Page 50 of Fake It Till You Break It
My fingers paused on the phone screen. Now? It was practically two. Why would he want to come over?
ME:Sure, meet me on the porch.
Grabbing a cardigan, I tossed it over my tank top and shoved my feet into my ragged purple bedroom slippers. I couldn’t help stopping to put some ChapStick on and comb my hair first, though. Just because I was rolling around all night didn’t mean I needed to look like it.
When I got outside, Jake was already waiting for me on the porch. He sat on the top step with both hands clasped together over his knees. The hem of his navy sweatpants rose a bit, and I could see the Superman socks I got him last Christmas. The set of superhero socks were a gag gift, but the dude actually ended up loving them. Wore them practically every day. Even to church.
I sat down beside him. “So, what’s going on?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to talk.”
“Talk,” I repeated, glancing around. “At two in the morning.”
He ducked his head a bit and cleared his throat. “So, I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said, and I think you’re right.”
“I know. I’m always right,” I automatically replied. “But refresh my memory on which time again? There are just so many.”
He rolled his eyes. “I’m talking about the festival. The one andonlytime that you were right.”
“Ah, that time.” I paused. “Wait, so you’re going to perform? Like in front of everybody?”
“In front of everybody.”
I let out a high-pitched squeal that was so loud that I wouldn’t be surprised if neighbors’ windows vibrated. Jake rubbed his ears with his fingers, but he couldn’t keep the proud dopey grin off of his face.
Then… well, I’m not exactly positive what happened next. One minute I was squealing and then the next second, my arms were wrapped around his neck in a hug. My butt was barely touching the porch as he hugged me so tightly that he lifted me up. “So, the festival. I’m going to perform one song on Friday night. Just to dip my toe back in and see if I even still like it. It’s no big deal.”
No big deal my butt.
“Stop being so modest. What are you going to sing? A cover song or do you have something new?”
He cleared his throat. “Thereisa new song I might want to try out, but I’m still thinking about it.”
I poked his arm until he looked over at me. “I can’t wait to hear it. And I’m proud of you. Seriously.”
“Thanks.” To my surprise, he reached out to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear before kissing my cheek. Lightly. Like he was afraid I would break or run away.
But he didn’t have to worry about that at all. Before he pulled away, I touched his right arm. Enough for him to pause and without a second thought, I went for it.
This time the kiss was softer than the one by the fence. Sweeter. But still as sweepingly overwhelming as the first kiss.
My fingers dug into his forearms—feeling his warm skin beneath his shirtsleeves—as I held on. His arms encircled my body and pressed against my shoulders as his hands stroked my neck. It was like he was everywhere. Like he didn’t know where to stop. But the entire time his lips stayed firmly on mine as he kissed me. Over and over. The longer the kiss went on, the more I didn’t want it to end.
Finally, reluctantly, I had to pull away to catch my breath. Jake stared at me, but he didn’t move. His right hand was still pressed against my lower back, which tingled. “What was that for?”
“I…” I let out a deep breath to calm down, but it didn’t seem to help at all. My heart was beating like a jackhammer.Especially because he was so close, and all I wanted to do was kiss him again and again. “I don’t know.”
But I did.
There was a reason why I thought Ben’s kiss was okay while Jake’s kiss turned my world upside down. Why I wanted to sit next to Jake at dinner. Why I couldn’t wait for my date with Ben to end, yet I jumped at the chance to meet Jake at two in the morning.
And the answer was simple. I liked Jake.
MIA
NOW THAT I KNEWI liked Jake, the last place I wanted to be was stuck in the car with him. It was awkward. So awkward that I half wanted to jump out the window to escape.
That was the only way I could describe the car ride with Jake. Actually, I could have used the wordsuncomfortable,goose-bump-raising tension, andjust plain weird, too, butawkwardpretty much summed it all up. Mainly because of the way I practically jumped his bones and then ran back into the house afterward.
