In Or Out

Chapter 9.

Chapter 9.

Turns out, Jake really wasn't kidding. I tried to avoid him after school, but he found me walking home. He made me get in his car and he drove us to his house. He then proceeded to drag me up to his room and interrogate me. Oh, and hugged me. A lot.

I'm not sure how I feel about him anymore. On one hand, I've liked him since we were kids, and he's always there for me. I think that there will always be a part of me that has a crush on him. But we just come from two different worlds, as corny as that is.

At the moment, Jake and I are sitting on his bed, with his head leaning against my shoulder. He had his eyes closed, and I could hear him breathing deeply. He is still raging from the fact that my dad is getting out. I have no doubt that he'll be by my side almost 24/7. Sometimes, his overprotective nature was just too much. Not that I don't appreciate it, it's just that we both lead opposite lives, and I don't want to be sucked into his more than I am already, vice versa.

I tried to search my mind for something to break the silence, but I came up with nothing. A few second after this, however, he did just that. "Your hair smells good." I stifled a laugh at how weird he was.

"Well then," I said, playing with his dark locks, "your hair is very soft." After a moment's pause, he sat up. I let my hand fall, and we locked our gazes on each other. Then, my brain just had to cue the romantic music as I looked into his bright eyes. I saw a smile slowly slipping on his face.

"I love you." My heart raced. This was not the first time that he had told me this, but before it had always been after playful banter or spontaneously while we were hanging out. This felt different than all of the other times.

"I love you, too." I said honestly. I haven't fallen in love with him, I swear. Even though I've liked him for so long, I know that I only love him as a friend, for being there for me. Hailey thought differently whenever she was around, but she was a romance fanatic. She has been trying to get Jake and I together since 2nd grade.

Jake smiled at me and grabbed my hand. "C'mon, let's go to the park!" He led me down the stairs and started running. It was about a half mile jog, and I couldn't keep up with Jake's pace. He was dragging me by the end of the run, and I was panting. I really needed to get into shape. My lungs were on fire, and I told him just that, but he kept running with no mind to my pain. What a good friend, right?

When we finally reached the park, I felt as if I was going to collapse.

It's only half of a mile, Brenlee. Why are you struggling so much?

Jake finally noticed my wobbly legs and my gasping for air. He set me down in the grass and held me in his arms.

"Breathe," he whispered. I tried to follow his instructions, but how could I breathe with his face just inches from mine?

I turned my head, and noticed a snack cart near one of the baseball fields. "Could you go get me a water?" I asked sheepishly. Jake nodded and got up.

That's when I saw two familiar figures sitting at a picnic table across the playground. Naomi waved enthusiastically, but I stared at her wide eyed. If Jake saw Carter here, he'd go ballistic.

I somehow found the strength to stand up and walk towards Jake. When I reached him, he looked at me like I was crazy, but my breath was almost even now and I was getting better.
When he handed me my water, he started to go back to the tree we were sitting at before.

"You know what we haven't done in a while?" I said, still out of breath, with a goofy smile on my face. Jake raised one eyebrow and me and I chuckled. "Tag. You're it!"

It probably wasn't the best idea I've ever had, considering I almost just died from running barely 5 minutes ago. My legs felt like jelly, even though I had only been running for less than 15 seconds. I saw the swings, and decided to make the best of the situation. I slowed to a walk, and was about to reach the swings when I felt a force latch onto me from behind, causing me to fall towards the ground.

While we were falling, Jake suddenly twisted around and broke the fall for- two words. Yeah. Right. I landed on the ground, Jake on top of me, knocking the air out of my lungs.

He leaned down next to my ear. "Did you really think that you'd win this game?" When I didn't respond, he lifted himself up, and I took a deep breath in and coughed.

"I couldn't breathe under all of that fat," I said, poking his stomach.

He scoffed. "We both know that's not true. This is pure muscle."

I wrinkled my nose. "You sound like one of those conceited guys in romance novels."

"Maybe we could be a romance novel, you'd never know right? Maybe one of our friends will write about the two best friends who fall in love." He rolled off of me and stared up into the clouds.

My cheeks turned bright red. "You think that we're gonna fall in love?" I squeaked.

If he noticed my embarrassed behavior, he didn't comment on it. He didn't comment on anything actually, just stayed silent. Are you kidding me right now? He's really not going to say anything about that? Ugh, boys.

We stared up at the sky, inches apart, for what felt like hours. Any normal person would've been on Instagram by now, but I was enjoying just spending time with him, no matter if we spoke or not. He suddenly rolled over, his face right next to mine.

"You know I love you, right?" He whispered into my ear.

I laughed. "As you've said it at least three times today, yes, I know. Now get up, we're gonna get ice cream!" I screamed like a little kid. Looking over to the picnic tables, I saw that Naomi and Carter weren't there anymore. I let out a breath, and linked my arm to Jake's. The ice cream truck in the parking lot was blaring it's high tuned, obnoxious music, making it easy to find. When we had gotten to the front of the line, Jake pulled his wallet out.

"I promise I'll pay you back when we get home, okay?" He shook his head, smiling. I was going to pay him back, whether he liked it or not. I'm not one of those who just wastes other's money. Once we had finished our ice creams, I ran over to the slides. I was too big for one of them, and I had to inch myself down it. I got up, and pouted.

"Wittle Bwenlee doesn't fit on the slides anymore?" Jake smirked, and I shoved him.

"It's not my fault I don't have the body of a six year old! I'd like to see you try to go down that slide." He immediately took the challenge, and climbed up the ladder. Instead of just sliding down, he laid on his side, sliding down on his arm.

"Bad idea, bad idea." He kept repeating. I looked at him arm, which already showed signs of rug burn on it.

I laughed. "Yeah, we definitely aren't six anymore." Something flashed in his eyes, and he locked gazes with me.

"I guess we aren't, huh?" He said in a low voice. His serious tone confused me. Weren't we just talking about falling in love and goofing around and- oh.

The day I met Jake, the day he promised to fight off my monsters, was when I was six and he was seven. That day, I ran out of the house because my father had yelled at me that he hated me, and that he never wanted me. Harsh words for a kid to hear, right? It slowly escalated until I was ten, when the DUI's started to occur.

"He's never going to hurt you. He won't get the chance, I'll protect you."

"I know Jake, I've known that since day one."

~~~
Dedicated to Adrienne, thank you for pushing me to write this chapter, I love you!