THE DREAM BOOK

Sweat is such a big turn off

Jay's p.o.v

After escorting Mia to her house, I say goodbye since I know how worried Luke gets when he comes back home to meet the house empty.

Before I get home, I pass by the orphanage. The abandoned orphanage. Children who have been dumped by their parents on the streets were sent there. But the economy got so tight and difficult that the children there were ignored by society after the caretakers died. But I go by the place once in a while to give what I can to them. Mostly food and clothes.

"Jay!" The children exclaim when they see me coming. They all rush towards me with their tiny feet as I bend down to hug them.

"Aww...I missed you guys so much." I say, with a smile tugging at the corners of my lips.

"We missed you too.." they chorus. There are 3 girls and 4 boys, that's seven children in all. The youngest is four years old and the oldest is eleven.

"I got something for all of you," I whisper with a smile, then bring the bags of spaghetti and meatballs from behind me. They snatch the food from me with happy shrieks.

There was so much of the food left at Mia's place. She intentionally prepared lots of it just for this reason.

"Thank you so much, Jay." The oldest, Devin says with a shy smile.

"There's no need." I place a kiss on his cheeks and watch his pale skin turn beat red.

"Where is Mia?" Clarisse, one of the children asks, she's barely 10 years old.

"She'll come to see you guys later."

After spending an hour with them we say our goodbyes and I head home. With my house being a few blocks from the orphanage, I get there around 3:15 pm.

I step out of my sneakers when I enter the house after unlocking it and turn on the lights. The only sounds heard are my feet tapping on the warm tiled floor. I keep my sneakers by the door, leaving me in only my top and jeans.

I soak myself in warm rose-scented water in the tub to get rid of the sweat from walking under the sun when I get inside the bathroom. Sweating always makes me feel uncomfortable. If I'm to give just one thing I don't like...it's sweat. It's so sticky when it dries on the skin.

It just so happens that Luke does not sweat much, otherwise we would have a big problem because it's such a turn-off for me.

I step out of the tub and let the water drain out when I'm done. Then put on one of Luke's t-shirts and underwear after drying my body and leaving my hair to air dry.

I'm sure Luke will be so hungry when he gets back, so I start to prepare dinner. I'm starting to feel hungry myself and that's beside me eating lots and lots of Mia's spaghetti and meatballs.

It's bothersome how Luke has to go to the companies to do a job when he could do it right at home, but we can't complain. They expect him to do it on their premises but it gets so lonely here. They want to keep an eye on him and make sure he does what he's supposed to do and not slack off. It's not as if he would. Luke is way too serious with work to slack off.

I put on some music to replace the silence as I continue cooking. It's not a nice experience to be in the house alone with so much silence. Also, music is one of the things I love. I have a pretty good voice if you ask me.

I hear the front door open just when I'm done setting the table.

"Jay?" Luke's throaty voice calls out to me. He always does that when he comes home. He thinks one day he'll come to meet an empty house without me. I don't blame him. I did try to leave ones. But that was because I thought I was being a burden to him... God, I need a job.

"In here," I respond.

He walks into the kitchen with a smile, then pulls me into his arms for a quick kiss to the lip. I frown at how fast that kiss went by making him chuckle before giving me a proper ' I'm back home ' kiss. Leaving me breathless with butterflies erupting in my stomach.

"Hi." He says against my lips, rubbing his nose against mine. This never gets old.

"Hi" I respond with a smile of my own, wrapping my hands around his shoulders.

"Go take a bath then come eat. You stink." I joke as I pull myself out of his embrace. He just shakes his head at me but does as told.

He's back within a few minutes in only his shorts. His hair is wet from the shower. The minty scent of his shower gel wafts pleasantly into my nose. I stopped using my lavender gel when I found out how amazing his smells.

We sit at the table, me opposite him, then we dig in.

"So, did you stay in all day?" He asks in-between meals. If Mia was here, she would have smacked him on the head.

"Nope. " I respond after swallowing what's in my mouth " I went to Mia's place."

"I'm sure you ate all her food." He laughs.

"Please no," I say. I mean, I like food but that's because I don't get fat no matter how much I eat. That's a bonus.

"Please finish swallowing before you speak." I reprimand him. He grins like a cat after doing as told.

"We went shopping. We have a double date tomorrow." I say. He scratches the back of his neck nervously and offers a nervous chuckle before speaking.

"Yh. I forgot to tell you." He says.

He seems like a child sometimes, but I know he's far more mature than that. After having dinner, we watch The Witcher on Netflix before going to bed.