Please Be Mine

Jake

jake

knew it was a terrible idea. And yet, here he was, standing in the freezing cold outside of Salt & Shell, wondering if he’d made a complete fool of himself by dropping his heart so willingly into the hands of a girl he never in his life thought he would have a shot with.

The sea breeze was biting as he waited for her. Minutes ticked by at such a sluggish rate, he wondered if time was actually slowing down just to spite him. To make him see how much of an idiot he was for thinking this could work in any universe.

But writing to Shelly had changed something fundamentally in his heart. Somehow, through her cursive writing and the small hearts she doodled by her name, he found himself again. She reminded him of the boy he once was, who lived life so carefree and happy. A boy who thought nothing bad in the world could touch him. Who thought his mom would live forever. Who thought he could handle anything with his best friends by his side. The kind of boy who’d reach for a girl’s hand on a band bus and remember it as the single best night of his life.

He hoped tonight would outrank it. But now, he wondered if he was simply a fool.

His phone buzzed in the pocket of his jeans. He snatched it fast, bracing himself for it to be her, calling to let him down easy. He sucked in a breath and flipped the phone over, ready for the disappointment. But then he relaxed at the name on the screen and swiped it open, tapping on the speakerphone as he took a seat on the bench overlooking the midnight-blue sea.

“Yo,” he answered.

“Anything?” Hernandez asked.

“Not yet. Still waiting.”

Hernandez blew out a long breath on the other end of the line. “You know, I really thought she would. There’s just always been this, like… vibe between the two of you.”

“Or maybe I’m the only one with a vibe.”

“Dude, she literally admitted she’s falling for you in that letter. That is the textbook definition of a vibe. ”

“Says the guy who has a vibe with pretty much everyone.”

“Hey, don’t hate the player, hate the game.”

chuckled to himself. “You really need to pick up some new lines. You can’t be reciting the same ones you used in high school.”

“And yet, they still make my best friend laugh.”

The popping sound of gravel had bolting off the bench, his breath catching in his throat.

A white Mazda pulled up behind him, the headlights temporarily blinding him. held his hand in front of his eyes, but it was useless. Everything was blinding white light and sparkles, and he couldn’t see the person now stepping out of the car.

“Is that a car? Is it her?”

“Dude, I don’t know, I can’t see a thing,” whispered. He turned back toward the ocean so his eyes could adjust, blinking rapidly. A car door slammed shut.

“It has to be her. Who goes to Salt & Shell in the middle of winter?”

“It could be her roommate, Dez. She was the one who arranged the balloon delivery, maybe she came to let me down.”

“You can tell Hernandez that it’s me,” said a soft, melodic voice.

The sound was even more beautiful than he remembered.

slowly turned around and found that she, too, was more beautiful than he remembered. For the past couple of weeks, carried around that photo of her in his wallet, sneaking peeks at it whenever he could, studying every minuscule detail of that smile. The way her lips curled up on the left, right below the small freckle on her cheek, like an upside-down exclamation mark. Her face was still round and youthful, and sometimes he found himself tracing it with the tips of fingers, wondering what it would feel like to touch that soft skin.

Yet that small glimpse of her didn’t at all prepare him for what it would be like to experience her beauty in person. Now that she was standing in front of him, it didn’t take long for to remember what it felt like to be under Shelly Carson’s spell. She was still magnetic, and he was more than willing to let himself be pulled directly into her orbit.

“Wait, did you say she has a roommate?” was so lost in the woman’s blonde hair and vibrant green eyes that he forgot he still had Hernandez on speaker phone.

“I did say she has a roommate,” said, his eyes tracing the soft blonde waves framing her face and the pale pink knitted hat hugging the top of her head.

She crossed her arms. “Tell Hernandez that if he’s still as much of a player as he was in high school, he doesn’t have a shot in hell.”

laughed as Hernandez rattled on the other line.

“Oh, you can tell Shelly to go fuck all the way off…”

didn’t let him finish, he simply hung up.

Shelly threw her head back and laughed. If the sound of her voice was a melody, her laugh was the harmony, dancing on top of those notes in a song so captivating, wanted to record it and play it on repeat.

She must have realized how loud she was, because her cheeks flushed and she covered her mouth with her hand. “Sorry,” she whispered.

grinned. “Please don’t apologize for that. Not ever.”

She quirked a brow at his response, then shook her head in amusement. “When did you get so smooth, y ?”

Hearing her actually use his nickname in person did something to his insides, like a fork to a molten chocolate lava cake. She pierced him right through his center, and everything was about to unspool.

Knowing it was in his best interest to take things slow, he grounded himself and shoved his phone in his pocket.

Shelly smiled at whatever expression was on his face, almost like she could read his mind. She stepped up close to him and curled her fingers around the lapels of his coat.

His hands moved seamlessly as she drew closer. He wrapped his fingers around her waist, not realizing the way her black puffer jacket pulled some of her sweater with it. His cold hands were now on warm skin, right above her jeans.

He flushed and dropped them, embarrassed for touching her in a way that she might not want yet.

“Don’t you dare,” she whispered.

He swallowed. “Don’t I dare what?”

The lids of her eyes dipped to his lips. He watched with rapt attention at the way she licked her own, pressing them together before she answered.

“Don’t you dare leave me to freeze to death.”

His shoulders relaxed as he snaked his arms around her, covering the bare skin at her lower back, pulling her as close as possible to his chest. “Warm now?”

“Mmm, yes.”

“We would probably be warmer if we went inside.”

“I didn’t drive all this way just for oysters, .”

The sound of the words coming from her lips were raspy and low, and in that moment, discovered his new favorite hobby: memorizing every tonal quality of Shelly Carson’s voice.

“Oh yeah?” he teased. “Then what did you drive all the way out here for?”

Her eyes finally met his. had no concept of what it felt like to drown, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it was the same feeling as staring into Shelly’s eyes. He was drowning in them, drowning in her. How in the world did he go six years without talking to this woman? How in the world did he not kiss her on the bus all of those years ago, looking at him the same way she was looking at him now?

He wouldn’t take time for granted ever again. If anything, losing Mom taught him that time was not guaranteed. And the last thing he wanted to do was waste it.

leaned in close. She let out a soft sigh, her breath smelling like cinnamon and spice. His mind drifted to standing with her at Barnard’s Market checkout during a band week lunch, the two of them fighting about gum flavors. She’d been so adamant about the superiority of cinnamon over mint. He noticed throughout the year that she would reach for that pack of gum before band competitions, chewing on a stick every time she was nervous. He wondered if she felt nervous now. He wanted to take away those nerves. Place them with his own, then chuck them far into the sea.

“It’s okay,” he continued. “Whatever happens next, I promise I’m not going anywhere.”

Shelly moved her hands, curling them around his neck. “Okay,” she whispered, her fingers digging into the hair at his nape.