Chapter 18
Iwoke in the dead of night, in exactly the same position.
With Jade in my arms, sleeping peacefully.
She had drool coming out of the corner of her mouth, and it was honestly adorable.
Not wanting to disturb her, I got up slowly.
I threw on one of her oversized band tees and then slid on my panties.
I thought about the likelihood of dressing her without waking her up and decided it wasn’t feasible.
Not to mention, she did say she liked to sleep naked.
She’d more than likely just been teasing me, but she would just have to eat her words tonight.
Crawling back into bed, I pulled the cover over both of us and then used the corner of it to wipe her mouth.
I wrapped her back up in my arms and breathed in the scent of her silky hair.
If someone told me that her scent was some kind of potion, I’d believe them.
Never in my life had I been so intoxicated by someone.
It wasn’t just her beautiful body or her charming but intense personality.
She was a genuine person, so unafraid to speak her mind or be true to herself, even when she differed from the norm.
From what I’d learned of her younger years, from her perspective, she was creative and vibrant even then.
Even when her home life was one big contest with her sister.
She took risks and wasn’t afraid to break the mold.
Spending time with her made me feel free.
Like she saw every piece of me and accepted without restrictions.
She made me feel sexy and alluring in a way I never had before.
No one had ever called me pet names or praised me for how sexy I was.
It was all very lovely and dangerous. Because here I was almost head over heels for her when she was supposed to be my enemy.
Supposed to be no more than an acquaintance for a couple of weeks.
But I couldn’t find it inside myself to care the way I thought I should.
The idea of doing this to my best friend should repulse me, tying myself to the person she can’t stand.
But all I could think about was how amazing Jade was and how I wished Jana would open her eyes to the woman she’d grown into.
Would she forgive me? Was it even worth the risk?
I rubbed Jade’s back, lulling myself back to a less anxious place.
She cooed lightly in her sleep, and that was all it took to grasp my full attention.
I felt soft lips against my forehead and then my cheek as I drifted back to consciousness. I fluttered my eyes open to see Jade’s smiling face come into view.
“Morning,” she stated, placing another kiss on my cheek. I sat up and rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.
“Good morning,” I responded, voice still rough from sleep. With a chuckle, Jade kissed my lips gently.
“I made breakfast,” she said brightly. I took her in then, noticing she was fully clothed and seemed chipper and not the yawny, adorable mess she normally was when she’d just woken up.
“How long have you been up?” I asked, covering a yawn with my hand.
“A little over an hour.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?” I asked, wondering how late I’d slept. Especially since she was making breakfast more than I was at this point.
“I just wanted you to sleep in a little. She was such a good girl for me after all,” she said, pushing my hair up and out of my face.
I blushed at her praise and leaned in to kiss her. Not even caring that I’d yet to brush my teeth. Okay, maybe I cared a little.
“I like being with you, Jade.” She smiled at me and pulled my arms until I was sitting in her lap with my legs around her waist.
“I like being with you too, Libby. If it weren’t for you, this entire process would have absolutely sucked.
I was dreading going through my parents' stuff and being stuck here with their memories.
But I wake up every day with a smile because I get to see your pretty hazel eyes.
You've been the support I needed, so sweet and patient.
I…I'm not used to that.” I pressed my lips to hers and wrapped my arms tighter around her neck.
“My sweet princess,” she said against my lips, sending a chill running down my spine.
I liked being called hers; I wanted to call her mine.
Jade and I made our way up the creaky attic stairs and into the dark room above. She pulled the string of the hanging lightbulb, illuminating a sea of junk. It smelled of mothballs, and there were plastic storage tubes as far as the eye could see. And dust—lots and lots of dust.
“Well, guess it’s good we saved a whole day to tackle this nightmare,” Jade said, hands on her hips as she surveyed the area.
I would usually try to offer some type of optimistic approach, but it did in fact look like a nightmare.
I wasn’t sure where to start, and as a strategist, that was unsettling.
As we looked through the items, we were both relieved to see that numerous bins were full of various holiday decorations.
Those didn’t have to be sorted and could quickly be added to the garage sale stuff.
Then there were winter clothes for both of their parents that we'd donate. Before we knew it, we’d gone through about half the space, both thankful that things were moving faster than expected.
“I’m hoping we can find some more of your diaries,” I teased Jade as I came across a box of her old schoolbooks.
“Ha ha.” Her words were light, but I could tell something sounded off.
“You okay?” I asked, looking up to examine her fully. Her long, straight hair covered her face as she leaned over a pile of holiday cards.
“I am. Just thinking about all this junk. It almost feels wrong to get rid of it, but I have no place for it. Just a lot to process, I guess.” She slumped as the words escaped her, sounding defeated.
I walked closer to her and placed my hand gently against her back. “Want to talk about anything?” I asked, trying to comfort her. She was such a sound person; it was hard to see her struggle with this and not feel sad myself. Sighing, she turned to face me, her eyelids drooping slightly.
"My parents must not have realized what this was. I had no clue it'd been kept all this time." Looking closer at the card in her hands, I saw a long note written out over a red, sparkly background.
"What is it?" I asked, trying to understand why it was bothering her. My hand stayed on her back, rubbing gently.
"So, I um, got this note from my boyfriend in high school.
I only dated him because I knew Jana liked him.
Which is fucked, I know. But he essentially wrote me a love note for Christmas, and I gave it to Jana as her present from me that year.
" I stayed silent as she explained, and bent down to sit beside her on the creaking wooden floor.
"Just rubbing it in her face that I'd won.
And what really sucks is that he was a nice guy and Jana and him would have been really cute together.
But I was more confident than she was back then.
I went after him hard, and she was too shy to do anything about it.
" I removed my hand from her back, crossing my arms over my chest.
Her words were hard to hear. I'd not known Jana to ever be shy or quiet, but it made sense that she wouldn't have been as sure of herself in her younger years.
Jade didn't even like boys from what I understood, and she had a guy fall in love with her for a contest with her sister.
It scared me because although this was a different situation, was I just a pawn to Jade?
I didn't think so, but hearing what she'd been willing to do at one point wasn't really reassuring.
"I regret so much of what I did back then. And I don't expect you to overlook any of it," Jade said, placing the card back on top of the pile. The air suddenly felt stuffy as I contemplated what to say.
"I know you do," I said. She'd told me more than once that she had regrets, that she'd been mean to Jana and would do things differently in hindsight.
"Look," I said, wanting to break the tension.
"We all do things we aren't proud of. And, like you told me, your parents were the ones who started this feud between the two of you.
You were just a kid, and the important thing is that you've seen the error of your ways and have clearly strived to be better.
" I gave her a timid smile as her eyes met mine.
The words hadn't just been to comfort her, but to help convince myself that she wasn't that person anymore.
She smiled back, but her green eyes were still dark, as if she were even deeper in her head than I was.
Standing up, I wiped the dust from my pants before placing a hand on her shoulder.
Squeezing lightly, I tried to comfort her one last time before I walked back over to the box of schoolbooks.
It seemed we both needed a minute to collect ourselves.