"Stacey! Stacey!" Jay hoped she was at home as he continued pounding at her door. To find himself here just goes to show how desperate he was because he had acted like a jerk to her the last time they had spoken but he knew that she would never leave him stranded. She was way too kind even for her good. He sent a silent prayer of gratitude when he saw the lights coming on. He secretly hoped that she would be alone because he just wasn't ready to be met by some guy. He was instantly so relieved when she answered the door herself. His joy soon turned into an unexplainable rage when he took in her appearance.
"How dare you answer the door dressed like that?" he exploded.
"Excuse me?" she replied with equal rage blazing in her hazel-coloured eyes before she slammed the door closed and heard her retreating steps.
"Stacey, Stacey! Gosh, I'm so sorry. Please come back! Stacey, Stacey!" He continued his relentless knocking until eventually, she came back in her same attire.
"If it wasn't out of respect for my neighbours I would have ignored you. What do you want?" She said blocking his way into her apartment and he had to force himself to maintain eye contact considering she was wearing the smallest pyjama shorts he had ever seen.
"Can I come in?"
"Why? You wish to further express your disapproval over my choice of nightwear?"
"I apologise for saying that. You just caught me by surprise and it isn't safe for you to answer the door wearing such sexy clothes."
"Is that what you came here to say I would very much like to go back to bed." She said looking even more annoyed and he was struck by how ungrateful he was being considered he was the one knocking at her door after midnight and she was starting to shiver and he was sure a certain part of her body would be getting hard from the chill outside and he would rather not see that if he was going to keep his hands to himself after all he was very much a hot-blooded male.
"Please may we talk inside? The police might not be so understanding"
"The sooner I hear you out, the sooner you leave." She mumbled as she closed the door after him. She disappeared into one of the rooms and he was relieved when she came back wearing a morning gown.
"What do you want?" she inquired as she sat on the couches in the living room.
"I need a place to crash for a few days at least. I was passing through on my way to see my mum in the next town and heard there was an immediate nationwide curfew and I don't have anywhere to go."
"You must be joking right?" she said immediately switching on the tv and turning to one of the news channels and hearing the news being announced before turning to two more channels that just confirmed what he had just said.
"Why didn't you just check into a hotel or something?"
"I tried but all the hotels are fully booked, including all the motels."
"Well, this is so unfortunate. Will discuss this further at a more humane hour. Let me show you to the guest room." She said yawning and he felt bad for waking her up.
"There you go. There should be a spare toothbrush and towels in the bathroom. I'm off to bed."
"Thank you so much, I know I don't deserve it all."
"Yeah whatever, Goodnight." She said closing the door after herself. She was way too tired to think about her new guest. She simply removed her morning gown and pyjama shorts and got into bed muttering how weird this dream was.
The next morning...
'I thought I was done dreaming about him and last night's one felt so real, aaargh!!!' Stacey thought to herself as she woke up and looked around for her phone. She heard a knock on her bedroom door and suddenly realized that she wasn't dreaming after all.
"What do you want?"
"Please may I come in? This tray is becoming heavier by the second" She quickly fixed her covers as she was still naked from the waist downwards.
"Tray? Come in."
"I thought I should apologise for my stupid comments last night." He said placing a tray with breakfast on her bed.
"Thanks for the coffee. I need it before any conversation with you." She said lifting the mug.
"I can leave you to eat in peace."
"That won't be necessary plus I won't be able to finish all this alone." The two ate in awkward silence until eventually, Jay couldn't take it any longer
"I'm sorry for last night and for the last time we spoke."
"Please can we not talk about that? It's worse enough that I told you how I felt about you and never heard from you again. I would rather not relive that again."
"I am so sorry about that but when you told me I was in such a weird place. I know you said that you don't want to talk about it but we need to if we are going to spend the next few weeks together."
"Weeks? Where is my phone? Oh, there it is, please can you pass it to me from the dress?. I would get it myself but like you made it so clear last night you don't think my attire is appropriate.""I did apologise for that though. There you go. I will see you later on then."
"Thanks for breakfast. It seems I have a lot to catch up on." Stacey spent the next 2 hours or so on the phone with friends and had to make several calls to her boss who simply said that work was suspended for the next 2 weeks as they comply with Covid-19 restrictions and any changes will be emailed to her. Her friends were screaming over the fact that for at least a month she would be stuck indoors with Jace. Eventually, she had to take a shower and be a better host. She ended up taking a longer shower than she had planned because the thought of her new houseguest got her more excited than she acknowledged. She wore a tank top and shorts and was annoyed by the fact that she had to wear a bra since she was not alone.
"I thought you were never going to leave your room."
"Yeah well I got hungry and if you are going to live in my house for the next few weeks I do not appreciate your criticism about my choice of clothes. If you don't like what I wear keep your comments to yourself or find somewhere else to go. Are we clear?"
At this stage, she had backed him up into the wall and was looking him straight in the eye.
"Yes ma'am. But can I clarify what I meant last night? You are a very attractive woman and seeing you in very short pyjama shorts and a sheer material top with no bra turned me on and any other hot-blooded heterosexual male. It scared me to think what anyone else would do."
"Well, thanks for the concern but that is why there is a CCTV camera outside my door and I checked before I opened it." She was already walking away and trying to hide the blush that appeared after his explanation which was indeed logical. She connected her phone to the Bluetooth speaker and started playing upbeat music to avoid any further conversation as she started preparing lunch. She took out all the ingredients that she wanted and was washing her hands to start preparing the food when she felt a warm body flush against her own as he leaned in to wash his own and spoke closer to her ear.
"What are you making? I would like to help"
Stacey felt warm all over and had to clear her throat which had suddenly gone dry.
"Burgers so I should be fine, thanks for offering though."
"Gosh Stace, how many times do you want me to apologise? I said I was sorry but if this is how you're going to treat me I'm better off at a police station. Thanks for allowing me to spend the night. I'll pack my bag and leave."
"Jace wait, it is really hard for me to pretend like being ghosted by you didn't hurt especially after I had told you how I felt about you. But you know what's even worse? Living with the fact that I would have abandoned you when you were in need. I won't be able to live with myself. You are welcome to stay for however long you need to. I guess your timing was perfect because at least I won't have to spend the next few weeks of quarantine alone. I will need some time to get used to having you around though"
"Thanks for the offer because I wasn't prepared to sleep on a prison bed especially after spending last night on your luxurious bed. I owe you."
Stacey prepared lunch for them both but chose to eat in her room instead and after her explanation Jace understood. He felt bad and as he ate lunch alone he reminisced about that fateful day when he decided that he was certain he would regret it for the rest of his life. As soon as he got off the phone with Stacey, Lex came back home and it was only hours later that he was finally free to think about the phone call. He lay in bed angry with himself. He was bound to stay with Lex because he needed the financial security that she provided. He knew that if he stayed in contact with Stacey he would be tempted to move back home but at this stage in his life, he couldn't afford to do it regardless of how he felt about her. He occasionally checked her social media pages but because she was a very private person there was very little he could find out. He spent a year staying with Lex until he finally got the break that he wanted. A company back home that he had done work for in the past reached out to him and had given him an offer he could not refuse. The timing was great because living with Lex had become unbearable and he was pretty sure she was cheating on him because she refused any attempts to be intimate with him. He accepted the offer to move back home and ended things with Lex who seemed relieved. He had found his place close to work and for the past few weeks, life seemed to be going well. He had decided to visit his mother who he had not seen in a while and as fate had it, he found himself outside Stacey's apartment after haggling it out with one of her friends. He knew he would have to tell her but right now things between them were shaky and he was afraid she might toss him out and he wasn't ready for that.
"I assume you will need to work remotely, so the WIFI password is my phone number if you still have it.
"Of course, I do. Thanks for that! I do have some work to do. Can I at least pay for it when it runs out?"
"It won't, but thanks for offering. I'll see you later, I have some work to do."
She didn't but she needed some distance from him because she was still so attracted to him and the less time they spent together the better. She downloaded an e-book and started reading but she must have fallen asleep because the next thing she woke up and found herself neatly tucked into bed, reading glasses off and her laptop off and on her dresser.
She freshened up in the bathroom as Flo had decided to show up which explains her high irritation levels. She changed out of her shorts into sweats and went out to see what her houseguest was up to. A thought which had her excited in more ways than she liked to admit.
" Good, you're up, Chinese or pizza for dinner?" as he seemed to be on the phone with someone.
"Chinese?" He then dictated their order and she was relieved because she was not in the mood to cook. She switched on the tv and chose to watch a comedy to try and cheer herself up. Less than a minute into young Sheldon made she realise that she was just not in the mood to watch anything. She switched to one of the music channels and started playing candy crush soda which kept her occupied because the next thing she heard was the doorbell and she wasn't in the mood to entertain anyone else.
"Already? Impressive, thanks, man." Jace said as he tipped the delivery guy.
"Stace, do you want to eat now or later?"
"Now" as she resumed playing and before long a crazy amount of food was laid in front of her.
