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CHAPTER 9
‘I don’t wanna love somebody new
I don’t wanna love someone like you
I don’t want a face to get used to
I don’t wanna love no one but you’
Love No one – Christian Gates
Jake
It pains me to admit but Jamie is right. The girl is too smart for her own good. She thinks things over and over again and always finds what could go wrong. It stops her from enjoying a lot of things in life but mainly, it stops her from enjoying what we could have. It also makes me realize that she truly believes I don’t know her. And while that’s a good enough excuse for her to let go of what we shared, it only motivates me to work harder for our relationship because I want her. I want her so bad my chest ached when she suggested stopping now. I can’t let her go, not until she’s given this a chance and makes a decision with all the information.
We pass the sign that says, ‘Thank You for Visiting Stoneview - See you soon!’ as I drive us out of our suffocating town.
“This is looking a lot like kidnapping,” she says for maybe the third time. She doesn’t know where I’m taking her, but it doesn’t matter. We just need to get away from everyone, from our expectations. From Camila and Nate. From everyone seeing her as a good girl who’s only allowed to care about the rules and the same people thinking I’m Stoneview’s player. We need to meet on neutral grounds.
“What’s your plan exactly?” she asks after another twenty minutes of silence.
I shrug. “I want to get to know you. I’m hoping you want to get to know me too.”
She gives me a shy smile and shakes her head. “We’re cutting.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time. For either of us.” I give her a look to show that I remember that time she cut after our moment in the bathroom. Now that I know she was dating Nate, I don’t want to imagine where she went that day. Was it to his house? Did they cuddle and spend the day together? Where does he even live? I’m sure I’ll know soon enough.
I exit the motorway and pass the Silver Falls sign. We park at the bottom of the trail that leads all the way up the fall. I hop out and go around to open her door as well. She needs to see what it’s like when I’m on my best behavior.
“You don’t mind a short walk, do you?” I say as I help her out of the car. She shakes her head but keeps quiet.
“What are we going to do about the stuff we left in class?” she asks.
I can’t help a small laugh. “Relax, Angel. Someone will pick them up. Chris would never leave your stuff when he takes mine.”
She nods and I grab her hand, threading my fingers with hers.
“Have you ever been up there?” I question and she quickly nods again, making some strands of hair fall in her eyes.
“My parents and I used to go every weekend,” she says as she puts the strands back behind her ears.
“Damn. You probably know the quickest way up then, don’t you?”
“Yeah you have to–” I cut her off with a quick kiss on her soft lips.
“Let’s make sure we avoid it. We want to take our time.” I pull at her hand and we start the gentle hike to the falls.
We’re the only people walking the long path and probably any path right now. No one really makes it a point to hike to the silver falls at 10:30 am on a Monday.
“Is Camila going to be okay?” she asks. And isn’t that typical of her? I’m trying to get us away from everyone so we can get to know each other, and she worries about the girl who has made her life hell in the past few weeks.
“She’s a strong girl,” I reply. “She’s in love with me. Deeply. And I know it’s my fault. I should have ended things a long time ago. It had to be done at some point and I can’t keep this going.”
She looks at me in surprise as if she didn’t think I’d have the rationality in me to end a one-sided relationship. And I really didn’t. Until I met her.
She doesn’t say anything, and I feel obliged to go into more detail, especially after what she heard in the hallway.
“It’s true,” I say while I try to gather the right way to explain my complicated, toxic relationship with Camila.
