Cause I Care #Wattys2017

Chapter 16

My eyes widened. "What?"

"Who's Jake?" He repeated once more.

"Uh, um..." I sighed. He probably heard everything Reilly said about him. "Can we go somewhere to talk?"

"Yeah sure." Seth walked me over to the passenger car door and opened it for me. I murmured a thank you. Before he started the car, he sent a text to Marcus telling him to tell the others that we weren't coming.

We sat in silence as Seth drove us back to the lake with the canoe. The voice of the singer lightly hummed out of the car speakers. The trees passed by as we exited the city and went into the forest. He turned into the forest, driving on a trail of dirt and leaves and twigs. After parking the car, Seth got out and walked over to my side. He opened the door for me and I stepped out, muttering yet another thank you.

We walked through the forest, him ahead of me so I can follow. Silence was my new best friend for the walk to the lake and for when we got into the canoe and headed for the middle of the lake.

When we got to the middle of the lake, Seth gave me his undivided attention. I folded my hands and set them in my lap, staring into the distance as I sighed.

"So you want the whole story or the cliff notes version?" I ask him.

"The whole story." He told me.

"Okay. So you already know that Reilly started bothering me in sophomore year. Well, little did I know that she had much more planned." I chuckled humorlessly

"That year, Jake found me crying in a classroom. I wasn't as used to peoples critical whispering and comments. He made me feel better. He didn't make the comments or whisper about me. At least that's what I thought. Jake would sit with me when Bonnie and Cadence weren't there. Bonnie and Cadence didn't like him, but would behave for my sake.  I had a crush on him. I found him cute. Every time Bonnie and/or Cadence said something bad about him, I would defend him. They would hang out with me less but I didn't mind it since I had Jake. He picked me up when I fell down, he was always there. After about a couple weeks of being together, he asked me out. Of course, I said yes. He took me on a date. One date. And that's when I fell for him. Let me tell you, I fell hard. I thought he loved me back. I was so blinded by love that even when I would try to kiss him on the lips he would always turn his head so it was on the cheek. I never got my first kiss. I would try to hold his hand but he would only let me if we were alone. Again I still didn't see it.

"The one date that he took me on wasn't even that great. He only paid for himself. He only talked about himself. I didn't care though. The only things that were running in my mind when we were dating, was that someone didn't pick on me or call me names or whisper rumors about me. So I didn't mind it at all. Occasionally he would give me a quick hug or a side hug, but yeah. He never gave me any of those cute pet names. He would insult me sometimes but I played it off as if he was joking around. I was so fucking naive.

"Jake...he was something else. He would talk about himself all the time, always talk about how he was so good looking. He would even talk to his own damn reflection. But no, oh no. I did not see it or care. He would cheat on me. Sleep with other girls and kissing them. Bonnie and Cadence told me the truth. That he was cheating. I denied it and got mad that they had told me something that I thought was not true. Hell, they even brought me physical photo evidence of him missing another girl. But yet again, I got mad and told them that they had photo shopped it so I would break up with him. We ended up getting in a big fight about it."Traitorous tears fell from my eyes as I remember those times back then.

"After the fight, I went to school the next day. It was a good and normal day. I went looking for Jake. I ran all over the school. That morning, I wanted to confess my love for him and I expected him to do the same. When I found him, I was really happy and nervous. I told him. I came right out and said those three words that changed my life. He sent a text right after I said it. That's when Reilly and a crowd of people that were and weren't in our grade behind her. They gathered around me and Jake. Reilly grabbed Jake by the collar of his shirt and kissed him. It was terrible. But the worst part was that he didn't pull back like I expected him too. I stood there and watched with tears streaming down my face as they kissed. When they broke apart he told me that...that he was paid to date me and then when I told him that I loved him, that he was gonna humiliate me. And he sure did.