Crestfallen

21: That's The Last Time I Ask A Cheerleader

IIt was getting late and I was shivering again. The conversation hadn't ended there though. I told him a really bad joke because it got awkward fast, but to my surprise, he'd returned it with one of his own. After that, we got to talking.

We didn't quite get to anything deep and I'm pretty sure we only scratched the surface, but it was a good start.

"—and instead of shutting off the hose, she started spraying on herself. I'm pretty sure she thought it was a movie montage or something, but it looked fucking ridiculous. That's the last time I asked a cheerleader to help me do gardening." He finished as my chuckles subsided. I'd started laughing halfway through the story. When I finally stopped giggling, I noticed Jeremy staring at me with a small smile on his face.

"What?" I asked him, a grin still sitting on my lips. I didn't think he was going to answer for a moment, but he surprised me when he did.

"You have a really pretty laugh," he said simply and unabashedly. I felt blood rushing to my cheeks as I blushed embarrassingly.

"How am I supposed to reply to that?" I questioned, unsure of how to react. However, the grin on my face was growing into a huge smile that I couldn't stop.

"You can tell me I'm an amazing storyteller, but I guess that'd be somewhat redundant because I already know I am," he said with a cocky wink. I rolled my eyes, but I couldn't take the smile off my face even if I wanted to.

"Jeremy?" I felt the mood change with the gentle tone I used and he looked up at me with suspicion.

"Yeah?" He replied while standing up and opening one of the few cupboards in his 'kitchen'. He grabbed a banana and peeled it as I gathered the courage to ask him a question.

"Why do you live here?" I questioned. Jeremy froze as he took a bite out of his banana and faced me. I realized the question sounded intrusive and I quickly added, "it's just that you said you invited her gardening and, well, there's no garden here..."

"How do you know? There is ten fucking feet of snow on the ground," he snapped, taking an angry bite of his banana as he sat back down on his mattress. I flinched at his angry tone and sighed.

"Sorry, I'm just curious," I excused with a sheepish look on my face.

"Haven't you heard the saying? Curiosity killed the cat?" He asked redundantly. I'd obviously dampened the mood and ruined the conversation we were having.

"What's going to kill me? The dark secret you're hiding about having killed your parents and having nowhere to live so you reside here and lure in thoughtless cheerleaders to sate your bloodlust that runs through your— wait," I paused, looking at him to make sure I wasn't right. He stared at me blankly for a moment before bursting into wholehearted laughter. I smiled, happy that my awkward tendencies had lightened the mood and relieved that I wasn't right.

"Can't you just drop it?" He snapped, raising his eyebrows at me. I tilted my head and narrowed my eyes ever so slightly. Suddenly, I yawned and sniffled sleepily.

"You tired?" Jeremy inquired, his green eyes gazing into mine.

"A little." I shrugged, making myself comfortable in the chair.

"Well, it's 1:00AM so I wouldn't be surprised," he replied with a smirk on his face. My eyes widened and I gaped a little bit.

"It's 1:00AM already?" I asked him incredulously. He nodded and I found it hard to believe that we'd been talking for that long. "Well, happy birthday to me," I muttered under my breath quietly.

Somehow, over the raging wind outside, he must've heard me. "It's your birthday?"

"Thankfully." I smiled sadly as I glanced out the window. Suddenly, my sweater that was taped to the wall, blew off, and hit me in the face. I let out a grunt as the cold air hit me hard. I sprung up with the sweater in my hand and slammed it against the hole in the wall. Jeremy was already prepared with duct tape in hand. Did he buy duct tape in the time I was gone earlier? Or did he have that the whole time without telling me? He taped my sweater to the window, using more tape this time. Once he finished, it hardly let in any cold air and it did quite a good job of keeping all the snow out.

I let go of the sweater once he was done and turned to him, smiling. I came face-to-chest with Jeremy and I looked up at him. I didn't realize how close we were until I could feel his breath fanning across my cheeks. The smile slid off my face as the atmosphere grew tense. I didn't know what to do, I didn't even know if I felt that way about him, but the butterflies in my stomach answered that question.

It could just be because he's hot.

Jeremy's green eyes seemed to sparkle with something I couldn't recognize. After a moment of standing like that, I smiled awkwardly and took a step back.

"Well, I'm going to go to bed," I said, breaking the tension and easing back into the conversation. Jeremy looked disheartened, but not entirely dejected.

"Here," he stated, pointing to his bed.

"No, that's yours, I'll take the chair," I told him adamantly.

"I'm not letting the birthday girl sleep on a fucking chair," he declared frustratedly. He ran a hand through his hair agitatedly before taking a deep breath and relaxing.

"Fine," I gave in, walking towards the bed. Before I laid down, I paused and turned to face him. "Where are you going to sleep?"

"On the chair," he replied as if it was obvious. A wave of guilt came over me; that chair was super cold and not very comfortable.

"You can, uh, lie down with me," I suggested. I wasn't entirely comfortable with the idea, but I probably wouldn't get much sleep knowing he was sleeping on a chair. Jeremy seemed to think it over before squinting at me.

"You sure you won't mind?" He inquired, making sure I was comfortable with it. I smiled at his concern and felt a little more okay with it.

"It's no problem," I replied as I crawled onto the bed and under the blanket. Jeremy reached up and pulled the string attached to the light and shut it off. He then limped over to the mattress and I scooted to the end farthest from the wall. He kneeled down and crawled beside me, right next to the wall. I pulled the blanket over our bodies and my shivering began to subside.

Jeremy's body was very close to mine, but I tried to forget about it as I whispered, "Good night."

"Good night," he replied before I started to drift to sleep.