I want to thank you beautiful people for reading my book and for getting us to 54K! It's surreal and I appreciate it so much! You deserve the best!

Are you READY FOR IT?

(The song above is A Different Way by DJ Snake, Lauv. The day I heard this song, I couldn't stop replaying it. So damn beautiful)

"Jayden, I-" She hesitated, completely shocked by his words.

Jayden was officially asking her out. He was not only willing to give them a shot, but willing to elevate what they had to the next level.

"You don't have to give me an answer now." He reluctantly withdrew his hands from the comforting feel of her soft cheeks, "Y-"

"Yes." She nearly blurted out.

"What?" He asked.

She smiled softly as she never tore her eyes away from his, "Yes, I'm ready. I want that."

"Are you sure?" He asked, hoping it wasn't due to the influence of the moment.

"Yes, I'm sure." She replied and shrugged her shoulders as she said in a louder tone, "Let's see where this goes."

Then she explained further, "If you haven't noticed it yet, I'm a 'moment' person." She smiled. "I won't lie, there are so many questions running through my mind like, how far will we go? how long will it last? How will we successfully make this work given our circumstances? But if I spend the entire time asking, my mind will never be made up."

Jayden gave her a 'go on, I'm listening' look and she went on, "I'm just trying to say that life is too short. Who knows what might happen tomorrow? What if one day you walk through that door and never come back? We spend so much time planning for the future, and sometimes, we don't even get to see that future. Sometimes when we get there, we're too old, too tired or unhealthy to live our lives."

She brushed her long black hair back as she said, "Regretting the things you've done isn't as painful as regretting the things you could have done, but didn't do."

"Interesting." Amusement twinkled in his dark blue eyes.

"Mhmm." She nodded in a way he found absolutely cute. "So, yes. I'm ready. Let's do this."

Jayden then drew her closer by the waist, his deep blue eyes scanning every inch of her face. Her beauty was captivating. From her big beautiful dark brown eyes, her cute pointed nose to her soft dull pink kissable lips.

He returned his gaze to hers which had followed his all the while, and chipped in, "There's something you should know though."

"What's that?" She asked, curiosity setting in her voice.

He spoke, "In the course of our relationship, well for a month at most, there'll be no sexual activity."

Lara took three seconds to let that sink in before she slowly nodded and voiced out, "Ouuuu."

"It'll be on hold while we focus on building our friendship, which is the basis of a strong relationship. Connecting more on a deeper level."

"Hashtag emotions before passion." Lara joked which had Jayden chuckling. The glint in his eyes and the faint dimple in his left cheek instantly melted her soul.

She smiled then enquired, "Where sexual activity involves...?"

"I'm gonna start with sex. No sex."

Lara giggled. "You just sounded like my mum, no joke. She's like," She tried to mimic her mother in a smooth, somewhat dull voice, "Honey, I'm serious. No sex till you're married."

Jayden laughed out loud at Lara's attempt to imitate her mother, and it was the most beautiful thing Lara had heard all day. It was somewhat new to her, but it sounded so heavenly that she would be fine spending the entire day listening to his laughter.

Lara added, "So yeah, that rule's fine by me. I've lived my whole life without it anyways."

Jayden instantly paused at Lara's words, and arched a brow in a questioning manner as he requested to know, "Lara, are you a virgin?"

Lara sucked in her lips and nodded slowly.

Jayden rubbed the back of his neck and asked, "So, the night you came to my room and said things like, 'Make love to me Jayden, on the wall, on your bed, on the floor'," He mimicked her which had her laughing nervously, "What if I actually took you up on that offer?"

"Oh my God, don't remind me of that night." Lara plastered her palm to her forehead, "I wasn't in my right senses. I would never have said that."

"Yeah, that's why it surprised me a hell lot. You're shy asking for a cuddle, even. At some points, I thought you were a virgin. At some other points, I didn't think so."

He rubbed his jaw, an awkward pause following with Lara sucking in her lips once more. "So um, I dunno," He ran his fingers through his dark tresses, "Did I hurt you? My fingers, I mean. I didn't really take my time with you."

Lara didn't realize her face was flushed as she said, "I don't know how to explain it." Her mind travelled back to the unholy night, "It did hurt, especially in the beginning but as time went on...." She trailed off. "And in the end, I-" She remembered how her climax had overwhelmed her and immediately changed the subject, "Can we just move on to the rules you never mentioned?"

Jayden chuckled at her cuteness and playfully pinched her cheek saying, "You're too adorable."

"Adorably hot?" She asked, "Because, you know, 'adorable' makes me feel like a child. I don't like being called that."

"Adorable, it is."

Lara frowned at his sarcasm and he went on albeit the amusement he was getting from her,

"No third base."

Lara nodded, "Ay ay Captain."

"No second base." A tad bit of reluctance ate into his voice as his gaze dropped to her bosom.

Lara dropped her gaze to her bosom hidden beneath her sweatshirt and held them, "Sorry girls." She behaved as if she was trying to stop two babies from crying.

Jayden burst into laughter, "Lara, are you always this silly?" He shook his head disbelievingly. It felt as if he was just beginning to know her. Technically, he was. He was beginning to know this side of Lara.

His reaction made her laugh. "No I'm not always, but you asked for the 'friend' Lara, and not the 'lover' Lara."

"The 'friend' Lara is entertaining the heck outta me."

She arched her brow, "What about the 'lover' Lara?"

"She turns me on." He murmured.

Lara diverted her gaze from his to keep the 'friend' Lara in check.

"No kissing." He added, his gaze travelling to her lips that were calling for his.

"Really?" She asked surprisedly as she folded her arms on her chest.

Jayden asked in a suggestion form, "Or we should take that off the list?" The cries of her lips had begun to draw him in by their invisible ropes. And it had been so long since he last kissed her.

"Do friends kiss?" Lara sarcastically asked and answered, "They don't, unless they're friends with benefits." then she smiled deviously, "No kissing it is."

"Fair enough." He grinned lopsidedly. "That's all."

Lara nodded, "Okay. So we can cuddle, hold hands, hug each other."

"Of course."

"When does it begin? This '30 day rule challenge'," She air quoted.

"It's not a challenge, and it begins in uh...um," He scratched the back of his head, "It begins in ten minutes."

"So we have ten minutes before we commit to this 30 day rule?"

"Yes." He answered.

"Cool." She said.

They both stared at each other in silence, with Lara occasionally breaking the silence with her whistles and Jayden constantly ruffling his hair.

When Lara returned her gaze to his dazzling eyes, she asked, "Wil you set the timer or I should?"

He then walked back to her bed where his phone was and began to set the timer.

"Done." He dropped it and approached Lara who was standing in front of the closet.

Lara folded her arms once more as she voiced out, "Cool."

"Ten minutes." He repeated in a low voice when he stood before Lara who hadn't been returning his gaze.

But when he discreetly wrapped his hand around her small waist and pulled her closer, her eyes found his again, and she felt a wave of sensation hit her in the depths of her soul as it travelled up her spine and found solace in the tunnel leading to her heart.

"Ten minutes," She repeated his words. "Ten minutes to break rules before they become rules."

"Yeah." He murmured as his gaze dropped to her lips, and hers dropped to his.

Before they knew it, Lara's hands had flown to encircle Jayden's neck as he tightened the grip around her waist and smashed his lips on hers.

•••

A/N: Updating ScHeduLe! The second day might change from Sunday to Saturday.

Love you all! Thanks for reading, voting, commenting, you know. For being here! Take care and see you on Saturday or Sunday. The wait will be worth it!