+Cynthia+
I was walking towards Evelyn’s door, worried because I didn’t hear any noise. I knew that I shouldn’t be worried about what they were doing because I honestly felt that I would have to give Evelyn more space than usual. I didn’t want to pry and steal from her only happiness which seemed to be being with Jacob. I saw the way her face lit up when she saw Jacob waiting at her door and I knew how much it hurt her to have to tell him what happened but I also knew that Evelyn would tell him. She wouldn’t want to keep lying to him or hiding anything from him because she tended to do that to people she loved. She was honest and honestly not a good lier.
I wanted to let Evelyn cope and with time not think about it as much. I knew that I’d have to let her have much more freedom so she would be able to breathe. I didn’t know if she would start to have a physical relationship with Jacob and if she was going to, I didn’t think I would stop her. I would have to talk to her about protection.
I opened a crack of the door and not hearing anyone scream at me in protest I opened it a little more. The sight before me brought water to my eyes.
Jacob and Evelyn were sleeping in each others arms in a peaceful and lovely manner. It was beautiful to see them so calm. They reminded me of Evelyn’s father and I. I knew that Jacob would do her good and bring here happiness and if he was to stay and sleep with her longer, I didn’t mind. She hadn’t slept in days, screaming and waking up from her nightmares, but as she slept in Jacob’s arms her face looked peaceful and happy. I closed the door and with a smile on my face went to rest as well. I hadn’t slept much either, waking up to help Evelyn or having nightmares myself or as crazy as it sounded thinking of myself running over that man with my car. I had even stayed up from thinking of what Evelyn had gone through but knowing she was happy today made my nap a wonderful thing.
***
The water of the ocean was a crystal clear blue color. I had this sudden impulse to just run down the sand and feel the warm water touch my skin. I looked to my right and I was holding hands with Jacob who looked down at me smiling widely. He was thinking the same thing I was thinking; water.
Jacob tugged at my hand and with that we started to run full speed down the sand, feeling it graze our feet until we touched the waves. We were suddenly covered with water to our shoulders and I was huddled with Jacob, kissing and hugging him. Then with a swift motion it was a race to the bowie.
***
I woke up in Jacob’s arms, delighted by his warmth, with memories of the amazingly vivid dream I had with him. I didn’t want to wake up from it because of its lucid beauty. I hadn’t dreamt a good dream or had this peaceful a nap since-
I wouldn’t think about that.
“Hello, sleeping beauty.” Jacob chuckled. I sat up, looking at his big and masculine body lay there on my mattress and I felt this sudden urge to kiss him. I felt my face heat up when I remembered how we had kissed before our nap. It was, needless to say, wonderful. I hid my face a little, trying to hide my blush from him and thought of something to say.
“Jake! How long have you been awake?” I felt so guilty that he had waited for me to wake up. God knows how long I had slept. I guess the guilt was evident in my face since I heard Jacob chuckle.
“Don’t worry. I slept too. I’ve been awake a few minutes.” He smiled
“Oh.” I said, relieved that he hadn’t waited so long. He chuckled.
“What time is it?” I asked and he looked at the watch on his wrist.
“Seven.” He yawned and smiled.
“Wow. We slept like four hours.” I said shocked.
“Yes we did, you needed it. Oh, and we’re going for ice cream.”
“Oh, that will be awesome! I call an ice cream challenge!” I said, a little overtaken by enthusiasm and Jacob smiled widely at me.
“No prob, Angel, I’ll tell your mom while you get ready.” He kissed my lips, leaving me breathless, and got out of the room.
Angel. He called me Angel. That was the cutest nick name he’d ever given me. Ev, Eve, Evelyn, Evelynnie, and now there was Angel. It was so romantic. Oh my goodness, Evelyn you’re a lovesick fool. I told myself and sighed then grinned widely like the fool I was.
I went to my closet and put on some navy blue shorts, a white flowy lace top, and a grey cardigan with flip flops. I’d bought these clothes at Abercrombie and I had waited a long time to wear them, saving it for a nice day with friends, in this case it was with my... boyfriend? Making it even more special. Thinking about Jacob as my boyfriend was both amazing and strange. We’d been best friends with developing feelings that we both tried to hide for the longest time but now we were showing each other how we felt by being best friends and a couple too. I loved it. The feelings with Jake were amazing.
I had never been in actual love before but I had had my previous short relationships and what I thought I had with Travis was just a wild crush with someone I had no chemistry with. He only had good looks. He was a jerk and I was stupid to ever go out with him. I thought I had loved him, only feeling lust though, and had been hurt so badly by him cheating on me. I didn’t care anymore. I was dumb to cry over him and let his deceit have such and effect on me. Jacob had been there all along for me and I had always loved him and now I wasn’t hiding it anymore. I chuckled at myself for ever letting that thing with Travis that I don’t even call a relationship get to me so badly.
I picked up the brush from my vanity and passed it through my hair to untangle the sleep nots I had developed from my nap and brushed my teeth, worried I’d have bad breath from sleeping. I had added to make-up but a clear gloss to my lips and touched my necklace with my fingers before leaving my room, wanting to get out of its loneliness.
I walked into the living room, seeing Jacob and my mother talking about the movie that was on. Jacob must have heard my footsteps since he turned to look at me. A smile came onto his face and he stared at me for a second. I guessed I looked good in my outfit. I giggled at how my mom shook her head with an amusing smile on her face, she had noticed how dumbfounded he looked. Honestly speaking, I was wearing really casual clothes so I didn’t notice the big deal.
“Hi Jake.” I said, determined to get some ice cream.
“Uh, hi Ev.” He looked down and then back up. My mom was extremely amused by his expression and since no one decided to move she spoke.
“Come on guys, ice cream stores aren’t open all night. You can stare at each other when you get there.” I blushed insanely and Jacob snapped out of his trance, my mother laughing at us both. I shot her a playful glare and she stopped laughing still chuckling every now and then as we walked to the door.
Jacob opened it for both of us and we walked out into the twilight.
I looked back at my mom.
“I’ll be back soon.” I tell her.
“I’m counting on it.” She smiled and went inside. We went inside the car and drove to Maggie Moo’s Ice Cream. It was a little far from my house but Jacob and I just loved Maggie Moo’s so we drove to it all the time even if there were a few other ice cream shops around, because it was the best!
***
I couldn’t help but smile like a little kid entering wonderland when I was inside the shop. It was painted in funky and bright colors, like yellow, pink, purple, orange, blue and cow prints. I smiled at the fancy cow with a hot pink dress and blue pearl necklace, wearing pink lipstick and mascara with an ice cream cone in her hand. She made me laugh for some reason. I skipped to the counter, singing “Come on, come on.” and my eyes never failed to bulge at all the candy toppings and ice cream flavors there were. Jacob laughed like he was singing and looked into my eyes which were still wide from happiness.
“This place never fails to bring out the little girl in you.” He smiled and chuckled, pinching my cheeks.
“Hey!” I laughed and playfully slapped his hand, my heart stopped for a second when he kissed me and a goofy smile came onto my face.
“I see you guys are more than just friends now.” A dude’s voice said from over the ice cream counter.
“Hey Steve!” I said enthusiastically. He had worked here for quite some time and was about twenty years old. He was always really nice to us when we came for ice cream. Somehow, he always suspected me and Jacob had something going on. Was it that obvious?
“Yeah, we are.” Jacob answered with a cute smile on his lips.
“I knew it. I always told you guys I thought you had something else going on.” he winked at both of us and chuckled.
I rolled my eyes playfully at him.
“Ok! Time for ice cream now!” I smile and both of them chuckled. I was a fat ass when it came to ice cream.
“By the way, its my turn to pick today.” I winked at Jacob and he groaned playfully, he really didn’t mind. Taking turns was the fun part of the ice cream challenge. Today it was my turn since last time it was Jacob’s so I would order two ice cream bowls of five ice cream scoops with the same toppings and ice cream flavors for both of us. Then the challenge part came.
“Okay, here I go.” I rub both my hands together and feeling colorful right now, I chose the most eye popping flavors I could.
“Cotton candy, very yellow marshmallow, key lime, bubblegum, and southern peaches.” I smile at Jacob’s open mouth.
“Those are the strangest flavors!” He protested laughing and so did Steve.
“Haha, you’re girlfriend’s a freak!” Steve joked.
“Am not!” I defended myself, trying to be serious but laughing and failing.
“Yes you are. You’re a cute freak.” He smiled and I kissed him.
“Come on guys! Don’t get all lovey dovey on me. I have enough sweetness in my day with all this ice cream around.” Steve groaned, causing us both to crack up and then I began my toppings list.
“Get ready for the toppings guys! Brownies, coconut, gummy bears, cookie dough, mini marshmallow, M&Ms, Oreos, pineapples, rainbow sprinkles,white chocolate chips, and raspberries.” I smiled when I finished my toppings demand. I couldn’t wait to just dig in.
“This is going to be an interesting thing to eat.” Jacob laughed. As Steve prepared both our ice cream bowls I waited impatiently.
“I’m beating you this time.”
“Nuh uh, Evelynnie. I always win and you know that. You don’t stand a chance against me, the king!”
“You’re not the king for long anymore, Jake. Say bye- bye tow your crown!” I laugh mischievously.
“Order up!” Steve said and I stared with longing at the ice cream bowl that I had in my hands. I took four spoons (Yeah, four spoons) and gave two to Jake. Jacob paid and took his ice cream in his hands then we sat down at the first table we saw.
We waited for Steve to yell the usual when we had our ice cream war with faces of warriors and a spoon in each of our hands, pointed up at the ceilings.
“You stand no chance.” Jacob smiled.
“I’m kicking your ass this time.” I said proudly. I knew I probably wouldn’t win but a positive attitude towards the war made it fun. No point in saying “Im going to lose.” if you haven’t even tried.
“On your marks, get set, stuff ice cream in your face!” Steve yelled, thank goodness the place was empty.
I plunged my spoons into random ice cream scoops and shoved spoonfuls after spoonfuls of ice cream flavor into my mouth.
Oh my Gosh! That one is good! Ew, that one’s awful! This is so much fun!
I would look at Jacob’s face every few spoonfuls, sometimes laughing at the disgusted or enlightened faces he made when he shoved an ice cream spoon into his mouth. He would smile at me and I would smile at him.
My face was all cold from the dripping ice cream and I made a pained face from the brain freeze I had but refused to stop eating. This was so much fun! My taste buds were going crazy by the sudden changes of ice cream flavors and topping. It would be soon enough that Jacob would pop a whole scoop into his mouth and smile menacingly at me while I gaped at him with wide yes and an open ice cream filled mouth. Sure enough Jacob popped the green one into his mouth and made a disgusted face to which I cracked up at and so did Steve, laughing like he was watching some comedy movie. He did that every time. Either it was a bad flavor, a brain freeze, a tooth freeze, tooth pain from some hard topping, or just our crazy actions made it something funny to watch.
Jacob swallowed the scoop and then gave me his smile. He popped each and every one into his mouth and I stared there gaping at him. Steve was laughing at my reaction.
“Ah, this is just too funny! You’re the best freaking customers of life!” Steve said through his laughter. No matter how many times Jacob popped the scoops into his mouth one by one. I had always been amazed at how he could do that.
“I. Am. The. King. Once. Again.” he said through pauses and smiled widely, making my heart leap.
“How do you do that?” I asked astonished.
“I’m awesome that way.” We all laughed and Steve clapped his hands and so did I. He was amazing.
“Are you sure you’re not some monster? If you are, come clean because I think I’d like to know what I’m dating.” I joked and both of the guys bawled with laughter. It was enlightening to have so much fun and be so surrounded by laughter and smiles. I felt great. Other than the feeling of being as stuffed as a thanksgiving turkey, everything was awesome.
“I’m pretty sure I’m not a monster but if i was, no doubt about it, I’d be the ice cream monster.” He smiled and the three of us chuckled then suddenly i didn’t have the strength to laugh, my stomach was throbbing.
“I. Am. So. Full. It. Hurts.” I sit back on the chair and pat my tummy. I had almost eaten every scoop but there was still some left and I wasn’t eating it unless I wanted to blow up and die.
Jacob and Steve were still laughing at my weakness and as I laid there half dead, they throw out the, spoons and bowls. I tilted my head back with closed eyes and groaned, earning me some chuckles, and suddenly I felt a papery thing on my face which when I opened my eyes I noticed was a napkin Jacob was using to clean the ice cream from my face.
“Thanks.” I said awkwardly. “I’m going to die.” I stated.
Jacob chuckled and said “No you’re not, come on let’s go.” tugging at my hand.
“Nuh, uh.” I protested.
“Why not?” His face was confused.
“I can’t stand, let alone walk.” Jacob and Steve laughed out loud and I screeched when I was in the air.
I was being carried baby style by Jacob and I felt breathless. He never failed to impress me when he quickly swept me off my feet and into his arms. I shoved my face into his muscled chest and groaned unconsciously. I felt like I had run five miles yet he didn’t have to recover since he could carry my 123 pounds effortlessly. Well, Jacob was tall, 6’1 to be exact, and quite strong. The gym was his other best friend apart from me and Jay so it was really of no surprise.
“Jakie, do you take steroids?” I used the nickname which I had made up for him years ago and asked seriously. I wanted to know.
“No, Evelynnie. I wouldn’t do that if you paid me to. I’m just naturally strong and handsome like a prince.” He smiled down at me and I smiled at him. Steve was bawling with laughter and he managed to say a “See you later guys.”
“Bye Steve!” Jake and I chorused the he opened the door and I could feel the cool night breeze; it must have been around eight o’clock. I shivered at the dark but felt safe in Jake’s arms.
He walked with me in his arms and stood by my door without putting me down.
Jacob leaned down close enough to just stop his face from touching mine.
“I can be your prince, Evelyn.” He whispered in his husky velvet voice and I closed my eyes, taking in his masculine cologne and breathing in his icy cold breathe. I felt invincible in his arms but I also felt like I would melt away and thought that I did when he kissed me. He licked my bottom lip and I made a small opening in between my lips, begging for sweet taste to fill me up inside and I moaned quietly when it did. His mouth moved slowly on mine, molding perfectly into my lips and making the hair on my arms rise. I lifted my hand to raise it to his hair and I stroked it between my fingers while our lips moved together in perfect harmony.
We pulled away for air but our faces were still at a close proximity. I could see his chocolatey brown eyes penetrating into mine and I was in a pool of his light brown eyes, taken over by the sweet color of them. My heart was beating at two hundred beats for minute. Jacob’s lips opened causing his fresh breath to tickle my skin and he said “I love you, Ev.” I whispered, too weakened by emotion to speak loudly “I love you too, Jake.” and he pressed his lips onto mine once more before we entered the car.
***
I had laid down in my bed, back in my pajamas, thinking about the awesome ice cream date Jacob and I had. How it was one of the best outings ever and how much fun it was. My flashbacks to the ice cream challenge had been caught off my my phone’s ringing to alert me that I had a text, a text I actually wanted to read and answer to.
Jacob: Night, Angel :)
Me: Good night, Babe <3
His short text message bidding me a good night made my heart flutter. With a smile I picked up the book on my bedside table and laid my phone down.
I finished reading the Thirteen Little Blue Envelopes then started to re-read The Last Song. I laid awake in my bead for two hours since the nap had taken away some of my sleep and all the while, even as I tried to engross myself in the book, I was scared and couldn’t hear a noise without jumping up. I kept imagining that blue eyed man coming out of my closet or my bedroom door and I couldn’t focus on the book from the utter fear I had inside me as I was alone in my room.
Maybe if I fell asleep I wouldn’t have to think of it anymore. I was feeling a bit sleepier now and my eyes were restless from them being fixated on tiny words for so long. Yes, that’s what I’d do. I’d sleep and maybe I wouldn’t have nightmares since I didn’t have them during the earlier nap. I put the book on the bedside table and stood to take off the lights, when I did I jumped hurriedly into my bed with trembling hands and tried to cover myself with the sheets. I reached out for the lamp and with my heart in my throat, I pulled the little chain and a small halo of light flooded the room, immediately giving me relief.
I was a wreck. I mentally laughed at myself when I thought of how I had jumped in the bed with shaking hands and how my heart had almost come out of my mouth. I hated feeling this afraid but I couldn’t help it. I tried to think of leisurely things to be able to fall into a calming sleep. Heck! I even tried counting sheep but until I was at 3027, I didn’t fall.
______________________________________________________________________________
Please vote, comment, and fan! I really want to know if I should keep posting on this story:)