Keeping Secrets (Book I)✔️

Chapter Six

Florence:

The sun light streamed in from the window in the room and woke me up. As soon as I opened my eyes, I closed them again, it was way too bright for me to handle right now. I lifted my head up and then suddenly I felt the thumping in my head. I winced in pain and sunk my head back onto Eric's chest. Wait, Eric? I thought and quickly shot my head back up. I jolted out of bed, ignoring my headache and the fact that I might wake him up and quickly got dressed. I left his room and darted down the stairs.

A million thoughts raced through my mind. Where's Charlotte? Does she know I stayed with Eric? What did I do last night? And how did I get here? Little snippets of the party that I could remember replayed in my mind. I remembered seeing Eric and Chloe on the stairs and I remember dancing with Kane. Oh god, what else happened after I fell asleep on the floor in one of Evan's bedrooms? I have never felt more embarrassed than I do right now.

And now, here I was again, making my way back home from Eric's house early enough that no one would see me. I was beginning to get tired of all of this. I didn't want to admit to myself that last night, maybe I was a little jealous because then that would mean I cared when I shouldn't.

When we began this whole thing, the one thing I knew I couldn't do was care because it wouldn't be given back to me in return. In the beginning, I was a lot more naïve than I am now, I was kind of upset that Eric didn't want anything to do with me unless it was just the two of us but I soon snapped out of it. I knew if I wanted a relationship, I should find someone else. But I didn't want anyone else and I still don't.

I groaned at my confusing thoughts as I turned the key in my door and snuck in, closing the door very gently as to not wake my dad. Once I made my way to my room, I got under the covers of my bed and drifted off to sleep but woke up a few hours later to the sound of my phone ringing on my bedside table. It took me a while to get the motivation to move just a little to pick it up and answer.

"Hello." I groaned.

"Oh Florence, thank god you're alright! I've been so worried about you ever since you left with Eric." She sounded so relieved.

"Yeah, I'm fine now."

"So what did your dad say when you got in last night?" she sounded intrigued.

"Um, yeah he was kind of annoyed." I lied. So Eric told her he was bringing me home. Of course he did, he doesn't want anyone to know about you, I thought.

"I'm so sorry I didn't go home with you Florence, I understand if you're annoyed at me. Seriously."

"It's okay-"

"Florence!" I heard my dad calling me from downstairs.

"Sorry Charlotte, I have to go but I'll talk to you later." I said before hanging up and quickly exiting my bedroom and making my way to the kitchen were my dad was.

"Hey dad." I said groggily.

"You okay kiddo?" he asked, he seemed very spritely today.

"Yeah, just have a bit of a- headache." I replied.

"There's aspirin in the cupboard above the sink." He did this thing where he pretended that I didn't consume alcohol the night before, even when he knew I did which was rarely ever.

"Thanks." I reached up and got the box of pills.

"So how was the party last night? I heard you getting in very early from Charlotte's." he looked up from his paper at me.

"Yeah, I just felt like sleeping in my own bed." I said before swallowing the tablets with glass of water.

"Hey, you want to come help out in the shop today? We just got a big delivery in and I could really use the extra pair of hands." I smiled at him, spending some time with him would be good so I agreed and ran upstairs to take a shower.

The pills kicked in a few minutes later and along with the greasy bacon and eggs my dad made me, I felt good as new. We drove in my dad's car to the shop and when we got in, I noticed a tall figure standing at the back of the shop, stocking up shelves. He had short brown hair and was wearing some sort of dark blue work apron.

"Hiya Jake, how's it going?" My dad asked.

"Not too bad sir." He said but didn't turn around yet, he was in the middle of sorting something. "How are you doing?" he asked and turned around when he was finished. He stood frozen in his spot for a second. I finally caught a glimpse of his face, his dark brows raised a little in surprise and his warm green eyes turned up at the end when he smiled at me. God, he was hot, I thought.

"Jake, this is my daughter Florence. Florence, this is Jake."

"Hi." His voice was deep.

"Hi." I said shyly. Sure, when it came to friends I was definitely not shy, but with strangers I became so shy and quiet, especially with cute kind.

"So I have finally met the famous Florence. Your dad never stops talking about you." He held his big hand out to shake mine. I laughed a little and shook it.

"Right, let's get to work you two." My dad rubbed his hands together and we all began getting to work.

Lunch rolled around quick enough and both Jake and I went to get ourselves and my dad lunch in the deli down the street in town. As we entered, my phone buzzed and I took it out of my pocket.

Eric: Hey, how are you after last night? Want to grab something to eat in a while?:)

As soon as I seen his name, I remembered seeing him and Chloe again. I had completely forgotten about him after I left early this morning. Why was he with Chloe? Why was I jealous? Did he explain anything to me? Not that he needed to, I mean I shouldn't care should I? God this was confusing me now more than it ever did. I think I was beginning to get fed up with it all, or was it because I as starting to care a little more than I should. Why all the questions Florence?! Calm down.

"Hey, you okay?" Jake put his hand on my shoulder, stopping my thoughts from running even farther  away with themselves.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Let's get lunch." I smiled at him and told Eric that I couldn't today.

We both sat down to eat and got my dad's lunch to go. My first impression of Jake was that he was a really nice guy; he was funny too and never stopped talking the whole time. I was a lot more comfortable with him after our chat over lunch than I was when I first saw him.

We headed back to the shop to give my dad his lunch and get back to work. Eric texted me back but I was pre-occupied so I didn't check my phone until Jake drove me home. My dad stayed later at the shop and told us to go ahead. His car was nice enough, better than my wore out Toyota, I couldn't complain though, at least I had a car.

Eric: Maybe another time then?:(

I didn't reply. Why did he suddenly want to see me? He wants to see me and talk to me one day but the next he ignores me completely and doesn't even look in my direction, it was all confusing but as we pulled up to my house I decided that maybe I needed to pull back a bit from this thing Eric and I had. I wasn't ready to face my feelings yet. I was lying to myself and keeping my own secrets because if I ever told Eric, I knew he would most likely run and leave me high and dry. I had finally made up my mind: I was a wimp, I was shying away from telling Eric how I felt about a lot of things but instead of facing the problem, I wouldn't be as hopeful that we would become normal with each other. This was our normal, as much as I was beginning to see the light and noticing how much I really hated it or not. I would somewhat remove myself from the situation and see what it was like without him again. I needed it, his mixed signals and guardedness were a little too much for me to handle right now.