My Fair Lady

Jakob didn't know how he did it, but he managed to get to New York and get inside the studio on Broadway that Chloe was rehearsing at. He was dripping with the snow and sleet mix that was pouring outside as he quietly sank down in one of the back seats and looked for her. He didn't have to look far, but her sweet voice proceeded his vision.

"All I want is a room somewhere. Far away from the cold night air. With one enormous chair. Now wouldn't it be lover-ly."

As she sang the eternal words of Eliza Doolittle, Jakob couldn't help but be mesmerized by her. She still looked exactly the same even in costume and dirt makeup. She seemed much thinner than before but she was still beautiful to him.

"Hey, you can't be in here."

Jakob looked up to find a beefy security man beside him, his arms bulging with muscles that Jakob could never dream of having.

"I'm here to see Chloe," Jakob said, not in the mood to argue with anyone. Chloe was this close to him and he wasn't going to let her slip by.

"Look, kid, I don't give a damn on who you're here to see. Bottom line is, you're not gonna see them and you have to leave."

Jakob stood and set his jaw, his temper boiling close to the edge. "I'm not leaving."

"Don't make me get physical, man." The security guy grabbed Jakob by the arm.

Jakob yanked his arm out of his grasp. "Fuck you."

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Jakob sat outside the actors exit behind the building, sitting on a wet crate, nursing a busted lip and a bruised ego. The snow had stopped but a drip from the roof's awning still collided with his head as he waited, and waited in the cold alone.

The door had been opening and closing for the past twenty minutes with various cast and crew members bidding goodbye to one another and going their separate ways, not even noticing Jakob sitting by the door. None of them were Chloe so Jakob still sat there and waited.

The door opened once again and a female voice bid goodbye to someone still on the warm inside.

Ignoring his frozen hands and chilly body, Jakob stood up. He knew that voice. His throat was cotton dry and his heart was thumping as she passed him, not even batting a eye at him as she walked briskly away in the cold air.

"Chloe!"

"Go away Jakob," Chloe replied, not even looking over her shoulder at him.

Jakob jogged up to her. "Chloe, baby, please listen to me." He tried to grab her hand, which she quickly snatched out of his reach.

"Don't you 'Chloe, baby' me." Chloe hissed as she stopped and looked at him with a red nose and cheeks, cold and wet from the New York weather and a fat lip to boot. "Why are you here?"

"I love you. I want you back."

Chloe scoffed and continued to walk. "Yeah, right Jakob. Did Katrina cheat on you again? Birds of a feather."

"Chloe," Jakob pleaded as he walked quickly to keep up with her. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I wish I could take it back, but I can't. Sorry," He mumbled as he bumped into a random person on the sidewalk as all of his attention was focused on Chloe. "All I can do is offer my apologies and a promise that it will never happen again."

"Of course it won't, because I won't let it happen again because I won't take you back." Chloe's words were puffs of breath in the air as she jogged across the street, Jakob still behind her.

"Chloe please." Jakob was at the point of begging.

"Jakob." Chloe's voice was thick as she turned around suddenly and met his eyes. Hers were puffy from holding back tears and the red on her cheeks wasn't from the cold, it was from frustration and emotion. She yanked the knit hat that was on her head off and groaned. "Come upstairs before you freeze to death." She punched in a code and opened the door to her apartment building.

Jakob followed her silently, still dripping from the outside perspiration on the tiled floors and up two flight of stairs. It was only after she had let him inside and closed the door did he say anything else. "I'm sorry."

"I know," Chloe snapped as she threw her scarf and jacket on the kitchen table. "You've said it fifty times in the past two blocks."

"So you believe me?"

"I didn't say that," Chloe went into a room and partially shut the door. "I don't know what to believe out of you anymore."

Jakob didn't respond right off the bat. He stood there in the kitchen area of her apartment, still dripping on the floor. He pulled his jacket off and placed it on the back of a chair, shivering even though the apartment was cozily warm.

Chloe emerged from the room dressed in flannel pajama pants and a T-shirt with a pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt in her hands. "Here." She threw them to him rather than hand them. "Those belong to you anyway. Bathroom's over there." She pointed to a door down the way and plopped on the couch.

"Thanks," Jakob mumbled as he followed her directions, noticing that the pants were an old pair of pajama pants of his and a soccer shirt from Hillcrest. When he had changed and placed all of his went clothes on the rail above the tub, he went back into the living area to find that Chloe wasn't there, but in the kitchen stirring two cups.

"Here," Chloe handed him a cup of warm tea. "I don't want you to get sick and your Mom call me because you got Sterling sick."

Jakob took the cup and appreciated the warmness from the cup in his hands. "Thanks." They stood there awkwardly for a moment. "You look good by the way."

"Thanks. So do you."

Jakob bit his lip. He didn't like the frosty attitude between them. His fingers were tingling from the warmth of the cup. He sighed and set the cup on the counter. "We need to talk."

Chloe shrugged and sipped her tea as she looked at the floor. "Okay."

"I wish," Jakob started slowly, choosing his words carefully. "That what happened with me and . . and Katrina didn't happen, but it did. I can't change it. I can't take it back no matter how much I want to or try. I'm sorry for hurting you. I never, ever, wanted to do that to you. All I wanted to do was make you happy and then I go and mess everything up. I probably don't deserve a second chance from you but I would give anything for it."

Chloe set her cup down on the counter as well and crossed her arms. "I wish it didn't happen either, but maybe it was the easy way out."

"Easy way out?"

Chloe sighed. "I was going to tell you a day or two after prom that I was leaving for New York and that there would be nothing you could do about it. I got the part as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady and I've wanted that ever since I was a little girl. I had known since March about it but I kept putting off telling you because I didn't want the rest of our time together to be a countdown or a fight. I didn't want to have to look you in the eye and tell you I was leaving you."

Jakob didn't know what to say. He cracked his knuckles nervously and cautiously stepped forward to Chloe. "I guess we all have our little secrets and mistakes."

Chloe gave him a wry smile. "I guess so."

Jakob returned the grin lightly. He touched her crossed arms and kissed her neck daringly.

"No. Don't kiss me there." Chloe tried to pull her head back but Jakob used a hand to hold it in place as he kissed the spot between her neck and shoulder. "Kiss me there." She sighed blissfully as Jakob suckled on her neck sensually before she roughly shoved him away. "No " She cried as she tried to control her quick breathing. "I can't. We can't."

Jakob hit the floor on his knees. "Chloe, babygirl, I'm begging you. I'm on my knees. Please, give me one more chance. I will never hurt you again. I love you so much." He crawled on his knees and wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his head on her stomach. "Please." He kissed her stomach through her shirt.

Chloe grabbed his hair and tilted his head up towards her. She sat down on the floor with him and met his eyes, her hands falling on top of his. "Do you mean it?" She intertwined her fingers through his.

Jakob nodded and kissed her neck again. "From now on, it's you and me. Just like this." He pushed her lightly on her back, kissing her neck.