Vorfreude // Jake Riley

Chapter 8

"Do you know how long it will take?" To say the least I was anxious. It could change everything for me, either I had gotten lucky or I was safe from the awful epidemic.

"Well it shouldn't be too long maybe 10 minutes tops. If your blood has antibodies that protect against the virus we should find out pretty quickly." Cannerts said as I sat on the bed and Jake sat on a chair near me.

"So does that mean you could make a vaccination from her blood? Like a cure?" Jake asked the question the whole world would want to know.

"No that would take a lot of time and equipment we don't currently have but I could make a sort of medication that might protect against the virus temporarily." I nodded and Jake and I were probably both thinking along the lines of, anything will help.

I was never a religious girl but in that moment I prayed to every God, every deity, and every holy being I could possibly think of to let me be immune. I could help so many people with my blood, save lives. That's all I really wanted, for this to be over and to have someone to stand with at the end of the day, specifically Jake Riley.

I closed my eyes and tried to push away the fact that I had to wait 5 more dreadful minutes. I let my mind drift to other places, wishes for the future. A puppy I really wanted a puppy, maybe even s house since my apartment was too small for me and Jake to live comfortably. Hold up. Since when did I decide I wanted to live with Jake? Am I delusional? He lives in Georgia I live in
Florida, and neither of us want to move. But then again I really didn't want to say goodbye to him. Especially not after our time spent together.

Do you really feel that deeply about him in such a short period of time? Hell yeah I do. Suddenly I was snapped back to reality as a beeping sound emitted from the machine Cannerts had been operating.

He examined the screen and tapped a few buttons. Something started to print and the suspense was taking me alive. As it printed I wanted to rip every hair from head as each sound meant more words, more information that could change my life.

Finally after what seemed like ten more minutes the paper had printed and Cannerts inspected it. His expression was unreadable but he handed the paper to me and the side of his mouth tugged into a smile.

"You're immune." Every ounce of tension left my body with a sigh of relief. I started to laugh then and Cannerts grinned. Jake was dumbfounded but then he started to laugh too. Soon we were all smiles.

Cannerts shooed us out and told us we deserved a good nights rest. Jake had started to walk back already but I stayed behind for a minute. I had to ask him something.

"This whole 4 to 6 feet thing doesn't apply any more does it?" He shook his head and nodded towards where Jake was down the hall.

"You really care for him don't you?" I nodded and smirked slightly. It's obvious I suppose. "Then get out of my office and tell him that. God knows we can't waste any time." I chuckled and took off down the hall.

+++
"Jake, Jake! Where the hell did you-" I was cut off by a pair of arms circling my waist and pulling me back. My first reaction was to thrash around for release.

I was let go when I heard a groan. I turned to see it was Jake. From the way he was clutching his gut I guessed I elbowed him pretty hard. I cringed as he said, "you'd think I'd have learnt not to do that again." I couldn't help a sigh of relief at chuckle at his expression.

"Come on Jake Riley, we deserve a drink."

After settling for old soda cans we forced out of a vending machine, Jake and I sat across from each other. He seemed to be staring at me with a different look in his eyes.

"Alright what's the first thing you'll do when you get out?"

"There's the girl I kind of like. Maybe I'll take her to a really nice restaurant." Everything in me burned with jealousy. I tried to keep it out of my voice when I responded.

"Anyone I know?" He smirked at me. God whoever the chick is I already hate her.

"She hates Atlanta but loves the people who live there so she comes back. Also she's kind of a nerd." My heart raced in my chest, I thought it might join the olympics at this rate.

"Oh well-God okay I can't do this. Jake I like you, like a lot." At this point I didn't care if there was a life threatening epidemic going around. I needed him to know and I needed to know if he felt the same.

"I like you too Kendal, if it wasn't obvious already." And with that I moved towards him. He was confused at first but then he understood.

Jake leaned forward so that our foreheads touched. That was enough for me to lose it. That small amount of human touch caused my ears to well up and my breathing to hitch. He seemed to be affected as well as a smile cracked on his face as he brushed a piece of my hair back.

I looked into his eyes, up close I saw they had flecks of green in them, which only made me grow happier. Slowly our lips met and I marveled in the intimacy of it all. The first time in what felt like forever I was close to someone.

Jake was careful at first but I didn't want him to be. He seemed to understand and soon we were flush against each other and pulling back for air.

"I love being immune." Jake grinned and nodded as if saying, I love it too. For a bit we were lost in each other and had forgotten the reality of the situation. I realized nothing else mattered as Jake interlaced our fingers, the action was small but left me feeling entirely dumbfounded.

A/n: sorry I've been inactive! Summer started and I've been running around but I'll be updating more frequently from now on!
Please continue to support this story as you do X.