I'm a Fighter and He's the Hottie

Chapter 24: Jake and Me

“Why are we here?” I groaned as Faith pushed me through the entrance doors of the mall.

She pursed her lips, “How can you not like shopping? It’s supposed to be every girl’s dream.”

I rolled my eyes and muttered, “Not mine.”

“What was that?” Faith flicked her head up as I finished talking.

I gave her a small smile and answered, “Did you hear something?”

She looked at me suspiciously before saying, “So, where do you want to start at?”

“You’re asking me?” I asked frowned looking at her.

“Yeah, what’s the problem?” She replied furrowing her brows at me.

“Let’s go to the pet store?” I suggested giving Faith a pleading smile.

She answered me with a flat look, “It’s called shopping, not looking for puppies.”

“It’s my kind of shopping and they’re so cu- Oh, I’m so sorry!” I replied bumping into someone.

I looked up to see the person I ran into. I quickly noticed a familiar blonde mop of hair. It was Jake. He stared down at me giving me a questioning look.

The image of our kiss entered my mind, which made me look directly at the floor.

“H-hi Jake,” I managed to get out of my mouth. I took a quick glance at Faith. She was giving me a look I couldn’t decipher.

“Hey Maddie, I thought you didn’t like shopping.” Jake responded nonchalantly.

“I don’t, Faith made me come with her.” I answered shooting a glare in her direction.

Faith cleared her throat as if it were her turn to say something. “For your information, I didn’t make you come with me. I just told you something that wasn’t exactly the truth.”

I turned to her and snorted, “Yeah, yeah, still you didn’t tell me you were taking me to the mall.”

She let out a breath of air and told me, “Fine. If you don’t want to come with me, then I’ll go by myself.”

Before I could tell her to stop, she walked in the direction of Macy’s. I had almost forgotten Jake was still here, until I turned around and almost bumped into him again. I instantly took a step back and directed my eyes at his chest.

“So, what are you doing here?” I asked feeling uneasy with the silence.

“I wanted to check out the pet store.”

I looked up at him, for a moment forgetting about the kiss, and smiled, “I want to go there too.”

His deep blue eyes stared into mine, making me feel self conscious, “Want to come with me?”

I bit my lip debating what to say. If I said no, then he’d know I’m avoiding him, but if I said yes, I would feel so uncomfortable. I sighed internally and said to Faith mentally, Thanks, for leaving me!

“Sure,” I finally gave in, forcing a smile onto my lips.

His eyes lit up as he stared down at me. We walked silently through the mall. The sound of people talking, laughing, and yelling rang into my ears. Although, I noticed that you couldn’t hear a single conversation. It sounded as if all the talking formed into one giant glob.

“Maddie?” Jake’s voice made me look up at him. “You’re passing the pet shop.”

I smiled cheekily, “I was…uhh testing you.”

“Mhmm,” He replied before going into the store.

I followed behind him, making sure I wasn’t too far behind him. The first thing that caught my attention was a small Chihuahua. It was white spotted with light brown. However, the poor puppy had nobody around it. Nobody even seemed like they cared for it.

I walked over to the small glass window and peered at the Chihuahua. It stared at me with its head cocked slightly to its side. Its eyes were a dark shade of green. It just looked so adorable and cute, I wanted to take it out and play with it.

“It’s cute isn’t it?” Jake pointed out the obvious.

“Yeah, I’ve never seen such a cute doggy before.” I smiled at it.

“Want to play with it?” Jake questioned, pressing his hand up against the glass.

I mused about it for a moment, “Sure,”

“M’kay stay here, I’ll get someone to get this little dude out of here.” Jake told me, already walking towards the front of the store.

When I couldn’t see him through the crowds of people anymore, I pressed my hand up against the glass. The young pup hesitantly inched closer to my hand. His tail started wagging a mile a minute. I giggled to myself and ran my hand up and down the glass. He followed my every move, jumping excitedly up and down.

I didn’t realize that Jake was behind me, until he tapped my shoulder. I looked at a young lady, who held a single key. I stood up, giving her room to open the glass sliding door. I watched eagerly as she jammed her key into the lock and twist it open.

As soon as the door was completely open, she gently carried the puppy out. She walked us to a small room in the back and placed the little guy into my arms.

She looked up to me and said, “When you’re done playing with him, just tell me and I’ll put him away for you.”

“No problem.” I nodded, looking back down at the Chihuahua.

When we were alone, I placed him on the floor. For, a moment he seemed unsure what to do. Then suddenly, he ran up to me and started licking my hand. I giggled at the touch of its tongue.

“He’s so cute.” I stated, scratching him behind the ear.

“Yeah,” Jake agreed bending down slowly, making sure he didn’t scare him. “What do you want to call him?”

“I don’t think we should name him anything, then I’d feel like I’m getting too attached.” I protested.

“It’ll just be a temporary name and it’s better than ‘he’ or ‘him’.” Jake convinced me.

I let out a sigh of agreement and answered, “Okay…umm what do you want to call him?”

“I asked you first.” Jake reminded me.

I bit my lower lip and thought about it. Then, a perfect name popped into my mind, like a light bulb lit up in my brain, “Sparky!”

“Sparky?” Jake mimicked, thinking about the name.

“Yeah because his attitude seems like a Sparky, first he’s shy, next he’s hyper. It’s like a spark.” I explained glancing towards Jake.

His face showed a state of understanding, “Sparky sounds like good name.”

“Mhmm,” I replied looking back down at Sparky, “Like the name Sparky?”

His tail wagged faster, almost as if on cue. I grinned and pet underneath Sparky’s chin.

After about fifteen minutes of petting and laughing, the young lady came back to us.

“I’m going to have to put him back now; another family is asking to play with another puppy.” She told me, reaching down to pick him up.

The sides of my mouth tilted down, as I watched the puppy being carried away.

“I got attached.” I muttered to myself looking away from Sparky…I mean it.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have asked to let you play with… him.” Jake thought aloud to himself.

I patted his shoulder and said, “Don’t worry about it Jake, wasn’t your fault. Besides, I was able to play with him for a little while.”

He smiled, making my heart beat accelerate. I retracted my hand away from his shoulder, noticing that I forgot about what happened a few days ago.

“Want to get something to eat?” Jake asked awkwardly, noticing that I was avoiding his gaze again.

I nodded, not sure what else to say. We slowly made our way out of the pet store; I purposely kept my eyes directly in front of me. If I saw the cute, white, and brown Chihuahua, I would definitely not want to leave it here.

“I need to go wash my hands first, they smell like dog fur.” I told Jake, looking down at my hands instead of him.

“Yeah me too,” Jake agreed making a sharp turn to the right, heading towards the bathroom.

I dogged behind him, making sure I didn’t loose him. We entered a small hallway that opened into three separate entrances at the end. The left side was for men, the right for women, and the center was for a family bathroom. I entered into the correct entrance and walked towards the sink.

I turned on the warm water and stuck my hand underneath the running faucet. Within a few seconds, the cold crisp water, turned warm and refreshing. I reached one hand up to the automatic soap dispenser and watched white, foamy soap drop onto my hands.

A grin tugged at my lips. Foam soap was the best kind of soap. It was always so fun to play with. Except for that time when I got it in my eyes. I rubbed my hands together, and then placed them back under the warm running water.

Once I made sure that no more soap stuck on my hands I twirled around to get some paper towels, but a loud gasp escaped my mouth as I almost walked straight into Faith.

“What are you doing here?!” I sputtered flaming at her.

She held her hands up, grinning at me like a moron, “I wanted to scare you.”

“Well, I bet you’re happy then, right?” I replied brushing past her to get some paper towels.

“Yes,” she paused then looked at me seriously, “I have a question.”

I furrowed my brows at her, “What is it?”

She looked like she didn’t know how to get the words out. “What’s up with you and Jake?”

My eyes widened slightly, but I quickly recovered, “What do you mean?”

I avoided her accusing stare and shifted my gaze to the trashcan.

“Maddie, I’m not stupid… even though I’m slow, I know something between you and Jake is a little different.” She finally said after a period of silence.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re exactly the same. Maybe you’re just seeing things? The shopping has gone to your head…” I trailed off babbling.

What would happen if Faith found out what happened between Jake and me? Would she tell Tristan about it? I couldn’t risk the possibility of that happening. I would be able to handle this on my own; I don’t need anyone to know about it.

“I want you to break up with Tristan.” Faith muttered under her breath.

I held my breath and looked up at her. “W-why?”

Her eyes were suddenly distant; they stared beyond me, “It would be better for you to break up with Tristan. My brother isn’t good for you…”

Before I could make any sense of what she said, she turned around and left me alone in the room. After a few minutes I walked out after her. I felt numb, and confused, very confused.

Jake waited outside the women’s bathroom. He came up to me and asked, “You okay? I saw Faith come out a few minutes before you. She seemed… different.”

I managed to fake a smile, “Yeah, everything’s fine. She was just mad that Macy’s didn’t have the kind of shirt she wanted.”

“Oh…”

I stared up at him the tears were building up from the corners of my eyes. I almost half sobbed, “I need you to be my best friend again, just for a little while.”

He sent me a questioning look, which I ignored. I pulled him by the arm into the family bathroom and locked the door. I leaned against the wall for a moment before sliding down the wall.

“Hey, Mads, what’s wrong?” Jake finally said drawing closer to me.

“I-I just need to think for a moment.” I murmured quietly as the silent tears streamed down my face.

Jake sat down next to me, with his back leaning against the wall. He wrapped an arm around me, and then he just stayed quiet.

Why did Faith want me to break up with Tristan? What did she mean when she said “My brother isn’t good for you…”? Was Tristan and Faith hiding something from me?