"Alright," I said, staring at the door to my dorm. "We're here."

Jacob nodded, and waited.

I didn't do anything though, I was still thinking about what I was going to say to Paige when she answered.

"So..." he trailed off, "Are you going to like, knock?"

I breathed out, and decided to just go for it.

I knocked twice, then waited.

There was no response. How annoying.

I knocked very aggressively this time, and a couple seconds later, there was a response.

"Who's there?" Her voice rang out into the hallway.

"Who do you think? It's Aileen," I called back impatiently, tapping my foot against the floor.

"Prove it!" she responded.

"No," I said.

"You're definitely Aileen," she decided, and opened the door.

I waited in irritation as she finally opened the door, standing there in pajamas and crossing her arms at the sight of me.

"Aileen, you bitch," she said, "you just took the whole pizza and left me here hungry!"

"Excuse me," I exclaimed, planting my hands on my hips. "I'm a bitch? I've been missing for weeks and you don't look worried at all!"

"Fine then," she yelled back. "We're both bitches!"

"Agreed!" I said affirmatively.

There was an awkward pause.

"Also I may have missed you," Paige added as an afterthought.

"Agreed," I said again.

Then she awkwardly held out her hands for a hug, and I complied. I think it was equally uncomfortable for the both of us.

I withdrew as quickly as socially acceptable, and looked at Jacob, who was also looking very uncomfortable.

Paige followed my gaze and seemed to notice him for the first time.

"Who's this?" she said, looking him up and down. "He is really attractive."

My face involuntarily screwed up. I did not like that.

Jacob blushed a little as she turned to him and asked, "Are you single?"

"No," I said with a bit of uncharacteristic possessiveness, reaching out and looping my arm through his as if to stake a claim.

His face grew even redder, which I didn't even think was possible, but I simply ignored it.

Paige looked unconvinced.

"So you're dating," she asked, raising an eyebrow at the two of us.

"Perhaps," I responded, looking at her evenly.

Jacob's body grew warmer at this, and I looked over at him in disbelief, "Why are you so warm?"

"I don't know!" he said, looking very flustered, "It just happened!"

I rolled my eyes and stepped away. What an idiot.

Paige had been watching our encounter with a slightly amused expression.

"Anyway," she said, still watching us, "It's nice to meet you, I'm Paige."

Jacob recovered quickly and smiled brightly as he held out his hand to her. "Hi, I'm-"

"Stupid," I finished.

He turned his head towards me and scowled, "Hey! That was-"

"Funny," I cut in again.

His eyes narrowed to slits. "You better stop before I-"

"Give you a million dollars."

"Grrrrr!" he growled in annoyance. "Quit it."

I smiled in amusement. I could be so funny sometimes.

Paige watched our interaction with a knowing smile on her face.

"I'm Jacob," he finally told her, shooting me a dirty look.

Her smile went away as her eyebrows rose. "Like the werewolf from Twilight?"

Jacob choked, and I spoke for him.

"Yes," I said, "Weird, right?"

"Super weird," she responded. "But I like it."

"Why, thank you," Jacob beamed at her.

For some reason, I was not a fan of this interaction.

"Anyways," I cut in, "I'm just going to go show this guy out. See you in a few."

"TTYL," she told me, closing the door again. "And be careful this time!"

As soon as it shut, Jacob turned to me and said, "I like her."

I crossed my arms and immediately turned on him.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I demanded, glaring at him. "You want to date her or something? Is that it?"

"Wha-no!" he spluttered, looking around. "Of course not!"

"Yeah, sure," I said back, putting my hands on my hips. "Is it because you think she's pretty? Or her hair?"

"No way!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Besides, you're a jillion times prettier than any other girl ever!"

I opened my mouth in a retort, but when I processed his words, I closed it.

Wow. That was actually... really nice.

"Thank you," I said, testing the words out on my tongue.

Jacob seemed to like this response, and smiled as he said, "You're welcome."

Hm. Usually I didn't say things like 'thank you' or 'sorry', but maybe Jacob was changing me.

"So..." I trailed off, scratching the back of my head. "Should we go to your car now?"

"No, that's ok," he said casually, still smiling. "I know how much you hate walking, so I'll just go down myself."

"Wow, that's really.... considerate," I said, a small smile forming on my own mouth. "Thank you."

He grinned widely at this one.

I expected him to say something stupid in return, like he normally did, but instead he surprised me.

Jacob reached over and hooked his fingers in the waistband of my jeans, then used them to pull me closer.

I stumbled forward, caught off guard, and instinctively grabbed onto his biceps for balance.

I was pleasantly surprised to feel how rock hard they were though.

"Wow," I breathed, staring at them. "Those are like rocks."

He smirked, a look I rarely saw on him, as his fingers left my waistband and his arms wrapped around my waist.

I sucked in a surprised breath as his face came closer to mine, and for some reason my heart started to beat faster.

He leaned over a bit, and came closer until his lips rested softly against my temple.

My eyes fluttered shut, and for a second my mind cleared of sarcastic remarks.

"Goodbye, Ale," he breathed against my skin.

I said nothing, just savored the embrace. His arms around my waist, my hands curled around his strong arms, and his mouth on my temple.

Too soon, he pulled away to look me in the eyes.

"See ya," I said automatically. Then I mentally slapped my forehead. What kind of idiot response was that?

He cracked a smile, and then turned to leave, leaving me staring after him, dumbfounded.

Maybe I had underestimated Jacob.