His Smirk ||

19: Fast Spreading Words

Jakeson looked over at me, concern evident on his face. “You sure you’re all right?” he asked, letting his eyes drift to the road for a moment as he took a turn before looking back towards me. “We can stay home and I can take care of you.”

“It was just a little migraine,” I lied with a shrug. “I’m fine, really.”

To be honest my head did still hurt, but it wasn’t and never had been because of a migraine. I’d only told him that was the cause of my throbbing headache. I’d known the moment I’d finally managed my way into the house at almost five in the morning, with Mike’s help, to find him sitting up waiting for me I couldn’t tell him the truth. So instead I had excused the fact I was drunk by saying I felt sick. A really bad migraine I had called it.

Now all of his constant checking up on me really was giving me a migraine. I was still amazed I’d managed to talk him into letting me go to school at all. Not that I wouldn’t have loved an excuse to skip, having the newfound knowledge of exactly how much everyone hated me didn’t really compel me to show up, but I knew if I had sipped Jakeson would stay back and take care of me. I couldn’t stand a minute more of his fussing over me and no school meant more Jakeson. It was a package deal that I passed up on.

“If you change your mind let me know. It’s no hassle for me if that’s what you’re worried about.”

As he pulled his car into his parking spot I smiled over towards him. Only thing I’m worried about is you driving me crazy! “Thanks Jakeson, it really means a lot to me that you care.”

I ducked out of the car hoping with that little touch of gratitude he’d decide he could finally stop fussing over me. I mean really, he knew I’d gone through worse with my dad. When I was sick I was my only caretaker. I had to find everything out on my own ever since my mom had left us.

Jakeson caught my eye the second he stepped from the drivers seat. His mouth moved but over the sound of cars pulling up around us I couldn’t make out the short line that had left his lips.

He approached me shortly after, walking smoothly around the front of his sleek ride, and returned my questioning gaze with a smooth smile. It was easy to tell from the way his perfectly blue eyes shone that he was thinking something over. My only question was what.

“What did you say?” I asked, pushing the strand of barely pink hair from my eyes as a breeze blew it about. “I missed it.”

“Oh nothing,” he said, his voice soft and smooth as he stopped before me. With that same little smile his eyes scanned my face before meeting gazes with me. “Ready for class?”

I eyed him, slightly confused before deciding to drop it. I’d learned that with Jakeson sometimes talking with him was the worst idea. I’d wind up hearing about feelings I didn’t want t hear about. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about him; I did. It was just that I couldn’t deal with his feelings. Especially not now, not after the whole Kale thing.

As I scooted past him into the building his soft smile only raised my guilt level. Brendon was right. I needed to move out and fast. I had faced Kale and now I had to face Jakeson. I couldn’t let him coddle me. I couldn’t let him keep fawning over me.