Jake's POV
"Jake" Emma giggles as she tries to squirm from my tickling fingers. We've been dating for a week and I couldn't be happier. We're currently at my house, and we had been watching the live action Cinderella. But now I have her pinned underneath me on the living room couch while I tickle her stomach and kiss her cheeks.
"Say it!" I playfully demand as I continue to assault her with tickles.
"No!" she exclaims through her giggles.
"Say it!" I playfully insist as I begin tickling her faster.
"Okay okay! you're ten times hotter than prince Kit!" she squeals. I chuckle and stop tickling her, but I keep my hands on her waist.
"Good" I chuckle, kissing her cheek. She huffs in annoyance but I can see that she's fighting to hold back a grin.
"But on a more serious note, can we please watch a different movie? I will gladly watch anything else you pick" I plead, giving her a small pout. If I've learned anything this past week, it's that Emma cannot say no to me when I'm pouting. Just like I can never say no to her when she does it. That's what got us watching this blasted movie in the first place. Don't get me wrong I like the movie, I really do, but there's only so much of my girlfriend going on and on about how dreamy the prince is I can take.
"Okay" she sighs dramatically, getting up and taking the DVD out of the player. She puts it back in it's case and goes over to the giant bookcase of movies next to the TV. She browses for a moment and seems to find one she's interested in. She takes it of the shelf and gasps in shock when she sees the cover. She looks over at me with her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.
"What's wrong?" I ask her concerned, I get up and walk over to her. I look down at the case and my own eyes widen.
'Oh come on! Out of all of the movies on this damn case she had to pick this one' I internally curse.
"What's this?" she asks me curiously, gesturing to the case in her hands. I gulp nervously and look down at it, my own eyes staring back at me.
"Well um..." is all I manage to stutter out nervously.
"Jake" she says softly, putting her hand on my cheek. I look into her eyes and all I see is pure kindness, and worry in her eyes. I take a deep breath and close my eyes to try and get my thoughts together, it's time to tell her the truth about my own past. Even if it is something I swore to myself years ago that I would never speak of again. I open my eyes and look down at Emma, and I feel my stomach tie into knots because of how nervous I am.
"You should sit down" I say nervously.
"Okay" she says confusedly, taking her hand off of my cheek and going to sit down on the couch.
"Look um...there's something I need to tell you, I should have told you this before I asked you out but I was really really scared" I start to explain shakily.
"Jake you're scaring me" she says nervously.
Emma's POV
Jake looks away from me as soon as I say that, and I can practically see the wheels turning in his head. He's trying to figure out how to get out what ever he's trying to tell me. He takes a deep shaky breath and looks at me, and for the first time since I'd met him I see fear in his eyes. He's afraid, for some reason I don't understand.
"Look I um...before I begin to explain that" he says while gesturing to the case in my hand. I look down at the case and am greeted with Jake's familiar blue eyes staring back at me. The words 'Ender's Game' written on the top of the case.
"I just...I need you to understand that this was my past, and that no matter what I'm still the guy that you've known for three weeks, I'm still the same old Jake that's your friend" he says calmly, but in his eyes tell a different story. I see desperation pooling in them, he wants no he needs me to understand what he's trying to get at.
"I understand" I say calmly, I may not understand fully, but I can tell that this is what he needs to hear in order to give him that little encouraging push.
"Emma...I'm Asa Butterfield" he chokes out. My eyes widen and I'm pretty sure I must look like a fish right now considering how wide open my mouth is.
"Wait wait...what?" I say confusedly after a few minutes.
"When I was a child my parents were grooming me to be the perfect movie star son, so they started taking me to auditions for films...the only way I agreed to do it is if I used an alias so I could still live a semi normal life when I wasn't being in films" he begins to explain. I sit there in shock trying to process what he just said. He's an actor? Why didn't he tell me?
"Being an actor since I was young isn't something I'm proud of, so three years ago after Ender's Game was released onto DVD I had my agent terminate my contract" he says quietly, not looking at me.
"Jake!" I gasp out shocked, I can't believe he'd just walked away from acting just like that.
"My parents, more specifically my mother, were not happy about my decision...but by the time they'd found out, it was too late. I'd already seen my agent and he got it taken care of. There was nothing they could do" he continues, he looks up at me and I could see in his eyes he wanted to just disappear.
"Jake" I whisper, putting the case down on the coffee table.
"Emma please... I need to finish this" he says desperately, and I nod quickly. I don't want to scare him into shutting me out.
"The reason I didn't tell you about any of this sooner...I was scared. The last time I tried becoming close to someone, tried being in a relationship... it ended badly" he says shakily before covering his face with his hands.
'He's been in a relationship before?' I think to myself. I know it shouldn't surprise me, but part of me had still hoped that I was his first.
"What happened?" I ask curiously. I really want to know, whatever happened obviously got him really shaken up about trying to date someone...or even be close to someone for that matter.
"We worked together in a film when we were younger, in Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang, we'd kept in contact after it was over and three and a half years ago we'd started dating" he stops himself to wipe his eyes. I could see that what ever happened between them really affected him emotionally.
"Things were great at first...at least I thought they were" he says emotionally.
"Then on our six month anniversary she pulled me aside and told me she cheated on me, that she was only with me for the money and publicity" he scoffs angrily, and I gasp in horror. How could she hurt him like that? Didn't she know how lucky she'd been to have him?
"She left me for the other guy...and a few months later I ended my acting career" he says quietly.
"She was one of the reasons you didn't want to act anymore" I realize.
"I never told my parents about why we broke up, I just wanted a clean break. I wanted to start fresh and focus on being a teenager, making friends,going to school and having fun" he says honestly, and he looks down at the ground. Before I could even open my mouth to try and console him, he begins to speak again.
"So I went back to being plain ol' Jacob Portman. I swore to myself that I would never talk about my acting career again, and that I wouldn't open myself up enough to get hurt again" he says nonchalantly.
"Jake you're not boring" I say softly, getting up and walking over to him.
"Compared to my alias I am" he says doubtfully.
"I don't love Asa Butterfield, I don't care about him. I love Jacob Portman, I love you" I say firmly looking up at him.
Jake's POV
She.. she loves me? Emma Bloom, the most amazing girl I have ever had the pleasure of meeting... loves me back. I swore I would never fall in love ever again, that plan flew out the window when I met her. Being with her is different than it was when I was with Lil...it's more loving and it feels right. I never felt the way I feel when I'm with Emma when I was with Lil. When I was with Lil it felt like she was nervous to be seen with me in public, she didn't like it when I tried being affectionate. Emma on the other hand loves being near me no matter what the location is, and she loves it when I kiss her on the cheek or hold her hand in public, she loves any small sign of affection I give her. And she loves giving me little signs of affection, something Lil never did. Emma makes me want to be myself and not try to be someone I'm not. She makes me feel special, like I'm the light of her life.
"I love you too" I say out loud for the first time in almost four years. My eyes tear up and I rest my forehead against hers.
"I understand why you didn't tell me any of this sooner, and I just want you to know that I will never ever do that to you" she whispers.
"You know how I said that I wouldn't open myself up enough to get hurt again? Well I also swore that I'd never fall in love again, and that one changed recently" I say softly, getting lost in her beautiful eyes.
"When did that last one change?" she asks curiously.
"That plan flew out the window when I met you" I whisper as I leans in slightly. Her breath hitches just before our lips meet and I close my eyes, allowing myself to get lost in the feeling of loving again, and being loved in return.
"I love you Jake" Emma whispers against my lips before kissing me again. I wrap my arms around her and carry her to the couch. She squeals against my lips as I set her down and carefully hold myself up above her.
"Say that again" I say hopefully and she giggles.
"I love you Jacob Portman" she says before grabbing a fistful of my hair and pulling my lips back to hers. I moan against her lips and carefully cup her cheek in my right hand, and hold myself up with my left.
"I love you too Emma Bloom" I whisper against her lips before I gently kiss her cheek and nuzzle my face against her neck. She sighs and I feel her gently play with a few strands of my hair on the back of my neck.
"That girl was an idiot to throw away the best thing to ever happen to her" Emma mumbles and I chuckle.
"I thought the exact same thing when Claire mentioned Alexander for the first time" I say quietly, and for a few seconds she freezes underneath me. I move my head away from her neck to look at her and open my mouth to apologize but she relaxes underneath me.
"I think we should forget about our bad relationships and just focus on us. We can't let them have that power over us" Emma says softly, looking up at me with a small smile on her lips.
"I like that idea" I say sweetly before leaning in and lightly kissing her on the lips.
A/N: Hey guys! This chapter is just an idea I've been thinking of for a while. I think it gives Jake a little more background and he's able to show Emma that she's not the only one with skeletons in her closet. But please feel free to PM me or leave a review on your thoughts about this. Once again thank you for all of the support :D