"I'm in love with you."
Brown eyes misty with tears shot up to meet his, full of anguish and heartache. "Don't." She whispered, silently pleading with him to take the words back.
But it was too late. The words had already been released out there into the atmposphere and there was no possible way to swallow them back again.
"Don't say that." She begged, her hand fluttering up to her clenching heart.
He stepped forward, his own had reaching out to her but she stumbled backwards, hitting the brick wall behind her.
"I… I'm sorry." He apologized stepping closer, his warmth offering only a fragment of comfort to her tortured soul.
"I don't need you to say to that." She shook her head, her brown hair falling from the pins it had been stylishly designed in so many hours before. Back when she'd been excited and happy and hopeful. Now she was simply crushed.
"What do you need me to say?" He placed a hand on her soft cheek, brushing a falling tear from her cheek that left a trail in her make up.
She looked into his own soulful deep brown eyes, connecting with him in a way she realised she hadn't with her boyfriend in a long time. If at all.
Her lips parted, only slightly, damp with tears and red lip gloss. His gaze shifted briefly to them before focusing back into her eyes.
"I don't need you to say anything." The implication was clear.
Her eyes were on him but her mind wasn't with him anymore. It was back in the gym under the bright lights and surrounded by the loud music. Not outside under the dim light of the parking lot with the distant sounds of passing traffic.
"Hey." He called her back to him and her head snapped, her limp lifeless form forcing itself to fake it's usual vibrancy again.
Her hand found her face as it wiped at the stray tears she hadn't been aware were falling. She seemed surprised to find them and stared wordlessly at the damp on her hands as the wheels turned in her head.
"I have to go back to my boyfriend now." She steeled herself, staring at the floor as she gathered the strength to address him face to face.
"And?" He pressed, ducking his head and cupping her chin.
"And what?" She bit, letting him jerk her chin up to face him head up.
"You're just gonna go back in there and be with him? Dance with him? Drink with him? Walk in hand in hand with him?" He blasted, taking a step away from her and dropping his hand from her face like he'd been burnt. "Fuck him?" He taunted. If it were any other girl she'd have turned away in embarrassment or anger.
But she wasn't any other girl.
"Yes."
He shook his head, more at disbelief in himself than her. "You are something else."
"Like you didn't already know that." She snapped, smoothing down her dress and toying with her hair.
"I thought you had more self respect than to put up with a guy whose shagging one of your best friends." He bit.
It was visible that his words hit a raw nerve in her and she reacted by slapping him across the face. Her hand connected with his jaw causing his head to snap and the sound of the contact to echo around the vacant surrounding area.
She took a step away, horrified and all wide eyes. "I'm sorry."
He wiped at a drop of blood that fell from his mouth where her ring had connected with the skin of his lips. "Me too."
She looked away from him and over at the near empty parking lot only littered with a few beer cans and a couple of cars. "Lets just…" She trailed off, working up the courage to finish the sentence,
"Forget this night?" He provided for her.
She nodded, allowing them a few moments of silence to reflect. "I'm going back in."
She allowed herself one last look at him and he let her, raking in every last bit of her physicality in that moment as he could. "I'm not going back." He declared. "Tell them I'm sick and I'll see them in school on Monday." He shrugged. "How will you explain our disappearance?" He pressed, not wanting to let her go just yet.
"They won't even notice that we're gone."
And the sad truth was there 'group' probably wouldn't.
She walked forward until she was standing directly in front of him and kissed him on the cheek, lingering longer than she should, before turning on her heel and walking back to the door with her heels clicking against the concrete.
"I'll see you Monday Brooke." He called after her.
She didn't turn back, but appreciated and acknowledged the normalcy in his tone. "I'll see you Monday Jake."
Where the hell did that come from? I just read a Brooke/Jake story and it started the wheels turning in my head and this poured out as a product of it. It was quite literally whipped up in 15 minutes which you can probably tell from the poor quality of it. I'll most likely come back and delete or edit it in a couple of times when the fog clears in my brain and I truly see how terrible this is.