Here is chapter four.
------------------------------------
LEAP
I popped another yellow Skittle into my mouth and shook my head. "I think Big Foot would win."
"Against King Kong? Are you crazy?" Jackson asked, raising his eyebrows at me. Miley laughed and changed the channel on the TV.
"No. I mean, like, you know what they say. 'The bigger they are the harder they fall.' And plus, Big Foot could just kick him really hard," I replied.
"Yeah, but Kong could just snap his neck in half and be done with it."
I rolled my eyes. "I don't think so. Big Foot could just as easily dodge him."
"I must admit, you have a good point there. But I refuse to budge."
"Then we're at a moot point," I smiled. I couldn't even remember how this conversation had gotten started, but it had turned into this big thing.
"I guess we are," Jackson smirked, reaching across my lap to grab some Skittles. "Okay. Another question. Skittles or M & M's?"
"It depends," I answered easily.
"On what?" he stuffed a handful of Skittles into his mouth.
"On the mood I'm in."
"Or what you're craving," Miley joined in. Jackson nodded, but he looked sort of confused. "It's a girl thing."
"I eat both. At the same time," he smirked again. I shot him a disgusted look. "Dear Lilly, it all goes in the same place, does it not?"
"Shut up," I said, trying not to laugh.
Miley smiled and shook her head. "You're retarded, Jackson."
He mocked her and winked at me. Miley's phone rang and she grabbed it from the coffee table. She squealed when she saw who the call was from. She jumped up, saying, "I'll be back!"
"One guess who that was," Jackson said. I rolled my eyes. "What do you wanna watch?" he said, handing me the remote.
"Anything but a dating show," I blurted out before I had even fully comprehended the question. "I mean, um, maybe a sitcom?"
"Okay," he said, unfazed by my embarrassment. Our short silence was interrupted by the sound of Miley screaming and running down the stairs towards us.
"LILLY! JAKE ASKED ME OUT! OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!" she said, her voice higher than I thought was even possible.
"For when?" I asked, still half-watching the TV.
"Today! He has, like, three hours off the show so we're gonna go see a movie and then go to dinner! Ahhh! I'm so excited! Oh my God! What do I wear?"
With that, she screamed again and ran back up the stairs. Jackson laughed and I shook my head, temporarily deafened by her screaming. "Umm...whoa."
"She's such a drama queen," he said. "Hey. You wanna do something while she's on her date?"
The words didn't trigger any pain or memories, as they would have with anybody else; Jackson was always the perfect kind of careful around me. "Sure. Where?"
"Mini golf. I am the king," he smirked.
"Move over, then. The queen is in the house," I said.
"Can't we share the castle?"
"In your dreams!" I laughed.
Miley came down the stairs just then, and we snapped back to normal, not knowing that we had leaned in closer to each other.
"What do you think?" Miley asked me, twirling. She had on a plain white tee, some necklaces, and a brightly colored skirt that came up above her knees.
"The question should be: what the hell are you thinking with that skirt? Is Jake looking for a hooker or a girlfriend?" Jackson said, frowning at her. It was the first time I had seen him actually being protective over her.
"Oh my God, it's fine. Right, Lills?" she said, turning to me.
"Yeah. It looks great!"
A weird look crossed Miley's face and she turned to me, saying, "Oh! Lilly! I'm sorry! I'm not gonna leave you leave here alone! I'm gonna go cancel!"
"No, Miles! Me and Jackson are, um, gonna go mini golfing," I said slowly, wondering if the fact that I would be hanging out with her brother would be weird.
"Oh, okay! That's great!" Miley said just as soon as we heard a horn honk. "Yay! That's him! Bye, Lills! Love you! Bye Jackson!" She darted out of the door and towards Jake's silver car. I saw her smile at him and had to look away.
"So? You still think you can beat me?" Jackson said, flashing me a smile.
I got up and said, "Come on, you sissy. Get your keys."
---
I turned to Jackson and smirked. "Hole in one."
"Bah! It's only the third hole," he said, taking his golf ball and positioning it. "Get ready to cry, little girl."
"Blah blah blah. Just hit the ball," I said, leaning on my club.
He hit the ball too hard, wincing as it whizzed past a man's head. I laughed and he turned around, ushering me to the next hole. "Mini golf king. Spare me."
"Oh, shut up," he said, smirking at me.
At the eighteenth hole, I hit the ball and, once again, got a hole in one. "I win!" I turned around to brag, but Jackson was nowhere in sight. "Jackson?" I could feel my heart beating faster and faster until I spotted him a small table, waving to me.
"Lills! Over here!" he yelled. People turned to glare at him, annoyed by the disruption, but he didn't seem to notice.
I walked over to him, saying, "Where'd you go?" He gestured to the table, which was covered with tons of food. "Gosh, you think we'll think need this much?"
He laughed. "I will! I'm starved."
"Oh yeah, all those calories we burned off! Whew!" I said sarcastically, taking a seat across from him. I picked up a French fry and took a bite of it while Jackson chewed on a cheeseburger.
He swallowed and smiled at me. "Guess what?"
"What?"
"Guess."
"You found out a better saying than 'Stretch it Like Stewart?'"
"No, but you're close."
"Tell me."
"I have my first game Friday."
"Nuh uh! Awesome. What time?"
"Starts at seven."
"I'll be there!" I said, eating another French fry.
"Seriously?"
"Yeah! Why not? Unless you don't want me to go," I added quickly.
"No, no! I just didn't know if you would want to go to anything sports related. I mean, most girls don't like that kind of stuff," he said slowly.
I rolled my eyes. "Please. What a stereotype! I'll be there."
His smile got even bigger. "Cool."
And I found myself smiling, too.
---
I hopped out of Miley's car. Miley leaned over the passenger seat. "Are you sure you can handle it?"
I smiled and nodded. "Totally. See you tomorrow!"
"Okay. Bye," Miley said, rolling up the car window and driving away. I let out a breath and turned around to face the one thing I hadn't been to in months: my house.
It was okay from outside. I unlocked the door and stepped inside, expecting to be knocked over by all-too-familiar emotions. But...nothing. Nothing but the blinking red light of the answering machine.
I clicked the play button and my mom's voice came on. "Hey, Lilly," she started, sounding sad and unhopeful, "call me if you're back. I love you!"
Sadness and guilt washed over me like the ocean. My mom had probably waited for my call everyday, but had received nothing but disappointment and silence from her only daughter for the last three months.
I pressed the call button and got her voicemail, so I said, "Hey, Mom. It's Lilly. I'm back now, and I wanted to say sorry for never calling you. I'm really sorry! I love you!"
I sighed and sat down on my familiar couch, taking in my house. Suddenly, my cell phone rang. I looked at the LCD screen. Miley.
I answered it, saying, "Hey, Miles."
"Hey. You okay?"
"Oh, yeah. I'm great! Hey, I gotta go; I'm getting another call!" I said. I waited for her to say bye before clicking the talk button. "Hello?"
"Lills!" I heard a familiar voice say. I moved the phone from my ear and checked the name; it was my brother, Derek.
"Derek!" I squealed. "Where are you?"
"On your left," he said. I could almost hear the smirk in his voice. I looked to my left and, of course, there he was, cell phone at his ear, smiling at me through the glass doors.
I ran over, dropping my cell phone, opened the door and hugged him. "Derek!" I repeated.
"Are you on break or something?" I asked him as I bustled around the kitchen, trying to find some snacks.
"I guess so. Early spring break or something like that..." he said, trailing off, something he did when he was keeping something inside.
"What is it?" I asked, leaning on the kitchen counter and grinning at him.
"I...I think I wanna make a b-big change in my life," Derek said, stumbling through the words.
"Like what?"
"I'm going to propose to Lana," he said, not looking at me. Lana was his girlfriend of over five years, and I knew that he loved her more than anything in the world.
"No way! That's so amazing, Derek! Aww, that is so sweet!"
"You think she'll say yes?"
"Of course she'll say yes! You two have been together forever; you've known each other forever! Plus, you're a great guy! Why would she say no?" I said, finding myself beaming.
"I don't know, Lills. This whole thing is so...so confusing," he said, hesitating.
"I'm not following. What thing?"
"Love."
The one word, one silly syllable was enough to send waves of sadness and panic all throughout my body. "Love," I repeated, the word mangled and detached. "Yes." I shook my head. "It's confusing, but you know you absolutely love Lana, right?"
"More than anything," he answered, not even a second after the words left my mouth.
"Then it's worth it. It's worth everything, Derek. Don't let it get away." The words came out thick. I tried to ignore the pangs my heart was sending me.
"Thanks, Lills," he said, patting the spot on the couch next to him. I walked over and sat down, suddenly exhausted.
"Anytime," I said, closing my eyes. "Anytime..."
The last thing I remember is Oliver's face flashing beneath my shut lids...
---
I zipped up my jacket and locked the door behind me. I headed out to my car, which I hadn't driven in months. I smiled at it, remembering how excited I was when I had first gotten it. The good old days, I thought to myself.
Derek had left a couple of days ago, after telling Mom he was thinking of proposing to Lana, making her squeal and smile for hours, having her lose even more sleep. We said our goodbyes, short and sweet, as always, and he was off again.
I climbed into the car and took out my cell phone, calling Miley. "Hey."
"Hey," Miley answered.
"I'll be there in a few minutes, okay?"
"'Kay," she replied, "I'll see you then."
I pulled up to Miley's house and lightly honked on the horn. She came out in capris and a simple tank top, jacket tied around her waist.
"Let's go!" she said as she climbed into the passenger side of my car.
I smiled and drove away from her house, towards the school. "Think we're gonna win?"
"Dunno," she answered, checking her reflection in the side mirror. "It's only our first soccer game. I can't really decide whether we suck yet."
I laughed. We were going to Jackson's first soccer game. I was going to go alone at first, but Miley had vied to go with me. I knew she was just going because Jake was on the team, too, but it would be nice that she would be there with me.
Barely any people were at the game, so it wasn't too hard to find seats. Jackson--and the rest of the team, of course--turned out to be really good, and they won their first game. The small crowd cheered as Jake scored the winning goal, ending the game.
"GO JAKE!" Miley squealed, doing a one-girl wave. Jake jogged over to her, kissing her, and Miley didn't seem to mind his sweaty state.
Jackson walked over to us, turning to me as he took in Miley and Jake, nearly in Full Makeout Mode. "Hey."
"Hey," I said, smiling. "You were great!"
"You think so? Thanks," he said smiling.
I hopped off the bleacher, finding myself closer to Jackson. And as he took another step, and I took another step, I could feel my heart trying to stitch itself back together, trying to find the pieces that had been torn off. We were so close to each other, and all I wanted, all I needed, was to take that one last step, that leap that would either take me to safety or throw me into the ocean without a life jacket, leaving me to kick and scream...
...again.
---------------------------
Sorry for the late update! I'll put the same thing I put at the end of Imperfect.
NOTE: I might not update for a while; exams are coming up and I really need to study and buckle down! So if you don't see me around for a while, I haven't deserted any of my stories! Thank you.
Toodles!
Kiso