danced with me on the boat of the wedding. The girl with an amazing brother that helps her through rough patches with her mother. A girl that helps her best friend out even after she told you she loved you, you were there as a meaningful friend, a person to comfort her. A girl who wants acceptance from her mother, to be loved... to be who she is. You're special, Jayleen. That's what I see in you, which is why I didn't give up on us after the struggles with Mitch, the struggles with Megan, and the goodbye trip that you two went on. Yes, I won't forget those too, but I feel like there's so much meaning in it. There are reasons, and I'm willing to help you fight through those reasons... because..." she paused and sighed, giving me a smile that I hadn't seen before, a smile that spoke to me, "...because I love you."