A Fresh Start

THE NEXT MORNING

Ulrich dressed quickly before heading towards the vending machines where the gang usually met in the mornings, when I got there I could only see Odd and I immediately rushed over to him ignoring his surprised look.

"Have you seen Jeremy?" I asked him.

"No... Not this morning I haven't. I thought you weren't talking to us any ways?" Odd told me bluntly.

I quickly showed him the note and told him about last night and the tape. We both started to look for him and Odd text Yumi to see if she knew of Jeremy's whereabouts. It was with great surprise that we found Jeremy as he was sitting on a bench chatting happily to Cissy. We shared a surprised look before deciding to wait for Jeremy to find us.

After a while just before the bell rang Jeremy and Cissy rose from the bench and with a hug goodbye Jeremy headed towards us and Cissy walked to where Herve and Carl were waiting for her with jealous glares. Jeremy blushed when he reached us and averted his eyes choosing to look at the ground instead.

"We need to talk after class." I whispered as we entered the science class room. I saw Jeremy nod as we went to our separate desks. After a long lecture on photosynthesis class finally ended and I rushed out to corner Jeremy. We both told Odd where we would be and headed towards Jeremy's room. Cissy passed us and gave Jeremy a knowing wink that made him blush and I felt an irrational surge of jealousy before I squashed it down reminding myself of yesterday's disaster.

When we entered his room I turned him around so he was pressed softly against the door. He blushed a nice shade of red which I admired for a while before I leaned closer, I pressed a light kiss to his temple before summoning my courage to talk to him levelly and to ask for his answer.

"I am sorry for my reaction yesterday but I am an extremely jealous person. If you'll be mine then I promise I'll always come and talk to you before jumping to conclusions." I vowed.

Jeremy gave me a beaming smile. "I'd like that."

I gave him a gentle peck on the lips and when he didn't protest I leaned in for a longer more passionate kiss. I gently swiped my tongue against his lips amused when he gave a light whimper and opened for me, I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing but I think I improvised fairly well as Jeremy was breathless when we parted. I made a mental note to get out some books an technique for future reference.

"Wow." Jeremy said with wide eyes, he touched a hand to his lips and gave me a shy smile.

I pulled him over to the bed surprised when he tried to pull away slightly. I pushed him gently onto his bed and lay so that I was half on top of him and half on the bed as I leaned in to give him another passionate kiss and was pleased when he accepted. I moved so that I was straddling him with our lips still connected. I gently ran a hand up his side hoping to soothe his slight shaking and I was startled when he pushed at my chest. I moved away slightly noting the panicked look in his eyes.

"I can't, I'm not ready." He whispered in a soft voice.

I gave him a puzzled look. "Not ready for what?"

"For, for that. For intercourse." He said in an ashamed tone.

I blinked at him owlishly then blinked again slowly before chuckling softly. "You thought-?" I asked with little giggles not noticing his affronted and hurt expression.

"You were... and I thought..." He said getting flustered as I laughed harder.

When I stopped laughing I noticed the tears in his eyes and wondered what I had said now. Jeremy turned away from me and I took that as a dismissal. I still wasn't sure what had happened as one minute things were great then Jeremy was acting funny and when I tried to lighten the mood he started to act all gloomy, when Odd returned to the room I decided to tell him what had happened (minus a few details) and to see what he thought had happened.

"Are you stupid?" Odd practically yelled at me when I had finished. "Of course he was giving you the cold shoulder you as good as told him that he was undesirable."

"What? Why would he think that?" I was astounded.

"When he was feeling insecure about how far you were willing to go you laughed at him for even thinking that you would want to do it with him. That's what he would think you meant when you laughed." Odd finished before leaving the room to find Jeremy.

I sat there for a moment thinking through what I had just learnt as I realised that Odd was right and that yet again I had messed things up, it was quite conceivable that I would want to be with Jeremy like that as I did have him pinned to the bed and my hands were roaming his body... I decided it would be better to apologise now rather than let Jeremy decide against being my boyfriend when we had just gotten together. I walked towards Jeremy's room, when I reached the door I overheard him talking to Odd and eavesdropped on them peeking through the slightly open door.

"Why am I so undesirable?" I heard Jeremy ask and my heart lurched at the sad tone to his voice.

"You are desirable Jeremy, lots of people think you're hot!" Odd said cheerfully.

"Thanks Odd but we both know that's not true. The only person who's ever been interested in me was Ulrich but even he doesn't want me." I was ready to walk in and correct him when Odd suddenly turned serious and leaned towards Jeremy.

"I think you're attractive." Odd said and I felt my jealousy surge.

"No you don't. If you did then..." Jeremy trailed off and I pushed the door open slightly to get a better look.

What I saw made me feel incredibly sad and jealous beyond belief. Jeremy was sitting in his chair opposite the bed and leaning over the chair was Odd. Odd was kissing Jeremy. ODD was kissing Jeremy. Odd was KISSING Jeremy. I saw red and was ready to turn away and cut all ties with them when Jeremy pushed Odd away.

"I can't Odd, I just can't." And Jeremy started to cry. "I think I love him."

At that confession I moved into the room ignoring Odd's guilty expression and Jeremy's shocked one. "I think I love you too Jeremy."

Odd quickly excused himself from the room shooting one last look at Jeremy before closing the door. I pulled Jeremy into my arms and smothered anything he was trying to say with a chaste kiss. I pulled away and merely held him in my arms for a while happy when he made no sound or movement.

"I'm sorry Ulrich." Jeremy said.

"Why?"

"Because I allowed Odd to kiss me." Jeremy gave me a guilty look. "I kissed him back for a minute hoping to forget you but..."

I swallowed my jealously. "I'm the one who should be sorry for being so insensitive." I finally managed.