In My Shoes | The Music Freaks AU | A Jailey Fanfiction

Chapter 26 - Locked In

When I get to the gym, I spot Lia almost immediately. She scampers over to me, and practically throws herself in my arms. I nearly drop my backpack, but hike it up higher on my shoulder at the last second. She plants a quick kiss on my lips, and I look up, trying to get a look at her friends that she's so obviously trying to impress.

It takes less than two seconds to spot them because they are standing right behind Lia.

"Hi Jake, why'd it take so long for you to get here?" Lia asks in that fake, sweet tone of hers.

"We had to drop Milo off at his friend's house on the way. He took awhile to get out of the car." I explain, putting on my best fake smile.

I need to find Luke. Now.

He's the only person that keeps me sane at social events like these, and I really need to talk to him about what we discussed a few days ago.

When he confessed to being in love with a guy, he never told me who it was. I asked a few times, but he would always ask me another question before he could answer.

Apparently, he went to Hailey first to ask her what to do, which makes zero sense but whatever, and she told him to go to me, which makes me think she trusts me. That made me unnaturally happy, and after Luke hung up the call, I thought about her for the next few hours. 

I have such an unhealthy obsession with this girl.

I want to know absolutely everything about her. She's so overly secretive. I want to be that one person who she tells all her secrets to, and trusts with her life. I love flustering and teasing her, and I want to spend every waking minute of my life with her.  I'm reminded of her no matter where I go. 

It's impossibly depressing, because she seems to have less than zero interest in me. She avoids my eyes, and only talks to me when we're partnered or something. She's so nervous when we have exchanges as well. She's always looking away, or fidgeting, or trying to focus on something else. It's exhausting being the one who always puts in all the effort.

"Jake"

Lia slices through my thoughts, and says, "Do you know where Luke is? Chandler has been looking for him for like, an hour, because she's finally decided to make a move on him."

I have to stop myself from laughing out loud. Chandler deciding to make a move now, after Luke just admitted to being madly in love with a dude, is absolutely hysterical, but I manage to keep a straight face.

"Uh, no idea. He told me he's here though so I can go look for him," I offer quickly, taking a few steps away from Lia, and in the opposite direction.

I don't wait for Lia's answer, and start off in a path that takes me away from her. Being around her and her friends for more than five minutes practically gives me stress hives.

I duck behind someone's tent, and pull out my phone to text Luke and ask him where he is. It turns out he's beat me to it, and has already sent me a text explaining he's in one of the far corners of the gym. 

I reply with a thumbs-up emoji, and check the corner of the gym I'm closest to. Luke isn't there, but I run into a group of chatty girls who ask me about two thousand  questions before I'm able to get away.

I know I've struck gold in the next corner though, because I recognize Luke's backpack outside a large tent. A lot of people have started setting up tents, and I can no longer see where Lia was, so it's another win.

The opening is zipped shut so I yell, "Luke! Are you in there!" and I hear his voice two seconds later say, "Yeah! Hold on, I'll let you in."

Relief floods my veins, and a few moments later I hear the unpleasant noise of a zipper, and Luke pops his head out to look at me.