Secrets [Trans Jake AU, Juke Fanfic]

~ Chapter 9: Acceptance ~

Thursday, After School

Luke was almost skipping to his house. He had to keep stopping for Hailey and Zander to keep up with him. "For crying out loud, Luke, slow down!" Hailey gasped for air as she clutched her heart; it felt as if it were burning to ashes within her chest. "Sorry, sorry!" The tall student apologized. "I guess I'm just a little excited." 

 "What on Earth could you be this excited about?" Zander remarked, fixing his bag that hung from his shoulder. The ginger-haired boy rubbed his neck, thinking of an excuse. "Oh, nothing. Don't worry about it, haha!" 

The shorter siblings stared at him in confusion. "If you say so." The teen girl rolled her eyes. "Anyway. What's the deal with Milly? You said she got in a fight?" Luke attempted to change the subject. "Oh, right. Thankfully it wasn't Mrs. Jones who caught her fighting again, so the penalty was pretty much the same as last time," Hailey replied. "But, I still gave her a lecture about it. And I made sure not to let Zander have any words in the matter." She glared over at her step-brother. 

"What did I do now?" He groaned, wrapping his pale arms around his chest. 

"You know. Last time this happened you played the blame game and made Milly feel worse about it!" 

"Was is not her fault?"

"Okay, yeah, but you didn't have the right to..."

Luke tuned out the sibling's bickering. He had too much on his mind to listen to them. He kept mentally repeating the address the magenta-haired teen had given him, over and over. He had to think of how to word everything. And how to not come off as weird when he just randomly shows up at Jake's place. Oh god. Is he going to think he's a stalker because of this or something? Luke stared at the ground with saucer wide eyes. 

Finally, the trio came upon Hailey and Zander's house. "Well. Guess this is where we go down our own paths." Zander monologues. Hailey elbowed him in the gut. "Would you quit it with that?" She glares. "Anyway. We'll see you tomorrow, Luke." The two teens wave goodbye to him as he waved back. He then began running to his house which is just down the block. 

Once he made it to his house, he threw his bag down and took a breath. He prepared himself for an emotional ride. He had the feeling that this had a good chance of going south. If he said the wrong thing, or got too personal and made Jake uncomfortable, that's it. The weight of that pressure piled onto his shoulders like bricks. 

Finally, he fixed his hair and told his parents that he was heading over to Zander's place; that way he wouldn't have to explain who Jake was and where he was. As Luke stepped out onto his front porch, he looked around. He then took out his phone and entered the address into Google Maps so he'd know where he's going. As he began following the monotone voice down the block, he began playing out the situation in his head; he thought of ways to sound like he wasn't a stalker. But, overall, every scenario ended up faulty. 

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Jake looked around the room then swiftly snatched the whipped cream out of the fridge and spun on his heel. Right when he began shaking the can, he saw two pairs of puppy eyes staring at him. But only one pair belonged to an actual dog. "Yes?" Jake said, holding the can of whipped cream closer to himself. "Can we have some?" Logan whined, followed by a bark from Oreo. 

Jake rolled his eyes and shook the can before saying, "Look up," with a small laugh. Logan did so and Jake sprayed the whipped cream into his mouth. Jake bent over and did the same with Oreo, only he gave him less since he was a dog. Jake then sprayed himself some and ran some warm water over the tip of the can. "Don't tell mom." He said as he put the can back in the fridge.