Page 43 of The Winning Ticket

Bad?

Brianna

It’s not that I don’t love my family, but sometimes they drain the life out of me.

Just Jake

That doesn’t sound great. What happened?

I chew my lip while I think about how to respond. He has to know by now that Morgan is giving me a hard time about our friendship.

Brianna

Morgan was giving me a hard time about you. She saw the two cups and bowls on the bench and then got really weird… again.

Jake doesn’t reply immediately, and I begin feeling anxious for some strange reason. Maybe I shouldn’t have told him.

When five minutes pass, and I still haven’t received a response, I leave my phone and start editing my photos. Playing with photos has always been fun for me, and I definitely need the distraction with the apprehension churning through my stomach.

I open my laptop and begin uploading photos from the memory card. While the images slowly start to move across, I hear my phone ring, and I race into my room. My heart beats a million miles an hour, and I try not to think about why that might be when I accept the call.

“Hey.” Jake’s voice sounds far away.

“Hey,” I reply while I twirl a lock of hair around my finger, one of my many nervous traits.

“Sorry I didn’t reply. I went through a dead zone. What’s this about Morgan giving you a hard time about me?”

I swallow, and my tongue suddenly feels like it’s made of cotton wool. “She’s been really weird about us hanging out ever since she found out I’d slept in your bed that first night I was back. So when she realised you’d been back and not told them, she was going out of her way to tell Mum that you and I are just friends in a very pointed way. It’s not a big deal. She and Mum were just being their usual selves.”

“I don’t understand why she and Chris are being so weird about us hanging out. We hung out all the time back in school.” I can hear the frustration in his voice.

I’m quiet for a moment before responding. I didn’t know Chris was still being weird about it.

“Why didn’t you tell anyone else you were coming back?” I ask quietly.

Now it’s Jake’s turn to be quiet, and if it weren’t for the road sounds echoing through the phone, I’d wonder if he had hit another dead zone.

“I… I don’t know,” he finally says.

“Really?” I can tell he’s lying, even through the phone.

“No… I just wanted to hang out with you. I’d had a crappy week, and seeing you was what I knew I needed to feel better.”

I feel like he’s reached into my chest and squeezed my heart. I hate that I can’t see his face during this conversation.

“I liked hanging out with you, too.”

I hear him let out a breath. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. It was the nicest weekend I’ve had in quite a while.”

He’s quiet again, then. “Me too, Little B.”

We chat for a little longer, and when I hang up the phone and return to the couch, I know that my smile is wide, and it’s because of Jake Boyd.

19

YOU KNOW YOU CAN TALK TO ME ABOUT ANYTHING, RIGHT?

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