Havencrest

Chapter Eight: Jelly Belly...

"What girl?" He says curiously.  "Well, I heard you talk in your sleep about a girl you liked since middle school, does she go to Havencrest?" Jacob hesitated to respond.  "Well...yes, yes she does. She goes to our English writing program, she's such a nerd".

My heart shattered.

"Oh...well, what's she like?" I say, trying not to cry, knots in my throat. "Welp, she's kind, super smart, she's the grammar police in our English 3 class, she stares at me when she thinks I'm not looking, she covers her face with her notebook if I ever catch her" he says, shifting in his air mattress, getting comfortable as he talks about his crush. 

"Oh...well, she sounds great!  Like, any features you like about her? Physically?" I ask, please don't say-

"Yes, her lips.  Her waist, her legs...her eyes...it's like they only glow when I look at them"   He sighs, admiringly. "Wanna see who it is?" Jacob said, me leaning over mattress to tell me.  "It's Elenor, our friend since fifth grade"...I started to LAUGH!

I know, I'm a bad friend, but you'll know why I laughed. "What's so funny?"  he asked not so seriously.  "Isn't Elenor gay?  She came out like, two years ago" I say, still cackling at the fact that he fell for a LESBIAN!  "I know she's ay, I just wanted to see the look on your face when I said I liked someone".  "You BRAT!" I yell.  I start laugh-crying in relief that he doesn't actually like someone.  "Were you crying just now?" he asks, getting up from his mattress to look at me.  "No...I wasn't".

What a lie.

I love him with everything I have, and he was just joking about his feelings, but I was still relieved, not crying in a sad way. 

"You're sniffling as you say that, don't worry! I can like someone but they'll never come close to me loving you" he says, patting my head. I'm so glad he can't see my face.  I was silently screaming in excitement and cheesing like there was no tomorrow.  "Good night, lover boy" I say jokingly, him chuckling at our new inside joke. 

"Good night, jelly-belly".

Him falling asleep was the only thing that could keep my head from spinning.  What does he mean by 'jelly-belly'?  'Never come close to me loving you'? What!? I mean, yes, he loves me as a friend, but will I ever see hints of something more? 

As I drift asleep, I hear Jacob wake up at two am to go to the bathroom.  Nothing unusual, just him being him.  Then I heard his voice, I think he called Elenor, her voice was on speaker. 

" 'Jelly-Belly'? Are you serious!?".  "What?  I thought it was cute, you should've seen the look on her face when I said I had a crush on you, she looked SO mad"  Jacob laughs quietly.  "Oh, good, now you're getting to see her true colors...I'm telling you, she's been in love with you for like...forever!  Why not just tell her instead of playing these teasing games?"

THANK YOU, Elenor!

"Is she asleep?  Because you have me on speaker, wanna make sure she's out".  I hear footsteps over to my bed, so I close my eyes softly.  Jacob's hand feels my face.  "Yeah..once she's out, she's out! I'm surprised she hasn't snored yet...it's so cute".  I snore?!?  "Okay, Romeo! So, you really like her, right?" Elenor starts to get serious. 

"Yes, I love her".

Elenor hums in joy.  "I knew you went hand-in-hand together! So, how will you tell her?" she adds on to the question.

My bladder couldn't handle any longer, so I rubbed my eyes to look like I was asleep and got up from my bed. 

"I'll have to call you back tomorrow, thank you for your advice Lily...I'll make sure to use that if I break out"  he says. Damn, he's good at making up stuff.  "Sorry, I had to go pee..." I say, in a fake groggy voice.  Somehow he believed me! "Yeah, sorry about that, I called Lily about what coverage to use if I ever broke out, she's now a makeup guru, I didn't want to disturb her by being in her room".  "No worries...just go back to bed, it's late" I say.  "Yeah, I will, good night sleepy cakes"  he replies, I finish using the bathroom, I crawl back to my bed, excited yet scared for what's to come. 

TO BE CONTINUED...