HIS BEAUTIFUL SECRET (completed)

CHAPTER 8 - IT'S GONNA BE A LONG NIGHT!

The next few days passed slowly. I did all I could to avoid thinking of him. Luckily, Jonathon kept sending me cheesy texts that made me smile. Even though he could not make my heart pound, he was a pleasant distraction.

I was more grateful than ever that he was shy and took things at a glacial pace. I didn't need someone to go a hundred miles an hour at that moment, just a perfectly placed speed bump.

Passing Jake in the hallways was the worst kind of torture. He was always with his boys. Every single time I passed him, he looked so miserable, like someone had just sucked the life out of him. I noticed him stealing glances at me and hoped he didn't notice the same look staring back at him.

When I passed him, it felt like those slow-motion scenes in movies. Time was moving at a normal pace but my mind was soaking up every second looking for any sign that he was would suddenly tell the world he loved me.

Every time I saw him, my mind went back to that weekend. How he rescued me like freaking Clark Kent, and how safe and easy everything felt. When I would glance down at my tattoo, I thought of him. We came from different worlds, but somehow we were both still messed up, each in our own way.

And then I would think of how he didn't want me. In all honesty, I wouldn't even have gone through with it. I would have been way too nervous and scared if it ever came down to it. That did not make the pain of his rejection sting any less.

I had known that I was unwanted my entire life and what happened with him triggered all of my insecurities. In his own way, he was attempting to be a stand-up guy by defending my virtue. It still sucked, and I could not stop replaying it in my mind. No matter his intentions, it still felt like cold, hard, rejection.

That night Jenny asked me over to her house to study and I was glad. It was always so comfortable at her house. As soon as the bell rang, I ran to my locker and made it to her car as fast as possible. Jenny jumped in the driver's seat and sent a sweet smile my way.

We were both so happy to be free of that high school, at least for the afternoon. She turned up the radio, and it was already on our favorite eighties station. "Once Bitten-Twice Shy" by Great White burst through the speakers. Jenny's parents had made sure she received an education in all things "eighties." Since I had spent more time at her house than my own, I earned the same degree.

We pulled up to Jenny's house and just parking in the driveway brought a sense of calm to me. Her house was gorgeous, two stories, with white lap siding, and a front porch that felt warm and inviting. Many conversations had taken place on that swing. It was such a special part of my childhood.

Jenny jumped out of the car, still humming tunes, and I was following close behind her. As soon as we entered the house, we could smell the cookies baking. Jenny's mom was standing in the kitchen with her trusty apron on, playing her own eighties music in the background.

"Girls, I am so glad your home," she said while walking up to give Jenny a hug. When she finished, she came over to give me one too. It was the sweetest, warmest hug and each time she gave me one I knew that it came from the most genuine place. It was a place of love. We sat at the bar and ate cookies while she told us about her day, and then she rushed us off to "hit the books" as she referred to it.

Sitting in Jenny's room with books spread all over her bed, I heard her phone vibrate. She checked it and shot me a quick glance. From the look on her face, I could tell that it was Tripp. It reminded me of something that happened in the hall today.

"Hey Jenny, did you notice when we passed Jake today that Tag was giving you a weird look?"

She never looked up from typing but replied, "Yeah, he has been acting weird lately. Dude has never spoken a word to me. Lately, every time I pass him he stares at me like he is hungry and I am dessert."