Page 10 of Fight for Me
“Oh, well, alright, honey. We’ll talk soon,” his mother said. She blew a kiss into the phone, like she always did, and Jake returned it quickly before hanging up. He slipped his hands into his pockets just as Lexie made the turn up the sidewalk toward where he stood.
“Hey!” he called, and her eyes darted in his direction, though they didn’t warm as he’d hoped they would. Instead, she looked crestfallen, like someone had sneezed on her last cookie.
“What’s wrong?” he asked when she reached him. There was a moment when he thought he saw truth flicker in her eyes before she shuttered them, pasting on a practiced smile instead.
“Just having a long day. How about you? Important phone call?”
She nodded toward his pocket, where his hand still gripped his phone, and Jake realized she must have seen him before he saw her. He liked the idea that she’d been watching.
“Oh, no, not really. Just my mom checking in. You know how that is,” he quipped, reaching out to open the administration building’s heavy outer door for her. Another shadow passed across her face, as if he’d said something wrong. Lexie went inside and crossed the wide entrance hall toward the stairs.
“Did you tell her they made you be Ronnie?” she asked a moment later, starting up as Jake followed behind.
“No, I forgot. It wasn’t so bad, actually, once I got used to it. It was sort of fun being a celebrity for a while,” he admitted as they climbed to the top floor.Plus, I got to hold your hand for two hours, he thought, remembering the way his whole arm had gone fuzzy.
“Maybe next time you’ll get to walk with a cheerleader. Wouldn’t that be something?” she added, though her voice was flat.
Jake shrugged, not at all interested. “Sounds like a step down, honestly,” he admitted, following Lexie out of the stairwell and down the hall.
She stopped near the door to the marketing office and looked up at him with an odd expression, like she was trying to solve a puzzle without the box. He cleared his throat and took an awkward step toward the doors of the photography studio.
“I’ll see you later, alright? If you’re still around when I get done,” he said, backing away.
“Yeah. Later,” she echoed, still watching him with a thoughtful crease between her brows.
Jake wasn’t sure he wanted to know what she was thinking.
But three hours later, he was still wondering.
What did she see when she looked at him? Was he just a guy who sometimes made her laugh, or did she see something more? If he wasn’t her type, could he change her mind?
Editing Andy’s pictures from the day before didn’t help his train of thought. It was bizarre to see photo after photo of himself holding Lexie’s hand, even if nobody else knew it was him. His palm itched with the memory. If only they’d been alone, maybe he could have come up with a reason to tuck those wispy blonde strands behind her ear and breathe in whatever made her hair smell like strawberries.
Jake sighed, rubbing his hand across his forehead. He couldn’t be more pathetic if he tried.
“Jake?”
Lexie’s soft voice came from beyond the partition between him and the door, as if his thoughts themselves had summoned her. Jake jumped slightly and quickly minimized the photo on his screen.
“Back here,” he called. He heard her footsteps come closer until she appeared in his doorway.
“I’m finished for today, but I thought you might need some help before I go,” she said, looking around his workspace. She picked up a small acrylic award from a shelf above his desk and turned it over in her hands.
“Association of Photographers Student Competition, Third Place, Southeast Region,” she read, her eyebrows rising as she looked at Jake. “That’s impressive.”
He felt his neck get hot, and he automatically rubbed his hand across the back of it.
“I’m pretty proud of that one,” he admitted, and Lexie nodded as she replaced the award on the shelf.
“You should be. You’re good at what you do,” she said. There was a trace of bitterness in her voice that Jake didn’t like.
“Do you think you aren’t?” he asked. “I read your stuff; you’re a fantastic writer.”
Lexie scoffed and was silent, scuffing the toe of her shoe against the warped edge of his plastic floor mat. The same unhappiness he’d seen earlier crept across her face, and Jake stood, intending to say something encouraging. But the words disappeared when her face tipped up and her emerald eyes met his. There was sadness etched along the edges of her mouth, and his fingers tingled with the need to reach out and brush it away.
He wondered what she would do if he touched her, if he leaned down and showed her exactly what he thought of her and everything she did. The image in his mind involved backing her up against the wall, and the urge was so strong he had to shove his hands into his pockets just to keep them to himself.
The sudden motion caught Lexie’s attention, and she shook herself, stepping away and creating distance where there had been none.
