Baby Fever

Killer Clause Pt. 2

The next day, I woke up early to say good-bye to Keon and Chuck.

"Have a happy Christmas, guys." I handed them each a pack of brownies I baked for their families.

It would just be Jer, Layla, Alex, and I here now.

"You sure your parents won't miss you for Christmas?" I asked Layla as I headed over to the kitchen for a glass of water.

Jer was still sleeping, and Alex was out doing something.

"They'll be on-call at the hospital."

I nodded and chugged my water. I was feeling particularly thirsty this morning, hopefully I wouldn't throw it all up later.

My phone buzzed with a text.

Malik: Happy Christmas Eve. Can't wait to see you.

My eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. What does he mean, he can't wait to see me?

"What's wrong." Layla immediately detected my unease.

"Nothing, nothing, just the cheerleaders sending my fake merry Christmas messages." I don't know why I felt the urge to lie, but I did. I put my phone face down on the countertop.

"Order the waffles, will ya? I'm going to wake up Jeremiah."

I hurried up to his room and knocked. I could hear his snores from inside. He stirred as I creaked open his door. He wasn't a heavy sleeper at all. I sat on his bed and admired his sleepy face. His brown curls were flopping on his face, his pink lips were twisted in an odd position, and he had an arm covering his eyes.

"Vanilla." His sleepy voice croaked. I shivered a little at how deep his voice sounded. I sniffed my shirt, well, I did smell like vanilla.

Before I knew it, he had pulled me down on the bed with him and wrapped his arms around me. He pressed me against his hardback. Well, his back wasn't the only thing that was hard this particular morning...

I had to think of something else before I went red as a tomato!

I decided to inspect his room. It was a nice room. 

I didn't really know what I expected. Pictures of him and his mom? Maybe pictures of his friends or little sister? 

Well, I did spot a picture of Kimmie on his desk. She really was a pretty girl, with soft brown eyes and curly light brown hair. Though she couldn't be older than four, her resemblance to Jer was impeccable. 

On the right of that picture, was a picture of an older woman that looked like she was in her mid-fifties or so. The specks of green were more prominent in her king-looking hazel eyes, and she had her coffee-colored brown hair secured elegantly in a low bun. She looked a lot of Jer's mother, I had a feeling it was his infamous Noninna. 

Those were the only pictures I could make out in his room. The walls were navy blue, the floor was brown carpet, it looked pretty average. Well, besides the shelf full of trophies for his athletic achievements, it was pretty average. I surveyed the trophy case. He had won an award for everything from football, to baseball, to lacrosse, to soccer, to hockey, and the list went on. 

I didn't even realize I'd been crying until a tear slipped on my arm. Darn it! Why was I acting like a proud mom?

I snuggled into Jeremiah. He draped a long leg over both of mine and nustled his nose in my hair. 

We stayed like that for a while until a knock sounded on the door. 

"Wake the hell up." Alex banged the door "It's about that thing we talked about."