The Middle - Volume Two ✔️

Chapter 20 (Erin & Sarah)

Erin

"Well hello there." I greet Sarah, Joel and Jay as they step into my dorm room and I toss my phone down on to my bed. Sarah just ran downstairs for a smoke, Jamie called me, and now - here they are. Talk about good timing.

"I ran into the boys outside. They totally caught we with a cigarette in my hand." Sarah says, sheepishly glancing at the boys. So, what? We all know she smokes.

"Don't worry about it." Jay says casually, while looking around the dorm room. This is the first, and probably last, time he's been in here. Same goes for Joel, who isn't looking around curiously, I note. He's looking at Sarah. The room is pretty basic, and girly. Not much to see. Sarah's body is a better view, I guess. Fill your boots, Joel. As long as Jay doesn't look at her that way, it's all good.

"Yeah, we're all smokers here. Nothing to be ashamed of, Sarah." I add casually, and Joel frowns at me.

"Excuse me, I'm not." He reminds me.

"Ex-smoker. Whatever." I say, waving my hand dismissively.

"I really wanna quit, too." Sarah says, cocking her head at Joel. "Got any tips?"

"It's not that hard, really. Just think of all the things in life that are better than nicotine. There's plenty." Joel smiles at her. "But I gotta admit, I do crave one sometimes."

"Like, when Jamie is being dramatic?" I offer with a grin, and Joel laughs and nods his agreement. Jay frowns at me.

"I'm not dramatic." Jay says.

"I was talking about Hawkins." I clarify, and he rolls his eyes at me.

"Okay, well maybe if you didn't call me Jamie so often, I'd understand you better." He comes back, smiling at me and twirling his lip ring with his teeth. Ugh, I love it when he does that. And he knows. I told him last night... Fuck. Note to self, no more disclosing weaknesses to Jay.

"Whatever, Jamie." I fire back at him, while twirling my hair through my fingers. He told me some of his weaknesses too. And two can play at this game.

"Okay you two, settle down. Stop undressing each other with your eyes." Joel says, and I am actually startled. A comment like that, from Joel? I know Jamie told him about me and Jay, but still. Weird. And not very subtle in front of Sarah, who knows nothing. Thanks, Joel.

"Joel, shut up." Jay says, before collapsing down on to our one and only couch.

"Joel, sit." Sarah says, gesturing towards the space next to Jay. She's awfully polite, all of a sudden. "You guys want a soda or anything? We don't keep coffee in here, we usually just run out and grab coffee from the shop around the corner."

"Sounds good." Joel smiles at her before sitting down. Jay doesn't bother answering Sarah's question. Rude. I'll assume he doesn't want a soda then.

I follow Sarah over to the mini fridge in the far corner of the room. I glance back at the boys and see that they're looking at something on Jay's phone now. Probably something band related. I wait until I hear Jay's voice, before whispering to Sarah.

"Listen, would you mind if I fucked off with Jay for a bit today?" She raises her eyebrows at me in interest while opening the mini fridge. "There's so much history with us, you know? And we got along pretty well last night. I wanna just talk to him for a while and make sure the air between us is totally clear. Would you mind keeping Joel entertained for a few hours? I'd owe you one? Please?"

I have no fucking idea why I'm pleading with her, because her eye's have lightened up, and she looks fucking ecstatic about this. Wow, this is gonna be easier than I thought.