That Bubbling Feeling: A Feel Good Roommate Romance Novel

Chapter 15

Kai

“Well, well, well. Look who it is!” Noah said as if we were old friends who hadn’t seen each other in years. His long, golden hair and gleaming smile were unmistakable. Positive energy radiated from him in literal rays as he held his arms out to the side in welcome.

So, that’s why Jonah didn’t take to him at first. It all made sense now.

“There she is!” Tiff added from behind him. She had flaxen hair, much like her counterpart, and a pair of quirky glasses that sat on her nose. Unlike Noah, whose visible skin was bare, Tiff had black vines and flowers crawling up one rosy arm, disappearing beneath the sleeve of her sage T-shirt dress.

“Hi,” I said, taking a step closer to Jonah and hugging his elbow tightly to keep myself from bouncing. My smile felt wider than the cheeks it sat across. There were bundles of energy floating about, and I could’ve run a mile just from the sheer nerves of meeting these two. I’d been hearing about them for years, and my video chats with Jonah never quite lined up right for me to meet them virtually. Sure, they’d waved from across the room while Jonah held up his phone once or twice, but these were the first words we’d ever truly shared.

“Now that I’m here,” Tiff said, putting her hands on her hips and glancing at Jonah, “you can let go of her.” She then looked at me and took a step forward. “And you let him know you’ll be spending much more time with the girls from now on, so he’ll need to leave you be, because we’re going to talk about…things.” She gave Jonah a grin I wasn’t entirely sure how to read. Something about the way she spoke made it immediately known that she was much smarter than all of us. There was a power in her voice, but not an intimidating one. It was more of a stability, a calm strength that could only come from someone who was content and confident in their own life.

“Oooooh,” Noah said from behind her to build ominous tension, wiggling his arms like an octopus. “Things.”

I looked up at Jonah, whose jaw was tightening as he stared at a fixated spot on the wall.

Ah, there he was. His cockiness in the last twenty-four hours had me worried I’d lost my nervous, twitchy friend forever, but it seemed all I had to do if I wanted to see him again was get him in public and around other people.

“Joooonah, Jonah, Jonah, Jonaaaah!” Noah sang in a beautiful, classical voice as he danced around to Jonah’s other side and pulled him into a smiley hug. “Don’t worry, my gloomy friend. She’s still yours, but we do want to take her on some killer hiking trails.”

“Noah has a lot of energy,” Jonah said flatly as two tan arms squished his shoulders.

“You don’t say,” I answered, admiring the way Noah didn’t hide his happy bouncing. He just looked so utterly giddy to be here, so giddy to be alive, and it didn’t seem like he was faking it at all. I instantly looked up to him for that, and I hoped I’d one day find that authenticity too. He retracted his enthusiastic embrace, and I introduced myself properly to both him and Tiff before the two boys spun off to whatever business they had to attend to with Oli and Justin.

June appeared to my left, and I found myself glancing between her and Tiff.

“He’s so pretty, I usually just let it slide,” Tiff said, rolling her eyes playfully. I had to assume that was in reference to Noah’s admirable energy.

I crossed my arms and nodded. “You know he is very pretty, and I mean that so respectfully. He looks like…”

“Cheryl Tiegs,” June said.

“Cheryl Tiegs!” I agreed, immediately settling into the interaction. It had been some time since I’d been part of a girl group, and something about June and Tiff really excited me. I loved Ana and Rachel with all my heart, and I’d always be connected to them no matter the distance or time that passed between us. But I already loved June like family, and Tiff was obviously important to my friends, so something about being here, the three of us, was just so fulfilling. I didn’t even need to be worried about making a good impression, because I was just sure. The future flashed before my eyes and filled me with eagerness, a feeling which had been lost on me for some years now.

Tiff tilted her head back with laughter and offered her knuckles to me. I bumped them with my own as she said, “I’m so glad to meet you, Kai.”

“Me too.”

“Let’s get out of here and grab a juice or something,” Tiff said, looping her arm through mine.

I glanced at her and then back at the guys. I’d wanted to stay and watch, but I also wanted to get to know Tiff. It was moments like these I wished I could split myself in two, or perhaps double the length of the day, so that there was time to do everything. Life was suddenly exciting again, and I was dying to experience it all.

“Don’t worry,” June said, looping my other elbow. “We’ll get a quick one and be back in time to hang for a little so you can watch him.”

I stared at Jonah, who was pulling his hair back into a bun. He locked eyes with me and gave me a little smile and a nod. “Have fun, Kai.”

I blinked a few times as I considered before surrendering. “Thanks, Jojo.” I waved at him, and we walked out the door.

◆◆◆

“Do you like Jonah?”

The sip of juice that was half way down my throat lodged and crept toward my nose. I stopped my very distracting work running my fingertips over the icy-cold plastic cup in which my drink sat and stared up at Tiff. By the look on her face, I could see she was entirely serious. This must’ve been one of those things she mentioned to Jonah. “Man, you get right into it, huh?”

“Yeah, well, you’re June’s best girlfriend, and she’s my best girlfriend, so now we’re best girlfriends. Might as well jump right in.” She shrugged.

“Oh, thank god.” I sighed with relief, my shoulders lowering an entire inch. “I did not want to have to go through the small talk phase.”

“I can assure you that you won’t think the big talk phase is much better,” June said with a chuckle.

“That’s true,” Tiff said, nodding at June before turning back to me. “So, do you like Jonah?”

I rolled my eyes. It was not the first time I’d been asked that question, though it was pretty infrequent. My mom used to tease me about it sometimes, and Oli even asked me once while we were sitting on the bleachers behind our high school, wasting away another afternoon gossiping while Jonah was at voice lessons. My answer was something along the lines of, Ew, Oli!

While my feelings hadn’t changed, I did have a more mature response this time. “I do not.”

June and Tiff passed a skeptical look to each other.

“No, she genuinely believes that,” June said to Tiff before directing her attention to me. “You know, Tiff and Noah were just friends too, Kai.”

These bitches! A half-hour into our new, official friendship group and they were already ganging up on me. I had little interest in talking about crossing inappropriate lines with my best friend, but I was interested in the new piece of information. “Friends.” I looked at Tiff. “What happened?”

“Well,” she said, leaning over the table and gripping her cup in her hands. As if she wasn’t already beautiful enough, her entire being brightened, her eyes and white smile glittering with elation. She didn’t even need to continue for me to understand that Noah was the love of her life. Her expression confirmed it. “We’d been friends since we were about six. Then we turned fifteen and the hormones were unbearable. Now we’re together.”

“Oh, there’s more to it!” June shoved Tiff’s shoulder playfully. “Plant some seeds in Kai’s brain. She’ll be thinking about this conversation for the rest of the day.”

“I will not!” I swiped my hand at June before returning my focus to Tiff. “And do not, because I secretly will.”

Tiff laughed and leaned back in her seat. “It’s just a matter of growing up, Kai. I already liked Noah as a person. Then he grew up and things started to feel different between us. You either feel it or you don’t. Don’t you ever feel different with Jonah? Don’t you ever find him kind of…handsome?”

Handsome?

Handsome?

I mean…I had noticed that he was looking more put together. He did seem to have a new air about him. But that was just success and age. It had nothing to do with whether or not I found him attractive. He was still the same old Jonah so, surely, it didn’t mean a thing.

And I hadn’t even been attracted to anyone in fuck knows how long. I hadn’t even been able to touch myself, for that matter. That sensation of closeness felt icky. So, of all the people on the planet, I certainly wasn’t going to magically feel it for my best friend of twelve years. He was like…family.

I mean, I guess he was better looking than before. He had started showering regularly and cleaning up properly. He was less nervous, and certainly a bit more self-sufficient. The hair and the tattoos were kind of cool. Except… No. It was Jonah, for fuck’s sake. Jonah Alexander. The most unathletic, uncomfortable, un-smooth person I’d ever met. Not that being athletic or smooth was necessary for me to like him, but—

Ah, shit.

June was right.

I was officially thinking about it.