Saving Rose

Chapter Fourteen

"Jacob!" Rose squealed in between fits of giggles. She tried to dash the opposite direction, but Jacob grabbed her by the waist and continued to tickle her.

I couldn't help the smile that erupted onto my face. Jacob was better with kids than he put on. Rose, Jacob, Sydney and I were all on the beach, we had been walking down the shore when Jacob started to tickle Rose, and it hadn't stopped since.

I looked over at Sydney, and she motioned me over. She was sitting on a towel, farther away from Jacob. "And he says he doesn't like kids," I told her, making my way over.

"He's the best with them," she motioned to the two, proving her point. "Sometimes I think he is better with kids than I am." Sydney has always been one of those people who just has a natural ability with children, but it seemed as though Jacob was the same, once he warmed up to them at least.

"If only he was this comfortable around us all the time," I mumbled.

"And why is that?" Sydney asked, raising an eyebrow.

I felt myself blush bright red, but before I could reply, I heard my phone ring. I hoped that it was from Luke, I hadn't heard much from him since he left.

"Hello?" I answered, hoping to hear Luke's voice on the other end.

"Ally." It was Luke.

"How is everything?" I asked, unsure of what to say. I didn't want to say anything wrong incase his mom was even worse than before. I walked farther away from the people on the beach, and began to pace back and forth.

"I'm good, my mom is on her last leg, but there are some old family and friends here, and it's really nice to see them again." He sounded fine which was surprising based on how he acted when he found out about it.

"That's always nice," I answered, "I mean, it's always nice to see family and friends, not..." I trailed off, hoping I got my point across the right way.

"It is," he agreed. "My ex-girl-" he cleared his throat, "my best friend from high school is here, and I haven't seen her since we graduated senior year together."

I felt my heart drop in my chest. "Oh, I bet it's nice to catch up then." I glanced over at Jacob and Rose, but Jacob's eyes were already on me, and he didn't shy away when I caught him looking. He had stopped tickling Rose, who was now over by Sydney, and he was standing, watching.

"She was thinking about moving here, and I may ask her if she wants to move in with me until she finds an apartment, or another place to live." This didn't sound like the Luke that I was dating. Before I could reply, he cut in, "just thought I would check in, I should probably go. Not sure when I'll be home, talk to you later."

"Bye," I whispered, but it was useless as I already heard the beep of the call ending. I didn't move from my spot, I turned away and tried to stop the tears. I didn't even know why I felt like crying, but I did.

"Hey," I heard Jacob's voice from behind me. "Are you okay? Was that Luke?" I felt a hand on my shoulder.

I nodded, "it was Luke." I still hadn't faced him, but I could feel his gaze on the back of my head.

"Come here," he murmured, turning me around and pulling me into his chest. I wrapped my arms around his torso and squeezed my eyes shut.

I started to laugh, "I'm like an emotional teenager. He didn't want to talk to me, and he hung up before I could say bye, so I jumped to conclusions."

Jacob pulled away from me to look me in the eyes. I had tears in my eyes, yet I was still laughing. It was one of those awkward laughs.

I shook my head and avoided eye contact. "It's alright to be weak once in awhile, even I have to break down sometimes. It's life." Jacob really knew what to say. "But maybe Luke is just emotional himself, he probably wasn't trying to be rude, and his emotions just got the better of him."