The Optimist

twenty five

Jacob

. . .

The next morming, I wake up to a faint snoring. Light beams through my window as I feel something warm encase over me. Hair, wild hair, sweeps over my face and I smile when I realize who it is. Another thing I realize, it that it's prom is not too far away.

My parents granted me access last night to stay over at Jacob's and I couldn't be more thankful. His room is the perfect mixture of white and maroon. What he doesn't know is that I have a surprise coming for him soon also.

I grow smarter everyday and I'm sure I'm making Jacob proud. At school, I eventually made my way to the top with one little thing: my smile. It didn't take much to do it, but somehow one I got to dig little deeper in Jacob's life, the more attracted I was to him. His fetish for photography is actually quite interesting.

I move around and stand up slowly to avoid waking Jacob. I look around his cozy room as I unwrap the warm covers with a slow wisp of my hand. Jacob shuffles around and groans a bit before settling back and I stay still the whole time.

When I finally decide he looks sleep, I muster up the energy to stand up. His soft carpet greet my feet with a smile and I walk around his room, shuffling through everything. While doing so, there, hidden under a stack of multicolered flannel shirts, a little black object appears.

I stare at it for a moment. The house is quiet, except for Jacob's snoring. His parents had long gone to work early for their Saturday shifts. Slowly, I remove the layer of shirts one by one and put one of them to my nose, taking in a whiff. Overcoming the faint smell of his cologne isa much stroger sweaty stench.

P-U!

I giggle at Jacob's nasty shirt and set it aside, finally accessing the camera. I pick it up dainty, carefully rotating the device in my hands. After switching it around for a good few seconds, I finally find the power button and press it. It loads, dark and blue letters and unimportant company names all at once. Then a photo pops up with option after option to edit it.

Crop photo.

Delete photo.

Upload photo.

Setting controls and more photo options show up in yellow digital print, but I stare at the photo already loaded.

I pause and take a deeper glances at the photo. It's a picture of Jacob and I. He has me cascaded in the air by his arms as I pull off a smile, a real one. The photo is from last night and I immediately begin to wonder who took it. The stars, the happy faces and the-

"Like what you see?"

I jump at Jacob's husky morning voice. Slowly, I drop the camera and turn around, but my legs are still crossed on his luscious carpet. My skin just can't get enough of the white sheep skin stuff.

"Uh, yeah, uh.." I stutter. "Sorry for waking you."

"No." He sits up and groans, rubbing over his face. "Don't be." He scoots to the edge of his medium sized bed, the covers bundled upon the surface and everywhere but in the right places. He plops his legs over the bed and smiles, placing his hands together.

"You saw the picture, huh?"

"W-what picture?" The sight of his morning grogginess is way to incredibly sexy and I began to lose my voice as well as common sense. The sight of his abs and Afro in the with the morning sun just makes it-

"Of me and Xena kissing."

I go silent as I think back, shaking my head slowly. "N-no.." Honestly, I didn't want to see it and glad I didn't yet.

"Kidding." He laughs, stretching his arm toward the endless ceiling. He eases up slowly and walks over to me. Ruffling a hand through his hair, he fixes the wrinkled Tommy Hilfiger boxers that droop halfway down his thigh as we walks over to me, picking up the camera. I don't have time to laugh or even react as he flips through the photos, a beep with each one.

"This."

He turns the camera to face me and I look at the photo. The one of us, again.

"Yeah."

"Well, I love it, a lot! And I love you." He pecks my cheek and smile as he holds out a hand. I take it and he pulls me up, grabbing my legs bridal style then spins me around in circles. Our combined laughter sets in harmony as I squeal as he pecks me again and again. The room is a blissful blur as he turns me, over and over. The air in his room feels light as he places me on the bed, cushioning my light fall.

I'm dizzy and can't control my laughter as I muster out a "I love you."

. . .

Yes, this is the end of the book! I'm so proud of them and their fate! YEE!! Okay, bye guys. -Mo

Kidding, next chapter coming sooner than you think!