Page 240 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11
Axel opened his mouth and closed it again.
I didn’t wait for him to think of something to say. I just turned and walked away from him.
“Savage,” Sophie said as she caught up to me. She looped her arm through mine. “Have I already said how proud of you I am today? Because seriously...you’re amazing.”
I forced a smile onto my face. That hadn’t felt amazing. Axel didn’t like me the way I liked him. But he’d always been my friend. He wasn’t acting like a friend anymore though. It seemed like he was hellbent on ruining my senior year and I had no idea why.
***
I stared out the window of Jacob’s truck and then turned my attention back to him. “You’ve been driving your truck to school a lot recently,” I said.
“Yeah, Axel and I stopped riding together,” Jacob said. “Our schedules have been a bit off I guess.”
I pressed my lips together. I didn’t want to talk about Axel. And I also didn’t think it had anything to do with a change in Axel’s schedule. Unless being an asshole counted as a schedule change. “Well, I love this truck. It’s very you.”
Jacob laughed and glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “How so? Because I’m older than you?”
I laughed. The truck was old, but that wasn’t what I was talking about. “No. It’s...homey.”Eek.That came out wrong.
Jacob smiled but didn’t respond as he changed lanes.
It had been a while since I’d hung out with Jacob one-on-one. But the silence wasn’t awkward. It was comfortable. Yeah, this felt right. This was my first ever date. I thought I’d feel nervous. But...it actually just felt easy to breathe. I smiled to myself, remembering my dad’s words.
I stared at Jacob’s profile while he was driving. He had a small red line on the side of his cheek from his fight with Billy O’Reilly. But it was healing. I doubted it would even leave a scar. I’d been so worried about him. I think Friday was the first time I truly realized that my feelings for him were stronger than I thought. That or when he’d watched me licking an ice cream cone. I’d really liked him staring at me with that heated gaze.
“Are you staring at me?” he asked and raised his eyebrow.
“What? Psh.” I laughed and looked around the truck. “No, I’m studying your truck. It really does feel very homey.” I kicked off my flats and put my feet up on the dash. “Yup, very comfortable.”
He stared at my feet on the dash. “This truck actually belonged to my dad.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know how I didn’t know that. I dropped my feet back to the floor. “No wonder it feels like home then.”
He smiled again, but this time it looked a little sad. “I don’t usually drive anyone around in it.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...”
“No, it’s fine. I like that you feel comfortable in my truck. Most girls prefer something a little nicer, you know?”
Like all the other cars in the parking lot of Empire High. Yeah. I definitely preferred Jacob’s truck. “Well I’m not most girls, thank you very much.” I put my feet back up on the dash.
He smiled.
The silence stretched between us again.
“Do you remember him well? Your dad?”
“Not as well as I wished I did. Just...pieces. But my mom always tells me stories. About how it used to be just the three of us. Sometimes I don’t know if I just remember her stories or if I can actually picture it myself. If that makes sense.”
I felt tears welling in the corners of my eyes. “Yeah, I get that. We have all these home movies. And I have no idea if I just remember the footage or remember it actually happening in the first place. Do you have any home movies from back then?”
Jacob shook his head.
And I realized that bringing up my childhood maybe wasn’t a good comparison at all. Or maybe he was sad that he didn’t have any videos from that time. “I bet you remember more than you realize.”
He was quiet for a moment. “Yeah.”
I hadn’t meant to upset him. I cleared my throat. “So...where are we going?”
