Tempted Hearts (bxb)

Chapter 7 - No Means No!

There I stood, hot water spraying onto my neck and down my back with a heavenly high pressure, rinsing every drop of chlorine away. I was using Lilly's shower supplies since the ones that Jake used were way too masculine for my taste. I could almost smell the testosterone in each blue product.

With the steam condensing against the glass of the shower door, I felt like I wasn't even in the land of the living. My mind was elsewhere, enjoying the sense of nothingness for a while. Of course, he was at the centre of my thoughts again, the image of him shirtless printed in my mind.

"Max! You've been in there for an hour now!" I heard a muffled yelling from outside.

"Sorry!" I wailed back, turning the shower off and stepping out to grab a fresh white towel from the airing cupboard. Again, it was the total holiday house experience.

After drying myself down, I put on Lilly's pyjamas which were slightly less short than last time, thankfully. There was a limit to how short these things could go on guys, and Lilly's clothing range definitely occasionally exceeded it.

"Finally! I was beginning to think you were drowning or something," Lilly said, grabbing a purple towel off of the bannister on the landing where it had been drying.

"Lucky I brought my snorkel, huh?"

"Mmm. Let's do another movie night. Ooh, we can finally move onto Marvel!" She suggested, dashing into the bathroom with a set of pyjamas for herself.

As I was opening the draws to Lilly's movie collection, I heard a knock at the door. I turned my head towards it, walking over and opening it up to see Jake standing in front of me, he must've been for a shower in his parent's en suite.

"Jake, hey, what's up?" I probably looked awful. Having just come fresh out of the shower, my hair was all wavy and out of place. He stared at me for a good few seconds before speaking, as if in a trance.

"I was just wondering if you and Lilly wanted to come downstairs and watch a movie with me and Emily?"

"Oh, that sounds cool. I'll ask Lilly when she gets out of the shower."

He nodded ever so subtly, eyes still on me as if I was some sort of prey. I tilted my head, unsure of what to say, but luckily, I didn't have to say anything.

"It's been, um... decent having you around. Feel like I didn't really know you before this week very well, and, now--"

"We practically live together?"

"Yeah, it's nice. Shame we didn't really, uh, speak much while we were in school together."

Now, this was unexpected. The boy who I'm pretty sure didn't take a single second of effort to get to know me was openly regretting that choice, to my face. I would've been convinced that he was just bullshitting if anyone else would've been close enough to hear, but in reality, it was just us two.

"I wanted to, but you were always out and about. Busy with your bro friends or out with girls..."

That's when I saw it on his face. He avoided eye contact and swallowed. "Wish I'd have known, you know?"

"Yeah, well... You've got me all week now." I grinned, shoving his shoulder. This might've been a sly excuse to feel that electricity return and Jesus did it shoot right through my fingertips the second we made contact. I wasn't sure if it was just me making it up, but it was almost as if, that very time, he felt it, too. He looked down at where I'd pushed him, and then back to me.

"So... A movie in fifteen minutes?" I returned us to reality.

A slow nod was his answer as he moved away from the door frame. "See ya in fifteen."