Keeping Secrets (Book I)✔️

Chapter Thirteen

 Florence:

"Hey Florence, who are you texting that's more important than talking to me?" Kevin shoved her playfully. We were sitting outside on a small section of grass in the park, eating ice cream and catching up. When Kevin returned from his trip, he decided we should all meet up and have a chat. We were the first to arrive and were now waiting on Emma and Charlotte.

"Okay, okay. Just give me a second." I said, typing the last few words in my message to Eric and putting my phone away in my pocket.

"Thank you." He held up his hands and let out a sigh.

"What the hell is taking them so long? We told them two o'clock not whenever the fuck you feel like." I sniggered at his words.

"I'm sure they'll be here soon. Don't worry." I talked to him like he was a baby and patted his shoulder.

The pair arrived soon enough after and plopped down beside us. We had been talking about their lateness and how our Spring Break went when a familiar voice called my name from behind us.

"Florence." I turned and found a smiling Jake with Skip by his side, wagging his tail and looking at me.

"Hi Jake, how are you?" I stood up and hugged him. "Oh, these are my friends. Jake- Charlotte, Emma and Kevin." I pointed to each of them sitting on the ground.

"Hello there." He said in a friendly tone, "I was just walking Skip and I noticed you over here, thought I would come over and say hi." He smiled at everyone.

"He's so cute, can I pet him?" Charlotte asked Jake.

"Sure." He said and Charlotte got up to her knees and patted Skip. I joined in for a moment as we caught up with each other.

"Well anyway, I better get going. It would've been rude to not say hi."

"Okay, I'll see you Jake." I waved at him.

"Bye, it was nice meeting you all." He addressed my friends and then left. As I sat back down, I could feel all of their eyes on me. When I looked up, Kevin was grinning at me but not saying anything.

"What?" I asked them all.

"Nothing." Emma giggled.

"So that's why you're mind has been somewhere else the past while." Kevin finally said something but his guess was wrong. It wasn't because of Jake, it was because of Eric but I couldn't say that to them all.

"No." I trailed off. I noticed how Charlotte hadn't spoken but was smiling ever so slightly at me, like she knew something else.

"He's hot." Kevin stated. "I can see why you like him."

"I do not!" I denied it because I really didn't see Jake like that. I couldn't deny he was hot but I had Eric.

"He is kind of hot Florence, you have to say." Emma admitted quietly and looked shyly at me.

"That doesn't mean I like him."

"So you do think he's hot?" Kevin laughed.

"What? No! Well yes but, oh whatever." I turned away from a laughing Kevin and Emma, Charlotte had continued to be quiet but laughed lightly at my behaviour. We all sat there for almost the entire day and then made our way home.

On the way down my street, Eric's car drove by slowly and then reversed to crawl slowly beside me as I walked. He rolled down his window and smiled at me.

"Hey there stranger." He said in a funny voice, causing me to chuckle. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"I'm sorry, I'm still trying to recover from my near death experience that I had the last time we went out together." I joked and we both laughed.

"Want a ride?" I was still walking alongside his car and he was still driving at a snail's pace.

"To the end of my street?" I burst into laughter again, I was only three houses away from my front door.

"Well yeah, hop in." he reached over and opened the passenger and I climbed in. We drove for about two seconds and I reached my house. "Well we've finally reached your destination."

"Thanks so much Eric, I couldn't do it without you." I said sarcastically. I looked up to find him grinning wildly at me. "What?" I spoke.

"Nothing." He answered. We sat there looking at each other in silence, I knew I was being weird but I didn't want to go yet. I didn't want to say goodbye just yet but I started wave and open the car door.

"Hey, can I come over tonight?" I stopped myself and turned around.

"Sure, my mom is away again so it's no problem." He had one hand on the steering wheel and the other was leaning on the car seat. He looked genuinely happy right now, we both knew why. His smile reached his bright blue eyes and he spoke again. "I'll wait here while you get your stuff."

I went inside to my find my dad cooking himself supper and listening to the radio.

"Hey kiddo, how are you keeping?" he looked up from the frying pan to me.

"I'm fine dad. Just here to pick up my stuff for tonight, I'm staying in Charlotte's for the last night of my break." When did I get so good at being able to lie to him? I wondered.

"Sounds good, but will you be home early tomorrow? I was going to ask if you wanted to come to the shop."

"Sure dad. I'd love to." I agreed to be home before eleven and then ran upstairs to grab a few things and put them in my over-night bag. After getting everything ready in about two minutes which was good for me, I practically leapt down the stairs and went into the kitchen again to say goodbye to my dad.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said and I closed my front door, making my way to Eric's car. When we got there we ate and watched Netflix. He sat on the edge of the sofa, with me sprawled out and lying my head on his lap.

"Pass me the Doritos bitch." I held my hand up near his face and waved it, an attempt to annoy him. He smacked it away and continued to text on his phone. "C'mon." I done it again and then pushed his face in different directions.

"Florence. Stop." He tried to sound serious and hold in his laughter but it wouldn't last. He put his phone down and continued to hit my hand away. I covered his face with my hands now.

"C'mon." I said and turned to sit up.

"Stop it!" he laughed, "God you're so frustrating." He breathed out and I crossed my arms and sat beside him, huffing and puffing and trying to throw a pretend tantrum.

"So what?" I asked and he burst into laughter until he snorted which would probably be unattractive to anyone else but it just made me laugh too.

"Shithead." I shoved his shoulder with mine and then he pinned me to the chair. My shirt was riding up and I could feel the soft material on my exposed back as I lay down.

"What did you just call me?" he squinted in mock disgust and then I giggled before he crashed his lips on mine. There was more want in the kiss than I expected and he began to trail soft kisses down my neck as I helped him pull his shirt over his head. My hands skimmed his muscular back and I ran them down to his waist. We were too pre-occupied with our make out session to hear Eric's front door shutting and the footsteps that came along with it. Eric whispered in my ear and I moaned.

"Woah, what the hell?"