Amore||Jake Shim

fourteen

"ava?" a soft voice called out, opening the door to ava's room at 2 in the morning.

"yes brooklyn?" ava answered sleepily.

"can i sleep in your room with you?"

"sure thing," ava smiled, "come over here."

brooklyn ran over to ava's bed with her baby blanket and snuggled against ava.

"you couldn't sleep?" ava asked.

brooklyn shook her head, "i miss jakey."

ava smiled at brooklyn's response and said, "you'll see him tomorrow and he's okay now."

"ava?"

"hm?"

"rosie says that you're jakey's girlfriend. is that true?"

"i- uh .. well i was, but not anymore," ava replied.

"why not?"

ava chuckled at brooklyn's curiousness and replied, "well because .. i- actually don't know .."

"right person, wrong time?" brooklyn asked.

"y-yea. maybe," ava laughed, "how do you know what that is?"

ava felt brooklyn shrug, "rosie also told me that. she said that she wishes you and jakey would be boyfriend and girlfriend again. do you want to be jakey's boyfriend again?"

"you mean do i want to be his girlfriend again?" ava laughed.

there was a moment of silence that ava took in to think about brooklyn's question.

"well," ava sighed, "just like jake said, it definitely wouldn't hurt to try."
—
"okay girls. this is the last rehearsal with ms. ava before the competition, so let's make her proud!" ms. park exclaimed as the girls got into position.

"but where is rosie's brother?" eunbi asked.

"well jake uh-"

"i'm right here."

rosie let out a gasp and ran over to the figure standing by the entrance of the practice room.

"i assume you're all better?" ms. park asked jake.

jake smiled and nodded in response as his attention turned over to ava who was looking at him from afar.

"seems like there are lots of thoughts running through your mind," jake smiled, standing next to ava.

"you-" ava sighed, "should be getting all the rest you can."

"i already did back in the hospital."

"jake .. getting a night's rest isn't going to make up for all the nights you haven't gotten rest."

"at least let me see the girls practice one more time?"

"okay," ava sighed, but gave into jake's soft spoken voice with a smile.
—
mr. lee was busy, yet once again, with papers at his work place, making ava have to ask the shim's to come by their place again.

mrs. shim left ava and jake at the house with brooklyn, so she could go to the store to buy groceries to stall time before she'd have to pick rosie up from practice.

"ava," brooklyn called out, tapping ava's lap.

"yes?"

"can we play hide and seek?"

"of course," ava chuckled, "do you want to count or hide first?"

"wait!" brooklyn exclaimed, putting her hand out, "jakey!"

brooklyn ran over to the other side of the living room where jake was sitting and crawled on his lap.

"can you play with us too?"

"if you want me to," jake smiled.

"yea yea yea!" brooklyn yelled, clapping her hands together.

"and ava- before you say anything," jake began, "i promise i'll get rest after a few rounds of hide and seek."

ava looked at jake as a smile slowly began to creep up on her face and sighed, "i hate how you're getting me to let you do things your way."

"can jakey and i go hide first, while ava counts?" brooklyn asked ava.

"yes of course," ava replied, "now do i count to twenty or thirty?"

"thirty!" brooklyn answered, jumping up, "jakey is a slow poke."

"hey-" jake called out as he held brooklyn's hand to go search for a hiding place, making ava shake her head and laugh.

ava hadn't realized it, but the more she spent time with jake, the more she yearned to see him everyday. they began to slowly connect each day they spent together.

"27, 28, 29, 30! ready or not, here i come!" ava exclaimed, immediately running to the first room in the house.

as soon as she opened the door, she heard inaudible voices and smiled to herself.

"i found you!" ava smiled, opening the door to hear brooklyn gasp.

"did you peak?" brooklyn asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"she definitely peaked," jake joked.

ava gasped, "i did not."

"can you recount?" brooklyn pleaded with puppy eyes.

"please?" jake pouted with puppy eyes as well.

ava folded her arms with a smile at the cuteness overload she was seeing and laughed, "alright alright."