speak now | jack hughes DISCONTINUED

chapter five

Jack Hughes

Bailey had been killing me with anticipation. She wouldn't tell me a single thing, even when I casually brought it up in a conversation in hopes to trick her into thinking it wasn't a secret. And it didn't help that she laughed whenever I failed to get it out of her. God, her laugh was infatuating, as much as I tried to deny it to myself. It was engraved in my brain and played on loop constantly.

At this point, I was always doing something, anything really, to hear her laugh. Against my will, of course. But I honestly couldn't help it. And I knew it wasn't good, because we were only friends who had just met not even a month ago at a coffee shop and in a way I hardly knew her, but it also felt like I had known her forever and being around her felt so natural and so right.

"Now will you tell me where we're going?" I asked, reaching over to grab her phone and try to get a view of the location she had set in her maps. Saturday had finally rolled around, and Bailey had picked me up for the surprise activity at around eight thirty this morning.

"No! You have no patience at all," She said, slapping my hand away and adjusting her phone to face her more. I groaned, letting my head fall back against the headrest of the passengers seat.

"In my defense, you've been keeping this from me since Wednesday. That's a long time, Bails," I pointed out. She shot a glance at me. "Three days, Jack. It has only been three days."

"Exactly, three days is too long," I argued. She just smiled and shook her head at me. I forced myself to look away from her and to become preoccupied with something else.

The drive wasn't super long, and we reached the surprise location in about half an hour. And let me just say, I did not expect this.

"We're going to Topgolf?" I said as Bailey and I got out of the car. "How'd you know I liked golfing?"

"I may have done some research," She said quietly and shrugged, making me curious. "Yeah? How so?" She blushed, and I tried my best not to smile knowing that I had caused that. I liked being the one to make her all shy and quiet, for some reason.

"That's confidential," Her voice and confidence went back to normal quickly, which I was a bit bummed about. I bumped my shoulder with hers as we walked, "Uh-huh. I'll figure it out soon enough."

"How can you be so sure? I don't tell just anyone my secrets, y'know," She mimicked my actions, bumping her shoulder with mine this time. This time I blushed, but I refused to let my sudden nervousness show. "I, uh, have my ways."

She chuckled, "I'm sure you do."

Apparently Bailey had made reservations, so we got in quickly and were taken to one of the bays. Someone who worked there help us set it up, helping us chose the game and make our profiles. We went with the simplest one, just because we weren't sure how it worked.

Once the worker left us on our own, I went first. I thought I did pretty good, and I got a good amount of points. When Bailey went, she looked confused. "You alright, Bails?" I asked, standing up from my seat and walking over to her.

"So, uhm, I actually have no idea how to golf. I went once a few years ago with my dad, but I sucked and never tried to pick it up again," She admitted, looking away from me to the golf club in her hands. "Why'd you wanna come here, then?" I asked, moving closer to her so I could hear her.

"Because I know you like golfing, so I figured you like this place," She looked me in my eyes, and I bit my lower lip to stop myself from smiling. She had deliberately made reservations for something she knew she couldn't do, because she knew I'd like it.

"C'mere," I suddenly said, walking over to the little golfing pad. Did I have any idea what I was doing? No, but it's fine. Bailey's eyes widened, and I could tell she was surprised, but she listened anyways. I gently grabbed her shoulders and guided her into a good position, then stepped behind her. "Can I?" I asked, receiving a small nod from her, before wrapping my arms around her and putting my hands over hers on the golf club.