When In Doubt - Freshman Year

Chapter 12

Jared

Early morning sunlight peaked through the blinds and landed on Jared's sleeping form, it caused him to unwillingly wake up. He groggily rose from the futon in nothing but his boxer briefs and took in his surroundings as he'd yawned and stretched. The room he was in looked unfamiliar even though it was obviously a girl's room, hell, even one of the blankets that was pink hand knit that cocooned him had given that away, and then he'd remembered the night before with Leah and her friends. He looked up onto her bed, and saw that Leah's bunk was empty.

A vibration had gone off somewhere among the blankets and Jared reached in to find his phone and saw unread messages; a couple from Brayden:

Dude?! What happened last night?? U never messaged me back?

Where u at? R U dead? Lol

He'd gotten a couple of messages from the Bryans too:

Bro.... Where'd you go?

You totally ditched us for a chick last night didn't you? She better be smoking

Stick it right in the pussy!

Jared chuckled, but couldn't help but roll his eyes. Those were the guys he'd considered his best friends at college...It was good to know they lived up to their expectations...

He'd scratched the side of his stomach before he reached lower to readjust himself, and it was right then that the door had opened.

"Hey, I'm back, so...Oh."

Leah stood in her doorway with a few to-go containers, her eyes wide as they traveled down to where his hand went. Jared immediately turned his back to her before she could see a certain member of himself that usually stood to attention in the morning, but she'd chuckled as he struggled to put his shirt on, and cursed himself under his breath.

"Starting the day off strong, I see," she'd quipped.

Never afraid to show himself off, he'd put his hands on his hips unabashedly and unashamed, even with obvious morning wood.

"You know, I've been caught in worse situations than this, so if you're trying to rise out of me, you're going to have to try harder than that."

"I think you're trying hard enough for the both of us right now," she nodded at his crotch as she walked further inside and set her containers on the desks.

He'd smirked and grabbed for his jeans to slid them on too.

"I always say go big or go home."

She laughed. "Shut the fuck up!"

They'd both sat down at their desks and dug in. Jared's mouth watered when he'd smelled the hash browns, bacon and scrambled eggs. He moaned in pleasure as he took his first bite. "Oh god, this is just what I needed." He'd turned towards Leah, who'd raised her brow at exaggerated moan. "Thanks for getting this for me, by the way."

"Of course, it's the least I could do after everything you did last night," she replied in between bites of her food. "Who knows how long we would've been out there if you hadn't decided to call me when you did."

"I just did what any decent person would do and help," he'd shrugged. He was still a little annoyed about how she thought it seemed so out of character for him to have come to the aid of someone in need.

People had made assumptions about him for quite some time, so why was one more person any different? Jared glanced over at Leah, who'd looked away as soon as she'd gotten caught, her cheeks turned red and she wore a small smile, as if she'd had a secret.