Hold My Hand || J.Seresin

Chapter 4

Nine Years Earlier

Jake and I had just finished our two-mile run. Since Jake was a year ahead, he set the workout regimen for our training. The two-mile run was easy at this point, but I wasn't going to tell Jake that. I plopped on the ground, sticking my legs out in front of me and leaning over to stretch. I wasn't worried about being sore tomorrow, but it had become customary at this point.
"What's up with you?" Jake asked, sitting down across from me.
"Nothing." I responded, rolling my eyes. I stretched the other way, noticing my flexibility had improved.
"You literally just sighed." Jake said, irritated. I glared at him,
"That's called breathing." I shot back, my voice clipped.
"Okay, you are definitely a little wound up. You need to get laid."

My head jerked towards him, completely forgetting about the stretches I had left.
"Did you seriously just say that to me?" I questioned. Jake didn't have much of a filter, but this was new, even for him. He shrugged his shoulders,
"Just an observation. You've been all tense lately and you're a bitch to work with when you're like this."
"Every day you give me another reason to work on your missing persons plot."
"My what?"
"I can't disclose anything," I joked. Jake was great at annoying me. Since our partner training started, our friend groups had become closer. It was a joke amongst some of us that one day we'd make Jake go missing. He was blunt and told it like it was, even if it was rude or made him look like a jerk.

It was quiet between us, country music playing softly from Jake's speaker. The weather in Maryland was finally starting to cool, so it was actually enjoyable to be outside for training. I stood, shaking out my arms. After the run and subsequent stretching, I was free to go. I leaned down, grabbing my water and taking a sip as I prepared to head back to my dorm. Mid-sip, Jake spoke,
"We should fuck." The water came flying out of my mouth, barely missing Jake. It was either spitting it out or choking on the water. Jake stepped to the side, looking between the water and me with a disgusted face.
"Excuse me?" I asked, wiping the water from my lips.
"Think about it: I'm not looking to be in a relationship. You're not looking to be in a relationship. It'd just be a one-time thing. We do it, then go on winter break and we can come back and not worry about it." My face was covered in skepticism and a little grossed out, "You clearly need to get laid and I can help with that. I'll admit it, you're hot Lila."

"First off, I don't need to get laid. Second, this would be a terrible idea. You've just started to be decent enough that I can consider you a friend. Let's not ruin that by fucking." He shrugged his shoulders, his eyes saying he was still interested if I changed my mind.
"See you tomorrow, Jake." I told him, walking off, trying to forget what he'd proposed.

As much as I found Jake's idea uncomfortable, the more I thought about it, the more I realized he had a point. Not that I'd ever admit that to him. It would be nice to loosen up and have a little fun. It wouldn't be with Jake though. I really did want to preserve the tentative friendship we'd built.

The last time I'd slept with someone was my high school senior year boyfriend. It was a relationship though, and I really didn't know how to go about having a one-night stand. I wasn't blind though; I'd heard the whispers and seen the glances from guys. It was easy to ignore them, especially when I wasn't looking for a relationship. It may have been cocky or smug, but I knew I was attractive. Perks of having gorgeous parents, I guess. Ever since I was a kid, I'd been told I looked just like my mother when she was my age. She didn't share many of the photos from when she was younger, but the ones I'd seen did show the similarities between us.

A perfect opportunity to find a one-night stand presented itself when one of my friends, Haley, burst into my room, a bright orange flyer in her hand.
"Kyle and his housemates are throwing a party. We're going." She told me, handing the piece of paper to me. My eyes glanced over it before setting the paper on the desk behind me.
"Okay." I told her, walking over to my closet. My head turned back to Haley, seeing a surprised look on her face.
"You agreed a lot faster than I expected." Haley said bluntly.
"Look, Hangman's idea was bold, but he did kinda have a point. It would be a good way to loosen up. But I will deny having said that if you mention it to anyone else."
"Wow, okay. I'd say you need to dress hot, but-" Haley paused, gesturing to me, "That's not gonna take a lot of effort."

I gave her a little laugh, grabbing a low scoop neck shirt from the closet. With the sun already down and the weather getting cooler, jeans were a better option for walking to a house party than shorts or skirt. Plus, it was a house party; the floor and most other surfaces were going to be sticky with beer and other residues I didn't want to even guess.
"You can borrow something from my closet." I told her, changing out of my uniform and into the jeans and tank I'd picked. She let out a little squeal before rustling through the clothes.

Two hours later, Haley and I entered the crowded house, the bass from the speakers rattling the place. The invite must have gone out to the entire Academy. Haley and I navigated our way through the crowd, looking for the makeshift bar. As we waited in line, I glanced around the room, looking to see who else was here. My eyes caught on Jake, who was at the other end of the room surrounded by a group of his friends. He lifted his cup, acknowledging me. I nodded at him before turning back to Haley.

Her eyes scanned the room. As we moved in line, she pointed out different guys. Apparently she was helping me find a one-night stand.
"What about him?" She asked, pointing to a tall guy with black hair. My eyes moved to where she was pointing, seeing the guy. Luckily, she had put her hand down because the guy looked over at us. His eyes grazed over my body before drifting back to meet my gaze.
"He's cute." I said near Haley's ear, not tearing my eyes away. We grabbed our drinks. There were a number of kegs behind the makeshift bar top, so at least we knew what was in our cups.

A few of our friends were standing near the cute guy, so we walked over to join them. We'd only been talking for a few minutes with them when the guy approached,
"I'm Colin."He said, sticking his hand out.
"Hi Colin." I responded, flashing him a smile.
"You want to go talk?" He asked. I looked back at my friends, who gave encouraging nods and smiles. Looking back at Colin, I nodded and followed after him. We didn't move too far away from my friends. Common sense told me to stay in their eyesight, just in case this guy was crazy.

Colin was not crazy. He was kinda funny, but most of the time, my laugh was fake. He was hot though and definitely muscular. I didn't need him to be funny in order to fuck him. Surprisingly, shamelessly flirting came naturally to me. All you had to do was lean in, twirl a piece of hair around your finger, smile and laugh. Guys were easy like that. The way his hand rested on my hip and his eyes darting to my lips, I knew he was interested. He just needed to make a move. I think he was about to when a strong hand grabbed my upper arm and pulled me away. It wasn't until we were in a less crowded area that I could see who grabbed me.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, yanking my arm free of Jake's grasp. He had pulled us into the hallway by the stairs.
"You're not sleeping with Colin. He's no good in bed."
"And how would you know that?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. Jake let out a sigh,
"Girls talk. And he's overly quiet about his exploits; never seems to mention anything when everyone's talking in the locker room." I scoffed, rolling my eyes,
"That's your reasoning? You were the one who suggested I hook up with someone. Not that it's any of your business, but Colin is good-looking and he definitely seemed interested."
"You could do better."
"Like who?"
"Me." He answered, before closing the distance between us. His hands grabbed onto either side of my face, pulling me into him and kissing me harshly. He was in control, moving his lips rapidly against mine. I was in shock, barely able to process what was happening when he pulled away. His breath was heavy.

He was waiting for my reaction. My first thought was to punch him, get upset that he'd done this without my consent. I wanted to be upset, I should be upset. And I hated to admit it, but it was a fucking good kiss. I leaned forward, not bothering to think about how stupid of an idea this was, and kissed him. He seemed surprised by my action, but dismissed it quickly, slipping his tongue into my mouth as I let out a gasp. His arms wrapped around my waist, pressing me firmly against him. He turned us, so that I was pushed against the wall, his hands sliding over my body, touching whatever he could grasp. My fingers wove into his hair, pulling at the ends, getting lost in the moment.

His lips left mine and I reached to pull him back up, but then his lips were on my neck and I had no intention of stopping that. One hand still in his hair, the other moved to the hem of his shirt, needing to feel the strong toned muscles I knew were underneath. Jake moved to my collarbone, nipping on my skin with his teeth. There was a thud on the stairs and we pulled away quickly. Two drunken people came stumbling down the stairs, not even realizing we were there. We were both quiet for a moment, catching our breaths. "Let's go." I said. "Where?" Jake asked, looking confused. I let out a soft chuckle, "Your place. This isn't happening in a house full of drunk people." At that, I grabbed Jake's hand and pulled him out of the house.