ʀᴀɪꜱɪɴɢ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴛᴀᴋᴇꜱ ➸ Jacob Barber

𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓀 𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝑒

Another couple of days had passed and her bruises had faded. Jacob had been nice to her, it was a good change, she thought. They walked to school together, laughing about juvenile things that they always had, trying their best to forget about everything that had happened.

But the thought of him killing that dog still haunted her. The image of his fingers on the trigger, the blood spatter, the neck breaking... it terrified her. It wasn't unheard for Jacob to be violent, Y/N had learned that the hard way. But him taking an animals life? It confused her, chilled her to the bone. 

Whenever she walked past a dog on its work with its owner, she remembered what Jacob had told her. It only took her one glance to remember and a million more to unsee the horrific image in her mind.

On a brighter side of things, Andy was cheering up. With the divorce and the court date coming up, he was under a lot of pressure. But, somehow, he was managing to find time to hang out with her and Jacob. They'd watched movies together, all helped to cook dinner and even started looking at trips to go on.

Although, Andy had called them family trips. 

It was still incredibly awkward between her and Jacob, but it was improving for sure. 

"I'm so sorry about what happened." He'd told her as they were walking home from school one day, looking at her from the edge of the sidewalk- him balancing on the curb, "I really am."

Y/N sighed softly, heart about to burst from her chest with worry as she watched him balance on the edge of the sidewalk. Christ, he was one misplaced foot away from falling into the road. "And for which thing are you particularly sorry about?" She'd have preferred for her voice to be a little more stern. 

Jacob jumped closer towards her, away from the edge of the sidewalk, a boyish smile on his face. "Both things. For that night when my dad was away and when I... when I stopped you from leaving. I should really just be grateful you haven't told my dad about any of this."

She had to fight the urge to gulp at his comment. Technically, she had told Andy about the first part. But Jacob didn't need to know that. "Alright, I accept your apology. Doesn't mean I've forgiven you though." 

After everything that had happened in the past year, it was getting harder and harder to forgive him every time he hurt her.

"I know, I get that." He paused, glancing at her from over his shoulder as he walked ahead of her, a grin on his face. "I'm planning on making it up to you." The wind blew through his hair, dimming sunlight shining through his eyes. 

"Oh yeah?" She looked at him, raising her eyebrow.

"Oh yeah." 

"Sounds promising." Y/N chuckled as she watched him narrowly avoid walking into a lamp post. He stumbled back and gave a nervous laugh.

They approached the turning point to get to their home. Y/N went to turn to her left but paused as Jacob walked in another direction. "Going somewhere?" She asked him, an eyebrow coming up.

Jacob smiled at her and nodded, hopping off the edge of the sidewalk and getting ready to cross the road. "Yeah, you coming with me or not?" Y/N looked around, figuring it was getting late and that they should probably just head home.

"Depends, where are we going?" She asked him.

"Well, that would just spoil the surprise, darling." He winked at her before walking into the road, not looking left nor right as he crossed the road. It was a miracle he wasn't road kill at that point.

Heat rose to her cheeks as she debated following him. Of course she had to follow him. There was no way around it, really. With a sigh, she followed him across the road, smiling softly. Where could he be taking her? 

She jogged to catch up with him, already feeling angry about the fact she'd had to actually run. The audacity of it. "Can't you just give me a hint, Jake?" He shook his head at her, grinning gently. 

"No can do." He replied as he sped up, jogging ahead of her. "Come on!" He called back to her, resulting in her sighing again before running after him.

Wind blew through their hair, avoiding judging glances from adults as they ran through the sunset-lit streets. "Jake, slow down!" She laughed, coming up besides him.

"We'll miss it if we slow down!" He laughed, looking over his shoulder at her, eyes gleaming. 

And then he actually ran into a streetlight. Jacob came to a stop and winced as he grabbed at his shoulder, "Son of a little-" He groaned, watching Y/N as she fought back laughter. It wasn't funny, he was in pain. It wasn't funny, no, not at all.

Oh but it was so funny. Y/N couldn't help it, she burst out laughing before walking up to him and gently rubbing his shoulder. "Oh, Jake, you idiot."

"Shut up!" He told her, his face serious for at least three seconds. But then he began cracking up too, his lips upturned with laughter. "Okay, I get it, I get it."

And so they went back to just walking, quickly. Further accidents for the incompetents could be avoided that way.

Minutes later, they'd arrived wherever Jacob was taking her. Y/N squinted at him, confused. "Jake, why are we here?"

Trains squealed around them, people bustled around, getting on and off of trains. It was an incredibly busy atmosphere. "Shh, don't ask questions." Jacob whispered in her ear before taking her hand and pulling her towards the ticket booth.

An old lady, her glassed slipping down her oily nose, sat in the booth. Probably dreaming of the moment where her shift would come to an end. Jacob smiled at the lady, a shy smile yet overly friendly. It was his 'proving to old people that you're not sketchy' smile. "Hey, two tickets to..." He glanced back at her before leaning closer to the old lady and speaking in a voice low enough for her not to hear.

Where was he taking her? 

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Sorry for slow updates! I hate school, it's awful. Anyways, here you go!

Where do you think they're going?