Chapter 29 || But It's Winter
🔹🔹🔹🔹
*Nicole's POV*

It's been a week since I went to see Wonder Woman at the movie theatre. A week since I've held Jake's hand. A week since I've meet Alice and a week since I've seen Bridget.

I walk into history and find an unfamiliar person sitting at the table. Usually, I sit alone...

I notice it's a girl wearing a dark black beanie, a blue hoodie and white ripped jeans.

I couldn't see her face or hair color because her head was facing down and she was, what looked like, drawing in a notebook.

I took a deep breath as I walked to my seat.

I put my backpack on the table and sat down.

She looked up with a smile and the second our eyes met our mouths dropped.

"Nicole?!"

"Alice?!"

We shout simultaneously.

"I didn't know you go here?" She asked with excitement.

"Same with you!" I say with a smile.

"I just moved here" She paused "God the rest of this year is going to be bomb!"

I chuckle.

"Ahhh Nicole, I see you already know our new student Alice Lane," my history teacher says as he walks into the class, "I am Mr. Herbert and Welcome to history."

Mr. Herbert begins teaching and as soon as he turns his back Alice begins to whisper, "So anything new news with Mr. Bad Boy?"

I turn to her "Shhhh"

She rolls her eyes in a playful manner, "Have you guys kissed?!"

"Shh Alice" I take a deep breath "and No we haven't. We aren't dating."

She raises an eyebrow "mmmhmmm" she hums as she snaps her fingers.

"Pay attention" I shove her with a smile.

She gives me a wink as she finally listens to Mr. Herbert.

I continue taking notes throughout the entirety of the class. Alice seemed to be writing... more like doodling... in her notebook. I wondered what.

As the bell rang she turned to me and asked "Hey need a ride home? We can stop to get ice cream at Dairy Queen or something."

"Yeah, sure!"

"You sure lover boy won't mind?" She taunts.

I roll my eyes, "I mean besides that I temporarily live at his house which makes it a convenience for him, I'm sure he won't mind"

Her mouth drops "Wait... hold the phone! You are living with him?!"

I take a deep breath as I remembered I didn't tell her that piece of information at the theatre.

I awkwardly laugh as I gather my books and shove them into my bag, "He-he yeah. My parents are away on business and I don't know when they are coming back so I'm staying at their friend's house whose son happened to be Jake" I say in one giant breath.

She blinks blankly then grins, "Yeah you two so aren't staying friends for much longer."

I choke... change the subject... CHANGE THE SUBJECT!!

"What were you doing in your notebook?" I casually ask changing the subject.

"Nice subject change" she chuckles "and I was drawing."

My eye's widened, "OMG you draw? Show me show me show!"

She chuckles and grabs her notebook and sighs, "This is my sketchbook. I usually don't show people my work but I'll show you."

I clap with joy as she begins to open the book. She opens up the book and I see millions of amazing drawings including tigers, dolphins, her self, and millions of others. As she flips the pages the drawings get better and better.

"You are so talented Alice!" I say in awe.

"Thanks!" She cheers.

Alice takes the book so only she can see it, "Okay I was drawing in class today and I want you to have it"

"What? Why me?" I gasp.

She chuckles "You'll see"

She carefully rips out a piece of paper "Ready?"

I nod.

She turns the paper and what meets my eyes is absolutely amazing. It was a beautiful drawing of a girl and a guy. His arm was around her and they were looking at each other with googly eyes. The guy in the drawing was stunning and gorgeous but he looked familiar. Then my eyes met the girl and I realized what that drawing was.

She chuckles "It's you and Jake!"

I put my hands on my face, "Aliceeeeee" I whine "WHY?"

"Take it," she says as she takes my wrist and forces the drawing in my hand, "I expect you to take great care of it."

I roll my eyes.

"You love me" She winks.

"You wish"

We grab our stuff and exit the school.

As we walk down the stairs my eyes lock with Jake's eyes. The sun hit his face at just the right angle that made him gleam. He was wearing a thick dark blue jacket and...

"Earth to Nicole" Alice jokes.

I stop and look at her "What?"

She grins "My drawing is so accurate. Admit it."

"No never."

She playfully pushes me and with my luck, I twist my ankle which caused me to tumble down the last two stairs.

I look up once I reach the bottom at Alice who is dying of laughter.

I rub my behind and leg trying to get rid of the small amounts of pain I had.

"Thanks" I roll my eyes.

Before I even had a chance to do anything Jake's hand is on my shoulder, "You okay Nicole?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I say looking into his eyes.

He looks back in mine.

I didn't realize how close he was to me. I could feel his warm breath fanning my face.

I made an effort to stand but was taken away when Jake lifted me to my feet. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer as he looked down at me. I looked back at him.

Alice broke out into laughter and I begin to blush. Jake looks at me and then at Alice and then back at me.

He lets go of me and bend to pick something off of the ground.

I glare at Alice as she mouths "You're welcome!"

I do a hand motion signaling her to shhhhhh.

Jake stands back up with a signal piece of paper in his hand, "I think you dropped this Prince......"

He stopped in his tracts, staring at the paper. My eyes widened as I realized what it was - Alice's drawing.

Jake reverts his gaze from the paper to me and has his killer smirk plastered on his face, "So you've been thinking about me I see."

My face turns an even deeper shade of red - I'm sure I'm redder than a tomato right about now.

Jake notices my uncomfortableness and takes advantage of it. He lowers his head and brushes a piece of my hair behind my ear, his lips graze my ear as he whispers "What else do you think of me?"

I'm completely tense.

Jake pulls back and looks me in the eyes with that perfect smile.

I find myself opening my mouth to protest "No... I... Don't... Alice... She..."

Jake chuckles as he goes to cover my mouth with his hand, "Don't deny it.

At this time Alice decides to chime in with an antagonizing sarcastic tone, "She doesn't stop talking about you."

Jake looks over his shoulder at Alice, "I didn't know you went here" Jake says in confusion.

With a smile, she says "Just moved here."

"Hi, guys!" Dan says as he casually slides over to us "I miss summer...... Hello who are you?" his tone turning a bit more flirty.

"Alice. Who are you?" She says equally as flirty.

"The name's Dan," he says in his Dan ways that we don't understand but Alice seems to get it cause she starts laughing.

"Do you use that on all the girls?"

He winks "yup absolutely"

The two of them begin laughing together leaving Jake and I in complete confusion.

Jake coughs like he was clearing his throat and turns to me, "Hey uh Nicole."

I shift my gaze from Dan and Alice who seems to be getting along quite well to look at Jake who's eyes seemed to sparkle down at me.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to hang out with Dan and I today?" Jake asks.

Dan and Alice both stop talking and turn to face us and a wave of silence flew over me.

"I kinda already made plans with Alice today..."

"Shoot I just remembered I need to uhhh visit my Grandma today" Alice quickly says "Sorry gotta go"

"I just remembered I need to go with her!" Dan adds as they being to run to Alice's car.

Jake shouts "You don't even know her"

"Uhh yeah, we met over tea!" Dan shouts back as they get in the car.

Before they drive away Alice shouts out the window "Have fun you two!" and with two beeps of her car horn, they are off.

Jake says something under his breath.

I turn to him, guess I'm free now, "What did you have in mind."

Jake smiles, "A picnic."

"What?" My mouth drops "but it's winter!"

Jake brushes his hand through his hair, "It's not too cold out and the snow looks... almost as beautiful as you."

I felt red seep into my cheeks. How could I say no to that??

I took a deep breath which sounded more like a fan girl's sigh when their idol calls them pretty than a breath which causes Jake to laugh.

I awkwardly cough.

"You love me" he winks.

"You wish" I smile.

I get into his car and before we go on our picnic we make a quick stop at the house. Jake packs everything while I go change into something warmer. I also grabbed a pair of gloves and white earmuffs.

I quickly looked at myself in the mirror before I ran down the hall into the kitchen to find Jake folding up a thick blanket. I turned my head to find a large picnic basket resting on the table.

"What did you pack?" I ask walking to the basket.

Jake ran over and put his hand on the basket right before I could touch it "It's a surprise" he winked.

I rolled my eyes.

"You look warm" Jake chuckled.

I stuck my tongue out at him "I'd prefer not to freeze to death" I took a deep breath in remembrance that that had almost already happened, "I'm going to grab another sweater to put under my jacket".

Before I could walk away Jake grabbed my wrist and playfully turned me around to face him. My chest touched his and my hands immediately rested on his shoulders.

He gives me a playful smirk, "You're hot enough"

I felt a blush creep onto my cheeks. Was he referring to my attire or me.

He gives me a wink and kisses my cheek causing my heart to skip a beat. He pulls his head back and looks into my eyes.

"We won't be out long and if you get cold we'll leave" he pauses as he rests his hand under my chin "or finish in my car" He gives me his deathly smirk.

My mouth drops as I realize what he meant. I pull back and give him a playful punch to the shoulder. Jake in return gives me a playful pouty face as if that hurt him.

I roll my eyes "I'm getting another sweater just incase" I needed a quick escape from the situation as I felt my heart rate spike.

I was going to melt into a puddle if I didn't do anything.

Jake laughs as I rush away.

I enter my room and look into the mirror, low and behold I was redder than a tomato. I rush into the bathroom and splash cool water onto my face.

"Calm down Nicole" I encourage myself.

My face had now become a more pink than red, less noticeable than before.

I stand there looking in the mirror letting time pass by to make it seem like I'm doing something, and to let my face become normal, before I go back.

When I skip back down the hall and into kitchen once again I say, "Ready Freddy."

Jake raises an eyebrow "Where's the sweater?"

I stop in my tracts and freeze. I feel the red creep onto my face quicker than you can say popcorn.

"I-I decided I didn't need it" I chime.

"Mmmhmmm" Jake mumbles.

I swallow hard as I try to internally calm myself down.

My body was shaking and my heart was racing.

Why was I so nervous and anxious?

"Yoohooo.... Princess???"

I snap out of it and look right at Jake who is laughing under his breath.

"Ready to go?"

I nod as he grabs the basket. I go to grab the blanket but he takes it from my grasp, "I got it. My girl doesn't carry anything."

Jake leads me to his car and once we are settled, we drive away until we reach the park where Jake's spot is.

He lets me out of the car and wraps his free hand around mine.

He begins to walk and I follow.

Jake's grip was firm but yet soft. His touch sent tingles throughout my body.

He stops and puts down the basket. He turns to me and with a smirk kisses my forehead.

Despite the freezing cold, I begin to melt.

Why is he doing this?

He grins as he lets go of my hand and begins to place a picnic blanket over the snow.

He gestures for me to sit and I obey. Once I'm snug he places a fuzzy blanket over me which causes me to smile.

"Comfy?"

I look up into his gorgeous brown eyes that sparkled, "You have no idea."

He smiles at me as he begins opening the basket. He takes out two bowl like containers and a bunch of utensils. He rests them on the ground as he slides under the blanket next to me.

He picks up one of the containers and hands it to be. I gratefully take it with an ear to ear smile.

I open the container to find Mac and cheese.

I look up at Jake in awe, "You made Mac and cheese?"

He chuckles "You know it's not the hardest thing to make right?"

"But it's my favorite!" I squeal.

Jake pats my shoulder and we begin eating.

"This is really good" I say with a mouth full.

"Can't go wrong with a good old kraft spirals" He says as if he has found the best invention known to man... which I can't argue with.

I don't exactly remember when my love for Mac and cheese grew. Maybe sometime in elementary school? I don't know. All I know is that I eat it all the time and love it!

I also love cake. Vanilla cake with homemade frosting mmmmm mmmmmm delicious!

You know I want cake now?

All of a sudden I hear Jake break out into laughter.

I furrow my brows in confusion "What's so funny?"

"Y-Your face... I-It's..." He can barely get his words out "Y-your having a conversation in your head and y-our face is responding to your thoughts!"

"What??"

He starts mimicking different faces as if he was thinking and having a conversation at the same time, then he looks at me with a sly smile.

"Stop making fun of me" I whine as he rolls over dying of laughter.

After a few moments of lying down he begins to sober up.

"But you're so cute" He chimes as he sits back up and pats my cheek.

"Stop" I whine playfully as I push him causing him to tumble onto his side.

He quickly sits back up and pushes me back. A squeal as I fall over and with my Eskimo clothes I couldn't do anything but fall.

Oh No, he was not going to win that easily.

I stand up grab a handful of snow, form it into a ball, and chuck it at him.

After a successful hit to his arm I run and charge at him. Once my hands reach his shoulders I push him completely into the snow.

Once he was on the ground, Jake nonchalantly lifts me up and pushes me off of him - lightly throwing me a good foot away from him - causing me to land in a huge snow bank.

I groan as I pull my face out of the snow.

I grab another handful of snow and form it into a ball. Before I can throw it a snowball hits my leg.

"You missed!" I taunt as I wind up and throw a snowball straight at his torso.

He chuckled "Believe me, I didn't miss."

"So you're afraid to hurt me?" I tease but after those words left my mouth a giant glob of snow hits my face.

Jake begins laughing his head off.

I wipe the snow from my face, "So you wanna play that way?"

"I like it when your mad" He grabs snow "It's hot."

I blush and groan at the same time. Right now he infuriated me but yet made my heart flutter.

I grab more snow once I go get up to throw my snow ball directly at his face I was knocked down but something.

I look up and directly on top of me is a very pleased Jake.

I groan as I try to push him off of me but fail because he was twice the size of me.

"Get off of me" I roar.

He looks down at me, "Why would I want to do that?"

I groan louder in frustration as I grab a pile of snow and throw it at his face. It wasn't exactly a smart plan because the snow I threw at him came right back down in my face.

"Ugh" I sigh.

"You're cute when you're frustrated" He smirks.

"Jakeeeeeeee" I whine "You're crushing meeeeee"

His eyes quickly are filled with worry, "Oh sh..." he coughs and corrects himself "Sorry" and he quickly gets off of me and helps me to sit up.

He begins dusting the snow off my back and I grin.

"Ahhhhhh" I scream as I charge at him and push him to the ground but instead I am on top.

He grunts "Well played Princess. Well played"

I smile with success.

"You know I can easily pick you up right Princess?" He winks with a hint of tease in his voice.

Whoops... forgot about that.... so I just throw snow onto his face.

He coughs as he brushes it off.

"Not so tough now huh" I say as I keep throwing snow on his face.

I hear his laughing under all the snow as he tries to push all the snow off of his face but every time he does I just put more on.

"Alright that's it" He says playfully as he put his arms around me and begins to sit up. I wrap my arms around his neck in fear of being thrown.

I shriek in but he didn't throw me, he just sat up and brush off all the snow on his face.

I chuckle as he struggles to get all the snow off, "You're lucky I like you" his words slowly fade "or else you'd be face down in that snow bank over there."

My heart skips a beat as I realize our current position.

I was straddling his lap, his hands on my waist and mine on his neck. Our faces were a mere few inches away from each other.

I could feel his warm breath fanning my face.

His grip tightened around my waist.

I felt my breathing hitch and I'm sure he noticed.

My heart was racing and since our chests were touching I'm sure he could tell... however I did have layers upon layers of clothes so maybe not.

Our eyes locked.

His eyes were sparkling at me.

God he was a gorgeous being.

His prefect chiseled face, his devilish smirk, beautiful dark brown eyes....

His eyes move from my eyes down to my lips and then back up to my eyes.

I held my breath in that short moment and my heart was pounding like a drum.

A small white flurry fell in front of us causing Jake and I to look up at the sky.

I smiled an ear to ear smile "It's snowing! It's actually snowing!" I cheer.

Jake chuckles.

I look back at him and he is looking at me with his thousand watt smile that makes me blush.

I roll of his lap and lie in the snow, my back resting against the blanket of snow and my face facing up as the snow falls down.

I stick my tongue out trying to catch a few snowflakes.

Jake lies down next to me.

I chuckle as my face tingles with the soft touch of the snow and I begin to move my arms and legs up and down in the snow.

Jake copies my action and once he is finished he stands up.

As I concentrate on my actions I notice Jake intensely staring at me with a loving smile.

I can't help but blush even more.

Once I'm done I eagerly sit up.

Jake reaches his hand out for mine, which I gratefully grab as I don't have to ruin my master piece.

Once I'm up I take a step towards Jake.

"Look! We are angels!" I cheer with glee like a little child would.

Jake chuckles a cute little chuckle.

I turn to look up at his