According to Plan

Alternate Chapter 14: Ah, Jacob

Rose liked when her life was planned out. She liked to know what the plan was beforehand so she could plan her life accordingly. She hated spontaneous plans; she hated surprises.

Sitting in a freezing cold parking lot in the middle of Oakgrad, helping Jake ice his knuckles. That was definitely not part of her plan.

Leo sat a few metres away from them with Liam and Nic, icing his own jaw, grumbling about how this is bullshit.

Jake sat beside her, allowing her to hold his hand in her lap as she held the ice to his knuckles. She was trying to keep the ice pack steady and shield herself from the cold using his jacket. He had given it to her when he noticed she was shaking after he had got the ice for his hand. The same jacket she was admiring earlier, now she sat wrapped in, scathing.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Rose asked finally.

"Fuck Rose. You told me nothing was going on, and I believed you," He replied. "Then I come down here, not a month later, and I have a front-row seat to you making out with him. I am mad, and you can understand why."

Rose looked down at her lap, hurt. He wasn't wrong. She had told him nothing was going on. She should have told him as soon as it happened. Part of this whole thing was her fault.

"Jake, I am sorry." She said softly, bowing her head away from him.

His tone softened almost immediately. "Hey, this isn't all your fault. I just got so mad. I am not a coward. I have made mistakes, but..."

Jake just shook his head. "I am sorry for punching him, but I am not sorry for what I said. He can't break your heart and then march back in here, sweep you off your feet and pretend everything is okay. I knew something was going on, and I told myself to be okay with that. But I still love you from the bottom of my heart, and I don't want to see you get hurt."

Rose softened at that. All he was trying to do was protect her from a boy whom he was completely right about. Leo broke her heart and came storming back in like nothing happened. Even if he did apologize for it, even if it was one big misunderstanding... that wasn't what she wanted, that wasn't what she deserved. All Leo was doing was protecting himself, and he wasn't wrong to do so.

Jake made that clear in her mind. He was right, and she was stupid for not seeing that earlier.

You always have a soft spot for your first love. A voice said in her head said again, and this time she was sure it was her sister. Alli had told her that when she walked into her room and found her with the Leafs game on the TV, but she was watching her laptop intently.

She had the game where Nick MacDonald and Nate Johnston had played their first games as New Jersey Devils. Nate was one of the first people she had a crush on when they started watching the Provencial league games religiously, and she had almost cried when he scored his first goal.

This had applied here, but Leo wasn't what she wanted anymore. She was sure of it. What she wanted was sitting beside her, cradling his hand.

Falling in love with Jake was definitely not part of the plan.

Rose sighed. "You don't need to protect me from him."

"I love you, Rose, you know that." He said, placing his good hand on top of hers that was holding the ice pack. "And I don't want him to hurt you."

"This is not just about me, and you know that." She said, studying his red knuckles instead of looking at him in the eye. She couldn't, not with her little realization replaying in her mind.

Jake is what you want. He's all you want.

"It was mostly about you." He grumbled.

"You aren't a coward. You know that, right? You did what you thought was best." She continued. "The coach didn't want you, so you wanted out."