I turn to him, screwing up my face in confusion. “What?”
“Is it just meant to be a family nickname or something?” He’s lying on his back and turns his head on the pillow so we’re eye to eye. “I didn’t mean to upset you, I thought everyone called you that. If it’s just a family thing, I’m sorry I overstepped.”
“Jake,” I huff, letting frustration get the better of me. “I don’t likeanyonecalling me fat, don’t take it personally.”
“What?” He jerks back, outraged. “I didn’t call you fat!”
“What do you think Nelly-Belly means?” I whisper hiss to avoid screeching like an errant child.
“It’s just a cute nickname. It doesn’t meanthat.” His confidence in his own words seems to dwindle throughout his statement. If I wasn’t dying for this conversation to just be over, I’d find his furrowed brow and the way his eyes dart about as though he’s trying to figure out a puzzle very cute.
“It’s the nickname Harry gave me when I was twelve years old and I dared to wear a bikini for the first time on holiday. He kept following me around, poking my stomach, and shouting Nelly-Belly. Then he kept it up at home where you and all his little rugby mates caught on and started calling me Nelly-Belly. Then everyone at school got the memo. One guy from my year went to the same university as me and although I was thankful to have someone I knew around, he called me Nelly-Belly on a night out and everyone thought it was cute and funny, so at university I was Nelly-Belly for the three years until I graduated. I should be thankful really, I mean Nelly-Belly was one of the better ones. Beats Nelly the Elephant, Penelope Pig, or the old classic, Fatty.”
Jake looks disgusted. I probably shouldn’t be bringing his attention to my jiggly stomach when he has to share a bed with me, I don’t want to gross him out. Still, I wrap up my speech.
“So, yeah. Any of our mutual acquaintances probably know me as Nelly-Belly but I have spent long enough with my own friends who just know me as Nel now that it’s jarring to come back to Nelly-Belly. I was prepared for it when we were at Harry’s, but I was expecting to be coming back to my own hotel room where I could be Nel again. And honestly, I need the break. So please, just while we’re here, don’t call me that.” I think I’m keeping the pain out of my eyes, hoping he can’t see any tears and that my voice is strong enough.
It’s hard to remain neutral when today has been one blow after the other. First, I had to start celebrations for my first Christmas without my parents. Then I was reintroduced to my brother’s teasing in a crowd of people I hardly know, which was only worsened by the fact that my childhood crush was there and will be here for the whole frigging holiday. On top of that, I have to share a hotel room with said crush when all I wanted to do at the end of the day is decompress in my own company. And the cherry on top of the nightmare sundae? I have now had to explain to that crush how the cutesy little nickname he’s been calling me for sixteen years actually hurts my feelings, because I’m fat. A fact he probably doesn’t need brought to his attention.
God, I wish I was at my Mum and Dad’s house right now, lying in my childhood bed, staring up at the Chris Hemsworth poster on my ceiling. I wish I could hear them downstairs bickering about how loud the TV is, Mum telling Dad to turn it down or they’d keep me up. I wish I was full of Mum’s steak and ale pie that she always made, and Dad’s festive mash potatoes, which were just made with double cream instead of milk. Because Mum and Dad were firm believers that Christmas meant doubling calories for the pure Hell of it. I wish I was safe in assuming that Dad would poke his head in my bedroom door before he came to bed to ‘check on me’ even though I’m a grown woman and hear him whisper ‘love you Nels’ before pulling my door closed. And just like that, a tear slips free and trails over my temple.
Jake looks at me with a pained expression. Is that pity? “Nel…”
“Night, Jake.” I turn over again so he can’t see my face and I concentrate on keeping my breathing even and quiet so he can’t hear me cry.
There’s a minute of silence before he sighs and I feel the bed move as he turns over. “Goodnight, Nel.”
CHAPTER SIX
“I amnotyour brother.”
NEL
I’m hot. Okay, this is beyond hot, I’msweltering. The blankets have become a furnace in the night, and I try to kick them off only to find my legs pinned. I panic for a second thinking I have somehow woken up without the use of my extremities until realisation slowly rises like the dawn outside. I’m not wrapped in the blankets; I’m being hugged like a koala by Jake. My face is right in the centre of his chest, both his arms holding me there as his chin rests on the top of my head, one of his legs is over my hip, the other between my knees.How the Hell did we get into this position?I’m a heavy sleeper and don’t normally move much in the night, but I distinctly remember falling asleep with a good two feet of mattress between us.
I try to wriggle free so I can get to the bathroom when something twitches against my hip.Oh shit. Jake Partridge has morning wood, and I just rubbed up against it. He groans in his sleep, his fingers flexing against my back as he moves his face down to bury in my hair. When one hand slowly strokes down my back and doesn’t stop until he has a handful of my arse and squeezes, my eyes practically bulge out of their sockets.
“Uh…Jake?”
He mutters incoherently.
“Jake you’re kind of groping me a little bit.” I wriggle against him again, trying to free myself from his vice like grip and this time his moan is overtly sexual.
His eyes flick open and those beautiful irises stare at me, both of us still and silent for a moment. He blinks a few times as he comes round and puts together the scene. “Sorry,” he mumbles.
“That’s okay.” I swallow. “You can…uh…you can take your hand off my butt now.”
He retracts his hand as if I’d burned him and rolls to his back, untangling us so I’m free to crawl out of bed and into the bathroom, grabbing what I need from my case on the way.
I shower and wash my hair, twisting it into a thick braid so it dries into waves before I work on my makeup. I can still feel where Jake’s hand was on my behind and the feel of his hard-on against my front. That’s just nature, Nel. It has nothing to do with you,calm the Hell down. Once I’m happy with my eyeliner and have applied my new ‘Festive Berry’ lipstick that I treated myself to while doing Christmas shopping, I head back into the room. I try to avoid eye contact so Jake can’t see the blush in my cheeks, and it’s easier than you might think because his eyes are the last thing on my mind. Jake has removed his pyjamas in preparation for his shower and is stood checking his phone in nothing but a pair of light grey boxers. He’s all thick thighs, bulging biceps, and amazing abs. Teachers are not meant to look that good.
“It’s uh, it’s all yours,” I say, trying to find something interesting on the carpet to focus on.
“Thanks,” his voice is rough from sleep. He rolls his towel and heads towards me, to the bathroom. “Oh, and Nel?”
“Yeah?” I still don’t look in his eye as I wait for him to apologise for groping me.
“Don’t feel bad for staring.” Uh…what?“I kind of like it when you look at me like that.” He winks at me again. Holy shit, that does funny things to my nether regions. And he likes it when I…I wasn’t…what?
