Cheek to Cheek

Chapter 27

A/N: I am soooo sorry for the long update! I'm glad you guys are still enjoying it, and I hope you are all still anticipating for the rest of the story! I hope you all enjoy, and please accept this humble chapter as a peace offering! Votes, comments, and whatnot are appreciated! Much thanks! <3

I was late. Oh, so late. I ran into class with the tiniest hint of sweat forming into little beads on my forehead. The bell had already rung eight minutes ago, and I didn’t have a grip on any pass of some sort. 

I had ran to my locker, forgetting something, and it was farther away from my class. I wasn’t very organized to begin with so each of my papers didn’t really have any of its own spots. So as I tripped on the way, everything just slipped out of my tote everywhere. People walked by, stepping on them and pushing them even further away. Only one person stopped to help, but scurried off once the minute bell rang. And there I was with hundreds of papers everywhere.

I could only hope my teacher would forgive me and not count it as a truancy.

Rushing into the classroom, my first realization was that the teacher wasn’t there. Thank goodness. I took my seat behind Jake and saw that the board had been covered in scribbles of all sorts. My second realization was that Jack wasn’t in class either. Glancing over at Jake, I asked him before I could stop myself.

“Where’s Jack?”

Jake shot me a dirty look and shrugged it off, paying more attention to the scribbles on the board than me. Pretending not to be hurt, I mumbled a soft ‘oh’ and looked down at my lap. I was wearing one of my favorite skirts hoping to impress him. I shrugged it off and looked at Jake again, trying to get his attention.

“What about-”

“I don’t know, okay?” he quickly cut me off. Now that one stung. He stared at me lividly with angry eyes before shifting his gaze back to the board. I bit the inside of my cheeks but refused to turn away from him.

“Okay,” I replied softly. His expression hardened, but I didn’t want to give in so easily.

“Are you okay?” I asked gently, forcing a smile on to my face. What came out was an awkward grin that bared out all my teeth but had no smile to it. He gave me the strangest look, before the corners of lips cracked into a smirk.

“You look like a piranha,” he commented. My so called grin vanished, and I pretended to pout.

“Haha, very funny,” I retorted, making a face. He chuckled, his lips finally forming the smile I had been waiting for.

“You look... like a monkey!” he said between breaths of laughter. I pouted.

“What about now?”

He just erupted into laughter, and I had to join in, quietly giggling at my own idiocy. The teacher finally walked in with all of his papers wrapped in his arms. His face was tinted pink, and he threw all his objects on his desk.

“Excuse my lateness, class. I tripped in the hallway, and everything just went flying...” he explained. I snorted and clamped my hand over my mouth. Oh, the irony. Jake just gave me a sideways glance, his smile fading but still evident. I stuck my tongue out at him. In return, he crossed his eyes.

The first thing I didn’t have with Jack was this. The fun immaturity of just teasing one another made all the difference. Jake was so open to it, he didn’t even question it. He just went with it.

I didn’t pay much attention to the lecture, since the teacher only had ten minutes to do it as he was getting his stuff together most of the time. On the other hand, Jake was to blame because we kept making faces to one another and smiling like dorks about it later. I think he liked the fact that Jack wasn’t there. I was still curious as to what happened between the two, but decided to ask later.

Once the bell rang, Jake and I walked out almost hand in hand, smiling as if we shared a dirty secret about the world. I wouldn’t dare share mine to the world. If I had one, that is. Which I don’t. So we got that straight.

We walked to the girl’s locker room, still giggling aimlessly, when I decided to actually start a conversation.

“I never thought you could look that stupid. Boy, you proved me wrong,” I remarked. He smiled and shrugged.

“I try my best. Maybe if you’d look more often, you’d see...” he trailed off without finishing, and his smile faded. Once mine began to fade, he quickly plastered a fake smile to his lips and chuckled, as if nothing happened. My grin didn’t return. I looked down at the ground, covered in shame.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled. He didn’t glance at me, just shrugged.

“For what?” he asked, feigning no interest at the matter. I stopped at the door of the girls’ locker room and turned to face him.

“I’m sorry for acting like a bitch the last few days and all. If I could, I would explain it to you... but I just can’t find the words for it,” I tried explaining. He shrugged again, not really taking anything I say to heart. Without warning, he cautiously reached for my hand and brought my fingers to his lips, placing a gentle kiss. A teasing smile tugged at his lips.

“You can pretend all you want. Once you’re ready to face the truth, then I’ll be here,” he coolly said. I stared into his eyes and knew he was talking about Jack. When I was ready to face the truth... Hell, I didn’t even know what the truth was.

All I could think about was kissing him. To taste his lips again like that one night where Stevie nearly got knocked out or where we tongue-wrestled in the halls... I wouldn’t mind that again. He stared at my lips too, from what I could tell, contemplating just like I was. I smiled lightly and slowly closed my eyes.

“What... what happened between you and Jake?” I calmly asked. Jake’s eyes never left my lips. He just smirked to himself and shook his head.

“Elizabeth,” was his response. Even though his eyes were still planted on my lips, I could tell his mind had wandered, and I didn’t know whether I was ready to cross the line and find out. Finally, he looked away at anything but me.

“Anyways... I’ve got to get going. I’ll see ya around?” he asked. I stepped up a little closer to him, closer to his face. I was tempted to get on my toes just to reach that face of his. He glanced at me quickly, with that penetrating stare of his.

A look of pure sadness now engraved his eyes.

“Jake...” I whispered. But that look said it all. His eyes darted from my eyes to my lips. Eventually, he sighed and turned away.

“See ya,” I softly said. But not before I quickly pinched his butt to remind him of how it all started. And without a doubt, he gazed at me with that same curious and fascinated expression on his face.

“See ya, hot lips,” he said, his tone ultimately shifting. Yet, I knew what had been there before. Elizabeth must have said something at the party, no doubt. I promised myself I’d figure it out later.

For the moment being, I thought of how nice Jake’s lips were.

And what a nice ass that boy had.