Chapter 19

I woke Casey up early so that we could leave before Keegan woke up. We stopped at Bucks for coffee before heading to her house. I decided it would be better for me if I stayed away from Keegan while he was here in town, flaunting his new girl in my face.

I told Casey about everything that had transpired when she was getting her beauty sleep.

“I’m so over him James. He doesn’t want you, so does he expect you to just sit around and pine after him?” Casey barked.

She had a point. I’m not his girlfriend any more and he made that abundantly clear. There was no reason for me to feel ashamed about kissing Jeff. Isadora can try to have a long distance relationship if she wanted. He wasn’t my problem any more. Of course I loved him, when would I not? But he doesn’t control my heart any more.

Jeff texted me while we were making breakfast with Casey’s Obachan. That’s what she called her grandma. Her grandma still had long, jet-black hair. She was a small framed woman, and looked incredibly young.

I checked my phone and it was just a smiley faced emoji from Jeff. I sent back a silly one with its tongue out. We kind of did that back and forth for a minute before he started texting words.

His text read, “I can’t stop thinking about our kiss. I know it was a dare, but it felt like so much more.”

I started to type back, but then erased my sentence. I didn’t really know what I should say to him. The kiss was amazing, but I didn’t want to start a relationship. I forgave him for spreading rumors about me, but was this someone I wanted to be involved with? As I pondered, I saw three little dots begin to appear on my phone.

“Sorry if that was too forward Brees. You have that effect on us guys,” he said, signing it with a winky face.

“I actually would love to hang out today Jeff and suck your face off,” Casey teased, reading over my shoulder.

I pushed her away and laughed, “Stop it Case. I don’t really know what to do about this situation.”

“What do you want? Is this just something fun and casual?” she asked, breaking an egg into a glass bowl.

What did I want? That was a great question. The answer to that used to only be Keegan. I definitely wanted to see Jeff again. I texted him to ask if he had plans for tonight. He said that he wasn’t invited to Keegan’s party, so we agreed to hang out at my house at 6:00 pm. Keegan would be at his party on the farm and that would leave us to have some alone time. My mom was going with the Patts, so I could plan a fun, uninterrupted night for us.

Casey came over to help me set up, but she was going to Keegan’s party so she could see Cyman. Harper couldn’t come, so she felt like he would be all over her. We set up a small snack tray with licorice, donuts, cookies, popcorn, skittles and M&Ms. We brought blankets upstairs from the basement and I rented a movie on the tv. This was a friend's hang. Nothing romantic. I almost felt bad for breaking his heart. This would hopefully send us in a positive direction.

The doorbell rang. Jeff had arrived. Casey hugged me and opened the door to greet Jeff.

“Hi Jeff. Bye Jeff,” she said, running to her car.

“Hi Casey. Ha! She was clearly in a hurry to go see Cyman,” he said, coming inside.

“Wait what? You know about those two?” I asked, taking the drinks he brought.

“I mean, Cy is my best friend. He tells me everything,” he said, removing his shoes.

We walked into the living room and sat on the couch.

“Oh this all looks so delicious! You even got me some licorice? Can’t believe you remembered,” he said, grabbing a rope of it and biting into it.

He seemed so genuinely happy that I remembered they were his favorite candy.

“That was clutch Brees. No one has ever thought about me enough to do something this kind. I appreciate it,” he said, grabbing my hand.

“Of course Jeff. I want this friendship to start off strong. I’m glad you liked it,” I said.

He let go of my hand.

“Brees, is that all we are? Friends? I mean that kiss was electric,” he said, laying his head back and flashing those beautiful white teeth.

“Oh I don’t disagree. But I am not looking for a relationship Jeff. My heart isn’t healed from my break up with Keegan and that isn’t fair to anyone,” I said.

His face looked so disappointed. I knew he wanted more, but I couldn’t give him that right now.

“Damn girl. I can’t say I’m not sad about it. I can still feel your lips on mine,” he said, lightly pressing his fingers on his lips and smiling.

I scooted closer to him and sat up on my knees. Putting my lips right by his ear.

“No one ever said we couldn’t kiss,” I said.

I grabbed his collar and pulled him towards me. I rubbed my cheek against his and could feel his breath getting labored. He was excited.

He was waiting for it. I brought my mouth right by his mouth and I said, “Can I kiss you, friend?”

He nodded excitedly and I leaned in and kissed him. He grabbed my face with both hands.

“Yeah, I can deal with this kind of friendship,” he joked, between kisses.