Pieces of Love

Chapter 18

Jacob and I whipped our heads around to face a sheepish Isaac. He seemed truly embarrassed to interrupt us and I felt sorry for him. Beside me, Jacob let out a huff of annoyance, something that surprised me greatly. He and Isaac usually went along great, even though they might not be close friends, so why was he staring daggers at Isaac? Seeing Isaac's urgent expression, I sent an apologetic glance towards Jacob, whose face softened at the sight of me. Clutching his present tightly, I followed Isaac to an empty room and waited for him to start speaking.

He seemed unable to meet my gaze and busied himself with examining the laces of his shoes. Starting to get impatient, I uttered, "Isaac-"

"I like you," he said quickly, raising his head to look at me in the eye. I stopped midsentence, mouth dropping open as my eyes widened in realisation. His brilliant blue eyes which never failed to fascinate me brimmed with the fear of being rejected. I let out a shaky breath I didn't know I was holding and tried to deliver words that would not sting.

"I really like you, Isaac. Unfortunately, it is only as a friend. I'm really sorry, I really am. You are a great person and-"

"Go out on a date with me!" Isaac chimed in desperately. He then cleared his throat and continued, "One date is fine. That's if you want to. I'm not going to force you if you are not interested."

My heart melted at his words. He wasn't asking for much; he wasn't putting his feelings first, he was putting mine first. I genuinely appreciated his gesture but before I could do anything else, the door burst open and Jacob barged in. With a look of determination on his face, a strange thought crossed my mind: he was intruding on purpose.

For some unexplained reason, I was feeling a flicker of irritation at the sight of Jacob. Maybe it was the fact that he seemed unhappy about Isaac or the fact that he barged in without the slightest hint of remorse.

"Em, the people are starting to leave now. Wouldn't you want to see them away?" Jacob asked. "No it's okay. I'll come out later. Just let me finish this thing with Isaac first okay?" I answered as politely as I could. To my further annoyance, Jacob did not leave. Instead, he stood in the corner and looked at me, obviously waiting for me to continue.

"We want to be alone, please," Isaac spoke out of the blue, adjusting his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. For the second time that night, Jacob glared at him before making his way out of the room, slamming the door shut in the process.

"I'm really sorry about him. I don't know what has gotten into him just now," I said truthfully, slightly ashamed of how my close friend has been acting. Isaac did not say anything to what he probably thought was a trivial matter. He continued to look at me as if what I said would matter between life and death. I thought the whole offer through. Although I had absolutely no feelings for Isaac, one date would not hurt. And who knew, I might develop feelings for him afterwards.

"Yes, I would love to go out with you," I said, a smile appearing on my face at Isaac's overjoyed expression. We walked back to the indoor pool together, with him assuring me that he would text me about the details of the date.

True to Jacob's words, people were starting to leave, giving me their well-wishes on their way out. Once everyone cleared the room, including Sophie who gave another high-pitched squeal of 'happy birthday' and Nicholas who cracked his last pun, Jacob and I bade Lily goodbye and went to the streets together.

The only sound emitting from us is my sandals and Jacob's shoes making noises against the asphalt. His gift is now dangling from my left wrist and I brought it to the light of a streetlamp, twisting it around to admire it better.

"It's good, isn't it?" Jacob commented, avoiding eye contact with me. Somehow his behaviour snapped something inside me and I smacked him on the arm, snapping, "Stop it will you?" He raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything.

"What the heck is wrong with you? You've been acting like a brat ever since Isaac came looking for me!" I continued, my volume rising in anger. I couldn't figure out for the life of me the reason behind his hostility towards someone like Isaac.

"I'll tell what's wrong. It's you and Isaac!" Jacob finally burst out, stopping dead in the middle of the sidewalk and turning to face me. I wring my hands out in exasperation.

"What the hell? He only asked me out on a date, stop making such a big deal about it!" I cried out, feeling the need to defend Isaac. If I thought Jacob could go no angrier, I was mistaken. He furrowed his brows fixed me a glare so hard I took a step back, intimidated. My voice left my throat and I had the sudden feeling of wanting to cry. It is not pretty having your close friend looking at you as if he hated you.

"What did you say?"

"He...he asked me out...on a date," I answered timidly, my eyes burning, never having anyone talking to me so harshly before.

"And what did you say?"

I looked up into Jacob's eyes, whose expression was the same as Isaac's, looking as if my answer was the answer to all his questions.

"Yes."

Jacob suddenly kicked the trashcan beside him, so that the overflowing pile of rubbish tumbled onto the street. He gritted his teeth and muttered profanities under his breath. Pacing all over the place, I decided to ask in a meek voice, all of my anger towards him forgotten, "Did I say something wrong?"

Jacob snapped his head up to mine and he widened his eyes in panic. It was only then that I realised that stray tears had escaped down my cheeks. He violently shook his head and hurriedly said, "No, no, no, it's not you Em. It's him." He rushed towards me and wrapped his fingers around my arms, looking at me intensely. I wanted to forgive Jacob, so badly. I wanted to be able to forget this ever happened and continue what I had with him. But I couldn't. It wouldn't be fair to Isaac.

With a sinking feeling in my chest, I wrenched my arm from his grasp and screamed quite hysterically, "What did he ever do to you?"

Jacob's concerned gaze quickly gave way to a cold hard stare and he fixed me a glare. "There we go, defending him now, are we?" he exclaimed. A wave of anger and adrenaline surged through me and in an act of impulse, making what was possibly the worst decision of my life, I said, "Maybe I should have chosen Isaac instead." And with that last note, I sidestepped Jacob and walked away as quickly as I can, ignoring his frantic calls.