Forward

Chapter Five

"Am I right?" She asks, raising an eyebrow.

I nod slowly.

She holds her hand out and I look down at it briefly before taking it and following her to my bed.

"Just relax.. Okay?" She tells me, my hand still in hers.

"You do this all the time, do you?" I smirk.

"No! I've never actually.. Nevermind." She shakes her head, concentrating on her feet.

"What?" I demand.

"Nothing! Just forget I -"

"Tell me." I frown; my hand resting on her shoulder through my jumper that she's still wearing.

"Arghh! Hero.."

I smirk, secretly liking the way she says my name.

"Fine!" She frowns at me. "I.. I haven't had a boyfriend before, either. Okay?"

My mind casts back to earlier and how my darling mother had practically revealed my whole entire love life, or lack of, in the two minutes we were speaking.

"Is that it?" I narrow my eyes at her.

"Not exactly.. I haven't kissed anyone before. Not properly."

"Nor have I." I admit. The fuck am I doing?

"You haven't?" Her smile is hopeful, as if she welcomes the information that I have kept secret for so long.

I say nothing but shake my head slowly, with half a smile and my eyes still trained on her.

"I have an idea." We both say at the same time before laughing.

"Seriously, not again. We have to stop saying the same things!" Jo swats my arm.

"What? I can't help it." I shrug and grin. "You obviously need to stop reading my mind, woman!"

Jo tilts her head back and laughs, leaving me smiling in awe at how pure and genuine she is.

That and how defined and toned the curves and hollows of her neck are.

"I love it when you laugh.." I admit more to myself than to her.

"What?" She stops, but still keeps smiling at me.

"I'm just saying." I shrug my shoulders as if it's a totally innocent observation.

"Put that down." She scolds as I attempt to drink some more water as a distraction.

"So, what's your idea?" She beams.

"That'll have to wait until later. It's almost five.." I remind her.

"Oh crap! But what about my.."

Bmm Bmm Bmm

"Suitcase?" We say together at the same time.

"Yeee!" Jo squeals and runs to the door practically ripping it off it's hinges.

"Oh, hey Jo! Are you two going over lines or something?" I hear Anna's voice in the distance.

"Anna!" Jo exclaims. "No, I was just.. Borrowing this hoodie from Hero. There was a mix up at the airport and my case got lost.."

I hear Anna gasp and begin to panic.

"No, no. Really, it's all good now. It's all good. Hero rang them and now we are just waiting for the case to be delivered here."

I stand up and remove my own jumper, figuring it makes sense to go and have a shower while they chat.

As my mind focuses on what I should wear to dinner tonight, I remove my top and fling it on top of my jumper.

Making my way over to the wardrobe, I unbuckle my belt and begin to pull it out of the loops.

"Just borrowing a jumper huh? Sure you didn't borrow his top too?"

How amusing.

A grin begins to display on my face, threatening to expose and give away the fact that I can hear them.

After deciding on a simple black Fred Perry polo shirt with a white emblem and thin white line around the collar, I pulled out some black skinny jeans, grabbed some boxers from the cubby hole and closed the wardrobe door.

"Um, Hi Anna." I say walking slowly over to the en-suite and doing my best to ignore the way they are both staring at me.

"I wont be long." I tell them over my shoulder, still not understanding why they are both being so weird and silent.

Pushing open the varnished bathroom door and being careful not to close it too fast, I am thankful to be out of sight and let out a deep sigh.

I waste no time in removing the rest of my things before stepping into the shower and powering it up.

I welcome the hot water as it washes over me.

I focus my gaze on the millions of tiny little bubbles that form just as quickly as they disappear over my chest and shoulders, thanks to my lathering.

The tension in my muscles begin to relax and as they do, I find myself recalling mine and Jo's conversation from earlier.

Particularly the part, where I had told her I would think of some nick names for her.

Jo was an obvious one, if not first choice.

But personally, the more I thought about it, the more I decided on one name in particular.

I would suggest it to her later, or tomorrow depending on if she was still here or not, when I get out. I hope she is, the thought of waiting until tomorrow made me feel.. Strange.

Almost sort of.. Disappointed.

Aware of the time, I turned off the shower and grabbed a clean towel, promising myself to have an even longer shower later when alone, after dinner.

Wrapping the towel around my waist, I approached the large bathroom mirror and ran a hand over my wet hair, observing the man in the steamy reflection staring back at me and willing him to get his shit together.

How was it possible, that I was beginning to develop feelings for someone I had only just met?