Cheek to Cheek

Chapter 14

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The lab proposed required us to pick another set of partners. My thoughts immediately turned to Tabby, but just as I had turned to look at her, my hand was roughly grabbed. I was pulled by Jake towards Jack and the blonde girl. I gulped loudly; this was going to be difficult.

Jack’s arm was draped around the blonde’s shoulders as he pulled Jake into a handshake. While they exchanged words, I looked at the blonde girl. Her hair was tasseled and messy, but it gave her more of an edge. She was playing with it flirtatiously as she listened to Jake talk, pretending to laugh at anything that was sad. Her skin tone was so fair and evenly toned. Her face resembled that of a model, with its tiny nose and lovely cheekbones.

She glanced at me to shoot me a dirty look. I saw her eyes skim down to my hand, and I realized then I was still holding Jake’s hand. Quickly pulling my hand from his grasp, I received a curious glance from both him and Jack. Immediately, my face heated up from the attention. The blonde only laughed and pulled herself away from Jack’s grasp, hooking on to Jake’s arm instead.

“Come on, I want that lab table over there,” she whined. Her voice was not nearly as attractive as she was. She tugged at Jake’s arm persistently. As they walked away, I searched for Tabby. She had already found a table that was all the way across the room with another group. Disappointed, I felt my heart ache a little bit. She glanced at me quickly, and I tried to smile, but to no avail. She mouthed ‘sorry’ before quickly looking back.

“Hey, Kat, you coming?” Jake asked. I turned to face my new group, and a pit had already formed in the pit of my stomach.

“Yeah, I’m coming,” I replied softly. I followed him to the lab table the blonde had wanted and sat down. This was not going to be fun. I sat myself down at the table and awkwardly looked at Jake, then Jack and the blonde, and then Jake again. He smiled at me. I blushed again and tried to avoid his stare.

“So, you’re like good at this stuff, right?” the blonde motioned over to me with the piece of paper explaining the directions. I shrugged.

“I guess,” I said, slightly hesitating. She giggled, a sad attempt in being adorable, before shoving the paper in my direction.

“Good!” she exclaimed, “Because we aren’t!” Jack laughed, again wrapping his arm around her shoulders. I bit my lip tightly, trying to keep my focus on the paper in front of me. I hadn’t really been paying much attention in class due to a certain someone, so at first glance, it looked pretty foreign to me. Inhaling a deep breath, I grabbed a couple test tubes.

“Need any help?” Jake asked quietly. I shook my head, still avoiding his eyes, and forced a smile to my face.

“Nah, I got this,” I answered.

“You sure?” he asked, and I made the mistake of looking over at his face. His eyes were digging into mine, searching for something. For once, they didn’t seem so mischievous... just thoughtful. I set my focus back on the paper, picking it up with trembling hands.

“Positive,” I blurted out. What had gotten into me all of a sudden? Why had he been eyeing me like that? Trying to shake my head free of any further thought into it, I began the lab. Jack and that blonde flirted with each other most of the time. Jake occasionally pushed himself into the conversation. Thankfully, I figured I was ignored for most of the time. Even though I was working hard on the lab, I couldn’t help but overhear bits and pieces of their conversation.

“Dude, Andre’s party last night was sick,” Jack said, laughing as Jake made a face that didn’t seem too pleased. The blonde laughed, nuzzling her face into Jack’s neck. I tried to ignore the movement.