Authors: Tamara Summers
He's With Me (17 page)
“He didn’t really do anything to me,” Lexie said. “I wasn’t interested in him.
I don’t care that much about what he said. I know he’s one of those guys who let
girls like Bree yank them around and tell them what to think.”
“An idiot, you mean,” Jake said.
Lexie smiled again. “Not like you.”
There was a pause, and then they both started to say something at the
same time.
“Go ahead,” Jake said, but before she could, Thorn lunged at the bushes as
Alanna sprinted into the park. The leashes tangled together and around Lexie.
“Thorn, get back here,” Lexie said, tugging on him.
“Whoops,” Jake said. “Here.” He unwound his leash and lifted it over
Lexie‘s head. For a moment, his arms reached around her, and she closed her
eyes.
If only...
“Let’s set them loose,” Jake said. She opened her eyes to find him kneeling
next to Alanna. “That’ll solve the problem.”
“Okay,” she said, pulling Thorn closer so she could unclip his leash.
They herded the dogs into the fenced dog run and then shut the gate.
Thorn ran to the other end and then back while Alanna sat and looked up at
them, panting.
“Can we sit down for a minute?” Jake said. He pointed toward the fountain.
Lexie nodded. She didn’t trust her voice enough to speak. She suddenly
remembered something... something she’d said two weeks before. Had Jake
remembered it, too?
They sat down on a bench where they could still see the dogs. The sun was
setting, turning the sky and the clouds pink and gold and purple. The drops of
water in the fountain sparkled as they caught the fading light.
Jake took a deep breath. Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out
something, and put it into Lexie’s hand.
It was a small red origami whale. On the side facing her, he had written,
LEXIE. .
She turned it over. The other side read, WILL YOU BE MY GIRLFRIEND...FOR
REAL? She looked up in surprise and found Jake’s blue-gray eyes only a few inches
from hers. He reached over and took her free hand.
“Before you answer,” Jake said, “I want to tell you how sorry I am about the
last couple of weeks. I didn’t know Bree would be so awful to you. I’ll get you a
new necklace, an even better one, I promise. I didn’t know how horrible she could
be.” He looked down at her hand, running his thumb over her knuckles. “And I
didn’t know I’d end up falling for you.”
Lexie opened her mouth, but he put his fingers on her lips to stop her. “I’m
crazy about you, Lexie Willis,” he said. “I think I always have been. But maybe I
was too dumb to know it. I want to do all those things for you that I never wanted
to do for me other girlfriends, like buy you flowers and call you every night and
tell you you’re beautiful and stuff.”
“But – really?” she said. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?”
“I guess it kinda caught me by surprise,” he said. “It took me a while to
figure out that I really liked pretending to date you. And when I thought about
anybody else dating you – like Riley – it made me feel all weird and mad and crazy
inside. Is that dumb?”
Lexie shook her head, remembering how she had felt when he’d started
dating Amy.
“And I’m sorry I kissed you at the pool,” Jake said, “but I swear it wasn’t
because Bree was watching. I forgot she was there – I forgot anyone else was
there. You have no idea how cute you are in that bikini, Lexie. And I’d been
wanting to kiss you for days and I guess... I guess I kind of forgot we were only
pretending. But I’m sorry if you hated it.”
“I didn’t hate it,” Lexie said, looking down at his hand holding hers. “That’s
the problem – I liked it too much, and I thought I wasn’t supposed to.”
“Then perhaps I’m not sorry,” he said. They smiled at each other.
“So,” he said, “maybe I’ve been an idiot up till now, but I kinda thought
maybe you were feeling the same way about me.”
“Yes,” she said.
“Yes, you feel the same way, or yes, I’ve been an idiot?”
Lexie laughed. “Both,” she said. “But I like you like that.”
Her heart was beating so fast and so loudly, she was sure he could hear it.
Jake touched her face. The look in his eyes said,
I can’t believe how much I like
you
, and,
I’ve wanted to do this forever
. Then he leaned forward and kissed her.
And this time, it was absolutely real... and absolutely perfect.
Table of Contents