Less than Perfect, S. J. Evans [classic literature books txt] 📗

twitched into a smirk at that. “Does she even know that I’m in here?” He asked, his eyes shining.
“I don’t know, but she will if you don’t shut up.”
“Aw, you’re not going to tell her I stayed over? We’re just friends, trouble; I think we can handle sharing a room.” He teased.
She didn’t like hearing those words over and over again. She averted her gaze and frowned. “Jules, you’re a clueless wonder.”
“Oh? You mean I’m wonderful? Yes, I know.”
She groaned and tried to pull her wrists free from his grip. “Jules, stop it.” She whispered, laughing under her breath.
He let go and rolled off of her, laughing. They lay there, laughing until their stomachs hurt, and enjoyed actually being carefree. Eventually they both settled down and he was the first to speak. “I’m going to use your bathroom.” He announced, jumping to his feet and starting towards her bathroom door.
She scrambled upright and hurried over to the door, stopping him in front of it and spreading her arms out. “Wait, you have to do something before you can go in there.”
“Come on, Mom, let me through.” He pouted, playfully carrying on.
She stood tall and smiled at him, even though she’d rather not continue in his games. “No, I don’t think so, child.”
“Child? Jeez, I don’t even want to know how you’ll treat your kids.” He said, shrugging.
“Jules, knock it off. You’re not getting through unless you pay me something.” She bit her lip and looked up. How can someone really look that beautiful after just waking up?

The thought dawned on her.
“Sorry, I’m fresh out.” He shrugged again and tried to twist around her to get by.
She continued blocking him and pressed her hands against his chest. “I don’t want money,” she purred, trying to imply what she wanted with her eyes.
He bent his head down and closed the space in-between them. “You mean?” He whispered, dropping so close that their faces were only inches apart. She only nodded. “Okay,” he trailed off and traced his thumb over her jaw line. Cupping her face in his hands and smiling faintly, he closed the space between them drastically. He brushed his lips over hers and little butterflies flew around in her stomach.
She tried to pull him even closer but he stopped her and grabbed her hands. She gasped quietly and giggled. “Jules,” she breathed. They both closed their eyes and he pressed his forehead against hers. Smiling and kissing her cheek, he stood straight up quickly and moved her beside the door. He closed the bathroom door behind him.
Skye stood still, confused and wanting more, as she stared after him—her eyes locked straight ahead—and sighed. A couple minutes later the water turned on and she sat down on the bed, waiting patiently for him.

Jules walked out of the bathroom, his hair damp and falling slightly into his eyes, and smiled when he saw Skye. He was wearing the same jeans that he wore before, but as for his shirt, it was bunched up in his fist, leaving him exposed.
Skye almost let her jaw drop when she saw his bare chest. Even though she had seen it before, it still surprised her. “I hate to break it to you, but you have to put on a shirt if you want to leave.” She said, laughing under her breath and slowly shaking her head.
He looked down for a moment and then met his gaze with hers again, a huge grin painted on his face. “What if I don’t want to leave?” He said, sitting down beside her and leaning into her side.
She pushed him off of her and stood up, rolling her eyes. She didn’t want him to keep playing with her emotions, as far as she knew, he could be trying to break her heart. “You have to. My mom’s leaving and you

can’t still be here in my

room.” She crossed her arms and sighed. She hated telling him to leave, she wanted him to stay. If she doesn’t know enough about him to trust him though, it would be hard to.
He apparently didn’t care about what she said. “Does that mean that you don’t think she’ll like me, I think she will.” Standing up, he neared her and brushed his fingers playfully through her hair. “I mean, come on, it’s not like she’s going to be mad if she finds us in here together. You were the one who fell asleep

on me

.” He added, his words hinting at more than she could stand.
“I’m sorry if I fell asleep on you and held you back, it’s not like you told me not to though.” She wined back.
He chuckled and brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Is that all you have to say, trouble? That’s not a very strong case.” He looked proud of himself.
“Wipe that smile off of your face, Jules; you’re not making anything any easier.” She complained, pushing him on the shoulder as she walked over to the window to open the blinds.
“Who said anything about making things easier? Skye, I don’t want to make things difficult, but I never said anything about making things easy. Will you come with me today? I’d like to show you something.” There was a sincere pleading within his calm voice and she wanted to accept his offer.
Only, she couldn’t. “Look, Jules; I know that you want for us to be just friends, and it seems to be a common thing in your friend circle, but doing and saying all of the things that you’re saying isn’t helping at all. I don’t want you to play these kinds of games with me, I really don’t need any more ‘games’ going on in my life.” She told him, sighing fragilely as she thought about how many “games” Bryan and Johnny had played with her.
“Skye, I’m not trying to play with you, I mean, maybe I am playing with you, but I’m not trying to make anything hard for you. If you really want to be just friends, then maybe that’s all we will be.” He walked over to her and wrapped her into his arms, not cuddling her or smothering her, just hugging her as a good friend. Suddenly, he remembered part of what she had said. “Wait, did you say that it’s a common thing in my friend circle? What do you mean by that?” He suddenly didn’t sound very confident in himself.
“It’s nothing. Victor just told me that he thought it would be better for the both of us to stay away from each other. He said that you’re dangerous and that it wouldn’t end well for the both of us if we ever got close to each other. Is that all true Jules? Is something bad going to happen if we get close to each other?” Her voice came out in a crackled whisper and she had to fight the pain of her twisted stomach. The knot was pulled so tight she wanted to scream, but she didn’t, she only frowned and looked away from him.
He didn’t look the same, he looked nearly stricken. “He said that?” He blurted out, shaking his head at Skye. “I can’t believe he told her that,” he mumbled quiet enough so that she couldn’t hear him. “Skye,” he tried to pull her hand in his but she shook it off and brushed herself away from him. “Please, don’t do that. Don’t push me away, trouble, I need to tell you the truth, you asked me for it.” He was generous with his carefulness and he didn’t let his weary thoughts drag him down—he cared for her too much to let that happen.
She stared right through him, a pain piercing her heart. “Pushing people away is what I do best, it’s all I’ve ever done well!” She snapped, her voice quivering as she thought of the man who left her before giving her a chance. She shivered when she thought about all of the times he had revived himself in her memory, of all of the times when she felt alone; but this time she wasn’t alone, she had Leah and Jules, and if she didn’t mess things up, they would stay in her life.
He drew back at her words, feeling his own form of pain strike his heart. “No, Skye, that’s never been true. You’re beautiful inside and out and if someone has ever left you it was because of their own stupid decision, you had nothing to do with it. Skye, if Victor told you that I’m dangerous than he only was saying it’s dangerous how much that I care about you. You’ve become something so much more than I could have ever expected, you seem to be the only thing keeping me sane sometimes, and I never want that to change. Nothing bad is going to happen if we get close. I’ll never let anyone hurt you if I can stop it, I’m going to be close to you, but I’ll never hurt you either.” He was standing beside her by this time, their bodies inches apart. He wanted to touch her but he feared that if he did she would only reject him, so he stayed in place, his rich eyes calmly staring into hers.
She tried to speak but nothing came out. She felt the same way, but she still had to question whether or not he was actually telling her the truth, it almost seemed too good to be true. She traced her hand over his arm and up to his head, entangling her fingers in his hair, and pulling his head down to hers. She hesitated a moment before pulling herself into him and pressing their lips together. When their lips met she felt as if the whole world faded away and it was only the two of them, just as if it had always been just the two of them.
After a moment of hesitation Jules loosened up and lifted her slightly off of the ground, kissing her back with a careful desire. He didn’t push her into it but he also didn’t push away, he knew that she would probably feel uncomfortable afterwards, but all he could think about was what was happening in that moment—nothing else mattered.
Skye stopped first, supporting herself against him and looking into his bright eyes. He looked satisfied with the slight hint of surprise; he really hadn’t been expecting it. She hadn’t either. She couldn’t believe how different the kiss felt from Bryan’s. It felt right, clean, gentle, and perfect—there wasn’t anything that would change her mind on that. For once, she felt good about being close to Jules. She let all of the things Victor had told her slip away, and she didn’t even care about Jules’ past—she just wanted to be with him. She smiled as she thought of what they had just done and calmly let out breath that she had been holding.
Jules’ lips tipped into a smile at the corners and he sighed, gently brushing his hand over her cheek. “Wow,” he breathed,