The cold, winter air rolled in through the open window. I jumped up to close it, tripping over at least three things in doing so.
"Yeah... what was I talking about?" I asked over my shoulder whilst battling with the rusty window hinge, desperately trying to shove it closed.
"How Cage the Elephant is just a cheap copy of White Stripes," he prompted.
"That's right. So, basically, what I'm trying to get at is... Cage the Elephant is just a cheap copy of White
Stripes." I plopped myself back down on my bed, leaning onto my hefty sized Marvin the Martian pillow. The same argument started back up.
"It is not! Not at all!" he replied, though a sly smile that he just couldn't keep out of his features meant that it wasn't a real fight. A grin crept up my face. Debates were the more common among us. "They have their own style," he petulantly retorted, "What about 'In One Ear'? You can't imagine Jack writing that, now can you?"
I gaped. "That's the one that sounds most like it should be a Stripes song. Seriously... listen to the first lyrics." I ran over to the old boom box in the corner of my room and dragged it onto the bed, plugging it in and slotting in the CD. I pressed play and the beginning, shallow chords began to play, when in came the guitar riff. When the words came in, I pointedly lifted a brow at him. He plastered an indignant look on his face.
"Ok, fine. That does sound a little bit Jack White." He emphasised his point by displaying said 'little bit' between his thumb and forefinger. "An eensy-weensy bit."
"Come on. You have to agree that it's a total beg of Jack White."
"It is not."
"It totally is."
"Is not."
"Is."
"Not."
"Is, too."
"Is not."
"Is, too."
"Is not."
"Is too."
"Shut up," he finally cried out, swiftly bursting out in laughter. "Good God... you're so juvenile!" I pointed to myself in mock shock.
"Me? You started it."
"No, you did."
"No, you did."
"No, you did."
"Ok, ok... enough already," I choked out. My whole body was aching with laughter, and I was nearly in tears. His phone began to ring and the Ghostbusters theme came from his pocket. "You're kidding me? That's your ringtone? Epic." It really was epic. Ghostbusters was just made of win.
"I know. She kept on trying to change it to 'Chontelle'." He rolled his eyes and put his finger up to his mouth, gesturing towards the boom box, which I turned down before he picked up the call. "Hey, hun... I'm at Bella's... why is my breathing so laboured? Oh, you know, I've just been sexing Bella..." He laughed at the obvious joke whilst screeching came from the other end, loud enough for me to hear. He held the phone away from his ear for a few seconds. Everytime he tried bringing it back, he flinched away in horror. After a few minutes, the voice calmed somewhat. "It was... come on... It was just a joke. You know Bella's been my best friend since I was five. I could never 'sex her'..." After a few minutes of idle conversation, he hung up. I knew it was a joke, but I honestly wanted him to 'sex me' so much it was painful. I swiftly changed the tone of my thoughts from unfulfilled desires to tomorrow's homework.
"So... tomorrow that essay on 'Much Ado' is due in right?" I asked. He nodded, still looking slightly upset. I knew I should comfort him, make him less tense... but the only way of comforting and releasing tension I could think of was hardly appropriate, so I settled for patting him on the back for a few minutes whilst rambling about a Klaxons gig next week. He seemed to calm down at my words, however meaningless, and eventually turned round and gave me a hug.
"Thanks, Bella."
"No problem... you know I never pass up the chance to jibba-jabba," I joked, doing a perfect impression of Mister T. He chuckled and lay back down on my bed. He looked good there. He looked right. I smiled down at him.
"Can I stay here tonight again? Rose is staying for the weekend and Emmett's wild howls of pleasure are just not contained by those soundproof walls I had installed." He batted his eyelashes in a childish manner. I agreed. It was impossible to disagree when he did his Puss in Boots, wide eyed plea. "I'll sleep on the floor tonight if you want."
"Nah, that's all right." I don't think I could stand to have him so close yet so far. I would never sleep. Then again, I probably wouldn't sleep with him next to me either. I patted the bed. "There's plenty of room on this for us." And there was. I may have lived in a small house, but my bed was huge. I was kind of wishing it were smaller. "Oh. I call the wall side." He looked confused. "I always sleep with my back against the wall. It's a thing I do. Don't look baffled, you've seen me do it before."
"Fair play." He nodded and rolled over, leaving me my space. I laid down, slightly uncomfortable, but perfectly placed.
"Damn. Forgot to turn off the light." I made to stand up, but he leapt up before I could.
"I got it." He flicked off the switch and lay back down.
“Thanks, Jazz." He turned on his side to face me, snuggled into the blanket and grinned. Half of his face was covered in moonlight. It was perfection. He was perfection.
"No problem."
