Chapter 29 Rain In The Summer Is My Guilty Pleasure #2
I get up and start to run around the living room, but he’s faster than me. He grabs my waist and lifts me up, bringing me to the couch, where he lays me and hits me with a pillow right away.
“Now we’re even.” Jake notes, satisfied.
I can’t stop laughing.
He then leaves with Paige to go upstairs, leaving me here alone.
I turn off the television and just lie on the couch. Two minutes later, Jake runs to me with a worried expression.
“Where is Paige? What is it?” I ask, and then hear a lot of people coming downstairs.
“Trust me.” He says, and then sits down next to me and buries his face in my neck, getting in front of me and enveloping me with his arms. Our faces are super close, but he doesn’t exactly kiss me.
He just rests our cheeks against each other and makes it seem like we’re kissing?
Either way, my cheek is tingling. My heart is bumping ten times harder than it was two seconds ago, and I fear the shower did nothing to wash away his scent because now it’s like one of those marked scents from your childhood that you could recognize anywhere and feel at home right when you do.
I sit very still and inhale slowly. It’s addictive.
The lack of distance between us, his smell, and his touch.
I feel like his cheek is going to leave a hole the minute that it leaves, and I wouldn’t mind spending the rest of the afternoon just sitting like this.
Cheek to cheek. Heart to heart. I close my eyes, and he lays me down on the couch the minute I hear voices.
Putting his thumbs on top of my lips, his head comes closer and he “kisses” me.
“Forget what I said!” Blake shouts, disgusted at his brother, Alana, and my sister.
I get off Jake quickly and start to heat up, grasping for air and dizzy from all closeness.
“Damn Maddie!” My sister says with a surprised tone.
I really hope Jake has an explanation, or else, what the hell just happened? I can’t say anything. Literally. Nothing comes out of my mouth. I look like a fish, mouth wide open.
“You can close your mouth now that you’re done.” Brandon explains, making Blake laugh. Our sisters are just running their hands down their faces, cringing. Is that what they saw? Jake grabs my hand and drags me upstairs to the attic, far away from the kids’ stares and comments.
“You may think that was stupid, and I agree. But kids are dangerous. They gossip with other kids whose siblings are our age, and if we’re not convincing to them, we’re just making fools of ourselves in front of the entire town.
” He rambles for what I remember to be the first time since I’ve known him.
I scoff, because honestly, it was either that or I’m really inclined to glue our cheeks together again…
“Oh, please, do explain why we were deliberately having a fake makeout session in front of my cousins and our sisters.”
He looks at me with patience and explains.
“When I went upstairs, I thought they were being quiet for too long, so I spied on them. Not my finest moment.” He gets lost in thought, and I motion for him to go on.
“They were talking about us. Alana said that Amanda asked her the other day if this was really real or fake. Since then, my sister has been more alert. Then, Blake said that he didn’t believe it one bit and started to persuade the others.
My sister caved in and said that the next time Amanda asked her, she was going to say that personally she didn’t believe it.
” He stops and looks at me with a dawning look.
“Oh.” Pause. “But you do know that Amanda is pretty jealous by now.” I ease the conversation, regretting not having trusted him.
“Not jealous enough to come back.” He breathes, looking down.
“How do you know that?” I ask, confused. “She seems pretty jealous to me.”
“I saw her the other day. Not with Calum. Another one.” He says harshly. “Am I that easily replaceable?” He’s doubting himself. He doesn’t do that. Jake West doesn’t doubt himself. Never. An occasional humble moment, rarely, but this. This is bad. This is really, really bad.
“First of all, stop with that self-deprecating crap, because you know you’re not replaceable, and second, they could be talking. Just because she was with a boy, it doesn’t mean-” I cut myself. Even I don’t believe what I’m saying.
“Oh, they were using their mouths alright.” Jake scoffs. Oh. “I can’t believe she’s doing this to me.” He whispers, sitting down on a chair, shaking his leg up and down.
Yes, Jake hooks up with girls all throughout the school year, and so does Amanda.
But for the longest years of their lives, they always come back to each other in the summer, in some kind of weird agreement that they’re each other’s person for that period in time.
And in that sense, Amanda disrespected their agreement, and Jake is definitely not her person, right now.
I really wish Riden could be here right now. He knows Jake better than I do. And it’s not like I can magically put up a movie theater on the beach and put on Revenge of the Sith for him.
An idea goes through my mind. And before I can cringe myself out, I come close to him, grab his neck, and place his cheek against mine, my fingers lingering on his face. I move my arm around him, but never leave his cheek.
“I know this is weird, shut up, I’m trying.” I squeeze out, embarrassed.
We’re literally cheek to cheek, and it doesn’t even make sense.
My hand feels weird with no purpose, so hesitantly I lay it on his chest. I feel his heart thumping beneath my palm, and it’s the most raw thing we’ve ever done.
I can feel it accelerate and then slow down.
I can feel his breath hitch and then release.
I can feel him. What makes him able to make jokes and laugh.
But also cry and have earnest moments. What makes him work and live as a human being.
My world stops for a few seconds, and I can’t bear to get my next words out, because even though I’m comforting him, I’ve never been this emotionally aware around someone.
“I know how you can get her back.” I close my eyes and force my fingers not to curl around his hoodie. “Since she’s Patrick’s cousin, she has to be at the wedding.”
Yes, they’re cousins on her mother’s side. It doesn’t look like it, since they’re the complete opposite of each other physically, and Patrick is a decent human being, and Amanda is sent by Hades to destroy peace on Earth.
“And we are going to take this to the next level.” I continue. “I’m talking lovey dovey, disgusting eye contact, clinginess, and sweet talking. Preferably in her face or when she’s nearby.”
“Okay.” He quietly responds.
Truth is, I can’t deny it anymore, even if I tried. I like him. And letting him go will be one of the most painful things that has happened to me in a while. It’s going to be a punch in the stomach when they start dating again.
But at least I am not falling in love with him. In that case, it would be much worse.