(Chapter 9)

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9.41PM, Friday, Dec. 5th

Javotte Public, New York

He sat me down on the back seat of his motorbike, and handed me a silver helmet. I glared at him.

“What?”

That set me off. “What the hell do you mean, what? You picked me up in there! What if people saw my panties? My friend’ll probably call the cops, Jake. After all, you just picked me up and carried away! Was that meant to be romantic, Jake? Because that sure as hell wasn’t –”

He shoved the silver helmet onto my head, shutting me up.

“Calm down,” he said, cupping my helmet with his hands. Even through the tinted visor, I could see his green-grey eyes were sparkling with wit. Slowly, he leaned down and pressed his lips to the helmet. Even though he hadn’t actually touched me, I could feel my cheeks reddening and my breathing quicken. “You think way too much.”

He slid a leg over his seat. “Aren’t you going to hold on?” he asked, laughing.

“I can handle it,” I replied, huffily. I was more mad at myself than anything. Why was it that whenever I met this guy, everything seems to go crazy?

“Suit yourself,” he said, a smirk in his tone. He accelerated, and I launched forward, desperately clinging onto his back.

***

10.46PM, Friday, Dec. 5th

Park Avenue, New York

Okay, apart from the initial shock, it’s actually been alright. We sped through Manhattan’s streets.  The only stationary object in my vision was Jake’s warm, hard, leather-jacketed back. I’d stopped holding on so tightly (mainly because he laughed at me when I did) and was actually leaning back, and totally enjoying it. I can finally see why so many people travel by bike, even though it’s so dangerous (or whatever my Mom told me. Dirty hypocrite. She used to have a motorcycle. I know, because I’ve seen pictures). You feel so free, rushing against the wind. You’re not contained, like you are in a car. You can breathe in the fresh air (well, sort of. After all, this is New York. It didn’t get to be the “city that never sleeps” without a fair amount of pollution). It was awesome.

And okay, I guess some of that was the fact I was holding onto Jake. I couldn’t help but feel Jake’s toned chest a little as I hugged him close. His muscles were pretty hard. I pressed my nose to his jacket, breathing in the delicious smell of leather. His back was warm, and I relaxed against it, closing my eyes.

I must’ve fallen asleep, because next thing I knew, we were in Central Park, amongst the towering tree, painted silver in the moonlight. I didn’t have time to question why we were here

“Off,” he said. I jumped off, thinking he was about to leave me here. To my surprise, he just leant his motorbike against one of the trees, and wound his fingers into mine, pulling me along a path.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

He turned around, giving me an adorable little smile. He point upwards, at one of the tallest trees in Central Park. I gaped at him.

“Come on, let’s climb it,” he said, excitedly, just like kid.

I tried not to immediately give in, the way my heart seemed to want me to. “Jake…”

“Please?” he begged. “Please, S?”

A small smile lit up my lips. I couldn’t help it. “Fine…J.”

His smile turned into a challenge. “Race you?”

“What? Jake! No, wait!”

That’s how I found myself running down Central Park at Midnight, chasing a boy in a leather jacket, half-laughing and half-frowning…because of what I was feeling inside.

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