Jake

23. Three Words

The walk back to Sophia's house was the quietest walk they'd ever had.

When they stopped at her front steps, she said, "Uh, th-thanks for you know, coming with me tonight. I really wasn't gonna go, but now that I did, well...it wasn't completely excruciating. So, thanks."

"No problem. It was fun. You know, aside from the fact Miranda is a total stalker. But yeah, um, it was good. Thanks for inviting me."

She smiled a barely noticeable smile, "Uh, yeah. N-No problem."

They stood in silence for a moment before she said, "Uh, I guess I should go inside. I'll um, I'll see you later."

She almost opened the door, but he stopped her when it was barely cracked. "Wait."

She turned back around and waited for him to say something, but he wrapped his arms around her instead. She smiled and put her arms around him, feeling him squeeze her tighter as she did.

When he pulled away, the only thing he said was, "I'll uh, I'll see you later."

"Y-Yeah, I'll see you." He turned and started walking down the sidewalk. Halfway down the street, he realized how late it was and his walk turned into a run.

She walked inside, closing the door behind her and locking up.

Her mother scared her when she said, "Yeah, he totally loves you."

She rolled my eyes and said, "Ha! Like that would never happen."

Her mother said, "Okay. But your father never did that and where is he now?" She made a good point, since he had left them when Sophia was 3.

She said, "Whatever. It's not gonna happen."

She started walking towards her room as her mother replied, "Okay, but just remember to tell me I was right during your wedding speech!"

She closed the door and yelled, "Whatever!" from inside her room. She could hear her mother laughing from the living room.

While she knew her mother was wrong, she still wondered about that hug.

"I don't think I've seen that one yet."

"Aw, that one's really good! It's probably one of my favorites."

"Well, I'll probably see it soon."

Jake and Sophia had gone for a walk and had ended up talking about different TV shows for almost the entire time. After a while she realized that they'd been walking for a long time, so she looked up and stared at everything in front of her.

"Where are we going?"

"Uhh... I have no idea, I just kept walking." He started looking around and he said, "Oh. I think we're by my school."

"Wow. We're all the way over here? I didn't think we've been walking for that long. Should we turn around?"

He said, "Uh, no. Let's keep going. I kind of have to show you something."

She shrugged and said, "Okay," and they kept walking.

They only walked a couple blocks before stopping in front of a huge building with lots of trees and grass around it. It looked like something you would see in the United Kingdom, not the middle of Indiana.

She said, "That's it?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"It's nice."

"You could say that. Anyway, come on. I have to show you something." He started walking towards the school and she followed. He stopped by the front and sat down on the grass. He patted the ground next to him, telling her to sit. She did and looked at up at him, slightly squinting due to the sun.

He only looked at her. Her eyes, her lips, her hair. He smiled.

She laughed a little, "What?" She tucked a bit of hair behind her ear to stop it from blowing into her face.

He shook his head, "Nothing."

He adjusted himself so that he was sitting cross-legged and said, "I was thinking about this thing yesterday that I read. It was a quote. By Orson Welles, I think. It was, 'We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.' And it got me thinking. It got me thinking about a lot of stuff, but it got me thinking about my friends. And it got me thinking about you. A lot. And I thought about everything we've done and every situation we've been in and I just thought... I wasn't even aware of it until after I thought it, but... Soph, I think I might love you."

She must have been imagining things. Maybe she didn't get enough sleep and she was hallucinating. Or maybe she's been asleep this entire time and she hasn't even known it.

The only thing that made her realize that this was real life was when he put his hand on her arm and said, "Soph?"

She looked at him and said, "I... I love you, Jake." She nodded, "I really do."

A small laugh escaped from his mouth as he smiled and kissed her. In his head were three words and three words only. Thank you, God.