Chapter Eight

Left, right, left, left, right. Damn it! My heart beat quickened as I fumbled to keep my balance.

“Stop!” Jake shouted.

The music and flashing lights stopped immediately. I stood on the catwalk, looking at my feet. I could hear the other models’ laughs as they watched me fail.

Jake looked at me emotionlessly. “Again.”

Instead of walking back and starting again, I looked at him pleadingly. “But I’ve done it so many times. I can’t get it right!”

“Which means you need to do it more,” he said.

“Can we just take a break?” I begged.

“Fine,” he sighed. “Okay, let’s take a 5 minute break!”

I quickly hopped off the catwalk and grabbed a bottle of water. Sitting down on a bench, I watched as a group of models jumped around, doing impressions of me. I was pretty sure they knew I could see. Like they could read my mind, the models all walked to the refreshment table.

“I don’t even understand why she got to be on the cover of the catalogue,” the tallest one said.

“Come on Michaela, she is pretty,” Brianna said. I knew her because she actually tried to talk to me today and seemed nice.

“Okay, she’s kind of cute, but in like a baby way,” Michaela said. “I could’ve done that photo shoot. I’m a better model and let’s face it girls, I’m way hotter.”

Rolling my eyes, I got up from my seat and walked to the door.

Jake saw me and ran up beside me. “Hey.”

“Hey,” I said, still focused on the door.

“Where are you going?” he asked curiously.

“I’m leaving,” I told him.

“Leaving?”

“Yeah,” I said, grabbing the door. “This is stupid.”

Jake grabbed my arm. “You can’t go now; we’re only 2 weeks away from the show!”

I shrugged. “So? I can just wing it.”

“You can’t wing it!” Jake cried, shaking me by the shoulders.

“Well I’m certainly not going back up there again. Those girls were practically feeding off my embarrassment,” I said.

“You need to practise,” he said sternly.

“I can do it at home,” I argued.

Jake looked at me dryly. “Yeah right.”

“Fine,” I sighed. “I can do it in my head.”

“How about this – either you practise now, or you come by my office after work and we’ll work on it then?” he smirked.

“What’s the difference? They will still be there,” I said.

“Nope,” Jake shook his head. “Just you and me.”

“Alone?” I gulped.

“Yup,” he said, popping the ‘p’.

I eyed him carefully. He had this smirk on his face that people only have when they’re winning. Of course, he was winning…in a way. If I said I’ll go after work, I’d be stuck with him for God knows how long. If I said no…I’d be stuck with the embarrassment of a life time plus even more embarrassment. Either way, I’d be stuck with something that I don’t want to be stuck with. What a sticky situation. Haha… sticky situation. Get it?

Taking my hesitation as his “victory”, Jake crossed his arms and tilted his head slightly so he could look down on me. “Well then Jessica, back to the runway you go.”

I glanced at the huddle of girls looking at me expectantly with menacing grins on their faces. “No thanks,” I said quickly. “I’ll see you in your office at 5.”

Taken back, Jake blinked. “Uh…”

“Bye Jake,” I laughed.

“Bye…?”

Closing the door behind me, I headed for my desk to grab my jacket. I realized how easy it was to talk to him, considering our little episode yesterday. It wasn’t like I went back on my word. We didn’t talk about anything that happened before. It was purely work related stuff. He was going to help me with my model skills and I was going out now to buy him a cranberry muffin. Purely professional.

By the time I got back to the office, the sky was beginning to darken. After I had left from Starbucks, I didn’t really feel like going back to work yet so I just walked around the city. Time passed faster than expected and it was 5 o’clock before I knew it.

Standing in the elevator, I regretted walking around so much. The balls of my feet were aching from the long walk I had and I knew I was going to do a lot more walking tonight.

I walked into Jake’s office feeling extremely tired. When I saw that he wasn’t there, I laid on his couch, deciding to take a quick nap before he came back.

“Jessica, Jessica.”

A warm hand gently shook my shoulders. I swatted at it, not wanting to wake up.

“Mmfff, go away,” I mumbled, shifting so I faced the back of the couch and my back was facing the rest of the room.

The hand moved from my shoulders to my neck, tickling me. “Get up.”

Squirming, I flipped over and grabbed the hands. I opened my hands and sat up, looking at Jake.

“What are you doing?” I asked him angrily.

“You were sleeping on my couch,” he said.

I looked around and found that I was still in his office. Through the window, I saw that the sky was almost dark. “What time is it?”

Jake sat down on beside me. “Nearly 7.”

Raising my hand, I checked the time on my watch. “7?! Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You looked so peaceful,” he said, running a hand through his hair. Leaning back on the couch, the crossed his legs and stretched out a hand around me.

I peeked at the hand uncomfortably. “Uh, are we going to practise or what?”

“Yeah okay,” he nodded, removing his hand.

I stood up, wiping my hands against my skirt.

“Okay so while you were sleeping,” Jake said, smiling at me, “I set up a fake runway kind of thing. It won’t be a raised platform, so it’ll be easier, but we can still use it.”

I studied the area for a second then walked to the beginning. “I start here?”

“You didn’t change into your outfit yet,” Jake laughed.

Staring at him disbelievingly, I put my hands on my hips. “I have to change into my outfits? There’s so many!”

“No, just one,” he explained.

I narrowed my eyes. “Which one?”

“This.” He picked up a little bag. Taking out the contents, he held them up for me to see.

My eyes widened. “No way am I wearing that.”

“Why not?” he said easily. “It’s probably the most difficult outfit for you to do, so it’s better practise. If you can handle this, you can handle anything.”

“You’re making me wearing undergarments!” I cried.

“Oh come on, they’re basically like swim suits,” Jake argued.

I crossed my arms. “Nope.”

“Fine, then you can wear something else. But I’ll see you tomorrow at the second rehearsal.” Jake crossed his arms, mocking me, and smiled defiantly.

“Threatening twice will not work,” I told him. “I will see you tomorrow then. Let’s get this show on the road.”

Jake pulled up a stool and sat at the end of the runway. It was such a ghetto one too. The edges were marked off by duct tape and that was basically it.

“Are you wearing the same shoes from before?” Jake asked, looking at my feet.

Checking my feet, I grimaced. No wonder they hurt so badly. I forgot to take off the ridiculous 5 inch heels that I had to wear.

I walked to the end of the runway and straightened my back.

Jake nodded to me. “Whenever you’re ready.”

Taking a deep breath, I started to walk. Left right, left right, left right, right, damn it. I stumbled on my feet and Jake quickly ran up to catch me.

“It’s just a simple walking process,” he laughed.

“Shut up,” I huffed, glaring at him. Stomping to the end of the runway again, I braced myself for my second try. Left, right, left right, square shoulders, remember to be graceful, left right, left left. My foot slipped underneath me and I tumbled forward. This time, Jake wasn’t fast enough to catch me and I fell on the floor. Sprawled across the floor, I flipped over so I was facing the ceiling. I laid there for a second, unmoving.

Jake’s face suddenly came into vision. He was hunched over, looking at my worriedly. “You alright?”

Staring at him blankly, I reached up and touched his cheek. His head was covering half the light and it looked like he was kind of an angel.

[a/n: if you guys have ever watched my best friend’s girl then you know what I’m talking about. Like near the beginning of the movie when he was running and then he fell and the girl was like you okay? Yeah.]

Not letting go of his face, I propped myself up with my other hand. “That was weird.”

“Yeah,” he said, looking at me curiously.

“Huh,” I said in a daze.

Jake reached his hand out to help me up and I finally removed my hand from his cheek. Taking his hand, I stood up, but didn’t let go.

“Maybe we should call it a day,” he suggested.

“Yeah,” I agreed. I still felt kind of out of it.

Releasing his hand, Jake turned to walk to his desk. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

My hand fell limp to my side and I watched him walk. “Jake,” I called.

He turned around, with his hands in his pockets. “Yeah?”

I don’t know what came over me, but I felt a sudden urge to be near him. Walking as fast as I can in my ridiculous shoes, I took a few steps closer to him. Suddenly, even surprising myself, I threw my arms around him. After a few seconds, I felt his hands wrap around my back, patting me awkwardly.

“Thanks,” I murmured into his shoulder.

“You’re welcome…?” he said. I could picture the confused look on his face.

Deciding it was time to let go, I stepped out of the hug and gave him a small smile. “See you tomorrow.”

He gave me a nod, looking shocked and stood there staring at me. With a deep sigh, I turned away from him and walked out of his office. While packing my bag, I could see him staring at me from the corner of my eye but I didn’t dare look back. I was scared if I did, I would want to go back.

These are not professional feelings, a voice at the back of the head scolded.

Whatever, they’re best friend feelings, I told myself. Just best friend feelings.

Walking away from my desk, a knot formed in my stomach, causing me to feel uneasy. I was lying to myself and I knew it. They weren’t professional feelings. They weren’t even best friend feelings. They were…never mind what they’re called, but I knew what they were. And having those, that was bad news.

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jake and jessica sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g ;)

so yeah um, please vote/comment :D

i know i always nag you guys to do that but it means a lot to me because if you dont then i dont know what you think and im always iffy about my writing :(. and also im kinda upset that this story is like 400 something on the whats hot thingy when before it was like 40. D: so maybe you guys can help? :)

thanks, love you guys

you can stop reading here. the next little bit is just me ranting.

so you know how i told you in the first part it was kinda based off my real life experiences? my guy best friend (if i can still call him that) broke up with his girlfriend AGAIN. well actually she broke up with him which is not a surprise. since september, she has broken up with him around 5 times. i'm not a relationship expert, but even i know that's a lot. and he;'s always moping and i;m always there comforting him or whatever. and hes asking me for advice so i tell him dont get back together with her because shes just gonna break up with you again. and what does he do? get back together with her everytime. which is SO annoying because why would you ask me for advice then not listen to me? SO just recently, they broke up and he was all im never gonna get back together with her. i hate her shes such a sl-t and all that jazz. but then on wednesday, i called him to hang out with him. since we go to different high schools, i rarely see him SO I WAS EXPECTING TO HANG OUT WITH HIM. but what do i hear when i call him? he's at the mall. with his ex. apparently they're just hanging out as friends but that's total bs for me. because even if you have no intention of getting back with her, why would you hang out with someone who repeatedly hurt you? i don't even understand.

so i'm pretty angry right now. that's why this chapter is really badly written. i couldnt even focus. and he kept msging me on msn too.

GAHHHHHHHH.