JAKE'S UNDOING (18+) ✔ (LOVE AND OBSESSION SERIES) BOOK 2

Part 4

CASSIE

Scanning my eyes, this cafe was not so crowded roughly this time but at eleven, students would begin to occupy seats for their business.

"So, that's it? He stormed out of your room?" Sasha asked, laughing. She knew everything about Jake. She was my best friend.

"No. He stormed out of the house." I sighed, leaning my chin on the book I had no interest in reading. Jake got mad and left me despite my pleas and apologies. His anger even boiled within reason when I couldn't stop staring at his saluting soldier inside his sweatpants.

"Seriously, Cass, you're like stuck in this endless loop of emotional ping pong. Why don't you give up? Jake is not for you. Yes, he's hot, but there are other guys. Look at Carl. Give him a date already. He's handsome."

"He's just a friend. Carl is a good man. I can't give him false hope. That won't be fair to him."

"Yet, you're keeping false hope yourself. Don't force yourself on Jake. You'll only get hurt. That night you cried your heart out, did he come back? You called him, did he even answer you? He sees you as his little sister. Nothing more than that."

"You're hurting me with those words, Sasha." I closed my eyes, shaking off the fact that she was right. It had been a week since that attempt. "But unless I heard it from him that he doesn't want me, can't love me, can't imagine a future with me, then I'll give up."

Sasha sighed sharply, her eyes rolling to the roof. "I'm not hurting you. It's just that the truth hurts." She opened her MacBook, getting engrossed with her project. "Love is complicated, but it's even harder when love is unrequited." She said.

The pages I had studied must have been absorbed in my brain, that I hoped, or at least that's what I tried to convince myself as I stumbled into the kitchen. The clock on the wall mockingly declared it was half past nine in the evening. A groan escaped my lips – the week of emotional ping pong had left me more drained than a week of all-nighters.

As I fumbled through the cupboards, hoping for a miraculous caffeine fix, Rosa strolled into the kitchen. "Everything okay?"

I hummed a yes. "Do we still have the Devil's brew, Rosa?"

She handed me a mug."You should drink milk instead."

"Have to study all night. I need caffeine." But the smell of milk invaded my nostrils. She was quick to prepare me milk.

"Caffeine in the daytime, milk in the night time."

I managed a weak smile. She always used her motherly tone when she wanted no argument. "Yes, Ma'am."

She smiled, satisfied, and opened the fridge to arrange the stuff inside as I turned to leave. "Jake dropped by this morning."

That halted my steps. "He was here this morning?"

"Brought you these passion fruits from Japan. These are your favorite."

"That's kind of him," I faked enthusiasm. "I want that juice in the morning, Rosa," and continued to walk back to my room. He was avoiding me and that hurt, a knot of emotions that tightened in my chest that I couldn't escape.

I stared at myself in the mirror, wondering what the heck was it about me that he couldn't find attractive. My long light brown hair – I kept it because he used to compliment me about how pretty I looked with it when I was young. It reached all the way down to my lower back, and yes, I'd trim it here and there, but nothing drastic.

I mean, come on, I wasn't hideous. I wasn't tall, but I wasn't a pint-sized human either. Yet, compared to his skyscraper height, I barely reached his chest. It's like I needed a step stool just to have a decent conversation.