“You are very relentless.”
“Some people find that charming.” He smirks in the dark, and I know exactly which side of his mouth is lifted.
I sigh, knowing that there is no way I can get out of this.
“IguessI love to read about it and see it, but when it comes to me, I’m-” I breathe in. “Scared.” I swallow, and my eyes sting.
“Because of your mom, right?” He asks calmly.
“The mommy issues certainly don’t help.” I breathe nervously and remember the photo I saw earlier.
The sting turns into watering.Not again. As long as he doesn’t notice, we’re fine. I breathe in and out very quietly until a sob escapes my lips. I cover my face with my hands, and the flashlight is on. I feel his fingers touching my wrist and pulling my hand slowly. He looks at me with that sweet look, one 99% of the population has never seen coming from him. He pulls me closer, and our seated selves hug. His arms around my body and my arms around his neck make me even weaker. I start to silently cry into his chest again, but this time I’m not sending him away. He rests his chin on top of my head, and my breathing calms down. His thumb starts to do circles on my back, and the tears slowly stop. I lift my head, and he grabs the flashlight and places it near my face.
“Let me see,” He observes my face still stained with two tears tracing my cheeks. “These could go away.” He smiles and, without releasing my hand, his thumbs wipe each tear. I grab his free hand that had just gotten rid of a tear and let it rest on our laps, just holding each other.
“This is going to soundreallycheesy,” I speak, almost chuckling. “But thanks for never saying the wrong thing.” I look away, not handling looking into each other’s eyes.
“I’m yourfriend, remember?” His dimple shows, and I laugh at the way it’s so difficult for him to sayfriend. “Even though I always aimed to be more.”
I push his head away, and a surprised laugh is out of his body in no time.
“I take it back, you say too many wrong things.”
But my heart nodsnoquietly inside my chest.
27
Once Upon a Wedding Invitation
Days go by, and just like that, another library Friday comes. Throughout these days, our way of perceiving friendship was shown. From him being just a bit nicer to me, to me not doing that rude gesture to him every time he and the motorbike passed by. I mean, he still makes a lot of noise just to annoy me, but I’ve learned to deal with it. Being his friend now has its highlights. Miss Patty said that we’re nowstandable, which apparently we weren’t before. I don’t really think she believes we’re dating, but she’s not telling anyone, so that’s good. But me being friends with Jake is not the only thing that has been going through my mind these past few days.
Allison and I barely see each other lately, each of us busy with our ownthings. Let’s just call them that since mine is fake and hers is not labeled. I thought about having a girls’ night. Me, Allison, Aunt Daisy, Emily, Lindsey, Alana, Paige, and Miss Patty. Of course, this crowd is only for dinner. After, Allison andI would go to our room and just talk, see a movie, I don’t know, something. The guys, Jake, Riden, Dad, Joey, Blake, Brandon, and apparently Mr. Jones — Jake said that he wanted to return the favor — are doing something too.
I spend the day in the library, inviting Miss Patty, teasing Jake, organizing books, basically my routine every day, and when our shift is over, before I can go help Miss Patty get up, the door to the library bursts open.
“Shall I present to you thewedding invitations!” A deep voice, which I recognize as Patrick’s, announces.
I open my eyes quickly, and I sprint to him, to hug him.
“I’m so happy for you two!” I exclaim.
“Me too.” He dreamily says.
I get off him and look at his face. He’s smiling like he is in his own personal version of heaven.
“Oh, you love her so much, you dork.” I joke.
“I don’t care that you called me a dork, because it is true. I completely love her.” He says, beaming.
I playfully hit his arm.
“Could you stop making my expectations any higher? I mean, I already have to deal with my books and movies…”
“Why have those when you have the real thing right here?” Jake asks, coming closer and extending a hand to Patrick. “Jake West, the boy you used to babysit and had higher respect for than to hand in the wedding invitations to the girl who bit him first.” Patrick rolls his eyes and speaks to Jake.
“Ah, of course, how could I forget the boy who forgot his prank but veryrealrat in my car while I was doing a two-hour trip?”
“Details.” Jake dismisses the issues with his hand and then hugs Patrick while looking attentively at the wedding invitation. “Besides, the reward paid off.” He grins like a dimwit, and the trauma comes back.
