The Perfect Storm

Chapter 32

The night with Jacob's parents didn't go as I thought it would, it only left me with endless questions running through my mind. I never understood how Jacob and Miles were so close but now that I know, I can't help but look at them differently. I almost want to giggle at the two of them being best friends.

I rest my backpack on my right shoulder and lock the dorm room. I'm starting to feel a little nervous, I'm a little late which only makes me more nervous. I open the door to a flood of students looking at me but the teacher looks as though he couldn't care less. I notice a few guys glancing at me as I scramble to find a seat. 

I spot Miles's head and debate for a few seconds whether or not I should sit next to him, I hate the way some girls look at me when I'm next to him. I decide to instead sit in the row behind him. 

"Yo Maddie! Here." Miles says to my surprise, making a few girls turn around to give me their stink eyes. I slowly walk over to him and sit down. 

His cologne hits my nose and I'm filled with the smell of him. I put my black see-through bag on the chair next to me. 

"Hi Miles! Anybody sitting right there?" A tall blonde says, pointing to the chair next to Miles but he doesn't turn around to look at her, instead, he faces the teacher and says; "It's taken, sorry." She smiles before quickly walking away along with her embarrassment.

"No one is sitting there," I say to him.

"Now there is." He smirks before putting his bag on top of the chair. 

He runs his light tan fingers through his dark hair. He chews his gum slowly whilst paying every bit of his attention to his black phone. The teacher dismisses the class after rushing through today's subject, and I scramble to my feet.

"He's not done yet." Miles reminds me. He's right, we left half an hour early and Jacob is still in class. Miles looks down at his fingernails before saying; "do you . . . want a doughnut or something?"

Unsure of how to react my mouth speaks for me; "yes."

 What just happened? This isn't Miles, Miles doesn't go around offering people doughnuts let alone to me.

He leads the way and I follow, nervously checking my surroundings, this school is still too big to get used to. The second floor of the school is crowded but we somehow manage to walk over to the little shop. He buys me a strawberry doughnut and himself black coffee. We find an empty table and sit down. It feels weird being here with him, with Miles.

"How can you drink that coffee? It's just black and so . . . bitter." I ask, scrunching up my nose.

"It's good." He smiles before leaning in.

"The secret is sugar, lots and lots of it." He whispers with a lick of his lips.

"You know . . . that trick you pulled on me wasn't cool at all." He sips his coffee whilst raising his thick brows.

"Trick?" I ask.

"Doing the assignment all by yourself."

"Oh, I thought—" I stop.

"You thought wrong." He simply says before continuing; "We'll finish it tonight." I nod. I still can't believe I somehow managed to forgive the words he said to me that night. I feel a hand on my shoulder and Miles's expression instantly changes.

"Madison?" Jacob's voice sounds from behind me.

"Oh uh . . . I was just--" I find myself having no explanation even though the words are right there . . . right at the tip of my tongue.

"what's wrong Jacob?" Mile's grin interrupts.

"Ready to go, babe?" Jacob asks, ignoring the devil in front of him.

"Yes," I say before quickly standing up. Somehow I feel like I've done something wrong, but that's what everything related to Miles feels like; wrong.

"I'm sorry for stealing you away." Jacob bites at his lips and I smile.

"I wanted to talk to you about the Halloween weekend." He says.

"Yeah about that, Miles—"

"Miles?" he asks, the tone in his voice harsher than before.

"He invited us to a cabin in the mountains with them," I explain simply and his features soften.

"Do you want to go?" his blue eyes ask and I nod. He glances at the floor before finally looking back at me.

"Alright." He simply says before tugging at his blonde hair.

"Can you . . . I think you should stay away from Miles," Jacob sighs before continuing; "he's not . . he's not a nice person, and I know that better than anyone . . . better than Chrissy."

"Okay," I say, my voice low and full of uncertainty.

"Is there something wrong?" I ask, confused at his expression.

"no of course not." He smiles but I can tell there's something more behind his features.