Page 68 of Friends with Benefits

18

JESS

People assume that when you fall in a love with a friend, it happens gradually. That it creeps up on you without a defining moment. People assume that a love that comes from the foundation of a friendship doesn’t have a moment of fireworks: bangs that shock you to the core, bursts of bright color, a sense of overwhelming beauty. That your friendship simply becomes something you depend on so much that you can’t let it go. You recognize everything about your friend that is truly magnificent. Sometimes, you see things others will never be blessed to see because you, and only you, know that person so well. That may be true for lots of couples who started out as friends.

But that isn’t what happened with Jake and me. I knew from the moment I signed that lease to share the apartment with him and Alex there was a danger I could fall for him. I knew from the fact he quickly became the person I wanted to spend every spare second with, that I adored him, all of him.

But I can point to one moment and say, definitively, that is when I fell in love with Jake Harrington.

It was a Friday night, six months ago…

‘Jess? Babes?’ Jake called as I heard the door to the apartment close behind him. ‘I got held up at work.’

His voice grew louder as his footsteps moved along the hallway to my bedroom.

He knocked on the door but entered anyway. He’d caught me in my underwear enough times for him to have decided he might as well invade my space whenever he felt like it. At least, that’s what I used to tell him.

In reality, I never felt like Jake was intruding in my space.

‘Whoa! Why are you in bed, babe?’

I blew my sore nose as a demonstration of why I was wrapped in my duvet at 7p.m. on a Friday night, instead of getting dressed to go out.

‘I’ve been wiped out by woman flu,’ I said. The words came out more like, ‘Ibe een iped out by uman blew.’

He came to sit on the edge of the bed, dipping the double mattress toward him. ‘You have uman blew?’

Despite the razor blades slicing my throat, the throbbing of my head at the base of my skull, my aching muscles and my stinging nose, I laughed.

He leaned across my legs, his white shirt pulled tight over his toned hips, showing me that little bit where his muscles cut in. ‘But I need my tequila partner,’ he said.

‘I’m sorry, you’re going to have to take one for the team tonight. How about I promise to clean away my snot rags and tomorrow, when you’re hungover from drinking tequila for both of us, we can suffer together watching mindless movies? I’ll even succumb to those American humor ones that aren’t funny at all.’

‘Ted?’

I chuckled. ‘Yes, we can watch Ted.’

He took me by surprise, reaching up to stroke my cheek. ‘You have a temperature. Maybe you should take a few layers off? Is that my hoody?’

I looked down at the oversized, black sweatshirt. ‘Oh, yeah. I needed something cozy.’

Something about that made him pause. He kept his hand on my cheek and his eyes seemed to fill with warmth. His mouth curved at one side. The smile I loved on him. It was distinctly Jake. I loved all things distinctly Jake.

‘I don’t want to go out without you.’

‘Stop being a baby. You’ll find some tart in a mini skirt, probably leather, to drink tequila with. And I’ll be so wiped out on Night Nurse capsules I won’t even hear you making her squeak and squeal her way through sex.’

He gave a short laugh but not the kind he would usually give me for a crude comment.

‘You’re the only woman I drink tequila with. If you aren’t there, the tequila team isn’t turning up.’

‘Then you’ll have to drink beer with Alex and belch all night.’

His laughter was short again and the genuine look of disappointment on his face made me feel even worse than I already felt. ‘Maybe I can try.’

I wiggled my legs free from under him and pulled back the covers. I sat upright, placed my feet on the floor, and stood. As I did, yellow, purple, green and blue spots moved into my vision.

‘Whoa, whoa. Jess.’ I felt Jake’s arms wrap around me. He caught me and brought me back down to the bed. ‘Have you eaten today?’

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