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Jake and Amy are dating but keeping it low key, just to make sure their transition from friends to mrmmzeep and jinglebin -- they decided to not go by boyfriend and girlfriend at first -- goes as smoothly as possible. No one knows, not even Jake’s best friend Charles or Amy’s friend Kylie. They sit together in the caf everyday, as usual and keep things so normal that no one even has a clue something is going on. They chat like normal and then go make out during free periods in a room barely used by anyone. Amy, not usually a rule breaker, loves every second of it. It’s going wonderfully so far and while she’s dying to tell someone -- she’s terrible at secrets -- they made a pact that they wouldn’t tell anyone at first
The turning point comes a week and a half in, when Jake’s friend Sophia practically cozies up to him at lunch, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and resting her head on top of his. Sophia’s a generally physical person so this kind of behavior doesn’t shock anyone else at the table. However, Amy knows about the major crush Sophia had on Jake last year, which puts her on edge. She immediately wants to snap and tell their entire lunch table that she and Jake are dating, but instead she takes deep breaths, believing that Jake will put an end to this.
After a few minutes have gone by and Jake hasn’t done anything to stop Sophia from hanging onto him, Amy turns and glares at Jake, widening her eyes in order to try to communicate with him. She wants him to do something, but he just returns her look with a small shrug. Her mouth straightens into a thin line as she realizes he isn’t about to tell Sophia to get off of him. Amy tries to get through to Jake again, this time nudging his leg with hers under the table but he simply shakes his head almost imperceptibly in her direction.
Angrily, Amy stands up and storms off in the direction of her locker. She stops to gather her stuff for her next class, then realizes she still has twenty minutes until phys starts. She makes her way downstairs, heading for the room she and Jake go to make out. It’s the only room she knows she can be alone in. Amy sits in one of the giant chairs in the farthest corner from the door, pulls out her laptop and starts writing in her trusty, password protected online journal.
She types madly, fingers basically punishing the keys as she gets angrier and angrier. What the hell is Jake thinking? Does he want to break up? Why wouldn’t he make Sophia get off of him? Should we tell everyone about us so this stops happening? She works herself up until tears threaten to spill out of her eyes, but just blinks them away and keeps typing, wondering what the hell has just happened.
Amy can sense someone walking into the room but ignores whoever it is, not even bothering to look up. She immerses herself back into her writing, not noticing that the person has sat down in the chair next to hers until she feels a hand rest against hers, stopping her from murdering her keyboard. Amy jumps at the sudden contact and looks up. It’s Jake.
“Hey Ames,” he starts softly but she gives him a glare so intense he cuts himself off.
Amy opens her mouth to speak but the tears that had previously threatened to fall begin to stream down her face. He scooches his chair closer to hers and wraps her in an awkward side hug made difficult because of the bulky arms of both of their chairs.
“I’m sorry,” he whispers, rubbing her back soothingly. “I didn’t want to say anything because I know you didn’t want to tell anyone. Sophia’s like that with everyone all the time and I thought she would get suspicious if I told her to stop. I’m really sorry.”
Amy wipes her eyes and looks straight at him. He seems truly apologetic as he bites the inside of his cheek, waiting for her response. It takes her a minute to compose herself and gather her thoughts, but he sits there patiently.
She gives him a small smile before taking his hand in hers as she begins to speak, squeezing it gently. “First of all, it’s always alright for you to tell someone else to stop doing something that makes you uncomfortable, ok? Simple consent rules.”
He nods in understanding and she continues, “Second of all, I actually wanted to break the rules too but I didn’t want to do it without talking to you first.”
“Really?” He asks, laughing. “See, we’re like the same person! We think the same things.”
“Yes, really.” She smiles and leans in to gently kiss him. “I’m also not that mad at you by the way,” she says when they part. “I’m more mad at Sophia. She was basically sitting in your lap when I left!”
Grimacing, he responds, “Yeah, I know you’re not mad at me but I still feel bad. I should’ve put a stop to it.”
“It’s ok. How did you find me here?”
“Well, after you left, I knew you were upset and so I went to find you.” He looks sheepishly at the ground. “I thought you were really super mad at me, but I thought if you went here, to our room, there was hope for us. You also always come here when you want to be alone to think things through.”
She smiles at the words our room. “I’m glad you found me. I wanted you to come after me. If you didn’t then I thought we would be done for.”
“Wow, we really are good at thinking the exact same thing and yet being completely wrong about what the other is thinking.” He remarks, grinning.
“Yeah we are." Her face mirrors his as she breaks out into a smile. "Now, I feel like we should tell people. I’m ready.” There’s a meaning behind this that goes unsaid but is understood by both: they’re finally settled and comfortable with their relationship.
“Let’s do it! Let me just make sure we have enough time to go back to the caf.” Jake turns on his phone to check the time and starts scrambling. “Uh oh, um Ames, class started like ten minutes ago.”
Her eyes widen almost comically. “WHAT?!”
He starts laughing and pulls her out of her chair, tugging her in the direction of the door. They fly out of the room and run up three flights of stairs to their phys class. Stumbling in the door and completely out of breath, they catch weird looks but slide into their seats as calmly as possible. She turns around to look at him halfway through the class and he just winks and smiles. Two weeks ago, being late to class was Amy’s worst nightmare. Now, she’s never been happier.