liar, liar. jacob barber

one: her

8;43am, june 2nd 2019

cold spring avenue

The air was cold and the streets were empty, excluding the short stomps of sneakers against the sidewalk and excess noise leaving her headphones. A song or two ago, she'd left the house in a hurry, an apple thrown into her bag as a weak excuse for breakfast and barely white shoes thrown on at the doorstep after her father had hushed her out of the door.

Screeches of tires behind her surprised the girl, taking one of the headphones out of her ears. Her pace remained the same, but she moved closer to the inside of the pavement as the car moved slowly down the road.

'Hey,' a voice called from behind her, unfamiliar yet so familiar sounding. A turn of her head let her see the darkened face and soft eyes of Jacob Barber, leaving the exit from Cold Spring Park in what looked like a frenzied hurry.

She must say, he looked like a mess.

'Oh, hello,' she spoke, pausing her music in this interest of being polite. 'You startled me.'

'Well, sorry.' He coughed, catching up to where y/n was on the sidewalk.

They walked for a few seconds before he piped up again, basking in the morning emptiness and the fog on the roads as he conjured in his mind what he'd say next.

He was, in fact, quite honored to be talking to y/n. It was known by anyone that Ben would kill anyone who even thought about laying a hand on her.

Jacob thought this was perfectly justified. If she was his girlfriend, he'd quite happily kill anyone who liked her too.

'I just wanted to ask, did the guy in that car talk to you? The green one that just drove by.' He sounded oddly concerned to say the driver had only driven past in a matter of seconds.

'Oh, um, no he didn't. Why?'

'Can you keep a secret?' Jacob's tone suddenly shifted, his voice lowered as if they weren't completely alone on the street together.

y/n nodded slowly, eyes squinting and head tilting in confusion as to why he'd be so open about this so called secret; especially considering that they barely even knew each other.

'You see, that guy, total creep. He catfished Derek as this hot girl on Instagram and then that pervert showed up outside the roller rink. Even worse, he offered $20 to grope Derek.'

He waited for a reaction, which came shortly as the girl's eyes opened wide.

'Seriously?'

He nodded. 'Leonard Patz, I think his name was. Only got two months, the sick asshole'