***Chapter Twenty-Three***
An hour before my class, I head over to Drew’s dorm to give him the things Juliana wanted him to have. Along the way, I stopped and picked him up some medicine too. It would be best if he had soup and some medicine to make him sleep the sickness off. I’m not sure if he had any already, but just in case he didn’t here it was.
Knocking on his door, I waited for him to answer, as I could hear quite a bit of shuffling on the other side. He was probably too sick to get up, but I didn’t want to just burst in. Who knows what he could be doing in there? My eyes were too scared to find out. Though they were thrilled at the sight I got once Drew opened up.
Obviously, I’ve never seen him without a shirt on. This would be the first time I’d seen his bare skin. Not only was it drenched in ink, but it was toned in all the right places. His clothes never do him any justice because this is amazing. I knew how it felt, but I never pictured it to be like this. My mouth almost couldn’t contain the saliva that wanted to spill out of the sides of my mouth. He was even more gorgeous than I thought.
I kept my thoughts to myself as I quickly got under control. His body may have been a masterpiece, but his face certainly was not. At least not right now.
“Jeez, you look like shit,” I joke.
He squints his eyes at me. “Hardee, har-har. What do you want, Annabelle?” He groaned.
I smile. “To give you this,” I say, holding up his soup and tea, along with his medicine.
He looked at me with curious eyes. It’s like he was putting up a hard debate to let me in the dang room. I was only doing what Julie wanted me to do. Otherwise, I wouldn’t even be here right now. With the way things have been going between us, I guess I’d be cautious, too. There is also not getting on Julie’s bad side. The way she screamed at Drew told me all I needed to know. Julie was very scary when she was angry.
After a few minutes, he opened his door wider to let me in. It’s not like I haven’t been inside before, but since it was just us two, it’s different. This felt a bit more personal, even though he was super sick. I didn’t want to get too close, to be honest. Getting sick wasn’t on my agenda. That’ll be the worst thing that could happen.
Still, I sat his soup and tea on his bedside table, before looking at him. He was going to climb into his bed again if I hadn’t stopped him. All I wanted was to give him his medicine before going to sleep again. What I didn’t account for was my hand gently resting on his chest. The chills I felt were indescribable. Like my body couldn’t keep up with the millions of things my mind was thinking. My hand wanted to squeeze ever so lightly at his chest, but I refrain from doing so. It’s so tempting.
Noticing my change in demeanor, Drew smirks, even with his sick eyes. “You know, there’s another one right there if you want to touch it.” He teases me.
I remove the hand as quick as I could while averting my gaze. “This medicine…you should take it,” I lost my train of thought. I hate what he does to me.
Disappointed, he sits on his bed looking at the bottle of medicine. “I don’t do drugs,” he says calmly.
Snickering, I fill the small cap, handing it to him. “It’s not drugs, it’s medication,” I correct him. “And I advise you to take this so you’re not in bed too long.”
“They just use medication as a guise. It’s still a drug,” he argues with me.
I didn’t have time for his rebuttals. He needed to take this, so he’d feel better. Otherwise he’d be stuck here and miss the football game. None of us wanted either of those things to happen. We had plans during and after the game and Drew would mess it up if he weren’t a part of it. Plus, I didn’t get the hang up about the whole drug thing. People take cold medicines all the time to feel better. What was the big deal?
“People use this stuff every day. You act like I got it off the street or something.” I wasn’t understanding his refusal.
He crossed his arms. “Where did you get it?” He questioned.
“The drugstore on campus,” I answer.
Drew laughed. “My point exactly.” Now he’s just being an ass.
I frowned at him. “Don’t play technicalities with me, Andrew Tate.” I speak sternly. “Take it, now!”
He rolled his eyes, taking the cup from me. I’m surprised that worked honestly. I didn’t think he’d listen to me at all, but he did. I’m sure he realized I was right, and he didn’t want to be sick all week. No matter how you slice it, he took his medicine, and that’s all that mattered. Even though he was disgusted. That stuff never tasted very good. It’s a wonder more people don’t rebel against it.
He handed the cap back to me with a sour look on his face. “Now will you shut up?” He smirked before climbing back into bed.
Of course, I wouldn’t shut up. When does Annabelle ever shut up? “Why were you so reluctant, anyway? It’s literally just medicine.” I’m always sticking my nose in places I shouldn’t.
“Is there ever a point where you don’t ask such loaded questions? I mean my god,” he joked, but it had a bit of seriousness behind it.
I look down, crossing my arms. Maybe I am crossing too many lines. “Sorry…I’m just…curious about you.”
It’s true. The more time we spent together, more I become curious about him. He was so mysterious in ways I didn’t even know mystery could be. There was this Drew that I’m coming close with, then there’s the Drew that I grew up with. From the sounds of it, they were two completely different people. Yet, no one was willing to tell me any information on how. The closest I got was about the Dillon situation. However, that doesn’t even scratch the surface of who Drew was.
Seeing my face, Drew stood up, immediately caressing my cheek with his thumb. My knees nearly caved in at how gentle his touch always is. I always say I want to learn more about Drew just because, but the other part of me wants to know because it could change things. How I see him, how I feel about him. What if I find out something I don’t like? Then all this pining would be for nothing. Though if my crush is pure, it wouldn’t matter what his past is like. So long as he is making the right changes now. Juliana is still in the picture, though.
“Annabelle, I was only joking,” he says. His way of apologizing, I guess.
I remove his thumb from my cheek, feeling hot from the closeness. “I should get going before I’m late for my next class.” I needed to get out of here.
As I’m walking away, Drew grabbed my hand to stop me. His eyes almost look like they’re pleading with me. “Before you go, would you mind coming back here?” He asked me, his eyes falling.
I raised my brow in confusion. “Um, I-I guess, but why?”
“Well, Dre refuses to sleep in here while I’m sick because of germs and Julie doesn’t want to get sick before she performs,” he explains, then his cheeks go red. “And…and I don’t like to be alone,”
I don’t know what he was getting at, but it didn’t sound like anything I should be a part of. I get him not wanting to be alone, but we already had one fight between him and Julie. This would cause so much chaos that wasn’t needed at the moment. My only task was to bring him soup and tea. Not stay in his dorm room while he’s sick. This is such a bad idea, but could I turn him down?
Shaking my head, I feel hesitant to say yes to his absurdity. Drew has been getting me to do a lot of things, but this was insane. How the heck were we supposed to pull this off? Why would we even attempt to pull this off? Yet, the thought of sleeping in my dorm with Dre and Dillon haunted me even more. I already saw a tit out, I didn’t need to see any more.
“Wouldn’t that be a bad idea? I mean, you saw what happened when I gave you my hat.” I’m not confident about this.
He rolled his beautiful eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll take full responsibility. There’s even an extra bed over there.” He tries convincing me. “It’ll be two days, tops.”
My lips pursed as I contemplated what to do. This could be a good way to get to know Drew more than I do. It could also backfire in my face like everything else does. If I wanted more answers about Drew’s back story, then this is something I was going to have to risk. He said he’d take all the blame anyway which he should. It was his idea after all. Curse my curiosity.
Sighing, I agreed. “Fine, I’ll stay.”