“Let’s move Lisa’s article to the page two, and then stick the picture from the band competition on the front page.” Jake leaned back in his chair, dropped his head and looked at me upside down. “Slow news week.”
I laughed, and turning back to the computer, focused on dragging the photo onto the right spot on the front page. “Don’t worry. If the football team makes it into the playoff games, we’ll have pictures and stories for weeks.”
“Yeah, it’s looking good for them.” Jake sat up and spun the chair around to face me. “Okay, that’s the front page. I think we’re just about done. I’ll do one final check and send it over to the printer.”
I sighed and crooked my neck, working out the kinks. “Great. I’ll upload it to the email service.” We were slowly moving the school newspaper over to a completely paperless format, but in the interim, we released it in both paper and ecopy.
“Perfect.” Jake stood up, stretching his arms over his head. He leaned over the back of my chair, caging me in with his arms on either side. “Maybe we should celebrate. Ice cream or coffee?”
I tried to stop myself from tensing. Jake and I had fallen into a comfortable relationship over the last month. We hadn’t made any formal declarations; he hadn’t asked me to be his girlfriend, and I wasn’t sure if that made a difference to anyone but me. We hung out in the newspaper office, as we always had, but more often than not, he suggested that we do something together afterwards. He held my hand when we sat in the movie theater and kissed me goodnight when he dropped me off. But he hadn’t pushed anything. We didn’t make out in his car, and he hadn’t even tried to French kiss me.
I’d hoped that if we spent more time together, that missing spark might show up. But so far, it remained MIA. I was comfortable with Jake. We had a wonderful time together. But he didn’t make me melt in my chair when he gazed into my eyes.
Apparently, though, Sarah wasn’t having any problem finding the passion with Leo. It felt like every time I turned around, there they were, attached at the lips, with Leo’s hands all over her perfect curvy body. I found it harder to hate Sarah after we’d talked at Mike Anders’ party, but it wasn’t so much of a stretch to dislike her when her fingers were tucked into the back pocket of Leo’s jeans.
“I don’t know about tonight, Jake. I think I might just head home.” I smiled, hoping it looked genuine. “After we put the paper to bed, the only thing I want to do is putmeto bed.”
“Oh. Okay.” Jake stood up, watching in silence as I gave the file one more go-over. “Q, can I talk to you about something?”
My stomach turned over. Nothing good ever came after those words. “Sure.”
“Do you like me?”
I spun my chair around. “Of course I like you, Jake. How could I help it? You’re a great guy.”
He sighed. “A great guy. Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
I quirked one eyebrow. “You’d rather I said you weren’t a great guy?”
“No, I’d rather you say ...” He rolled his eyes up. “I don’t know. That I’m exciting. Unpredictable. Maybe even a little dangerous. But that’s what keeps you coming back for more.”
I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. “I’m sorry, Jake. I think you’re one of the funniest people I know, but you’re still a great guy. I always have a wonderful time with you.”
“Yeah, that was what I was afraid of.” He dropped into his chair and gazed at me glumly. “We have fun, but you’re not dying to rip these chinos off me and have your way with my rockin’ bod?”
This time I managed to swallow my laughter. “I’m sure it’s not you. It’s me. I’m just ... slow. Backward, probably. I know none of the other girls in the school have a problem with, um, getting physical, but it’s just not me.”
“Or maybe it’s just not me who turns you on.”
I flushed, thinking of how ready and willing I’d been to let Leo do anything he wanted to me. “I’m really sorry, Jake. I like you. I love spending time with you. Maybe if we just hang out a little bit more ...”
He shook his head. “If I thought that was likely, I’d spend as much time with you as you wanted. But I don’t think it’s going to happen. I think—”
“Hey, bitches.” Gia cruised into the room, interrupting whatever Jake had been about to say. “Did I miss the big layout party? Sorry, I got held up with this damn group project.” She hopped up to sit on the counter, swinging her legs.
Jake closed his eyes for a minute and then turned to face her. “Yeah, we’re done.” His gaze met mine, and I knew he was talking about more than the paper.
“Aw, well, next week.” Gia didn’t appear to be too broken up about the whole situation. “But hey, listen. I got the scoop on some juicy gossip, fresh and hot.”
“We’re serious journalists, Gia. We’re not interested in tabloid shit.” Jake pretended to look lofty.
“Oh, yeah? So no one’s interested in the fact that I just overheard Leo Taylor breaking up with his cheerbitch?”
My head turned toward Gia so fast, I got dizzy. “What? How do you know?”
Gia smiled smugly. “I told you, I overheard it. I was just coming in, and they were the only two in the hallway just outside the locker room. It echoes there. When I realized they were having, like, a serious convo, I stopped walking so I didn’t interrupt. And I just happened to hear every word.”
My heart sped up. I knew that it was stupid, but somehow this news made me believe I might have another chance with Leo. “Did you ... could you hear who was breaking up with who?” That was important. I couldn’t imagine Sarah not wanting to be with Leo, but stranger things and all that.
