New York To Los Angeles

Epilogue - Part two

There's silence on the other end of the line and I can feel my heart pounding wildly against my rib cage as I spin around in circles, trying to find him. My blue summer dress swirls around my legs and my hair swishes along but I can't seem to locate him, it shouldn't be this hard to find him in a nearly empty yard!

"It was just a guess angel, I could tell by the sound of your voice" I stop my stupid search and can't help the surge of disappointment that floods through me.

"Oh" I mumble and plop down on the closest lawn chair. It was stupid how I had this indescribable feeling to just see him. To look into his navy blue eyes and to run my hands through his soft, black hair. "So...how's San Fran?"

My voice sounded flat, despite my best efforts to keep it cheery and light-hearted. I sigh as I stand up, wandering to the back of the yard towards the large oak tree.

"Not too bad...though I do miss seeing you" he says and I scrunch my eyebrows in confusion. I could've sworn his voice sounded closer then....almost as if he was...

...right behind me.

The Skype calls we had clearly didn't do any justice to how handsome he had grown over the year. His semi-defined muscles were now clearly visible, his shoulders broader and his jaw had become more prominent. Jake no longer looked like a teenager, in fact it was safe to say he looked like a man. The black shorts and blue half-sleeved shirt he was wearing definitely helped support that opinion. However, there was one thing that didn't change and that was the mischief that glinted in his eyes as he looks down at me with a small smirk. Did I mention he grew a few more inches taller too?

I look into those navy blue eyes that I missed so damn much and smile. He grins back and walk closer to me so that we were now only inches apart. I have to tilt my head back slightly to look into his eyes but when I do I send him a smirk before stomping down on his foot with my sandal-clad one. Hard.  His eyes widen in shock even though it didn't hurt him and my smirk only grows wider.

"What the...." he looks confused before he shoots me a cheeky grin "Love you too angel".

 And with that his lips descend on mine, his arms wrapping around my waist and pulling me to him. I lose myself in the kiss, revelling in the way his hands ran through my hair and how his arms wrap around me in a protective embrace. I gasp when Jake lifts me up into the air, his lips never parting from mine. Just how much did he train at that soccer academy of his?!

When we pulled apart a few minutes later we were both out of breath.

"I'm sorry I didn't call. It's just that I wanted this to be a surprise but I knew if I talked to you before hand I'd spill the beans" he whispers and I roll my eyes, pecking his lips softly. "I only got here last night, you have no idea how hard it was for me to keep myself from barging into your room"

"You're excused this time. But just out of curiosity were you going to barge in through the balcony?" I tease and he chuckles. We walk over to one of the picnic blankets and take a seat, Jake pulling me onto his lap despite my protests.

"Is there a cooler way?" he cocks an eyebrow and the arrogance behind the gesture causes me to laugh.

"So, what have I missed while I was away training?" he asks and I sigh my mind flitting through a million things that happened since he had gone. Where to start?

"Well...there's a lot to catch up on but I think you should know about Daniel's break up first" his arms tense around me and I turn to see him with a hard look on his face.

"What happened?" I smirk at the protective look on his face knowing that despite what happened in the past between the two boys, they both still care for each other, like brothers.