Hearts ✓

Five 💕

You don't need to know everything

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Today was Saturday, and while I usually sleep in until the last moment possible, I was very begrudgingly woken up by the sound of incongruous pounding on my front door. Poor door, I thought. Someone obviously didn't realize the existence of Joseph Henry's invention in 1831 which were also known as, drum roll please, doorbells.

My younger sister was out and about by early this morning, and following her were my parents, so today, it was just me, and while this must sound like a dream come true, there are only two people who can stop the pounding on the door. Me or the person pounding. In other words, I either answer the door or wait for this imbecile to come to their senses, take the hint, and leave.

My body aches from every angle, so o reached to check my phone. As soon as I opened it, the screen flashed brightly reading 7:03 am. What kind of joke is this?

I can tell that my body is still half asleep, and one of those is my brain, so I end up crawling on the floor, being carried mostly by my arms, and making my way to my window, only to find out that said imbecile happened to be Jake, instead of what I had imagined, a sixty-year-old neighbor that didn't know about the existence of a doorbell.

I sighed as I stretched my arms to push out the window before sticking my half-asleep head out the window to yell at him. "Shut up, you dim-wit."

"Morning, Callie." He chirps enthusiastically.

"I love how you so casually excluded the 'good' part of that phrase."

"Get dressed, " He says nonchalantly. "I have something cool to show you."

I could figure out how he just so suavely forced me to go traveling with him at seven in the morning, on a Saturday. It was likely the fact that my body didn't contain enough electrolytes to give me energy. But as every science geek like me knows, electrolytes don't give you energy in the first place. I consider that the fact that I even had the mere thought to think that electrolytes give someone energy says a lot about my current state of mind: dead.

I made sure to do a quick check to make sure I was sane before bolting downstairs to grab a makeshift breakfast and leaving a note for my parents for when they get back.

"Whatever you woke me up for, had better be worth it."

"Spending time with me is always worth it, right?" He chuckled.

"Not my Saturday morning."

Jake drives us both in silence for a few minutes, allowing me to rest my head on the side of the leather seat and slowly fall asleep before he jerks the car to an immediate stop, startling me. Instinctively I grabbed the headrest of my seat and held on for dear life.

He burst out laughing. I snickered. "What."

He simply continued laughing and shook his head as if to tell me that he hadn't expected me to have that reaction.

Eventually, he led me out of his car and to some sort of forest, we hadn't driven far yet this place was unfamiliar. "It's only secluded in the morning." He ran through the forest, spreading his arms wide and letting the air flow with him, then he motioned for me to do the same.

"So why'd you bring me here?"

"Easy." He grins breathlessly, "Your eyes. They're so damn pretty, and so they remind me of pretty things."

I laugh. "Sure, sure." This was likely a lie, and although the part about my eyes being green the forest was true, this was probably another phase one figment of becoming friends.  He was trying to breeze through the processes. But I wasn't naive, and I certainly wasn't going to fall for this.

"I go to this forest every so often, especially when I need to calm myself."  He continues. "Actually, if you walk further to the left, you'll see a cliff. I sit nearby when I feel alone."

And then, the unthinkable happens. Without realizing it, I start smiling, and I only start to smile because a part of me knows that what he's saying is real.

Then I realized what was happening around me, it felt like a rush of emotions had just gone through my brain like the blitz. These boys were smarter than I could've imagined it. Jake could've started today of his own intentions, or because of the dare, but whatever the reason was, he had successfully completed phase one. It was about a week since we had met, but because of his persistence, I slightly considered him a friend.

Only, he didn't have to know that.