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A Sound. Ever so faint but unmistakably there.

Jasmine hoped she was wrong, prayed she had merely imagined it or it was something innocent, like a gush of air rustling the curtains or perhaps even a mouse. Please, please, please let it be a mouse.

It was silent now, but silence could indeed be extremely loud. Deafening even. Jasmine held her breath, focused. Listening intently to her surroundings.

In her minds eye, she saw her iPhone lying on the kitchen counter and she cursed silently.

There it was again, it definitely came from inside the apartment.


She guessed that whoever it was, was now already in the hallway. It was probably Jamie. It had to be.

He had come home early for some reason and Izzy had failed to tell her or didn't know. If it wasn't a mouse it was him, or perhaps Izzy. But Izzy would have phoned her and certainly would have called out to her. But what if it wasn't him? What if…


Shit.


Jasmine knew she had to make a decision. Face whoever it was head on or stay hidden and hope for the best. But she had no escape route, no phone, nothing to use to her advantage.

And why the hell was she dressed in nothing but Daisy Duke-like shorts and a crop top?! It made her feel even more vulnerable. Layering up meant opening the closet, and opening the closed equaled noise.

At this point, she was well aware that her only real advantage was that whoever was in the apartment did not know she was there or that she had heard them. A fact Jasmine was determine to keep that way.

But wasn't the best defense supposed to be offense? Or did that rule only apply in sports related situations?


Shit.


Was it really the best to meet her intruder(s) head on? The flat had some sort of alarm in the kitchen, if she could reach that, the noise would certainly alert the lobby - causing them to flee – hopefully. Jamie loved to cook, so his kitchen was very much the center of the house. .


The sound of footsteps this time, and Jasmine had decided. She took a deep breath and climbed out of bed. She would make her way into kitchen, she had to as that was the way to the door.

The roof terrace she had admired previously was now mocking her.
It would do her no good and unless she was Spiderman or some shifty character out of the other comics Izzy devoured, she would be trapped so the kitchen it was.

Her phone was there, the door was there, a choice of weapons were there and hopefully Jamie would be there too.

If he wasn’t, she hoped she would be able to snatch her phone and lock herself in a different room or even better, flee altogether.

It wasn’t much of a plan but it was the only one she had. Jasmine took a deep breath and headed softly to the door and stepped outside her room.

Within a few seconds she was in the kitchen and although she still banked on her visitor being James, adrenaline now rushed through her veins and she felt ready as ever to fight him off if she was wrong and it wasn't him.

Jasmine’s eyes had now adjusted to the darkness and she grabbed the closest thing she could find. A frying pan left on the stove, she was almost grateful for being too lazy to put it away earlier that night. Almost. Fabulous, she thought sarcastically.

Maybe she could use it as a shield, didn’t Captain America have one? She was spending far too much time with Izzy, this was the second thing comic book reference she had made in under 10 minutes she suddenly figured.

She closed in on the individual, he stood with his back to her, his head bend forward. Was it Jamie?

She couldn't be sure, she didn't see luggage but that didn't mean anything. Should she call out? But that would mean given up the element of surprise...

But suddenly He turned and the decision was taken for her and Jasmine struck Him.

He grabbed her wrists and managed to twist her body towards Him but she was quicker and ducked, held on to her pan and freed herself from His grip.

“Jazz?!”

O thank God. She jumped in Jamie’s arms and hugged him tightly; still clutching her frying pan.

For a moment he didn't say anything but he did hold on to her.

“It’s good to see you too Jazz”, he said dryly and Jasmine let go of him so abruptly that she would have fallen had Jamie not steadied her.

When Jamie was certain that Jasmine was stable on her feet, he said:

“Not that I’m not happy to see you, but why is it that I am seeing you?”

“What do you mean? Did she not tell you?”

“Who was suppose to tell me what?”

“IZZY!!!”

They exclaimed in unison before groaning in understanding and frustration.

“It really is very good to see you Jazzy, although I have to admit the circumstances could have been better”.

He briefly walked away and before Jasmine could wonder what he was doing, a dim light illuminated the kitchen.

James looked good, she thought. He wore a dark suit with a crisp white shirt underneath. His dark blond hair flopped messily over his forehead and his blue eyes looked at her intently. Then, he rubbed his face with his hands and suddenly he looked very tired. Jasmine felt a pang of guilt aside from her annoyance and utter anger with Isabelle.

“So, what else did my dear sister forget to tell me?”

“I’m uhm, in between flats. Izzy said you were away and I could stay here until you were back. I guess you’re back now huh?”

Jasmine chuckled but James was not a fool and no humour could be detected in it.

He hadn’t seen her for a while, the last time was probably about a year ago and that was very brief. She was smaller than he remembered, tinier as if she had lost some weight.

She wore nothing but a tank top, shorts and her feet were bare and now that the excitement had worn off, she was shivering. She was still holding on to the frying pan and although it wasn't exactly the come home he had expected, it did make him smile.

Jasmine looked everywhere but at him and he wondered what was going on in her head. He did know she looked sad.

“Look Jazz, I don’t know about you but I could use some tea before bed. How about I'll make us some and you put down your, uhm ‘weapon’ or were you going to cook me something?”

Jasmine laughed, a genuine laugh this time and James was relieved she seemed more at ease.

**********************************************************

Two cups of tea and 20 minutes later, both were ready to go to sleep.


“Well, this has been fun but I’m going back to bed, I’ll pack tomorrow morning.”

“Jasmine, hang on, why didn’t you lock the door properly?”

She suddenly felt very silly. She wasn’t naive perse, but just felt comfortable and protected in the highly secured building. It had doormen on call 24/7 and there were cameras all around so aside of course from tonight, Jasmine never actually had felt unsafe.

She explained this to James but he cut her off and gruffly said: “from now on, always lock the door.”

His reaction irked her. “What, do you lock it?”

“Jazz, when I’m not home bolt the door as soon as you’re in and use the chain. I will call if I’m late.”

She wanted to talk back to him but he simply followed up with a “goodnight” and that was that.

So she turned on the balls of her feet and made her way back to her room. Or rather, the room she temporarily occupied in the luxury apartment of her best friend’s freakishly handsome brother.











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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.