Nobody Likes Megan McGowen

33. Keep Your Distance

Megan walked back to the group with Jen, trying to look like nothing much had happened. Of course Jake knew better; after all the time he'd spent with her, Megan would have expected nothing less of him – regardless of his actual feelings towards her.

"If you guys are done, we should probably head in." Drew told them.

He had that smarmy little smirk he got whenever he thought Megan was in trouble for something. But Megan didn't care; she was too focused on what Jen said to even be annoyed at her little brother subtly ordering her around. She just nodded, following the group through the wooden double doors.

Megan wanted to go in last so no one would see the weird look she was sure she was wearing. Of course, the problem with going in last was that it left Jake to wait for her.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly.

"I'm fine." she told him. But she was still thinking about what Jen had said. She glanced casually out of the corner of her eye, trying to get a read on him. Could he really be doing all this just to mess with her?

Megan followed her friends down the aisle. She'd tried to put as many people as she could between her and Jake, but somehow it didn't work. When everyone was finally seated, Megan found herself with Karen on her left and him on her right. How had she managed that? Well, at least she wasn't sitting next to Drew, she thought to herself. She really didn't want to deal with her little brother's questions about why she suddenly wasn't talking to Jake anymore.

Jake leaned over to say something to her, but she held her hand up, effectively preventing him from telling her whatever it was he had in mind. She really wanted to ask him if Jen was right, but she knew she couldn't do that now, not with everyone sitting around her like this. And she really didn't want to act like everything was ok until she had time to think. He tried to look like nothing was wrong as he turned to ask Greg something, but Megan had seen a flash of worry that made her feel just a tiny bit guilty.

As the lights dimmed, Jake turned casually back to her. Even in the dark, Megan could see the confusion on his face.

"What happened?" he whispered quietly.

But Megan ignored him. No matter how hard she tried to forget it, Jen's words kept ringing in her ears. How could she have been so stupid? So instead, she kept her eyes forward, staring intently at the screen.

●・○・●・○・●

By the end of the night, Megan had managed to cheer herself up quite a bit. She was still worried about the whole Jake thing, but she decided to just ignore it – and him – altogether. Still, she was almost glad when Ben came to pick her and Drew up. Jake had told Drew that he'd get a ride home on his own, which Megan was grateful for. Of course, she knew he'd be up in the room as soon as she got there, but it gave them both a good excuse for why no one would be coming to look for him.

Megan walked into her room almost dreading the conversation she knew she'd be having. She wanted to know what was really going on, sure, but only if it was good news. As soon as she shut the door safely behind her, Jake was standing there in the middle of the room, just like she knew he would be.

"May I ask what happened back at the movie theater?" he asked, giving a slight bow.

Megan couldn't help but notice he was back to that formal stiffness he'd had when she first met him. She practically expected his clothes to morph into those blue pants of his right in front of her eyes.

"May you?" she repeated. He hadn't asked her for anything that nicely since he'd started going to school with her.

"If it's alright?" he tried again, his brow wrinkling.