Knock Knock... Don't Invite Me In

Chapter 3: Tumbling

The rest of the day, my mind was everywhere. I know I had only known Jake for a few weeks, but I felt like I knew him so well. Everything was moving so fast, I admit, but I never expected that reaction just because I had met my new neighbor. I honestly don't know what to think. Also, what the heck was that past girls comment all about? I didn't even know he had had past girls, much less that they had ended badly. Maybe I didn't know him as well as I thought.

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*Beep beep beep*

I slammed my hand against my alarm clock, groaning in protest. Yay for school. Jake and I haven't talked since Saturday when he, well, when he went crazy. I got a missed call from him but I didn't feel like facing him yet. I got out of bed and picked out a pink tank top and simple skirt. Ugh, I was really not ready to face him yet.

As I got on the bus, I took my normal seat near the front and stuck my nose in a book, trying to distract from the upcoming confrontation. It didn't work so well. When I felt the bus coming to a stop in front of Jake's house, I was shocked to see him patiently waiting on his doorstep, hair fully done, with a single flower in his hand. Usually, he runs out right before the bus leaves only half dressed and mentally unprepared for the day. Instead, he walked with his usual strut up to the bus and smiled his usual smile at me. Despite his charm, I tried to remind myself and keep the idea in the back of my head of what he had said just a couple days ago.

"Hey good looking." he said as he slid into the seat next to me. I ignored him and looked out the window. "I brought you a rose... princess. When all the petals fall off, instead of me turning handsome, I will turn back into the beast. Watch out!" I continued to ignore him as he set the rose in my lap, grabbing my free hand.

"Karoline, everything okay?" he asked. At this, I whipped around in my seat to face him.

"Is everything okay? Did you seriously just ask me that Jake?" I realized I was being a little too loud because of the eyes turning to look at me so I lowered my voice. "Seriously Jake. You don't see anything wrong here? You don't think this is going a little too far a little too fast?"

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, genuinely confused, but still continuing to smirk.

"I mean, it has been two weeks and you already call yourself my boyfriend. It has been two weeks and you're already coming to my house unannounced and yelling at me for talking to another person."

"You were getting a little too friendly with him babe, you're mine, I don't want to lose you that quickly.

"First of all, I am not yours. Second of all, he came to introduce himself because he was moving in. I merely shook his hand. Just like I did with you the first day I met you."

"So, you're saying he's equivalent to me?"

"NO Jake, you are completely missing the point. I like you Jake, I really do. But this sudden jump to committed relationship is a little unexpected. If you like me, we need to slow it down a little bit. I don't want to go from the loner to in a serious relationship within two weeks and I am still clueless as to what you were talking about when you referred to your past relationships. It takes time, do you understand?"

He looked straight into my eyes for a second before responding, "Anything for you. I will work on it, okay? Slow it down, got it." he smiled, avoiding the past relationships question. I looked away and nodded. When the bus arrived at the high school, he took my hand and led me to a bench outside of the school.

"Look, Karoline, I'm sorry. I truly am. And about my ex girlfriend, it was a bad relationship with a bad ending. We were best friends basically our whole lives and a couple years ago, we both started to catch feelings. After a year of dating, and me being suspicious of her true devotion, I found out she had been cheating on me nearly our whole relationship. Since then, I have had major trust issues so I am sorry that I took it out on you. I realize now how crazy I acted and I need to tone it down. Ever since I met you, though it wasn't long ago, I have been so intrigued by you. There's something special about you, Karoline Lee, and I want to make you mine someday. Is that okay with you?" Despite my previous anger, I felt the heat rise up in my cheeks.