Harry sighed and reached for me again, taking my arm and pulling me into a tight hug. He stroked my back as I let tears fall down my cheeks, letting them wet his shirt. He stroked my back in soothing gestures, kissing the top of my head.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he repeated through clenched teeth.

I shook my head and pulled away, wiping away tears. “It’s not your fault, stop it.” I told him, "Funny thing is, and I haven't seen him since than." I felt vulnerable and embarrassed for crying in front of him. “I want to go now Harry.”

“Look at me,” he pleaded, tilting my chin up to meet his gaze. “Lynn.”

I looked up at him, my eyes still swimming with tears.

“Stop crying, please.” He begged softly.

I pulled away, and wiped away the last of tears. “This is so embarrassing.” I mumbled, blushing.

He chuckled and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. “Your nose is red,” he teased. “Rudolph.”

I giggled, slapping his arm lightly, as he started humming ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. He kissed me lightly on the nose, before taking my hand and leading me down the tree house.

Occasionally he’d tighten his grip on my hand or look down to stare at me for indefinite periods, making blood rush to my cheeks. I’d find it hard to meet his eyes, but whenever I did, the intensity of his gaze took my breath away. He was so beautiful; his unruly curls flying in the gentle breeze that washed over our face, his face slightly flushed, his plump, pink lips curving to form a smile now and then, making his dimples stand out against his soft cheeks. How I had managed to find someone this beautiful, I’d never know.

“Stop staring at me,” I told him lightly at one point, not meeting his eyes.

“I can’t.” he said softly, and I blushed.

We stood under the tree now our feet planted on the ground.

I let out a slight giggle, and he frowned. “What?” he asked me.

"Nothing, it's just you're really sweet and I didn't think you'd stick around, thanks for that." I smiled shyly embracing him and making every moment last. He quickly retreated from our hug making me upset, did I do something wrong? He looked at me for a minute and than opened his mouth.

"Can I take you home? Everyone else is pretty beat down and I'll bet you were the only ones sober." I giggled at his question and nodded in agreement as he took my hand and led me through the back gate and into his car without anyone knowing.

***********
Jake's POV

It had been a few weeks since the party and I hadn't heard a word from Lynn. I remember looking for Lynn that night and some people had told me they saw her leaving with some tall curly haired boy. It didn't take me long to realize it had been Harry who she left with, leaving me angry for not telling me or saying goodbye at least. I skipped school the first week due to severe headaches and hangovers caused by the alcohol. The other weeks I saw Lynn at school hanging with her usual friends and of course him. It was Saturday today and I decided I was going to surprise Lynn at her house and watch movies with her while her mom had gone out of town for the weekend. As I changed into some decent clothing, I grabbed my keys. I jumped into my car my parents bought a few weeks back and drove to her house which wasn't a long drive considering I did live close by her. Once I arrived I rang the doorbell and heard slight talking noises, and though I’d ignored them initially, I’d decided to go take a look anyways and peer through the open window.

I scowled when I saw what was happening before me.

They were only hugging, but it was enough to make my blood boil anyway. His arms were wrapped around her waist, and her head was on his chest as she stroked his back in comforting gestures, her eyes closed. His head was buried in the crook of her neck, and I curled my hands into fists on either side my body.

Harry and Lynn had been best friends since they met, and I knew how much she liked him. They shared an equation Lynn and I didn’t seem to, but to everyone else, that was quite obvious. “He’s one of her best friends, Jake,” they told me, "What they have is different from what you and she do, their only friends blah, blah, blah." so they said.

When I asked her out, I’d always been a bit wary of her friendship with him. Though she’d claimed otherwise since day one, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to it than I was told. Maybe she liked him. I was almost sure he liked her, and if one day I found out he’d tried to make a move on her, I wouldn’t be surprised.

I wanted to tell her I wasn’t too happy with her friendship with him. But how could I just walk up to her and tell her to stop talking to him and to never see him again, I didn’t know. But it was something I wanted to do. I wanted to wake up one morning and not have to worry about Harry and Lynn, afraid that maybe, she’d decide to choose the boy who’d been her friend, who understood her like a lot of people didn’t.

Or maybe I was just overreacting?

Nonetheless, what was happening right in front of my eyes was starting to piss me off at an alarmingly increasing rate. I considered going there and smacking the daylights out of the boy whose arms were wrapped around my girlfriend.

A part of me wondered if I was being irrational, which, let’s admit it, maybe I was. But the larger part of my brain always convinced me that tiny portion to shut up, because my jealously was starting to become too hard for me to contain.

She let go of him and stroked his cheek. “It’s okay,” she was telling him. “Harry, don't go.”

“I don't know.” He said his voice raw with emotion. “I just had to tell you, you know?”

“I know.” She nodded, and she reached up to smooth his hair out of his eyes, the way she did for me so many times. “Harr—”

I think that was when I lost it. The words were already out of my mouth before I could stop them.

“What’s going on here?” I asked angrily, walking into her house shocked to find out her door had been unlocked.

Lynn looked at me. “Jake—”

“What did you have to tell her, Harry?” I spat. “That you’re in love with her? I think she knows. The whole fucking world knows!”

Harry’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “What—?” he started.

"Don’t you pretend,” I shot at him. “What do you think, Lynn, that you can bring him over to your house and not expect me to know what’s going on between the two of you?”

“Jake, what the fuck?” Lynn inquired. “There is nothing—”

“You know what?” I asked. “You both are pathetic. You think I don’t see the way he looks at you? How stupid do you think I am, Lynn?”

“Really stupid, obviously,” Harry started. “Don't yell at her, you don’t even know—”

“Don’t tell me what I know and what I don’t.” I warned him, advancing towards him. “I know you both have something—you’ve always had something—”

“JAKE!” Lynn yelled. “What the hell are you saying?”

“I’m not an idiot, Lynn.” I said. “You barely spend any time with me, you’re always hanging out with him at school, and you've been ignoring me since the party! Than the day I choose to spend with MY girlfriend I find her cuddling with some pathetic boy. God, if you want to hook up with him, break up with me first!”

Lynn stood there, her face white with shock. Somewhere, deep down, I knew the intensity of my words, and what a stupid move I was making. But my anger seemed to have come out of nowhere, and it wasn’t ready to stall, not yet.

“Harry,” she said, her voice shaking, with anger or tears, I didn’t know. “I think I’ll—I—”

Harry nodded but he was glaring at me. “You don't know,” he sighed looking down.

"Jake-" He looked at me and continued. "Nothing is going on between Lynn and I. We're really good friends and my intension wasn't to make you angry or angry at her. But since you weren't patient enough and had to conclude everything yourself I think you should know I'm leaving back to London after summer vacation is over."

Now it was my turn to be shocked. I didn’t say anything as Harry turned around with one pat on Lynn's arm, and without a word, he was out.

“You think I’m cheating on you?” she asked me quietly. “Is that the sort of person you think I am?”

“Lynn—”

“Are you happy?” she accused. “How dare you call him pathetic?”

“Oh right, defend him, why don’t you?” I fired up again. “That’s all you ever do and—”

“And I always will!” she yelled. “You know why, Jake? Because he’s my friend and that’s what friends do! And just because I’m dating you, it doesn’t change any of that. I’m not going to stop giving him time—”

“What about giving me time, Lynn?” I asked. “What about me? I get that Harry is your best friend—”

“I don’t think you do, Jake!” she said loudly. “Harry’s been going through a real confusing time, and as a friend, I need to be there for him. He’s always been there for me unlike you! She stopped yelling for a second catching her breath as I stood there with wide eyes.

Without waiting for an answer, she pushed past me roughly and bounded up the stairs.

“Yeah, alright, run!” I yelled after her. “Walk away, that’s all you do anyway!”

—-

All right, so I may as well admit it. What I said, and did, was pretty stupid. Now that I’d calmed down, I’d realized that of course, that I’d seen them, and I had no reason to assume that they’d been doing anything else.

I’d been sitting on the couch for about half an hour, trying to convince myself that I was right and she was wrong, that I’d been right to assume that Harry and Lynn were anything more than friends, that I had a right to be insecure and ask her to stop talking to him. But the moment I’d heard her bedroom door shut with a bang, I knew I had to run up and tell her how sorry and stupid I was.

Sighing, I went up the stairs, and made my way to her room. I tried to open the door, but found that it was locked. Sighing, I knocked tentatively.

“Lynn?” I asked. “Baby?”

There was no reply, so I tried again, this time knocking a bit louder. “Lynn,” I repeated, and this time, I heard a faint response through the door.

“Go away!”

Despite the situation, I couldn’t help but get paranoid. But I knocked again. “Lynn, please open the door.” I pleaded. “I just want to talk to you.”

“I don’t want to,” she told me. “Fuck off, Woods.”

“Lynn,” I sighed, resting my forehead against the door. “I want to apologize to you, but doing it through the door won’t have the same effect.”

Suddenly, the door wrenched open and I almost stumbled forward. Lynn stood in front of me, glaring at me with wide eyes. But before I could get another word out, she’d already pushed past me.

“What—Lynn!” I called out after her, catching her wrist in my hand. “Where are you going?”

“Out!” she screamed. “For a walk. And oh, if I run into Harry, maybe I’ll “hook up” with him. What do you think about that, Jake?”

I sighed. “Don’t say that,” I said softly. “Come here.”

“Oh, get off me!” she spat at me. “I can’t believe you. You accuse me of being some sort of…of whore, insult Harry, yell at me and then expect me to be okay in half an hour?”

I didn’t answer, but only pulled her into me. I held her shoulder in a light but firm grasp, making sure that even though she was trying, she wouldn’t be able to wiggle away from me.

“I just want to tell you how sorry I am, okay?” I told her gently. “Please, listen to me?”

“No,” she spat.

“Please?” I begged again, and though she was still glaring at me like i was crazy or something I insisted.

“I’m sorry,” I started. “Really, I am. I had no right to barge in like that and ruin whatever conversation you were having with Harry, especially if it was something that serious. Also, it was wrong of me to assume that you guys were…no, I shouldn’t have.”

She stayed quiet for a while until she looked at me once again, hurt in her eyes.

"Look Jake, I forgive you. But right now I just need sometime to clear my head." she said as she passed by me and walked outside leaving me standing upstairs alone.

**************

Lynn's POV

I walked for minutes until I finally arrived at my favorite coffee shop, Starbucks. I walked in and ordered a Caramel ribbon crunch and sat down as I sipped my drink and texted my friends. I looked up instinctively as the bells above the door jingled, indicating that someone had walked in.

I had to grab my phone from letting it slip from my hands as I saw who had just walked in—Harry.

As he walked up to the counter to place his order, I saw him look at me and smile slightly. I blushed shyly as I tried to smile back. I think I managed a somewhat half-smile, but I hoped he knew everything was alright.

Just then, I got a text. I looked down to see that Adri and Sissy wanted me to pick up a latte for them too, on my way back home. Draining my coffee, I got up quickly to order one for them.

I heard some scuffling behind me.

"Hello, darling." I turned around to see two boys about my age smirking at me.

"James, she smiled at me, not at you!"

"Just give me the damn—"

"Brad get off. I’m giving it to her."

Brad? James? Who the hell were these guys and what did they want?

Two hands tapped both my shoulders, and I turned again.

"Hey," James said.

"I’m Brad." Brad said. “You, erm…left your phone back at the table."

My heart was hammering in my chest, but I managed to put on a decent smile as I took my phone from him. “Oh, thank you." I said.

"No—"

"No problem." James cut across him. “I’m James, by the way."

“I’m Lynn." I said looking around to find the curly haired boy.

"It was nice to see you, Lynn." James grinned at me. Brad smiled again, and my heart felt sickened, stupid teenage boys.

I quickly took the lattes, and as I was about to leave, James stopped me. I noticed all his other teenage friends were behind him looking at me. Brad was missing, probably at the restroom or something.

"Check your contacts when you get back, alright?" he whispered in my ear.

"Um—okay." I winced at him. He winked, and sat back down.

I headed out; unsure of what the FUCK had just happened. As I was walking out, I banged into someone.

"Ow!" I mumbled, and looked up to see Harry.

"Oh, I’m so sorry." he said politely."

"Hey." I said smiling shyly at him.

"Hi." he smiled. “Heading back home?"

"Yeah..."

"Oh... um do you come here often?" he asked me curiously remembering how nobody knew I came to this place to get away from everyone besides Sissy and Adri.

"Well, yeah, I’m basically always here on weekends." I told him.

"Nice. So…will you be here tomorrow?" he asked.

"Yeah, I will, I guess." I nodded slowly.

"Well…" he said, running a hand through his hair. “I’m going to be there tomorrow too, so…"

I smiled slightly. “Yeah?"

"Yeah. So we can…meet up here if you'd like…" he said, and then sighed and bowed his head. “I make no sense right now. Let me try this again. Lynn, do you want to have coffee with me tomorrow?"

I laughed. “That’s better. Yeah, I’d love to."

"Great, and I hope it’s obvious whom you’ll be going out with tomorrow?" he grinned. “I saw what happened back there and how he put his number in your phone, that idiot."

I grinned back. “Oh my god, don't talk about it!" I hid my face into his arm and began to walk away from the shop.

He looked down at me and smiled. “So…see you?"

"We'll see." I smirked as I walked the other direction smiling to myself. I was a bit nervous first of all what will Jake think? I just made a date with Harry, my best friend and right now I wasn't in the best condition to be putting myself out there. As I processed everything my speed increased faster each step desperate and in need of some girl time, itching to tell everything that's happened between Jake, Harry and I so without wasting anytime I ran straight to Adri's and Sissy's place.

Notes

i deleted by accident sorry

jakes being a total jerk, and the two boys having a bit of a crush on lynn ;)

• comment
• vote
• rate
• subscribe