Week 8: Tear-down – Jake

Jake felt Amy's warm hand leave his cheek as she pulled back from him. He indulged himself by staring into her dark eyes, while his own eyes asked questions his voice dared not. Was this real? Did she feel the same way he did? All of the clues pointed to yes, but he found it hard to believe. He looked at her, taking in the rest of her face. It was too much and all of his nerves were released in a laugh he couldn't control.

"What? What's funny?" she asked, worried. He looked up at her and giggled again.

"Your glasses are on crooked" he said and he was right. Her glasses were comically skewed with one lens up high on her face and the other low. He reached out and adjusted them for her.

"Oh," she said, a smile on her lips, "Thanks"

"No problem" he said and his eyes locked on hers. Jake reached for her glasses again, ripping them off and tossing them to the side. They were in the way. He quickly kissed her again and she met him eagerly. Jake didn't know how much time had passed as they held each other, hands fumbling, and lips searching, but he didn't care. There was no world beyond the one the two of them had made for themselves here, underneath billions of stars. Finally, it was Amy who brought them back.

"We should probably head back" she said, her hair messy.

"Should we?" he asked and stole a quick kiss. She giggled.

"Yes. We're going to be exhausted for tear-down tomorrow" she reasoned.

"Sensible Santiago" Jake said, smiling. He stood up, offered Amy his hand to help her up and handed her back her glasses. They folded the blanket, relit the lanterns, and headed back towards the tree houses. They walked in silence, but it was a very easy, comfortable silence. As they walked, Jake would sneak glances at her and she had a consistent little smile on her lips. Every time he saw it, his stomach did backflips. He could hardly believe that their excursion had just happened. He was a little worried he was dreaming, but the burning in his lips convinced him otherwise.

When they reached the tree houses Jake had an itch to hold her hand, but he stopped himself. Hand-holding felt so official, like it labeled them-

"Stop thinking so much!" he thought and he laced his fingers with hers. She immediately looked at him with an embarrassed smile, but then studied the ground, her hand still holding his. They continued on, hand-and-hand, until they reached Amy's cabin.

"Goodnight" she said, facing him.

"Goodnight" he said. They lingered in their spots and Jake realized neither of them wanted the night to end. Amy stood on her tip-toes and kissed Jake one last time before going to her door. She gave him a little wave and disappeared inside.

Jake almost let out a victory yell, but somehow managed to control himself. He walked back to his cabin, a giant grin never leaving his face.

Over next couple of days, Jake and Amy found it hard to talk alone with one another. Tear-down was even more demanding than set-up and all the counselors spent their meals together. The only time they could be alone together was when they went on late night excursions to the tree houses or on the hill top. On the night before their last day at camp, Jake and Amy sat in the tree house with the skylight and he finally asked her the question he'd been dreading.

"Hey, Amy?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, I was wondering, did you want to maybe get dinner with me sometime? Like on a date?" he asked.

"Oh, uh, yeah!" she said, her face getting red.

"Awesome" he said, dread lifting off his shoulders.

"So does that mean we're dating?" she asked.

"Well, yeah. We're going on a date"

"Yeah, I mean are we, I dunno, exclusive?"

"Do you want to be?" he asked.

"I-yes, I dunno, yes, but I'm going to college in a couple of weeks. That might make things hard, right?" she asked and Jake felt the dread fall back on him like a heavy weight.

"Oh. Yeah. I am too. I hadn't thought about that. Are you going far?" he asked.

"No, no. I'm going to St. John's, so it's still in New York" she said and Jake snapped his head to look at her with wide eyes.

"You're going to St. John's?" he asked. Amy was visibly taken back by his tone.

"Uh, yeah. Why? What's up?"

"That's where I'm going" he said, excited. Amy just looked at him with a knowing smile.

"No you're not" she said as if she caught him in a lie.

"No, really"

"C'mon Jake. You had the grades for St. John's?" she asked. Jake put on his smug smile.

"Santiago, if you knew my GPA and SAT score, you'd cry and not because they were abysmal" he said and took delight in Amy's shocked confusion.

"Wait, so we're going to the same school?" she asked.

"Looks like it"

"Are you going for criminal justice?"

"A-yup" he confirmed. Amy looked away from him, deep in thought, then looked up and flashed him a dazzling smile. To his surprise, she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him full on the mouth. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist, the corners of his mouth turning upwards into a tiny smile.

"That's amazing Jake! I'm so happy, really, this is the coolest thing" she said once she separated from him.

"Yeah, it is! How did we never talk about this?" he asked seriously.

"I don't know. It just never came up"

"Yeah, we were a little caught up with the whole bet thing"

"Yeah" she agreed.

"So, you wanna be my college girlfriend, or whatever?" he asked.

"Oh, real romantic Jake"

"I thought so"

"Then, sure. Fine. I guess" she said, turning her nose up.

"Still a 'yes' though, right?" he asked and this time he asked her seriously.

"Yeah, it's still a 'yes'" she said, tucking hair behind each ear.

"Good call" he said and this time he kissed her. "Her": Amy Santiago, his girlfriend. Jake was about to pull her even closer to him when she pulled back to look in his eyes.

"Hey, Jake?"

"Mm-hm?"

"What was your GPA?" she asked, and he smirked. He brought his lips close to her ear.

"I'll never tell" he said in the lowest of whispers.

Jake opened the trunk of his old, beat-up mustang and threw his bags inside. This was it. The summer was over. Well, camp was over. He still had a few weeks to goof-off with Amy and he was looking forward to them. He looked over at Amy's pastel blue Volkswagen Bug and saw her throw bags in the trunk. The staff members were all mingling at the far end of the parking lot, shaking hands, giving hugs, and saying heart-felt goodbyes. Amy and Jake joined them, and Jake was reminded of how much he hated goodbyes. He always wished he could just keep everyone, that no one had to go away, but they did. He had to figure out how to accept that one day.

Slowly, the staff began to get in their cars and drive away, eventually leaving Jake and Amy alone in the parking lot.

"So I'll see you Wednesday, right?" she asked.

"Yup, pierogis and a laser tag" he agreed.

"Classic," she said and grabbed his hand, "I'll see you then"

"Yeah" he said as she tilted her chin towards him and he met her lips half-way, still holding her hand. She smiled at him.

"Bye, I'll see you Wednesday" she said and got inside her car. She clicked her seatbelt in, set-up her GPS, and turned the radio on. She looked out, waved at Jake one last time before backing out of her spot and drove onto the road, eventually disappearing from his sight.

Jake got inside his car and backed out as well. He drove to the road and took one last look at an old sign that said "CAMP SAFE AND AMUSING" in big, bold letters.

"Thanks Camp Safe and Amusing. Ya done me good" he thought as Taylor Swift blared on his crappy speakers. As he began the winding road back to civilization, swerving and veering down the mountain, and singing loudly to 'Blank Space', he thought about Amy. He thought about their last kiss and her small farewell. He thought about his future and he thought about his future with Amy in it.

He saw late-night study sessions where they got nothing done, he saw himself bringing her coffee before class in the morning, saw them going to parties, and Amy pleading with him to leave because they had an exam in the morning. It was so easy to picture and he found himself smiling at these visions.

Jake might have really hated goodbyes and endings, but, if nothing else, he sure as hell loved a good start.

THE END

AN: And scene! Thank you *SO* much for reading this silly little AU. I am beyond grateful.

So I have this headcanon that Jake was actually a great student during his school days, but was super done with formal things like reports when he got hired on to the force. He just got super annoyed and barely did them haha.

I guess that's it. I hope you liked this story. I have one idea for another AU (they're in college and Amy's an art history major and Jake's a music major focusing on Guitar and Piano), but if you have a suggestion for my next fic, then by all means follow me on tumblr at crystal-gem-jessie. Or if you just want to vent about your Peraltiago feels, feel free to do that as well. I am always here for support.

Thanks guys! I'll see you soon!