~*~

When I woke up again in our hotel room, I quickly realized that Jimmy and I must have shifted positions again during the night because we were now spooning. He was the big spoon and I was the little spoon: my back was facing him, and his arm was wrapped around me.

It was hard to believe that I was lying in bed (mostly platonically) with Jimmy and had somehow ended up basically cuddling with him all night in this freezing hotel room.

How did this become my life?

Trying to be discreet, I half-opened my eyes and peeked at the clock.

It was 7:30am.

I wasn't sure if anyone else was awake yet, but I didn't move or open my eyes to find out. I continued pretending to be asleep because I didn't feel like dealing with the comments if anyone realized that I was awake and kept cuddling with Jimmy anyway.

After a few minutes of just lying there, my legs started to feel a bit stiff. I had been lying on my side with my legs bent a little bit, so I started to slowly stretch out my legs.

I guess I didn't realize that Jimmy and I were already nearly touching; the action of stretching out my legs must have caused my ass to press against his crotch because I immediately heard a soft gasp from him. His mouth was right next to my ear, so the sound was amplified and it sent an electric, tingling feeling throughout my body.

I froze.

Shit. He was definitely awake.

We continued spooning for a while, both of us pretending to be asleep. I don't think he knew that I was awake, and I wasn't about to reveal it to him.

I think we were both too afraid to admit that we had been awake this whole time.

Eventually, I heard the sound of Chris waking up, which woke up Chandler as well.

I decided that now was my time to "wake up", so I carefully lifted Jimmy's arm off of me and sat up in bed. Jimmy "woke up" a minute later, but he didn't sit up yet.

The rest of the guys woke up shortly after, and we talked about going to check out the mediocre continental breakfast and free coffee that the hotel offered.

"Give me a few minutes... I'm still tired," Jimmy said, rolling onto his stomach in bed.

Garrett started laughing. "I don't think that's the only reason you're not standing up yet."

If looks could kill, I'm pretty sure Jimmy's glare would have killed Garrett.

"Seriously. They were all up on each other the whole night," Chandler added.

"How would you know, Chandler? Were you watching? You weirdo," Chris joked.

I started blushing when I realized what the guys were talking about, so I tried to change the subject. "Well, I'm starving, so I'm going to go get some breakfast."

The rest of the group--minus Jimmy--followed me downstairs to go get breakfast.

The continental breakfast was small and none of the food seemed that good, but for a dinky, haunted hotel like this one, any breakfast was better than nothing. I grabbed a blueberry muffin and a cup of coffee and sat down in one of the chairs in the lobby.

It was about ten minutes later that Jimmy came to join us, his cheeks still a bit flushed. He acted normally, besides maybe being a bit more awkward around me at first.

Why was everything with Jimmy so confusing?

~*~

After Jimmy dropped me off at my apartment later that day, I took a nice, warm shower (I didn't want to risk taking one at the haunted hotel and possibly have a Psycho moment and get murdered in the shower) and then began studying for my final exams.

The next week felt like it passed by so, so slowly, as most of my time was spent preparing for my final exams and finishing up writing some term papers.

It was a little after 9pm on Tuesday night. My final exams were on Thursday and Friday, so I didn't have a ton of time left. I felt like I was making pretty good progress overall, but I still didn't feel completely prepared.

I was lying in my bed, re-reading the same sentence in my biology textbook for probably the 20th time as I kept dozing off, when I got a text notification.

It was Jimmy.

I know you're busy, but do you need a study break?

yes please haha, I responded.

A few minutes passed by before he responded again, and this time he said: Lol I'm at your door and I have coffee

That woke me up as I was not expecting that. I quickly responded, tf you creep lmao ok give me a minute

He just replied: 🤷‍♂️

I jumped out of bed and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked terrible.

I was wearing a pair of men's boxers as shorts (they were on clearance at Wal-Mart and super comfortable, okay?) and a baggy Pokemon T-shirt. I wasn't wearing any makeup, so my skin didn't look perfect and my eyes looked tired... Not to mention that my hair was in a messy ponytail.

Why would he do this to me?

I took the hair tie out of my hair, brushed my hair, and then re-did my ponytail, so at least it looked somewhat neat.

I splashed some water on my face to wake myself up. I still didn't look great, but it was a little better.

I opened the door to see Jimmy standing there, smiling, as he held a cup of Starbucks coffee in his hand.

"Sorry to surprise you, but I was nearby... I was buying something for a video, and you live so close, so I thought of you," he said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

That was so sweet. All of the annoyance I had at him for randomly showing up at my door instantly vanished.

I blushed and took the cup of coffee from him. "Thanks." We were still kind of awkwardly standing in my doorway, so I added, "Come on in."

He came into my apartment, and we sat on the couch together as I slowly sipped my coffee.

"Sorry, I look terrible," I mumbled, covering my face with the throw blanket from my couch.

He laughed and grabbed the throw blanket from me, pulling it away from my face. "No, you don't... you look cute."

I was stunned. Did he just call me cute?

He must have noticed my surprised expression, since he back-pedaled and added, "The Pokemon shirt is adorable."

I chuckled. "Thanks."

Silence for a minute.

"How's studying going?" Jimmy asked.

I took a sip of coffee. "Okay. I was starting to doze off, so I really needed this coffee."

He grinned. "Good. Remember: what happens if you pass all your classes?"

"Hmm," I said, stroking my chin as if I was thinking really hard. "I think I remember... Will you start putting your money into your 401k or a savings account instead of spending it all on stupid stuff?"

He laughed. "You're too much. Don't worry, I'm saving some of it. You're getting a car, though."

"No," I argued.

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes. What if I told you that your car was already outside?"

I froze. "No, you fucking didn't." I tried to sound angry, but I failed because I was grinning ear to ear.

He burst out laughing. "I did. I said I was buying something nearby for a video, right? Let's go check it out."

"Please don't film me looking like this," I said, half-joking.

"I wouldn't do that to you. You're not getting the keys until you pass, anyway, and then we'll make the video."

I shook my head. "You're crazy."

I put on some slippers, and we walked outside. I didn't see any crazy luxury cars outside, which was a good sign.

"I know you, and I know you'd be pissed if I got you something fancy, so..." he started, and then walked over to a brand-new, gray Honda Civic and put his hands out in front of him, smiling widely. "Here it is."

It was perfect. The fact that he knew me and actually listened to me (besides ignoring me saying not to buy me a car) warmed my heart. It was a nice car, but it wasn't too fancy or anything.

"Hopefully this is good enough motivation to get back to studying!"

I felt like my heart was going to burst. "You're crazy," I repeated.

I looked at him in awe. He was crazy, and I loved it.

~*~