The Dates.

The weekend, thankfully. Jake and I had agreed as we left school on Friday that the interviews would continue the following Tuesday, so that I was given a sufficient block of time off from quizzing girls.

I was perched on the end of my bed, a pen sticking out of my mouth as I stared blankly at my homework. I couldn't even register what it was for; it could be for any of my subjects. I couldn't be bothered.

I heard a quiet knock on my door. If I hadn't been listening properly, I might have missed it because it was barely audible. I waited for a moment before it happened again.

"Um, come in?" I said aloud past my pen, unsure if there was anyone really out there and it was my ears playing tricks on me.

My bedroom door creaked open and Jake peered around it to look at me. He looked like he was hiding behind it, sort of on edge about something. I watched him curiously as he shuffled in, acting completely unlike his usual self. Normally, he'd fly into my room and make a bee line straight for my bed, leaving crumbs from cookies or cakes all over my sheets without even caring. Right now, he seemed cautious of his movements and remained uncertainly by my door.

"Jake? What are you doing here?" I wondered as I removed the pen from my lips. It wasn't entirely unusual for him to turn up out of the blue but today, I definitely wasn't expecting him to turn up ...well, unexpectedly.

He warily glanced at me and shuffled further into my room, stopping short of where I was sat staring at him confusedly. Shakily, he dragged his fingers through his hair and breathed out a ragged breath.

"Dude...Jake? Are you okay?"

He opened his mouth but shook his head and gulped, closing it again. I was starting to get worried and considered calling for my mum but he started pacing agitatedly around my room, muttering to himself. In a blink of an eye, he was back where he'd been a few minutes ago, standing over me like some looming, skittish creature.

"Andy, I need to talk to you." he finally said, scratching at his neck tentatively.

This wasn't what I thought he was going to say. I didn't think he would be behaving like some maniac just because he wanted to talk to me. I mean, we'd spoken a thousand times before now so I couldn't see why he'd get all fidgety like he was now. Whatever he was planning on having a conversation about, I knew it was going to be bad.

He seemed to pull himself together a little and dragged my computer chair closer to me, though not as close as he normally would have. He'd left a huge space between us and I couldn't even reach him if I tried.

"Look. This is going to sound really crazy because of everything I've said and done whenever she's been around but I can't not tell you anymore. I wanted to tell you right away but I just...I froze whenever I tried to." Jake said hurriedly.

I stared at him, confused. "Okay..."

Jake stopped again and looked away to my bedroom door, as if he was expecting someone. I followed his gaze and he caught me watching too before turning bright red and glancing away.

"So, um, are you going to tell me or...?" I left the sentence hanging, my words lost in the space between us. Jake fidgeted and I could feel my patience with him ebbing away.

"Okay, okay! I'll tell you." Jake said, knowing I was going to lose my temper. "Look, Emma and I are...well, we're kind of going out."

I scratched the back of my head and laughed. "That's funny. I thought I just heard...I mean, you guys argue all the time. Sorry, I must have misheard you. Can you repeat that?"

Jake looked abashed and tried to sneak a look at my doorway again. He sighed loudly and turned back to me.

"Expecting someone?" I asked, not allowing what he had just told me to sink in.

"Me and Emma are dating, Andrew." he said slowly, like I was a child who needed something to be explained to me properly.

I fell silent. Jake leaned back in my computer chair and started chewing on his thumb nail nervously, his eyes darting back to the door every few seconds. I could tell he didn't want to look me in the face and I knew why. I was going into shock.

From somewhere downstairs, I could hear my mother murmuring but to who, I had no idea. I could hear the tell tale hissing of the kettle being boiled and my mother's slippers scratching across the wooden floor in our kitchen. I could hear everything downstairs but here in my room, something had blocked out all the noise. All I could see was Jake disgustingly chewing, almost ravenously, on his nail.

Jake's mouth flapped open but I couldn't hear him. It was like I'd hit the mute button on his voice. He rose from the chair slightly, probably worried at the lack of my communication skills. He was miming my name, or at least I thought he was.

And then the sound came flooding back, his voice growing louder as it finally carried through to my ears.

"Andrew? Andy, are you alright? Bloody hell, talk to me." he begged.

Why did this news of Jake and Emma hit me so hard? Why did I care if they had gotten together? Sure, it would have been nice to be told straight away but that couldn't be the reason why I was feeling so dejected. Why was I so against my best guy friend falling for my best girl friend?

"Andrew? God, should I get your mum?" he wondered, probably to himself seeing as I was past being able to form an understandable sentence.

Jesus, did I like Emma? Did I really like her? I didn't think so...I would have known, right? I definitely didn't feel like I liked her in that way. Maybe it was something to do with Jake? God, what if I never see him anymore because he's always with Emma? I won't have a best friend to watch crappy movies or play Call of Duty with if that happens.

"You can't go out with her!" I shouted, startling Jake.

He looked at me, his eyebrows knotting together in bewilderment. "What did you say?"

Did I have to spell it out for him, for Christ's sake?

"I said, you can't go out with her! You...you hate each other. How the hell could you just start seeing each other when I know you hated her a few days ago?"

Jake's face was changing colour rapidly. I moved away from him, unsure of whether he was going to punch me or not. I had clearly underestimated how much I had pissed him off because he bounded from the chair and flung himself across my bed at me, his hands clawing at the ends of my jeans. I tried kicking him off but he was stronger than me, as he had always been, and dragged me back across the bed closer to him. His face hovered above mine, his teeth grinding together. I'd never seen him so mad.

"Don't say what I can do, Andy. That right isn't up to you." he growled, his hands clutching my shirt. "And as far as I was aware, I wasn't too fond of her but she turned up at my house the other day, demanding to know why I was such a jerk to her, and one thing led to another and..."

I couldn't look away from him. We remained as we were, breathing heavily at each other, unsure of what to do next. I took a deep breath in and squared my shoulders as much as I could.

"Go on then." I told him heatedly.

This threw him. His grasp on me weakened slightly but it was still enough to keep me where I was.

"What do you mean? Go on then?" he asked, forgetting his anger for a moment.

"Hit me. I know you want to so just go on." I said, squeezing my eyes shut and bracing myself for the impact.

I heard footsteps enter my room and a small gasp. "What the hell are you doing, Jake?"

My eyes snapped open. Emma was stood in my doorway holding a tray with drinks and a plate of cookies. She was looking between us with a frown on her face, the tray trembling slightly in her hands. So that was who my mum was talking to downstairs. She must have bombarded Emma while Jake crept up the stairs.

"Em, this...this..." Jake stuttered, unable to tell her what this exactly was.

She rolled her eyes at us and slammed the tray down onto my bedside table, knocking over my alarm clock and spilling some of the drinks onto the cookies. Wiping her hands on her jeans, she turned to us and shook her head.

"I take it Jake's told you?" she said flatly, carrying on without bothering to listen to my reply. "And you must have said something to him or else he wouldn't have you pinned down right now."

I twisted my head away from her, feeling ashamed about what I had said to Jake. I guess I was acting a bit obnoxiously; I mean, I used to hang around with Gemma a lot and leave Jake out all the time. I was being such a damn hypocrite.

"If I let you go, do you promise not to go all loco?" Jake said, peering down at me.

I laughed without humour, feeling like crap because I was such a bad friend. "You're the one who went crazy, remember?"

Jake didn't say anything, he only rolled off me and walked over to Emma. The two of them stood before me and I wanted to groan out loud because of my idiocy. I looked down at their entwined hands and could see Jake gripping tightly onto Emma's like his life depended on it. His face was as white as a sheet and I felt bile rise in my throat, knowing I was the reason why he felt so scared. He didn't want to lose our friendship and I'd been acting like a dumbass.

"Look, Jake...I'm sorry, really. I, I have no idea why I said that stuff to you. You're my best friend and I should be happy for you." I mumbled as I stared at the floor.

"Same, man. God knows why I went all Batman on you for." he replied, grinning with embarrassment.

"Batman?"

"Yeah, you know...grabbing your shirt and growling in your face and crap. Sorry." he said, ignoring Emma shaking her head disbelievingly at him.

I nodded and gestured at the cookies Emma had brought up. "Look at that, Em. Totally ruined our food, getting the drinks on them and all."

I held up an offending, sodden cookie and Emma scowled at me, turning her nose up in the air. I could tell she was joking.

Jake laughed and turned back to me, snatching the cookie out of my hand and cramming it into his mouth. "Oh, and Andy? I wasn't gonna hit you anyway...just so you know."