Leblanc Café, Tuesday, 4:22 pm
We join the unlikely couple from Jake Lane and Sakura Kovidsh as they sit in one of Kronos' most isolated restaurants. Sakura didn't know the area very well, so she let Jake decide, since he spent most of last year or so living here. She found the atmosphere quite picturesque and retro, giving it a 90's feel.
"Do you come here often?" She asked as she looked across the cabin where Jake was sitting. She continued to take small sips of her coffee, absorbing the deep and deep flavor that was so rare these days.
"Nah," Jake shook his head, "I only know this from a few friends at school."
Sakura nodded, "Well, then tell them that they taste great."
"I'll do it," he said before taking a sip from his coffee cup, his eyes fixed on the small TV on a shelf in the corner. "So, why did you want to come here and talk? Not that I don't care, in fact I feel like spending time alone with you, but it caught me off guard."
Sakura propped her elbows on the table and leaned her back in an excellent posture, "I just wanted to see you, it was getting a little tight at Stella's house and since I'm coming back to Crocus since our break is almost over, I wanted to make sure that we clean the air between us, you know? " She asked.
Jake got it, "Oh, got it, I wanted to make sure you took one last look at that pretty face, right?" He played with a sly smile.
"As ... charming ... as you think you are, I hate to say yes. I've been thinking about your face and all the rage I felt for you for a long time, I wanted to change that and start associating your face with a canvas in It probably doesn't make sense to you, but- "Sakura was cut off.
"Do not worry." Jake smiled, "I understand what you mean. You prefer to think of my face with pure nostalgia and not with a broken heart, right?" He asked to be sure.
She moved her elbow up and leaned her head against his supported fist. "Thank you, that was kind of difficult for me," she said.
"No problem," he smiled.
But Sakura looked like she still had some questions, "Um Jake? I kind of have something I want to ask, if you don't mind ..." she twisted her fingers nervously, not knowing how he would react to her question.
Jake, however, seemed ready to spill all his secrets on her, "Ask me anything and I will answer," he said.
Taking a deep breath, Sakura looked him straight in the eye, "Why did you leave me- I mean Crocus? It was so sudden and out of the blue, everyone was so shocked. Me especially."
Laughing sadly, Jake leaned back in his cabin, "I thought you were going to ask that sooner or later," he laughed. "It's a long story, so I hope you have time."
"I already asked Stella not to wait for me for dinner," Sakura told him.
"Well," Jake started, "I think I should start from where I started thinking about leaving, it was right after the game and I ..."
(~ X ~)
"Oh, man! We totally crushed them!" Markus shouted with a huge smile on his face. They entered the locker room, but they could still hear the fans cheering outside. As Markus had said, they completely crushed Kronos' team 9-0. It was almost brutal.
"Yes," said Otto in his diesel voice, "this one will go down in history books as a massacre." Many of the team members were flying high to each other after the big man said that.
Jake was silent and kept a solemn expression on his face as he approached his closet, already taking off his shirt. Markus noticed that his pink-haired friend and roommate was a little quieter than usual after a big game like that and confronted him.
"What's wrong, Jake?" He asked quietly, not wanting any of his companions to hear.
The pink haired teenager gave a fake smile to hide his conflicting feelings, "nothing, man, just a little surprised at how amazing we did it."
Markus saw that lie straight away, but decided not to call it, since they were surrounded by guys who spoke loudly. "Haha, the same here," said Markus in a monotone.
While Markus and Jake were silent as their companions screamed, they heard the familiar sound of high heels hitting the tile floor. Team manager Shiro Hotaro was entering the locker room.
"Alright, alright, listen!" Shiro shouted as he entered the main space, where the cabinets were. Beside her was a flushed Yulian Nali, who pressed her face against the book to hide the eyes of her shirtless colleagues. "I have good and bad news," she said. "What do you want first?"
"The bad news!" Someone shouted on behalf of his team.
Shiro nodded, "We ran out of Gatorade." Many of the team members looked at her strangely, not caring too much, as most of them drank water. "Now, the good news ..."
"Are you going to give blowjobs to all of us !?" A poor soul asked hopefully as Shiro's face screamed murderous intent.
"Who said that !? Was it you Luke !?" She started to point her fingers.
Fortunately for the rest of the team who were not accused of this comment, Yulian answered if Shiro was left out. "We were able to inform everyone about tomorrow's banquet," she informed them and received some applause.
"Okay," Benjamin smiled and nodded.
"You bet?" Otto asked him. "What are you? Fifty? Nobody says that anymore, man."
Benjamin just scoffed at the giant, "whatever!" He said.
After Shiro managed to control himself (by that I mean the team was able to hold her before she could start swinging), she straightened her pole and looked at them as if she were above them. "Well, anyway, lunch will be at the usual time and place for those interested and please try to dress up well for dinner tomorrow, they've already planned everything and I don't want your hard work to be wasted." She told them.
The guys just nodded and grunted at the statement, so she would leave them alone.
Jake just sat on the bench and slung his shirt over his shoulder, "I think I'm going to skip lunch with the team and go take a shower," he told Markus.
"Okay, I understand," Markus smiled knowingly, thinking that Jake was using a 'I'm going out with my girlfriend' code. "Do you want me to get you something to go?" He asked.
"Nah," Jake said as he stood up and picked up his phone, "I can go get something from the cafeteria." He said before he left.
Marlon, whose closet was next to Markus's, saw the interaction and raised an eyebrow in question. "What he is doing?" He asked Markus.
Markus just shrugged, "Probably going to see Sakura," he hissed at which Marlon nodded.
With Jake
Jake, who had just left the locker room, went out onto the field and watched the many spectators leave their seats to leave the football field. As he watched people, he looked the other way and saw that Kronos's team was still there, packing. Being the kind of guy he was, Jake walked over to see if he could find any of his old friends.
Sure enough, Jake managed to catch Freddie as he lifted the water cooler on his back. But since they had been talking for a while, Jake was sure how to start the conversation.
"Dude, you almost took my leg off before I scored the last goal.", Jake hissed.
To his delight, he actually managed to make Freddie laugh when he stopped and looked at him. "Did it seem intentional? I was trying to be as discreet as possible," Freddie smiled.
"Well, let's just say that the referees here don't exactly have a 50/50 vision, so you probably would have gotten away with it." The pink-haired teenager admitted.
Freddie was going to say something else, but Jake noticed more people walking up behind them from Freddie and from what he could tell, it was Stella Kovidsh, Astra Pedragon, Rebecca Alberona and Lia Devan who were approaching them. Kristyn Devan probably went out and did something without them.
As soon as Jake and Lia looked at each other, they started running towards each other.
"Lia!" Jake smiled as he hugged his oldest and perhaps best friend.
"Jake!" Lia shared her joy at seeing her old friend.
In just a few seconds, the two bodies met and their arms were wrapped tightly. The pink-haired man and the white-haired woman smiled vibrantly when they felt each other's presence after so long.
"You idiot," she couldn't help but laugh at his shoulder, "Why didn't you try to contact me? We have all these social media sites and I haven't heard a single word from you!" She punished him.
Jake laughed at his younger friend, "Hehe, sorry Lia. I think I'm so distracted here that I unfortunately forgot it was important at home."
Astra, who was watching them embrace, pulled him out of Lia's arms and claimed Jake in his own embrace. "I would also like to ask why the hell you didn't even try to visit us, let alone talk to us!" Astra told him.
Freddie just crossed his arms and sighed deeply, "We were talking ..." he said.
Stella patted Freddie on the shoulder, "Can't you see we're taking turns?" The redhead smiled at Freddie, "It's been a long time since we saw Jake and I don't think we can barely miss the first thing that comes to mind. We have a lot to catch up on." She nodded.
Astra also nodded when she came out of the embrace, "Yes, we have a lot to talk about. It's been almost a decade since we last met."
"And can I just say ..." Rebecca interjected and wrapped an arm around Jake's shoulders and pulled him close, "You certainly grew up right back here huh ~" she purred.
Jake - who at the time only had eyes for Sakura - blushed deeply when he felt two huge objects poking his sides. "And I could say the same about all of you too," he said in a completely platonic way.
"Rebecca," Stella said sternly as she forcibly separated her from Jake, "You saw that he's in a serious relationship. Speaking of which." she turned to Jake with a murderous aura. "How come you two didn't tell anyone about your relationship?" She snapped her knuckles.
"I would like to know too!" Freddie held up his hand. Rebecca shared her feeling and also raised her hand.
"The same," Astra and Lia said at the same time.
Jake scratched the back of his neck nervously as a blush clouded his cheeks, "well, to be completely honest, I had no idea that you knew Sakura ... despite the shared surname ... you are completely different in every sense of the word ...", he he laughed sheepishly.
Stella still didn't seem satisfied with the answer and grabbed him by the collar, "listen here Jake, while I'm very happy to see you, I won't hesitate to crush your legs if I find out that you have seduced my dear baby sister into doing something dirty and indecent." She looked at him.
"Yes ma'am!" Jake cringed away from her and backed away from Astra and Lia.
"Now then," Stella wiped her hands, "I say to talk to this little group and go somewhere to eat, I'm starving!" She told them.
"I'm starving and, in fact, I just wanted to relieve myself a little ..." Freddie whispered softly.
"What was that?" Stella turned to face him.
"Nothing!" He screamed and was slightly relieved when she turned.
"Jake, are you coming?" Lia asked.
Jake thought about it in his head. He saw no problem with that. Even so, although he wanted to go out and eat with his friends, he still felt something bothering him in the back of his head, but he couldn't say what it was. Was he forgetting someone or something? It probably didn't matter enough if he forgot.
"Yes of course!" He smiled at them, "I'm going to show you my favorite place to have a sandwich!" I told them.
(~ X ~)
Leblanc Café, Tuesday, 4:37 pm
"Are you still paying attention?" Jake asked teasingly as he watched Sakura start to doze a little while telling her story.
Sakura rubbed her eyes and took another sip of her coffee now at room temperature, "sorry, I had a long night." She apologized.
Jake just nodded to her, "it's okay, how about I just summarize what happened from there and you stop and ask when you want certain details?" He offered.
"It looks good," she said.
Jake coughed into his hand and prepared to tell her the story. "Well, from there I took them to that secondary place, do you know the one on the corner before you reached the campus square? Well, we all started talking and they made me realize a few things just by asking." He scratched his scalp.
"Oh, really? Like what?" Sakura stood up, clearly interested in the revelations he was supposed to find.
"Well, to start with, when I was asked how many friends I made, I realized that I don't have many friends. Of course I had you, Markus, Marlon and Yulian, but that's it. I didn't really make deep connections the whole time I was I mean, I knew almost everyone's name, but that's about it. My relationships with people lacked depth or anything noteworthy. "He told her.
Sakura nodded and chose to remain silent. She may have thought otherwise, but she decided to say nothing and let him finish. Jake had to thank her for that, if it were any other girl, they would certainly have something to say about it, but Sakura really knew how to listen.
"Of course they tried to reassure me and promise that I had probably made some friends, but I didn't let them try to convince me otherwise. I know what was going on in my life at that time and I was just feeling the real loneliness. Now, it doesn't mean that I didn't like hanging out with you or Markus, but I just didn't have anyone I could really connect with on a deep level like Stella or Astra or even Freddie. "Jake grimaced. "And that's when I started thinking about leaving Crocus and coming back here. I continued hanging out with them for a while after, you know, just playing with them until they left."
"Can I ask you something?" Sakura spoke.
"Sure!" Jake reassured her.
"Let me see if I understand, you went out with your old friends for lunch and discovered that you didn't have as many friends as you thought, so you immediately decided to drop everything and go away, putting me like this at the ball and causing us to worry about you for almost two years ? " She asked seriously.
Jake blushed and scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment, "You don't understand!" He complained. "It was a very exciting time for me! I hadn't seen my family in months, even though I hated the crown for sending me to that horrible boarding school, I still missed him! And Roxy! My poor and dear Roxy was becoming a teenager without her favorite big brother there to help guide her through difficult times and beat up future suitors! "
"And was that the straw that broke the camel's back?" Sakura raised a very refined eyebrow in question.
Jake shook his head vigorously, "Not only that! God! You don't understand me at all!" The pink-haired teenager crossed his arms. "This is what kept me away, your constant depreciation of my problems! I could handle this for a good part of our relationship because you made me take a deep breath and realize how much it really mattered, but now this is just painful!" He proclaimed.
Sighing, Sakura put her hands on the table, "it's okay, I'm sorry." She apologized, "You are right, I often made your problems seem trivial and for that I apologize. But you have to understand Jake, I'm still mad at you for what you did. You gave up on our relationship, everything we did it together and everything we stand for. You just threw it away! "
"Sakura, people have the right to give up on a relationship if they don't like it and think it's beneficial for them!" Jake told her.
"That's true, but the partner should at least tell the other partner that they don't think the relationship is working out or that they are not feeling like they are not in the right place in the world!" Sakura fired back. "If you just told me you were feeling alone or depressed, I would have done everything I could to help!"
Jake uncrossed his arms and bit his lip, "you still don't understand! It wasn't something you could help with, it was something I had to do alone! Okay, maybe I didn't have a legitimate reason to just run away from it, but damn it , it seemed justified! I am happy with the results of my decision and I am sorry that you were caught in the wake of all this. "
"You're starting to sound like a real idiot ..." Sakura snarled, "do you hear yourself?"
"Yes, I think, I look like a happy man," Jake pointed a thumb at his chest, "and damn, I feel great! But now I'm starting to ask myself: why are you so mad? Of course I broke up with you, and maybe not in the most pleasant way possible, but you're just not willing to let me go, are you? I wonder why? "Jake started and Sakura glared at him.
She clenched her teeth, "are you implying that I ..."
"I still love you!" A voice from the booth behind them declared when the person turned.
Sakura and Jake's eyes widened in shock as Markus Euclides said the comment and now his head was very close to Jake's.
"Markus !?" Jake shouted in shock, "How did you find us !?"
"Does not matter!" Markus said as he quickly went around the two cabins and climbed up to Sakura's side in the cabin they shared. "What matters is Sakura's wounded heart that longs for her soulmate to return!" The blonde said dramatically, doing very well after taking some lessons from Benjamin's theater book.
Sakura almost hit him on the head for that comment. "Shut up! I don't! It's been forever since I forgot it!" Sakura told him.
"Oh, poor thing," Markus sympathized with her. "I know what I'm talking about, I'm a student of psychology. The reason you care so much about Jake's past actions is simply because you still have feelings for him, which is understandable." Markus said.
"I'm going to punch you so hard ..." she threatened.
Markus paid no attention and crossed his arms behind his head, 'yes, yes, whatever. But I'm serious Sakura, it's okay to still have feelings for Jake. But it would be wise for you to move on because, as you know, Jake is going to be mine soon, "said Markus.
"Do you mean a father soon?" Jake said, looking hopeful.
"Er, yes! Sorry! A daddy!" He corrected himself with a nervous blush. Soon he managed to compose himself and crossed his arms on the table, "but what I'm really curious about is your escape. How did you escape without anyone noticing?" Markus asked.
Sakura also wanted to hear your explanation. "Yes, tell us about your daring escape?" She rolled her eyes.
"Sure! This is a story I love to tell!" He said as sarcastically as Sakura. "Good-"
"I believe I can answer that question!" A new voice said from the bar when a tall man stood up and walked over to the teenagers.
"Oh my God!" Jake clenched his fists, "can't we go ten minutes without someone interrupting us !?" He screamed.
"Calm down boy, it's me, Jefferson Fernandez." The newly revealed Jefferson smiled as he climbed into the booth next to Jake.
"Ugh!" Jake said, clearly exhausted with these random characters showing up, "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Does not matter." Jefferson fired back.
Sakura pushed Markus away from her while he was sitting too close for comfort, "I thought this was supposed to be a private meeting, Jake," Sakura told him.
"That was it!" Jake defended himself. "I have no idea how these people got here! They are just showing up! I swear to you that I didn't invite them!" The pink-haired man explained. "Tell her, Jefferson!"
The older blond laughed as he took a sip from his coffee cup. "He's right, I'm only here because I'm worried about the poor guy and he's the only source of entertainment for me right now, my building is being fumigated, so I've been out of luck for a while."
"I really need the story of your life ..." Markus's sweat broke out, "but I want to hear how Jake got away!"
Jefferson smiled, "Okay, I'll tell you the story. See, it all happened in ..."
(~ X ~)
Flashback to the night Jake left
Jake tried his best to stabilize his heartbeat, which was getting out of control. He had to get out of here before he suffered a heart attack. After sitting in his dorm for almost an hour, he finally made the decision to leave Crocus. He had already talked to his old man and luckily his father seemed to have an idea of what Jake was going through; he missed home a lot.
Sure, with his suitcase packed, Jake tried to cross the campus without being noticed, but that proved to be difficult. He didn't know why he didn't want to tell his friends, maybe because they were trying to stop him. Either way, it didn't matter. Sakura was very upset with him for not showing up for their lunch yesterday, so if she found out that he was planning to get rid of her at the party, she would break her legs. And he doubted whether Markus or Marlon understood his feelings, so why bother?
He had arranged for a taxi to pick him up from the parking lot on the left and, luckily, he was only a few feet away and could already see the headlights approaching.
Lowering the car and waiting for it to stop, Jake didn't hesitate to open the door and climb in the back. "For Kronos, step on it," said Jake.
"Wow, boy, without 'hi' first?" A blond man turned and looked at him.
"Just go!" Jake shouted.
The man did not seem altered. "Not until you give me a proper greeting," he shot back.
"Come on man! I have to get out of here!" Jake pushed.
Even so, the man did not move and raised an eyebrow, "The fact that you are wearing a suit tells me that you are dismissing a very important event. It would be a pity if someone caught you just because you did not greet someone." The man said.
"Ugh ..." Jake kicked the seat, "okay, hi! Ready, happy?" He asked.
"A little," the man smiled. "My name is Jefferson Fernandez, what's yours, you impatient brat?"
"Jake. Jake Lane." He replied.
"Lane?" Jefferson asked as he turned and set the car in motion. "Are you related to Gabriel Lane?" He asked.
"Yes, why?" Jake looked at him strangely.
"I hit him in high school," said Jefferson, laughing, "He kept playing a damn guitar while singing horribly, I kicked his ass every day!"
"Well, then I say," Jake smiled as he leaned back and put on his seat belt, "Thanks, Gabriel was always a punch in the balls, so it's good to know that he was once the receiver."
(~ X ~)
"Is this flashback just about you two coming together?" Markus asked, a little jealous of his almost immediate friendship.
"Mostly," Jefferson shrugged. "We kind of stood around for the entire trip there." He said honestly.
"You are a bunch of idiots," Sakura sweated. "As if I couldn't even be mad at your levels of stupidity."
Jake was about to say something, but stopped when he felt his phone start humming like crazy. Looking at them and watching them nod and Jefferson leaving to let him out, Jake picked up the phone and walked a good distance away from the table for some privacy.
"Hi?" He asked.
"Jake?" Lucille's voice came from the other side. "Are you still having lunch with that Sakura girl?" Asked Lucille.
"Yes, but if you need me, I can come home," he said, totally unconcerned that he just called Lucille's home, his home.
"Well, that's what Jake ... I'm not at home ..." she started.
Jake looked confused. "So where are you if you're not at home?"
"Well, I'm at home, but not mine."
"So ... who are you at?"
"Your."
Jake's eyes widened from shock and fear.
-XxX-XxX-XxX-