♥Chapter 19: ᴡʜᴇʀᴇ ꜱʜᴇ ᴍᴀᴋᴇꜱ ʜɪᴍ ᴡᴀɪᴛ♥

✿Kennedy✿

I chew on the back of my pencil.

The pencil doesn't have an eraser on the back so I'm glad about that.

The math problems lay in front of me and I almost question if I'm studying the right topics or not. These questions look like for ones who are expert mathematicians or something.

And obviously, I'm not an expert mathematician. I'm a criminal.

I look at the kitchen clock and sigh. My gaze flickers to the blue baby bird sticker on the shelf door and a smile makes itself on my face. I stare at it making all kinds of scenarios in my head before realizing I'm getting distracted.

I turn my attention back to the book in front of me with a scowl.

Why won't I just do this?!

A little while after, footsteps thud down the stairs and my ears perk up knowing exactly who's walking down the stairs.

Nope. Don't look at him. Focus.

His footsteps get louder and I find myself lifting my eyes to look.

He comes into view and my eyes do a double-take of his large and tall frame before scowling at myself for getting distracted again.

I look away from him and bring my face close to the book so that my eyes see nothing around me.

I feel Jake walk into the kitchen. A heavy silence falls in the kitchen, and I frown in confusion.

Why is it so silent?

I look up and gasp as Jake hovers over me, watching me. 

He has his eyebrows furrowed as he gazes at me.

I open my mouth to speak then realize if I open my mouth I'll never shut it back soon enough and that'll waste more of my time. So I close my mouth and look back at my book.

A few moments pass and Jake is still standing beside me. I can feel his eyes staring at my face and I nervously bite my bottom lip.

Don't look at him or else you'll get distracted.

Don't look at him or else you'll get distracted.

Don't look at him or else you'll get distrac—

"Are you mad at me?" His tone sounds confused.

My eyes shoot up towards him.

"Huh?" I ask.

"Are you mad at me?" He asks again.

He wears a white t-shirt today instead of his normal hoodies and black sweatpants. I mentally swoon in my head.

I furrow my eyebrows, "No, I'm not." 

"Then why won't you talk to me?" He questions.

I stare at him in confusion before realizing, "Oh it's not like that. I wasn't talking to you because I didn't want to talk to you. I do want to talk to you even though I am currently talking to you. It's just that I don't want to talk to you because then I won't stop talking to you and then I won't get this stupid motherloving—"

"Breathe." He cuts me off and I stop.

I take in a deep breath.

"Sorry." I let out a small laugh before sighing when my eyes land on my math textbook. "I just can't get this stupid thing done and it's making me want to light everything on fire."

Jake's eyes move from me to the textbook, and he furrows his eyebrows, "Which question?"

I point at the one which is making me loco.

He stares at the question for a while before taking a barstool and sitting beside me.

"Want help?" He asks.

My face lights up, "Heck yes."

He takes the pencil from my hand, and I almost faint at the way he looks at the textbook, analyzing the question with furrowed eyebrows and a serious expression. His large shapely hands twirl the pencil around and mama if that isn't making my stomach flip.

"See," He starts when he seemed to understand the question.

He speaks while solving the question in a notebook, explaining it to me word by word.

I try to focus.

Keyword: try.

It's flipping hard!

I can't seem to focus on the book when Jake's sitting this close to me with his hands attracting my attention.

I try peeling my eyes away and look at the notebook where he's explaining it to me.

Ten seconds later, my eyes flicker to Jake's moving lips then his hands holding the pencil in a firm grip. Oh mama, his hands...

"Do you understand the question now?" He asks.

"What question?" I ask, still seeming distracted.

"The math question."

"What's math?"

He sighs, shaking his head.

I snap out of my zone before coming to my senses.

"Oh right! Math!" I groan. "I'm trying, I'm trying. But everything is just so dang distracting! I'm gonna be a failure!"

"What does distract you exactly?" He asks, looping his fingers together and planting them on the counter, looking at me.

I blush a bit at his curiosity before shrugging, "Everything? Sometimes I seem to get distracted by my own fingers."

He gazes at me for a while. A thoughtful expression on his face.

I stare back thinking we're doing a staring contest.

He breaks eye contact before reaching over to my stack of books and pulling out the English reader. Flipping a page open, he slides the reader in front of me.   

"Read." He says.

"Huh?" I look at him in confusion.

He taps the page with his finger, "Read."

"This?"

He nods.

My eyes drop to the reader in front of me and I take time to grasp the idea that I do know how to read.

Once I grasp onto that, I start reading the letters. First mouthing them to myself before reading them out loud.

I always read the sentence twice to make sure I read exactly what's there.

After five minutes or so, I'm done with five lines.

"How was that?" I ask Jake who's watching me. 

He shrugs, "It was...fine."

I raise my eyebrows, "Fine?"

He shrugs again, "For a fifth-grader."

I narrow my eyes.

He fixes the position of the reader in front of me and leans forward on the table towards me.

"You take a lot of time to read a single sentence." He says and I feel a small wave of embarrassment wash over me.

He wasn't mocking me or being rude though, just merely stating what I did.

He notices my embarrassment and lightly slaps me on the back of my head with a narrow look. "Stop doing that. You don't need to be embarrassed for shit. Corey doesn't even know the table of two."

I still give him a nervous look.

"Try reading five words instead of taking time to read a single one." He suggests and my eyes fall over the words on the books.

Okay, I can do this.

Five words at a time. Don't falter or get distracted. Don't let the words dance across the pages.

I breathe in before reading out five words successfully.

I grin up at Jake, but he prods me to continue reading with a nod.

Taking my time, I read the rest of the lines while grouping them into five-five words.

"Oh mama," I let out a monstrous sigh after finishing the paragraph, "I need a two-week vacation now."

"You read only one fucking para," Jake says and then raises his hand for me to high-five, "Good fucking job."

I high-five his hand with a grin, feeling kinda over-whelmed that he's addressing my small accomplishment.

But my lips turn down as the same feeling of embarrassment washes over me, "I do know how to read. It's just when it's something new or huge, I struggle."

"You'll be fine after a little practice," He assures, leaning back. One of his arms stretches on the counter.

"Some of the previous teachers in my school used to give up on me and write complaints to my parents that I'm a useless child." I look down at my lap.

"And what did your parents do?" He questions.

I shrug, "They used to nod at everything they said then curse the teachers in the car."

He snorts.

"Our neighbours and people around us pretty much ignored us saying that we were a 'weird' family," I speak remembering how people used to exclude us from a special or social gatherings,

My parents never seemed to mind. They always told me to find happiness within myself.

From the corner of my eye, I notice Jake gazing at me. A blush rises through my cheeks, and I tuck my hair behind my ear.

"So what do you wanna do now? I'm no longer in the mood to study." I say, shutting my books close.

He shrugs and I refrain from attacking him.

That dang infuriating shrug...

"Do you think I'll look good in glasses?" I ask out of nowhere.

His eyes scan my face, his fingers gently drumming on the counter. He takes a long time, just looking at my face. 

He nods.

"What's your favourite colour?" I ask him.

"What's your favourite colour?" He questions me back.

"Yellow," I answer.

He nods, "Same."

I giggle, "Did I ever tell you you're Barbie?"

He narrows his eyebrows, "Barbie? The Annabelle doll's sister?"

I furrow my eyebrows, "Annabelle? Who told you that?"

He shrugs, "Some guy from high school."

I stare at him in slight horror.

Do all boys think Barbie is Annabelle's sister?

"Barbie is not Annabelle's sister," I gape.

He shrugs again before furrowing his eyebrows, "How am I a Barbie?"

I laugh, "You call me Ken. So now you're Barbie."

Jake puts his chin on his palm, watching me with intense eyes that seem more blue than green right now. My stomach does weird flips with his face close to mine.

"Barbie and Ken were dating right?" His voice turns low.

I nod, "Yup."

"So aren't we supposed to date too?" He asks.

I give him a look of confusion before his words click in my head.

Oh.

I almost start applauding in my chair for some reason. 

A laugh comes out of my lips, "Guess so."

He doesn't smile or laugh but continues to gaze at me.

"Wanna go on a date?" He asks. "8? Tonight?"

I blink, "Wait you're serious?" I ask him in shock.

He nods and gives me the world's most serious expression.

I fumble for words, mentally freaking out.

No one's ever asked me on dates before!

What am I supposed to say?

Oh right, I'm supposed to answer with a 'yes' or 'no'.

Yes or no?

What was my answer again?

Oh right!

"I do," I say.

His lips twitch up and I mentally drive a truck over myself not before slapping my forehead a million times.

"I mean, yes," I correct myself quickly. "Yeah, of course, I'll be there by 8."

He furrows his eyebrows, "Be where by 8?"

Realization dawns over me, "Oh I meant I'll be ready by 8. Not there by 8," I laugh at myself, "Sorry, I'm just mentally freaking out and having the world's most terrifying panic attack. No one's asked me out on dates before."

"That's changed now, is it?" He asks, his lips pulling up into a tiny smile.

I nod, "Yup."

He slowly lifts his hand, still keeping eye contact with me, and takes a strand of my hair.

He twirls it around his finger, playing with it, while I sit frozen like a statue. Is it normal for my body to feel this kind of tingles?

"Can't wait to make more changes." He says.

✯✯✯

"I swear to God Ken if you don't come out quickly I'm going to break this door," Jake grumbles from the other side of the door.

"Oh just hold it!" I yell back.

I'm currently freaking out right now. What do people wear on first dates? On their first-first dates? The first date of their lives?

I'm about to have a panic attack and die all alone in this room.

"Ken!" Jake grumbles further.

"Give me a minute!" I shout back.

"You've been saying that for the past thirty fucking minutes!" 

I huff and turn back to my closet.

My usual dresses, t-shirt and shorts stare back at me, and I can't find anything that's something different. A huge sigh comes out of my lips.

"I'm going to open this fucking door," Jake warns.

"The door's locked," I reply.

"I'll break the fucking lock," He warns again.

I shake my head before looking back at my closet.

An idea pops into my mind and I pick up my phone.

I walk over to the door, "Jake, do you have Toothy's number?"

"Nah, we're not that close, so I don't have it."

I narrow my eyes at his sarcasm.

I remain silent before he sighs.

"Yeah, I have it."

"Great! Send it to me."

"Why the fuck do you want Toothy's number right now?"

"Just send it to me, Jake." My voice comes out rushed and annoyed.

A few moments of silence pass on before my phone screen lights up with a ping.

I waste no second in dialling Toothy's number and calling her.

I move away from the door to go and stand in front of my closet again.

Toothy answers after a few seconds.

"Hello?" Her voice come confused. 

"Toothy, it's me! Kennedy!"

She makes a sound of realization, "Oh hi, Ken."

"I need your help," I state.

"My help?"

"Yeah, so basically Jake asked me out on a date, and I said I do—I mean I agreed and now I don't know what to wear and Jake's banging on my door to hurry the eff up."

Before Toothy can answer there's some sort of violent rustling on the other side of the phone.

"Backup, babydoll!"

Corey's booming voice scares the flipping heck out of me that I let out a small scream.

"Jake asked you out on a date? Jake asked you out on a date? My Jake?" He questions.

"Kennedy...why do I hear a male's voice...?" Jake's voice comes through the other side of the door, confused.

"It's Corey." I reply to Jake before taking my attention back to Corey, "Yeah, Jake asked me out on a date."

"Oh hell no!" Jake yells before the door handle rattles, "Cut the fucking phone, Kennedy!"

"Are you sure it's Jake who asked you out on a date?" Corey questions, "Fuck, it would be more believable if it was Alex!"

"Corey, I'm one hundred percent sure that Jake asked me out on a date," I say then add. "I think."

Corey lets out a loud booming laugh, "Oh my fucking God, Jake asked you out on a date? Man, I should have been the King of the Universe by now."

"Kennedy! Do not talk to him!" Jake's loud voice warns from the other side. He bangs on the door twice.

I talk to him.

"Can you give the phone back to Toothy please?" I ask, "I need to pick an outfit! It's my first flippin' date!"

"I'm good with ladies' clothing," Corey says, and I hear another faint voice that belongs to Toothy.

"Give me back my phone, Corey!" She yells.

"What should I wear?" I question.

"Cut. The. Fucking. Phone." Jake bangs at the door with each word.

"Video call me, babe," Corey says.

"Do not video call that fucker!" Jake yells suddenly.

Jake can hear Corey from that far?

"Do it," Corey urges.

Corey can hear Jake from this far?

I shrug and switch the call to video call.

Corey answers and his bright face come into view, grinning, "Hey yo!"

"Hey." I grin.

"You video called him, didn't you?" Jake yells, "Fuck you all!"

A pair of catlike arms attack Corey from behind, "Give me back my phone!"

The phone slips from Corey's hand and then the screen goes black.

"Get the fuck off me!" Corey yells through the black screen, "Jesus, woman!"

I stare in confusion at my phone as Toothy and Corey scream at each other.

Everything goes silent.

A few moments pass before the phone is being lifted off the floor and Toothy's face comes into view.

"Ken, hi," She breathes out, "Sorry about that."

"Toothy!" Jake yells, "Don't give the phone back to Corey!" He says, "Goddamnit Ken, when will you open this door?"

"Okay, Jake!" Toothy yells before speaking to me, "Show me your closet,"

I flip the camera around and show Toothy my closet. Her face zooms in as she leans toward the phone to get a better look.

"Uh...take out that pink one and show me," She says then pushes away Corey's head that pops into the screen. She grumbles something to him before looking back at her screen.

I take out the pink that Toothy points out and spread it out for her to see.

"Mmm I like this one," She says before nodding in approval. "Yeah wear this."

"I wanna see it too!" Corey protests trying to look at Toothy's phone.

"It's a girl's thing!" Toothy snaps at him.

"Ken, tell me where you and Jake are going!" Corey demands me. 

I shrug, "I don't know. Jake didn't tell me."

"Thank God I didn't," Jake's sigh comes from the other side of the door.

Corey glares, "I see what game you're playing. You people are gonna regret leaving me out of all this."

Toothy pushes Corey's shoulder, "Get. Lost."

"Wear the dress, Ken," Toothy tells me, half-distracted with Corey, "I'll call you later."

Saying that she hangs up.

I fling my phone onto the bed before stripping off my clothes and putting on the short light pink, sleeveless dress. It comes to my thighs and is tight around the waist.

After setting my hair, I unlock the door and pull it open grinning up at Jake.

He wears a dark blue hoodie with black ripped jeans. And he's also glaring at me.

"Hi," I chirp.

Instead of answering, he slings his arms around my waist and pulls me until I'm squashed to his body. My face presses against his hard chest.

His head lowers until his mouth is near my ear. I shiver under his breath which fans against my skin.

"If you ever make me wait like that again," He says in a low voice, "I'll kiss you so hard you won't feel your lips."

✄ ✄ ✄ ✄

Suggest me some last names?

Words: 3,000

Date of posting: 28th March 2022