you're my hope ~MILEVEN AU~

viii - a simple touch

Mike and Jane had got back to a really good place, spending their lunchtimes in the AV room together, volunteering at the cafe and Mike always walked her home. Mike even brought her a book for her fifteenth birthday, something that she teared up at. Of course they knew that there was this inevitable feeling growing between them, that had maybe been around for a while, with both of them just too scared to admit it. There was nothing more but giddy smiles when their hands accidentally touched and stolen glances from across the room during class. But they both felt what was building between them. 

Jane had invited Mike to help her study for biology while her dad was called into work one weekend, and he turned up in a striped nerdy sweatshirt, his dark hair slightly messy from running through the woods to Jane's cabin. Her face exploded into a smile once she opened the door and she gave him a quick hug, sighing against the soft and warm material of his blue sweatshirt as he rubbed her back in circles. 

"Come in" she giggled, opening the door further and plopping down on the couch where she had several school textbooks and supplies laid out in front of her. "I've been trying to understand section A and B but it just goes into one ear and comes straight out the other."

Mike laughed at her sheepish expression before sitting beside her, picking up the textbook and and finding the page that had been confusing her. He tapped the page and began to explain the theory to her once more, using hand gestures and examples to try and help her understand the topic. Jane would let out a giggle whenever she understood the topic an it made his heart ache with happiness, wanting to hear that sound on repeat. 

He watched her push a curl behind her ear as she wrote down the answer to the homework, highlighting several passages of her notebook with a grin. He loved helping her with her studies, it made him feel like even though he was hopeless at athletics and flirting like other boys at the school, he still knew how to make her happy. 

That was all that mattered to him. 

"Okay, so what did you get for this question?" he asked her but after a while he found that she seemed distracted. He put down the book with a concerned frown. "You okay? Do you want to take a break?" 

Jane checked the wall clock and saw that it had only been an hour since Mike had arrived. Usually she would be motivated and continue but there was just something about Mike's floppy dark hair that fell into his soft eyes and his smartness that made her get distracted. He made her feel so flustered that she would forget what they were even talking about. 

"I'm sorry...I guess I'm just distracted" she tugged on her hair in frustration, "I just can't seem to focus today."

"Why don't you eat something and relax for a bit?" Mike offered, placing a hand over hers gently. "You seem a little out of it."

Jane stuttered out a response as she looked down at their hands before getting up and walking to the kitchen. Mike frowned and followed her, leaving the work behind. 

"Are you okay?" he asked softly and she simply nodded, grabbing some waffles from the freezer and putting them in the toaster. "You're seem a little jumpy."

"I'm sorry I don't know what's wrong with me..." Jane whispered, running a hand down her face as Mike stepped closer, scanning her carefully. "I feel like I'm going insane."

"Jane..." 

She turned around with a sigh and then gasped once she saw how Mike had stepped several feet closer to her, his eyes locked on hers as he chewed on his lip softly. She looked behind her and realized that they had walked back into the corner of her kitchen by the doorway of the garden, with Mike cornering her quickly.