Page 57 of Fake It Till You Break It
“Ouch.” His hand pounded at his chest. “That really hurts.”
Aly snorted. “Does it?”
“No. I’m pretty much used to rejection by now. No matter how harsh. Just bounces right off.”
“Must be a talent of yours.” I patted his shoulder with a grin. “Your only talent.”
“Double ouch. And the hits just keep coming.” He shook his head as he moved away.
Aly shook her head with a laugh. “Oh, well, at least he’s nice to look at.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Greg. “I guess so. Not really my type, though.”
She gave a meaningful nod toward Ben, who was sitting behind us with Rose. “And what exactly is your type? Or should I even bother asking?”
Instead of answering her, I just shrugged and turned back to watch Jake onstage. He cradled the microphone with both hands as he moved around on the stage, stopping to wave at a little girl near the front. She hopped up and down with excitement.
The song wasn’t that long, but it almost felt as if it went on forever as I continued to listen to Jake sing, as if time slowed down. Or maybe I just didn’t want him to stop. With each word, each lyric he sang, this weird tingling feeling swept over me like I was in a trance. And I swear, even though we were too far back for him to see me, it felt like Jake was singing straight at me. To me.
Which was crazy. I mean, the festival was pretty much packed. The entire lawn was filled with so many people that we probably looked like colorful blobs to Jake. Like ants at apicnic. If ants wore crop tops and strappy wedges. There was no way that he could know where we were. It would have been easier to find Waldo.
But I still couldn’t brush the feeling off. Especially when he sang about finding a love who was always there. Right next to you your entire life. And the moment you finally opened your eyes and saw them bright and shining in front of you. A part of you.
Each sentence hit me like a bolt of lightning. This was more than just a song sung to me. This was exactly how I felt. I needed Jake in my life. I wanted him there. And it was obvious now that Jake felt the same way.
JAKE
WITH A LOUD WHOOP,Rose raised her cup. “To Jake. Hopefully when he wins his Grammy, he’ll say my name first in the list of people to thank.”
“Why should he? I’m his best friend,” Greg complained as he downed his drink. “Bestfriend.”
“Sure, you keep telling yourself that.” She patted the top of his head, squishing the dark spikes that he probably had spent ages on.
He let out a yelp and ducked out of her reach behind Aly, even though she was so tiny that she barely covered him at all. His hands gripped her shoulders, and she giggled so hard that she snorted into her Sprite. The camera on the second floor by the DJ zoomed in on them for a few seconds, showing them shoving each other back and forth on all the TVs surrounding the bar before showing other people in the crowd. The festival coordinators booked the entire bar down thestreet for the after-party, so we didn’t have to worry about being underage.
“Don’t worry, neither of you will be number one. That honor would go to my mom.” I paused. “Then I’d thank Mia.”
“Me?” Her eyes were wide with shock as she stared at me. “Why?”
“Because you convinced me to give all of this another chance,” I said. Usually, I would never compliment Mia, but it was true and I was going to give credit where it was due. “So thanks.”
With a soft smile, she tossed her hair over her left shoulder and clinked the tip of her glass against mine. “No problem.”
Rose wiggled her left eyebrow knowingly at me before holding up her glass. “Then here’s to Mia.”
“To Mia,” everyone else echoed.
After she finished her drink, Mia slipped off of her stool and slung her purse over her shoulder. “In that case, I think I’ll get the next round. Could you help me, Jake?”
“Sure.”
Luckily we had left the festival a bit early so we were able to snag a table in the corner, but now the bar was starting to fill up. My hand automatically pressed against Mia’s lower back as we wove our way through the crowd toward the drink station. Her shirt was soft and thin. I could feel the warmth of her skin beneath my fingertips.
Wait—No, was that—
I looked down to be sure. The edge of her shirt had ridden up, and my hand was touching her bare skin. Just a tiny bit of it. And now I couldn’t look away. Especially because I just noticed that my hand was right above her butt. How did she put on jeans that were so tight? It was like this pair was molded on. How did she even breathe?
“So I’ve been wondering something.…”
