Song of the chapter: Thank You, Next by Ariana Grande

For a few seconds, I stared shamelessly much to my chagrin. He'd just had a shower and his hair was a darker shade and water dripped from it, down to his face-gosh, his lips. They had more color than they did earlier.

When I discovered that my mouth was slightly hung open, I snapped it shut and my two hands flew quickly to my eyes. I couldn't un-see what I'd just seen. How could someone who looked so lean have shoulders and a chest as broad as this? Come to think of this, Jace probably looked the same way if I could recall several instances where he'd removed his shirt after football practice or at pool parties but the problem was that it was difficult for me to recall anything of that sort right now.

Even though my hands were blocking my view of him, my heart pounded erratically in my chest.

I heard him chuckle and I almost dropped my hands.

"You crazy..." I turned around, trying to make my way to the door.

"Look who's calling me crazy. You barged into my room." I heard the door to the closet open at the same time I found the door entrance.

As I moved to make my way out, I felt a sharp hit on my temple that sent me falling backwards.

"Ow!" I cried as I fell on my butt for the second time that day. For a while, I saw only black all over until the pain settled in again. I shut my eyes as I cradled my head, whimpering softly until I remembered whose presence I was and stopped abruptly. I felt warm breath tickle my skin and I shot my eyes open. Jamie was crouched in front of me, his nose barely an inch away from mine such that if I made just a little effort to move my head closer our lips would meet. But what the hell was I thinking? The hit to my head must have messed with my brain. I moved my head away from his and tried to get up but he grabbed unto my hands.

Taking in his appearance, I saw that instead of the towel, he'd worn denim jeans and they hung as low as the towel had. I was so preoccupied by staring at his torso and I hadn't realized what he was aiming at. I gave a yelp as his hands moved to massage what was now starting to form as a bump on my head. His left hand was behind my head but he released it to get a grip on my left arm as I struggled to get away.

Another person could be in my situation and be too focused on the pain to care about anything else but my case was different. My heart was on the verge of exploding and no matter how painful my head had started to throb, the feel of his skin against mine was electrocuting.

"Stop moving. Stay still." He commanded twice, his breath fanning my face. It smelt like pineapple juice.

I finally found my voice. "Let me go. It hurts. I'm sure a real doctor would find a better, less painful way to put my split head back together." Seriously, even in my current state, I could still make a silly humpty dumpty joke?

"If your head were really split open, no kind of doctor will ever be able to put it back together again, if you remember your rhymes correctly." He so brilliantly replied and I couldn't retort because I was busy fending off the attack against my forehead.

"Relax, mom says this always helps to minimize the pain later on and also, you don't want to sport a giant bump on your head." He said, a little more seriously. That got me quiet except for the few occasional cries that left my mouth.

"Any normal person should've just apologized politely for barging into someone's room and then, head out to wait."

"What did you expect me to do when you came out in nothing but a towel around your waist?" I questioned unabashedly, making him chuckle. I needed to shut my head hole now before I said more stupid things.

"Pardon me, I didn't expect any visitors at this time of day, especially those who barge in on me." He replied sarcastically.

"Who knew you were the one to get weak in the legs at the sight of a half-naked guy who just got out of the shower." He said, finally releasing me and I choked on my spit at his words. I felt slightly better but the pain was still there. It was only when I got up that the numbness in my butt translated into pain.

I yelped again as I tried to reach for the door and as my purpose was to keep a good distance between the two of us, I didn't care if my walking looked weird.

"Speaking of showers, I recommend you should get one. Jesus, what happened to you? Rolling around in the mud with lover boy?" He gestured towards my appearance and my cheeks reddened. How was it even possible that I forgot the state my clothes were in?

"The keys." I quickly said, evading his question and giving up on telling him that Jace and I were just friends. At least, his comment made me remember my purpose for coming up here.

"Did your mom leave the keys to my house?" He'd walked back over to his closet, probably searching for a shirt and he gave a quick glance at me over his shoulders.

"Why would my mom have the keys in the first place?" He questioned back. Could one not have a basic conversation with him? Why was he so fond of throwing my questions away or replying my questions with questions? I sighed as I thought that the best way to get my answer was to give him answers too.

"Apparently, dad gave the keys to your mom to prevent me from sneaking back in during my stay here last night." He seemed to have understood because he looked back at me and grinned, slipping into a black shirt.

"Seems like your dad knows how mischievous his kid is."

"You're one to talk." I retorted and only when a slight frown flickered onto his face did I realize the depth of my words.

"Well, that came out wrong." I said, hinting at an apology. He strolled towards where I stood close to the door. He wasn't frowning but he wasn't grinning either.

"Mom didn't leave the keys and it'll be a while before she gets back. Anytime she visits her mom, she never gets back on time. Have a shower while I go see if I can find something that fits in my mom's wardrobe." He gestured towards the bathroom and didn't give room for me to reply as he stepped past me into the hallway.

I took a step into the room. What was I supposed to do? He'd told me to take a shower. Did I stink so bad that he'd asked me to take a shower here instead of letting me have one in the guest room downstairs? When I went into the guest bathroom last night, I'd seen that it was fully equipped. It was going to feel weird having a bath in here and so, despite the pain in my butt -literally- I limped out of the room and it was until I got down the stairs that I heard Jamie's voice from where he now stood at the top of the stairs.

"Knowing how stubborn you are, I should've locked the door behind me."

"Why would you think I'll have a shower in your bathroom when there's a bathroom in the guest room?" I took care not to add that I suspected he would be waiting for me right outside the bathroom door to revel in my embarrassment of walking out in a towel.

"Because you're walking like you fractured your butt." He gestured towards me.

"Thought it'd be best to have a warm shower so that you'll feel better before heading down."
I was glad he was far away so he wouldn't see the blush that crept up my cheeks in embarrassment. I had only thought the worst of him.

As he walked down the stairs, I noticed the clothes he held in his hands and when he got to me, he stretched them towards me. I didn't know why but I was starting to get creeped out by how nice he was being to me.

"Thanks." I thanked him for the first time ever, since meeting him. He shrugged as he looked anywhere but me. Why was I still standing there?

"So...I'll just go..." I gestured towards the guest bedroom. He strolled towards the living room.

"Yeah, I'll be out front. I have to go pick Nico up. We can stop over at the store on our way. I bet those clothes wouldn't be so comfortable."

"Oh." I said as I carefully unfolded the clothes. Truly, it looked like belonged to a taller person. I was about 5'6 but I was sure that I wasn't going to be so comfortable in sweatpants that looked like they belonged to someone far bigger and taller than me. Nicole was slim and she was taller than me. The length of the pants could've convinced me that they belonged to Nicole but the size said otherwise.

Once I was in the confines of the bathroom, I took off my dirty clothes and checked the water temperature before getting in. I wasn't going to be getting into those clothes anytime soon.

The shower was indeed comforting and forgetting for a brief moment that someone was waiting for me, I let the water soothe my nerves.

After drying myself when I stepped out of the shower, I got into the clothes. They felt clean and warm. The storm in the middle of the night had brought a chill and drop in the weather temperature and it helped that the clothes were bigger even though I had to fold the sweatpants about three times for it to stop at my ankles. Thanks to the rope at the waist, I was able to adjust it. The t-shirt was also big, long enough past my butt but it was also as comfortable. I caught a slight whiff of Jamie's perfume but I was guessing it was because he'd held them for a while.

When I looked at the mirror, it looked like I'd gained few hundred pounds had been added to my weight. Well, it was better than nothing.

Deciding I'd spent enough time in here, I picked up my cell and shoved it into my pocket and it fell too deep. I felt it graze my thighs, right before my knees.

"Are you sure these belong to Nicole? They're way too big." I said to Jamie who was busy texting on his phone, his back against the wall, right beside the door, as I stepped out. I felt water drip down my neck from the bun I'd hurriedly tied my hair in on my way out. He scratched his neck as he gave me a once over, making me squirm.

"Let's say mom used to be a couple pounds bigger. Her clothes are all sitting in the laundry. The sweatpant is the only clean stuff I could find. The t-shirt's mine."

"Oh." I said, yet again at his latter revelation.

"There's no sign that Nicole was one um-" I spoke as I fell behind him as we walked towards the driveway after he'd shut the front door. I didn't know the exact word to use at the moment. It was rude to say 'fat' or 'overweight' so those were out of the question. He knew what I meant though because he didn't wait for me to complete my sentence before he responded.

"There's nothing to show that about people that lost weight. Well, except pictures and other random stuff like for instance, old clothes." He gestured towards the sweatpants.

"She had no control over her weight when she had Nico. She talks about it a lot. I'm surprised she hasn't mentioned it to you. Unlike most people, she feels that there's nothing to hide. So, she got a lot bigger after child birth, what's the big deal? She keeps these clothes to remind herself of how strong and determined she can be. I admire her for that."

"She says she might've decided to lose weight because of what she thought of herself but never once did she think to do it because people didn't like the way she looked."

Jamie seemed to like talking about his mom and I observed that this was the first time he'd spoken to me at length, explaining about something that 'isn't my business' like he'd once said.

We now stood in front of a black Ferrari. The black color looked matte and I instantly fell in love with it. It was spotless and it looked like the owner handled it with great care.

"I see you're in love with my baby too." I heard the mocking tone in Jamie's voice. Trust him to get the best things even when he was an ass. His looks (obviously, my dad didn't teach me to lie), his mom and little brother (I still didn't know where he stood with his dad), the best spot in my list of annoying people and now, this amazing ride.

I smirked at his words. "You didn't strike me as the kind of guy to give pet names to his car."

"Or maybe I didn't strike you as the kind of guy to own a car. I love my power bike, but not as much as I love this baby." He gave the car a pat.

Such a showoff. At least, he was being good-natured about this unlike Cole, Jace's team-mate who was born with the word 'Show-off' imprinted on his forehead.

"We should go. Nico's probably waiting at the ice-cream shop already.''

Whether he wanted to open the door for me or I actually wanted him to do it, none of us would know because I quickly reached for the door's handle and let myself in, settling comfortably at once when my body got in contact with the seat's smooth leather surface and Jamie got into the driver's seat.

As we pulled out of the driveway and onto the road, I switched stations on the radio.

"Early this morning, when Nico came down to my room to scold me about last night, he told me you were the one who tucked him in." I smiled at what I imagined was a scolding by Nico.

"Thank you and I'm uhm- I'm sorry about last night." I didn't need to ask to know he was apologizing about the way he threw me out of his room yesterday and also because of the fight between his dad.

"Wow." I sighed as I leaned back in my seat. "Who ever knew you could use two of the magic words; sorry and thank you?" I ticked each off with two of my fingers.

"Don't expect it anytime soon." He smirked and I shook my head, smiling.
** ** **

The ride to the store was pleasant and while I picked out a suitable outfit for the day, Jamie went to get Nico from the ice-cream shop only a five minute walk from here. When I got into the changing room, I almost didn't want to get out of the clothes, especially the t-shirt. There wasn't a need to ask me why. I also didn't have an answer to that.

Finally getting into the new grey hoodie and blue jeans I'd picked in my size, I paid for the clothes with the money Jamie had insisted on giving me to pay for them. He hadn't acted like he was asking me. He'd practically shoved it into my hands and said I should confront Nicole if I had any problem with it. He said it was practically their fault for not leaving the keys and I pointed out that dad was at fault too but he only strolled off, daring me to argue with thin air.

When I walked out of the store, it was Nico I saw first and he ran up to me.

"Annie!"

"Hey, Nico." I beamed at him and he seemed genuinely happy at seeing me and I pulled him into a quick hug. Winning a child's heart seemed like such an easy task now.

I heard a snort and I looked up to see where it came from. Jamie was smiling. So was his friend Kyle, who now stood next to him but the third person wasn't. It was Natasha, my probably-soon-to-be-stepsister.

Nico pulled me down to his level and whispered into my ear.

"Beware. Kyle's sister is the B word."

'What?" I gasped.

"That's what mm tells Jamie to say instead of-"

"No." I interrupted. "Who's Kyle's sister?

"Natasha." He whispered again as he jerked his head in her direction.

A/N:
Annie and Jamie are getting somewhere. They just have to keep the sarcasm on a low.
Has anybody guessed this before? Wild guess, I know. Kyle and Tasha's relationship.
My new schedule is crazy now(crazier than the last) and I'm trying to find a way around it. I hope updates will come sooner. *Fingers crossed*
While typing, I skipped about 300 words towards the end and I was on my Author's note when I discovered this. I had to go back to type them in.In other words, I'm tired asf. Lol
Lots of love,
Hanie.
Ps: I just saw Aladdin and it was awesome! Musicals are just so amazing... Bye.