30 Days To Fall In Love

Day Fifteen - Jake

***Jake***

I’d reached the halfway mark at last, not that it mattered. After all, I had Lauren now. Once we’d kissed, she pulled away suddenly, holding her hand over her mouth, embarrassed.

“I’m so sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay,” I sighed. It wasn’t, though. But what else could I say?

“I didn’t mean to do that; I know you like Emma,” she croaked. “And I know you want me to like Callum but I can’t, Jake. I’m sorry.”

“But Callum is a great guy,” I said.

“And so are you,” she sighed.

I scoffed, “Yeah, well, Emma doesn’t see that.”

Her eyes fell and flooded with disappointment, “Look, Jake, can I just...Can I just say what it is I like about you? And can you, for one minute, not think about Emma? Only while I say this?”

“Sure,” I said. I looked at her, truly looked at her, those blue eyes staring at me with a longing I wished I could fulfil.

“You’re the first guy who actually looked at my face. That day when we met on the bus you didn’t stare at my chest or my ass - you looked at my face. And I couldn’t stop looking at yours. You’re really good looking, did you know that? Especially now you’ve cut your hair and I can actually see your face. You’re funny, too, when you want to be. And you’re the nicest boy I’ve ever met. I’ve never liked someone more...even though you don’t even see me standing here and-”

“Lauren,” I said.

“No! Let me finish! I need you to realise that I lo-”

Panicked by what she was about to say, I leant in and kissed her again. This time, there was passion fuelling me. My hands found her hair and tangled themselves amongst it. She breathed heavily into my mouth, breathing through a smile that lit up her whole face.

“Jake, don’t kiss me because you’re sad about Emma,” she whispered.

“I’m not,” I said. I didn’t think that was why I was kissing her, anyway. Besides, what did it matter? It was only a kiss, after all. And my heart was racing and my palms sweaty - surely that meant something?

Lauren believed that kiss, though; I could see it in her eyes.

The moment after I said that, she dragged me towards a darkened street corner. It was just me and her and two walls to press up against, that was all that mattered.

It was late by the time we were done and we hurried out from the alleyway holding hands. Lonely looking people, probably homeless, watched us hungrily.

“Goodbye, goodbye,” I smiled, kissing her again.

She smiled at me, “Goodbye, Jake!”

I walked back home, Emma truly gone from my mind.

It wasn’t until I woke up and realised that it was day fifteen and halfway through my challenge that I remembered her. But with memories of Emma came memories of what she did: she turned me down and it was over.

I wandered downstairs where Mum was sitting anxiously at the table, “Sorry, Jake!”

She wasn’t worth listening to, so I ignored her. She kept on begging me as I poured my cereal but I tuned her out easier than if she was a radio channel. Emma and Lauren were more difficult to escape my mind. Emma’s words: ‘I love him’ rang through my mind.

Saph came downstairs looking guilty and tired, “Sup?”

I just stood up and left the house right then, ignoring them shouting at me to come back. Who cared anymore? They didn’t.