Chapter 187 | Penalty of Social Death
Chapter 187: 187 | Penalty of Social Death
The morning came too fast.
Jordan woke to the sound of Chloe’s alarm blaring from somewhere across the room, a persistent electronic shriek that felt personally designed to destroy any remaining peace in the universe. Chloe groaned against his chest and buried her face deeper into his shoulder, clearly hoping that if she ignored reality hard enough it would simply cease to exist.
"Phone," Jordan mumbled.
"Mmph."
"Chloe. Phone."
"You get it."
"It’s your phone."
"You have legs."
Jordan considered this. He did, in fact, have legs. But Chloe was also lying directly on top of him in a way that made movement physically impossible without rolling her onto the floor. Her bare skin pressed against his from shoulder to hip, warm and soft and very much not interested in relocating.
The alarm continued screaming.
"If I get up," Jordan said slowly, "you have to move."
"Don’t wanna."
"Then the alarm keeps going."
Chloe made a sound that might have been a word in some language Jordan didn’t speak. Her hand found his face and pushed weakly, like she was trying to shove him off the bed through sheer willpower alone. It didn’t work. Jordan’s head turned slightly to the left but otherwise he remained stationary.
"This is your fault," Chloe said into his collarbone. "You kept me up."
"You literally climbed on top of me."
"Because you were there."
"That’s not the defense you think it is."
The alarm reached a new octave. Jordan hadn’t known phones could make that sound. It felt like someone was stabbing his eardrums with a very tiny ice pick.
"Fine." Chloe pushed herself up on her elbows, her hair a disaster and her eyes barely open. The sheet slipped down to her waist and Jordan got a very good view of exactly what he’d spent several hours appreciating last night. "Fine. I’m up. I hate everything but I’m up."
She rolled off him and stumbled toward the desk where her phone sat vibrating against the wood. The alarm cut off mid-shriek when she grabbed it. The sudden silence felt almost worse.
"What time is it?" Jordan asked.
"Six forty-seven."
"Why do you have an alarm set for six forty-seven?"
"Because I have to shower before class and if I don’t set an alarm I’ll sleep until noon and miss everything." Chloe squinted at her phone screen. "I have... fourteen texts from Kumiko."
Jordan sat up. "Already?"
"She’s been up since five apparently. Something about a dream she had where we were all in a castle and there was a dragon but the dragon was actually her mother and—" Chloe scrolled. "Actually I’m not going to read the rest of this. It’s eight paragraphs long and there are illustrations."
"She drew pictures?"
"She drew pictures."
Jordan reached for his own phone. The screen showed a preview of messages he’d missed while sleeping.
Kumiko:good morning boyfriend!! i know you’re sleeping but i had THE WILDEST dream and i had to tell someone
Kumiko:okay so basically we were in a castle right
Kumiko:and you were a knight but like a hot knight
Kumiko:and chloe-chan was a princess
Kumiko:and i was also a princess but a different princess from a different kingdom
Kumiko:and there was this dragon
Jordan stopped reading at that point because the message chain continued for another twelve screens and he could see thumbnail images of what appeared to be hand-drawn illustrations depicting key scenes from the dream.
"She’s dedicated," Jordan said.
"She’s insane." Chloe dropped her phone on the bed and walked toward the bathroom. "I’m showering. Don’t leave without saying goodbye."
"I live next door."
"And?"
Fair point.
Jordan lay back against the pillows and listened to the sound of water starting in the bathroom. His body ached in the specific way that came from combining intense exercise with intense other activities. His arms still felt heavy from yesterday’s bench press. His legs protested when he shifted positions. His abs, which he was only recently aware he possessed, made their displeasure known every time he tried to sit up.
Worth it though.
Definitely worth it.
His phone buzzed again.
Kumiko:did you see my dream story??
Kumiko:i worked really hard on the drawings
Kumiko:especially the one where dream-you was fighting the dragon
Kumiko:you looked very heroic
Kumiko:and also shirtless
Kumiko:the shirtless part was important for the narrative
Jordan typed back: "Just woke up. Still processing. Very impressed by the dragon detail."
Her response came in under two seconds.
Kumiko:AHHHHH YOU’RE AWAKE
Kumiko:good morning good morning good morning
Kumiko:how did you sleep
Kumiko:wait don’t answer that you were with chloe-chan
Kumiko:actually do answer that but only if you want to
Kumiko:no pressure
Kumiko:okay maybe a little pressure
Kumiko:i’m curious
Jordan smiled at his phone. "Slept great. How did you sleep?"
Kumiko:i literally did not sleep i’ve been drawing since 4am
Kumiko:i get like this sometimes
Kumiko:my therapist calls it hyperfocus
Kumiko:my mom calls it concerning
Kumiko:i call it productive
The shower shut off in the bathroom. Jordan heard Chloe moving around, the rustle of towels and the click of bottles being opened and closed.
"Hey," he called out. "I’m texting Kumiko. She didn’t sleep."
"I know." Chloe’s voice came through the door. "She texted me about it. Apparently she also texted Alexis but Alexis told her to, and I quote, ’never contact me before eight am again under penalty of social death.’"
"That tracks."
"Alexis takes her beauty sleep very seriously."
Jordan filed that information away. He’d have to remember not to text Alexis before eight. Not that he was planning to text Alexis. Not that he had any reason to text Alexis. Not that his brain kept circling back to the way she’d blushed when he called her princess or the way she’d been avoiding eye contact for the past week or the fact that she apparently still had his henley.
None of that was relevant.
At all.
The bathroom door opened and Chloe emerged wrapped in a towel, her hair wet and dripping down her shoulders. She looked significantly more awake than she had ten minutes ago. Also significantly more naked than Jordan had been expecting given that she was supposedly getting ready for class.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Chloe asked.
"Like what?"
"Like you forgot what I looked like."
"I didn’t forget. I’m just..." Jordan gestured vaguely at her entire situation. "Appreciating."
Chloe rolled her eyes but she was smiling. She walked to her closet and started pulling out clothes, dropping the towel without ceremony. Jordan watched because he was pretty sure that’s what boyfriends were supposed to do when their girlfriends dropped towels in front of them. It felt rude not to look.
"Stop staring and get dressed," Chloe said over her shoulder. "You have class in an hour."
"I have class in an hour and fifteen minutes."
"You need to shower first."
"I can shower at my place."
"Your place doesn’t have me in it." Chloe pulled a shirt over her head and turned around. The shirt was one of his. The grey henley he’d left here three days ago because Chloe had claimed it as her own and refused to give it back. She hadn’t even pretended she was going to return it. Just said "this is mine now" and that was the end of the discussion.
Jordan didn’t mind.
He kind of liked seeing her in his clothes.
"Your shower argument doesn’t work if you’re already dressed," he pointed out.
"The argument still works. You just missed your window." Chloe pulled on leggings and tied her hair back in a messy ponytail. The blue streak fell loose against her cheek. "I have to go meet with my vocal coach before class. Something about breath support exercises."
"For streaming?"
"For life, apparently. Coach says I hold tension in my diaphragm."
"Where else would you hold tension?"
"Don’t be smug." Chloe grabbed her bag from beside the door. "Text me later. And text Kumiko back. She’s going to vibrate out of existence if you leave her on read for too long."