Jericho's Girl

chapter one

     He took a sip from his drink, still not making eye contact with me. But when he finally did, he chuckled softly and looked away again, the soft expression disappearing from his face as quickly as it came. I honestly couldn't begin to describe why I was hopelessly in love with this boy. I knew we'd never have a chance– he had a girlfriend! But we belonged together.

     We both came from absolutely nothing. From unkown poverty and single parent homes, from times where we were completely slumming it, having to go to sleep and dream to eat, we had been to hell and back with each other. We grew up together to say the least. He was my bestest friend in the world. I loved him.

"What're you thinking about?" Jericho asked, setting his drink down. "Earth to Marley?"

I pinched myself, bringing my head out of the clouds. "Uh, nothing." I smiled. If he knew what I was thinking about, I'd literally die.

"Are you ready to go? I'll have the waitress get the check." He

I looked around the diner to see a waitress approaching us with the bill in her hand.

"Here you are." She said lazily and pulled out a pen from her apron and laid both items on the table before walking away.

I laid my hand on it and Jericho did at the same time. "I got it," I smiled, opening the tab.

"Nah, a gentleman always pays." He pulled it away from me. I watched him take out his debit card and put it in the clear plastic pocket and call for the waitress again.

"A gentleman always pays." His words rang through my head. I tried so hard not to smile, but I just couldn't. Just being there with him made me happy.

"Marley, what're you smiling for?" He asked, grinning.

"Jeez, is smiling a sin?" I felt my face heating up. At least I wasn't pale enough to show a visible blush.

Jericho didn't answer, but instead pulled out his phone and started texting. Who was he texting might you ask. Probably Matt or Josie. It kind of ticked me off that he was on his phone. I had to decency to put my phone on vibrate and not check it when he was talking.

The waitress came back with his card. "Thanks for dining." She smiled politely.

"Thanks." I returned the smile while Jericho merely grunted without looking up from his phone.

"So... do you wanna leave or just spend the night here?" I asked, getting up from the booth.

"What? Oh, yeah," he laughed as he slid out of his side of the booth. "Let's get going." He was adorable when he laughed.

We walked out into the parking lot and it was cooler than I remembered. I wished I had listened to my mom and wore a heavier jacket. I was freezing.

"Here," Jericho said as he put his jacket around my shoulders.

"No, I'm fine." I feigned protest. Truth was, I loved wearing his jackets. Usually I had to steal them from him.

"Shut up, I know you, remember?" He put an arm around me. I could've died right there..

"Yeah, you're right." I got in the car on the passenger side and he started the car. "Can you turn on the heat?" I asked as I buckled my seatbelt.

"Sure." He put the heat up to full blast, but the thing about his car is that it takes a minute or two to start blowing heat, so full on icy air filled the car. It gave me an excuse to get him to embrace me until it turned hot. My body felt like it was melting in his arms. I just wanted to stay like that forever. But he let go.

"You can play the music this time." He passed me the aux cord.

"You already know what this means." I giggled.

He looked at me dramatically, his brown eyes boring into mine. "Adele," we spoke in unison.

I plugged the cord into my phone and pressed play on my Adele playlist. We listened to "Rolling in the Deep" every single time we were in his car together, but he still didn't know the words.

"THERE'S A FIRE, STARTING IN MY HEART." The music blasted through his car spreakers. We had a city law that said no loud music after 8 p.m. but Jericho didn't care. He said the city could suck his ass.

"REACHING THE SOMETHING SOMETHING BRINGING ME OUT THE SOMETHING." He got an A for effort.

We didn't even reach the chorus when his phone started ringing. I paused my music so he could answer it.

"Hey my phone is in my left pocket, could you get it for me?" He asked, both hands still on the wheel. That meant I'd have to reach across his lap. His lap. I willed my hands to not get sweaty as I reached across him. I slipped my hand in his pocket– it was really warm in there– and pulled out his phone.

It was Josie. I almost declined the call until he said, "Plug in the aux cord." Mentally, I rolled my eyes, but externally I faked a smile as I plugged it in.

"Babe? Julian?" Josie's annoying voice filled the car. She called him by his real name. Jericho was a name I started calling him when we were younger and it just stuck.

"Yeah, I'm right here." Jericho smiled.

"Okay, good, cause I have some stuff to tell you." She droned on and on about some girl in her homeroom who wanted to fight her. Jericho grunted in response to everything she said. Sometimes I wondered if he even liked her.

Josie's heavy breathing buzzed through the speakers. "Are you even listening to me? Hello? Julian?"

"Sorry, I'm still here. I'm driving."

"Oh yeah? Where'd you go?"

Jericho looked at me and smiled. "Marley and I went to Graham's diner."

It became quiet on Josie's end. "Oh, you're with her. Tell Marley I said hi." Her voice was flat and had no enthusiasm. I knew she couldn't care less.

"It's on speaker, she heard you."

I scolded him silently. Why'd you tell her that?!

"Hey, Josie." I feigned a happy tone.

She did the same. "Hey, Marley. I guess I'll just called Jules when he gets home. I'd hate to interrupt anything."

"Nah, you're not interrupting anything, right, Marley?"

"Yup." I said popping the 'p'. Nothing except my music.

Josie sighed, and for a moment, I could imagine her sitting in her room, on her floor, rolling her eyes. "It's okay. Talk to you later, babe." The way she put emphasis on the last word made me sick.

"Alright. Goodnight." Jericho hung up.

We rode the rest of the way in silence. I didn't put Adele or any music on, but instead scrolled through Instagram on my phone. I didn't really feel like talking after that whole ordeal with Josie.

He turned into our neighborhood and pulled into my driveway. "Goodnight." I said without looking at him. I began to put my hand on the car door handle, but he locked the door.

"Marley." He breathed. I turned to look at him. He had a one hand feel on the steering wheel, the other on my heart.

"Yes?"

"Are you mad at me?" He asked. I wanted to say 'yeah' but how could I be mad at him? I could never. If anything, I was mad at Josie, but not for good reason.

"No, what makes you think that?"

"It's just that– nothing." He cut himself off.

I raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"Nothing. Goodnight, Mar." He smiled sheepishly.

"Night." I unlocked the door and started to leave, but before I did, he wrapped me in a hug. It was uncalled for, but I hugged him back before leaving.

My heart was pounding, I felt dizzy and in a daze, but it was all out of love. Did he know what he was doing to me?