Page 62 of Fake It Till You Break It
“That’s true. And you’re still messy most of the time. But you’re still really pretty even when you’re messy.” A twinkle came into his eyes as he turned in the swing, twisting the rungs, to face me. The side of his face pressed against the metal. “And I like you anyway. So, are we starting over, then? Do we need to reintroduce ourselves?”
With a snort, I shook my head. “I don’t think we need to start over quite that much. I mean, there’s just too much that I know about you. The good, the bad, and the horrible.”
“I bet there’s one thing you don’t know.” Jake leaned forward. A smile played on the edges of his lips. “You don’t know that I’ve been dying to kiss you again since the other night.”
With a grin, I reached out and grabbed the metal chain on his swing to pull myself closer to him. To get easier access. “I did know that.”
We both inched closer and closer to each other until the side of my thigh pressed against his. Each of us held on to the other swing’s side to steady ourselves.
“You better make this better than our first kiss.”
He slid his other hand around the nape of my neck. I could feel his warm breath on my cheek. Across my lips. “Yes, ma’am.”
Both of us were smiling when our lips touched. His hands cradled my face and the nape of my neck. My fingertips pressed into his forearms and shoulders like I couldn’t get close enough. Each of his kisses made me want more.
It was crazy how we had spent almost our whole lives resenting each other’s company and now we were scrambling to get just a tiny bit closer.
But this time was different. There was a comfort in this kiss beneath the passion and heat. This time it was just for Jake and me. Because we liked each other and that was all that mattered.
After what felt like an eternity, when we finally broke apart, I was somehow off my swing and sitting on Jake’s lap, arms wrapped around his shoulders and both legs straddling his lap. What the hell? Did I teleport over here or something?
His fingertips traced a line up and down my arm. “I thinkwe should go home before we get carried away. And I’m pretty sure this playground is far too innocent for that to happen.”
“I don’t know. This playground has seen its fair share of relationships.” My fingers played with the dark locks curling around his ears. “You remember when I married Ian McCavery underneath that oak tree in first grade?”
He scowled. “No, where was I?”
“Actually, maybe you were sick with the flu that week. The one and only time I didn’t get sick with you.” I patted his shoulder with a smirk. “Don’t worry, our marriage ended the next day when he wouldn’t share his Pringles with me.”
“Then he’s an idiot.” He paused. “Wait, what kind of Pringles were they?”
“Sour cream and onion.”
“Oh, never mind, then. He made the right choice.” Jake groaned when I smacked his shoulder this time, nearly dropping me as he squirmed on the swing. “Kidding! I’m kidding!”
“You better be.” Unable to help myself, I kissed his cheeks, once on each side. “Let’s go home.”
OUR HANDS WERE SWINGINGback and forth between us as we walked. It was quiet the whole walk home, but this time I didn’t mind. It was a comfortable sort of silence. We communicated the whole time with tiny glances and finger strokes. His thumb caressed my knuckles to the inside of mywrist. I traced a heart shape into his palm and he squeezed my hand tightly in response.
It was pretty much as awesome as it sounds.
We were almost by our houses when I noticed the unfamiliar car in front of Jake’s house. Mom and Mrs. Adler had dinner parties once in a while, but those were always at our house. Mrs. Adler rarely had people over at their house.
As we got closer and closer to the house, I noticed there were several people on the porch. Recognizing Mom’s and Mrs. Adler’s silhouettes in an instant, it took me a little while to figure out who the third person was. It must have hit Jake the exact same time it hit me because our arms immediately stopped swinging and all Jake could do was stare. We both did.
He was a little bigger than I remembered. Especially around the shoulders. He used to be lean and tall like Jake, but it looked like he must have been hitting the gym or something on the cruise ship. The curly dark hair and the easy smile were still the same. Although it wavered a bit when he turned to us.
It was Finn.
JAKE
I COULD FEEL MIA’Shand squeeze mine tighter, but I couldn’t look at her. I just kept staring like an idiot as Finn came down the steps and closer to us. He stopped when he was a few feet away.
“Hi, Jake. Hey, Mia.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “It’s been a while.”
I froze at the sight of him. A thousand things raced through my head, but all I could do was stand there and blink at him. “What are you—How—” I could barely get any words out.
He looked over his shoulder nervously. “I just got in an hour ago. Mom told me that you were out with Mia—”
