ONC 2024 SHORTLISTER || After two opposites find comfort in each other and have an instant connection but can't be together, they collide again months later and get a second chance at love || August Walker and Jasmine Kelly are complete opposites...
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☆.｡.:*
I've never been a morning person. Usually at nine in the morning, I'm asleep after a night shift, or at work, or sometimes I'm attending courses or something. On days off, I'll roll out of bed around now and head into the shower. Instead, this morning, I find myself full of energy despite the fact I haven't slept in over twenty-four hours.
"I never stay in bed this late," Jasmine whispers as she gets back into bed beside me. "Usually, I'm at work by now or on my days off, up and running errands or whatever. They've given me a week off because I can't cut hair right now, and then see where we are from there."
She nestles in further into my side; her sprained wrist still in the splint. Something about this moment feels significant, like I need to paint a portrait of it and keep it in my mind's eye forever because it's so perfect. Jasmine's here, finally, and her naked body is moulded to mine under the duvet. This moment is everything.
"Are you asking to get out of bed? If so, I don't know if I'll allow it. This is way too comfortable," I say and adjust my glasses. Luckily, I can just about see without them, but I'll be damned if everything is better with them on. Especially looking at her.
She giggles and shifts ever so slightly, so we're looking at each other. "By the way, I never, ever do this."
"What, stay in bed at nine in the morning? You told me that," I joke. "For what it's worth, the only time I'll stay in past nine is when I'm sleeping off a night shift. I've had something keeping me awake, though, so I'm tired. Staying in bed with you sounds perfect right now."
She leans up ever so slightly to press her lips to mine. Her perfume radiates through my senses, her touch brings me back to life – though I don't even know if I could be any more alive right now. We somehow magnet closer to each other, so when we part, all I can see is her, and that's all I ever want to see.
"I meant I never sleep with anyone like this. My whole love life has been a couple of casual encounters before Josh, and a sort of near relationship, and then... yeah, him. Now you. It's... different."
I laugh. "Different good or bad?"
"Definitely good. More than that. When I left that morning, I wasn't sure what I was doing other than putting you first, and I regretted it for both our sakes. Sometimes protecting someone is more than leaving them; I guess part of it should've been your choice, and I didn't give you that. But I knew somehow that it would be worth the wait. One day we would meet again and it would be like the stars aligned, like the saying, you know?"
I sigh. "Going cliché, are we?"
We both laugh. I move onto my side and face her, her eyes meeting mine.
"In seriousness, though, what's done is done. Whatever this is now is up to us to decide. He's gone, and you did it."
