Falling in Love with my Best Friend

Chapter 7: Bad News

I laughed looking over at the water, excited to get in and float around, even if it was freezing.

I glanced over at Jake to find him staring, challengingly at me. I raised an eyebrow glancing back at the water before looking at him. He was smiling, shifting his feet to get into a better starting position.

I shot off straight towards the water. Knowing that I had started before him, I glanced back at Jake expecting to see some distance between us. There was none. He was about a foot behind me and smirking. I looked straight again, focusing on my goal. Pulling my shirt over my head I threw it to the side and continued running. Getting only meters away from the lake, I kicked my shoes off and unbuttoned my pants. Jake was doing the same at this point, sliding his jeans off his hips.

I threw mine off and dived towards the water, feeling two strong arms wrap around me and turn me so I was staring at the sky while Jake was falling underneath me. I hit the water seconds after him, shivering and aching from the cold.

When I surfaced I was whipping around looking for the jerk that beat me. His head splashed through the water to my water. I watched as he shook his hair out and ran a hand through it, pushing it off of his face. He finally looked up at me, his eyes gleaming.

“You are SUCH a jerk.” I hissed, staring angrily at him.

“Ya, but I’m yo-“ His voice was cut off when I splashed water in his face. “You shouldn’t ha-“ Jake started to growl but he stopped himself when Matt walked up.

“Jake, the guys need your help unloading the stuff,” he informed him.

Jake glanced at me, a crooked smile playing on his lips before he pulled himself out of the water and ran towards the car. I laughed, letting myself lean back and float on top of the water.

Everything was so peaceful and familiar here and it made me forget about everything else. It was funny how many perfect yet disastrous memories I had here, all of them wonderful and amazing in their own ways.

After another minute of relaxing in the water and avoiding any work, I pushed myself out of the water and onto the dock, water dripping from my suit and onto the wood. My feet gave a steady ‘pat, pat’ as I walked down the dock and joined everyone in unpacking.

After an hour of setting up tents, making our bonfire and arguing over who’s going to sleep in what tent, I found myself lying on the grass, staring up at the clear blue sky. Everything about this place just gave me calming thoughts. I heard someone walking up to the spot I was lying at and lay down beside me.

“It’s amazing isn’t it?” Jake muttered his voice soft as if any loud noise would disturb the peace. Somehow, it didn’t surprise me that it was Jake lying down beside me. Somehow I expected it to be him.

I let my head fall to the side, allowing me to take in Jake’s profile. He really was hot, guess I never looked close enough to realize it. He had nice brown stubble that contrasts perfectly against his tan skin. Messy brown hair that’s not curly or straight but just messy. His eyes were a bluish grey that if you looked at through different angles would appear 3D and hollow. His cheek bones were prominent and high and his lips were a nice light pink that was similar to the color of his tan skin.

“Mhm…” I responded, surprising myself by how soft and vulnerable I sounded.
He smiled, turning to look at me.

I felt my breath catch in my throat when his eyes connected with mine and his smile slowly faded. He seemed to be looking at me with a strange determination. That’s when I realized that he was slowly moving closer, but slow enough to agonize me somehow. His beautiful eyes fell to my lips making me self-conscious and scared.

Was he going to kiss me? Is this really happening?

I felt my eyes flutter closed as a rush of calmness swept over me. I wasn’t going to over think this. I was just going to let it happen and I could freak out after. The presence of his face was nearly an inch away now, his soft breath wafting across my lips and face. Oh my gosh, I’m about to kiss Jake Mathews.

And then, he was gone. I opened my eyes just in time to see him running into the patch of trees next to my grassy spot. Oh my gosh, I almost just kissed Jake. I fell onto my back staring up at the sky and feeling my breath coming out strangled and rugged. Was I holding my breath that whole time?

The sky above me was a perfect baby blue and somehow it surprised me that the sky could still be blue after all that had just happened. In the last 60 seconds I had almost kissed Jake. I had gone from friendship with him to maybe something more. How could that happen?

“Stacy?”

I jumped from surprise as the voice came close to me. Had Jake come back? What was I supposed to say? Was he going to tell me that it was a mistake to do that? As much as I knew it probably was I didn’t want to hear him say it. I stumbled off the ground whirling around with huge eyes and giant anticipation.

Matt was standing a few feet away from me, staring at his shoes and slowly kicking the dirt beneath his feet.

“Matt?” I responded, disbelief in my voice. He looked up at me, his eyes shinning with tears. Oh my gosh. “What’s wrong? What happened?” I ask, feeling the need to run over and hug him but restraining myself from interrupting him.

“My dad just called, on their way to San Francisco they got in a car accident,” he mumbled, staring at his feet again.

“Is your mom okay?” I asked, pleading him to say she was perfect. He looked back up at me, tears blurring his eyes as he swallowed hard. Oh no.

I sprinted over to him, grabbing his wrist and pulling him behind me as I dashed to his car. My hand slipped into my pocket as I felt around for the keys. I stopped abruptly turning around to look at the campsite behind us.

“I have to go get your keys, I’ll be right back,” I told him dashing over to the bonfire pit.

Glancing over at the picnic table I spotted the pair of keys I was looking for, grabbing it and turning to run back to the car when I spotted a figure at the very edge of the trees, hands in their pockets. My breath caught when I recognized Jake’s unreadable face. As soon as his eyes connected with mine his whole posture changed; he stiffened and his eyes became sharp and hard.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Matt’s mom, got in a car accident,” I whispered, gulping back the tears. Jake paused for a moment before he was rushing over, taking the keys from me and racing to the car, while I stumbled blindly behind him. He got to the car, unlocked it and turned to Matt.

“Where are the guys?” Jake asked.

“The lake,” Matt mumbled, staring at his feet.

“And they don’t know,” Jake confirmed, turning and sliding into the driver’s seat. “Get in.”

Matt slumped into the back seat while I took shot-gun.

The ride there was long and hard, plenty of time for me to question my relationship with Jake, just what I needed.