Hearts ✓

Twenty - Nine 💕

It no longer felt liveable if he wasn't there.

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If I had known that Jake had brought me to this strange patch of land on my regular route home, I would've made sure that I had changed what I was wearing, to preferably, a swimsuit.

I was currently wearing my favorite skirt that was 'dry cleaners only' as the store had claimed it to be, however, despite being drenched, I think it was doing just fine. I'd still have to check up on that, making sure that the colors hadn't blended together. Luckily for me, I was not wearing anything that showed the slightest resemblance of being made from leather and the makeup I had on was waterproof.

After we poured down the bucket of water on each other, Jake had brought out at least one hundred filled water balloons. "What is wrong with you?" I screamed as he continually made a show of bringing the water balloons out of some sort of bag he left here previously one by one.

"Callie, it's a very serious business." He makes a straight face, the corners of his lips are tingling though. "Don't insult the process."

Fortunately for me, as he was about to throw the first balloon towards me, Darren, the glorious savior called out to us. "This is pleasantly surprising."

"In what form is this pleasant?" My face whips towards him. Jake, who held his laughter for about an hour finally lets it all out with one huge burst of laughter.

"Oh look at that, Mr. Oh-so-serious-balloon-business has finally burst." This just causes Jake to laugh even harder, by now it seems to turn into a slight guffaw and a mild cough in between because now, he's out of breath.

Darren rolls his eyes at us as he takes in the sight of both of us completely drenched in water. "That's an awfully long name." He tries to sound formal. "Uh, so, what exactly happened."

I hold up the bucket as if it was a prized trophy, my hands present it just how Rafiki holds up Simba in the Lion King as the next heir.

I really do want to stay even if it means just getting revenge at Jake who seems to have splashed me more times I can count, but I need to be home early tonight before I get a furious call from my parents about how I'll be grounded if I don't get home in the next five minutes.

Grabbing the bag that I had placed on the side, that held my phone, I waved at the guys and walked the remainder of the route home alone. The sun was still up, though.

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Taylor's addiction to rap music is really starting to get on my nerves. I understand that she's fourteen now, and perfectly ready to enter the teenage anarchy phase, but seriously, it's starting to wear me down.

Rap music expresses my soul, but when Taylor decides to listen to the exact same song by the exact same artist on repeat, the magic of the song becomes long gone.

"TAYLOR!" I yell. For some reason, she can't stand heavy metal, but rap is somehow her best friend.

"I'm going out to a party tonight?" She pokes her head out of her room, with her makeup half-done. "Will mom and dad notice?"

"Uh," I look towards the calendar hanging on the wall parallel to me. "Shit. Tay, there coming home tonight."

"What?!"

"Uh-huh."

"Cals," She asks, eyes already pleading. "Can you cover for me."

"Not this time, they're going to be asking for you after your grades were sent directly to their email."

"I forgot about that!" Taylor's face flushed with shock. "I'm so screwed."

Although I had studied hard and was fit to become the Head Rep of our year, and speculated to be the valedictorian in two years, Taylor was the definition of the opposite. Although she wasn't borderline passing, she was right above that, and usually, she would have to hide her grades. This year, however, our parents called the school to send her grades to them directly via email.

The doorbell rang a few seconds later and we both froze in our faces. "Okay, Tay, remove your makeup and change out of those clothes, I'll say that you're taking a bath to stall for ten minutes." I nod towards her, "Hurry!"

She bolts.

I open the door ready to greet my parents from a week-long business trip but instead of exhausted faces and quite a bit of luggage, I'm standing in front of Jake who happens to be holding a bouquet of roses.

"Callie, it sounds awfully quiet," My sister calls, "Are they home?"

"No, it's just Jake." I answer her, nodding at Jake to come in, "You should hurry, though. They could be home any minute now."

"Okay!"

I turn abruptly to Jake, who, like Lauren, has taken an immediate liking towards my couch. He lies on it stretching his body on its' length. "Jake, what are you doing here?"

"I don't actually know."

"What do you mean, you don't know?"

"I saw roses that were pretty, and I thought of you."

"Jake," I say, "You are so bad at flirting." I laugh. "I'm not even kidding."

"Hey, Callie." He smiles. "I really did think of you," He hugs me as he leans in to kiss my cheek. "I have to go now, don't want to anger your parents. See you tomorrow."

"How funny." I laugh. "You actually shouldn't anger my parents, though. They're a tough bunch when cranky."

When the door signals that it has shut closed with a very loud click, Taylor takes this as a great opportunity to bolt out of the bathroom, wearing a bathrobe and her hair tucked into a turban towel and shout "PDA" over and over again in my face.

"Taylor, it wasn't PDA because we didn't kiss-"

"Yes, you did!" She smiles. "On the cheek."

"-and it wasn't in public." I continue.

I liked having Jake around, it no longer felt liveable if he wasn't there.