ɢᴜɪʟᴛʏ ᴀꜱ ᴄʜᴀʀɢᴇᴅ ➸ Jacob Barber

⋆𝐼𝒻 𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝓈𝑒 𝓂𝓎𝓈𝑒𝓁𝒻⋆

Y/N and Jacob had jumped when they heard the front door open and Mrs Barber walk inside, they quickly turned off the movie they were watching and switched over to normal TV. Y/N moved away from Jacob, they had been cuddling- she was just happy to have someone to be close to after Ben had completely ghosted her. She had been looking forward to meet up with him after school, but she guessed he didn't want to. 'I guess he wasn't that into me, after all.' Y/N thought to herself.

She got up from the couch and rushed over to Mrs Barber, helping her carry the grocery bags over to the kitchen counter. Mrs Barber thanked her and smiled weakly, something seemed off with her. Y/N just smiled back at her and then stepped beside Jacob who'd jumped up from the couch to join her. Mrs Barber looked at the two of them and smiled sympathetically.

"You know, I am so so proud of both of you. You're becoming such strong young adults," Mrs Barber began, something was definitely wrong, "You've had such a tough day.."

Jacob and Y/N nodded a bit, Y/N was very thankful of Mrs Barber being so kind about how scared they were in the lockdown, "And I'm here to talk, if you need me." She finished and gently rubbed Y/N's arm before turning back to the groceries. Y/N smiled.

Mr Barber was late home, they began eating diner without him. Jacob sat next to Y/N on the table opposite the TV so they could watch the cartoons that they'd put on. Y/N would never have chosen to watch cartoons but Jacob seemed to like them so she really didn't mind. Mrs Barber looked at the TV and shook her head a little, "Nope, no cartoons when we're eating diner, come on- you know the rules." Jacob sighed as Mrs Barber clicked on a different channel, not really caring what one it was as she sat down to eat diner, back to the TV.

It was the local news channel. Y/N took a bite out of the casserole Mrs Barber had made, and jumped a little as she felt Jacob kick her leg under the table. She looked at him and he grinned playfully, laughing softly. Y/N shook her head as she looked over at the TV screen, not really making an effort to watch it. But the moment she read the headline, her whole body went numb, her fork falling out of her hand and landing on her plate- making a loud noise.

'Schoolboy, Ben Rifkin, found dead'

As Mrs Barber and Jacob looked at her with worry, Jacob shaking her arm gently, Y/N could only hear the news in the background.

"Earlier this morning, a body of a 14 year old boy was found by a passing jogger. Detectives soon arrived at the scene and the body was identified to be Ben Rifkin who went to the local school. No suspects have currently been identified or named and we can only imagine what the..."

"Y/N? Are you okay?" Mrs Barber asked, before turning to look at the TV screen- figuring out what was wrong immediately. She looked at Jacob who was looking at the TV screen absent-minded before he turned to Y/N again- taking her hand. "I thought you guys knew..." Mrs Barber added, guilt filling her voice as the tears finally made an appearance on Y/N's face.

Jacob leaned closer to Y/N and wrapped his arms around her, as he whispered into her ear, "It's going to be okay.."

༄༄༄༄༄

Jacob turned on the shower, looking over at Y/N with worry as the girl with red eyes from crying sat on the side of the bath- looking at the wall. Jacob adjusted the shower temperature before getting her a towel. "Just try not to think about him, I'll be in my room if you need anything. Just shout." He told her, leaning closer to her before pausing- considering and leans away from her again. He leaves the bathroom.

Y/N watched Jacob leave, something about the way he was looking at her made her forget about Ben for a moment. But how could she forget about Ben? Ben, who was murdered that very morning. Stabbed three times in the chest and pushed down, as the news had informed her. 

It was all she could do, to just keep herself standing up in the shower and she worked the shampoo through her hair. Every time she closed her eyes she opened them again quickly, worried that his killer might come for her too. She remembered going to get pizza with him one time, what he'd said to her as he walked her to her house.

"This was fun, I'd love to do this again- if you'd be up for it." He'd told her, a grin on his face. Of course she had told him 'yes'. And then he left her on the doorstep of her house, not before kissing her though. And, of course, she didn't go inside her house, she walked straight back to Jacob's house where his parents had asked her about it. She was so excited telling them about it, she could remember the exact things his parents had asked her too- they were exited for her. However, she couldn't remember anything Jacob had said to her about it.

Y/N washed the shampoo and conditioner out of her hair before getting out of the shower and turning it off. She dried herself off with the towel Jacob had given her and then, realised she'd forgot to bring clothes into the bathroom with her. 'Great,' she thought to herself.

"Hey Jake? Could you bring me some clothes, please?" She called through the bathroom door, hearing the bed creak and the floorboards squeal as Jacob rushed to get her some clothes. Y/N wrapped the towel around herself and opened the bathroom door a little so she could get the clothes. Jacob stood there with a hoodie and some sweatpants, but she didn't recognise them as her own. 

"Uh thanks, those aren't mine though-" Y/N started, looking at him.

Jacob ran his hand through his hair, smiling a tiny bit, "Yeah they're mine, I thought you might- Actually don't worry, I'll go and get yours, sorry-" He started, seeming kind of flustered. Y/N looked at the sweatpants and hoodie, noticing how comfortable they looked.

"No, no, I'll take them. Thank you." Y/N smiled at him as she took the pile of clothes from him, he seemed relived and smiled back at her. She closed the door again to get changed, feeling a lot happier suddenly. But as she changed into the sweatpants and hoodie, smelling his cologne that was left on them a thought occurred to her.

'Maybe Ben wasn't the person I really liked...'

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