You Are Something Else, Juniper Zwinggi

Chapter 9

The smell of Old Spice and the feeling of being picked up off the floor woke me up. Jake was putting me on my bed and I stretched.

"What time is it?" I asked sleepily.

"It's almost six," he said moving my hair out of my face. My eyelids were so heavy I could barely keep them open. I was so tired. "I have to go," he said giving my hand a squeeze. "Will you walk me down?"

I nodded and he pulled me up to my feet. He held my hand all the way down the stairs and to the front door. I was barely awake. The bag of keys was on the side table and he dug around in it until he found his. Luka had followed us down and now stood beside me as Jake stepped out the door.

"Text me when you get home," I said. "Just so I know you got there safe."

"Will do. Lock the door after I leave," he jangled his keys in his hand and looked down at me with a torn look on his face. "Juni? Don't freak out."

Before I could ask him why, he kissed me. It was definitely not what I was expecting to happen at the butt crack of dawn on a Saturday morning. His lips were soft and his mouth tasted like my mouthwash. My body acted on it's primal instincts and I kissed him back. It was a great kiss and he broke away leaning his forehead against mine.

"I'll text you," he said. With a smirk he kissed my scarred cheek and walked away leaving me stunned on the front step.

  ------------------------ 

A noise that sounded annoyingly like my alarm startled me awake at eight o'clock. Luka was shoving his nose into my face which meant it was time to eat. I didn't have a single drop of alcohol the night before but my head ached like I had. My eyes hurt from lack of sleep and when I picked up my phone I saw a text message from Jake.

"Have to pick up parents from airport. We should talk about what happened this morning."

So it hadn't been a dream. I picked myself up from the couch I had crashed on after he left and went to feed the dogs.

All weekend I thought about the kiss and what it could have meant. The unanswered text message was burning a hole in my phone. I didn't know how to respond because I didn't know how I felt about it. Jake was liked by a lot of people, he'd gone out with tons of girls (or so the rumors said), had a crazy ex-girlfriend, and was on everyone's list to bang. People were constantly wanting to talk to him and flirt with him. I didn't even know what he was going to say. Was he going to tell me he regretted it? That my morning breath was too rank for him to deal with? This was something daughters were supposed to go to their mothers for. All I had was Emily and she would have to do.

"Hey Em," I said poking my head into the study room on Sunday night. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure! What is it?" she said clearing off a section of the couch for me.

I didn't know how to begin so I just blurted it out. "Jake kissed me yesterday before he left."

Her face brightened up and she smiled. "Oh my gosh! You have been mopey all weekend! I knew something happened! So how was it?"

I hung my head and whined. "It was a great kiss and he wants to talk about it but I'm scared he's going to say it was a mistake. I don't know if I am emotionally ready for rejection. I don't know what to do!"

"Juniper, it's Jake. You've known him forever. Do you honestly think that he would do something like that to you?"

"I knew him when we were kids, that doesn't mean I know him now."

"Well, then, I guess the only way to find out is to talk to him. Think of it as ripping off a band-aid. Regardless of how it goes, it hurts for a second and then you move on. Just do it."