#yesterday we slept cuddled up on the couch; today he can't be too close to me apparently 🤣

[safyresky]

GOD FORBID he cuddles up beside me, right? 🙄🙄

[flowerdaisyms]

Roomates - Bum

"Hey, I'm home!" Olivia's voice echoed through the hallway, "Hazel, are you here? Are you in your room?"

"Hey, Oli, where have you been all this time? Your annoying brother is here." Hazel pointed to the living room where Jadon was sitting and watching TV.

Oli looked at Hazel suspiciously and then started laughing, "haha, of course he can't do anything else! Sorry, babe, I'm a little high so I'm going slower." Hazel laughed nervously, "why are you in your underwear?"

Oli pointed her finger at Hazel's figure, "shower. It's pretty cold here so I'm going to warm up in a hot shower."

"Great idea. I'm not cold, but I'll do the same when you get out." Oli finally left Hazel's room door and went into the living room.

Hazel really breathed a sigh of relief when she closed the door. It also hit her hard that she had been lying to her best friend all day. She had never kept anything from her for so long. It couldn't go on like this. She had to tell her. Today. With tears in her eyes, she lay down on the bed and decided to go take a shower.

Looking in the mirror, Hazel wanted to cry again, but she had to pull herself together. Mentally prepare herself for today's talk.

Now all she had to do was wait for Jadon to leave.

"Olivia, could I talk to you?"

"Wow, that sounds terrible. Do you want to move out?"

Hazel chuckled nervously, "You know, something happened. Yesterday."

"Oh my god. I'm finally going to find out who you slept with? I swear my head almost explo-"

"It was Jadon." Hazel interrupted Olivia's monologue. Which would have been damn long, because she's high.

Olivia started laughing, "what the heck. Did you sleep with my brother?" Then she realized Hazel wasn't laughing with her. So she stopped laughing, "did you fuck with him?"

"NO."

"So why are you telling me that? Do you know how many times I've slept at someone's brother because I didn't want to go home?"

"That's the point. I like going home. I love our space that we created. And I ruined it." Hazel couldn't hold back her tears anymore and stood up from the couch, "Olivia I'm really sorry. Jadon and I kissed. Not only once."

"Did you kiss my brother? What do you mean many times?!" Olivia got up from her seat, "He's like 20 years older than you!"

"4."

"Don't fucking correct me now." Olivia paced back and forth across the room. Then she came back to Hazel, "You didn't fuck him, did you?"

"No, I swear."

"Swearing is so fucking stupid right now. Isn't there an unwritten rule between best friends? Don't kiss my brother, don't fuck him, don't talk to him, he's a dick?"

"I know, I'm so sorry."

"You're so sorry, huh." Olivia sat back down and said in a calm voice, "Hazel, I fucking love you, you know that. But this is too much for me right now. I'm probably going to trip. I need to know if it was anything else Hazel."

"There were no other goals other than kissing. We were just cuddling until you came."

"Cuddling? WHAT" Olivia started laughing out loud, "my brother doesn't cuddle with anyone. What's his point. He's a piece of shit." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and dialed his number.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm calling him. He should stay away from the people I love. He does this to me all the time."

"Don't call him. W-wait what do you mean he does this all the time?"

Olivia didn't answer. She dialed the call and waited. Hazel couldn't take the weight of the betrayal anymore and locked herself in the bathroom where she cried. She want to disappear.

Half a day passed and Hazel didn't answer the phone and no one knew where she was.

Olivia was losing her mind. She felt guilty for yelling at Hazel. Thoughts were running through her head that she might hurt herself. She had been quite mentally ill in her past life. Oli had helped her out of it and now she might have lost the person who held her.

A door slammed from the hallway, "Oli, are you here?"

"In the kitchen."

Jason came to the door, "Did you hear back?"

"No. I call her every 20 minutes but I would say her flashlight would run out with something like that." Olivia sat at the dining table and put her head in her hands, "Fuck, I screwed up so much."

"Yes."

"Excuse me?"

"You said it yourself." Jason looked at Olivia and moved closer to look her in the eye, "What did you take?"

"Just weed."

"Don't fucking lie."

"It must have been cut with something, I really don't fucking know."

"That's always like this with you. Can't you just not take anything that makes you explode and then just chase everyone away?" Jason went to the sink to pour himself a glass of water.

"You idiot. You fucked with my best friend."

"No. I didn't." Jason leaned against the kitchen counter, "I just fell in love with her. That's all."

"Yeah, and when, you asshole?"

"Last summer." he sat down across from his sister, "but you'll never understand, you know that?"

Olivia leaned over the table to keep from screaming, "I don't need a lecture here about how shitty my love life is. Brother. The point is, you wanted to take away the only person in my life who ever meant anything to me. Do you understand? I don't have anyone else to hold my breath for."

"Fuck you. I can't control my feelings."

Olivia stood up from her chair and pointed her finger at Jason, "Fuck you, you dickhead."

"I'm leaving."

Olivia was left alone in the kitchen crying.

[digital-corruption]

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago, but it took me this long to re-read and edit it. 😅

Pieces of You Part 14

The next morning I woke up feeling blissful, though it took me a moment to remember why. Suddenly the memories of the night before flooded my consciousness and I became painfully aware how empty the rest of the bed was. I jumped up, grabbed my bathrobe and barely had it wrapped around as I ran through the apartment.

“Good morning?” Jake looked at me confused from the couch with his laptop back on his lap. He was dressed in his spare clothes.

I sighed with relief, “You’re still here.”

“Yes,” he smiled. “I couldn’t sleep any longer and I didn’t want to disturb you.”

“But you did get some?” I smirked and walked over to him, finishing tying my robe up.

“More than I’ve had in a long time,” he nodded. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I got scared you left already, but you’re still here so I’m good,” I explained as I sat down next to him.

“Thankfully I haven’t had the need to yet. At this point it is safer for you for me to stay than for me to leave now,” he said nonchalantly as he typed away at his laptop.

“Staying for my safety? No other reason?” I raised my eyebrow at him.

“Yes, of course. Your safety is my first priority,” he looked at me perplexed.

“Last night didn’t change your motives?” I tilted my head.

“No, why would it?” he asked confused.

I laughed and kissed his cheek, “You keep being you.”

Living life with a hacker sounds exciting, but when you can’t see much less understand what they’re doing, it is kind of boring. Jake spent most of the day with his eyes glued to his laptop screen. I took the opportunity to wash his dirty clothes from the day before, bemoaning how little he actually owned.

“Too much would only weigh me down,” he reasoned.

“I don’t know, it sounds pretty risky only have one spare set of clothes,” I frowned.

“There was one time I ripped my jeans and before I could get new ones, I'd tripped in mud. Thankfully no one seemed to notice the dark stain on the dark clothes,” he explained.

Of course that meant I wanted to hear more stories, but Jake swore there wasn’t any worth mentioning and went back to his work. I knew that wasn’t true, but it was going to take a lot to get more out of him.

By the afternoon I was going crazy from the lack of attention. When did I become so needy? After how many rounds the night before? Suddenly I had become addicted to being close to him, feeling his warmth, inhaling his natural smell. I sat down next to him and casually leaned my head against his shoulder.

“Maybe you’ll sit still now,” Jake commented.

“What? What are you talking about?” I frowned.

“You've been restless all day. It has been very distracting,” he complained.

“You can’t tell me after last night that you don’t have any desire to just...” I searched for the right word.

“Cuddle?” He finished my sentence for me.

“So you do know what I'm talking about!” I pouted.

“We cuddled for hours last night if you remember? Well, you mostly slept, but I kept holding you, watching you. Even when you’re sleeping, you’re still so fascinating,” he commented. “If I stop for even a moment, I'm going to get caught up in you again. Now's not the time though.”

My phone beeped. I lifted it and saw some pretty irate messages from Hannah. I forgotten to check in with her yesterday with my daily confirmation that Jake was safe and I was late with today’s. “Eek, what do I tell Hannah?” I thought out loud.

“The usual?” Jake responded.

“She’s going to be pretty pissed if she ever finds out I've been hiding you,” I laughed to myself.

“Why would she ever need to know? I haven’t understood her behavior since we found her. She knows I am being pursued and yet she keeps asking for me,” Jake admitted.

“I think she's looking to come to terms with the truth. It was a lot to take in all at once,” I suggested. “Especially after all she went through. It'd be easier for her if you could spend some time with her.”

“But I can't. I can't spend any more time with her than I can spend with you and I'm already on borrowed time here,” he pointed out.

I sighed, “I know. That doesn't change the fact that she wants to feel that connection with you.”

“I don’t even know how,” he admitted.

“Don’t worry about that. It'll come naturally, you know, when the time comes,” I giggled.

Jake turned to look at me as if he was annoyed that I'd use one of his lines on him, but he shook his head and laughed, “Being with you certainly feels natural. I'm usually not comfortable with being this close with someone for so long.”

“See?” I sat up and looked at him.

“No,” he replied simply.

“No, you don’t see or no...” I trailed off.

“No, you’re not joining me. You’re staying right where you belong,” he looked away.

“’Belong’!? Where exactly do you think that is?” I questioned angrily.

“In the light. Free. Free to do and be whatever you want, whenever you want. Not tied to hiding in the shadows and forever running. I can continue my fight because I know you’re free,” he responded solemnly.

“Jake, my heart isn’t free,” I frowned.

“That’s your choice,” he answered swiftly.

I slapped him across the face without hesitation. It took Jake by surprise, but myself more so.

“I'm-“ I began to apologize, but then realized that no, I wasn’t sorry. “You are just so frustrating! How can you write off my feelings so simply!? As if I could just turn them off when I choose to?”

“Hmm,” was all he said as he rubbed the side of his face.

“That’s it?” I snapped.

“I don’t know what else to say. We're at a stalemate. I will not endanger you out of my feelings for you and you will not leave me for the same. In the end only one of us will get the desired outcome, but it won’t be a victory. We will both lose,” he looked away. “I know you've been fighting to convince me of otherwise. The way things are, it’s just not possible.”

“I don’t know what you think I have here that’s worth holding onto, I just don’t see it. Before I met you I was just living, you know, going through the motions to survive. Don’t think I place anything of this life above us,” I insisted. “It was always ‘until something better comes my way’.”

Jake sighed, “I'm sorry to hear that. My wishes for you are always to hear you happy and enjoying life as you should. Trust me, being on the run is not the improvement you are looking for. Please don’t feel you are pinned to here though.” He paused for a moment, “Do what makes you happy. You'll always have my support.”

“Just don’t follow you?” I raised my eyebrow.

He shook his head, “Don’t have the government hunting you down because of me. That won’t ever bring you happiness.”