Lilah

Chapter 11: Jake

I begin climbing down. Struggling a bit due to my leg and he sees that. He grabs me by my waist and places me gently on the ground.

I walk away from him, going to dust a short bookshelf that only reaches to my chest. I feel him come up beside me and I let my hair fall, covering my face.

My heart begins beating wildly when he wipes it away, tucking it behind my ear. I untuck it and let it fall again. He lets out a harsh sigh.

"Want a milkshake?" he attempts and I huff, staying quiet although he's making it hard.

"Talk to me," his hand rests on my hip. I move out of his grasp.

"How do I know you won't be mean?" I question quietly, not looking at him. He grabs my arm and pulls me to him gently. I make sure my hair stays in front of my cheekbone just in case.

"You're not stupid," his dark eyes bore into mine, recalling his words yesterday.

"I take care of myself just fine," I murmur, also recalling his words from yesterday.

"I know you do, look at you," his voice takes on a certain tone. Not necessarily a friendly one.

"I'm fashionable ain't I? You like it?" I hold out the bottom of my pale pink sundress, showing him.

I notice his bottom lip roll into his mouth. Woah. He gives me a nod and his hands reach to grab me. I grab them before they get to my waist. His jaw ticks as his dark eyes stay fixed on my torso.

"I'm not one of your guy friends," I tell him, leading his hands back down at his own sides. His eyes fall back on mine.

"You're not," he agrees, an emotion swirling in his eyes. It makes me happy that he doesn't hold that emotionless mask up.

"So you can't just say things that are mean y'know?" I finish.

And you can't kiss other girls in the spot where you kissed me. Or anywhere.

"I'm trying."

"I know that," I nod. I can see how he's already trying to fix what he did and how he acted in before. I mean, he brought me a sweet tea!

His hands fidget before they grip onto the tan hair tie around my wrist. I've noticed he does that quite a bit.

"Can-" he cuts himself off, shaking his head as if the thing he was going to say was dumb.

"Hm?" I hum, tilting my head up at him. He looks between my both of my eyes.

I want to smack his butt. Stop.

"C-, hug?" he mumbles and a smile takes onto my lips. He's trying.

I wrap my arms around his neck and he lifts me in a hug. He lowers me after a minute and hands me my sweet tea.

"I left mine on your floor yesterday," I mumble, feeling bad.

"It showed me I was a dick," he mumbles, "to you."

I take a sip of my tea.

"Are you doing anything today?" I question, admittedly quite shyly. I'm a little nervous he may turn on me any time.

He shakes his head and I almost laugh. Doesn't he own a restaurant?

"We should go somewhere," I tell him. I haven't been on a good little drive to anywhere in a long while. Although riding makes me nervous, the destination can always make me look forward to something.

"Don't you have a car?" he questions out before muttering a quiet curse.

Dad took away my keys last night. I was too scared to ask for them this morning. I had to walk here. At least it was a nice day today.