Chasing Jacob (Jacob Whitesides Fanfiction)

Regrets

Josh rolled his eyes. "You can't give up on Jake. He's your best friend. This Emily girl could never replace someone like you. I'm pretty sure there aren't any pictures of Emily in the bathtub with Jacob."

I groaned. "Do you really have to bring that up? It's bad enough that mom has naked baby pictures. We don't have to bring up the fact that I'm not even alone in them. That's so embarrassing."

Josh shrugged. "Yeah, but it's the kind of story that's going to make you eternally tied to Jacob. No matter what he does, he'll never be able to deny it. She won't replace you. You'll be able to snatch him up eventually. Don't worry."

Josh and Ryan left me alone for awhile and I kept thinking about what I said. Maybe it would be easier to just not be friends with Jacob. It would be hard because we've been inseparable since kindergarten and aside from Julia and Dakota I never really had many other friends.

They were there, but they weren't important to me like Jacob was. I couldn't think of another group of people that would ever take me in if I decided to leave Jacob behind. I struggled with it all weekend. I really wanted to get away from Jacob, but I couldn't think of a single way to do it.

Monday morning I woke up super early and got ready way ahead of schedule. Josh was still in the kitchen when I walked downstairs. He leaves about an hour earlier than I do. "Why are you ready so early?" he asked me.

I shrugged. "I don't know. I'm just feeling it today I guess."

He was standing by the toaster waiting for his chocolate chip poptarts to come back up. "You want any toasted poptarts?"

I nodded and sat down on a stool at the island. Josh gave me the first poptarts that came up and stuck two more in for himself. I stared at them for a bit and waited for them to cool. When his food was done, Josh sat down at my side and tried to make conversation. "So after today Ryan won't be taking the bus anymore. He's finally getting his license tonight."

I nodded. "That's good. That'll be one less seat that isn't taken up in the back of the bus Middle schoolers can more back more."

"Don't you sit with him sometimes though? What are you gonna do now?"

I bit into my poptart. "I'll sit with someone else. No big deal. At least he doesn't have to deal with all the stupid little sixth graders."

Josh laughed. "You were just a stupid little sixth grader like two years ago."

I shrugged jokingly. "I grew up."

We both laughed together and he inhaled his food. "I have to go," he said as he picked his bag up off the floor. "Have a good day at school and try to relax about Jake. Everything is going to turn out okay. Okay?"

I nodded and he ruffled my hair as he walked out, calling out goodbyes to Mom and Dad as he headed out the door. I stayed at the island, finishing my food and playing Angry Birds on my phone. Dad came down the stairs shortly after and kissed the top of my head. "Good morning sweetie," he said as he started making his morning cup of coffee. He was already in his business suit.

"Morning Dad," I said cheerfully as I paused my game. I don't see a lot of my dad. He works long hours and weekends and goes on a lot of business trips. Sometimes I see him if we eat a late dinner and he comes home early, but I usually only see him for a few minutes in the morning and a little bit before bed. He's always tired. We don't talk much.

"I feel like I haven't see you in forever Love Bug," he said. "How's school going?"

I shrugged. "It's school Daddy. It sucks."

He laughed. "How many times do I have to tell you that you need to enjoy it while you can? You miss those sorts of things when you're my age. Being old isn't any more fun than being young. It's actually a lot worse if we're being honest. You know your mom was telling me that she's inviting Jacob's family over on Sunday when I'm off work."