Chapter Twenty-Seven
Twelve Years Ago
Jake draped his arm across my chest while I tried to wiggle out of bed. When I finally managed to extract myself from the cushy comforter cocoon, he stirred in his sleep and grabbed at the air. As I pulled my body off the mattress and exposed it to the cold air, I shivered.
“Come back under the blankets, it’s chilly.” Jake smiled sleepily and patted my side of the bed.
He was right: it was freezing. Our heater had stopped working in the middle of the night, making a loud thunk that I’d assumed was Jake knocking something off the side table in his sleep. Luckily, I had a thick down blanket in addition to an electric one, so we were able to sleep comfortably for a few hours. It was the first snow of the season, and we were only a couple of degrees away from seeing our own breath inside the apartment.
I slid on my thick fleece bathrobe and grabbed my phone from the nightstand.
Mia had texted from the other room: Called the HVAC people, they’re coming in afternoon to fix the ^#&*$! heat. Too scared to figure out how to work the fireplace, I’ve never used it. I think there’s a raccoon or something living in there and don’t want to find out the hard way. There’s a space heater on in the living room . . . you can open your door to try to let some heat in but maybe you got plenty of warmth from ya BOI in bed
I smirked and plugged my phone into the charger. “Heater’s broken. Okay if I open the door to let in some heat? Mia has a space heater running out there.”
Jake sat up on the bed but kept the comforter on top of him. He peeked his head out while the rest of his body was covered. It looked like he was in a fluffy white igloo. “Orrrr . . . I can wrap you in my Jake tortilla. It’s toasty under here!”
I glanced at the door, which seemed too far away, then back at Jake, who had shifted the comforter to his shoulders so it was more like a shawl, and had his arms spread out like he was flashing me.
Come to think of it, he was flashing me. All he had on under there was a pair of boxers.
He rubbed the sleep from his right eye and shot me an irresistible smile. I relented and crawled back under the covers with him, keeping my bathrobe on for added warmth.
We were still in the honeymoon stage. We’d been dating a while and were still annoyingly into each other. Even with his busy schedule, Jake managed to sleep over a few nights a week. I preferred him coming to my place: I was a junior year RA in a large suite with Mia and one of her high school friends, who was a year below us. Jake lived in an Asian fraternity house. I was surprised to find out that Carlthorpe had an Asian frat and sorority. Both of them had Greek names and mottos, which amused me because this seemed so . . . Western. Wasn’t anything Greek by definition non-Asian?
In any case, where I lived was more suitable for people who preferred “no questions asked” sleepover events. Jake’s Asian brethren were a nosy, gossipy bunch, and the less time I was around them, the better.
Once we were back under the blankets together, he asked, “Are you going to be an RA next year too?”
“Res Life pays for my room and board, plus they offer a monthly stipend, so I’ll probably do it again. What about you?”
“My roommate wants to study abroad. It got me thinking about it again.” He nibbled my ear and it tickled. “Maybe you should too.”
My suitemate Gloria was applying for a semester abroad in Japan. She had studied Japanese in high school and took it in college too, so it made a ton of sense for her to go. “I took two years of Spanish, but it’s not nearly enough to justify spending a semester abroad.”
He whispered into my ear, “You don’t need to study a language to go abroad. Carlthorpe just added a robust network of universities overseas that conduct classes in English. You could go somewhere like Australia.”
“Really?” I had looked into study abroad but ruled it out mostly because of the language barrier. When I didn’t take advanced Spanish courses my third year of college, I let go of my dream to study overseas.
I rolled over to my nightstand and looked up the exchange program website on my phone. “Oh shit, there are like twenty schools that offer classes I could take, including Spain. And many of them would actually count toward my major! There’s an informational session next week. Applications are due end of month to be eligible next fall.” Studying abroad my senior year first semester would have its social and academic pros and cons, but to hell with it. What if I could go to Spain? Or Hong Kong? Or Australia?
Jake crept over to my side of the bed and put his hand on my shoulder. “Maybe we could apply to the same places. And if we both got in? It would be cool. And romantic.”
I shot him a hopeful smile. “What would you do with all of your side businesses, and all the activities and organizations counting on you for leadership next year?” It was a slight dig at Jake for stretching himself too thin, which I regretted once the words came out of my mouth. But the truth was that Jake always seemed to be going a gajillion miles a minute. He hardly slept. And I’d noticed he was flaking out on others who counted on him when he spent time with me. It sometimes left me wondering if I would be next.
“I’ll make it work somehow. I always manage. Plus, you’re my girlfriend, so you get first priority.”
“Girlfriend?” I murmured. He’d never said that word out loud before. Neither of us was seeing other people, but I’d assumed that was because he was too busy to date anyone else.
He took the phone from my hand and placed it back on the table. Then he kissed me. “Yes. Girlfriend.” He kissed my cheek. “You’re.” My neck. “My.” Left breast. “Girlfriend.” Right breast.
“What special privileges does a girlfriend have after graduating from friend with benefits?” I asked coyly. “Will we go to dinner together?”
He laughed. “We already do that. I always sit next to you in the dining hall.”
I raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t count. I mean more off-campus stuff.”
Jake grinned. “Yes. Dates. Movies. And maybe the most important of all—”
He showed me his phone. I was listed as one of his “favorites” contacts. It was such a funny gesture, but for a guy who knew, like, a bazillion people, it was a big deal to make it into his top ten. “If you text me, I’ll reply right away. Unless I’m sleeping, out of cell range, or maimed in a hospital. That’s how much I care about you.”
Rolling on top of him, I swept my long hair to my back. “And you’ll always answer my calls if you’re not indisposed? You know I don’t like calling anyone, so if I do ring you, it’s probably important.”
He nodded and held his hand up. “I care about you so much that I solemnly swear to answer your calls, especially because I know you hate being on the phone.”
I offered him a light peck on the lips. “One more thing. You think we could do this boyfriend-girlfriend thing in Spain maybe?”
“Or South Africa.” Jake kissed my lips softly. “Or Scotland.”
My lips pressed his again. “New Zealand maybe?”
His hands traveled down to my hips. “Wherever you go, I’ll follow.”
I yanked the plush comforter over our heads so it fully enveloped our bodies. Jake pulled me down on top of him and we molded into the contours of each other’s bodies, with plenty of heat flowing between us to keep us warm.