Along for the ride

Chapter 9

"Anything I should know about you?" Jake asked, looking at me intensely.

"Um, I'm five-feet tall, I love scary movies, and food makes me happy."

I added a smile and a small giggle at the end, which caused him to laugh.

There was something about his laugh that sounded awfully familiar. It was like I've heard it before or something.

A common laugh, maybe?

"Only five feet?"

"I know, I know," I groaned, "But I still hope I'll grow a few more inches in the future."

He took a sip of his hot chocolate, and I did the same.

"So tell me about you?" I asked, nervously.

He leaned back in his chair, clearing his throat.

"Well, I moved down here from California about a week ago with my dad and his girlfriend. I skate, play guitar, and food also makes me very happy." He grined at the end.

"California? Why would you move down here out of all places?"

He shrugged, "Dad really likes it down here."

I nodded, then added, "You skate?"

"Yeah. Like skateboarding."

"Ohh. The only skating I can manage to do is-"

"Ice skating," he finished for me.

How would he know that?

"Yeah," I said, awkwardly finishing my hot chocolate.

He notcied my gesture and immediately tried to cover up.

"It was a lucky guess. You have the legs for it."

I raised an eyebrow, "You've been staring at my legs?"

"Definitely. Legs turn me on," he said, in a seductive voice.

I rolled my eyes, ignoring the waves of pleasure the sound of his voice gave me.

"You play guitar?"

"Also correct. You?"

"I'm okay. It's been awhile since I've played." I sighed, thinking of the last time I played with Jakob.

"What caused you to stop playing?"

"When I was younger, me and this guy were really good friends. We did everything together. There was a point where we wanted to start a band," I chuckled at the thought, "We couldn't decide who would play what, so we both decided to learn every instrument. We taught each other how to play the guitar and the paino."

I noticed how he held on to his drink while I was talking. I looked at him, and he just signaled for me to go on.

"The band thing never happened. But the guitar and paino playing never stopped. He was always so much better than me."

"Is that why you stopped playing?" He asked, in a soft voice.

"Nah. I didn't mind, to be honest. A few months later, he uh, left."

He gave me a strange look.

"Like, him and his mom packed their things and left without warring. Playing just reminds me of him and it hurts a little." I looked at my hands, trying to avoid eye contact.

"Oh."

He sounded really uneasy. Did I say something wrong?

"What was his name?" He asked, looking down.