I woke up to the sound of a knock on my door. I reached my right hand blindly to pick up my phone but as I groped the air, I discovered that my bedside table was not there. I shot my eyes open and found that the table was too my left instead. Taking in my surroundings, it became clear that this wasn’t my room and the events of last night came rushing in making me remember that I was at the McLanes. Getting up, I quickly fixed my hair and took off the bathrobe I’d slept in, slipping into the outfit I wore the day before. I was going back home this morning, anyways. When I checked my cellphone, the time indicated that it was some minutes after ten. I’d found my cellphone in the room last night. Oh, God. This wasn’t my home and I was sleeping like a log. I heard a knock on the door again and I hurried over to unlock it.

“What was that movie you mentioned last night? The mischievous Tinkerbelle? I need to watch it to know if Tinkerbell now sleeps like the dead.”

I jumped back as I saw Jamie. He was the complete opposite of how I probably looked this morning. His hair was newly styled down to his clean t-shirt and sweats. He also had on a black pair of sneakers. He’d have passed as someone who went for a morning run with his outfit if not for the fresh smell of perfume and no trace of sweat. I moved back about a foot or two before I responded because I didn’t want him to get a whiff of my morning breath.

“It’s ‘The Adventures Of Tinkerbell’ and sue me for sleeping in with all that stress of yesterday.”

“Now were you the one who was stressed yesterday? Are you?” He pointed at his nose with a new band aid on. I sighed. This boy could hold grudges.

“My mom will be here soon. She told me to check on you in case you happened to die in your sleep.” I gave him a tired look.

“Well, do I look dead to you?”

“Yeah, with your hair and all, you could pass as a guest.” With that, I slammed the door in his face.

**                                                        **                                                        **

Few minutes after Jamie left, Nicole came in. Woah, woah, woah. Hold up there a second. Did I just address Mr arrogant as Jamie? I couldn’t believe this. Was this how easy it was to let people into your good books? What had he even done to earn a chance there? 

My cheeks grew hot as I remembered our proximity yesterday. I hadn’t even really noticed it then. I’d even went as close as touching his face. And what if we were so close to each other that I could feel his breath on my face? And what if I touched his face? What was the big deal? 

Another part of me thought but the image of him this morning occupied my thoughts, shutting down every other rational ones. Why did he have to be so swoon worthy? And damn those eyes. If I didn’t stop thinking these suicidal thoughts, I’d probably go crazy- but when had we gotten so close that he’d already started giving me smiles and cool smirks instead of those annoying ones? 

Was it because of the lecture I gave him before dinner? Hell no. If anything, that lecture would’ve made him all the more angry. Perhaps it was because of the fight he had with his dad. You know, because he found someone else to unleash his anger on, there wasn’t any room left for me anymore. Or worse, did his mom beg him to be nice to me, at least until I left their house? 

My last theory was valid to a point because I’d seen the way Jamie got whenever his mom ordered him to do something. He always listened to her, even if it was against his will. Mystery solved. Yeah, I thought there was something fishy going on when the same boy who couldn’t stand the sight of me some days ago was acting all nice with me.

I moved out of the room after Nicole told me that breakfast was ready and it was a must I had breakfast with them before I went home. The aroma of fresh breakfast made me swallow the disagreement forming in my mouth. 

Jamie wasn’t there for breakfast but I wasn’t disappointed. I repeat. I wasn’t disappointed. Was I? I still had to confront him about my theories of why he was being nice to me all of a sudden later. 

After breakfast, to Nico’s dismay, Nicole stated that the boy had a dentist’s appointment and then on their way back, she was going to go visit her mom and help her with her grocery shopping. She said that they weren’t going to be back until afternoon and Nico threw a mini tantrum.

“Yay, you figured that out. Here’s a gold coin. You can move on to the next level.” Was Jamie’s sarcastic reply when I confronted him after breakfast.

“Forgive me for thinking that you could have just a fraction of human heart in you.” I thought I saw a flash of something in his eyes. Was it hurt or maybe it was just something else because he chuckled and leaned against the doorframe, shoving his hands deep into his pocket.

“There’s no need to worry about letting me into your little heart. I wasn’t that nice to you anyway.” At least now I knew. Good that he also knew how much of a jerk he was. Thinking about it though, he didn’t do anything particularly nice last night. Rather, he was rude and dismissive even with his attempt at ‘explaining’.

He continued speaking, that annoying smirk playing on his lips. “Or…maybe I wasn’t nice enough but I was probably hot enough.” My heart began to thud at that statement. I needed to say something before he actually believed this assumption. He was telling a lie, wasn’t he?

“The scratch on your nose will be invisible compared to what I’m going to do to your face.” I threatened.

“Hmm, it depends on how interesting what you’re going to do to my face is.”

He pursed his lips mockingly. “Just looking at this face made you want to do this?” He made a quick gesture with his right hand, as if displaying his face and began to made deliberate kissing noises. What was his problem? Didn’t he learn the difference between the mouth and the face in elementary school?

After a few seconds of his crazy display, he burst out laughing, hitting his knee continuously with his hands, balled up into fists. I used that opportunity to reach for his face but he saw it coming and caught my arm in one smooth move. He pulled me so close to his chest in such a way that I could feel his heartbeat against my hands which he held tightly with just one of his hands.

“Now, easy there tiger.” He smirked down at me. 

“Not the face.” He said quietly, catching my gaze. I couldn’t move now. I was stuck. His blue eyes looked like an ocean, no, it was similar to a black hole, swirling and swirling, round and round and it was hypnotizing. A part of my fought to look away but the other stubborn part was more powerful, trying to make sense of a senseless situation. Not until someone called my name did I manage to snap out of it.

“Annie!”

I spun around, almost losing my footing. It was Jace and he looked very angry.