Accidentally on Purpose

Chapter Twenty-Four

My eyelids slowly slid open as I felt one of my shoulders being shaken, and I was hit by a wave of confusion when I finally made out the unfamiliar surroundings.

"You're in my car," a voice informed me as if they knew what was in my mind, and I instantly jolted in surprise. I looked to my left and sure enough, Jonah was there. He retracted his hand from my shoulder, glanced out of the window and jerked his head toward what was outside. "That your house?"

I followed his line of vision and spotted my sweet little house, so I nodded. "Yeah."

He wordlessly leaned over and unclasped my seat belt, and I momentarily had to hold my breath in surprise when he reached over my body. "Do you still need me to carry you?"

I moved around a little bit, testing if the pain was still there. It was, but it didn't hurt as bad. It didn't feel like it was ripping into two whenever I moved, so it should be a good thing. "No. I'm alright."

He slightly nodded before opening his door, getting out of the car. In an instant, he was on my side of the car, opening the door for me with my bag in his hand.

Was it appropriate of me if I just swoon right here, right now?

I slowly got out of the car and stepped aside so Jonah could shut the door. He locked the car, and I immediately frowned at him.

He frowned back at me. "What?"

"Um, you're not going back to school?" I asked in confusion.

"Are your parents home?" he asked. I shook my head. "Is any of your family home?" I shook my head again. "Then no, I'm not going back to school."

Completely baffled, I asked him the obvious question. "Why?"

He sighed as if talking to me was the hardest thing ever. "You could pass out inside your room without anyone knowing and then die. I don't like you but not enough to have a hand in your possible death."

My jaw dropped to the ground as I looked at him with a horrified expression. "No, that's not possible for anyone to die from menstrual cramps."

He shrugged. "You could be the first."

I gasped before glaring at him and turning around to walk—slowly and painfully—up to my front door. "Whatever. But I'm not making you any food."

"I can make food myself," he said.

"You're not making any food out of my fridge."

"From your cupboards, then? You gotta have a box of cereals somewhere."

I sighed exasperatedly, deciding to ignore him as I grabbed the spare key from under the ashtray on the coffee table on the front porch. I unlocked the door and went inside, gesturing for Jonah to do the same. He hesitated for a second before stepping into my house, his eyes instantly roaming around as he took in what was inside of my house.

"Welcome to the Taylors residence," I told him. "Go make yourself at home or whatever while I lie on the couch to relieve the pain and make some phone calls."

I grunted a little bit as I sat down on the couch in the living room, the house phone already in my hand. Now that the pain wasn't as painful as before, it still left some uncomfortable feeling around the area of my hips down, and moving around still felt a little awkward. I lay on the couch, my head resting on one armrest and my feet on the other. I made a five-minute call to Mom telling her that I was home and that she didn't need to worry, and then put the phone down on the coffee table in front of me.

Then I realized that Jonah had disappeared.

"Jonah?" I called out.

"What?" he called back, his voice coming from the kitchen.