The Apocalypse (36 page)

"Huh." Jake sighed audibly, and Hannah stole a glance at him; he was looking right at her, and her cheeks inexplicably heated up. She'd blame it on the fever. "I've been meaning to talk to you about something, Hannah." He glanced at Isaac. "In private."

Isaac fidgeted. "You better go somewhere else. I'll be too tempted to listen in if you talk in here."

"Of course," Jake commented agreeably, obviously amused. Hannah flinched when his eyes landed on hers again, all because she wasn't sure if he had overheard any of her conversation with Isaac, which was just ridiculous. "Your room?"

Swallowing, Hannah stood and forced a smile, not sure what to expect. "Sure."

All the way to the staircase, up it, down the hall, and into her room, Hannah's mind was racing with nervous thoughts. What if Jake
had
overheard her talking with Isaac, hence his amusement at the comment about listening in, and because of Isaac's suspicions, he was going to tell her that they should spend less time together? It would shatter Hannah. Unless, of course, Jake had overheard and was going to put the moves on Hannah…

That was a very fleeting thought. Hannah couldn't even pretend to be stupid enough to believe that that was a probable possibility.

Hannah watched as Jake looked around her bedroom. She fidgeted with her weight, passing it from one foot to the next. Why was she so nervous? As far as she knew, she really didn't have a reason to be. Maybe Jake hadn't overheard anything but he still deep down suspected that she had feelings for him—why, he'd have to after she'd so stupidly kissed him, right?

Oh, how awkward…

"So."

Hannah snapped her head up and looked at Jake. She figured that her nervousness was apparent, so she sat down on her bed to mask it. "Yeah?"

"I got you sick, huh?"

Tensing, Hannah swallowed. "How do you figure that?"

Jake shrugged and sat down at Hannah's desk chair. "The rumor is that you got pissed at me for talking to Mercedes and left. Leaving meant you walked in the cold, and that made you sick. A equals B equals C. A equals C."

"Um, what?" Hannah's forehead wrinkled in blatant confusion. "Was that a math problem?"

Laughing lightly, Jake shook his head gently. "Really, Hannah."

"What?" Hannah asked, feeling defensive. "Don't talk down to me, Jake. I don't understand. So explain it to me."

Jake was silent for several moments, and it drove Hannah insane. She wasn't sure what he was thinking, but she had a terrible feeling about it. There was a real rumor out there that she was mad at Mercedes? How much drama could that start? Hannah didn't even want to think about how ugly things could get at school if someone was trying to start a fight over Jake between Mercedes and Hannah.

Jake tipped his head, brow furrowed. "Did you get mad at Mollie's party? Mad at all?"

Tipping her head back at him, Hannah thought about it. "Yes." Jake looked surprised at the ease with which she admitted it. "I got pissed that Mercedes snapped at me. But I'm over it."

"Oh."

"But I didn't get mad at you," Hannah continued, only slightly bending the truth. She had been a little pissy that he hadn't knocked the girls away from him, but he didn't have a reason to do that. Her anger wasn't justified. "Who told you that I was mad at Mercedes?"

"I didn't say you were mad
at
her," Jake replied. He shrugged. "It was really just me wondering if I'd done something wrong to make you leave. If I did, now's your chance to tell me, so we can hash it out."

Hannah stared at him. Could she really just confess everything that she was feeling like that? Wouldn't Jake run if he knew that she was crazy about him? Or was he trying to get her to admit her feelings so that he could admit his? Hannah frowned at all the thoughts swirling through her head; she was just too confused to say anything. Anything she said could ruin everything.

"I don't know why everyone's so concerned about it all," Hannah said finally. Her hands fidgeted with her comforter. "I got bored at the party and left. It's that simple. I wish people would stop trying to make it into something it's not."

Though she couldn't be entirely positive, Hannah was relatively sure that she heard relief pass through a sigh from Jake. She listened carefully to his voice, analyzing his tone for relief. "Yeah, sorry." He offered her a smile. "I bet it's frustrating. But I was curious. I knew you'd tell me."

Was he guilt-tripping her? Trying to make her feel guilty for not telling him how she really felt? Hannah nibbled on her lower lip; she really was getting paranoid. Jake had no way of knowing anything that she was thinking.

Well, aside from the part where she'd kissed him.

Oh, and there was that part with everyone around her suggesting that she liked Jake. If Isaac and the girls were suspicious, it was entirely feasible that Jake might also be onto something.

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

Hannah's head snapped up at Jake, her eyebrows knitted together. "Sleeping? Enjoying the last few days before school starts again?" She shrugged. "What are you doing?"

Jake grinned cheekily. "Having a movie marathon with you."

"With me?"

Hannah's heart stopped beating for a second as Jake nodded his dark head at her. A movie marathon? What the hell was that about?

Jake stretched his arms outward nonchalantly. "You get too much sleep as it is," he went on, seemingly oblivious to Hannah's stare. "And if you're sick, you can't really do all that much. So allow me to entertain you with movies."

Shrugging, Hannah answered, "I'll allow."

"Good." Jake paused and was silent for a moment. "Pretty sure I hear our moms. Dinner time. Yeah?"

"Yeah." Even Hannah could hear the faintness of her voice, and she knew that was the reason that Jake gave her a funny look. She cleared her throat and put on a smile, answering stronger, "I'm starving."

A moment later, Hannah was following Jake back downstairs, unsure of how she was feeling or how she should be feeling. All of her worry that Jake was going to confront her about her feelings was for nothing, and now she had a semi-date to look forward to with him. It was almost funny how things turned out.

Almost funny but not quite, since Hannah had a sickening feeling in her stomach that she just couldn't explain.

Jake scowled at his cell phone. "Really? Really, Tisha?" he asked himself aloud. Dissatisfied with getting Hannah's friend's voicemail for the second time in a row, he called Tisha again, just daring her not to answer. Who cared if it was eight-thirty in the morning during Christmas vacation? He needed to talk to her!

"What?" Tisha answered sleepily.

Smirking, Jake replied brightly, "Good morning, sunshine. How are you on this beautiful morning?"

"Tired. What do you want?"

The timer on the oven started beeping frantically, so Jake made a few quick strides to the kitchen. "Oh shit," he muttered, momentarily forgetting that Tisha was on the line. Smoke filtered out of the oven when he opened the door. Somehow, Jake had managed to catch a few tater tots on fire, though the directions had seemed easy enough. All he'd had to do was remove the frozen tater tots from the bag, place them on a pan in the oven, and cook them for a certain time.

He'd done so. But he'd created a fiasco.

"Ja-ake?"

"Sorry, I burned the tater tots," Jake said into this phone, as if that should explain everything to Tisha. "Look, Hannah's coming over soon to chill with me, and I attempted to rent those movies you guys said were her favorites. Something about ten guys in ten days or whatever and so-and-so's wedding… I couldn't find them. They were both already rented, so I've got a dilemma."

Pot holder in hand, Jake jerked the pan of tater tots out of the oven and set it on the stove top. He used the pot holder to wave away the smoke, pleased to see that only a few of the tater tots were inedible. Smirking a cocky smirk, Jake mentally congratulated himself on a task well done and then noted Tisha's silence.

"Tisha?"

"Jake, you're too cute!" Tisha exclaimed, every trace of sleepiness gone from her voice. "Honestly, you and Hannah are just adorable together." Jake paled.
Uh-oh
. "Such
a
precious couple!"

"Um, Tisha…you do remember that I'm only doing this to make her get her memory back and leave me the hell alone, right?"

"If telling yourself that helps you deal with your sudden turn of emotions, Jake, then so be it." Jake scowled at Tisha's playfulness, wanting to strangle her. "Anyway… Did you have any other movies in mind?"

Jake sighed. "That's why I'm calling you. So you can help me."

"Oh, right." Tisha seemed thoughtful for a moment. "
Gone With the Wind.
"

"Are you kidding me?" Jake demanded, groaning. "That's like twelve hours long! I can't do that!"

"Four hours long," Tisha corrected. "Four hours for you and Hannah to cuddle and snuggle." There was a definite giggle from her side of the line, which almost made Jake want to throw up—though he wasn't sure if the feeling was from nerves or disgust, which disgusted him because there should be no nervousness when dealing with Hannah. "Tell me your suggestions, maestro."

Jake smirked again. "Oh, I don't know…
Gladiator
?
300
?
Troy
?"

"Hot guys would be a great way to go, yeah," Tisha replied, though Jake thought she was just humoring him. "She's a girl, Jake. It should not be hard for you to pick a movie to watch with a girl you've known for your entire life."

Objectively speaking, Tisha was correct. Add in the bias of Jake and Hannah hating each other and there were complications.

"You're not helping at all," Jake muttered grumpily. "Dang, Tisha, I thought you'd come through for me."

Tisha sighed. "You could always tell her to pick the movie. Then you're completely in the clear."

Suddenly, Jake was questioning his sanity. That idea should have come to him
a
long time ago. But for the sake of argument… "What if that doesn't work with her? She likes to be difficult."

"Then pick whatever you want to watch. If she tells you to pick, that means for you to pick. End of story."

A few moments later, Jake hung up the phone and examined the tater tots on the stove. He really felt like he was going all out for this encounter with Hannah, though in reality he wasn't sacrificing that much. After all, he would reap benefits from eating, and sometimes
a
movie day could do a person a world of good. The part where Hannah would be present should have been the horrible factor, but Jake found himself not minding.

Multiple personality disorder. He was certain he suffered from it more and more each and every day.

Thoughtfully, Jake moved to his living room, going to the shelf that held a collection of varying DVD's. On the left side were his mother's favorites—lots of chick-flicks—and on the right side were his own favorites—lots of male-picks—and in the middle were the classics that both he and his mother enjoyed—movies that bordered on being male-picks but must have had good-looking stars in them to sway his mother's opinion. Definitely, there must be something there that would entice Hannah.

If not, Jake had already decided that they were going for
Gladiator
.

"Jake?"