Emerald

Chapter 26: Trust

Lea's Perspective:

Every time he spun me around I felt the butterflies in my stomach. Any time I laughed he would smile, only making me weaker in the knees. I never would've thought of myself as being a girl so affected by a boy's smile, but it made me so happy. It was like we danced for hours without end and it made me think of how lucky I was. At one point, I just stopped paying attention to my feet and directed it to Jake, whose pearly white smile entranced me as strands of his golden blonde hair fell in front of his face.

No, stop it Lea. He's just a friend, nothing more.

These thoughts always circled my brain when trying to make sense of everything. I constantly denied having any sort of feelings because inside I know that anything I attach to gets taken away from me too quick in life. And either way, young love doesn't exist. It's all fake and movies glamorize it making you think it's realistic for the high school quarterback to fall for the nerdy girl and vise versa. The boys back home are just ordinary jerks that only care about getting laid. Either way, it was easier not to attach to anything, just live on my own without worries even if it meant I was lonely. It was now that my klutzy self tripped while not paying attention as my body fell into Jake's. Instantly I felt the warmth that my body felt was always lacking all my life. I held onto his shoulders as I steadied myself. Watching my feet on the ground, I looked back up at him to see soft eyes looking into me. The cynical romantic inside me hid away and I felt like I let my true self out of the dark.

I smiled with happiness as our foreheads leaned against eachother's. I stood still smiling to myself, feeling delight as his hands held loosely onto my waist. As we stood there for a moment I started think to myself.

He is no ordinary boy. Not to me. He's different from the boys I knew all too well back home. He's different in the best way possible.

Out of instinct, I pulled away after hearing the rustling of leaves from behind Jake. Seeing an amused Julian who gave me a thumbs up gesture, I rolled my eyes and mouthed to him;

"just friends."

Julian cocked a brow and shrugged his shoulders before walking to his hut. I began to yawn as my hands left Jake's shoulders, letting the warmth he brought escape me. Realizing how late it was, I grabbed a hold of Jake's wrists and spoke.

"I better turn in...thanks for looking after me" I thanked as I looked back at him.

Jake looked back at me and smirked.

"How couldn't I? Someone has to keep you out of trouble" he teased making me chuckle on the inside.

I rolled my eyes and whispered in his ear;

"Good night..."

I let go of his hands and turned away from Jake, proceeding to walk towards my hut. The night left me exhausted when I reached the door to my hut. Upon entering, I tried to remind myself to close all of the curtains, but I began not to care and immediately trailed along to my bed. With the lit candle on my nightstand, I laid down with my right arm underneath my head and my right knee propped up. I watched the ceiling before dozing off and eventually disappearing into the dream world.

Jake's Perspective:

After my strange and awakening chat with Pan, I headed back to my hut feeling absolutely exhausted. Every time I blinked I felt as though sleep was trying to take me away. Once in my hut, I sighed and began prepping myself to sleep. I took of my shirt, messing up my hair in the process. Walking around the hut, I finally remembered to close all of the curtains to my windows which I continually forget to do every night. One by one, I pulled the curtains closed when I reached the last one. Looking up, I looked out to Lea's window whose curtains weren't closed like they normally were...not like I'd know or anything...She had left the curtains on the window in front of her bed wide open where I could see her. Her candle dimly lit was still burning allowing light into the room. She slept with her head against her forearm as she faced my direction. Small strands of hair laid in front of her delicately detailed face. I could tell she was having a good dream by the slight smile on her face along with her rosy cheeks. She looked so peaceful...