♥Chapter 12: ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ꜱʜᴇ ɢᴇᴛꜱ ᴀɴ ᴀᴘᴏʟᴏɢʏ ɢɪꜰᴛ♥

❆Jake❆

Regret never slams into me as quickly as after yelling at Kennedy does.

It wasn't her fault. Goddamnit. I keep bringing her to the police station. I'm actually glad she told me she found out instead of hiding it.

I've always been touchy about Toothy's topic.

Kennedy doesn't deserve the way I talk to her and it's now making me go fucking crazy with the regret.

I stare at my college textbook in front of me, not being able to concentrate on even a single word.

My knuckles whiten as I clutch the pen in my hand. Might as well fucking snap it into two.

I should go apologize. But I'm not good with that shit.

What if I say something else and make her more upset?

Fuck. These things suit Corey.

He'd be standing out of Kennedy's door with a huge Valentine's heart with fifty people singing a sorry song if he had made Kennedy upset. He'd also prepare a dance for her.

I need to apologize to her.

I stand from my desk and walk over to her bedroom door. I raise my fist to knock on her door but stop when I hear her talking to someone.

At first, I think she might be talking to her imaginary friends or something. Knowing Kennedy, it's no surprise she might have a whole imaginary planet.

I lean in closer to hear better. Kennedy spies on me all the time, is it fucking wrong if I do too?

"I wish you were here." She says softly and I feel my body go tense.

Who is she talking to?

Does she have a boyfriend? I wouldn't be surprised if she did. She attracts guys from everywhere with that fucking smile of hers.

"Oh, it's great over here. I like Alex. I made new friends. I'm going to high school too."

"You poophead!" She yells suddenly followed by a laugh. "Oh come on Gary, you know you miss me."

The muscles on my shoulders relax when I realize she's talking to her doctor.

"It's lonely sometimes." Her voice quiets down and I suddenly want to throw open this door and scoop her up into my arms.

"I have a male prostitute living next door." She says then quickly adds. "Kidding, kidding. It's only Jake."

"Oh, I also held a real-life gun." She adds and a male voice could be heard yelling through the phone. "I didn't shoot anybody." She scoffs. "You didn't mention in your textbook-sized rule book that I wasn't allowed to hold guns."

"What are you going to do, Mario? Come here and whack me? Well, guess what? You're halfway across the country. Try stretching your hand from there to hit me now!" She laughs.

"Don't you dare book that ticket." She warns after a moment.

I peel myself off the door, deciding to let her talk with her doctor without me eavesdropping anymore.

I really want to apologize to her and fuck if her unhappy looks don't make me want to shoot myself.

It's barely been a week since she came here, and she's been hounding my fucking mind like it's a trampoline and she's doing all sorts of acrobats on it.

Without another thought, I walk into my room and pull out my phone.

The phone rings a few times before the person on the other side picks it up.

"Oh my, am I being promoted as the president for you to call me after five fucking centuries?" Corey's taunting voice stirs annoyance within me.

I blow out a breath before running a hand through my hair, "Don't make a big fucking deal about this."

"'Sup?"

"I need your stupid fucking advice." I clench my fist.

"I take my words back. I'm being promoted as the king of the underworld!"

"Are you fucking listening?" I glare.

"Yeah, yeah. Spit it out."

"Help me find an apology gift for Ken."

✯✯✯

✿Kennedy✿

I watch movies in my bed all day while trying out some crazy punches and action moves from the movie.

I even had a dance battle with my imaginary competitors. I won.

I thought of screaming all of a sudden too. Sometimes you just get random urges to scream.

I was on a call with Gary for like an hour and it was mostly me talking and him scolding and snapping at some things which I wasn't supposed to do.

Well, how was I supposed to know that?

Gabriel's list of rules that needs to be followed.

Well, that's ash now so who cares?

Around two hours later, I get hungry and decide to go through the kitchen to get food.

Alex barely is at home and often comes home late or doesn't come at all. Poor guy works too much.

I wanna work too when I grow up.

Not sure how much more I wanna grow up since I'm already nineteen. But I want to work in a café or maybe in a library or maybe in a bakery. The bakery part is mostly to eat all the chocolate and the goodies whenever you want. 

I dance my way into the kitchen and find a donut. Alex has been stocking up these donuts for me since I told him I loved those. He tries way too hard sometimes to make sure I get what I want. And it makes me so happy and reminds me of my own dad.

Plus it also makes me worry that what if Alex is scared or something. Like he always has this tense and worried face and acts like I'll leave him or something if he does something wrong.

I should tell him how grateful I am for him.

I walk back up into my room.

I wish I could go outside but Alex said it's a new city so I shouldn't go anywhere without him or anyone familiar.

Plus I have asthma so it's better to stay indoors for the most part. Bull crap.

I stand in front of the mirror and look at myself.

Sometimes I like letting myself notice all the insecurities and bad things about myself. It makes me feel real and human.

So I start pointing out the stuff.

My hair is too long and curly.

My stomach is sickly thin and looks like an empty plate.

My skin has way too many faint scars from the car crash.

My height might be too short.

I let these insecurities wash over me but then brighten up when an idea pops into my mind.

I should straighten my hair.

Also, wear something good.

Also, put on some makeup.

There are these moments in life where you want to make yourself feel good and then get dressed and glamoured.

So I do exactly that.

✯✯✯

❆Jake❆

"Tell me the details!" Corey hollers from the open window before driving away.

I grumble under my breath before carrying the thing in my hand into the house. At the doorway, my eyes land on Kennedy's Yoda and fuck did it scare the shit out of me or not.

Sometimes I imagine the relief of just kicking this thing away and giving my heart a fucking rest every time I come home.

Ignoring the Yoda, I look down at what I'm gripping in my hands. This better not fucking backfire on me or else I'm not living here in this house anymore.

I trudge upstairs with hesitant steps growing more and more nervous as I near her door.

Look at me, getting fucking nervous. Over a girl.

I reach the top and hold in my breath when I hear her voice through the closed door. She's singing something.

I stop out her door and stand still for a moment.

Yeah, no, I'm not doing this.

I almost turn around and march into my room, deciding to throw away the gift and forget about all this.

I need to get my shit together. 

Turning around again towards Kennedy's room, I suck in a deep breath before knocking on the door.

She stops singing and there's a bang as if she dropped something.

"Coming." Her voice reaches out to me, and I nearly fucking piss my pants. Why am I like this?

I grow nervous, frustrated, hesitant all the while waiting for the door to goddamn open so I could quickly get done with this.

The door opens.

She stands in front of me.

I suck in a deep breath and don't think I can ever breathe again. Shit did Kennedy's asthma transfer to me?

Her eyes widen slightly when she looks at me. She starts fiddling with her fingers, "You need something?"

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Her hair is straight and isn't wild and curly anymore. It reaches her hips and goddamnit if they weren't some hot hips. She wore white shorts and a top which don't have any straps, showing her perfect figure.

Toothy has a top like this and I think it's called a tube top or something. She smacked the shit out of Corey and me when we started calling it lube instead of tube.

Kennedy wears a tube top. She has makeup on that makes her eyes look so wide and innocent. Like they weren't already before. Her lips look so plump and soft and fuck if I didn't want to kiss her so bad.

I'm turning on. I'm going to faint. Why are my legs wobbly?

Fuck. I need to go.

Her eyes meet mine and make my situation much worse than it already is, "You need something?" She repeats.

I clear my throat, forcing my eyes to look away from her before I tackle her or do something she'd go batshit crazy on me for.

Without another word, I thrust the thing in my hand towards her.

Her eyes widen as she looks at it.

"For me?" She asks.

I gulp before giving a nod.

She takes the giant teddy bear from my hand that's almost half her size. She holds it in front of her as her eyes gaze over it lovingly. Fuck, her green eyes are so bright, so warm, so deep.

She gazes at the big light yellow teddy bear and I grow nervous with anticipation of her reply or any other fucking reaction.

She said her favourite colour was yellow, right? Her inhaler was yellow so I assumed she likes that colour. What if she actually hates it?

"Why'd you get this?" She asks and I feel my bitch heart sink in a bit.

I rub the back of my neck, "It's-it's an apology gift."

She looks at me and my heart beats wildly.

Her face is set into a half happy; half-sad smile and it makes me frustrated to know that I can't read what's going on in her mind.

"You don't like it?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.

She shakes her head and for a moment I think my soul stopped living. Why the fuck am I acting like this?

"I mean, yes!" She says quickly, "I do like it. I always loved teddy bears and soft toys."

"Then why did you shake your head?" I ask.

She shakes her head again, "Nothing, thanks for this." She says and I clearly know she's holding something in.

She steps back into her room and before the door closes, I step in.

Her eyes widen with me suddenly in her room, so close to her. I watch her lips mouth the word 'oh mama'.

"Why don't you like it?" I ask.

She gives a conflicted look, "I do like it. It's just..."

"What?"

She places the teddy bear on her bed before playing with her fingers and looking around her room but not at me.

"I can't have you being rude and mean to me all the time. I tried keeping up with you and tried ignoring how many times you've snapped at me, but it's getting hard to ignore."

I feel my lungs inflate with so many sudden apologies. "Fuck, I know. I'm sorry. I'm trying. I really am."

She gives a small smile, but it doesn't reach her eyes, "I'm sorry too for prying in your business. I won't tell anyone about you going to the police station." She promises.

"I'll try being nicer," I promise too.

She smiles at me.

"I swear I'll-" I start with full determination to apologize but her laugh cuts me off.

"I get it. It's fine." She shrugs. "Not everyone can be cheery and bright. And you're far from that. You're like a blue-black storm. It's just that you don't know what words can be shrugged off and what words hurt."

I take in a deep breath, finally letting the feeling of relief settle in me, "Thank you."

She smiles.

I pick up the teddy bear and hand it to her again.

An excited grin comes on her face this time. "Oh mama, it's so cute." She squeals.

The corner of my lips quirks up.

Kennedy nears me and fuck if I didn't die a little when she stretches on her toes and presses a soft kiss on my cheek.

"Thank you." She says, pulling away, leaving a lingering scent with a tingling feeling on my skin.

I want more.

Without thinking, I grab her face and pull her close until my lips touch hers. She lets out a gasp of surprise and the teddy bear falls from her hands. Her lips taste so sweet and soft.

I immediately pull away. "Shit, sorry. I should've fucking asked if you wanted to kiss or not." I face-palm myself. "Damn."

She doesn't seem to be listening to me though. She looks in a daze. "Huh?"

I run a hand through my hair, silently cursing.

She finally comes out of her daze, blinking at me. "I've...never kissed anyone before."

I stare at her. "What?"

She touches her lips with her fingers.

"I'm...I'm your first kiss?" I ask, not bothering to hide the shock in my voice.

She nods.

"How the fuck is that possible?" I ask in disbelief. I thought she would have had her first kiss way before me. I mean...just look at her! How can someone not kiss that!?

"Well...nobody wanted to kiss me before." She says.

"Now you're just fucking lying." I frown.

She laughs in response.

I curse when I remember the kiss on the couch. I groan. "I wouldn't have kissed you if I knew it was going to be your first kiss. I would've tried making it better."

"Why don't we have a redo?" She blurts then her eyes go wide as she shakes her head. "Nevermind. I should stop blurting things—"

"Can I kiss you?" I step towards her.

She looks up at me, her face a bright shade of red. "The answer to that actually depends on a one really important question."

"What question?"

"Do we breathe oxygen?" She asks.

I furrow my eyebrows. "Yeah..."

"Then that's the answer." She states.

I make a face. "Seriously?"

"What?"

She could've just said 'yes'.

I shake my head.

My hands reach for her face again and this time I bring my lips down on hers gently, drawing her into a slow kiss. It's light and tender like how her first kiss should've been. My hands move from her face to her shoulders, slowly sliding down to her waist, pulling her closer to me. 

My heart seems to be thudding one mile per minute with my stomach doing weird things. I've kissed many people before, but kissing Kennedy feels like I'm kissing for the first time. My chest fills with a feeling I can't comprehend but it's making me crazy in the head. For a moment, it feels as if I'm in a sort of trance or something.

I move my lips and silently chuckle when she attempts to move her lips along with mine. Her hands come at my sides and slowly drag their way up to my chest, stirring a groan within me from the touch of hers. 

Shit, what if I'm not a good kisser?

Wait, no, I'm an amazing kisser. If I wasn't then I wouldn't have so many people asking me to kiss them again back at high school. 

One of my hands goes into her hair, feeling the soft curls before gripping the back of her neck to angle her mouth towards me better. She lets out a little noise and it makes me deepen the kiss. My tongue runs across her bottom lip. She gasps while my eyes flutter at feeling her.

Soft. Everything about her is so fucking soft.

The whole world seems to stop as the kiss deepens and picks a rhythm. My head feels like it's floating while also being super aware of everything. Can the time stop so I can never stop kissing her? It's the first time we're kissing like this but I'm already fucking addicted. It feels as if I'm in a different world with her in my arms. It all feels so natural and perfect as if our lips were made to be perfectly fit against each other. 

My arms wrap around her tighter, pulling her impossibly closer to my body. Our chests press against each other along with the rest of our bodies. A strange feeling of happiness and protectiveness comes over me and I wouldn't be lying if I said it makes me feel a little scared.

Damn, where has this girl been all this time?

A small wheeze type of breath comes from Kennedy and I break off the kiss, startled. 

Did I do something wrong?

Did something happen?

Then I realize about her asthma and mentally curse myself for forgetting about it.

Damn.

I look back at her again and she looks to be in a daze as her finger brushes her flushed lips.

I'm breathing abnormally myself. Panting, as if I've scoured the entire world. 

That kiss was definitely...damn. I've never had a kiss like that before. My heart feels full and heavy. I feel like I can sleep peacefully for ages. I feel like I'm somehow on top of the world. Why the fuck am I acting like this? 

She looks up at me, her eyes wide. "Woah."

✄ ✄ ✄ ✄

I've re-written that kiss scene about 3 times and even googled 'how does a first kiss feel like' 😭😭😭 

Words: 3,000

Date of posting: 24th March 2022