“Have you always wanted to ride a bike professionally?” she quickly changes the subject.
“Yes and no. Until I was ten years old, I wanted to be something new every day, you know, like a pilot, a fireman or a cop. But once I sat down on a bike, I instantly knew that this was it.” Her smile disappears, and her lips form a straight line. “Why do you always seem so sad?” I blurt out.
“Jake...” she starts hesitantly, but I interrupt her.
“And you rarely smile. I almost never see you smile or hear you laugh, but when you do smile, you practically light up the whole room. You should laugh more often.”
“Jake, please...” she says in a strained voice.
“What happened to you? Why are you so sad?”
“I don’t want to talk about it,” she says determined.
“Why not?” Confusion is written all over my face.
“I just don’t.” She stands up angrily, and walks away.
I run after her. “I’m sorry, okay?” I say, as I grab her shoulder to stop her. She turns to me. “I’m sorry,” I repeat. “I won’t bug you with questions anymore. When you’re ready, you’ll tell me.” She watches me seriously, and finally nods.
“Thank you,” she says, almost inaudibly. We walk back to the car, so I take her home.
As we are standing outside her front door and she unlocks it, she says: “I had a good time.” I nod and smile.
“Me, too. Can I call you tomorrow?” I’m not sure she wants to hear from me considering her outburst from earlier. She gives me a nod and I shift from one foot to another.
“Good night, Jake,” she says and closes the door. I’m still standing there a few minutes later, thinking things over. A thought crosses my mind and I knock vigorously on her door. The date did not end the way I imagined it would, and I intend to fix that. “Did you forget something?” she asks, surprised to see me still there.
“Hell yeah,” I say, and approach her with a determined step. Before she can realize what is happening, I grab her, lean her back and kiss her fiercely. “This,” I say, contentedly, as I let her go, give her a big grin, and leave.
Ella
I’m standing in the doorway, watching him go. My fingers are pressed against my lips. I still can’t believe he kissed me. The kiss ended so soon I didn’t have the chance to kiss him back. When he is long gone, I close the door and walk to my bathroom, where I take off my clothes and get into the shower. I’m consumed by mixed emotions. The touch of his warm lips against mine was wonderful. It wasn’t a long kiss, but it was passionate. It was rough, yet gentle. I haven’t been kissed like that since Josh and it felt phenomenal. I’m so confused—Josh’s kisses were phenomenal, too. Can I allow myself to feel like this about a person again? Am I ready to give love another try? I turn off the water, step outside the shower, and wrap a towel around me. I brush my teeth and head to bed, full of conflicted emotions.
When I wake up the following morning, a text from Sophie is already waiting for me.
Sophie: You’re all over the newspapers!!!
Me: ???
Sophie: Your date with Jake yesterday—you’re in every magazine and all over Internet, everybody is wondering if you two are an item. There are also some pictures of you two in front of the cinema and in some park.
What? How? There wasn’t any press there. How is this possible? I run to my laptop, wait for it to turn on, and then I type Jake’s name into the browser. The articles that pop up on my screen are all wondering if I’m Jake’s new flavor of the month. The first article shows pictures of us from our date, and the caption reads:
True Love or Another Broken Heart on the Horizon?
Famous motorcycle rider Jake Burns, known for his charming ways with women, was spotted yesterday at the movies with an unknown woman. The two lovebirds appeared very comfortable in each other’s company, and it looked like they have known each other for a long time. An anonymous source has told us they couldn’t take their eyes off each other during the movie. The source later followed them into the park where the lovey-dovey couple has spent quite some time locked in an intimate conversation. Jake and the mystery woman then drove off in his car. Is this just another notch on this heartthrob’s bedpost or could it be anything more serious? We will just have to wait and see.
The part about Jake and his flavors of the month bothers me. What does this mean? Was he dating them or just ‘using’ them? Another reason why we should only be friends. There’s another picture of us when I scroll down. We are sitting on the bench, Jake’s hand is behind my back, and it looks like he’s hugging me around the shoulders. My face is luckily in the shadows, I doubt anyone would be able to recognize me, which is a relief. But I’m still pissed that someone followed us around just to get some pictures of us. I can’t imagine how it must be for Jake, who has to deal with this practically every day.