Chapter 6

Jordan’s POV

I glanced at him when the traffic lights turned red, the smile still dancing across my lips.

“I am.” I agreed with him.

“You almost never smile and suddenly you’re not biting them down anymore.” He pointed out which made me shrug a little before glancing back at the road when the lights changed to yellow.

“We’ve only spent what? Two to three different moments together? You can’t be so sure.” I argued.

“I guess so.” He replied after a few seconds. We drove in silence until I pulled up in front of a popular Chinese restaurant. We stepped out of the car and made our way into the restaurant together, a few inches separating us. We picked one of the tables beside the windows and sank into the seat opposite each other. I placed my phone and keys on the table beside the menu before picking it up and going through it slowly, trying to decide on what to order.

I glanced up from the menu I was examining only to find Oliver staring at me intently with his hands clasped together before him on the table. Our eyes locked and held for a few seconds before I ducked my head back and tried my possible best to concentrate on picking a meal to order, but I just couldn’t push away the stomach knotting thought that Oliver was still staring at me.

I laid my menu on the table and glanced back up at Oliver, and as expected, he was still staring at me and not trying to hide it one bit.

“Why are you staring at me? Do I have something on my face?” I demanded when I couldn’t stand it anymore without freaking the fuck out.

“No, you don’t.” He answered.

“Aren’t you going to go through the menu so you can pick what to order?” I gestured towards his menu which he is yet to check out.

“I’m waiting for you to decide on a meal, then I’d just order the same thing.” He replied smoothly and I blinked at him a couple of times before pushing my hair away from my face.

“What? Why?

“Because it’s been really long since I had Chinese and I really don’t remember most of the meals and how they taste like.”

“Oh.” I stated before glancing about and waving a waiter over and ordering two trays of all what I picked out.

“So, tell me about yourself, Jordan.” He said and I shrugged my shoulders a little. “Honestly, each time I get asked that particular question, I just somehow automatically forget everything about me. Like, I wouldn’t know where to start from and what to say and where to focus on, my brain would just go empty in that moment. Like right now, my brain’s empty.”

Oliver chuckled a little and leaned forward in his seat before continuing, “Oh wow, I didn’t even think about that.” He paused when the waiter returned with a bottle of wine and two wine glasses. She uncorked the drink and filled each glass halfway before leaving us to ourselves once again.

I picked my glass up and took a mouthful of the wine, the cold fruity liquid sliding down my throat.

“How about we tell each other about ourselves at the same time? That way no one is placed in the spotlight,” Oliver proposed, and I rolled the request around in my head for a few seconds before nodding my head in agreement.

“Sounds fair enough,” I mused over my wine glass before I downed the remaining contents of the glass.

“Are you gonna go first?” he asked after a few seconds. I glanced at him, and his fingers were wrapped around his untouched wine glass as he watched me intently.

“Sure,” I agreed before lifting my empty glass and gesturing to the wine bottle which was placed on his side of his table.

“Oh, here you go,” he exclaimed before lifting the bottle up and refilling my glass. “I didn’t know you were a wine enthusiast,” he mused as he placed the bottle on my side of the table this time, which I was grateful for.

“Oh, I am. If there’s a word more fitting than that, I don’t know,” I said, and he chuckled lightly before taking a small sip of his drink.

“Y’know, I only started drinking like months ago,” he started to say, and I blinked at him unbelievably for a few seconds.

“Are you for real?”

“Yeah. I’m twenty-one, remember?” He gave me a small grin and I snickered beneath my breath.

He’s four years younger than you, Jordan.

Tsk.

“I started drinking before I turned eighteen.” I informed him and laughed lightly when he gaped at me for a few moments.

“Oh wow, that’s crazy!” He gushed and his couldn’t agree more.

“Believe me, it is. It’s not something I’m really proud of, but it can’t be undone. I made some... rough friends right when I just got into college, it was a miracle that my grades weren’t completely ruined before I figured out what it was that I was doing and sat up.” I explain to him, the scenes of my friends and I being everything my parents warned me not to become when I got into college.

“Wow! I could never have imagined that if you hadn’t explained to me yourself. I mean, you don’t even look like someone that can be that wild.” Oliver exclaimed. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that you look like someone that can’t hurt a fly. I’m just saying that some people have dangerous written all over them, while some don’t. Your aura doesn’t scream the complete opposite of what you’re explaining to me.”

I chuckled a little and took a long swing of my wine, don’t I get that a lot? “Don’t worry, I get that a lot. And trust me, I do understand the whole concept of someone screaming a thing and actually being the total opposite. Take for example, you.”

He smiled a little and downed his whole wine in one go then proceed to twill the glass between his fingers on the table before glancing up at me and saying. “I know about that. I mean, everyone immediately thinks I’m one jerk or proud asshole before walking up to me because of how I look.” He paused and reached towards my side of the table with ease and lifted the wine bottle, refilled his glass, and returned the bottle to its former position.

“People judge me a lot without bothering to get close to me. I mean, even at work, I get judged a lot which is totally unfair.” He continued after taking a long swing of his drink.

“I get judged a lot too. Y’know, people see a small looking boy after taking a glance at me, and even have the guts to try to walk over me. I got walked over last in high school countless times, once I got into college, the friends I made although rough, made me become more confident and comfortable in my own skin.”

“Wow! That’s just amazing. It honestly is. Although I never even got bullied in my life because of how I’ve always looked way bigger than my age.”

“We honestly never know what a person’s going through until they explain whatever it is themselves.” I mused and he nodded immediately in agreement, his glass still clutched between his fingers.

Our food arrived and we settled in silence and started eating for some minutes before Oliver looked up at me and inquired, “Do you need help with cutting your chicken?”

I laughed a little before shaking my head, “No, I don’t. Why?”

“I just remembered my brother helping you cut it for you when we all had dinner together, so I thought...”

“That’s because I was making noise by hitting the knife against the China countless times, of course I can cut my meat just fine.” I explained to him while refilling my glass and taking in a mouthful once I was done.

We talked about one thing to the other and more things until we were both chuckling about something embarrassing that happened to me when I just got a job, I laughed too hard and started choking on my wine.

Ugh, not again.

“Are you alright? I’m sorry I made that joke when you were about to swallow your drink.” Oliver apologized once the choking fit ebbed away and the few curious people who had thrown us side glances were back to what they were doing before. I waved him off and swallowed a little water to calm my burning throat.

“It’s not your fault your joke was really funny, I should have swallowed fast before bursting out laughing.” I reassured him. I checked the time on my phone at that moment, turns out it was already some minutes after ten. I didn’t even know I had spent up to one hour with him, talk less of two hours.

“I’ll have to be heading home soon, I don’t want to stay out the same way I did yesterday.”

“Oh right, I forgot. The time really flew by without me noticing.” Oliver mused and I couldn’t agree more.

I waved the waiter over and tried to hand my card to her, but Oliver beat me to it, I tried to return his card to him, but he insisted on paying since apparently he was the one that invited me to come eat, which automatically means the bills would be on him.

We walked out of the restaurant side by side, a few inches separating our sides from brushing against each other. I unlocked my car and we got in and did our seatbelts before I pulled into the busy streets.

The conversation just seemed to keep on flowing nonstop until I got to his house and stopped a few inches before the gate leading into his house.

“Thanks for coming to dinner with me.” He started to say as he undid his seat belt. I turned around in my seat and offered him a small, genuine smile. “Of course, thanks for inviting me as well.”

He got out of the car and slammed the door shut before waving at me through the window, “Drive safely.”

“I will, g’nite!” I replied as I drove out of his street and into the streets once again, heading home.

The ringing of my phone caught me off guard for a second before I focused back on the road again and lifted the phone with one head to check who it was, a part of me silently praying for it to be Derek, but it turned out to be my mum.

I quickly connected the call to my car Bluetooth and returned the phone back to its former position as I focused my whole attention back on the road.

“Hey mum!”

“Jordan honey, I’ve missed you so much!”

My mum’s sugary voice drifted loudly into the car, and I grinned wildly for a few seconds before replying. “I’ve missed you so much as well, mum.”

“It’s been so long since I’ve heard your sweet voice,” she continued and I rolled my eyes while chuckling a little, my mum was already used to tagging my voice as sweet ever since I was a kid, I’ve try breaking that habit out of her when I got into high school to no avail.

“That’s because I’ve been really busy, mum. I promise to try checking up on you and dad more frequently.”

We talked for a few minutes with my mum telling me about what she has been up to for the past weeks.

“Alright dear, I’ll tell your father you said hi, he’s not around at the moment.”

“Yeah, you take care of yourself, alright?

“I will, honey! Are you and Derek still coming for dinner next week Saturday?” Mum asked and I cursed under my breath.

Shit.

I had totally forgotten.

“I’m, yeah, we are! Definitely. We both can’t wait.” I answered, grimacing at how excited I sounded when that was the least of things on my mind at the moment, I was also a hundred percent sure Derek had forgotten about the invitation.

We ended the call after exchanging a few mire words and I mused over a lot of things while stopping at red lights and moving once it turns green once again.

A part of me started to wonder if Derek wasn’t currently sleeping with the twink I caught him with. Another part of me was reminding me not to be paranoid about not hearing from him since he might as well be going through something serious without me knowing.

A curious part of me, the part that still doubted if Derek was faithful to me or not was urging me to go over to his house and unannounced just to see if I’d catch him with someone or not.

I pulled into my compound, rode the elevator upstairs and let myself into my apartment before locking the door behind me. It was some minutes after eleven pm, the traffic was so tight tonight, I guess it’s because it’s a Friday night.

I pulled off my clothes in my bedroom and took a warm shower before dressing in a pair of small, sleeping shorts and a large shirt which completely covered the shorts I had underneath.

I settled in my bed and texted some of my friends from college who still kept in touch, our work made us all drift apart but that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t be there for ourselves when needed. Like my wedding preparations, they’ve all been eager to be my groomsmen. They were five boys in number, plus Michael equals six. Michael and I got way closer since we both found work around the same vicinity unlike the rest of the crew who weren’t that lucky.

A text from Oliver came in, inquiring if I’ve gotten home. I replied after a few minutes just so I wouldn’t come off as eager.

Not that I was in the first place.

He replied immediately, making me feel bad about stalling on purpose before replying to his first text tonight. We talked for a few more minutes before bidding each other a good night. I face timed one of my buddies for a few minutes, it was still daytime in the country he was in.

I headed to the kitchen to get a drink of water before heading to bed when I heard a knock on the door. I stilled and jolted when the knock sounded again. A quick glance at the wall clock in the sitting room showed that it was thirty minutes after twelve, who the fuck is this and what the hell does the person wants that couldn’t wait until in the morning?

I decided to ignore the knocks, hoping the said person would go away but the person knocked even harder this time.

I walked towards the door slowly until I was standing a few feet away from it.

“Who’s it?”

“It’s Derek.” The person behind the door replied and I turned the key and pulled the door open immediately since there was no way I wouldn’t be able to recognize Derek’s voice even in my sleep.

Derek got in the moment I pulled the door open and pulled me into his arms, I pushed the door closed and locked it before wrapping my arms around his waist tight and burying my face into his shirt which smelt faintly of sweat, like he has been in this particular shirt for too long. I wrinkled my nose and pulled away from the hug before glancing up at him, his hair looked extremely disheveled like he has been running his fingers through it countless times. His shirt was rumpled with creases in some places, to round it all up, he looked wrecked.

I forgot about my anger about him not reaching out to me in days in that moment, lifting up on my toes, I cupped his face as best as I could and stared straight into his reddened eyes, I didn’t need to smell his breath to know that he has been drinking.

“What’s wrong, baby?” I whispered. He stared at me without saying a thing for a few seconds before leaning down and pressing his lips against mine. I recoiled internally as the taste of strong vodka hit my tastebuds the moment he plunged his tongue into my mouth, I wanted to tell him not to kiss me too deeply except if he was ready to brush his teeth first since stuffs like this wasn’t my thing, but I didn’t know how to tell him when he was literally eating my lips and moaning against my mouth with so much enthusiasm.

I wasn’t enjoying any of it but stayed in his arms and allowed him to kiss me more since it seemed like that was what it was going to take to comfort him a little.

I finally broke the kiss and leaned against his arms which were wrapped around my waist as I stared up at him and watched as he panted a little, his eyes still fixated on my now swollen lips.

“Derek? What’s wrong?” I tried once again but he only leaned down and kissed my neck softly. His palms slid beneath my shirt to caress my bare back. I tried to twist out of his arms when I felt his hard-on against the inside of my thighs, but his arms tightened around my waist more firmly.

“Nothing’s wrong, baby,” he finally answered my question, only that the said answer sounded so false compared to how he was currently acting.

“You didn’t reply to any of my texts and calls in days, Derek,” I pointed out.

“I was extremely busy, I’m sorry.” He murmured against a spot on my throat which he was currently scattering tiny kisses over.

“It’s alright.” I mumbled quietly.

“I love you, Jordan.” He whispered against my lips.

I felt my heart skip a few beats at the mention of those three words, “I love you too.” I whispered back, my lips moving against his. He kissed me once again, his mouth moving against mine hungrily while mine was barely moving beneath his.

I broke the kiss once again and purposed, “Let’s go get you cleaned up so we can sleep, then we’d talk more in the morning, yeah?”

“No, I want you right now.” He tried taking my mouth in another kiss, but I leaned away from him and shook my head.

“I really don’t want to have sex right now, Derek.”

“But you love me, don’t you?”

“I do, but—” I was cut off by his mouth closing over mine in another kiss.

I managed to break the kiss again and used that opportunity to try getting out of his grip around my waist to no avail.

“Derek I—” I tried protesting once again but got he kissed me again.

Christ.

“Shh,” He whispered against my lips just as his grip loosened from my waist only to slid slowly over my ass to wrap them themselves around my thighs before lifting me into his arms effortlessly and heading straight for my bedroom.

“I really don’t want this, Derek,” I said to him while staring into his eyes after he settled me on the floor beside the bed.

“I’ll make you want it, yeah?” He pulled my shirt off swiftly and pushed me into the bed before climbing over me. He settled his weight over mine and grind his hard on against my thigh slowly while his fingers burrowed into my hair as he took my lips in a deep kiss.

I didn’t want this, but I guess I could try to want it since it was going to make him happy, right? So far, it’s in my power.

And he did remind me that he’s still in love with me.

A tiny voice in my head pointed out the fact that I still didn’t want this, but I pushed the voice out of my head and tried to force my body to comply with his needs since it was going to please him.

***

I blinked my eyes open and winced as the morning sun glared straight into my soul, making me wince and rollover until I was facing the complete other side of the room. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and glanced around the room before sitting up only to realize that I was naked under the sheets.

The whole thing that took place in my bed last night all rushed into my head immediately and I winced as a sharp pain shot through my whole body the moment I stood up from the bed. I slowly dig out fresh clothes from my closet and threw them on before heading out of the room and straight into the kitchen where sounds were coming from.

I leaned against the kitchen door and watched as Derek prepared pancakes, his pants from last night hanging off his hips while his chest was bare. He finally noticed my presence and smiled wildly at me before walking towards me.

“Hi sleepy head.” He leaned down towards me height and stood on my toes a little so I could drop a kiss on his cheeks.

“It’s not even that late yet.” I pointed out as I made my way into the kitchen and hopped into one of the chairs around the island.

“It’s two hours after your usual early morning time assuming today was a weekday.” He pointed out and shrugged my shoulders a little.

“It’s a weekend, duh. And besides, someone kept me up last night.”

“Aw baby, I’m sorry.” He cooed and placed the bowl he was currently mixing flour in on the counter and walked towards my chair and placed a small kiss on the exposed skin on my shoulder where my shirt had slipped off.

My heart fluttered at the feel of his lips on my skin which lasted for a few seconds since he was currently making breakfast.

I wanted to bring up the reason why he came over to my house that late last night, and if there was something actually wrong that he wasn’t telling me.

I decided to allow us to have breakfast first before bringing up the issue.