ONNAXOFF

Chapter 30

Abel

"Oops!" Jessie narrowly saves her console from falling. Again. Even with its waterproof case, I doubt it could handle being drowned in the overly foamy bubble bath she's currently submerged in.

“Do you really need that many bubbles?” I ask the valid question.

“No, but I want this many.” She replies happily, looking up from the white PS Vita she’s playing on. “If you don’t like it, why are you shaving in my bathroom?”

"The lighting in your bathroom is just so much better than mine." I admit, leaning in closer to the mirror.
After spending the whole night at the Toronto leg of Cash's birthday party yesterday, I decided to crash at her house. By the time we finally got out of bed today, the sun was already setting and although my bathroom has perfect warm lighting during the day, its artificial lighting has nothing on Jessie's spotlight covered bathroom and wall-sized mirror.

"I know." She agrees. "It also has better acoustics." 
"What would you know about acoustics?"
"Excuse you. When I'm belting out Killing Me Softly in the shower, they can hear me all the way in the back row." She jokes.
"I feel sorry for the people in the back row." I laugh and add, “I love that song.”

"Sing it."
"Never." I dismiss her request immediately.
"You're so mean." She pouts.
"I'm not your own personal singing monkey."
"Oh, but I can dance whenever you feel like asking?" She makes a good point.
"Okay. Another time. I promise." Satisfied with my response, she goes back to playing her game.

I finish up my shave and wash my face. In the reflection, I see her realise I’m ready to leave.

"You sure you can't stay for dinner?" She asks optimistically.
"No, sorry. My flight is at 6pm."
"It's cool. I was just checking." She nods. I adjust the towel around my waist and lean back against the sink thoughtfully.

"I feel bad. I really thought I'd be home by New Year’s Eve." I say apologetically. Hawk decided a weekend just isn't going to be enough time to get through his action-packed birthday plan, so now we're doing a whole week of celebration. From Vegas, we’re hitting several cities in the US. He even managed to squeeze in Diddy's massive New Year's party in Miami. It's going to be epic.

"You think I'm gonna be home alone, crying and waiting for you to return? Nah, son. I've been invited to three different New Year’s Eve parties and I intend to hit each and every one." She grins excitedly. "And then see the fireworks in the city, of course."

"Don't get your hopes too high for those, they're nothing special." 

"Impossible. Fireworks, by their very nature, you know, being fire in the sky and all, are always special."

"If you say so." I shrug. 

If she’s fine with me being gone for her favourite holiday, there’s only one other thing on my mind. The groupie temptation. The powerful temptation of a bad bitch down for absolutely anything, with zero effort on my part. A temptation I've given into countless times before. But, I didn't have Jessie before.

Last night was the first time she'd been around that many Weeknd fans. Usually, she only goes to XO parties where, unless someone's decided to bring their own entertainment, it's crew members only.

Luckily, due to our mutual dislike for PDA and a great deal of care, no one seemed to suspect we were a couple.

At least not to my face. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but when I checked my mentions this afternoon, there appeared to be a few more "girlfriend or nah?" tweets than usual. Nothing to worry about though, I'll just post some deliberately questionable pictures on Instagram this week of the crew having distinctly girlfriend-less fun.