Sweetness (Bold As Love) (16 page)

Teachers have started tearing the pictures down and give me apologetic looks. Jake walks me out of the school and wraps his arms around me. “I’m sorry sweetness.”

“
Don’t worry about it. I just can’t believe she thought any good could come out of this for anybody. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about that.”

“
Don’t be. I’m proud of you.”

I look up at him with confusion on my facial features. Jake chuckles. “You didn’t retreat. You literally went and tackled the problem head on.”

Jake

I lean forward and place a gentle kiss on her lips. She places a hand on the side of my face. “I think we should skip school today. Drake should too,” Emily states. I nod and we leave in our respected cars. I go to pick up Drake and we head to Emily’s.

Drake is so excited about skipping school for the day. At Emily’s, Drake starts talking about his day. Emily grasps my hand. She keeps looking over at me and I give her a smile. “Jake! Emily! Pay attention,” Drake whines. I turn my full attention to him as he tells me that he had to take a test today and he thinks he didn’t do well. “I’m sure you did fine,” I reassure him.

We sit on the couch and watch TV for the rest of the evening. When Mike gets home, we head to Emily’s room for some alone time. We slowly make our way on the bed and lean against the headboard. “What a day, huh?” Emily comments.

“
Yeah.” I take her free hand and lift it to my lips, placing a kiss on her knuckles. “I’m so happy with how you handled things today, sweetness.” I look over at her and she leans in to kiss me. The kiss is slow and filled with our emotions over what occurred today. Breaking away from the kiss, Emily rests her head on my shoulder.

“
Jake,” Emily says quietly.

“
Yeah?”

“
Thank you. Really. Thanks for bringing me back to me. I don’t know how I could have done it without you, Drake, and my dad.”

“
Aw, sweetness. You did it yourself. You learned to believe in yourself again. We just gave you a little push.”

“
More like a shove,” she chuckles. “Either way, thanks. I’m glad we got paired together,” she adds.

“
Me too Emily. Me too.” I’m just happy to have Emily with me.