Anything and Everything

Okay.

"Are you okay?" he asked, staring at me intently.

"Yeah. No, it's fine. I'm okay."

That's good. My voice came out stronger than I had expected.

But I wasn't, really. I mean, I was in a pretty shitty situation.My mind had already thrown up a wall in self-defense, shielding all outsiders of any true emotion.

He shot me an incredulous look, clearly not believing me. His beautiful forest green eyes were filled with concern. He took a step towards me, and with that I took one step back.

"Honestly, Jake. I'm okay."

Crack.

Was that it? Years! It took my years to build such a sturdy, strong barrier. Packed with cement, I assure you. But one look and a whole lot of sadness was enough for it to begin cracking.

I was weak. Ever since I'd met him, I lost my strong resolve.

"Look, what do you want me to do? Go cry in a corner?" I asked harshly, when in fact, that was all I wanted to do.

If only he would leave. But I knew that he wouldn't, Jake wasn't like that. He shifted closer to me, reaching out for my hand. Instead of meeting his with my own, I looked away, ignoring his tenderness and moved further away from him.

I could feel that my will had started to crumble.

He took another step closer to me. This time I didn't move back. I couldn't .

"I said I'm okay!" I exclaimed, shakily. Fuck. At this point, my lips were quivering and tears had sprung to my eyes.

"Okay... Okay..." I mumbled, shaking my head. I wasn't going to cry. I would not.

"...Okay."

With one last step, Jake's scent engulfed me as he wrapped his arms around my shaking shoulders.

There was no coming back now, I guess. As I completely lost any control I had over myself, crying into him.

"I'm not okay... I'm not okay." I blubbered into his chest.

"No, you're not." He supplied calmly, his voice slightly muffled through my dirty-blonde hair.

I continued to cry until my tear ducts could no longer produce any more salty liquid.

I gave him one more tight squeeze before releasing myself from his grasp. He hadn't uttered a word to me during my break down, simply allowing me to let it all out.

He looked down at me, questioningly. I don't know, was I done crying? I think I was.

Too embarrassed to look him in the eyes I stared at his shirt. The one covered in my tear stains. I cringed internally. The resemblance of the tear stains on his shirt and The Great Gatsby novel cover was uncanny.

"I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Don't be. I didn't like this shirt that much anyway," He teased.

And before I could react, he pulled me into another heart-melting hug.

Looking at me sternly he said, "Don't think that we won't be addressing this... whatever just happened right now. You don't have a say in this."

He was rather adamant about his decisions.

"But for now, I suggest we go get some ice cream?"

I nodded, feeling slightly better, more content. It was relaxing being able to rid myself of my emotions. It wasn't often done.

"Your treat, of course." I added as we started to make our way out of the park.