Something There

Chapter Forty-Four

Songs for this chapter:
• Sweet Little Lies - bülow
• Dangerous Woman - Ariana Grande

Chapter Forty-Four:

"I'm going upstairs to Charlie and Dan's dorm. Matt, Jordan, and Ryan are up there too. You should come," Jasmine tells me as she brushes her hair over one shoulder, applying another coat of lipstick to her lips.

"Is it not weird that you're bouncing between my brother and Daniel right now? You're welcome to do whatever you want, but they're roommates at the moment so isn't the situation a little strange?" I ask her as she reaches for the door handle.

She turns around, laughs, and then shakes her head at me.

"Yeah, I guess," she answers. "But high school is over in a few months, so I'm going to live it up now."

I give her a small smile. A question dawns on me, and I decide to ask it even though I'm sure that she probably won't want to answer it.

"Do you actually like my brother?" I ask her just as she's about to step through the front door, which she's already opened.

It makes her pause, turning back around to face me.

"I don't know," she answers quietly, sounding confused by her own emotions.

She doesn't say anything else, and it makes me feel a little awkward.

"I think I'm going to stay here for the night. You go ahead," I finally tell her, and she nods quickly, spinning back around and grabbing her phone and key card.

"All right. I'll see you later," she says, rushed, and I give her a small smile as she hurries out of the door.

Right before she closes it shut, she quietly says, "Don't worry about my relationships. You should focus on you and Bryce."

The door slams shut before I can respond.

The day has totally worn me out, and I collapse backwards onto my bed.

After saying a sad goodbye to Malcolm, the realization hitting me that I may never see him ever again, Jordan and I met up with Mateo and Ryan. We hung out in one of the common areas of our dorm building until dinner time, where we headed to the cafeteria together to eat.

Bryce still hasn't spoken to me since when he fled the coffee shop, which is annoying me more and more by the minute.

I've decided that if I'm receiving the silent treatment from him, I'll fight back with the silent treatment too, which is why I've yet to make an effort to talk to him again, which I'm slowly regretting.

Deciding that I'll take advantage of finally having some time alone for once these past two days, I choose to head to the bathrooms and take a long, hot shower.

Afterwards, I blow dry my hair and wash all the makeup off of my face. It's extremely refreshing, and I take a moment to smile at myself in the mirror before realizing that I've been in here for far too long.

I then head back to my room, changing into a silk white nightgown before climbing back into the warmth of my bed.

I pick up the book that I had packed from off the floor, flipping open to the page I had left off at.

I'm reading Emma by Jane Austen, to be exact. I guess you could say that Bryce has influenced me to read some more of the classics, but now I'm extremely mad at myself for doing something that's left me thinking about him.

I suppose I've been reading for ages because it's now pitch-black outside, and it seems to have grown a little colder in the room somehow.

I wrap the covers tighter around my body, and I can't resist groaning out loud when someone knocks on the door.