Anxious Jeopardies

Chapter Sixteen

She continued living with them for a couple of months and grew exponentially closer to each. Sophie treated her as a mom, although she tried hard to maintain the fact that they were more like sisters.

Ana and Jake weren't dating.

They bought another bed and cleared room for it in the study. Sophie slept on the couch still, Ana had the spare room, and Jake kept his.

The redhead went to the gym regularly, and once and a while she would check in with Eric or Max, but usually they didn't tell her anything interesting. That didn't stop her from being prepared. She kept her weapons in the closet, normally only carrying a pocketknife.

She looked for another job and tried to earn money to buy her own apartment, but he assured her that she could stay with them until that happened. She felt bad. He came home from school every day and left in half an hour to go to his first job. She couldn't even hold one.

Eventually, she was hired working as a waitress, and although boring, it was at a nice restaurant, and the tips helped significantly. She worked during the day and Jake's jobs were both at night, so Ana came home in time to take care of Sophie after school. The system worked well, except neither of the teens saw much of each other.

He invited her out to dinner one night, just the two of them. It was a quiet restaurant close to the city.

He seemed nervous, though, and Ana wondered if something was wrong. What if he was going to kick her out? She tried to push aside her doubts and focus on him, on his bright smile and gorgeous eyes, but she knew something was off.

"So," he started once they were seated, "I know I'm not good at this, and I know I don't have a big elaborate ask set up, and that it's my school and you won't know anyone, but I was really hoping that you could overlook all of that and be my date to prom?"

Ana blinked. "What?" He froze.

"I totally understand if you don't want to go-"

"No, I... I would love to go, Jake, but I don't know if I'm good enough for you-"

"Of course you're good enough! You're basically perfect, for me, at least. You're the only person I've even thought about taking. I wasn't even going to go."

"What if I say no?"

His face fell but he caught it and tried to look optimistic. "I don't know. I might ask someone else. I don't know who."

She looked down at the menu. "I don't know. I've never done anything like this before, and I don't want to disappoint you once we get there. I'm not much of a people person."

"Don't worry about that. I won't leave your side. And most of the people there are really friendly. You'll fit in just fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yes." She smiled then, and he felt more relieved than he had in a while.

"Then I would love to go with you."

"Thank you, Ana. This means a lot to me." She smiled again and looked up at him. A thought crossed her mind but she hesitantly pushed it away. The ginger bit her lip.

"Thank you for inviting me. It means a lot to me too."