Page 11 of Jake and Conner
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"I have another gift for you," I said to Jake after all the other kids had left. We'd spent the day eating pizza, watching movies and talking about comic books. It had been nice, but I treasured the moments I got to spend alone with my best friend the most, so I stayed when the others went home. I knew my dad would chew my ear off later--or at least, Kade would--but for the moment, I didn't care.
It was a warm day in early spring. The trees in Jake's backyard were just starting to bloom and we sat on a bench under a tree with the most beautiful white blossoms. I looked up and watched them sway in the breeze, grasping for the courage I needed to give Jake his gift.
"You already gave me that limited edition comic book," Jake said, tilting his head at me. "It was totally the best gift in the bunch."
"Yeah?" I looked away from the tree and turned to Jake. My gaze fell on his hand, which rested on the bench between us, so close to mine. Without even thinking much about it, I inched my fingers sideways until they touched his. We held hands so often that I had every line of his palm memorized by now, but somehow, sitting here like this still felt oddly more intimate.
Maybe that was just because of what I was about to do, though.
"Conner?" Jake shot me a questioning look and I realized that I'd been staring at our hands.
I raised my gaze and locked eyes with him. I wondered if he had any idea what I had planned. I wondered how he was going to react.
I wondered if my heart could beat any faster than it did that moment.
My eyes dropped to Jake's lips and all my thoughts stopped. I breathed in his scent—something that always reminded me of cut grass and campfires—and Iacted.I leaned forward and kissed my friend.
It wasn't the very first time our lips touched. That had happened just a few months before, when Jake gave me a quick peck on the lips after getting me to stand under a mistletoe he'd hung himself. I was never quite sure if that counted, though. It had been over so fast and neither Jake nor I seemed to be sure what to think about it.
I wanted this to be different. I'd thought about this forweeks.Every time Jake grabbed my hand and there was no one around, I wanted to kiss him, but I could never work up the courage. So I told myself I would do it on his birthday.
And now here we were.
And it was different.
My lips lingered on Jake's. I was half-afraid that he was going to pull away at any moment, but he didn't. Instead, he pulled me closer. I gave a little gasp, breaking contact momentarily. My lips tingled as they touched Jake's again, and then the rest of my body kind of tingled too. It was an odd feeling, but a good one. Better than only holding hands.
Jake seemed to think so too, because he was wearing the biggest grin when we finally broke apart to catch our breaths. "Best birthday present ever," he said emphatically.
~
I was pulled back to the present when my youngest sister, sitting next to me at the table, nudged my arm. "Are you still eating that?" she asked, pointing at the leftover chicken breast on my plate.
"Hope," Kade chided her. "Let your brother eat."
"But he's not eating it!" my little sister protested. "It's bad to waste food."
I laughed. Hope could eat for three any day of the week. All her after-school activities were sports-related and she could burn through food like no other. "You can have it," I said, piercing the chicken with my fork and dropping it on her plate.
"Thanks, bro!"
"You're welcome." I wasn't hungry anyway.
The rest of the evening, I tried to stay focused, tried not to let my family notice how distracted I was.
How was it that I could suddenly think about Jake without thinking about the way he'd broken up with me?
That was dangerous. If I forgot that, I might just fall for him all over again, and then what? Would we just fight again for the same damn reasons?
When dinner with my family was over, I didn't head straight home. I wanted answers to at least some of the questions in my head. I wanted to know what Jake was up to, and since he wasn't responding to my text and I didn't feel like talking on the phone--if he would even take the call--I went over to his house.
It was late, yes, but I was worried and I didn't care about the time.
Laurence had let me know that Jake wasstillbeing weird, so I wasn't super surprised when he didn't respond to my knocking. His dog did, though, which let me know that he wasn't away on shift. If he was, he would have taken Bailey to Aaron's.
"Jake?" I called. No response.
