Chapter 8 #2
‘Hmm-mm.’ He looked at me with suspicion. I was a rubbish liar so I shouldn’t be surprised that he didn’t believe me.
The truth was I did like his music, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
‘Anyway, you probably didn’t write those songs, so it’d make sense that you’re a cynic when it comes to romance.’
‘I wrote all of my songs,’ he corrected. ‘The solo releases anyway. When I was in the band, we had to do whatever we were told.’
‘Oh,’ I said, thinking that sounded awful. I wanted to know more, but seeing as this match was temporary, I didn’t have the right to ask him personal questions.
‘Yeah…’ His voice trailed off. ‘I used to watch those kinds of films, but then…’ He paused again. ‘Sammie said they had popular films on the list, so we should choose a classic.’
‘We could go for Bridget Jones,’ I suggested. ‘Like when Colin Firth’s character says he loves Bridget just the way she is.’
‘Maybe.’
‘Or the line in Jerry Maguire.’
‘Where Cuba Gooding Jr. says “show me the money!”?’ Jake laughed.
‘No! When Tom Cruise says “you complete me” and Renee Zellweger’s character says “you had me at hello”.’
‘I hear you, but is Jerry Maguire really a romance or a sports comedy drama movie with some romance? It’d be better to choose something that’s more of a traditional romcom. Like a Hugh Grant film.’
‘Like Love Actually? Or Notting Hill?’
‘Yeah.’
‘See! I knew you liked romcoms!’ I stifled a smile as I repeated what he’d said before about me liking his music. Jake didn’t reply. ‘Okay. What quotes should we use? Anything come to mind?’
Seeing as he’d suggested a Hugh Grant romcom, I wanted to see how much he really knew about them.
‘We could use the quote from the bookstore scene where Julia Roberts talked about being a woman standing in front of a man, wanting him to love her.’ He shrugged like it was no big deal.
My jaw dropped.
Most guys I’d dated wouldn’t even be able to name a single romcom, but Jake not only seemed familiar with them, he was able to quote from them too. And the line he’d picked was exactly the one that I would’ve chosen.
Yeah, he hadn’t got it word for word. I think it was a girl standing in front of a boy and she was asking him rather than wanting him to love her, but it was close enough.
I was borderline impressed.
‘What?’ He pulled off his sunglasses and frowned. Then I realised that my jaw must still be on the floor. ‘Didn’t expect me to quote from one of the most famous scenes in romantic cinematic history?’
‘Honestly?’ I said. ‘No. But like you said, it is pretty iconic. Let’s run with it.’
I picked up a sheet of paper and wrote the quote down, then folded it up. I’d take it over to Sammie in a minute.
‘Cool. Now it’s time for the best part of this activity.’
‘What? Is it time for me to leave you already?’ I grinned, thinking that’d definitely be something to smile about.
‘Ouch.’ He clutched his stomach and I tried to ignore how the fabric of his T-shirt clung to his abs. ‘Harsh.’
‘I was joking.’ Sort of. Actually, I was deadly serious. Just because Jake knew about romcoms, it didn’t change anything. He still was not my perfect match.
Far from it.
‘Wow.’ Jake gasped dramatically. ‘She jokes? I thought your personality permanently operated on one setting: glaring.’
‘Haha, very funny.’
‘It’s true! All you’ve done since dinner is glare at me.’
‘Whatever happened to calling me Smiley?’
‘Touché. But seriously though, why do you hate me so much? Did I refuse to give you an autograph after you camped out overnight to come to one of my shows?’
‘Not everything’s about you!’ I rolled my eyes.
‘No?’ His jaw dropped with mock surprise. ‘All these years everyone lied to me!’ He laughed. ‘So what is it then?’
‘Doesn’t matter.’ I waved my hand dismissively. ‘What’s your favourite part of the task?’
‘Sammie said we have to introduce each other to the group and tell them three things about each other. I’ve already got yours locked down: one, she hates me, two, she hates smiling and three, she’s from New York. Nailed it, right?’
‘The smiling part is incorrect. I smile a lot. But only when I’m around people that make me happy.’
‘Damn, girl. You’re firing so many shots at me I’m gonna need stitches to patch up all these holes! So what have you learnt about me?’
‘That’s easy: one, you love yourself, two, you’re a musician and three, you’re a closet romcom lover.’
‘Wrong on all counts. Once upon a time those observations might’ve been true, but not any more.
’ His gaze dropped to the ground. ‘Except the romcom one. When I liked them, there was nothing closeted about it. I had no problem telling people I enjoyed watching them. I owned that shit. I’m gonna take this to Sammie. ’
As he plucked the piece of paper off the table then strode over to Sammie, shock rolled through me.
When I’d said those things about Jake, I’d expected him to deny them.
Obviously, he wasn’t going to admit that he loved himself. But hearing him say that it might’ve been true ‘once upon a time’ suggested that he didn’t love himself any more. Especially as I noticed there was a sadness in his eyes when he said it, which was swiftly followed by him avoiding my gaze.
And surely he didn’t mean that he wasn’t still a musician? Yeah, it’d been a long time since he’d released any new songs, but you didn’t just stop being a musician when you took some time out. Surely it was in your blood forever?
I knew I shouldn’t care, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t intrigued. I wanted to know why he didn’t make music any more.
He’d said that he used to love romcoms too, but I got the impression that he wasn’t into romance any more. And if that was the case, then I wondered not for the first time what the hell he was doing here, at the Love Hotel.