Gifted Connections: Book 2(27)
Jemmy was tall and leggy with light brown hair and pink highlights. She was a subpar student, but she had fashion sense for days.
Jaxson gave her a long-suffering sigh. “Really, Tam? Is that really necessary?” He was looking at me in contemplation.
Tamara started laughing. “I was only joking.”
Jemmy rolled her eyes. “Way to hide the ugliness with a joke.”
“Sensitive much?” Tamara bit out. “Learn to take a joke.”
“I have my clothes from earlier,” I cut in and then smiled at Jemmy. “Thanks for the offer, though; that was really sweet of you.”
“Normally, not a synonym used for Jemmy,” Noah joked as he winked at her.
Jemmy stuck her tongue out at him as the back door opened and Drake came in. “Hi, I’m Drake,” he stuck his hand out to me and I took it with a smile.
“Hi, Blake,” I suddenly blushed. “Thanks for helping out today.”
“Where’s Rose?” Noah asked.
Drake shook his head with a frown. “She wasn’t feeling good, so she decided to head home.”
I looked over at Gavin and it looked like he was done being mad at me as he gave me a pointed look.
“Oh, okay,” Noah said. “Well come on, Blake, I’ll show you where you can take a shower.”
“Is Stacey coming over?” Tamara asked intentionally wanting to instigate. Her and Stacey had never gotten along, but they had teamed up once before against me. Bonding over a common enemy, once again, me.
I never understood how someone so beautiful and spoiled could be so miserable. At least now I knew she always had this character flaw. When I had met her previously, I had thought it was just me. After all, I had taken Jaxson away from her.
“Nope,” Noah replied. He never seemed to allow her to get under his skin. “And not that it’s any of your business, but I broke up with her.”
I gave him a startled look because this is the first time I had heard about it. He seemed to avoid my eyes as I followed him out of the room and up the steps to his room. I had never been in there before. It was as large and spacious as mine had been. His room looked almost sterile in all whites.
“Taking your med-school-feel seriously, aren’t you?” I teased as I dropped my bag next to the bathroom door.
“Nah,” he laughed. “Pops always told me to decorate it how I would like. I’m just not that imaginative, and I didn’t trust Jemmy to touch my sanctuary.”
“Not imaginative, huh,” I said suggestively.
We had spent the last few weeks flirting shamelessly. When he was free he would generally text me on the phone that Collin gave me, things like ‘How’s your make-up work coming along?’ or ‘Are you ready to schedule your next quiz or exam?’ If Collin was nearby, I would text back that I was still working on xyz, or ‘I should have a better update for you later’, something along those lines. Generally, after Collin or I retired to bed, I would pull out Gavin’s phone and text him back.
Lately, he’s been texting me almost every night. It led me to assume that he didn’t spend as many late nights with Stacey as he once had. I hadn’t realized they may have broken up. I liked those late-night conversations that sometimes went on to the early morning hours. I got to learn more about him than I ever had. The stupid trivial things like his favorite color (green), his favorite food (Philly cheesesteaks), his favorite movie (Patch Adams), his favorite season (summer); little things like that. I also got to finally find out why he was adopted by Will. His past wasn’t nearly as dramatic as most of ours. His parents had sent him to another boarding school by the age of five, never really wanting to have children. They both were doctors that crossed oceans to third world countries, helping other children rather than being with their own child. His previous boarding school had threatened to close by the time he was 9. They placed him in the newly opened Knightstown Academy and barely bothered to spend any time with him. He spent a lot of time with the Bell boys, and when his parents died after contracting a disease overseas, he had accepted the invitation to live with the Bells permanently.
“I’m more than imaginative, where it counts,” he murmured as he took a step towards me.
I don’t know what was coming over me as I raised an eyebrow and slowly removed my sweatshirt. “Actions speak louder than words,” I dared him.
He visibly gulped; desire in his eyes, warring with indecision. “I just got out of a relationship and you’re in a relationship. I’m not sure if we should rush this.”
I removed my tank top next, leaving me in just my sports bra and shorts. Part of me was trying to seduce him to establish our connection, but the other part of me wondered what it would be like to be with him. He once told me he had an insatiable appetite in the bedroom and that’s why he kept Stacey around. She was easy, and she was available for him whenever he wanted. I hadn’t been. I couldn’t be. I was technically a virgin and new to the dating game, on top of fostering five other relationships.
“I understand, but honestly he isn’t my boyfriend. He never was,” I stated as I turned, dropping my sports bra, then shorts in front of the bathroom door. I walked to the large glass enclosed shower, turned the faucet, and waited for warm water to emerge from the shower heads above and from the fixtures mounted on the walls. I intentionally kept the bathroom door open and I knew he had taken steps to fill out the doorway.