Drenched | ✓

ocho

I shot upright. "Say that again. I think I must have misheard you."

"I'm here, Julie," he repeated. "Outside your door."

I was out of bed quickly, ending the call, and wrapping a spare bedsheet around my body.

"Stay here, Nicolás," I told him as he still lay on my bed in the nude. "Please, just stay here."

I traipsed downstairs, careful not to trip over the bedsheet and trying with all my might to flatten my hair just so I didn't look like... well, exactly what it really was.

I opened the door a crack.

"What do you want, Tim?"

"We need to talk," he said, blue eyes desperate and not looking like they were going to give up anytime soon. "We're made for each other, you know that, I know that, everybody knows it. What I did was a mistake—"

"You've made the same 'mistake' several times. It's no longer a mistake. It's pathological."

"I know, but this time I truly mean it when I say I'm sorry." He went to reach for me but I recoiled. "I love you, and I know deep down, you love me too."

What if I didn't ever love you in the first place?

"Tim, this really isn't the time," I said, very aware that grandma would be back any moment and I still didn't know how trustworthy Nicolás was at this point. And besides, I was still completely naked and only wrapped in a bedsheet.

He looked like he had an entire speech lined up on just how sorry he was, but I'd heard it all before and I think if I heard it even one more time, I would scream.

He stepped forward. "Can I come in?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," I said, closing the door a little more to deter him. He looked at me, confused, but didn't look ready to walk away.

"Why n—"

"Mi amor, who is it?" I shut my eyes in exasperation as I heard his voice. Brilliant. I couldn't even bear to look at him. I was so angry. In both directions, an idiot boy was getting me pissed off.

"Who's that?" He had the nerve to look affronted, like I was the one that'd been caught cheating.

Nico stood in front of the small crack I'd been wary to keep just that... small. He opened the door a little more, holding another bedsheet around his waist, and being sure to have it low enough so it couldn't be disputed that he was definitely naked underneath.

"Nicolás Torrero," he said, hand stuck out and readjusted his hold on the material that was covering his decency. "And you are?"

"Julie's boyfriend," Tim said, trying to puff out his chest. Two guys trying to intimidate one another was not a pretty sight, especially when it was so obvious who the victor was. Tim just looked downright stupid. That didn't make me any less angry with the boy behind me, though.

"Ah," Nicolás said, biting his lip to hide his smirk, whether at my fuming state or Tim's. "Tom, right? I think Julie's grandma mentioned you once." He said, wrinkling his forehead as if it was a difficult thing to remember.