In which I fall in love with my brother's best friend.
*****
"Don't pretend like you don't feel anything." His voice is low, sending shivers down my spine.
"What do you mean?"
"You know damn well what I mean."
"I don't know what you're talking about...
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"Did you get in?" Jake's voice echoes through the speaker as I talk with him on the phone while doing my energy balance assignment on my bed. It has been six days since he left, and I'm still surviving in my early weeks of college.
"Nope," I say. "I changed my mind. I didn't audition for it."
"Why?" He sounds surprised. "I thought you liked it."
"I do." I sigh. "I'd love to play the piano with a full orchestra. But there's this guy from South Korea who is so good. And I'm nothing compared to him." I laugh.
"You're joking, right?" He pauses. "You didn't really want it."
"The team seems so driven. They participate in a lot of competitions. I don't think I can do it. I don't want to play with such pressure. Let me just enjoy playing it as a hobby." I grin.
"As you wish, Mels." Jake laughs. "How's study so far?"
"So far so good," I say, biting my pen as I scan the rest of my homework. "But there's this research the lecturer asked us to do, and it's quite challenging." I hate it when I'm being all about studying again, and I tend to overthink stuff.
I'm such a lifeless, boring girl.
"Well?" Jake asks.
But my brother is such a good listener.
"How am I supposed to predict the world's energy supply and demand for ten years onward?" I sigh in disbelief.
Jake laughs, and I growl. This is the time when I need his outstanding remarks or out-of-the-box suggestions. I'm sure that the topic is of his expertise.
"I can give you a long speech about that subject, but why should I, when you could even get more than what I could give you?"
"What do you mean?" I ask.
"You should ask Vaughn about that."
Dang. That guy again.
"Believe me. He's done that kind of research, and it's quite impressive."
Why does everybody always give him super nice compliments? Now I'm curious about what I can learn from him.
"Anyway, I gotta go," Jake suddenly says. "My boss is calling me."
"Okay, go," I urge before he hangs up. I chuckle, happy that he's doing great in his new workplace in Texas. But then again, losing is not in Jake's dictionary.
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