RED CARDINALS (series, chp. 5)
Pairing: Jake Kiszka x female!reader
AN: sorry for the repost, i accidentally posted the unreviewed version. enjoy <3
You and Jake had been consistently making plans over the last 2 weeks. You found yourself spending almost every waking moment with him, his presence made you warm inside, and all felt right with the world. However, you felt bad for how your plans almost always excluded Sam. Not that you ever meant to exclude him, just that it was easier with your schedule that perfectly coaligned with Jakes, so it just worked that spent more time with him. Sam was still a sophomore in high school, he had more going on which resulted in less freedom with his class and work lives. Danny had been busy with his accelerated courses too, so you often found that plans were just with the two of you.
“Yello’?”, you rolled over in bed, answering the phone.
“Hey, do you want to grab breakfast?”
“Sweet, meet you in the street in 10.”
You entered his car, the sweet aroma of Spice Market Little Trees filled the air as you buckled yourself into his passenger seat. His smile greeted you, his hands clasped around the steering wheel.
“So, I was thinking iHop?” You petitioned, plugging your phone into the aux charger connected to his dash. Someone New came on first, Hozier’s voice rung quietly through the speakers as you shuffled through your collaborative playlist, which he had suggested you both make on Spotify. Every day he would add new songs and you’d do the same. It was sweet, he would include songs he liked but also songs he thought you would, every morning you’d wake up to his 3am texts which followed somewhere along the lines of ‘Hey, I added this to the playlist. It reminded me of you.’ It always made you smile, your heart flutter slightly.
You’d gotten slightly better at suppressing the feelings which arose for Jake, that to which you blamed on Josh, for obvious reasons. The more you grew to learn Jake the more you realized how absolutely different the twins always were. At first, it was difficult to separate them, but now you had the pleasure of knowing Josh and Jake. Jake’s smile was only slightly different than Josh’s, though you found comfort in the similarity. That was the only part you couldn’t derive from your mind, but it wasn’t a bad one. You were happy to remember Josh in his smile as you got to know him.
Singing along with Jake, he left turned at the intersection which led you onto the highway.
I fall in love just a little ol' little bit / Every day with someone new
“I feel like I relate too much to this song.” You joked with him, mindlessly scrolling through the playlist to check the new additions from the night before.
“Do you?” Jake chuckled, merging into the four lanes which laid out ahead of you.
“Yeah, I do, hopeless romanticism is kind of my thing.”
“I would have never guessed!”
“Well now you know, the secret is out.” You replied, the My King Will Be Kind intro beginning in the background of your conversation had you focused on the playlist. You wouldn’t have seen Jake’s eyes glued to you hadn’t you reached to turn the volume up to fill the silence. His low-lidded eyes seemed like they had something to say, the ever so slight smile on his lips, the complete relaxation in his body. He turned his gaze back to the road as your eyes met his, adjusting his body to promptly tense back up against the seat.
“What?” You beckoned the question as the light turned green.
“Nothing, just trying to see which song you had up next.”
From the tone in his voice, he was lying, but you wouldn’t pry. Sometimes you would catch him looking at you like he just had, and it always made you giddy inside. Despite your resistance of feelings, something about moments like this had your cheeks pink and your stomach fluttering. It was a small moment if anything, but the small ones were the ones you were happy you got to share with him. You’d always wondered what would happen if you just kissed him; if you just placed your hand on his cheek mid-sentence and cut him off from an ongoing rant or simple conversation. You shook the idea from your mind.
His voice cut off your thoughts, “Destination pancakes!” he shouted, pulling his keys from the ignition. You followed him inside, taking a seat at a booth. You sat across from each other, peering up at him over your menu, he did the same.
“Whatcha gonna get?” You asked, shooting your eyes back down to the lists of options.
“Okay, I might get a burger.”
He dropped his menu, plucking yours from your hands. “A burger?” He questioned you, jokingly of course, but loud enough for the table next to you to look over. “How are you gonna get a burger at the international house of pancakes! I am offended. You have offended this entire establishment.” You laughed at him, taking it back from his hands.
“Okay, fine! Would blueberry suit your fancy?” You answered him, your voice facetiously stern.
He nodded in response, “Now that’s a good girl.” His focus caught back to his menu; the sentence made your breath hitch. Your cheeks were surprisingly red behind the cover of the menu. Luckily, the waitress had arrived in just enough time for you to brush off the comment completely and focus on the task at hand. She took your orders and menus back with her before she brought back your drinks, setting them down in their respective places.
“And might I add, what a cute couple the two of you are!” Her voice was filled with delight as she smiled at you.
“Oh, no-” you started, Jake’s voice cutting you off.
“Thank you so much.” He smiled up at her from his seat as she walked away. You gave him a look, raising your eyebrow in confusion at him.
“Oh c’mon, we are a cute couple.” He took a drink of his water. “Plus, it’d be embarrassing and awkward for us all if I’d just said, ‘Oh God no’, you know?’” He laughed, checking the notification on his home screen.
His words stung. You found yourself just agreeing with him, but you couldn’t help but feel slightly curious as to why. Not a simple no, an ‘Oh God no’. It’d only hurt a little bit, though it shouldn’t have at all. What could be so wrong with you that someone asking if you two were dating would result in an ‘Oh God no’? Okay, it hurt a lot. The thought, now replaying in your mind, had completely soiled your mood. When the food arrived, you ate quietly, nodding or humming in agreement, sometimes disagreement, to any questions or statements he made during the rest of your breakfast. When the check came, he offered to cover the two of you and handed his card to the woman before you were able to make any objections. The walk back to the car was just as quiet, after you’d buckled yourself in Jake put the car in reverse, then promptly back into park.
“Okay, enough, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” You assured him, though his suspicions hadn’t let up.
“Actually, what’s the matter? Did I do something?” He seemed confused... like he wasn’t even sure he had done anything wrong, just wanted to make sure.
“No, everything is fine.”
“Something is obviously the matter,” He protested, crossing his arms over his chest, “and I’m not taking us home until you-”
“Dude, I said nothing is wrong. Can you fucking stop?” You recoiled at him; his face hardened at your words. You immediately felt regret, you didn’t mean to come off so harsh. After a few moments of silence, you spoke again. “I’m sorry.”
The drive home was silent. As you approached a red light, Jake took the aux charger from your side of the car, plugging his phone in and shuffling the playlist. Vienna filled the empty air as he drove. You desperately wanted out of the car, his eyes were intent on the road and his jaw was locked. You could see how tightened his muscles were as his neck vein had begun to become more prominent the longer he clenched his teeth together. He was mad, obviously, you’d basically just cussed him out for no reason besides your own stupid little crush. He had every right to ‘Oh God no’ that situation despite how it made you feel.
Finally, he broke the silence. “Why were you upset.” His voice was low, still lingering in confusion, but he was seemingly giving you an opportunity to explain yourself.
“It’s stupid, Jake, I just don’t want to talk about it.” You turned your face to him, “I should have just said that. I’m sorry I yelled at you.” Your eyes pleaded with a desperation that he would understand and drop the conversation altogether, forgive you so you could go back to having a normal day with him.
His eyes made no effort to look at you, still on the road. He turned off the interstate and onto a road that you knew did not lead to home. “Where are we going?” You asked, his demeanor did not change. Soon he pulled into a parking lot, one off the side of the road that was lingered with the occasional car. He let his head fall back onto the headrest before bringing his attention to yours after parking.
“Was it because of what I said to the waitress?” He asked, his gaze fixated on you. Your chest felt tight as you contemplated the ways you could answer his question without being completely honest.
“Yes.” You finally huffed out, “It just took me by surprise was all.”
“Is it because you don’t like me?” No hesitation from him at all, his focus still fixated on you and his eyes curious. You felt your chest tighten, unsure of how to respond at all. You shook your head and the two of you sat in silence as Leaving, On a Jet Plane played quietly in the background. It was the only thing you could focus on besides the look on his face.
“No, no, that’s not why,” You finally spoke, “It’s not a big deal.”
Jake’s facial expression did not move in the slightest, though his eyebrows creased together some more than before. He went to speak, though caught him.
“Okay.” He shifted in his seat, sitting up slightly from his last resting spot. “Do you?”
“Like me?” He propped his elbow against the edge of the seat, turning his body slightly towards you as he watched you intensely now. You had no idea what the hell was running through his mind, but this all felt wrong. Like he was testing you somehow, the pit in your stomach grew as you let out a nervous laugh and swallowed hard on the words in your throat.
“Jake, come on,” he swiftly cut you off.
“No, tell me. Do you?” His voice was flat, you felt your heart flutter at his leading tone. Your face flushed with it and the quiver in your lip probably gave it away that you were completely unable to muster up any sort of response to his stern manner and request.
He had always been so difficult to read, especially now. The tension, which could clichély be physically cut with a knife, was something you knew you couldn’t get your way out of without giving him an answer.
Before you could begin to speak, Jake brought himself closer to you over the console. “What are you-” He grabbed your jaw, pulling you into him, and pressed his lips into yours. He swiftly moved his hand from your cheek to the back of your neck, pushing his tongue through your teeth, and matched his movements with your own. His touch was rough yet gentle, he was so overtly aware of any move he made. The encounter caused heat to bubble in your abdomen. Your tongues swirled together, his head taking the lead as you whimpered against his lips and let a small whiney groan escape from your throat between a moment of disconnection. Your hand came up to touch his face, you circled your thumb over his jaw before running your fingers through his hair.
You’d both closed your eyes at some point when he pulled back, your foreheads touching as you attempted to let your breath catch up to a normal pace. His hand still rested on the back of your neck, he let it slide down your back as he inched your body closer to his, your fingers still entangled with his soft brown curls. You let your arms drop and he trailed his hand back up, placing his two forefingers under your chin to lift your eyes up to meet his. He gave you a soft smile and asked again, “Do you?”
“Maybe.” You whispered back to him, the grin on his face widening with your answer.
