365 Days With You.

Prologue, Part 1

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December 31

(The Day of the Dare)

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‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧Jessica's POV‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧‧

"Jessica."

I could feel the fluttering of my stomach's butterflies as he said my name. Everything came back hitting me when I saw him again. For the second time in my life, I felt so much guilt once more.

As much as I wanted to break down right now and hug him in front of all these people, I didn't. That would only show him that I didn't survive without him. No, I needed to stay strong right here. Right now. Because unfortunately for him, I did survive without him in my life.

Although I almost died inside while I did.

I took a deep breath and tried to make my voice sound as cold as possible before speaking.

"Jake."

I hope my voice sounded cold enough for him to be surprised. Why? Because I never was cold with him. Never. Not until now.

I immediately studied his reaction after stating my coldness to him. For a moment, he looked taken aback. But then again, his eyes got that cold stare back again.

Wow, this is AWKWARD.

Chrissy Taylors suddenly came up between us. "Hey. You know each other?" Oh, believe me, Chrissy. We know each other more than twins do of each other. I wanted to say that, but I kept my mouth shut. Neither Jake nor I showed Chrissy any signs of answering her question with a yes or a no.

"Nice talking to you two," Chrissy told us sarcastically. I looked at her and was relieved to see that she wasn't annoyed at all. In fact she was smiling like she was just toying around with us.

"Get a life, you two! You look dead here at the party! Go and have fun will you? It's the last party of the year!" Chrissy said ecstaticly. "You two know each other, don't you? I overheard you introduce to each other. Lol, but what's with the cold tone? Is that a new way of being introduced?" Chrissy laughed at her own joke.

Pft. She had mistaken our cold greetings to one another as cold introductions. Typical, since we really acted like we didn't know each other. I just sighed quietly and waited for someone to talk.

Presently, Jake spoke up. "Uhh, actually we do know each other. Don't we?" I felt Jake shoot me a glare or some look that felt cold. Well, I guess I have no choice but to reply to that.

"Yeah. I guess we do know each other. But not the same way we did before." I answered, making sure that the coldness in my voice maintained.

Jake shot me an angry look while Chrissy put a hand on my shoulder. "Easy there, Jess. I know that you both know each other because of that 'cold introductions' thingy but I so do not want you fighting with anyone tonight." she whispered.

I let my breath out and rolled my eyes. "I am not getting into any trouble tonight, Chrissy." I said. I removed her hand on my shoulder and smiled weakly.

"Okay. I trust you with that. I'll be by the pool if you need anything, alright? Are you someone's date tonight?" Chrissy asked me.

"Nah. I declined them all. I don't want to be anybody's property for tonight." I replied.

"Oh." Chrissy then turned to Jake. "How about you? Do you have a date here or something?"

Jake nodded. "Lots of 'em." he replied, smiling playfully and looking at me. I raised him an eyebrow at that.