Highly Inappropriate

8.

Still smiling like an idiot, I stumbled through my front door and closed the door behind me. I started to walk up the stairs towards my bedroom, trying to not make any noise since I didn't want to wake anyone up, when a voice coming from my couch startled me.

"You're back, finally. Did you hook up with Jamie or anyone else for that matter?.", Jess asked in a low groggy voice, her head popping up from behind the sofa.

"And you're up awfully early.", I replied, ignoring her question and flopping on the couch next to her, pulling her legs onto my laps.

"I know.", she groaned in annoyance. "I have a shift in two hours. Plus, this couch sucks! I think I fell asleep here while I was waiting for your sorry ass."

"Sorry about that.. I got kind of caught up.", I apologized with a sheepish smile.

"Care to elaborate?", she asked, arching her brow and looking at me.

"I was with Ashley.", I confessed, not being able to hide my smile as I thought about what happened earlier.

God, I hated that she could make me feel like this.

"Weren't you avoiding her?"

"Well, I was. That turned out to be a little complicated when she showed up at my car by the end of my shift.", I explained.

"Okay.. So, why are you smiling like a fucking moron? I thought you hated her guts.", Jess stated, confusion never leaving her features.

"Oh trust me, I did.", I sighed, running my hands through my hair and getting more comfortable on the couch.

I spent the next 10 minutes telling Jess about my encounter with Ashley, not leaving out a single detail. After I was done, silence fell between us as she processed everything I just told her. I had no idea what was going on in that little head of hers, but she kept staring at me with a quizzical look.

"So.. you're dating the goddess of teachers now?", she finally spoke, studying me carefully.

"We're not dating.", I scoffed, letting out a small giggle.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever floats your boat, Alex.", she retorted, frustrated.

"We're not!", I repeated. "We're two adults that want to get to know each other better. That's it, no big deal."

"Two adults that want to get to know each other and occasionally kiss?", she asked me, frowning.

"Yup."

"Alex, that's like the definition of dating.", she bluntly stated.

"We're not dating, Jess.", I retorted once again, slightly starting to get a little pissed.

"Yeah, like you would know, huh?"

She kind of had a point.

"We're. Not. Dating."

"Whatever.", she mumbled, getting up from the couch and walking towards the kitchen. I followed her, confused as to why she was acting this way.

"Jess, what's with the attitude? Why are you giving me shit about this?"

"Nothing.", she hissed, pouring herself a cup of coffee and trying to get past me as I stubbornly stood in front of her.

"Well, you're definitely bothered by something that I'm clearly oblivious about so I'd like to know what it is!", I said in a soft voice as I stood my ground. "Talk to me, please.."

"Alex, can't you see what's happening here?!", she snapped, trying her best to keep her voice down. "You can't, can you?! The past month you've been miserable! Every day I woke up wondering with what kind of mood I'd had to put up with since one day you were your normal self, the other you were either upset or on the verge of killing the first person that looked at you in the wrong way. Now you come home at six in the morning smiling as if you've just won a million bucks because of her!"