The Beauty and the Poet (And Other Short Stories)

The Beauty and Poet Part 2

"There once was a maiden from Tsai, who claimed she had wings and could fly. People swore this untrue, so out the window she flew:  how they screamed when she stayed in the sky!"

"Oh my God you don't have to read it in such a weird voice," Julie manages to choke out, clutching her sides with laughter, and Jake grins up at her from the floor to where she's perched on the edge of her bed. Jake has somehow ended up over at her house; Julie still isn't entirely sure how it happened,  but somehow, it doesn't feel awkward at all. Even Jake managing to get ahold of her old notebooks full of terrible poetry isn't half as mortifying as it should be, and for once she doesn't even mind how her stomach feels full of butterflies every time he glances her way.

"But it's fun!" Jake says brightly, still smiling up at her, obviously taking great pleasure in her reactions to how he reads. Julie knows she shouldn't be encouraging this, but she can't help but agree--this is fun, and it almost terrifies her how content she would be if this were to never end.

"You realize you are basically reinforcing exactly why I never want to share what I write with anyone else," she replies instead, and while Jake looks a little abashed, he still laughs.

"C'mon, don't take it like that," he says, rolling over from his stomach to his back so he now has to tilt his head down a bit to maintain eye contact. His shirt rides up just a bit, and Julie tries and fails to not take notice of how casually his legs spread with the movement, all across the floor, opening up like it's not the most obscene thing in the world, and she can feel her face start to burn red. It only gets worse when she notices that Jake's noticed, and he flashes her a flirty grin.

"Like what you see?" he asks, and thank God he chose what was probably the worst line in the world, because if it had been anything even remotely serious Julie doesn't think she could have trusted herself to respond.

"I think if I had some basis of comparison I could give you a more accurate response, but from an unbiased perspective, I'd say it's not bad," she says instead. It clearly wasn't what Jake expected her to say, because he stares at her with wide brown eyes, lips just barely parted, before he breaks out into a brilliant grin.

"Okay, I demand you show that side more often."

Julie quirks an eyebrow. "Demand?"

"...Humbly request?"

Julie can't help it, she bursts out laughing. "Okay I think we can officially say you've read too much of my poetry, you're starting to pick up my vocabulary," she says in between chuckles. She's starting to realize this sounds distinctly like she's flirting, and to her horror, it dawns on her that that assessment may not be that far from the truth.

"Seriously, though, I still say you should share this stuff," Jake goes on, entirely oblivious to Julie's suddenly rising panic. "Say, I think I saw a poster about a poetry thing at school the other day, maybe that's a thing you could do!"

"It's a poetry slam, and no," Julie manages to get out, which is remarkable considering how it feels like her heart is clogging up her throat, beating uncomfortably against her neck. She's flirting with Jake. Jake, who's supposed to be a big, gangly (long, long limbed) version of her stupid little cousins, who is only hanging around her so he doesn't get ganked by his crazy ex-girlfriend, who otherwise had no reason to start talking with her, playing around with her at all. Has she been flirting with him in the past and not known it? Did he get the wrong idea? Is that why he's still here?

Oh God.

"Aw c'mon, there's gotta be something you've done that you could share. Hey, look at it this way, even if everyone thinks it's as crap as you do, at least they'd all be guaranteed a laugh! Though, wait, that might not be good, would it--hey are you alright?"