Chapter 34

(written by Lacy)

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked when Jade pulled away from him. "Did you hear that?" she asked, looking around the room. "No," he said, reaching for her again. "No, I heard something," she said, standing up. "What?" he asked, standing up beside her. "Kissing sounds," she said, still looking around the room. "Um...," Kevin started, but Jade cut him off. "No, not us. It wasn't us," she said. Kevin just looked at her. All of a sudden they heard the muffled laughter of 3 guys and looked down to the floor to see AJ, Howie, and Nick all kissing their hands.

"Very funny!" Kevin said, picking up a pillow and chucking it at Nick. "Ow! Hey, I wasn't the only one doing it!" he whined, giving Kevin a dirty look. Jade looked down to see AJ and Howie rolling with laughter on the floor. Picking up two pillows herself, she walked over to them and beat them over their heads with them. "Okay, okay! I give!" Howie yelled, laughing. "You can't tell me you actually enjoyed that," AJ said to Jade, still laughing.

His face immediantely straightened when Kevin took a menacing step towards him. "I'm going to bed," Jade said, waving to them and heading for the stairs. "I guess that answers my question... guess she didn't enjoy it as much as you seemed to, Kev," AJ said, getting up and running as soon as the words left his mouth. "Wait," Kevin said, following Jade up the stairs. He could feel the other guys' eyes boring into his back, but he just kept walking. "What?" she asked, turning around to face him when she reached the top of the stairscase, leaving him a step below her--but he was still at least 3 inches taller than her. "What just happened?" he asked.

Jade shivered as she looked into Kevin's steel-grey eyes. "Nothing. I'm just tired, that's all," she said, starting to turn back around. But Kevin reached out and touched her lightly and she froze in step. "You're shivering," he said, taking the last step up so now he was towering over her. She didn't say anything. Nodding his head, he let his arm fall to his side and turned around to head back downstairs. "Kevin," she said, spinning around. He stopped and looked at her.

"Will... will you just... stay with me? Until I fall asleep?" she asked, finally looking straight into his eyes. Seeing the sincerity in her eyes, he smiled at her and nodded his head. Putting his arms around her shivering shoulders, he followed as she led him into her bedroom. "It's a little messy," she said, picking up the clothes she had thrown carelessly onto the floor earlier that morning and tossing them into a corner. "Never become a maid," he joked, sitting down on the bed and leaning against the headboard. "Darn it, there goes my life's ambition," she said, sitting down beside him. "Are you still cold?" he asked her. "Who said I was cold before?" she asked, looking up at him. "You were shivering," he replied. "Oh," was all she said as he repositioned himself next ot her and put his arm around her shoulder. "Better?" he asked. She just nodded. It was all she could do. It seemed that everytime she got within a foot of him her breath left her without warning.

As Jade got some air back into her lungs, Kevin started talking. Not about anything imparticular, just talking. It was the only way he could think of to stay with Jade as long as possible that night and get to know her as much as he could. At 4:30 the next morning, they finally drifted off to sleep, with Kevin's arm still wraped around Jade's now very warm shoulders.....

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*9:00 The Next Morning*

*Crash!!!* Was the sound that Kevin and Jade woke up to four-and-a-half hours later, and their hearts jumping into their lungs didn't give much to helping them wake up in good moods, either. "What the Hell?!?" Jade and Kevin yelled at the same time, each jumping out of the bed and running down the hall to Jess' room and throwing the door open with a *bang.*

"What the hell?" they yelled again when they saw the broken bed laying on the floor with Brian laying on his stomache on top of it and Jess underneath him. It didn't help to sooth their anger when Brian and Jess started laughing, nor when they saw Kevin and Jade standing in the doorway and started laughing even harder. Growling angrily, Jade stomped back to her room with Kevin on her heels.

He entered her room to find her flung back on her bed with one of five green pillows over her head. Closing her door, he layed down beside her and peeked under the pillow. "Still alive under there?" he asked. "Coffee," was all she said in reply. "What?" he asked, laughing. "Coffee. Jade needs coffee," she mumbled, grabbing the pillow out of his hand and covering her face back up. "Well then, let's go get Jade some coffee," Kevin said. And when he got no reply, he grabbed the pillow from her, threw it across the room, and swept her up into his arms.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled, throwing her arm over her eyes as the light from her windows flooded the room. Instead of answering, he used her dangling feet to hold the door open and carried her the entire way down the stairs and into the kitchen--where Jess and Brian were now sitting and sharing a bowl of cereal. Brian dropped his spoon into the bowl, splashing himself with milk, and almost choked on a mouthful of Cheerios when he saw his cousin entering the kitchen with Jade in his arms. But that's not what got him; what got him was that his cousin was smiling! And he hadn't even had a cup of coffee yet!

"You gonna be okay there, Bri?" Kevin asked, setting Jade down on the couter top beside the stove. "No," he said, receiving a kick in the shins from Jess. "I see you had a spoon full of the Morning Jade," Jess said, looking over to see Jade sitting on the couter top, half asleep and her long blond hair unbrushed. "I never thought I'd see someone in worse shape in the morning than Kevin," Brian said, receiving a deathly look from Jade and another kick in the shins from Jess.

"Coffee," Jade said out of nowhere, making Jess laugh. "Hang on, I got it," Kevin said. Brian's jaw hit the counter as he watched his cousin rush around the bright kitchen. Jess just laughed even harder. "You'll learn early on not to wake Jade up before noon," Jess said, spooning some Cheerios into her mouth. "I've actually never seen Kevin even open his mouth before noon unless he was yelling at someone," Brian said, his eyes still following Kevin back and forth from one end of the kitchen to the other. "Maybe he's had a change of heart," Jess said, winking at Brian.

"Oh!" Brian said, catching on. They both turned their heads when they heard Jade sigh as if in relief and laughed when they saw her cradling a cup of coffee in her hands as if it was a lifeline. "Do I smell coffee?" Howie asked, entering the kitchen only to be followed by AJ and Nick. "Hey, Jade," Nick said, walking over to her. "Don't touch," she growled, pulling her cup of coffee closer to her when he went to reach for it. "Just a sip?" he begged. "No," she said, making everyone laugh.

"Watch it Nick, she'll take your hand off," Jess said, throwing the empty cereal bowl in the sink and grabbing Brian's hand, pulling him into the living room. Jade downed the rest of her coffee and hopped off the counter. "Jade's going back to bed," she said, giving everyone an I-dare-you-to-try-and-stop-me look as she walked out of the kitchen and trudged back up the stairs.

When the guys heard Jade's bedroom door close, they all turned to Kevin with apprehensive looks on their faces. "I gotta go home for a second and check in," Nick said, grabbing his hat off the counter and walkin out the door. "So..." AJ said, looking at Kevin with a smug smile on his face. "So... what?" Kevin asked, taking his coffee and sitting down on a stool. "Come on man, tell us," Howie said. "What?" Kevin asked, getting agitated. "What? Man, tell us what it's like to sleep with the best looking chick in Florida," Howie said, wanting to know what Kevin would say.....

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