Street Lights || Sim Jake

28 ¦ He feels like Home

I almost stumbled to the ground when my best friend jumped on me with way too much motivation. "I missed you so much," she murmured under my ear, giving me a big hug.

"It's only been two days since we've seen each other..." "Yeah, but I thought you were killed at the party two days ago because you didn't answer me until Sunday night." In fact, I had shut myself off a bit all weekend to process everything a little better.

The daily writing with Jake had dropped to zero and somehow I suspected our friendship wasn't back to normal. "I'm sorry. A lot happened at the party." And also after that...

"Do you know what Heeseung's intentions are now?" I nodded, then shook my head, slightly disappointed. "There were complications, and Jake had to bottle him up to pull the truth out of him, but it turns out Heeseung was just messing with me."

Melissa nodded feeling sorry and then looked for the Spaniard, since he was mostly spending the time with us. "Where is Jake anyway?" I shrugged my shoulders, hoping she wouldn't bring him to see us today. I just didn't want it to be obvious that something had happened between us.

The brown-haired girl was looking for Jake, but didn't seem to spot him, which made me relax a little. Jay had been with us briefly, greeting us before going back to his class.

At the moment, we were on break and to be honest, I was very paranoid. First of all, I didn't want to run into Heeseung and secondly, running into Jake wasn't exactly my desire either. It was quite uncomfortable for me after all.

Melissa and I sat down on a bench outside, under the warm sun, and looked around. "How are you actually feeling? I mean, it must not be easy for you that Heeseung, your actual best friend wanted to pull this shit." Not knowing what to say in response, I shrugged my shoulders for what felt like the thousandth time and squinted at the person's class.

At Jay's I caught sight of the Spaniard and quickly looked away again when he noticed my gaze. Heeseung was also there and he didn't seem to remember the party at all because he headed straight towards me and Melissa. A sigh escaped me and I wanted to get up and flee.

When the gray-haired man realized this, he quickened his steps and held me by the wrist. "I really don't want to see you, Heeseung," I gave directly as he turned me to face him. "What can I do to make you forgive me? Nothing at all?" I shook my head and pushed my former best friend away. "The best thing you can do is just leave me alone. I can't see you anymore."

"Estela, please." Begging, his arms wrapped around my body and pulled me hopefully back against his. "Please... what about our past together?" His voice trembled and I was beginning to not know what to do. Was I being too harsh?

I managed to break free from his embrace and ran around the next corner so I could avoid all the interested stares there. Heeseung took it upon himself, though, and followed me. "Please. If nothing else, please try to keep our friendship alive," he pleaded, gently pushing me against the front of the classroom.

Slightly panicked, I used my hands to keep him away from me. Why didn't he understand that I didn't want anymore and definitely couldn't? "You destroyed our friendship. I was always afraid that I would destroy it, but in the end you managed to pull it together quite well on your own."

I was about to push him away from me again when two stronger arms pulled at my shoulders, pulling me away from Heeseung. My back pressed against a chest which I had already kissed naked and for a brief moment I closed my eyes as a tingling sensation mingled my thoughts.

"You really should learn what the word no means," murmured the curly-haired man, who had straightened hair again, and for a minimal moment I felt him put his lips, probably unconsciously, against the free skin on my neck. Relatively quickly after this unplanned closeness, we pushed away from each other and Heeseung drew his eyebrows together.

"I just don't understand what you suddenly see in him.... I thought you liked me." The Spaniard behind me laughed derisively, but stopped the comment which was on the tip of his tongue.

"There's nothing going on between me and him. We're friends, and you know why that is?" I took a step toward Heeseung and pressed my index finger to his chest. "Because we're honest with each other, we trust each other, and we don't take advantage of each other." I took a breath, glanced back at Jake for a moment, and then turned back to the accused.

"These are all things you didn't get your act together. You knew I was in love with you. You were aware that it hurt me the way you made out with Aleyshia. You fucking knew I wanted to get over you, and yet after you broke up, you latched onto me, tried to sleep with me, kissed me. You wanted to fuck with me and take advantage of me. Now please think again for yourself why I don't want to hear from you anymore."

I finished by slapping his chest with both hands and then stormed past Jake, who looked a little overwhelmed. I had to get out of here. I ran into the school building with big, determined, quick steps and fled down the hallway, afraid that one of them would follow me.

To my disappointment, I heard the door open behind me and I was about to dial the emergency plan. I headed for the restroom and was about to bolt inside when a very familiar voice came to my ear. "Stel, please wait."

The soft, sweet voice of my best friend echoed between the walls and I stopped in my tracks. Flustered, I turned to her as she caught sight of my overwhelmed expression. Without even asking, she wrapped her arms around my body and enveloped me in her warmth.

"Hey, take it easy." She empathetically stroked my back and held my whimpering form. "I'm here, and believe me. Heeseung can't get to you anymore." She said this as if she were plotting murder and I chuckled softly into the crook of her neck, aware that she was too incapacitated for that.

"And I'm pretty sure you'll find someone better eventually. Knowing you, you're not going to meet in a normal way." She swayed back and forth a bit, managing to calm me down. "It probably will be anything but normal. I can well imagine that he and you both won't know that you are meant for each other. I can already see how everything will escalate. Slips, which will confuse you both. Ambiguity, which will only make everything harder."

I shook my head laughing and pushed my best friend away from me. "And I'm 100% positive you're going to be the two biggest complete idiots you'll find in Los Angeles." With her predictions, she put a smile on my lips and I seemed to have gotten over my short-term crisis.

"And believe me. This particular guy..." Melissa stopped for a moment, playing with a strand of my braid, then smiled warmly at me. "He's probably already closer than either of us think."

A/N: And I know who...