Chapter 10: Just Friends?

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After Grimmjow had left I had immediately gone upstairs to take a shower. I had to peel my panties off, because they were so wet from our encounter… it was so strange… I had never been so turned on before. And at the same time, I had been frightened. That was only the second kiss that I had ever had. How the hell had it gotten so intense? While I was pushing him away and telling him to stop, my body was wanting him… and that scared me. I hadn't wanted anything like that to happen with him… and it had been so nerve-wracking… but part of me was excited by it… what the hell was I supposed to make of this?

He promised that he wouldn't get carried away like that again… and his sharp, blue eyes had been so sincere that I believed him… but that experience had me so conflicted and confused. Could I ever be comfortable around him when he had made me feel this way? I sighed, letting the hot water run over me. I felt so damn flustered!

With a groan, I stepped out of the shower and dried off. I had made sure to close all of the curtains before I had gotten in, so I was able to walk around my bedroom to get dressed in my pajamas. I sat down on my bed to brush my hair. I saw that my phone was blinking, so I picked it up to check it…

FROM GRIMMJOW: I see you closed your curtains… I won't lie, I'm pretty disappointed.

My stomach flipped. Damn him!

TO GRIMMJOW: I had to put an end to your creepy peeping ways :P

FROM GRIMMJOW: Does that mean that you won't be peeping on me anymore, either? Cause that's also very disappointing…

I blushed. As if I'd ever peeped on him!

TO GRIMMJOW: I've never peeped on you!

FROM GRIMMJOW: Must have been dreaming then…

I bit my lip.

TO GRIMMJOW: Goodnight, Mr. Balcony Creeper.

FROM GRIMMJOW: Aw, come on. Just give me one peek before you go to bed.

I blushed harder.

TO GRIMMJOW: NO!

FROM GRIMMJOW: Ha Ha. Nothing dirty! I just wanna see your gorgeous, bruised up face…

I frowned. Then figured that he probably wouldn't shut up until I at least waved at him or something… so I stepped over to the balcony doors and pulled the curtains aside, opened the doors, and stepped out onto the balcony. My eyes met his, and my breath caught in my throat. He was standing on his balcony, leaning against the railing casually and smoking a cigarette. This time, he had the light on so that I could see him clearly. He was wearing black silk pants… and nothing else. His upper body was so muscular and well sculpted… his biceps were protrusive… his torso was firm… his abs were packed perfectly… there was a nice, pointed "v" leading down into his low-hanging pants… damn… was I drooling?

He chuckled. "Like what ya see, babe?"

I looked away quickly, down at the ground. "You said nothing dirty…" I mumbled.

He laughed, then. "Well, if you wanna take your shirt off… then we could be even."

"Grimmjow!" I shouted his name in shock, blushing as I did.

He laughed harder. "I'm just kidding, babe." Then he took a long drag from his cigarette. "Besides... if anyone's gonna be taking your shirt off, it's gonna be me." He said smoothly, a smirk on his face.

I grit my teeth and turned around. "Goodnight, Grimmjow!"

"Wait!" He called out, trying not to laugh again.

I sighed and stopped, but didn't turn around.

"I'm sorry, babe." There was humor in his voice. "You're just so fun to tease…"

I glared at him over my shoulder. "Well I don't think that it's fun! And I'd appreciate it if you'd stop calling me babe."

"Fine." He took another puff of his cigarette, then gave me a big grin. "Goodnight, Juna. Sweet dreams."

I stopped glaring and actually smiled… because he just looked so… charming… "Goodnight, Grimmjow." Then I stuck my tongue out at him playfully. "For real this time."

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My alarm hadn't even gone off yet when my phone started ringing. I picked it up and saw Yumichika's face flashing across the screen. I hit the answer button.

"Hello?" My voice was sleepy and confused.

"Juna! I'm on my way over! And I have makeup!" He announced, sounding as if it were a life or death situation.

I rubbed my eyes. "Makeup?"

"Yes!" I could practically hear him rolling his eyes. "To help cover that atrocious bruise on your face."

"Oh…" I mumbled, still only partially understanding.

"So be ready! I'm almost there!" And then he hung up before anything else could be said.

I stretched out in my bed, trying to comprehend what was going on… Yumichika was coming over… with makeup… I groaned. I guessed I should get up, then. I rolled out of the bed and into my washroom. When I was finished in there, I went downstairs to start on breakfast. I had just finished when the doorbell rang. I rushed to the door and opened it to see an enthusiastic Yumichika dragging along a grumbling Ikkaku.

I giggled as I let them in. "Breakfast is in the kitchen."

"Hell, yeah!" Ikkaku exclaimed happily and took off running.

"Eat quickly!" Yumichika ordered. "We have work to do!"

I had to blink before I realized that he was talking to me. And as soon as we were finished, Yumichika dragged me up to my room and sat me down, whipping out a huge makeup bag. He worked like some sort of professional artist painting on my face. I winced a few times when he blended stuff over my bruise, and he reprimanded me for not holding still… but when he was done, the bruise was hardly noticeable at all. He had even applied some eyeshadow, blending a mixture of lavender, green, and golden tan over my eyelids. I was pretty amazed at what he could do. And he was very satisfied with his work.

"Thanks, Yumi. This is so sweet of you!" I gushed as I looked in the mirror.

He grinned happily, very proud of himself. "Well I couldn't let that horrendous bruise ruin your lovely face!"

I grinned back. I got dressed in my school uniform and we went back downstairs to find Ikkaku passed out on the couch, covered in cookie crumbs and snoring like a beast… Yumichika glared at his friend while I just giggled.

"I guess he found my uncle's homemade cookies…"

"Damned idiot…" Yumichika grumbled, kicking him awake.

And then we grabbed Rukia from across the street and all walked to school together.

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"Oh, my!" The high pitched voice sent chills down my spine. "Juna, my sweet! You're looking extra lovely today!" The crazy redhead then proceeded to launch herself at me, her arms outstretched and fingers twitching as she prepared to grab at me.

I leapt to the side, barely managing to dodge her.

Tatsuki chased after her, trying to stop the assault. "Chizuru! How many times do I have to tell you to stop that?!"

Chizuru just giggled as she continued to chase after me. It wasn't until Tatsuki got her into a headlock that she finally stopped. I had found some safety in hiding behind Shuuhei, panting from the running that I had done.

He looked down at me, chuckling in amusement. "You look nice today."

I smiled up at him. "Thank you."

"You really do!" Rangiku agreed with him, coming closer. "Are you wearing makeup?"

I nodded. "Yumi did it for me."

"Oh? What's the occasion?" Uryuu asked curiously.

I shrugged, not really wanting to explain to everyone that I had a bruise on my face.

But Rukia answered anyway. "He was covering up the bruise that she got from falling down the stairs."

Luckily, there wasn't any time for anyone to comment before Mrs. Ochi walked in and everyone had to scramble to their seats.

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The first part of the day sort of flew by and now we were eating lunch together. And Keigo was completely distraught that we had hung out at my house without him…

"How could you guys?!" He was whining as he pulled on Ichigo's arm.

"Jeez, Keigo… it wasn't intentional." Ichigo grumbled, shaking Keigo off of his arm.

"But you all left me out again!" Keigo kept whining. Then he grabbed onto Mizuiro. "Aren't you upset that they left you out, too?!"

Mizuiro shrugged, playing on his phone. "Not really."

Keigo threw his head back as if all hope was lost. Then he crawled over to me. "Juna! You're supposed to be the nice one! How could you have a party and not invite me?!"

I kinda felt sorry for him… "I'm sorry, Keigo… It wasn't really a party. And I didn't invite anyone… they just showed up." I tried to comfort him, but that only seemed to make it worse.

He started crying and sobbing into my skirt. "Oh, sweet, beautiful Juna! Why didn't you call me?!"

Renji punched him in the head, knocking him off of me. "Give it a rest already!"

I frowned. Poor Keigo…

The bell rang for us to go back to class, and Renji helped me to my feet. We walked beside each other on our way back.

"So… what's the deal with that Grimmjow guy?" He asked, strangely serious all of a sudden.

I gave him a confused look. "What do you mean? He's my next door neighbor… and my friend."

"Just your friend?" He pressed, still all serious.

I sighed. What was with people asking me questions like this? "As much of a friend as you are, I guess."

He didn't seem to like my answer.

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School was over and we had all decided to head to the café. But as I was walking out of the building with everyone, I caught sight of something familiar… first it was the vivid blue hair… then the matching eyes, lit with amusement… then the devious grin stretched across the masculine jaw… and my heart fluttered. Grimmjow. He was leaning casually against his car, dressed in jeans and a button up shirt, but it was left unbuttoned over a muscle shirt, and he was smoking a cigarette. He gave me a wink when he saw me. I bit my lip as the butterflies swarmed in my stomach.

"Whoa. Who is that?" Rangiku mumbled.

"That's Grimmjow…" I answered her, sounding breathless.

"Oh… Grimmjow, huh?" She gave me a suggestive smile.

I ignored her. After gathering my courage, I made a move to walk over to him… but Renji stopped me by grabbing my wrist.

"What are you doing?" He muttered.

I looked at him, wondering why he was stopping me. "I'm going to talk to him."

"Why?" Renji pressed, clearly upset about something.

I gently pulled away from him. "Because he's obviously here for a reason. I want to find out why…"

I ignored the way that everyone was looking at me and walked over to Grimmjow. He was still grinning devilishly at me. I stood in front of him and tilted my head as I looked up at him.

"Hey, babe." He lifted a hand to cup my cheek, then pressed his lips to mine in a quick kiss.

I was surprised by his actions… especially since everyone was watching. And I immediately blushed. "Grimmjow!"

He chuckled. "What? Would you rather I grab your ass? 'Cause I was considering that…"

I stared up at him in horror, flushing with embarrassment. He couldn't be serious… "Wh-What are you doing here?!" I stuttered out.

"I came to pick you up from school of course." He said it like it was obvious, taking a drag from his cigarette.

I huffed. "Well I don't need a ride."

"I didn't think you needed one. I just felt like giving you one." He leaned down so that his face was in mine.

"But I'm not even going home. I'm going to the café with my friends." I argued back, trying not to grimace at the smell of his cigarette.

He shrugged. "Then I'll go with you."

My breath caught in my throat. "Wh-Why?"

He rolled his eyes, puffing out some smoke. "Because I feel like it."

I sighed. "So are you going to walk with me, then?"

"Hell no." He snorted. "We're still going to take my car."

I pouted. "But I want to walk with my friends."

He groaned. "They can meet us there."

I was completely baffled as to why he was doing this. I watched him as he took another puff, inhaling deeply and breathing out the toxic smoke… "That's really gross, ya know."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Smoking…" I mumbled, taken aback by the way he was looking at me. "It's gross…"

His eyes widened at my words, and then he started laughing. "Damn, babe… you are so fucking cute…"

I sighed, slightly annoyed at his laughter. "It's not funny! And stop calling me babe!"

He calmed his laughter and gave me a smirk. "Yeah, yeah… so are we going or what?"

"Why? So you can suffocate me with your deadly fumes?" I gave him a mild glare.

He let out a chuckle. "Relax, babe. I never smoke in the car."

I sighed, realizing that he wasn't going to let this go… "Fine…" I mumbled. "Gimme a sec."

I walked back over to my friends. "So, uh… I'm gonna ride to the café with Grimmjow… and I'll see you guys there."

"Oooooh!" Rangiku wiggled her brows at me. "So someone's got a new boy toy, huh?!"

I blushed at her antics. "It's not like that!"

"Oh, come on, Juna! You can tell me!" She insisted, coming close and wrapping her arms around me.

I sighed at her. "We can talk about it later, Rangiku…"

"So there is something!" She squealed happily, squeezing me tighter.

"No!" I pushed her off of me. "That's not what I meant!"

She just laughed at me.

"Okay, well, text me all the details, okay?!" Rukia crowded in, eyes alight with enthusiasm.

"Ooh, text me, too! Make it a group text!" Rangiku chimed back in.

"Fine…" I grumbled, preparing to walk back over to Grimmjow.

"I don't think that you should go with him." Renji intervened, sounding unhappy.

I gave him a questioning look. "Why not?"

Ikkaku laughed obnoxiously. "'Cause our redhead here wants you for himself!"

Renji punched Ikkaku in the face. "Shut up, baldy!"

"What'd you say?!" Ikkaku shouted before punching him back.

And then they started fighting… I used the opportunity to sneak away.