More Than Friends

Three

“All the girls on campus are fawning over him—he is also the assistant captain of the basketball team”, Jesse spoke up.

“Ohh” was all Helena could say.

“Almost had a crush on him in my freshman year”, Sabrina stated, sipping her drink and tucking some strands of her blonde hair behind her ear.

“Come on Bree—we all know that you absolutely did have a crush on Jason Jordan. You were like, nuts in love with him”, Louise says and rolls her eyes.

Samantha and Jesse nod in agreement.

Sabrina glares at Louise and wags a finger at her.

“Thanks but— no thanks Louise!”.

Helena stared at her hands and back up, her gaze traveling from Samantha to Sabrina. The revelation of who the pale, icy blue eyed boy was still echoing in her mind.

The pale, icy blue eyes— was that truly what made him look so familiar or was it something else?

Pure coincidence! Apart from the pale, icy blue eyes, hair and cold demeanor, Jason and Samantha looked nothing alike.

“Jason” the name rolled off her tongue smoothly but she still felt the surge of emotion at the mention of his name.

“I bumped into him while rushing to class— there was no time for a proper convo”, Helena shrugs, looking at Louise.

“No time? Trust me… there had been plenty of time Sherlock”, the blue eyed boy suddenly said from behind her ear, making her jump in her seat, her hair bouncing slightly.

“That’s not my name”, she argued, eyeing him.

“It is to me, Sherlock”, he smirked, licking the corner of his lips.

She didn’t argue further.

Bending over them slightly his hands on the table he took in Helena.

Her eyes locked with his for two seconds before she turned her head, looking away.

Bringing his hand up and dropping them gently on her hair, he takes up some strand of her hair in between his fingers and began to twirl them watching as her soft hair slips through his fingers and smirks as she slaps his hand away.

“Ouch!”

“Ugh!” Samantha rolled her eyes at him.

“Hey to you too— little sis”, he waved at Samantha sarcastically.

“F**k off”, Samantha just huffed, waving him off.

“Where’s Noah?”Sabrina asks Jason, looking over his slightly bent figure.

“Go ask someone else, I’m not your boyfriend’s keeper”, he replies rolling his eyes at her.

“He is not my boyfriend!”She huffs at him and stands up.

“Catch ya later girls and you— asshole!” she says shooting glares at Jason.

Jason salutes at her.

Grabbing her drink in one hand and tucking her hair behind her ear with the other hand, she exited the cafeteria.

Murmuring of indistinct voices, laughter, whispers and clattering trays filled the vast space of the cafeteria.

Jason turned to Helena, scrutinizingly.

Her hair had mostly caught his eye, her lips were plump and her golden brown eyes glimmered from amber to honey brown, her face— unmistakably familiar.

The silence at their table stretched, heavy and thick. Jason’s pale, icy blue gaze, no longer playful, swept over Helena’s face, searching for something. The playful arrogance on his face had vanished, replaced by a look of intense, unsettling concentration.

“My next class is in ten minutes,” Jesse said, to no one in particular. Her voice was sharp, slicing through the silence like a knife and breaking the spell. She started to pack her stuff from the table, looking at no one in particular.

Jason's head snapped toward Jesse, his jaw tightening slightly. The moment was over. The look of concentration on his face gave way to his usual indifferent arrogant smirk.

He pushed off the table, giving Helena one last glance—a look that was now a mixture of lingering curiosity and annoyance at the interruption— before walking away.

“What’s your brother onto this time?”Jesse spoke up, eyeing Samantha.

“None of my business”.Samantha says giving Jesse a dismissive shrug.

“Do you guys think I might have gotten him pissed?”Helena asks, face etched with worry.

“He has always been pissed and arrogant, don’t let it get to you”, Louise chipped in, a frown on her face.

“Yeah! He’s always been a jerk, no offense Sammy”, Jesse adds.

“None taken”, Samantha shrugs again, looking away.

Despite their reassuring words, a part of Helena‘s thoughts still lingered on Jason, not fully convinced.

*****

Helena stared up at the ceiling in her room, sighing from time to time, her mind couldn’t stop thinking about Jason— the Jason Jordan.

The way those pale, icy blue eyes of his had stared into hers, made her heart race every time she remembered it.

Someone opens the door and enters the room, she turns swiftly on the bed and pretends to be asleep.

She wasn’t in the mood for chats with anybody right now.

It was probably Samantha or Louise— or both.

The door clicked shut with a soft thud, Helena’s breathing became slow and measured, and her eyes pressed together, tightly closed. She heard the soft scuff of shoes on the carpet and felt her mattress dip as someone sat on the edge of the bed.

She waited.

A minute passed in silence, she decided against turning to see who it was, her chest heaved as her heart raced.

"I know you're not asleep, Sherlock."

The voice was low, soft, girly and without the usual sarcastic bite.

It was Samantha!

Helena's heart gave an involuntary thump but she still kept her eyes shut.

"Seriously, you can stop pretending now, unlike my brother, I don’t bite”.

Helena sighed, a small puff of air giving her away.

She slowly turned towards Samantha and opened her eyes, blinking up at the ceiling. Samantha’s head came into view.

Samantha's expression was unreadable, but her pale, icy blue eyes, so much like her brother's, held a flicker of something Helena couldn't put her hand on.

"He looked at you in a way he hasn't looked at anyone else," Samantha chuckled, bringing her head to her ear to whisper and that was when Helena caught the whiff of alcohol. Samantha’s breath reeked of it.

Of course! Samantha was drunk and was just gibbering nonsense.

She sat up on the bed, concern now etched on her face.

“Sammy, you’re drunk! Where’s Louise?”

“See! I knew you weren’t asleep”, Samantha rolls her eyes and stands up from the bed, steadily and gently, staggering in between.

She got to her bed and just fell on it, face down, making a loud whump!

Wincing slightly, she quickly flipped onto her back and started laughing hysterically.

Helena rushed to her side, to check if she was okay.

“Louise is with Reece”, Samantha huffs, making her bangs toss slightly.

Helena was about to ask who that was, but decided against it. It was probably someone they all knew.

“Has Jason always been like that?”Helena suddenly asks, curiously at the drunk Samantha.

“He wasn’t really like that when he first moved in with us, until he found out that his mom had abandoned him at our doorstep like a charity case”, Samantha began.

“Ohh” was all Helena could mutter.

“Since then he’s been distant and arrogant and now he’s a lot worse— now he’s more like a pretty faced f**k boy, trampling on girls’ hearts”, Samantha slurs out.

“Why don’t you guys get along, so well?”Helena presses on.

“Because he’s a d**k!”

“That’s probably why she stopped sending him letters”, Samantha shoots, collapsing into sleep.

“Who?”Helena asks the already asleep Sammy.