Imperfect Love

by Isabella White

  After that elaborate purchase was made, they walked hand in hand into Jake’s favorite clothing store. Curiously watching him pick through what was on offer, Holly couldn’t help but think how much she loved his taste in clothes as well, and pondered once again why a guy like him would be interested in her.

  A satisfied Jake paid for his purchases, and once again taking Holly’s hand they decided to go watch a movie. Of course, the genre was action, something she didn’t really care for but didn’t complain as the venue allowed her to sit very close to a certain heart-throb hooligan who had stolen her heart with one glance.

  It didn’t escape Holly that when they entered the dark theater, he led her to the back and settled them into chairs at the end of the aisle, against the back wall. The theater wasn’t particularly full, but at least twenty or so people occupied the chairs below them.

  Talking was kept to a minimum as loud voices rang out from the speakers right above them, followed by the dimming lights. As always, previews of upcoming movies didn’t grab Holly’s attention even though she’d hoped they would, because she was totally distracted. She couldn’t stop thinking about Jake. The theater’s darkness, coupled with the heat, started to wash over her body and it began to feel like they were stuck in a heatwave.

  Ten minutes into the movie, Jake lifted the armrest dividing their seats and pulled her closer. She rested her head gently against his shoulder as his right arm wrapped around her body. When he began to draw circles on her upper thigh, Holly thought that she was going to pass out.

  Turning his head, Jake gently lifted Holly’s chin, and when she looked up her lips were inches from his. He kissed her softly, making her stomach knot, and when the kiss deepened their tongues dueled and moved in an age old perfect rhythm. A foreign feeling she was sure was lust, moved up her chest and flushed her face. Holly started to kiss him harder and by the way he’d moved her on to his lap, told her that he didn’t mind it one bit.

  Her hands became tangled in his hair, and his were moving from her ass to her legs, pulling her harder against him. She was on the verge of complaining but then remembered where they were, as loud noises from the shooting scene playing out on the big screen filtered through. Holly couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. There they were, necking in the back of a theater like a couple of teenagers, only the action was of a different kind.

  “What is it?” Jake whispered in her ear.

  Her body riddled with goose pimples. “Nothing important, just the movie. Is this the reason why you chose it?”

  Jake chuckled. “Busted.” He closed in on her lips and kissed her again.

  Holly had no idea for how long they’d been kissing, but when music started playing she looked up and saw the white lettered credits rolling on the screen.

  “That must be a record,” she said.

  “I could kiss you forever, woman.”

  Likewise, she thought, but smiled instead.

  Holly climbed off his lap and pulled her shorts back into place.

  Shit, this has never happened before.

  When she’d retrieved her handbag, Jake took her hand as they made their way out of the theater, both feeling quite satisfied.

  The drive home was too short. It seemed like they’d just left and Jake was already pulling into Bernie’s driveway. The clock on the dash showed that it was just after ten in glowing red letters.

  “So, I won’t be seeing you this week. Weeks are strictly for studying. But, I promise that I will phone you every day, a dozen times if I have to. However, I will see you first thing on Friday.”

  Holly looked at him. “This is going to be one long week,” she confessed.

  Jake leaned over, placing his hand on the back of her neck, while looking intently into her eyes. After what seemed like eons, he pulled her closer to him and drove his lips against hers for another long, juicy kiss. Somehow during their kiss, she had once again ended up on his lap with the steering wheel pressing hard into her back, but she didn’t mind. All that mattered was that she was kissing him; everything else was soon forgotten.

  All too soon, Jake broke the kiss, rested his forehead against hers and sighed. “Go, before I do something I shouldn’t.” He patted her on the ass and opened the door.

  An awkward exit was on the cards, and she was soon proven right when she stumbled and nearly fell flat on her face. Righting herself in case anyone was watching, she asked Jake to reach over for her handbag.

  “Thank you, Jake. I had an awesome time.” Holly was mortified.

  Jake smiled broadly. “Believe me, it was my absolute pleasure, Holly.” He took his sweet time in drawing out her name.

  Holly felt hot and bothered all of a sudden, but then Jake knew exactly what he was doing.

  “Put your phone on charge. I’ll be calling you soon.”

  “Yes, dear,” she mocked, walking toward the front door followed by Jake’s laughter. She noticed, ecstatically, that he’d waited until she was safely inside before leaving. Looking out the window, Holly felt an utter loneliness fill her gut as the lights of his car faded away.

  She’d sat by the window for a while, letting the events of the day wash over her, welcoming the touch of the cold glass against her forehead; it helped in cooling her raging libido. It was then she realized that she’d forgotten to phone Marabella, her boss, to explain what had happened with her hand. She jumped up and made for the landline in Leo’s office. Her new phone was still charging.

  The two spoke for almost half an hour, with Holly having to answer all of Marabella’s questions as to why she’d hit Steward. After that tale of woe had been shared, she then went on to tell her about Jake. Marabella’s laughter had echoed down the line throughout her explanation, which only served to make Holly sigh dramatically. Nevertheless, she moved on to describing Jake, knowing her boss could be overly nosy when it came to men. However, despite that tiny flaw, Holly did confide in Marabella about Brandon and his trunk load of shit. Her boss had retaliated with “Dump his sorry ass!” on numerous occasions. Still, she had always been nice to Brandon when he’d come to the lodge, which in all honesty had been the right thing to do.

  When their call came to an end, finally, Holly noticed a light flashing on her cell phone. A missed call; Jake.

  “You going to dream about me tonight?” he asked, in a very seductive voice when she called him back.

  “Why dream about you? I was under the impression that I already had you,” Holly replied with confidence.

  “That’s my girl. Well, I’ll definitely be dreaming about you, and next weekend.”

  Holly felt herself blushing as her mind imagined what all Jake was planning.

  “You do that. At least I don’t have to come up with the fun stuff anymore.”

  He chuckled. “Sweet dreams, Holly. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”

  “Sweet dreams, Hooligan.”

  He snorted and bid his final good night. The line went dead in her ear.

  That was one thing Holly would never be able to do, disconnect first. Sighing, she put her phone down but as she did so, it beeped with a message. Smiling happily, she opened it.

  Jake: That was extremely hard, ending the call.

  Holly: LOL. I will never be able to do that.

  Jake: Night, hon.

  Holly: I’m not a bee’s puke!

  Jake: You’re my bee’s puke. Deal with it.☺

  Holly: Night, hon.

  Holly’s last reply mimicked Jake’s, but the messaging stopped. She let out another satisfying sigh and sank into the couch’s soft, plush cushion.

  Hell, I must be the luckiest girl in the world right now.

  HOLLY WOKE AROUND TEN THE NEXT DAY when the sun’s brightness forced her from her dreams of Jake.

  Sighing, she stretched languidly. Her hand was still tender, but not as painful as it had been when she’d hit Steward. Why on earth shouldn’t I go to work? She despised taking sick days off, because all that happened was that her wor
k piled up and then by Wednesday when she was due back, it would be so humongous it would take her at least two days to sort out.

  She smiled as Jake crept back into her mind. What a nice way to wake up. His piercing green eyes were the only thing Holly could see when she closed hers, as well as the warmth of his lips when she thought about his kisses. The butterflies in her stomach had gone crazy again just thinking about it.

  Deciding it was time to get out of bed, she made her way through to the living area where she found Bernie watching The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.

  “So, this is what you do when we are at work?” Holly teased, making herself comfortable next to her friend.

  “I love this! You see the blond? Her name is Brandi and she is a real want it all, have it all type of woman. She is also the bitch of the lot. The other blond, Lisa, is her friend. They had this huge fight and now she refuses to accept her apology.

  Holly shook her head as Bernie tried to update her on the whole season, it seemed. To be honest, Holly didn’t give a shit who was who, she couldn’t stand phony reality shows like those anymore.

  “Bernie, do you honestly believe that that’s what their lives are really like? The producer brings them a script every morning, or some such. There is no way people’s lives are that interesting.”

  “Gah! You sound just like Leo now. I don’t care. It’s freaking entertaining.” Bernie started laughing as the one blond punched the other one in the face, real hard.

  Holly got up from the couch, leaving Bernie to enjoy the catfight being played out on TV, and made her way to the kitchen. She grabbed the cereal box out of the cabinet; Bran Flakes were her favorite, the one with bits of dried fruit, and she always made sure that she ate a good portion of it for breakfast before she went to work.

  When she’d consumed the contents of her bowl, she tidied up and headed off to shower, all the while thinking about her date. She knew Bernie was probably going to ask her about it sooner or later, so she wanted to be prepared.

  Forty-five minutes later, she was dressed and once again joined Bernie on the couch. Not five minutes after the show ended, Bernie started asking Holly about her date with Jake. They chatted for almost an hour before Holly remembered that she needed to phone the hospital to confirm her checkup, which was scheduled for the next day.

  The woman on the other end of the line sounded as if she’d already had a really hectic Monday, and Holly was put on hold for about four minutes. When the woman finally returned, she informed Holly that her appointment was for three o’clock. Bernie grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down the address of the doctor’s office as Holly repeated it to her.

  “Three o’clock?” Bernie queried.

  Holly nodded. “Why?”

  “I’ll need to arrange for my mom to look after Sam tomorrow a little longer. It won’t be a problem.”

  “Bernie, I’m sure I can drive myself. It’s doesn’t hurt as much anymore.”

  “How are you going to work the shift?”

  “Easy,” Holly said in a slightly higher octave.

  “And let Jake have a go at me when he finds out? No, thanks. I’m taking you and that’s it.”

  “Fine, whatever.”

  Just then, Holly heard a car’s tires on the gravel right in front of Bernie’s house.

  “Who the hell can that be?” Bernie got up and peeked out the window; the driveway was in perfect view. “You’ve got to be shitting me!” A huge smile spread on Bernie’s face as she looked at Holly with a raised eyebrow, which told Holly exactly who it was.

  “Are you serious?” Holly jumped up just as the knock on the door sounded.

  “Coming!” Bernie sang, opening the door a couple of seconds later.

  “Can I help you?”

  “Ha-ha,” Jake mocked, pushing Bernie gently out of the way to walk in.

  “What happened to ‘see you Friday’?” Holly asked, using air quotes.

  This only made Jake laugh. “It’s too far away.” He suddenly grabbed Holly around the waist and gave her one hell of a smacker.

  “Should I leave?” Bernie joked.

  “No. I brought food.”

  “I have food, thank you.”

  “You don’t have McDonalds.”

  “That, I don’t have.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in some class or other?”

  “Not right this minute. As I have a couple of free periods, I thought I’d pop in. You want me to leave?”

  “No, but I don’t want you to get into trouble, either.”

  “With who?” He frowned at Holly.

  “Your mother.”

  He barked with laughter. “She’s my mom, Holly, not my boss.”

  “The way you said ‘she doesn’t like me messing around on weekdays’ tells me otherwise, momma’s boy.”

  “I’m not a momma’s boy.” He pulled her shirt until she smacked into his torso and planted a kiss on the tip of her nose. Jake let her go and went to fetch the food from his car.

  After they were settled into chairs around Bernie’s dining room table, each enjoyed a Big Mac and Coke while discussing Holly’s appointment tomorrow.

  “I’m off. I can take you, but I can’t go in with you. My mom would throw a fit.”

  “I don’t know. I’m too scared to even contemplate taking that chance,” she teased him.

  “Funny! I’ll take you.” His tone was full of authority and Holly knew that she couldn’t protest. Not that she wanted to, anyway.

  Just then his phone rang, and after taking a quick look at his screen Jake put his index finger to his lips. He answered it on the fourth ring by just saying his name. He listened for a couple of seconds.

  “How did she find out?”

  Holly froze as his face looked suddenly serious.

  “Fine, change it,” he said, disconnecting the call after he thanked someone named Leslie.

  The name rang a bell. She’d spoken to a Leslie that morning, the one she’d thought had already had a very bad Monday.

  “My mom found out about Friday.”

  Holly’s eyes grew bigger. “And?”

  “Nothing. She is extremely nosy and has been asking everyone behind my back what you look like. Plus, she knows your appointment is tomorrow at three, so I just changed it to ten.”

  “Jake?”

  “No, Holly. My mom could have simply phoned me and asked me directly. I hate it when she snoops around behind my back.”

  “Who told her?” Bernie asked.

  “It doesn’t matter,” he spoke low, and in a tone laced with irritation.

  Holly could only imagine who it could be; probably someone who wanted Jake and hoped to get on his mom’s good side. That’s what she would have done if she’d wanted him. Or would she?

  Jake stayed until about three. When he was ready to leave, Holly walked him out to his car. As soon as they reached it, he swung her around against the driver’s door and kissed her passionately, the cool metal at her back pressing against the thin fabric of her shirt. As before, her ears started ringing as the kiss became more aggressive and the butterflies in her stomach felt like they wanted to break free.

  And just like that, Jake abruptly stopped, broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. Straightening, he kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Talk to you later, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” He climbed into his car slowly and put his sunglasses on, which made him look extra hot.

  “See you tomorrow, Hooligan,” Holly finally said.

  “I’m not the one with the injured hand.”

  Holly giggled and waved as he drove off. She sighed again. She was really a lucky girl.

  Holly woke early the next morning, had a shower, applied her makeup, and at around half past nine was ready to leave. Jake pulled up in his BMW five minutes later.

  Holly met him outside and got in. She had barely made herself comfortable when Jake leaned over, grabbed her around the neck gently and pulled her in for a kiss.

  “G
ood morning, sunshine.”

  “You are a morning person, aren’t you?”

  “I’m a morning, afternoon and evening person.”

  She smiled at him and Jake drove off.

  “I’ll drop you off in front of the hospital, and then I have to find a parking spot as far as possible from the entrance.”

  Holly laughed. “Are you that scared or that devious, Jake?”

  Chuckling, he replied, “The latter.”

  Holly did the only thing she could think of to do right then, shook her head.

  Leaning forward, she turned up the volume as she heard her favorite song playing on the radio. Jake thought it extremely funny as she sang along, mimicking the words with facial expressions and hand gestures. It was one of her trademarks when it came to singing along with some of her favorite songs. Holly wasn’t bothered that he laughed. She loved the fact that she could put a grin on his face, too.

  Jake hadn’t been kidding about dropping her off right in front of the hospital. But before Holly climbed out, she removed her bandage, just in case she ran into his mom. That way she wouldn’t be able to put two and two together.

  Jake quickly pecked her on the lips. “Phone me when you’re done, okay?”

  “Yes, boss.”

  “That’s my girl,” he joked.

  Holly merely clucked her tongue at him. “You would be so lucky.”

  Jake grinned broadly, winked, and drove off as soon as she got out.

  Once inside, she made her way to the elevator. When it finally arrived, she was the only passenger. This was short-lived, because directly after pressing the button for the third floor and as the doors began to close, a hand appeared to stop them from closing fully. A male nurse entered, followed by a few more staff members. Holly stepped back to accommodate them. She felt her hand twinge, but without the bandage it felt that much better.

  The door finally closed and the elevator began its ascent.

  “Mara, I’m sure it’s just some sort of fling.” The two women directly in front of her began chatting.

  “It had better be. He knows how I feel about relationships while studying.”