The Middle | ✔️

Chapter 50

Jamie

"You're sure you don't wanna grab some breakfast before you leave?" Sarah asks me again.

"No, it's fine, seriously. I'm not a big breakfast person." I assure her, following her and Erin down the stairs of their dorm building.

"Ha! That's bullshit, Little Miss Cornflakes." Erin calls me out. Thanks, Er.

"I eat cornflakes morning, noon and night. Not specifically at breakfast time." I snap back at her.

"We have time to stop by some place for breakfast. What's your rush?" Erin demands.

"No rush, I just don't wanna put you girls out. And if I leave now I might make it back in time for my afternoon class."

"Fuck off." Erin says, pulling the main door open and stepping outside. "You just wanna get home so that you can sit around eating cornflakes with your fluffy socks and weirdness in the privacy of your own home."

"True." I say, and Sarah smiles at me.

"Well, it was great to meet you, Jamie." Sarah says, pausing on the steps outside the dorms. "Let me know if you talk to Noah, so I can prepare myself for the shit storm I'm gonna get from him when he realises your best friend is my roommate." She rolls her eyes.

"I will." I say with a small smile.

"You drive safe kid. Let us know when you get home." Erin smiles at me. No hug this time. We're not huggers, she was just over excited last night.

"Thanks again for letting me spend the night. It was exactly what I needed. I'll text when I'm home." I tell them, before heading off to the parking lot I left my car in.

***

The minute I arrive back in North Bridge, I head to Patrick and Joel's, because they have Benji. It's afternoon now, and I'm hoping one of them will be around.

I park alongside the curb outside of Patrick and Joels apartment building, and slip inside the main door as someone else leaves. Awesome. I climb the familiar stairs up to their apartment, try the door, and it opens. Great. Immediately, Benji bowls me over with excitement.

"Aww, hey Benji! Did you miss me, huh? Who's my best boy? Who's my best boy!?"

"That would be me." I hear Patrick's voice from the living room, and make my way through.

He's sitting on the sofa watching daytime TV, wearing a pair of sweats and not much else. He really does look incredible without a shirt. His tattoos extend beyond his arms, covering his chest. There are some along his ribs too. I barely ever get to see these. So I take a good look, while the opportunity has presented itself.

"What the fuck are you staring at?" He asks me with a frown.

"Your tattoos. I don't see them often." I explain as I sit down across from him, still trying to read the words written across his ribs. It's lyrics to one of our songs, Sensitivity. I love that. I can't make out the ink on his left hand side though, his arms are concealing that part of his body.

He looks confused, before looking down and jumping to his feet.

"Shit!" He leaves the room quickly then returns wearing a plain black shirt.

"What's the big deal?" I ask. "You know I love your tattoos."

"Yeah, but imagine if Joel came home and found us like this." He wiggles his eyebrows at me suggestively and I snort.

"Yeah, right." I reply dismissively. "Is Joel in class?"

"Yeah. And before you ask, Benji is fine. I have fed him, I have walked him. He's not dead. There was no need for all the calls and texts, Jame." He raises an eyebrow at me, because I didn't ask about Benji at all. Not once.