by J. Lea
Me: God, I’m nervous.
I text Sophie. She is even more excited about my date with Jake than I am.
Sophie: You’re going to be alright, stop worrying.
I take a few more deep breaths, just as I hear buzzing by the door. I let Jake up, and open the door when he knocks.
Oh my God.
Wow—that’s all that’s running through my head. I swallow the lump that formed in my throat, and smile at him.
“You look gorgeous,” he says, and I blush in every shade of red. He pulls a red rose from behind his back, and hands it to me. My eyes sparkle at his nice gesture. I let him in, his smell overwhelms me again. It’s addictive.
“Thank you,” I say, when I regain my senses. “You don’t look so bad yourself.” And by ‘not bad’ I mean smokin’ hot. I put the rose in the vase, next to the one from yesterday. I almost drop my purse as we’re leaving, I’m that nervous. As we walk to his car, his hand is protectively on the small of my back. After we sit in the car, he doesn’t immediately turn on the engine.
“You don’t have to be so nervous,” he says as he puts his hand on my shaking knee.
“Ugh, it’s easy for you to say. Have you looked in the mirror recently? I mean, look at you. You are the famous Jake Burns and I’m Plain Jane.”
Jake turns to me, and takes my face into his palms. “Ella, look at me.” He puts his finger under my chin and tilts it up so I’m forced to look at him. “You’re anything but plain. Do you know how beautiful you are? I would be stupid not to like you. I like everything about you, trust me.”
Dating really isn’t for me. I’m already ruining everything. I smile shyly at him and nod, feeling more than a little flattered by his words.
We park in front of the movie theater. Jake buys a large bucket of popcorn and we go in the auditorium. We make ourselves comfortable and wait for the movie to begin.
Jake
The movie started an hour ago but I can’t take my eyes away from Ella. People in the room are constantly laughing at funny scenes, and Ella is laughing with them. Damn, I love her laugh. It’s the most beautiful melody to my ears. I’ll never get tired of listening to it. She reaches toward me with her hand, grabs some popcorn from the bucket, and puts it in her mouth. A kernel falls into her lap, but I quickly pick it up before she has the chance to do it herself. She turns her gaze to me and looks me straight in the eyes. Meanwhile, I raise the kernel to her lips. Her expression is serious, no trace of laughter from before. She slightly parts her lips and takes the kernel with her teeth, her eyes never leaving mine, and her tongue brushes my finger. I get hard in an instant. Damn, she is going to be the death of me. I shake my head. Just a little touch of her warm tongue and I’m already imagining her wet tongue on me. I discreetly fix the bulge in my pants, and try to concentrate on the movie. I have no clue what the story is about. An hour later, we finally leave the movie theater, and I can get some fresh air to clear my mind. I take Ella’s hand in mine and we start walking away from the car.
“Where are we going?” she asks, her eyebrow almost touching her hairline, but still following me.
“I don’t want this date to end yet. Come.” We walk to a park that is lit with a few street lamps. We sit down on the nearest bench. A big playground is in front of us, empty of course. “When is your birthday?” I ask her curiously. I know she’s a year younger than me, but I don’t know her exact birth date.
“February fourteenth.” I lift my eyebrow in surprise.
“Seriously? On Valentine’s Day?” Ella shrugs and leans back.
“Aren’t you going to ask me when my birthday is?” I play offended. She shakes her head.
“Nope,” she says, a cheeky grin on her lips. Then, the bulb in my head goes off.
“Oh, right. You Googled me, you little stalker!” Ella shrugs again. “Well, since you know so much about me already, it’s only fair you tell me something about yourself.”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything,” I tell her and I mean it.
“There’s not much too tell. I’m an only child, I have a great relationship with my parents, I have a degree in Business Administration, I’m a licensed masseuse, and I want to open my own massage salon one day. That’s basically it. But you know all this already.”
“I noticed you have a lot of books. You like to read?” Her eyes light up at my question.
“Very much. I like to sit down with a good book whenever I have any free time. What about you?”
“If I like to read? Well, if you can call an adult magazine a good reading material, then yes,” I respond, I think I made her blush again. I like making her blush. And yes, I love a good book, but I don’t have much time to actually read these days.
“Have you always wanted to ride a bike professionally?” she quickly changes the subject.
“Yes and no. Until I was ten years old, I wanted to be something new every day, you know, like a pilot, a fireman or a cop. But once I sat down on a bike, I instantly knew that this was it.” Her smile disappears, and her lips form a straight line. “Why do you always seem so sad?” I blurt out.
“Jake...” she starts hesitantly, but I interrupt her.
“And you rarely smile. I almost never see you smile or hear you laugh, but when you do smile, you practically light up the whole room. You should laugh more often.”
“Jake, please...” she says in a strained voice.
“What happened to you? Why are you so sad?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she says determined.
“Why not?” Confusion is written all over my face.
“I just don’t.” She stands up angrily, and walks away.
I run after her. “I’m sorry, okay?” I say, as I grab her shoulder to stop her. She turns to me. “I’m sorry,” I repeat. “I won’t bug you with questions anymore. When you’re ready, you’ll tell me.” She watches me seriously, and finally nods.
“Thank you,” she says, almost inaudibly. We walk back to the car, so I take her home.
As we are standing outside her front door and she unlocks it, she says: “I had a good time.” I nod and smile.
“Me, too. Can I call you tomorrow?” I’m not sure she wants to hear from me considering her outburst from earlier. She gives me a nod and I shift from one foot to another.
“Good night, Jake,” she says and closes the door. I’m still standing there a few minutes later, thinking things over. A thought crosses my mind and I knock vigorously on her door. The date did not end the way I imagined it would, and I intend to fix that. “Did you forget something?” she asks, surprised to see me still there.
“Hell yeah,” I say, and approach her with a determined step. Before she can realize what is happening, I grab her, lean her back and kiss her fiercely. “This,” I say, contentedly, as I let her go, give her a big grin, and leave.
Ella
I’m standing in the doorway, watching him go. My fingers are pressed against my lips. I still can’t believe he kissed me. The kiss ended so soon I didn’t have the chance to kiss him back. When he is long gone, I close the door and walk to my bathroom, where I take off my clothes and get into the shower. I’m consumed by mixed emotions. The touch of his warm lips against mine was wonderful. It wasn’t a long kiss, but it was passionate. It was rough, yet gentle. I haven’t been kissed like that since Josh and it felt phenomenal. I’m so confused—Josh’s kisses were phenomenal, too. Can I allow myself to feel like this about a person again? Am I ready to give love another try? I turn off the water, step outside the shower, and wrap a towel around me. I brush my teeth and head to bed, full of conflicted emotions.
When I wake up the following morning, a text from Sophie is already waiting for me.
Sophie: You’re all over the newspapers!!!
Me: ???
Sophie: Your date with Jake yesterday—you’re in every magazine and all over Internet, everybody is wondering if you two are an item. There are also some pictures of you two in fron
t of the cinema and in some park.
What? How? There wasn’t any press there. How is this possible? I run to my laptop, wait for it to turn on, and then I type Jake’s name into the browser. The articles that pop up on my screen are all wondering if I’m Jake’s new flavor of the month. The first article shows pictures of us from our date, and the caption reads:
True Love or Another Broken Heart on the Horizon?
Famous motorcycle rider Jake Burns, known for his charming ways with women, was spotted yesterday at the movies with an unknown woman. The two lovebirds appeared very comfortable in each other’s company, and it looked like they have known each other for a long time. An anonymous source has told us they couldn’t take their eyes off each other during the movie. The source later followed them into the park where the lovey-dovey couple has spent quite some time locked in an intimate conversation. Jake and the mystery woman then drove off in his car. Is this just another notch on this heartthrob’s bedpost or could it be anything more serious? We will just have to wait and see.
The part about Jake and his flavors of the month bothers me. What does this mean? Was he dating them or just ‘using’ them? Another reason why we should only be friends. There’s another picture of us when I scroll down. We are sitting on the bench, Jake’s hand is behind my back, and it looks like he’s hugging me around the shoulders. My face is luckily in the shadows, I doubt anyone would be able to recognize me, which is a relief. But I’m still pissed that someone followed us around just to get some pictures of us. I can’t imagine how it must be for Jake, who has to deal with this practically every day.
Me: Do people really have nothing better to do than harass others? I can’t believe we were photographed and we haven’t even noticed.
My phone rings and I immediately answer.
“Hey, don’t beat yourself about it, even I can’t tell that’s you in the pictures,” Sophie tries to comfort me. “Speaking of which, how was the date? Did it exceed your expectations? I hope you didn’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I smile at the memory of our evening. “Sophie! It was only our first date! I didn’t really know what to expect from him, but we had a nice time, and he was a perfect gentleman.” And I don’t think there’s anything Sophie wouldn’t want to do with Jake if she was in my shoes.
“Just nice? Huh, he’s obviously losing his touch,” she chuckles. “Details, woman! I need details!”
I shake my head, sighing. “There’s not much to tell. You read everything in the newspapers already. You probably know more than I do, considering the press always blows up the story. We only went to the cinema, had a pleasant chat in the park, and then he drove me home. Oh, we had a little fight, and he kissed me.” I bite my lip at the memory of his soft lips on mine.
“Okay, okay, hold your horses. I’m confused,” Sophie gasps. “You had a fight? What would you and Jake fight about?” I take a deep breath. I’m not really in the mood to discuss the silly event, but I still tell her.
“He wanted to know too much at once. I’m not ready to talk about Josh with him. When he realized I was uncomfortable, he apologized and took me home. He left, but then he came back, knocked on my door, kissed the hell out of me, turned around and left without saying a word. The end.”
“I always knew Jake was a man of actions,” Sophie says brightly. She is quiet for a second and then she asks. “So, how was it? I bet he’s a fantastic kisser.” If only she knew. I can still feel the pressure of his lips on mine. “It was...” I search for the right word.
“Intense? Hot? Oh, so very good? Unforgettable?” Sophie jumps in.
I giggle. “Yes, all that and more.”
Sophie interrogates me further, and when she’s satisfied with all the collected information, we hang up.
I quickly eat some breakfast and hurry off to work.
~ * ~
“Morning, beautiful. Do you want to come over to my place for dinner tonight?” Jake asks as I answer my phone the next morning.
“Good morning to you too,” I say while I fix my coffee. “Um...” I start, not sure whether to say yes.
“Okay, okay, not dinner. I’ll want you to stay over. Lunch then?” I’m quiet, analyzing his question. Why would he want me to stay over? Oh... Oooh... Recognition flashes in my head. Definitely not dinner. “Hello?” I hear Jake on the other side of the line. “Are you still there?” I nod, and then I remember we’re speaking over the phone and he can’t see me.
“Deal. But I have no idea where you live.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll pick you up. Be ready by noon.” I glance at the watch. I still have plenty of time. It’s only 9am.
“Okay,” I say, and we say goodbye. Exactly at noon, I hear knocking on the door. I take a last look in the mirror before I let him in. Once again, I’m overwhelmed by the divine smell of his aftershave. Jake is standing in front of me, hot as ever, in his washed out jeans, and a leather jacket, which is my favorite.
“Hey,” we both say at the same time. Jake leans forward and kisses me on the cheek. His kiss renders me speechless. Why is this happening to me?
“You look amazing,” he says, as he inspects me from head to toe. I didn’t dress up or anything. I’m wearing light blue jeans and a simple purple shirt. “Ready to go?” Nodding, I take my keys and we go to the parking lot. “Do the pictures in the newspapers bother you? I don’t have any idea how they manage to find out where I am. I hate it so much.” His hand is on the small of my back as we exit the building.
“It’s okay. I’m almost unrecognizable in the picture, so don’t worry,” I assure him. We enter his fancy sports car and take off. One Republic and their song, Counting Stars, is playing in the background on the radio as we are pleasantly chatting about my work and his profession. We drive to a big iron fence. Four paparazzi are standing in front of it as we pass them by, their cameras are pointed at us. It’s a good thing the windows are dark tinted. The fence closes behind us, and it takes a few seconds to drive up to the entrance. Mouth wide open, I stare at the house. “Where are we?” I ask, still staring at the huge, two-story building.
“This is where I live,” he says casually, as if this was a normal house for one person to live in. I still haven’t gotten out of the car, amazed by what I see. Only when the door on my side opens, and Jake offers me his hand, do I close my mouth.
“Okay, just to be clear, this is not a house, this is a castle. Don’t tell me you live on your own in this gigantic house.”
“Pedro, a guy who takes care of the pool and the garden plus my housekeeper are here when I call them.”
“A housekeeper?” I look at him. “Do you even need one? You’re never home.”
“Yes,” he says, like it’s no big deal. “I’m lost without her.”
“Oh, poor Jakey.”
“Are you making fun of me?” he raises his pierced eyebrow, eyes sparkling with mischief.
“Never,” I giggle, before Jake invites me into his ‘humble’ home. I’m completely surprised by what I see. I don’t even know what I was expecting. Considering he’s so successful, he no doubt makes a lot of money. Instantly, I ask myself what I’m doing here. I don’t belong here. I’m just a simple city girl who has never seen a house like this. The foyer is big and has a high ceiling. On the right, there’s a black staircase, leading to the first and second floor. On the left, there’s a closet. Jake takes my coat, hangs it on a hanger in the closet, and then he gently pushes me into the next room—the living room, which is enormous. There’s the TV which takes up the majority of the wall. Walls are painted white, almost the same color as sofa, which is big enough for 10 people. Behind the couch, a framed picture of his family is hanging. At least I assume it’s his family since he’s on it, together with a younger girl and two middle-aged people. I stand in front of it for a while, studying it. Jake looks a little younger, and his sister can’t be more than ten years old in the picture. I feel his hand where it frequently rests—at the small of my back. I turn to hi
m with a gentle smile and ask him about the picture.
“Yes, this is my crazy family,” he grins, his voice full of tenderness and love for his family. “Sarah was nine years old here. I can’t believe she’s almost 18 now,” he scratches his chin, and I’m curious to know more.
“Do you two get along?” He nods.
“Yeah, she means the world to me. I don’t see my family much, but when I do get to visit, we spend the whole time together.” I bet it’s really hard being away from his loved ones during the season. They must feel the same way about him.
He takes me to his kitchen next.
“Hello, Camilla,” Jake greets his housekeeper who is busy cooking on the stove. He kisses her cheek, and she gives him a one-armed hug.
“Hi, Mister Burns. The food is almost cooked,” she smiles at him.
“It’s Jake. How many times do I have to tell you to call me Jake?” Jake reaches his hand into the pot for a little taste, but she gently slaps his hand away.
“Hey, keep your hands to yourself, Mister. It’s not ready to eat yet.” She wags her finger at Jake and looks at me.
“Camilla, this is Ella. Ella, this is my lovely housekeeper, and the person who keeps my house from turning into a pigsty,” Jake laughs cheekily. We shake hands, and I smile at her.
“Nice to meet you,” Camilla says, glancing at Jake, and winking at him.
We continue our tour. A glass door on the far end of the kitchen leads to the backyard where a big swimming pool is covered with a tarp. Jake shows me the rest of the rooms on the ground floor, one of which is a fully equipped gym. Next, we head up the stairs toward the guest rooms. There are four, each with an adjacent bathroom. They all look the same—a king-size bed, two big closets, a TV, and a balcony. His bedroom is on the second floor. There’s also a half-covered terrace with wooden deckchairs, stacked on top of each other, but there is no use for them now that it’s wintertime. We slowly head back to the kitchen, and Jake tells me to sit down.