Midnight Blues // Jake Kiszka

four

I didn't really remember where I was that morning, all I knew was that I had a killer headache. I groaned, and rolled to lay flat on my back. I was greeted with another human. Alarmed, I turned to face a sleeping Jacob. Soft snores coming from his peaceful, curled up form. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck. One day in and I've already slept with Josh's brother. He can't find out, I need this gig so badly. 

I peeled the sheets off of me silently and tried to tiptoe out of bed to prevent Jake from waking up. The bed didn't want to comply, practically screeching as I shifted off of it. Jake stirred. 

"Good morning." He smiled. He was calm, which made my anxiety peak. 

"Did we?" I asked, blatantly. 

He shook his head, no. 

"I carried you up here when you fell asleep downstairs and you were having nightmares so, I tried to soothe you until you fell asleep. I guess I fell asleep too. I'm sorry." He said. 

He had stayed here, while I was having nightmares, to make sure I was okay. He didn't even know me, but he did that for me. I wanted to cry, but I didn't want to embarrass myself more than I already had. 

"Thank you, I'm sorry you had to see that." I said, apologetically. 

"It's not a problem, but we should probably leave the room separately. We don't want to start anything." He said, not meeting my eyes. 

He was nervous and I wasn't sure why. I stepped out of the room first to take a shower. All of the tossing and turning throughout the night had created beads of sweat on my forehead. I felt even worse for Jake, he probably hadn't slept a wink. By the time I had returned to the room to get dressed, Jake was gone. I quickly dressed and met the rest of the boys downstairs. 

"Hey, how'd you sleep?" Danny greeted me, filling a cup with coffee and handing it to me. 

"Not bad, yourself?" I asked, still a bit nervous around all of them. 

"Like a bear" He laughed. 

Mac rolled her eyes, probably not getting much sleep. He draped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her to his side, placing a kiss on top of her head. My heart softened. Seeing people in love like that, I wanted it more than anything, but I was glad that it was happening for someone. Josh must have picked up on my reaction, because he came over and mirrored Danny's gesture. I smiled meekly, it was a nice sentiment, but knowing that it wasn't real made it feel a little like a mockery. I couldn't tell him that though. Josh was trying and I couldn't bring myself to do that to that extent.

Not long after, Jake came into the room, a towel held up to his hair. I tried to not allow my eyes to linger for too long, fearful that Josh would pick up on that too, but he was so damn good looking. He had been alarmingly observant of my behaviors since we signed that part of the contract that said we were in a relationship as far as the media was concerned. 

"Morning, Jakey" Josh sing songs.

"Ugh." Jake said, making a beeline straight toward the coffee, trying to avoid Josh's cheeriness. 

"Someone's cranky." Sam chimed in. 

I decided to keep quiet and stay focused on my coffee in my hands. The door opened and a voice rang through the house 

"Hey everyone!" 

A beautiful woman came into the kitchen, waving profusely at all of us. I shifted closer to Josh, waiting for him to tell me who that was. He whispered that it was Jake's girlfriend, Jita. 

His girlfriend. 

I had forgotten that Jake was in a relationship and that he had gotten up during dinner yesterday to take his call. I didn't want to read into our time last night because I knew I would just end up making myself sad, knowing I was just probably just there and he wanted someone in that moment while his girlfriend wasn't there. I was talking like we had had sex, but we hadn't. We had just slept together. In the literal sense of the word. 

"So what's the plan for today gang?" She asked, cheerily.

"We're splitting up today actually, I want to show my girl around." Josh said, nudging me. 

I blushed, not minding the way that sounded. 

"You're not going to introduce me?" She asked Josh. 

"Freya, this is Jita, Jake's girlfriend. Jita, this is my fake girlfriend Freya."

"Fake girlfriend?" She asked. 

"Yeah, management thought it would help to protect me from the crazy fans." Josh said. 

"Aren't fake partners supposed to be famous?" She asked, blatantly. 

Jake and Mackenzi shot her a look, completely astonished by her behavior. That one stung a little bit. 

"I'd rather have a fake partner that I can be myself around, it's way more believable that way. Plus, I got lucky to meet someone as cool as Freya." Josh said, linking his fingers with mine. 

I felt very vulnerable and intimidated in that moment. I didn't really know her too well, but she wasn't giving off the best first impression, and I wondered how Jake could date someone like her. She said nothing as she walked over to Jake's side. I shot Josh a look, hoping he would understand that I needed to get out of there. 

"Ready to go darling?" Josh asked me. 

I nodded, gratefully. I made eye contact with Jake one last time before walking out to Josh's jeep. 

"Are you okay?" He asked. 

I nodded, "she doesn't like me." 

"No, that's just Jita sadly. Jake and her have a complicated relationship to say the least."

I wanted to ask more questions, but I didn't want to raise suspicion, so I simply nodded. 

"So where are we going?" I asked. 

He smiled, cheek to cheek. "One of my favorite spots here in town, I know you'll love it."