Ignite

Chapter 8

I went back over to the table to join Jaye where he had two cinnamon scrolls sitting there ready for us. I sat down and took a bite of mine. It practically melted in my mouth as the cinnamon sweet fluffy warm flavours danced around on my toungue.

"Jaye this is so good!" I said sincerely. He laughed and ate some of his.

"I know! My dad took me here once when I was younger and I've loved it ever since."

"Hey, you've never mentioned your dad. Where are your parents?"

He looked down and quietly said "Well I don't know my real parents...I was adopted when I was younger, by a man, he isn't married but he's pretty much my dad to me."

"Oh I'm sorry." I said quietly, feeling my heart drop in my chest.

"Its fine, really, I don't mind, its just a little embarrasing if anything, but my dad is a great man, really he is."

"What does he do?"

"He, umm, he works for this organisation, its just boring typical work stuff, nothing too interesting."

"Oh." I said. His boring description made me begin to lose interest in the topic.

As if sensing my loss of interest he spoke up, "Should we head to Scream now?"

I perked up and nodded. I jumped up and followed Jaye out of the cafe. When we got outside he hesitated before reaching out his hand and sending me an apologetic look. I smiled back softly to let him know I understood and took his hand, entertwining our fingers once again and reigniting the warmth in my stomach. We walked down the sidewalk for a good 10 minutes before ending up at the entrance of Scream. My heart began to race with excitement as I peered inside at all of the deadly-looking coasters.

Jaye insisted on buying my ticket so I let him, figuring he could do that much since he was living in my house. We went to the kiosks, purchased the tickets and entered the amusement park.

I peered up at excitement as I saw what seemed to be endless rides to give me the thrill I wanted. I looked over at Jaye to see why he was walking so slow, but he seemed completely zoned out.

"C'mon Jaye, lets get going!" I exclaimed as I bumped his shoulder softly to bring him back to reality, he gave me his usual shy and hesitant smile before nodding and picking up the pace.

We went on ride after ride for around 3 hours before it began to get dark and the rides began to close up. I would've been bummed had I not felt so exhausted from the last few roller coasters. Jaye held my hand tighter as he led the way and we fought the crowds to get out of the park. He hadn't let go of my hand the entire time except for once when I had to use the restroom, and even then he was very hesitant. His mannerisms confused me. I'd tried to be friendly, I opened up to him hoping he would then open up to me, but he always seemed....unsure. At times I got glimpses of a carefree version of Jaye, and I liked him best then, but those moments were short and not as often as I would have liked. I reflected on how only living with him for 24 had been, and realised I was going to have to put in a lot of work to make it less uncomfortable and more tolerable.

After walking with the crowds down the sidewalks of the city, we finally reached Jaye's car. He walked me over to my side and opened my door for me to get in. I muttered a thank you, got in and he shut it behind me before racing to his side to get in.

The drive home was relatively quiet. Occasionally Jaye would speak up to make sure I was feeling alright, but other than that he was silent. I didn't speak up, I was starting to worry that maybe Jaye just really hated having to look after me causing his ongoing grumpiness. We arrived to my house and walked inside. Jaye insisted he walk in first to be sure no one was inside or anything, and then he let me follow. He closed the door and locked up and began to unlace his shoes nicely and hang up his jacket. I simply threw my shoes aside and walked up the stairs to my room, eager to embrace my warm bed after the tiring day. I opened my door and stopped. In my exhaustion I'd forgotten to expect the usual note. And there it was. I took a deep breath in a took it off of my bed. I ripped off the envelope to reveal the contents of the days note