PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ THE NOTE AT THE END!

Chapter 15

Evacuate the dance floor

I’m infected by the sound

Stop this beat it’s killing me

Hey Mr. DJ –

Ugh, I slammed the pillow over my head and tried to block out the sound. Reaching a hand over to the headboard, I searched around for my phone, but it wasn’t there. I opened and eye and looked around at my surroundings, and then I remembered I was at Jake’s house.

Because I was here last night.

After I had a talk with Anthony.

I came in here and I kissed him.

And then…did we do something?

I could barely remember the details, my mind was so foggy. I came in and I kissed him and he kissed me back and we went to his room and then he left and then…

“Oh.” I sat straight up, my eyes wide in horror. “I fell asleep.”

I said it quietly, scared that he was just outside, just close enough so that he could hear me. My cheeks flooded in humiliation.

“Ah that’s so embarrassing!” I cried in utter embarrassment.

The side of the bed beside me was empty and Jake wasn’t anywhere to be seen. My clothes were piled neatly in the chair beside the bed.

Evacuate the dance floor

I’m infected by the sound

Stop this beat it’s killing me

Hey Mr. DJ –

My cell phone rang again and I scurried to find it. Pulling it out of my jacket pocket, I flicked it open.

“Hello?” I said breathlessly.

“Jessica?”

“Who’s this?”

“It’s Anthony!”

“Oh, hey.”

“Did you just wake up?” Anthony asked, with a teasing tone in his voice.

“Well…” I began.

“Oh my god, you did just wake up! So, how was he?” he said.

“It’s kind of a long story,” I told him, not knowing how to explain that I actually fell asleep instead of you know.

“Okay, why don’t you tell me later?” he suggested.

Hurriedly putting on the rest of my clothes, I nodded in agreement – even though he couldn’t see me. “Yeah sure. Why don’t you come by my office at…what time is it now?”

“Almost 9.”

I groaned silently. “I’m late. Okay, but come by at 11, if you can.”

“Wanna grab lunch after?” he asked.

I paused, not knowing what to answer. Though I appreciated Anthony, now knowing the truth, or at least his part of the truth, I wasn’t too comfortable around him yet. I mean, he did act threatening around me and I’m not too sure if I got over that yet.

“We’ll – uh, we’ll decide later,” I said finally.

“Alright. I’ll see you later!” Anthony said. Then, the line went dead.

I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and walked out the bedroom.

“Jake?” I called, looking around the apartment. There was no sign of him.

“Jake,” I called again, walking around now. There was a piece of paper on the kitchen counter so I picked it up. Immediately I smiled at Jake’s messy hand writing sprawled across the page:

Jessica,

You were sleeping so peacefully this morning so I didn’t want to wake you up but if you're not at work by 10 o’clock I'm going to call you but since you’re reading this right now, then I guess you’re up. Just to remind you we have the final go-over of the show today after lunch so be there! There’s cereal on the counter and milk in the fridge so I guess you could eat that for breakfast. When you leave, the door can just be unlocked, it’ll be fine. Don’t be late!

-Jake :)

I read and re-read the note over a few times. That’s it? No, “Last night was amazing” or “We should try to figure out what’s going on between us” or anything? I practically threw myself at him, well I did throw myself at him – and from what I could tell he was pretty darn pleased with my spontaneity – and all I get is “Don’t be late”? What kind of a response what that?!

Glancing at the clock again, I decided to get ready and head for work and most importantly, talk to Jake when I get there. As I gargled around with mouthwash – I didn’t know if I should use Jake’s toothbrush so I just opted out of brushing my teeth – I contemplated on what I would say to Jake.

Maybe I should let him bring it up. I was the one who made the first move anyways. Granted, I wasn’t exactly rational at the moment due to my lack of sleep and also hunger from not eating, but still.

After a final look-over in the mirror, I grabbed my bag, a piece of toast of closed the door, leaving it unlocked just like Jake said.

A taxi ride and a stop at Starbucks later, I got of the car, handing the driver a few bills.

“Thanks miss!” he said, and drove off.

I wasted no time walking towards the entrance of the building, only giving Bill a smile and a nod before making my way quickly to the elevator. The closer I reached the top, the more excited I got. This was it, I thought to myself. This was the moment where everything changes and me and Jake can go back to being best friends, and maybe more.

The possibility of rejection kept crawling back into my head but I pushed it off. And then, there was her. Scarlet. Somehow I felt a twinge of guilt but quickly brushed it off. She obviously isn’t very good to Jake if he would cast her aside so easily. Besides, she wasn’t even at his – their – apartment yesterday when I went. And it was like 4 in the morning! Who knows what she could’ve been doing at that time of night, or morning.

The doors of the elevator slid open and I jumped out as soon as the crack got big enough.

“Jessica, why are you late again?” Stacy asked. Apparently she seemed to appear out of nowhere.

“Long story,” I said, picking up my pace.

Stacy caught up beside me. “And where were you last night? I tried to call you about this hot guy that I met and –”

I turned to her and covered her mouth with my hands. “Not now Stacy, okay? I have to go do something.”

“Is it Jake again?” She made a face, looking from the Starbucks baggy in my hand to my face. “You guys really need to figure your stuff out.”

All I could do was give her an apologetic shrug. I didn’t want to spoil my plans by telling her. She could blow the whole thing out of proportion and jinx it. Or worse, do serious damage to Jake if he rejects me.

But he won’t.

“You owe me!” Stacy yelled after me.

I laughed and set my things on my desk. Taking a deep breath, I faced Jake’s door and was about to walk forward and knock when it flung open.

“Woah, Jessica. I didn’t see you there.”

It felt like a potato sack to the stomach: Scarlet.

Coming out of Jake’s office.

Messy haired.

Smudged lipstick.

Shirt undone.

Did I mention she was coming out of Jake’s office?

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oh no she didn't! not much of a cliffhanger but it'll do. okay, so i have a number of things i want to tell you guys! (but firstly, THANK YOU for reading past the end of the chapter)

1) i hate leaving you guys off with such a bad ending, and also a poorly written chapter, but really, i just wanted to get something up. i know i haven't uploaded in nearly 2 weeks, and i don't have an excuse except for my laziness :(. BUT to make myself sound better, i was planning to upload this a few days ago, meaning tuesday/wednesday but i got into a bit of a fight with my mom and she confiscated my laptop. it still is confiscated but i'm using this like 7 year old desk computer and it's slow as heck.

2) A REALLY BIG APOLOGY for no updating. i bet you guys are like "what happened to this story?" and prolly forgot all about it! well, i'm glad you guys are still keeping up with the story, and i really appreciate it :D

3) I know many of you have already seen my messages but PLEASE go check out my new story called "The Element of Surprise". I promise, the story is better than the title lol. there's only one page to it atm and i'm still deciding if i should write more, but i'd love it if you could go check it out and lemme know what you think :)

that's it! the goal is still 120 votes. last time i got more than double of that, so that's amazing!

i really hope you guys like this chapter. please vote and comment and let me know what you think!