"We... are never, ever, ever, getting back together!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, laughing along with the blond next to me. After Thomas's dramatic, I'm-a-movie-badboy line, Jacob had scoffed at him and pulled me out the door. He was lucky my shift was over or I would have probably been fired for running out of the restaurant, still wearing my apron and gloves.

We were currently speeding down the road on the way to a mystery location that Jacob refused to tell me. He had insisted on cheering me up, although I suspected that he had an ulterior motive. The first thing he asked was if he could drive my car. It took a solid five minutes of begging, but I eventually gave in. Unfortunately, I hadn't remembered that Jacob actually couldn't drive. His lack of driving skills were obvious after a couple narrow misses with poles, trash cans, and even a random cat that dashed across the street.  I tried to switch places with him but he unleashed the full power of his whiny voice, begging me to help him so that he could finally pass a driving test. From the way this was going, he would need a lot more than a couple driving lessons.

"You go talk to your friends, talk to my friends, talk to me!" Jacob continued singing at the top of his lungs, his voice cracking slightly at the highest note. One thing we shared was an awful singing voice. Jacob didn't care, though, as he continued to yell above the stereo.

"Woo!" He yelled, high-fiving me at the end of the song. "I told you singing break-up songs always makes you feel better."

Surprisingly, he was right. Shaking off the traumatic afternoon with some Taylor Swift was just what I needed.

"If I agree with you will you let me drive?" I teased him. His turned away from the road to face me with a fake-hurt expression that would rival Mia's. They really were the same person.

"Face the road!" I screamed, slapping him on the arm. We both shifted just in time for Jacob to jerk the steering wheel, swerving around a branch in the road. I screamed again, my seatbelt constricting around me as we both slammed forward in our seats. The car was silent for a second before Jacob chuckled sheepishly.

"Maybe you can drive today."

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After the roller coaster car ride, we arrived at Jacob's surprise destination.

It was McDonald's.

"Holy shit." He mumbled almost intelligibly, his mouth full of food.

I threw a fry at him, forgetting how athletic he was. His tanned hand darted out just in time, catching the fry and popping it into his already-full mouth. I don't know how he wasn't choking already with the amount of food crammed in there.

McDonald's, Jacob had told me, was the best place to go when you're sad. I didn't really believe him, but he seemed so excited that I didn't say anything.

Three cheeseburgers, four orders of fries, and two milkshakes later, Jacob was finally finished eating.

"Are you sure you don't want more food?" He asked me again, looking incredulously at the single burger wrapper in front of me. He kept insisting that I needed to eat more, offering to buy me another burger or three.

"Jacob, no one eats as much as you do." I had noticed it at the lunch table, but eating alone with him had emphasized his impressive appetite.

He shrugged. "I'm an athlete, I'll burn it all off at practice later." He flexed his giant bicep at me, a cocky smirk adorning his face. I threw another fry, which he annoyingly caught again.

"Jacob... why are we at McDonald's?" I finally asked.

"I dunno... Double cheeseburgers are the only thing that got me through my breakup, so I thought they might help you."

I laughed along with him, before his words hit me. "Wait, you had a girlfriend? I thought you didn't date." Jacob was a notorious player at our school, but he never actually dated anyone. Before I met him, I had assumed he was just a classic fuckboy like the other guys on his lacrosse team. Mia had obviously seen something else in him, though, and after getting to know him I could tell she was right.

"Yeah, just one. It ended pretty badly." His eyebrow furrowed as he explained. "Actually, she cheated on me."

"Wait, really?"

"It fucking sucked." He muttered. "But I know what you are going through right now. That's why I want to help."

"Thank you, Jacob." I smiled at him, touched. Although he ate always joined us for lunch, I hadn't a chance to talk with him one-on-one. To be honest, I still barely knew him. I was touched that he wanted to help me even though we weren't very close yet.

His cheeks flushed a bit in response, making his eyes appear even more blue. He was kind of a goofball, but also a really sweet guy.

"S'Okay. It sucked for a while, but I'm over it now." He smiled a little bit, hesitating. "I— I'm actually kind of into Mia."

I'm not sure what exactly happened next, because I was busy screaming internally. My eyes lit up immediately as I stared at the sheepish blond boy in front of me. "You're into Mia?" I practically screamed.

He eyed the people in the restaurant nervously, avoiding the gaze of a few people from our school. This restaurant was the drama kids' territory, and there were always at least a few students sitting in the back. "Shhh!" he covered my mouth with his hand, glaring at me.

"Sorry!" My voice came out muffled beneath his large hand. After making sure I would be quiet, he drew his hand back and stood up. Gesturing to me, he quickly grabbed our trash and walked toward the door. We stayed quiet until we were safely in the car and away from any prying ears.

"Tell me everything!" I was so excited for Mia that I couldn't contain myself.

The lacrosse player grinned back at me, plugging his phone into the AUX and playing music at a low volume. "Well, I don't know. This may sound creepy, but I've kinda liked her for a really long time. She probably doesn't remember, but we were in the same art class in ninth grade."

Um, she definitely remembers. I still hear stories about the crazy things Jacob did in that class from Mia. That was the year her crush was born. I never realized that maybe he grew a crush on her then, too.

He chuckled a little bit, his long blond curls falling over his forehead. "I always did this shit to impress her. She was quiet, but really funny when she did talk. And the best artist in the class, by far."

Okay, cuteness overload. He was totally right about her, too. Mia and I had instantly clicked, so our friendship was never awkward. Mia was the opposite way with guys, though— the moment one talked to her, she freaked out. She was finally beginning to open up to Jacob, Asher, and Shawn, which I was happy about.

"Asher was the one who finally forced me to talk to her this year. He basically told me to man up and grow a pair." I laughed along with Jacob, thinking about Asher's intimidating stare. He could probably convince anyone to do anything with that look.

"So when you came up to us in the halls, that was more about Mia?"

"No, that was really about meeting the only girl who could stand up to Asher." He smirked in my direction. "But it did give me an excuse to hang out with Mia outside of school."

He frowned a little, looking at his lap. "You aren't going to tell her this, right?"

"But Jacob!" I protested. "Please can I?" He eyes widened immediately in horror.

"No!" He exclaimed. "No way. Please, Olivia. I'm trusting you."

I sighed. "Fine. I'll keep my mouth shut." They could find their way to each other without my meddling.

"Don't worry, I do want to tell her. I don't really know how, though." His face flushed again, and I could tell he wasn't used to this. Player or not, he obviously didn't have a lot of experience with an actual crush aside from his one previous girlfriend.

"You don't have anything to worry about. Mia is the sweetest person I know." I reassured him.

"But I don't even know if she likes me back." He ran his hands through his hair, tugging at the blond curls with stress. I couldn't hold back a little smirk. If only he knew.

His eyes stared at me expectantly, his expression gradually shifting from curious to worried to anxious. My lack of answer was obviously scaring him. "Sorry, Jake. Can't break girl code."

He immediately rolled his eyes, but seemed slightly calmed by my answer. His nervousness made me laugh; it was pretty obvious that Mia had been head-over-heels for him for years.

"Okay, fine. But maybe you could still help me with something?" His voice turned up in the end like a question, obviously confused about the exact rules of girl code.

"What do you need?"

"I want to ask her out."

I screamed internally again (and maybe externally, too) and jumped up and down in my seat for a second before I payed attention to Jacob again.

"Not a date, exactly. I do want to take things slowly. But maybe I could invite her to a lacrosse game or something."

I gave Jacob a disparaging look. "Lacrosse season starts in January." Was he really planning on asking her out four months early?

He laughed and shook his head. "Okay, you're right. Lacrosse is a bad idea. But what should I ask her to do?"

I thought about it for a second. I knew I could tell Jacob all of Mia's things, but it was clear that neither of them were actually ready for that. Jacob was a nervous wreck who clearly hadn't been on a real date in a while, and Mia was still a rambling mess whenever Jacob was around her. They both needed to feel a bit more comfortable around each other before they were alone together.

"Why don't you start off casually? The whole group could go do something tomorrow. That way you can get to know Mia, without things being awkward."

Jacob's face lit up at my suggestion. "Shit, that's perfect. When?"

"I'm free tomorrow after school if that works, and I think Mia is too."

"Shawn and I are free tomorrow, but I don't think Asher is." His face contorted weirdly at that, his brow furrowing in some unknown expression.

"Let's just do a different day then!" I immediately said. My quickness surprised both me and Jacob. His eyes widened as he looked at me, his head dipping slightly to the right. The movement made his blond curls fall back into his eyes, but he ignored them. It reminded me of Asher, and how he always seemed annoyed when his messy brown hair obstructed his vision. The thought of him furiously trying to fix his hair (to no avail) made me smile softly before Jacob's voice brought me back to reality.

"Olivia... what's with you an Asher?" His voice came out slowly, as if he wanted to say something else but was holding back.

"We're friends." I stated, but my voice didn't sound very convincing. It awkwardly turned up at the end, turning the statement into a question. Jacob sighed at that, his expression growing downtrodden.

"You should keep it that way."

"What?" My voice sounded indignant this time.

"That came out wrong, but really... Asher is one of my closest friends, but you're my friend now, too. I want to look out for you." He tried to explain vaguely.

"What do you mean?"

"Asher is bad news. Just know that you are safer staying friends with him. And I'd be surprised if he'd even let it go farther than that." That addendum hurt a little, if I was being honest. Asher was my friend, but the words still made my stomach twist.

"What do you mean?" I repeated.

"We can change the date, but please be careful, Olivia. I love Asher, and I want him to be happy, but I want you to be safe, too." Jacob paused again and rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly, his gaze going down to his lap. The car was silent for a long moment as we both collected our thoughts.

Finally, Jacob turned back to me. His warm brown eyes were filled with that strange look that I wasn't able to decipher again.

"You helped me, so I owe you this. You may be good for Asher, I'll admit, but he would be terrible for you. Worse than Thomas. You need to be careful before you get yourself in a dangerous situation."

With that, Jacob heaved his large body out of the car and walked into his house, and I was left alone to wonder what the hell that was about.

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I made a new cover! What do you guys think?

Thanks for 5K!