News Flash (18 page)

Turning to see my reflection in my full length closet mirror, I had to say that I was satisfied. The sparkly black dress hugged my curves in all the right places, slinking down to my calves where the skirt flared out in a mermaid style. That dress was so different from Brooke's blue one that I had worn to the Farmingham prom, but this one felt like me.

I decided to leave my hair down, wild and curly. Tonight couldn't be about anything but me. Jake was going with Mary Beth, and even if I wanted him to be with me, I wanted him to be happy most of all. If I looked good, I'd feel good, and by reasonable deduction I should have a good time if I could attain the first two.

A wolf whistle diverted my attention from the mirror to the doorway where Brooke stood. She leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest. “Wow! You look hot.”

My laugh rattled self-consciously in my throat, but it was exactly the reaction I had hoped for. “Thanks. Too bad I don't have a date.”

“First of all, don't be too sure about that, and second, what happened to that Rory guy?” Brooke's perfectly sculpted eyebrow lifted nearly to her hairline.

Trying to decipher Brooke's questions always required a manual, but I tried anyway. “Rory decided he liked someone else more. Trust me, he wasn't the guy for me. And what do you mean don't be too sure I don't have a date? I was going to go with Rory, and now I'm not so…”

“Are you sure you aren't supposed to go with Jake?”

My heart stuttered to a stop at her words, but then picked up again at a gallop. The pounding was so intense I thought I might pass out. “What do you mean? Why would you say that?”

Brooke clapped her hands in glee, looking a lot younger for a minute than she actually was. “I knew it. You two love each other! He's been sitting out on the porch swing for the last forty-five minutes waiting for you.”

The blood rushing through my ears made me wonder if I'd heard her correctly. Still, I wasn't going to take any chances so I bolted past her, down the stairs, and to the front door in my bare feet. I burst onto the front porch, and totally startled poor Jake. He jumped, dropping the plastic container he'd been holding. He retrieved it, and stood slowly, letting his eyes trail over me as he reached his full height. A flush of pleasure and heat burned my neck and face.

“You look amazing,” Jake said in a hoarse voice.

“So do you,” I replied, feeling shy with him for the first time in my life. He did look great. The tux he'd rented fit him perfectly. Gray was a good look for him. His hair had gotten infinitesimally longer so that it curled even more. He looked like he'd just rolled out of bed, and thrown on formal wear. The combination did funny things to my stomach.

“So, listen, the thing is…” Jake ran a hand along the back of his neck as he struggled to speak.

“What happened to Mary Beth?” I blurted the question out before he could recover his words.

Jake laughed nervously. He'd never acted this way with me before, and a smile tugged the corners of my mouth as I realized that I really liked it. “Well, that's the thing. I sort of told her I had feelings for somebody else, and seeing as how I'd rather go to prom with that person, Mary Beth might have told me where I could stick my corsage.”

The giddiness that had been bubbling in me burst out, and I laughed. “Good!”

“Good? Ouch. You have no idea how painful that would be.” Jake gave me a mock hurt look before joining me in more laughter.

I knew I'd caught a glimpse of something more last week on the river court, but the look in his eyes had been gone so fast that I told myself I'd imagined it. Suddenly I found myself in Jake's arms, palms pressed flat against his broad chest, looking up into his smoky gaze, and a shiver of pleasure raced along my spine. He cradled me gently in his arms.

“I've wanted to tell you how I felt for months now, but things kept getting in the way.” A half smile hitched up the side of Jake's mouth.

“I've been part of what's been getting in the way. Jake, I'm so sorry. How could I have been so stupid not to see this? It was right in front of me.” I shook my head in disbelief.

“Doesn't matter,” Jake said. “We're standing here now.”

I pressed my cheek against Jake's chest, inhaling his scent, and listening to the steady thump-thump of his heart. There was still a lot that I wanted—needed—to say, but I knew that could wait until later. For now this was enough.

“So, um, should we get going to prom?” Jake chuckled, and I hugged him tighter. “I mean, you did put a lot of work into it. Be a shame to miss it. Plus I really want some of your grandma's pie.”

I laughed too. “You always have liked my grandma's pie. So, are you asking me to go with you?” I pulled back and gazed up at him.

“I am asking you to go with me. Not as friends either, but as my date.” The nervous expression that flitted across Jake's face made my heart swell with love for him. I almost blurted out the depth of my feelings, but somehow managed to hold my tongue.

“I'd love to go as your date,” I said. A giggle slipped past my lips as Jake let out a sigh of relief. He fumbled slightly with the plastic box in his hand as he pulled out the flowers, and slipped them on my wrist.

When we pulled up to my grandparents' farm the lights from the barn were already blazing, and cars and trucks were parked everywhere. Jake jogged around the side of the truck to open the door for me. He took my hand, and as our fingers twined together, chills raced up and down my spine.

My grandparents had decorated everything exactly the way we had described, and Lauren's band was in full swing. I loved the glove lights hanging from the rafters. The soft yellow light cast everything in a romantic glow. Leaning into Jake, I felt the giddy rush of being on a date. A date with my best friend.

“This is so weird,” I said with a giggle.

Jake looked down at me with furrowed brows. “Weird?”

He sounded worried, so I pulled him off to one side. “Not bad. It's just…I never realized that I wanted this so it's weird.”

“And you want this?”

“Absolutely. I've never wanted anything more.”

Jake grinned. His smile sunshine breaking through clouds. “Me too.”

He pulled me in to a hug, and looked down at me. For a moment I thought he might kiss me, but instead he said, “Why don't we go get some food? Maybe some pie.”

I laughed, but disappointment swept over me. Now that this date was happening, now that I had opened the flood gates of my feelings for Jake, I wanted him to kiss me, to make up for the past however long I had been feeling this way and denying it.

We got to the buffet table just as Back Roads Rebels launched into a ballad. Jake stopped so abruptly that I ran into him. “Let's dance.”

He pulled me onto the dance floor before I had a chance to think about it. As we swayed to the song, Lauren's voice wrapped around the room and created magic. Again I was amazed at the moment. I had not thought when I had reluctantly entered the special events planning class that I would end up at the prom with Jake. Looking back on the past few months, I could see how the distance between the two of us had been caused by our unspoken feelings, most of which were still unspoken.

I looked up at him, and caught him looking at me. And before I had a chance to think, Jake's lips were on mine in a feather soft kiss that took my breath away and left me weak in the knees. I had to cling to his arms tighter so I didn't fall over.

“You two should take that outside.”

We looked over at to see Mary Beth standing nearby. She was glaring at us with her signature look, but behind the anger I could see that her eyes were shiny. When she turned on her heel and stalked away, I broke away from Jake.

“I'll be just a second.” I caught up with Mary Beth by the dessert table. My grandma's pies were set three deep on the table. “Hey, Mary Beth. This turned out really great. I just wanted to say that.”

“Have you and Jake been messing around behind my back the whole time?” Her voice was hurt and upset and shaky.

“What?” I felt a flare of annoyance, but told myself to count to ten. “No. We…we're complicated. But Jake would never do anything like that. He's too good a guy.”

Mary Beth sniffled. “That's what makes this so awful. I really liked him, but all he wanted was you. So congratulations.”

I watched as she stomped off, feeling confounded. She had every right to feel hurt and upset, but I wished that that there had been a way to smooth things over. I hated unresolved conflict. With a sigh, I went back to Jake.

“Don't worry about her,” Jake said softly. “I hurt her. Not you. Let that be on me. Can we get out of here for a while? Maybe walk over to the silo? I think we need to talk.”

My heart drummed hard in my chest as we slipped out into the rapidly darkening night, and headed for the defunct silo that my grandma used as an art studio. Thousands of thoughts raced through my head. The one I kept landing on was the question of what Jake wanted to talk about. I knew why we needed to have this discussion, but now that I realized how much I cared about him, how much I
loved
him, I knew that anything but a reciprocation of those feelings would crush me, smash me, decimate me.

When we got to the door, Jake reached into the hole drilled at the top of the door frame to retrieve the key.

We slipped into the dark space, and I went over to the desk to click on the small lamp. No one would notice the soft yellow glow so it was unlikely that we'd get caught. I guessed I had some special privileges, too, since this was my grandparents' farm. If not, so what? We were so close to graduation.

The silence that encompassed us felt deep and thick and wide, almost unbridgeable. I didn't want to be the first one to speak, but I had a feeling Jake had the same thought. Whoever spoke first would have the burden of being completely vulnerable. Just the idea of baring my soul made me feel queasy.

“Allie.” Jake's voice was coarse and heavy. The sound of it sent chills skittering down my spine. “This,” he paused and gestured between us. “I've waited so long for this to happen.”

“Really? I honestly had no idea.”

Jake chuckled. “I know. I tried to hide it. I couldn't risk losing you. Better to have you as a friend in my life, than not at all. There wasn't a day that went by that my feelings didn't get deeper for you. I…I love you, Al. I'm in love with you. I have been for years.”

And there it was. Jake's soul open to me, at my mercy. I could see the uncertainty in his eyes so I closed the space between us, and wrapped my arms around him. As I pressed my cheek to his chest I said, “I love you too, Jake. I just didn't know it until I didn't have you anymore. These past few months…”

“They've been awful,” Jake agreed, hugging me back. “When you started getting so wrapped up in your internship, you just weren't the same person, and I was so sure I'd lost you for good. And then you started dating that guy.” He shook his head, and then rested his chin on my hair. “I hate to admit it but I just started hanging out with Mary Beth to make you jealous, to kill time. That makes me sound like such a jerk.”

“You aren't. You are one of the nicest people I've ever known.” I paused as I tried to organize my thoughts. Then I stepped back so I could look up into his eyes. “I didn't even notice we were drifting apart until it happened. That day that your grandpa talked to Bonnie on the air from inside the bank? That day I became a big deal. I mean, I'm seventeen and I have my own weekly segment on the news. How many people can say that? Jake, it just all went to my head. I've missed so much because I let pride get the best of me.”

Jake trailed a hand along my bare arm. The delicious shivers that followed were enough to distract me from our rather serious conversation. He laughed softly when he saw my reaction. “We've both made mistakes. We're both human. And yet we still managed to find our way here tonight together.”

“So where do we go from here?” I asked.

“Well, I'd say we go back to the dance. We are being graded on it.” The laughter in Jake's voice made my heart swell. “And then? We just take it slow. There's no rush. Since I'm going to State with you, and we'll both be living at home, I'd say we'll be seeing plenty of each other. We have plenty of time.”

Jake's eyes twinkled as he looked down at me. I would never get sick of staring into those eyes. “We have a lifetime,” I breathed. As soon as I said the words, I knew they were true. Jake was my future, no doubt about that. As he leaned in to kiss me again, I knew that our relationship would truly be newsworthy.

Liz Botts
was born, raised, and still lives in northern Illinois with her husband and three small children (two boys and a baby girl). When not writing, she enjoys reading, sewing, trying new recipes, and hanging with her kids. She is proud to pass her love of stories on to her children, and makes several trips to the library each week. After working with teenagers for several years, she decided to write stories about them instead.