Like I said in the last chapter, the end is near :D And this is long!

~Recap~

I was ready now. I was going to do this right here, right now. Taking in a deep breath, I put my hand on the door handle and opened it.

There she was, lying on her bed, playing on her laptop, looking as beautiful as ever.

- - -

-Chapter Twenty Six-

~ Jake’s P.O.V ~

Alex’s averted her eyes so they landed right on mine. A little gasp escaped her mouth and she scurried to stand up straight.

“Jake.”

“Alex, I’m sorry,” I told her immediately. That’s all I could think of saying, honestly.

“Why?”

“You know why already.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me.

“You’re right. I do,” she told me. “Why’d you do that? Do you even know how that made me feel? Do you even know what it feels like to me when I’m with you? You kissed me, Jake. Then you don’t even talk to me!” she yelled.

“What do you feel when you’re with me, Alex? Do you feel all weird inside? And what did you feel during that kiss? Could you maybe say, I don’t know, fireworks?”

She scoffed. “That only happens in movies.”

“Oh, but you did feel something. I know you did. Alex Turner, you have feelings for me.” Her eyes went as wide as saucers, and I took a few steps towards her until I was within kissing distance. “But that’s okay. Mostly because I have feelings for you too. . .”

~ Alex’s P.O.V ~

My heart stopped beating in my chest, and my mouth went dry. What did he just say? I gulped, trying to get the dry lump that somehow managed to get itself stuck in my throat out. Did he say that he has feelings for me? And how does he know that I like him?

Jake smirked at me. “Yes, you most definitely did hear correctly,” he whispered huskily.

His oh-so-soft lips connected with mine yet again, and I did feel the so called ‘fireworks’. Well, not fireworks, but there was definitely something there. It felt like the whole world had stopped.

He sneaked his arms around my waist, pulling me closer, and I snaked my arms around his neck. My body molded into his as I ran my fingers through his hair. My stomach started to feel all funny, the way it usual does when I’m with him. I never knew I could feel so many things at once!

The kiss became more eager; it felt like we needed each other. Too soon, though, I reluctantly pulled back. What, a girl needs air!

He pressed his forehead against mine, letting our breaths mingle. We were both gasping for air now.

“How was that?” he asked, grinning at me.

Amazing. Wonderful. Fantastic.

“Awesome,” I breathed out.

“So am I forgiven?”

I sighed. “Yes.”

“Come on,” he replied, taking my hand in his and dragging me out of my bedroom.  But what does any of this mean? Are we a ‘couple’?

 This really seems to be happening a lot lately. . . People keep dragging me around like a rag doll.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll find out when we get there!”

Once outside, he handed me the red helmet, and got on. I put the helmet on, and slid on beside him, wrapping my arms around him firmly. The lemony scent filled my nostrils. I wanted to inhale all of his scent, but that’d be just a tad bit creepy.

“You ready?”

I nodded into his back. “Yeah.”

* * *

“Where are we and why are we here? You didn’t drag me out here to murder me, did you?” I asked, looking around the scenery. All I could see was green. Green everywhere. Green here, and green there. We were somewhere in the woods. Why, though?

Jake chuckled beside me. “No, I am not going to murder you. And we are at a place that I found a while back. I wanted to show you something. Come on.”

“Er- okay.” I followed Jake down a worn out, narrow pathway. Birds chirped all around us, the leaves rustling in the wind.

Jagged rocks covered most parts of the path, and I had a hard time climbing over the larger ones, due to me wearing a two year old pair of tennis shoes with the occasional hole here and there. Luckily, I didn’t fall once. Sure, I tripped more than a few times, but you know what I mean.

“Hear that?” Jake asked.

“Hear what?”

“Listen closely.”

I held my breath as I listened, waiting for anything. I heard the faint sound of wind chimes that were somewhere in the distance.

“Wind chimes?” I questioned, furrowing my eyebrows together in confusion. “So what?”

“Well, that too. But I wasn’t talking about that. How do you not hear it?”

There’s nothing to hear! Other than the nature around us, but I’m pretty sure that’s all! I listened closely. Nope, nothing.

“What am I supposed to be hearing, exactly?”

“Follow me.”

I did follow him, and then I heard it. It was running water! A stream, maybe? “Is it a stream?”

“No, it’s a river. It’s right over there.” He pointed to the right where there was a small river.  “Wanna get a better view?”

I nodded eagerly with a smile on my face. He took my hand, and guided me to where there was a tree house. Wind chimes dangled next to the wooden door.

“Oh? So you have a tree house? Isn’t that a bit too childish for you?”

“It’s where I come when I want to think about certain things. My dad, Ben, and I built it when I was seven.”

“Who’s Ben?”

He sighed deeply through his nose. “An old friend of mine. I’ll tell you about him once we get up there, okay?” He nodded in the direction of the tree house.

“Okay.” After Jake was up the rope ladder, I followed suit and was soon up there myself. It was larger than I thought. A small wooden bench was built together and pushed up against the right wall. The bench looked old, and it seemed to be pretty banged up.

There were six small poorly carved windows carved into the walls. The door was practically gone; the hinges that they used were rusted and loose. One out of three was missing. 

The house itself was pretty crappy — no offense to the guys. It needed to be redone, really.

“Ben was my brother.”

“Was?” I asked, walking around, letting my eyes take in the scenery.

“He died in a car accident two years ago. My dad was with him, too. That’s why he’s paralyzed,” he explained.

He opened another door at the back of the small room, and he let me go out first. I walked out onto a balcony that had an amazing view of the river. There was wooden railing that came up to my waist, and it wrapped around the entire house. This was an amazing tree house, honestly. It was very well built. . . even if one-fourth of it was damaged.

I sat down on the floor, letting my feet dangle over the side of the balcony. Jake sat beside me.

“I bet you miss him,” I told him. My voice was laced with sympathy. I could only imagine what it’s like to lose a close family member. Especially your brother? It must be really hard to handle.

“I do. You just don’t know how hard it is. That’s why I come here a lot. The two of us always came here together. Then we decided, hey, why not build a tree house? So we did. And it’s still strong and durable. . . Even though there are some rough spots here and there.”

I smiled as an awesome thought came to mind. Sure, there was no light bulb above my head, but this was a great idea.

“Jake?” I beamed.

“Yeah?”

“How about we renovate this place?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean we should fix this place up! Make it like an actual hang out!” I exclaimed. “It will be so cool. Please?”

“Sure.” He smiled at me, and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, giving me a small squeeze.

“Yay!” I squeaked in excitement.

“It’s hot up here, don’t you think?”

“Duh, I’m here.” I smirked and leaned into his body.

“Yeah, that’s it,” he replied, sarcasm practically dripping from his mouth. “Hey, wanna go for a swim?”

“In the river?” I asked, looking up at him in question.

“Yeah. You up for it?”

“We don’t have our bathing suits,” I deadpanned.

“Who says we need bathing suits?” He stood up and held his hand out for me. What a gentleman. I took it in my own, and he hauled me up.

“What do you mean by that?”

“We don’t need to have bathing suits in order to swim, you know.”

I pursed my lips at him in thought. Technically, he is right. We don’t need our bathing suits. . .

“Shall we?” he asked.

“We shall.” I smiled and climbed down the rope ladder. The river wasn’t that far away.

A few minutes later, I was standing next to the calm river, unsure. I don’t want to just take my clothes off and jump in. I mean, I don’t want Jake seeing me in my “undergarments.”

“Aw, are you shy?”

My cheeks quickly heated up. “No, I’m not,” I retorted. Who am I fooling here?

“Then come on. Unless. . .” Two warm arms wrapped around my torso. I gasped is surprise. “. . . You want me to throw you in again?”

I jumped away from him. “No! No, okay, hold on.”

“Hurry, unless you want that to happen!” he said in a sing-song voice.

I blushed again, and I kept my eyes planted on the ground.  “Uhm. . . Can you, er, turn around?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “Sure, Alex.” He turned around.

“No peeking!”

“I won’t peek. Promise.”

I unbuttoned my plaid shirt, exposing my black, laced bra, and took my shoes and socks off. Hum. . . I’ll leave my jean shorts on.

Har-har.

I quickly lowered myself into the river’s cold water. It wasn’t very deep, actually. It’s probably about two or three feet deep where I was, maybe deeper in other areas.

“Okay, you can turn around now, Jake.”

He turned around and pulled his shirt over his head, letting it drop at his feet. Since he was already wearing shorts, which you could mistake as swimming shorts any day, he just left those on. . . Thank goodness.

I made sure my head was the only thing showing, and the rest of my body was hiding underwater. Jake looked amazing as always and climbed in after me.

“So now what?” I asked him, turning around. He wasn’t there. I sighed. Leave it to him to ditch me. “Jake, really? Are you seriously going to leave me like that?” Oh trust me; I know that I wasn’t talking to anyone. Don’t have to remind me that I’m crazy!

I frowned. So now it’s just me, all alone in this small little river. Great. . .

I was just climbing out when I felt something grip my right ankle. A sharp scream escaped my lips as I scurried to get out. I was pulled under, and my kicking reflexes kicked in. But. . . Then I saw Jake’s face. He let go of my ankle.

We both came back up, gasping for air.

He winced in pain, clutching his stomach. “Ow.”

“What happened?”

“You can kick really hard.”

I laughed. “Whoops. Sorry about that. But, hey, it’s not my fault! I thought you were a shark that was trying to eat me.”

“Since when do sharks live in rivers? And since when do sharks have hands?” he asked.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Shut up.”

“Still have that awkward fear of a shark coming to eat you?”

I scoffed at him, crossing my arms. “No, thank you very much.”

“Don’t deny it.”

I climbed out of the river. I shivered as I got out. How come you always seem colder when you get out of cold water? This world makes no sense. I mean, if you’re in cold water, but then you get out and step into the sun, shouldn’t you be warmer!?

Why do I always ramble mentally?

Jake got out too, and his hair stuck up in odd angles. Aw, he looked so adorable that way. I felt his eyes roam my body, and I felt all tingly inside.

“Stop eye-raping me, Jake!” I said, turning away from him.

“I-I’m not. . .” Hah! Now he knows what it’s like to be caught in the act. It’s always me, the one who gets caught like a deer in the headlights.

I smirked at him. “Sure you weren’t.” I put my shirt back on and buttoned it up. It got soaked, but I could honestly care less.

Jake walked up to me, and wrapped his arms around my waist, hugging me close to him. “Fine. I might have had sneaked a peak. You’re just so. . . Hm. I can’t say a specific word. Lily told me not to say it to you the first time we Skyped.”

I never actually figured out what that word was. All I remember now is him saying that I was ‘pretty’.

“What was that word?” I asked him. The corners of lips twitched upwards.

“Let’s just say it starts with a ‘H’ and ends with an ‘O’ and a ‘T’.”

I laughed out loud. “Me? Hot? You’ve got to be kidding me!”

“You just don’t see it do you?”

“See what?” I questioned in between laughs.

“That you’re beautiful.”

I stopped laughing and looked at him seriously. “Really?”

“Yes.”

“No one’s said that to me before. Well, no one like you, I mean.”

“Like me?”

“Yes. Someone that. . .” How do I say this without sounding like I drool over him all day and worship the ground that he walks on? “Someone that looks like a Golden Retriever puppy!” I chuckled at my comment. 

“So you’re going to let me call you hot, then say I look like a puppy?”

I pursed my lips in mock thought. “Yep! That pretty much sums it all up!” I grinned up at him.

“Hm. Well I don’t think you’re hot either.”

“But you just said—”

“I take it back.”

“Fine, Jake. You are the hottest guy I know.” Actually, that is somewhat true.

“That’s better.” He showed me his dimples by smiling, and leaned in for a kiss.

“Whoa, wait!” I said just before his lips touched mine.

“What? My breath doesn’t stink, does it?”

I chuckled. “No, that’s not it. I just wanted to know something. . .”

“What?”

“Are we going to make this official?” I asked him, knitting my eyebrows together.

“Make what official?”

“This. Us.”

“You mean like us being a couple?”

“. . . Yeah.” I looked down to the ground, awaiting his answer. Jake and I being a couple. . .

A mental image of Christian and Addison formed in my head. All the feelings came flooding back to my memory. The hurt, the feeling of being betrayed, all of it. It was all there. I felt like crying now, just thinking of it. That memory is drilled into my brain. There’s no way it’ll ever come out.

I still have nightmares about that. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s because he was my first love? Or so I thought. . .

Jake got down on one knee in front of me. Is he proposing to me!? Okay, I doubt that. I’m only seventeen.

“Alex Turner, will you be my girlfriend?”

A tear betrayed me, just like Christian did, and slipped from my right eye. It made its way down my cheek. I know for a fact that I want to say yes, but I just can’t! I can’t let my heart be broken again! I cannot get hurt like that again.

I shook my head, more tears free falling. As much as it killed me, I had to say it. I knew my answer.

I sniffled, and wiped a few drops of water away from my face. “No.”

Hey, guys =) So… What do you think of that? Don’t hate me! You can chuck bananas at me if you hated it :O But then you might kill me, and I would die. And you don’t want that, do you? NO MORE HOW I MET YOU FOR YOU! Jk. I’m hyper right now. Hum. Can I maybe have eighty votes? But, if I finish the chapter, and I get more than fifty, I’ll update =) I'm not THAT cruel. First person gets dedication!

               ~Storylover11~