Help a girl out.

Chapter Twelve.

Liam's POV.

I’ve been in a foul mood ever since they left for their date. Something’s not right with that dude. I don’t know what it is, but there’s definitely something! At some point in the evening, Marc came home. He asked if I knew where Jessie was, since he knocked on her door but she didn’t answer. I didn’t know if Jessie wanted him to know about her date, so I just said I hadn’t seen her. He wasn’t here long before he went out again, something about going to the arcade with Dylan and some of the other guys from the team. He asked me to come, but I just didn’t feel like leaving. So I’ve been sitting here, watching crap TV all night. Hyper alert every time I hear anyone on the building staircase. It’s about ten o’clock when I hear voices in the hallway, and being the creep I’ve apparently turned into, I jump up from the couch and rush to the door, debating if this is straight lunacy what I’m doing. But I’m so curious, so once again I’m peeping through the peephole. It’s them! I sound like a f*cking stalker. What the hell is wrong with me. I should stop myself, and pull away from the door.. This is none of my business. I finally convince myself to stop this insanity and pull away. I go over to the fridge and take out a beer. I need it, to calm myself the f*ck down, and to distract myself. A long moment passes before I hear a door shut. My mind is racing. Did they have a good time? Did he treat her well? Did she invite him into her apartment? No, she wouldn’t do that, would she? I should go check up on her. I at least owe that to Marc, to make sure his little sister is okay. Yeah, sure that’s why I’m doing this, but that’s the story I’m going with..

without even realizing, I’m at our door opening it and stomping through the hallway to her door. I knock, and I’m all geared up to throw Julian’s a$$ out, if he’s in there.. It doesn’t take long before Jess opens the door, she has already changed out of the outfit we picked for her date and into the nightwear she was wearing the day I first stopped by to watch a movie, showing those legs! Focus, Liam, focus.. “Oh, hey.” She says and I can see the confusion on her face, “hi” I say quickly, trying to look around her to see if he’s there. “Liam? What are you looking for?” She asks, turning to follow my gaze into her apartment. “Are you alone?” I ask, already pushing past her to get inside, she moves slightly to let me in. “Yes, I’m alone.. why wou….wait!” She starts laughing, like really laugh. “You thought.. that..that Julian was here?” She gets out between laughs. Now it’s my turn to be confused, why the hell is she laughing? I turn to her. “Why are you laughing? I came over here to protect you.. What if he was taking advantage of you?” I ask bewildered, her just laughing harder. “Sorry.” She finally catches her breath and stops laughing, using her fingers to swipe away the laughing tears that falls down her cheeks.. “I don’t even know why I’m laughing.. Just the idea of you coming over here all caveman like to save my virtue, when I couldn’t even kiss him goodnight.” She start laughing again, this time not at much. “What do you mean?” I was so focused on him being in her apartment, that now I’m just confused.. “You couldn’t kiss him?” Jess closes her door behind us, and turns towards me. “I mean exactly that! I couldn’t kiss him, as in, he leaned in and right before his lips touched mine I turned my f*cking head.” She rolls her eyes. I, on the other hand, are way more relaxed now. Jess moves and sits on the couch. I take a seat next to her. “Well, maybe it’s your subconscious telling you that he’s not right for you.” I shrug. “No! That’s not it! I totally panicked.” Her hands now covering her face.. “Why would you panic, it was just a kiss, right?” I ask bewildered. “Sure, yeah.. just a kiss… Just my first kiss..” Jess sighs and lets her hands fall from her face. What? Her first kiss? But.. okay, I know now that she hasn’t been on any dates before now. But no kiss? My eyes keep falling to her lips. Her beautiful, full, luscious and apparently untouched lips! “How is that even possible?” My voice sounds a bit breathless even to me. Our eyes meet, and none of us are saying anything. I swear a minute passes before Jess finally pulls her eyes away from mine.. That was weird. What just happened? I clear my throat. “So, the date. It went well otherwise?” I don’t know why I even ask. I mean he tried to kiss her, of course it went well.. I want to smack myself, I do not want the details of their date! “Yes, it did.. Actually, he asked me out again for lunch tomorrow.” She smiles, and I f*cking hate that smile..

Ugh, I shouldn’t have come over here. This conversation does nothing to improve my mood. I should have left as soon as I made sure he wasn’t here. I did my duty as her brother’s best friend, to make sure his little sister was okay when he couldn’t! I can’t show that this doesn’t sound like good news to me, like at all! “That’s great..” I try to sound optimistic “I guess…” I can’t help myself. I’m a total jerk for putting doubt in her mind, but it’s like my sanity just isn’t present right now. “Why do you say it like that?” I hear it right away, that little panic in her voice.. “No it’s nothing.. I’m sure he just finds you sweet and wants to get to know you better.. It couldn’t be anything else, right?” The worst part about what I am saying right now, is that I don’t even know. I have no idea why him wanting to see her again so soon should be a bad thing. Not for them at least. I can’t exactly tell that I think it’s a bad idea, because I don’t like the guy.. I don’t even know him, for heaven's sake. I’m frustrated with myself right now, what the f*ck am I doing? “What are you trying to say Liam? You are making me nervous.” What am I trying to say? F*ck me! “You know he’s going to try and kiss you again tomorrow, right?” Could someone please shut me up? I’m digging a pretty big hole here, and I’m not really sure how the hell I’m getting up again. Me and my big f*cking mouth! Jessie is just quiet. I look up at her, she looks so sad! Great! Now I just made her sad.. it’s like my mouth keeps moving and my brain can’t stop it. “What if I’m bad at it?” Her voice is barely a whisper and I have to strain myself to hear her. “Bad at what?” I ask, confused. I just feel like my brain has given up, like if it’s not participating in this, it can’t be at fault.. Once again, our eyes meet, but this time her eyes flutter between my eyes and my lips. No, she’s not goin…. Before I can even finish my thought, she lunches from her seat and her lips are on mine within a second. I can’t even move, I’m frozen. She pulls back and says “I’m so sorry!” She touches her lips with her fingers. “I don’t know what I was thinking.. I just wanted to get it over with.. and..and.” She stops and is probably trying to gaze at my reaction. “Want to try again?” What am I thinking? I can’t kiss her again! I shouldn’t even have let her get so close the first time. But I also can’t let that be her first kiss, and just the idea of Julian getting the satisfaction of giving her, her first real kiss, makes the hair on my neck stand up. Before I can talk myself out of it, I scoot closer to her. I move a strand of her hair behind her ear, before i cup her cheek and lean in…