HATE FALL LOVE

Chapter 15

[BRIANNA's POV]

I couldn't sleep.

The memory of Kent's lips touching mine this afternoon made me squirm alone on my bed, trying to force myself to sleep. I keep replaying the moment inside my head, over and over again, like a jammed cassette tape. It was so entirely startling at first, I haven't even registered it right away when it happened.

I closed my eyes tightly. How will I face him tomorrow when he shows up again? I can't imagine it.

A knock on my floor-to-ceiling window made me jumped in surprise. I quickly turned my bedside lamp on and adjust my vision through the dim light. I see James standing at my balcony, knocking on the glass door, looking at me.

I sharply intake a deep breath, not very sure of what I would do next. Should I let him in? What if Dad or Mom wakes up and finds him here?

"Open up," he mouths at me, pointing down to the lock on my window. I just stared at him for a minute, just leaning against the bedframe with a startled look on my face. Then after a while, I don't know what prompt me to get up, I'd let him in.

"What are you doing here?" I ask in a whisper.

"I need someplace to crash in," he answers as he gets inside. He quickly shrugs his black jacket off, revealing a blue cotton shirt beneath it.

"I thought you're sleeping on our couch?" I frowned. Didn't dad let him in?

"It was a last minute thing," he explains, "Your dad thought I was going to sleep someplace else, but then I didn't found one and by the time I went here, your house's locked already."

"Oh, James," I said out of pity.

"Nah," James smiles down at me, "I'm already fine now since you're letting me crash in."

"Okay," I said, returning his smile, "Just don't make too much noise when you go downstairs—"

"Who said I was going downstairs?" he frowns back to me.

"What?" I said a little louder, and suddenly remembered dad and mom are just across my room, enough to hear my voice. I settled into a sharp whisper, "You're not going to sleep here!"

"Sure, I am," James smirks and I scowled back to him.

"No, you won't."

"I can't go downstairs there alone. It's too dark and I'm scared," he says, giving me that weird puppy eyes that eventually made me smile a bit.

"No," I tried to remain my straight face but failed, "You serious?"

"Hell, yeah," James says walking passed by me, plopping down on my bed with a bounce.

"Get out of there, Jamey boy," I warned, staring him down.

"No, I'm already sleepy." He fakes a yawn and settles himself comfortably on the soft mattress. I groaned in frustration and walked towards the other side—opposite of where he was—and sat on the farthest corner.

"We can't sleep here together," I said stubbornly, making it sound reasonable.

"We can," James counters back, looking weirdly feel-at-home on my own bed, "I'm not going to do something to you, trust me." He says, closing his eyes then turning my bedside lamp off.

"James!" I whispered, half-shouting against the darkness.

"C'mon," he tells me, "It's already late, we all need to sleep."

I muffled a scream against my pillow and lied down in frustration on the edge of my bed, making sure I was putting more distance than needed between us.

"You're gonna pay for this tomorrow," I muttered, shifting to my side, my back facing him.

"Don't really care," he groggily replies, as if he was already halfway asleep. "It's already worth it," he adds in a soft whisper.

I sighed, and decided to let him get away for tonight. Just for tonight. And just as I was about to close my eyes again, I suddenly thought of asking him one last thing.

"James?" I asked through the silence, wondering if he already had fallen asleep. After a few seconds, I feel him shift slightly from his side of the bed.

"Yeah?" he says softly, waiting for what I was about to tell him.

"Are you really scared of the dark?" I asked out of curiosity, thinking if he was just kidding a while ago. It was a dumb question, though.

"Alone? Yeah." He answers shortly, sighing heavily, "But with you? Not at all."

I was still deep in my thoughts, wondering about what he meant by those words. Was he saying it literally or was it some kind of a metaphor? And by the time I begun to hear the first round of his soft snores through the calming noises of the crickets outside, I fell asleep.

It was the first ever real sleep I had for the past two years I stayed half-awake. And the only one that made me dream of a good one too. A very good and happy dream.

---------------

It was too fast.

Everything was just too fast.

"Shane?" James whispers against my ear, his breath tickling my neck. I was half-lying on his body, snuggled under his arm. We were on my bed, and it was already five in the morning. The whole night was supposed to be about sleeping but I didn't feel like sleeping for the first time. I wanted to enjoy this moment with James while it lasts. Neither one of us had still bothered to get up. It felt nice, so nice, I didn't want to move anymore.

"Shane?" James whispers again and I slightly look up to see his face. He was staring down at me.

"What are you thinking?" he asks me, his brows meeting halfway and I subconsciously tried to brush them apart with my fingers. Like a habit I used to do... A familiar thing I used to do.

"You feel so familiar," I tell him, but it wasn't my intention to say it out loud. He looks at me for a second and slowly grins, kissing my nose.

"You feel so familiar, too," he says, pulling me closer, his forehead resting above mine.

"I feel like I've known you before," I say, shifting so I could meet his eyes. James remained silent, a strange look passes on his face.

"Have we?" I frowned at him, suddenly anxious about it. "Have we met before?"

James just looks at me with those intense eyes and I wonder if we really did meet before. But I doubt I would even forget such a face if I did, cause James is literally not the kind of face you'd easily forget.

"James?" I say, worrying now.

"Maybe we did," he says, averting his eyes away from mine. But I got a feeling his words has some kind of meaning behind them. "Maybe we didn't... It doesn't matter."

I just stare at his eyes, trying to read them. But whatever it was that James was keeping behind that gaze of his, it was already shut closed.

"It doesn't matter now, Shai. Now that we have each other, that's all that we need." he tells me, kissing my forehead and closes his eyes. I thought about what he told me, even if it didn't really matter... Why do I have a feeling he's keeping something from me about it?

Why do I have a feeling he's keeping something from me about it?

"Wow."

Beth looks at my newly-groomed Belle with her mouth hanging open. "You did a miracle!"

I laugh at her as she looks at James with widened eyes. James closes the driver's side with a smirk. "It wasn't really a miracle if you know a lot about cars."

"Dude!" Evan hollers from behind Beth, who just appeared out of nowhere. He had that same comical expression like Beth's as he notices Belle, my truck. He whistles. "That's a sweet ride, you got there."

"Hey, man," James greets Evan and Evan tips his head back as acknowledgement. When did the two even started to be all too friendly? I haven't realized that they had already established the buddy zone for quite somehow.

"Morning, guys," I decided to butt in, stealing my friends' attention, "We need to get to class now." I say, pushing my way between Beth and Evan as I take both of their arms with mine to start walking to the campus' entrance.

"Hey," Beth looks at me, smirking, "Aren't you going to give your boyfriend a goodbye kiss first?"

I roll my eyes at her and turn around for a second to look at James. He was leaning beside the truck, his arms crossed as he watches me. I gave him a small smile and a little pucker of my lips, faking a smack. He laughs and gives me a flying kiss which made me grin wider.

"What was that?" Evan says, when I turn around again to look to where I was walking. He gives me a teasing grin and I nudge him away. Apparently, the whole scene didn't go unnoticed to him. And Beth.

"Oooooh," Beth teases beside me, giggling. "Is that a see-you-later-kiss we've just witnessed there?"

"Shut up, you two." I grunted, making them both laugh. But I knew I was grinning already since I can't help it... And so does my heart inside.

It has been dumbly grinning since yesterday. And I don't know if I could ever really stop it now.

And I don't know if I could ever really stop it now

"What's that, huh?"

Classes done and I stood at the driver's side, surprising James on the process who was busy jotting something down on a small notebook by the driver's seat. He look up right away, his eyes widening and his face breaks into a huge grin when he sees me.

"You done?" he asks, and I just rolled my eyes at him. Isn't it obvious?

He laughs at my face and puts down what he's holding for a moment, his hands quickly coming around me, pulling my face towards his to give me a soft kiss.

"I don't think I would ever get used to this," I say in between kisses as I close my eyes, smiling like an i***t.

"You don't have to," he say, still brushing his lips against mine. The warmth of his touch, sending chills right down my spine, "We don't have to."

"Let's go home," I say, after we pull apart, gazing into his brown eyes. They are so beautiful.

"Get in, princess," he orders, smirking and I gave him one last peck on the nose before I walk around the truck to settle myself on the passenger's seat.

"What were you writing a while ago?" I ask, staring at him as he backs us up from our parking space.

"That?" he says, glancing at me for a second, "It's something I just do when I feel like in the mood."

"What is it about?" I go on, "Some sort of love letter you're secretly writing for me, hm?" I tease him, leaning my face towards him with a grin on my face. He laughs back, shaking his head.

"You're full of yourself, princess," he teases back. "But yeah... It was some kind of a thing for you."

I pause for a moment, suddenly blushing and feeling so giddy inside. He's writing something for me? Oh, god. Isn't this guy just so perfect?

"You're speechless all of a sudden there, huh?" James says, giving me glances as he drives, "Are you blushing, princess?"

"No!" I retort, prolonging my vowel as I try to hide my face by looking to the window on my side. "I'm not blushing."

"Yeah, right," James chuckles and I try to punch him lightly on the shoulder, groaning but still grinning like an i***t.

He's just like that... He's my daily dose of romance every now and then.

My jerk.