Always Mine

Chapter Six: Honesty

The rest of the day came and went. Jade had stayed with me up until late the night before, leaving around eleven because of a few things that, she claimed, needed to be taken care of. This morning, after I had woken up and showered, I received a text message from Jake asking if he could give me a ride to and from school. Not really in the mood to go out and brush off my car, I hesitantly accepted and was getting into his car less than an hour later.

Jade and I had talked about me liking him and we came to the conclusion that even though it was wise of me not to get attached, I could always look and appreciate and get to know him more as a person and as a friend. So that was what I was going to do. He looked really good today, as usual, dressed in a pair of black jeans and a black and red plaid flannel shirt that was unbuttoned, showing off the broad expansion of his chest covered in a white wife beater. His long hair was down, some falling in his pretty brown eyes.

"How was the rest of your weekend?" He asked, smiling at me and watching as I buckled my seatbelt.

"Completely boring and uneventful; Jade came over yesterday and we watched The Big Bang Theory." I answered once the stupid thing clicked and I was looking at him again. He hadn't started driving yet, we were still parked in front of my house.

"I love that show." His smile reminded me of the story Jade had told me about the lockers. I wonder if he knew that I knew. Would he be angry if I knew? All thinking was cut off and I froze as he took a hand away from the wheel and brushed the few strands of hair that rested near my eyes back behind my left ear, bringing his face close to mine, "You're very beautiful this morning." His voice was nothing more than a whisper, and as he rested his open palm on my cheek I started to blush, only causing his smile to grow.

"Thank you." I didn't know what else to say to him at that point. Silently, I begged him not to kiss me. If he did, I feared it would be the end of all reality, all of life as I knew it, as silly as that seemed to be; God knew he was charming enough, sweet enough, and handsome enough to have any girl fall for him. Thankfully, it was my cheek he kissed instead of my lips before pulling his face and hand away.

Once he started to drive, I felt his hand rest on top of mine and, even though I thought of taking my hand away, I decided to make no move to make it stop. Why couldn't I let him treat me like I was somewhat special? He was such a sweet guy and I liked the way he made me feel.

"I hope I'm not being too forward." He said after a few minutes when we were stopped at a red light. I had been looking out the window up until then, admiring the way the snow had covered everything. I was looking at him now, cocking my head to the side, feeling my heart race.

"What do you mean?" He looked at me, and then looked down for a moment before his eyes met mine again. He seemed to be struggling to find the words.

"I've really liked you for a while now, for the past year or so actually. I just never knew what to say or how to deal with it, so I started talking to Andrew and at first he kind of freaked because he thought it was a joke. It's not, Christa, and I wouldn't have asked you out over the weekend if he wasn't aware of that." So it was all Andrew's idea? "I wanted to take it slow, see how things went and maybe wait a month or two to tell you, but you said Saturday that if I ever wanted to say anything to just say it... So here we are now." I knew that would come back to bite me in the ass, but still, I looked at him, taking in the way he was looking back at me. He almost seemed embarrassed, maybe even a little timid. He wasn't lying though; I knew that from the way he kept eye contact with me, at least until the light changed and he had to start driving again.