jailey oneshots - the music freaks

valentine's day gift

Hailey glanced at the estimated time of arrival, white text on blue bordering the bottom of her Uber driver's mobile map.

Only 10 more minutes until she made it to Jake's building. 10 more minutes until she surprised him with her sudden visit.

Hailey rubbed her lips together softly, as if to remember the feeling of them. She'd applied some of her pink, peach-flavored lip gloss on the flight back home; she knew Jake loved it when she kissed him with it. And if someone had asked her at that moment how badly she wanted to kiss him again, she would've been a little too embarrassed to answer.

It was Valentine's Day morning—and no matter how busy her year got, Hailey couldn't have beared to give up seeing her boyfriend again, not for anything.

Hailey had always wondered what would happen when she and Jake went their separate ways after high school, to their own universities in different states—when Jake only went an hour's drive away from Rosemeadow and Hailey flew several hours away from home.

It had always been a quiet, nagging uncertainty from the moment Hailey and Jake shared their last hug in the airport before Hailey left for her own college—a pill she'd begun preparing herself to swallow at the time—that maybe the distance would drive them apart, that their feelings would melt away with time and that high school romances rarely stood the test of time.

Of course, she hadn't ever wanted to believe it, that was for sure—but part of her always reminded her of that, over and over again, just in case it came true—just in case she'd have to find solace in the fact that she'd already been warned.

She remembered something she overheard on campus in her first year at Sunflower Field University, when she was hunched over her laptop working on a paper on a weekday evening—it was from a group of friends, talking quietly amongst themselves in a little huddle (grouped together in such a way that made Hailey miss her band members even more dearly that night), where she eventually overheard one of them say that high school couples forced into long-distance after graduation are practically guaranteed to split once one (or both) of them find someone else. Someone better.

She remembered how badly she didn't want someone else—but she wondered if maybe one day Jake would.

But, just as vividly, she remembered when the uncertainty began to wilt away, when it began to disappear like a blackened weed folding into itself and withering away underneath a beautiful field of wildflowers. When she realized that Jake never stopped texting her good mornings and good nights, that he still made time every weekend to call her for hours, that he'd always hug her so tightly every time they both came home for holiday breaks that she'd have to remind him to let her breathe. That even when she was so far away, he would still write little notes for her by hand—that the only difference would be that he'd take pictures of them under his desk lamp and send them to her every morning, and when both of them came home for any break, he'd give them all to her in a little blue envelope—always covered with sloppy (and adorable) hand-drawn stars.

She'd kept every one of those little blue envelopes. And she'd always read them all again as if she were only seeing them for the first time.

She'd even stuck one behind her clear star-studded phone case, a tiny note that she always kept there in case she needed to smile—one that read I wanna be loved with your love ;) and came with a little drawing of a smiling yellow star. I tried to make it look like your earring, Jake had written in tiny letters at the bottom.

Hailey flipped her phone around in her hand to look at it again, running her fingertip across the little handwritten words.

She still remembered being in her sophomore year of high school and starting to question how much of a capacity she even had for romantic love, and at some point she remembered deciding that she didn't really feel like thinking about it anymore. So she didn't.

Then one day in their junior year of high school, Jake Sterling suddenly walked into her life and turned over a new leaf—and at some point that year, she realized she was in love.

Shit.

Then a couple months and an adorably awkward first kiss later, the rest was history.

Before Hailey knew it, the car had stopped, and she was right in front of Jake's building—and suddenly, her mind flew into a weirdly anxious autopilot, all throughout the process of gathering her things from the car and thanking her driver and exchanging friendly smiles with him.

And in moments, she found herself in the lobby of Jake's dormitory, ready to check in as a visitor—and suddenly remembering that she was preparing to stay for the next two days, she felt a gigantic wave of gratitude wash over her when she remembered that Jake lived in a single-person room this year.

hey, she texted him. come to the lobby :)))

The next few minutes were a blur, starting with Jake appearing in the lobby—a few minutes late, just like him, clearly having no idea what to look for—followed by accidental eye contact that quickly turned into recognition, which then, just as quickly, ended in Jake running over and practically sweeping Hailey off her feet and then kissing all over her face like he hadn't seen her in years.

In that very moment, Hailey could feel her heart beating and beating, like it would explode out of her chest at any second, and she felt like she was soaring through a million skies at once even though her feet were still touching the ground—and when Jake's lips touched hers, she could tell how he instantly knew she was wearing her peach lip gloss, and she could feel every little motion of him smiling.

Then they separated after what didn't feel like long enough (even though it probably was), and Jake hugged her tightly and sweetly, almost like she would disappear if he let go. Hailey wondered if anyone had seen them, and a little part of her hoped no one had—but the rest of her couldn't be bothered enough to care.

Admittedly, Hailey had no idea what the future had in mind for her and Jake, hadn't a single clue how fate would eventually decide itself—but in this moment, as she stood snuggled between Jake's arms, heard him whisper into her hair about how much he missed and loved her, heard him tell her how happy he was to see her today, feeling how he held her like she was the most precious thing in his world and stroked little circles into her back—

The last thing she wanted to do was think about anything other than kissing him again.

--

A/N: happy late valentine's day wattpad readers :)