I'm Right Here

Chapter Ten

"Hey," Jake greeted Annie when he saw her in the library, reading two papers that were stapled together.

She looked up from her papers and Jake could swear her eyes widened in that fraction of a moment but her expression quickly turned normal. "Oh, hey."

He takes a seat across from her. "You're not taking the test?"

"I finished early." Annie managed a small smile.

"Really? Is it that easy?"

"Oh yeah, definitely." She nodded. "If you studied."

Jake buried his face in his hands. "Fuck." He peeked through the little gaps of his fingers, exhaling. "Can you tell me the answers?"

Annie chuckled softly. "No."

He thought he would only see it for that night. He thought he would never see the way her eyes disappear whenever she lets out a smile. The way her cheekbones appear when her lips pull up. Those pale pink lips...

"But," Annie fished out something from her bag—another stapled papers, and she handed it to Jake. "Here. It's my reviewer. You can study for it."

Hesitantly, he took the papers. He wanted to laugh and tell her he never studied for any tests, ever, but he wanted to keep it casual and not mess anything up. He did tell Dom he would try. Wasn't this already trying? "Thanks."

Annie nodded and went back to reading her other reviewer.

Jake began fidgeting with his fingers. Silence enveloped them and it would make sense because it was a library. But he felt the need to keep the conversation alive. Treat her different. He didn't know what else to say, so he went for the most used conversation starter, "How are you?"

She looked at him again with those gentle eyes. "I'm good. You?"

"Good," he said.

"Great."

Another awkward silence stretched. Jake cursed at himself over and over in his head. He was good at this. He was smooth with the ladies (with the other ladies), what made him lose all his confidence talking to Annie?

She's not like the other girls, he said to himself. My tricks won't work on her because she's not that girl.

Jake didn't know how to be normal. He didn't know how to be himself. When flirting with the ladies, he either complemented them, or got them to be interested in him enough to sleep with him. His muscular body and good looks were usually enough for them to be swept off their feet. It was always about showing off. But the spell won't work on her because she was...different. Simple, but different. Simple, but stood out from the rest. Simple that caught––

He shoved the thought aside. He couldn't possibly be...It was too soon to assume that. Jake was attracted to her. That he would admit. He wanted to get to know her first. Start small and...simple. Like a normal relationship would. Although he had no idea how normal relationships work, he would eventually.

Just then, an idea came to him. "Do you like sports?"

Annie's brows rose and was hesitant to reply. "No. But I don't hate them either."

"Are you gonna watch the game next week?"

She dropped her gaze back to her reviewer. "I––don't know. I don't think I can."