The Rules We Defy

Chapter 11

“Let’s find another movie,” I said. “I’m not in the mood for a cartoon.”

He moves away slowly as if hoping I’ll change my mind about ‘something else,’ but I don’t. I search through the cardboard box and picked out an action film. After living with Nate and Cody, I’ve seen a ton of action films and have even come to like some of them. As Dominic puts the movie in, I tried to figure out where to sit. Other than his bed, the only seating options are his desk chair or his oversize navy blue bean bag chair on the floor. I picked the beanbag chair.

“Care if I sit there, too?” Dominic asks, standing over me.

“No, not at all.” I scoot over.

“Do I smell or something?” he asks. I notice the large gap I left between us and realize that I’m so far over I’m practically falling off the chair.

“Oh. I was just making sure you had enough room.”

“I have plenty of room, Jessica. You can move over.” I scoot back toward the middle.

He smells so damn good. I don’t know if I can be this close to him, especially after he pressed me against the wall like that. I still have this intense urge to kiss him, which I shouldn’t do because we’re just friends. That’s it. About halfway through the movie, Dominic's phone rings, and he gets up to answer it. “What do you want, Brandon?” He turns away from me. “No, I’m not going over there. You’re not even making sense. How drunk are you right now?” He listens.

“Yeah, well, keep them for yourself. I gotta go.”

“Are you supposed to be somewhere?” I ask as he puts his phone away. “No. Brandon’s just drunk dialing everyone, trying to keep the party going at his apartment.” Dominic sits down again, closer to me than before.

The weight of his body causes the chair to sink in between us, pushing me into the side of him. I’m not sure if I should push away or stay in this position. I stay and try to act normal.

“You know, if you want to go out with Brandon, I can leave.”

“I don’t want to go anywhere. I’m in the middle of a movie. And I have a guest.” He puts his arm up behind me, a classic guy move that’s usually awkward and makes me laugh. But Dominic’s completely confident with the move, like his arm is supposed to be there, which I find kind of hot. His arm maneuver has pushed me even farther into the sinking chair, my hip now wedged against his thigh. I sit there stiffly, completely still.

“Would you like me to move, Jessica?”

It seems like a simple question, but the answer says a lot. If I tell him to move, it says I’m not interested. But if I tell him not to move, it’ll expose the fact that I actually like him. I decided to do what I always do with guys and try to confuse him.

“You might as well stay there.” I act annoyed. “If you move again I’ll sink even further into this stupid chair and I may never get up.”

“You don’t like my chair?”

“It’s fine, but I’m finding it hard to get comfortable.”

“Well, go ahead and do what you need to do to get comfortable.”

I adjusted myself next to him, but I couldn’t figure out where to put my head with his arm up there like that. It either has to go on his arm or against his chest. Both options will bring us even closer together.

Or I could scoot down really far so that I’m underneath his arm but not touching it which would really look stupid. I try a few variations of those options and finally decided to just rest the back of my head against his chest.

“Are you good now?” he asks, laughing at me.

“Yes. Now stop talking, so I can hear the movie.”

His arm slides down around me, and we watch the rest of the film. I don’t know why I’m trying to pretend I don’t like him. We both know this friendship is starting to go somewhere. I’m just not sure where that is.