The Girls of 310 [COMPLETED]

Chapter Eleven: All Good Things...

I woke up to the sound of footsteps. Confused, I rolled over to check the time, only, my alarm clock wasn’t in its normal spot. I looked around the bright room, slowly realizing that it didn’t belong to me. After a quick stretch, I grabbed my phone from the nightstand.

12pm.

I slipped on a clean pair of basketball shorts and went to the bathroom in search of mouthwash. As I walked down the hall, I was hit with memories of the previous night. Frankly, I was quite happy with our arrangement. By taking away the sex, we were able to focus on seeing if we really had a connection. Well, that’s what I hoped. I wished I knew what was going on in his head.

Did he have any feelings whatsoever? Was he really only putting up with this so that we’d start sleeping together again? These thoughts continued to flood my mind as I skipped down the stairs and into the kitchen.

When I entered the kitchen, my heart immediately started pounding like it was trying to escape my chest. Reece was standing in front of the stove, grey sweatpants hung low at his waist. His exposed back muscles flexed as he moved about and his hair was a curly mess that still managed to look good.

My hand flew to the corner of my mouth, checking for drool. A short fit of laughter came from somewhere to my left. I didn’t even need to look to know that it was Marianna.

“Morning, Mal,” Travis greeted from beside her, a small smirk on his face.

Blushing, I mumbled, “Good morning,” and went to get a glass of juice.

“Oh, this is yours,” Reece said, turning around and handing me a cup filled with a thick orange liquid. “You said mango smoothies are your favourite in the morning, so I picked this up for you earlier.”

I didn’t know what to say. This was a good sign, right? He was actually putting in an effort to remember the things that I had told him last night. Ugh. It felt like my heart had a boner. “Thank you, Reece,” I smiled genuinely.

He leaned in and kissed my forehead. “Think we know each other now?”

My smile dropped. Of course that’s what this was about. Reece never was in a relationship, never had his heartbroken. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was hoping that I could change that. I might as well have just given in and went back to ‘no feelings, no commitment,’ and saved us all the trouble.

“Hey,” he said, using his index finger and thumb to raise my head, “You do know that was a joke, right? I’m not rushing you.”

In his eyes was a hint of something that I had never seen before. Speechless, I just nodded and went to join my friends at the table.

“So,” Marianna said suggestively as I sat down, “how was your night?”

Without realizing, a broad smile made its way onto my face. “Amazing,” I gushed. “We’ve decided to just try to get to know each other a bit. Well, I decided.”

“You like him!” she whisper-yelled.

“Shut the fuck up Mari!” I hushed at the same volume.

I looked around and caught Josh and Travis giving us the side eye, but Reece remained oblivious. We continued our conversation after a few minutes.

“I don’t,” I stated.

“Bitch, I know you. Yes, you do,”

“No,”

“Yes,”

“Maybe,”

“MAYBE?”

“MARI, SHUT UP!”

At that point, everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at us. Simultaneously, Mari and I lowered our heads and stuffed our faces with food. Reece soon joined us at the table, sitting across from me. I took a second to study his face, checking for any signs that he heard what we were arguing about.

“How’s the food?” asked Reece, catching my eye.

I smiled nervously, “It’s good, thanks,” From under the table, Marianna kicked my leg. What could she possibly want me to say!? Ignoring her, I finished the last sip of my smoothie.

He returned the smile and began to dig into his own pancakes.

“So what are the plans for the day?” asked Travis.

They just spent the night together, and he was prepared to spend the day together as well? Must be fucking nice.

“Well, I have two take home exams to finish up and hand in tomorrow, but they shouldn’t take that long to finish,” Marianna shrugged.

“What about you?” Reece asked, looking up at me through his long lashes.

“I’m free,” I answered truthfully while standing up. I walked over to the sink and set my dishes down.

When I returned to the table, Reece suggested, “I can take you home when you’re ready.”

*

We arrived outside of our apartment. “Thanks, Reece!” smiled Mari as she exited the car.

Reece and I sat in silence for a moment. We watched as Mari hopped up the steps and scanned her card to get inside. What felt like minutes passed, until I finally said, “Do you wanna come up? I need to shower and change but we can find something to do after.”

I didn’t need to look at him to know he had his famous smirk plastered on his perfect face. “Haven’t had enough of me yet, baby?”

Baby.

The word felt so much more intimate than ‘babe’ and it made my insides melt. How could I ever have enough of him? Before I could give a cheeky response. His phone rang. I sat quietly as he answered it.

“Hey man… tell me you’re joking… what the fuck? Fuck, okay… alright,”

Throughout the conversation, his jaw became clenched, his body visibly tensed. Who the hell could that have been? Everyday, there was something new to learn about him. Was he in some kind of trouble?

For some time, he just sat there, anxiously running his hands through his hair.

“Hey,” I said, placing my hand on his thigh. “Everything alright?”

He flinched under my touch and I quickly pulled my hand back. “I gotta go.”

“Oh, alright,” I said quietly, turning to get out of the car.

Before I could open the door, he pulled my arm. Without saying anything, he pressed his lips gently on mine. That kiss was far different than the other ones that we had shared. It was tender and soft, as if I would disappear if he pressed too hard. When I pulled away, he reached up and lay his hand on my cheek. His face was as cold as steel and gave away nothing.

“I’ll see you around,” he said.

Now, when I heard those words fall from Reece’s lips, I had assumed he meant later, or maybe even the next day. You see, unknowingly, that was the last time that I had seen Reece for a while.

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Dun dun dunn..... where did Reece go? Any guesses? Next chapter should be up soon since I already know what it's gonna be about.

Song for this chapter is Say Goodbye by Chris Bown :(