Chapter 295
**Sara**
Jessica bounced up from the couch, reaching for the remote. "Now that we've solved Sara's commitment issues - who's up for a movie?"
"I should probably head home." I stretched, joints popping from sitting too long. "It's getting late."
"Late?" Emily checked her phone. "It's barely ten! Come on, stay. We haven't had a proper girls' night in forever."
"Yeah, not since someone started spending all her free time with Professor-" Jessica caught my glare and cleared her throat. "I mean, Tom."
"I'm just tired." I gathered my purse, but Emily blocked my path to the door.
"It's the weekend! No work tomorrow. Stay."
Jessica's lips curled into a wicked grin. "Oh, I get it. You want to go sleep in his bed, don't you? Wrap yourself in those expensive sheets. Maybe get a little personal time while thinking about-"
"Jessica!" My face burned hot enough to fry an egg.
"What?" She batted her eyelashes innocently. "I'm just saying, those Egyptian cotton sheets must feel really nice against bare skin while you're thinking about his-"
I clapped my hands over my ears. "La la la, not listening!"
"Hands?" Emily suggested helpfully.
"Or his mouth?" Jessica wiggled her eyebrows.
"I hate you both so much right now."
"No, you don't." Jessica patted the couch. "Now sit your thirsty ass down and watch a movie with us. Your professor's mattress can wait."
"Fine." I dropped back onto the couch. "But I'm just going to sleep there. That's all."
"Sleep. Right." Jessica snorted. "Because that's totally what I'd do if I had access to a billionaire's empty apartment."
"Some of us have self-control." I kicked off my shoes, tucking my feet under me.
"Self-control is overrated." Jessica flopped beside me. "If it were me, I'd walk right in, strip down to nothing, and spread myself all over those thousand-dollar sheets."
"Jessica!"
"What?" She grinned. "Those Egyptian cotton threads deserve some skin-to-skin contact. And while I'm there, maybe I'd let my hands wander a little..." She trailed her fingers down her neck suggestively.
"Oh my god, stop!" I buried my face in a cushion.
"Think about it - all alone in his big empty bed, surrounded by his scent..." She lowered her voice to a husky whisper. "Wouldn't your fingers just naturally drift down-"
I smacked her with the cushion. "I am not having this conversation!"
"Fine, fine!" She held up her hands in surrender. "Go be boring and actually sleep. But don't blame me when you're lying there all hot and bothered, thinking about what could've been."
"I'm leaving now." I stood up, gathering my things again.
"Oh, come on!" Emily blocked the door with her body. "The bed will still be there tomorrow. And the next day. And the next-"
"Move." I tried to sidestep her.
"Nope." She planted her feet wider. "You're staying. We're watching a movie. And you're going to enjoy it."
"Em-"
"Don't 'Em' me." She crossed her arms. "When's the last time we had a proper girls' night? Without you checking your phone every five minutes to see if Professor Hottie texted?"
"I do not check-" My hand froze halfway to my pocket.
"Ha!" Jessica pointed at me from the couch. "Busted!"
"Fine." I dropped my purse. "One movie. But nothing romantic."
"Horror it is!" Jessica bounced up to grab the remote.
"Wait, no-"
"Too late!" She was already scrolling through Netflix. "Ooh, how about 'The Haunting of Hill House'?"
"That's a series," Emily pointed out.
"Fine. 'The Conjuring'?"
I shook my head. "Seen it."
"'Insidious'?"
"No dolls or possessed children."
"Picky, picky." Jessica kept scrolling. "'The Ritual'?"
Emily wrinkled her nose. "The one with the weird forest monster?"
"'A Quiet Place'?"
"Already watched it with Tom." The words slipped out before I could stop them.
Jessica's head whipped around. "You watched a horror movie with him? When?"
"Last month?" I sank deeper into the couch. "It wasn't a big deal."
"Not a big deal?" Emily plopped down beside me. "Did you do the whole 'oh, I'm so scared, hold me closer' thing?"
"No!"
"Liar." Jessica grinned. "I bet you jumped at every little sound."
"I did not!" I had, but they didn't need to know that. "Can we just pick a movie?"
"Fine." Jessica's thumb kept moving. "Oh! 'The Babadook'?"
"NO!" Emily and I shouted in unison.
"You guys are impossible." She kept scrolling. "'The Thing'?"
"The old one or the remake?"
"Original, duh. I'm not a heathen."
I nodded. "That works."
"Finally!" Jessica hit play and dimmed the lights. "Now shut up and watch Kurt Russell fight an alien."
Twenty minutes in, I was already regretting my choice. The Antarctic setting made me pull a blanket tighter around my shoulders, and every creak in Jessica's apartment had me jumping.
"You okay there?" Emily whispered as I flinched at another jump scare.
"Fine." My voice came out higher than intended. "Totally fine."
"Sure you are." Jessica snickered. "That's why you're strangling that poor cushion."
I loosened my death grip on the throw pillow. "I just don't like the dog scene."
"Nobody likes the dog scene." Emily patted my knee. "Want me to fast forward?"
"No, I can handle it." I pulled the blanket up to my chin. "I'm an adult."
"An adult who's about to pee herself," Jessica muttered.
"Shut up."
The movie continued, and I managed to make it through without completely embarrassing myself—though I did scream once when the neighbor's cat knocked something over in the kitchen.
"Some adult you are." Jessica teased as the credits rolled.
"Hey, that was a legitimate startle!" I threw my cushion at her. "Anyone would've screamed."
"Sure, sure." She caught the cushion. "Just like anyone would've climbed into their professor's lap during 'A Quiet Place,' right?"
My face burned. "I did not-"
"Save it for someone who believes you." Emily stretched. "We all know what happens when you watch scary movies."
"Nothing happens!" I hugged the cushion to my chest. "I just get a little jumpy."
"A little?" Jessica snorted. "Remember when we watched 'The Ring' and you made us check your TV was unplugged?"
"That was different! I was going through a phase."
"That phase being your entire life?" Emily checked her phone. "So, are you really going to book a cab and go to his place now?"
"I mean..." I fidgeted with the blanket's edge. "It's not that late."
"Ooh, she needs to go now." Jessica waggled her eyebrows. "Or else she'll miss her scheduled appointment with her fingers and those fancy sheets."
"Jessica!" I threw the blanket at her. "I wasn't planning anything like that!"
"Your face says otherwise." She dodged the blanket. "Look at that blush. Classic guilty face."
"I'm not- There's no-" I spluttered. "I was just going to sleep!"
"Sleep. Right." Emily nodded solemnly. "Because that's exactly what I'd do alone in a billionaire's apartment. Just sleep."
"That is what I'm going to do!" I grabbed my phone. "You know what? I'll stay here just to prove it."
"Aw, don't let us stop you from your plans." Jessica's grin turned wicked. "Those Egyptian cotton sheets are waiting."
"No plans!" I tossed my phone aside. "I'm staying here on this couch and going to sleep. Just sleep. Nothing else."
"Boring!" Jessica threw a piece of popcorn at me. "At least admit you were thinking about it."
"I admit nothing." I caught the popcorn and popped it in my mouth. "Now shut up and let me sleep."
"Fine. But when you're lying awake tonight thinking about what could've been..."
"La la la, not listening!" I covered my ears with the cushion.
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