Unable to fall asleep after I returned home, I checked to see if any of my professors had entered my final grades for the semester.

I doubted if they had, but it wouldn't hurt to check anyway.

Logging into Blackboard, I had a notification for a Psychology grade being put into the system. Upon clicking it, I felt an immediate surge of sadness.

Research Paper 235 / 250

I stared at the grade as if it would magically disappear or change. I know plenty of students who would be glad, ecstatic even to only have 15 points deducted from their final paper of the semester.

Myself on the other hand, not so fucking much.

Taking a calming breath, I scrolled down to the bottom of the page to confirm what I already knew was there, the numbers telling me that I'd gotten a 'b'.

My psyc professor had just given me my first 'b' as a college student.

So on top of two shitty days in a row, the third shitty day has entered the chat, and it's barely even 12am.

The paper I'd submitted was in my mind, perfect. There were no grammatical errors, I literally had the rubric open as I typed it, and it followed every. single. guideline.

I would accept 5, hell even 10 points, but 15? She had me fucked up.

There was literally nothing I could do either. This was a final grade and I was more than certain she wouldn't change it.

Reaching for my phone, I ignored the fact that it was a bit late and went to Jaxon's contact, listening to it ring before going to voicemail.

He said I could call him at any time, so I called again.

And again.

On the 5th call, he answered, his voice full of sleep and slight panic, "What's wrong?"

"My psyc teacher gave me a 'b'." I replied in a pitiful voice.

There was a pause, "What?"

"She gave me a 'b'."

"You called me in the middle of the night... to talk about a grade?"

I'm not sure why he sounded so surprised. He'd said we were friends, and I was upset. I didn't have parents to call, my grandma was asleep, so I called my friend.

"I did. I'm upset because she just fucked my G.P.A. Then to make it worse, this is a class pertaining to my degree."

Jaxon sighed loudly, "What was the paper about?"

"Personality and the workplace."

A boring ass topic that I didn't even want to do. If I'd known she was gonna do that shit I would've half-assed the entire paper.

"If we're being honest," He began, "You have a tendency to write as if you're reading from a list. You also sometimes lack original thought."

Now my feelings were hurt.

What type of friend was he? He was supposed to talk shit about her with me, not make me feel worse than I had before I called him.

I didn't respond to him, simply staring at the moonlit wall, still feeling a way about the grade, and now, my writing skills.

I could hear wind blowing in his background and I found myself wondering where he was.

"Where are you?" I asked curiously.

"The usual."

You'd think he didn't have a home.

"Oh."

More quiet, more staring.

"Would you like for me to come get you?"

I took a moment to consider his request. It would be nice to have company, even if it was a stuck-up old man who thought my writing was shit.

"Okay." I agreed, wondering if it would be too assuming of me to pack an overnight bag.

Well it's late and he asked, I thought, but then again he could just wanna chill and bring me home in a couple of hours.

As I sat there thinking about it, he spoke, "Pack a bag."

Energy.

• • •

This was the first time I'd seen him underdressed. Who would've thought that he owned a pair of sweatpants?

"Do you need to stop for anything?" He asked as I looked around the interior of his car.

"No."

We were in a Porsche, obviously different from the usual car he drove. It made me wonder how many more cars he had.

Inheritance or no inheritance, I don't see how how afforded to live like this.

I sniffed the air, "Why does it smell like cigarettes in here?"

"I apologize for that. I wasn't expecting to see you today."

"You smoke?" I asked in horror.

I hated cigarettes, the smell was terrible and lingered for ages no matter what you did to get rid of it. I'm surprised I never smelled it on him or tasted it when we kissed.

He laughed at my tone, "I'm trying to quit. I usually take precautions so that you don't have to be around it, but as I said, I wasn't expecting to see you today."

"You just went from a 10 to like, a strong 7."

"At least you thought I was a 10. I'll take it."

Jaxon knew good and well he was fine as hell. There's no way he didn't look at himself and think that he wasn't handsome.

"Fishing for compliments I see." I stated while reaching to mess with the radio.

"I'm obviously insecure if I have to pay women to be with me."

"Is this your way of trying to not pay me? Look, we're friends and all but I still expect to see money in my account on the agreed date."

He giggled.

"What the fuck was that?" I laughed while looking at him, "Did you just giggle?"

His laugh turned more masculine then, "You're not what I'm used to at all."

I'll take that as a compliment.

We'd now gotten to his second home, the hotel. Reaching behind me, he grabbed my bag out of the backseat as the valet opened my door.

I smiled at the receptionist, following behind Jaxon to the elevator. I think I'm on a first name basis with most of the staff here now.

Once we entered the room, I went straight to the bed, "Are we actually sleeping or are we doing other things?"

"Actually sleeping." He replied while taking off his shirt, "I had a long day."

I yawned loudly while stretching, "I feel that."

He climbed into bed, lying on his back. We'd never slept together so it was a bit awkward.

I felt like it would be a waste to finally sleep in a bed with someone and not cuddle.

So I started with a slight scoot his way. Followed by a larger scoot, and one more until I was basically touching him.

I'd describe the feeling of him wrapping his arms around me as happiness, but that wouldn't do it justice.

_______

author's note: when i got my first b i cried lmaooo. it hit different when you slaving over work all semester just for them to be like nah, hold this L.

thanks for reading 💕