The Mistake

Push

I heard a knock on the door as I finished combing through my hair. "Coming!" I looked in the mirror and pinched my cheeks to get some natural blush, which was a tip Bri had recently taught me, then grabbed my purse and opened the door, smiling as Jacob stood at the entrance.

"Hey. Ready to go?"

***

I checked the time as Jacob drove through the street, realizing the movie had already started. "Sorry for picking you up so late, the fight ran a little longer than I expected."

"Don't worry about it. How'd you do?"

"Good, the little fucker managed to get a few scratches in before I knocked him out, though." He turned his head to show me, and I winced when I saw a cut on his jaw, just below his ear.

"Does it hurt a lot?"

"Nah, I can barely feel it," he dismissed. "Remind me, which movie did we get tickets for?"

"Um, I think it was that new action movie that came out."

"Nice. You're forbidden from falling asleep though. I've suffered through enough rom coms with you after I almost fell asleep watching Pride & Prejudice. I've done my atonement." He said with a sly smile and I chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah. I won't fall asleep, I promise."

***

Jacob had one hand on my knee, making circles with his thumb caringly. I leaned my head on his shoulder and smiled to myself.

I took another handful of popcorn as the car did an impossible jump from one building to the other, and Jacob was mesmerized. I shook my head, laughing under my breath. I found it funny how action movies now were just a competition of who can do a more physically impossible thing. It was too unbelievable to be entertaining anymore.

At one point, Jacob leaned in to kiss me warmly, slowly. But when I felt his hand inch up my thigh the slightest bit, my concentration got messed up, and my hand instinctively went to meet his. I pulled away from the kiss slowly and intertwined my hand in his to stop him from going further up.

I hoped he hadn't noticed, and I knew I was being paranoid at this point, but I didn't know why I was getting so freaked out over this stuff. It's not like it was something he'd done, I knew it was entirely on me, which made it even more embarrassing. But after what happened with Lucas all those months ago, the thought of anything slightly intimate made me anxious.

"Can you pass the popcorn?" I whispered with a smile to try and play it off.

He looked at me for a second, then passed the popcorn.

***

"You want tacos or pizza?" I asked when we were in the car ride back. We'd planned to go to the movies and then grab dinner, and I was starving, even though I'd almost singlehandedly finished the entire bag of popcorn.

"Actually, you mind if I just drop you off at home? I'm honestly beat from the fight earlier." He said without looking at me, eyes fixed straight ahead.

"Oh," I said. "Yeah, of course. No worries." After a few more seconds of silence, I spoke again. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, no, everything's fine. I'm just really tired. I just need to sleep it off." He said, turning once to me to shoot me a warm smile.