"And I won't let you go, now you know, I've been crazy for you all this time.
I've kept it close, always hoping with a heart on fire."
- Jonathan Clay, Heart On Fire
Effy idly walked around her back yard hand in hand in hand with Jake and the smallest of smiles on her face, she couldn't help herself as there were all these excited butterflies fluttering around in her stomach. It was all because of the kiss, it had been so unexpected and made Effy felt happiness that she hadn't known in months. That kiss had lead to something more and then some more kissing for a while until they had stopped and started to walk around the backyard. Never talking but with Effy and Jake, sometimes that was more than enough. The only time words had been spoken was when Jake had noticed that it was getting a little bit colder so he pulled off his jacket and helped Effy into it, rolling up the sleeves for Effy so they could continue to hold hands. It was like the two of them were in their own little bubble and nobody else or anything really seemed to matter outside of the two of them. Effy knew things were going to be different now, recently everything had been changing in her life; she had developed a real brother-sister like relationship with Lucas and the same could be said for Effy and Nathan. The two of them were trying and hadn't snapped at each other in about close to three or four days, a new record for the two of them. Then there was Jake, lovely Jake and everything seemed to be complete. It was nice, for once everything seemed to be going okay and it was like the world was finally giving Effy a break after smacking her down for so long.
"I suppose we should be getting back."
"Back to Dan's kiss my ass jamboree? I'm so excited…" Effy replied in a manner that lacked any kind of excitement or enthusiasm in the slightest. This whole party had been terribly boring until Jake had come and found her, so the idea of going back to being bored out her mind pretending like she was having a good time wasn't that appealing to Effy.
"Aren't you supposed to be playing the dutiful daughter or something? You can't be playing the role of the gracious hostess if I'm taking up all your time and preventing others from spending time with you?" Jake questioned and Effy grimaced.
"Is that really such a bad thing?" Effy couldn't help but retort and Jake laughed in amusement before kissing the top of Effy's head and gently pulling her along with them, until they found their friends in the front yard and some of the boys were engaged in a small game of basketball. Effy wasn't even surprised by this, they were after all at a stupid party for the team so of course it was inevitable that basketball was eventually played.
"And just where have the two of you been? You've been gone for so long that we were about to send out a search party!" Brooke slurred and Effy guessed that there was some kind of alcohol in Brooke's drink as she was slurring some of her words. Brooke was very much drunk and well on her way to becoming wasted and Effy knew that her and Peyton would no doubt be clearing this up later. Effy had become a bit of a pro at holding her drink whereas Brooke on the other hand? Had a lot of catching up to do.
"Effy was feeling a little light head," Jake replied with a bored yawn and Effy couldn't help but look at him incredulously as surely he couldn't be bored. Effy knew she had complained about being bored mere moments ago but that was because she had been smiling at people all day and forced to make small talk about basketball and the ravens for most of the day. Not to mention this silly party was being held at her house and there was no place she could run off and escape from it all and Effy couldn't leave the house otherwise she'd lose all her money she was getting for that and Effy wasn't going to let that happen. But Jake had seemed like he was having a good time, apparently not and Effy was confused by the whole matter until Jake squeezed her hand and glancing up at him, she caught sight of the smallest of smirks on his face.
"Is that so?" Nathan asked and Effy couldn't help but notice that Nathan didn't quite believe them especially since her and Jake were holding hangs. Effy thought Jake would have let go of her hand to keep up the pretense that nothing had happened, but he did no such thing. Jake just kept a firm hold of her hand, almost like it was the most natural thing in the world to do. He seemed comfortable as did Effy.
"Afraid so." Effy replied coolly.
"That's boring." Brooke interrupted, rolling her eyes as best she could despite of her buzz.
"Jagelski you in?" Tim asked referring to the basketball game and Jake didn't say anything at first, he just glanced at Effy and she could feel his thumb gently caressing her index finger. Effy realized that she wasn't the only one who had commitments here, whilst she had to play hostess and the loving daughter, Jake also had his own part to play. The part of being a member of the varsity basketball team and Effy couldn't keep him to herself as much as she wanted to because this party was for the team and Jake was on the team so he needed to take part, do some further team bonding or whatever.
"Go, have fun!" Effy encouraged with a small smile.
"You sure?" Jake questioned and Effy just nodded her head, as much as she detested basketball in any and all shapes and forms, it was one of Jake's many passions and she supported him. Even though right now she could think of a few things the two of them could be doing instead but Effy kept quiet and smiled, reminding herself no to get too ahead of herself here. Telling herself that she would not lose her head over a boy, even if that boy was Jake Jagelski; her best friend and god knows what else now. Effy could see that Jake was a bit reluctant and it made Effy happy inside to know that Jake didn't want to leave her but before she could respond, Lucas seemingly appearing out of nowhere walked up beside the two of them.
"I'll keep her company Jake, I'll also make sure she stays of out of trouble." Lucas assured and with one fleeting look Jake went to join in the game leaving Effy with her eldest brother. "So you and Jagelski? That' interesting…"
"He's a good guy Lucas." Effy quietly said despite knowing that she needn't have to say anything as Jake and Lucas were teammates and friends themselves. So Effy didn't really need to have to explain anything to Lucas as he was well aware that Jake was one of the few people that stuck up for him during the hazing period but for some reason Effy felt like she had defend Jake to Lucas. Effy wasn't sure why but maybe it was because there was something not so friend like going on with her and Jake, and now she was talking about it with another one of her brothers. Recently Effy's love life seemed to be a talking point between her an the Scott men, first Keith, then Nathan and now Lucas. All Efy needed was for Dan to stick his nosy oar in and she'd have the full set, although she'd rather not have Dan get involved or ask any questions in the slightest as it was none of his damn business.
"I know but I'm allowed to worry, after all I am your big brother." Lucas teased.
"Barely!" Effy retorted with a small chuckle as she linked her arm through Lucas and leant her head against her shoulder. Lucas was only three months older than her but technically he was still her older brother as was Nathan. "Thank you."
"For what?" Lucas questioned.
"Being here and for being my big brother, you stepped up when you barely even knew me and that meant a lot to me Lucas. More than I'll ever be able to tell you but I'll just this; I'm sorry that we never got to know each other until know as I would have liked to have known you a lot sooner." Effy replied and she heard Lucas quietly chuckle.
"Better late then never:" Lucas added and as Effy smiled, she noticed Nathan was looking at the two of them and he wasn't scowling, in fact he was smiling. It was a rare sight but Effy knew that Nathan was making an effort because of the deal he made with Haley but Effy suspected that Nathan was making an effort for her. Effy had made it clear that Lucas was an important person to her that night the two of them had that in depth conversation and since then Nathan had been making a better effort. Effy suspected that this was because he didn't want hurt her but hurting someone she cared about. It meant a lot to Effy that Nathan was trying so hard, it marked a real turn around for Nathan.
"You know he adores you." Lucas noted and Effy couldn't help frown.
"Who? Nathan?"
"No Jake." Lucas corrected with a small laugh and Effy glanced over to Jake, he was caught up in the game and by the looks of it he was enjoying every single moment of it.
"Not as much as I do." Effy admitted with a small sigh.
"Hey! What does that mean?" Lucas asked and Effy could tell that he was going full big brother on her and there was no point in fighting him on this. She was already well aware that Lucas was one of those people who had this weirdly innate habit on being able to read people and pick up on thing. Effy knew there was no point in lying as Lucas would figure it out and get the truth out of her regardless so Effy decided to skip the beating around the bush part and come right out with it
"It just means that Jake is my best friend and I don't think he feels the same way that I feel about him, I hope he does but a little of me is convinced that I'm convincing myself that he has feelings for me. It's silly but I think way too much and after the crap that I've gone through in the last few months, I'm scared that something good is happening and I'll comfortable only to have the world smack me down again." Effy wearily admitted, her self esteem and self worth had taken a big known and as such Effy didn't really think too much of herself. It was hard for her to imagine herself to be happy with someone, with Jake as she was such a god awful mess and prone to falling apart and lashing out on anything and everything.
"Don't be silly Eff, it's pretty much obvious to everyone that the two of you have feelings for each other given the way you both look at each other. Although you and Jake just seem oblivious to it all." Lucas stated with a reassuring smile and Effy felt slightly better.
"Are you sure?"
"Positive but maybe you should be talking to Jake about this instead of me?" Lucas advised and Effy felt her heart drop to her feet, she knew that her and Jake would have to talk eventually. But the idea or even thinking about the possibility of being rejected by someone she cared about again was too much to think about for Effy. It brought up a deep fear, which terrified her. Learning that Dan had never wanted her, had been a lot of her to take in and Effy knew if things went that way with Jake then she'd never recover from it. "It'll be okay Elizabeth, trust me…"
"Okay, here goes everything…" Effy slowly said taking a deep breath as she unhooked her arm from Lucas and began taking tiny little steps towards Jake. Effy had no idea what she was going to say but whatever happened she knew where she stood with Jake. It probably wasn't going to be as bad as Effy thought but her imagination was pretty active and tended to run very wild these days.
"Eff, you okay?" Jake asked as Effy walked right up towards him, effectively right in the middle of the game.
"Can we talk?" Effy began.
Listen up, everybody… it's time to play truth or dare. Or maybe just dare, 'cause nobody really tells the truth anymore." Brooke loudly announced and Effy couldn't help but notice that Brooke seemed to direct that in the direction of Peyton who was now standing in front of Lucas. Brookes gazes lingered on Peyton for a few moments before she turned to Thersea, a fellow cheerleader. "Let's see… Theresa, I dare you… to go pinch Whitey's ass."
"Be right back." Thersea replied with a small smile before walking away and Effy couldn't help but groan.
"This isn't going to end well." Effy said unable to stop herself from stating the obvious, whilst she was one to do outrageous and slightly outlandish things, if there was one party game Effy couldn't stand then it was truth or dare. Especially when paying with Brooke and she had a tendency to play a very indecent version of the game and last time they had played this, things had gotten very messy and alcohol ended up being spilt on a very expensive couch.
"Does it ever?" Jake questioned as Brooke began to hone in on a new victim.
"Let's see… Peyton?"
"Brooke, come on." Peyton said, clearly not in the mood either to participate in this silly game.
"I dare you to show us how you really feel. Kiss Lucas." Brooke challenged and now Effy could see what this was about, it was about Lucas. Ever since he had come up on her rador, Brooke had wanted to get with Lucas, even doing the old cheerleader in the back seat trick in attempts to snare him but to no avail. Lucas wasn't interested, well he wasn't interested in Brooke but rather Peyton even more so since had split up from Nathan, however Peyton was being all hot and cold about the matter and no doubt Brooke was pissed. Effy knew this wasn't going to end well especially since Peyton looked very embarrassed about Brooke calling her out on he feelings for Lucas. But Effy had to give credit to Peyton as eventually turned around and kissed Lucas in a rather passionate manner. However moments after it ended, Peyton quickly walked and Effy was going to go after her until she spotted Lucas quickly following her.
"Well that was awkward…" Tim stated and Effy couldn't help but laugh as she couldn't have put it any better.
"So what did you want to talk about you?" Jake asked and Effy frowned momentarily before she remembered why she had come over, she had gotten a tad bit distracted because of the whole truth and dare thing. But now it was back to seeing whatever the hell this thing with her and Jake was. They may have kissed not to long ago but Effy would prefer to know what they were know instead of wasting the rest of the weekend, driving herself crazy trying to figure it all out and other thinking everything and making an ass out of herself.
"You kissed me." Effy announced after a moment and rather quickly a smile appeared on Jake's face and she took that as a good sign for the moment.
"Yes I did." Jake confirmed and Effy nodded her head, that was very good to know as that told her that Jake was aware of what happened, that he hadn't been under the influence of anything.
"There's a conversation that we should have, I mean we could have if you wanted to have one, to um… To talk about what happened, you know just so we could clarify things up and make sure that we're both on the same page and save any confusion." Effy stammered, quite aware that she sounding like a rather deranged five year old but there was nothing she could do to stop it, once she started she couldn't seem to stop herself. Words just kept coming out of Effy's mouth, until Jake wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled Effy in close to him and kissed her again. Much to her surprise that she speechless pretty much after. Ignoring all the cheers and whooping that were going on around her.
"Silly Effy… Even when rambling you still manage to make it look like art form." Jake said as he placed one hand on the side of Effy's face and there went the butterflies in her stomach again. "You look beautiful tonight…"
"I think you've told me that." Effy quietly said.
"Then have I told you how lovely you are?"
Effy shook her head. "No.
"Can I tell you that over dinner tomorrow night?" Jake questioned and Effy was stunned to say the least, so far Jake had kissed several times, laughed at her and called her silly and now he was asking to take her to dinner tomorrow night. If Effy didn't know any better then she'd believe that Jake was asking her out, as in on an actual date.
"Dinner?" Effy slowly questioned, she had heard Jake ask if he could take her out to dinner but she just wanted to confirm that was what he had indeed asked, just to be sure of course. A part of Effy was waiting to wake up and find out that this was all a dream and if it was, she didn't want to ever wake up.
"Elizabeth I like you very much and I'm pretty certain that you like me too and I want to take you out on a date. End of story." Jake announced and Effy couldn't help but smile, she just couldn't help herself as she felt really happy. Never did she actually think that this would actually ever happen."
"Okay…"
"What was that? I didn't quite hear that?" Jake quipped with a full grin on his face, no doubt matching the one on Effy's face and with a new found confidence in what was in front of her, Effy kissed Jake. No longer scared that this was all in her head and that she was going to be rejected by the person who meant the most to her in this world, Effy couldn't help but melt into Jake as she threatened to burst with emotion. She was feeling incredibly happy, not to mention excited, scared and overwhelmed as Jake held onto her like he would never let her go. And god help Effy as she felt the same.