‹ Prequel: Wretched and Divine
Status: active

Ohio Is for Lovers

Chapter Eleven

Winter had fallen over the state of Ohio and left the cities and towns covered in a thick blanket of snow. Lena hadn't seen Derek since the day they went out for coffee and that had been almost a week ago now. She knew he was upset but there was no way to explain the last four years of her life with Jake to Derek without hurting him any more.

In an attempt to get her mind off everything, she decided to help her mom out by shoveling the driveway, but that only made things worse. The solitude brought back memories she hadn't thought of in forever.

Being distracted by her thoughts, she hadn't even noticed Jake trudging up the driveway towards her with a shovel in his hand. "Need some help?" He called out.

Lena could feel a smile growing behind her lips but she forced it back. "What brings you over here?" She wondered.

Jake shrugged, planting the shovel into the deep snow. "We cleared out Andy's parents' driveway in about three minutes flat and I thought maybe you could use some help over here."

She peered behind Jake, looking for traces of anyone else coming up behind him. "Did you... bring anyone else?"

Jake shook his head. "Nope, just me."

"Well," Lena dug her shovel into the snow. "Let's get moving."

The two shoveled and shoveled until their backs ached and their noses were frozen to the bone. At one moment, Jake stopped to look up at Lena, hustling away and trying to clear the snow quickly. He observed the way she seemed so focused and how the tip of her nose grew pink from the cold. Her cheeks became rosy and there were traces of fallen flakes tangled in her blonde hair. He began to wonder why he had ever let her go in the first place.

When they had cleared out the entire way, Jake figured his job was done and he better head back to Andy's place.

"Where are you going?" Lena asked when she saw Jake heading back to the car sitting on the snow covered sidewalk. "Don't you want to come inside maybe? I'll make us some hot chocolate, if you want." She sounded hesitant, almost like she was speaking to him for the first time.

He smiled slightly. "Yeah, okay. I'd like that."

She reached for his hand and helped him walk up the icy driveway and to the front door of her house. They stomped all the snow off their boots and left them by the door to dry off. He followed her to the kitchen where she began pulling mugs off the shelves and prepping the milk in the microwave.

They both felt it. It felt like they were back in Jake's apartment in LA, living together under the same roof and having that same love they always had. There always had been that sort of comfort with Jake. Andy had felt more adventurous and dangerous. With Jake, they could be apart for years, and come back to one another with no change in the way they interacted or felt about each other.

"Thanks." Jake said as Lena placed his mug of hot chocolate down in front of him.

Lena walked around to the other side of the counter to sit down next to him. "I miss you." She said unexpectedly. Even she was surprised when the words had fallen out of her mouth like that so easily.

"Me too." He nodded, "I miss this. I miss... us." He admitted. "That's why I came here. And it's why you came back. Here; This town; This is where everything started. And this is where it's all going to end, isn't it?"

She began to think maybe Jake was right. Ohio was where the shit storm that tore apart her life had began. This town; their old high school; those were the places she met Jake and Andy. Maybe they had all been brought back for a reason: to finally put the high school drama to rest and grow up; to finally start acting like the adults they were.
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So I'm going to start working on the OIFL soundtrack on 8tracks.com today hopefully. When I have it done, I'll post a link in the author's note so you guys can listen to it!