Megan walked back to the group with Jen, trying to look like nothing much had happened. Of course Jake knew better; after all the time he'd spent with her, Megan would have expected nothing less of him – regardless of his actual feelings towards her.
"If you guys are done, we should probably head in." Drew told them.
He had that smarmy little smirk he got whenever he thought Megan was in trouble for something. But Megan didn't care; she was too focused on what Jen said to even be annoyed at her little brother subtly ordering her around. She just nodded, following the group through the wooden double doors.
Megan wanted to go in last so no one would see the weird look she was sure she was wearing. Of course, the problem with going in last was that it left Jake to wait for her.
"Are you ok?" he asked quietly.
"I'm fine." she told him. But she was still thinking about what Jen had said. She glanced casually out of the corner of her eye, trying to get a read on him. Could he really be doing all this just to mess with her?
Megan followed her friends down the aisle. She'd tried to put as many people as she could between her and Jake, but somehow it didn't work. When everyone was finally seated, Megan found herself with Karen on her left and him on her right. How had she managed that? Well, at least she wasn't sitting next to Drew, she thought to herself. She really didn't want to deal with her little brother's questions about why she suddenly wasn't talking to Jake anymore.
Jake leaned over to say something to her, but she held her hand up, effectively preventing him from telling her whatever it was he had in mind. She really wanted to ask him if Jen was right, but she knew she couldn't do that now, not with everyone sitting around her like this. And she really didn't want to act like everything was ok until she had time to think. He tried to look like nothing was wrong as he turned to ask Greg something, but Megan had seen a flash of worry that made her feel just a tiny bit guilty.
As the lights dimmed, Jake turned casually back to her. Even in the dark, Megan could see the confusion on his face.
"What happened?" he whispered quietly.
But Megan ignored him. No matter how hard she tried to forget it, Jen's words kept ringing in her ears. How could she have been so stupid? So instead, she kept her eyes forward, staring intently at the screen.
28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4o1l1EL6dw
●・○・●・○・●
28Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAqnkRaIEiO
By the end of the night, Megan had managed to cheer herself up quite a bit. She was still worried about the whole Jake thing, but she decided to just ignore it – and him – altogether. Still, she was almost glad when Ben came to pick her and Drew up. Jake had told Drew that he'd get a ride home on his own, which Megan was grateful for. Of course, she knew he'd be up in the room as soon as she got there, but it gave them both a good excuse for why no one would be coming to look for him.
Megan walked into her room almost dreading the conversation she knew she'd be having. She wanted to know what was really going on, sure, but only if it was good news. As soon as she shut the door safely behind her, Jake was standing there in the middle of the room, just like she knew he would be.
"May I ask what happened back at the movie theater?" he asked, giving a slight bow.
Megan couldn't help but notice he was back to that formal stiffness he'd had when she first met him. She practically expected his clothes to morph into those blue pants of his right in front of her eyes.
"May you?" she repeated. He hadn't asked her for anything that nicely since he'd started going to school with her.
"If it's alright?" he tried again, his brow wrinkling.
"That's not what I meant." Megan snapped, more from nerves than any actual feelings of anger. She took a breath, forcing herself to calm down. If he did actually like her, yelling at him would only make this worse.
"What do you think happened?" she asked levelly. She wanted to know what he was thinking before she laid her cards on the table like that.
"I just meant that things were going really well at first. Then you went and talked to Jen."
"So?" Megan asked.
"So, then you didn't exactly seem happy anymore. Before that, you were actually talking to me." he shrugged.
Just this afternoon, Megan would have interpreted that look as one of bewilderment, maybe even disappointment. Now, she wasn't so sure.
"Why does it matter?" Megan asked.
"I don't want you to be unhappy." he told her.
"Yeah – but why?" she asked again. She wanted to hear his reason. "'Cause I'm your master?" Megan noticed he winced at the word.
"Well, that's part of it." Jake admitted. And for the first time in almost three weeks, he actually looked uncomfortable. Megan was pretty sure she looked almost as uncomfortable hearing him say it.
"Well, why would a little thing like that bother you?" she asked haughtily, all her hurt feelings turning to anger. "I mean, that thought didn't seem to concern you when you made yourself my fake boyfriend."
"Did I do something wrong?" he asked, looking at her almost warily. "I mean – tonight?"
Megan sighed. Of course he hadn't – he never technically did anything wrong. That was the whole problem; no matter how careful she thought she was, he always seemed to operate just outside whatever boundaries she thought she'd set.
"Things just happen too fast with you." she said finally. "I need some time to think."
"Alright." he said, bowing slightly.
It was amazing. Just that simple gesture, and Megan almost completely forgot why she'd started to think of him as a friend in the first place. It was as if he'd just told her that he really was only there to serve. And if that was true, maybe Jen was right after all.
"So, don't talk to me for a couple days, ok?"
She needed time to figure out not just where she stood with him, but how she felt about this whole thing herself. And she couldn't do that with him constantly following her around.
Jake's eyes widened, and he looked almost hurt. But he nodded in agreement.
"You can still go to school and everything." she told him. There was no point in making things any more complicated than they already were.
Jake nodded. Suddenly, he looked kind of small standing there. But Megan had already made her decision – she couldn't go back on it now.
"I'll talk to you later, ok?"
Jake nodded again. Then, he was gone.
The next day at school, Megan tried to pretend that everything was normal. Of course, Jake was still in class with her, but for the first time since they started pretend-dating, he didn't try to talk to her. He still sat next to her in history – they had assigned seating, after all. But he seemed to be almost ignoring her. Megan would have been kind of upset, but she remembered what she'd specifically told him over the weekend – don't talk to me. So instead, she tried to be grateful that he pretended to be just another kid in her class.
In math, he had a kind of weird look on his face when she sat down. And even though she caught him staring over at her a couple of times, he still didn't say anything. Even in science, when they needed to find partners, he'd immediately buddied up with Greg. Megan had to admit, she was almost a little jealous. But he was giving her what she asked for, wasn't he? She was supposed to be happy about that. Megan looked wistfully at Jen, ready to partner up with her.
Of course, half the class was absolutely dying to be partners with Megan, even though she knew next to nothing about science. And of course Megan ignored them; it didn't even faze her anymore. Still, she would have thought by now that someone other than Jen would have realized how little she actually brought to the table – she was even worse in science than she was in Spanish!
"You ok?" Jen asked, once the boys had left the table.
Megan just nodded, not feeling up to explaining.
"Did you have a fight with Jake or something?"
"I've just been thinking about what you said last night." Megan sighed, wishing silently that Jen wasn't so perceptive.
"And?" Jen pressed.
"I just told him that we probably shouldn't hang around with each other so much for a while."
"That's probably best." Jen nodded. Then hesitating, she added, "So, does that mean you broke up with him?"
"What?" Megan asked, shocked. "Of course not! I wouldn't waste a wish on something like that."
"Good." Jen nodded. "I mean – you're still trying to get him to break up with you, right?"
"Of course I am." Megan told her. Though, truth be told, she'd kind of forgotten about that.
ns 15.158.61.54da2
