All You Never Wanted

12. In the Library

As Megan sat down with Jake and Jen in the library, she had to admit she was more than a little nervous. Sure, it was pretty clear that Jake wasn't actually mad at her for losing that bottle, but this was still going to be their first actual conversation since that had happened. She knew she'd talked to him in the hall just an hour ago, but she didn't count that. How could she really call that a conversation when he did nothing but just stand there?

And even just the though of that conversation made her think about that kiss all over again. It made it even harder to come up with what to say to him. She just hoped she could keep it together in front of Jen – and Jake – especially since now that science was over there was a chance that Jen might actually ask Megan what was going on.

Nobody said anything for a minute. Megan had kind of hoped that Jake would start talking – telling them where he was and how to find him maybe. But of course, he didn't. Megan was kind of disappointed, but not surprised. When was the last time he ever made things easy for her?

"So, you want us to find you, right?" Megan asked hesitantly when no one else spoke up.

Jake just stared at her. He managed to look shocked at the question, and Megan suddenly felt a little bad about even asking. But it was a legitimate question, wasn't it? Especially since she'd spent several days being pretty sure he didn't actually even like her at all.

Megan figured she knew the answer just from seeing his face, but she also kind of wanted to hear it out loud. But of course Jake didn't answer her; he was still technically ignoring her.

"So do you?" Jen asked, sounding impatient.

"Of course." Jake said. Then he added, "Actually, the sooner, the better."

"Yeah? Why's that?" Jen asked.

Jake shrugged. It took him a minute before he answered.

"I just don't think this will go all that well." he said.

"Why not?" Megan asked. She was starting to feel bad about losing that bottle all over again.

Jake turned and looked at Jen, as if Megan hadn't said anything at all.

"Trust me." he told her. "I've been doing this for a long time."

"Yeah – trust you." Jen mumbled, and Megan thought she saw her roll her eyes.

"Jen!" Megan snapped. She was surprised in spite of herself. She knew that Jake and Jen didn't exactly get along, but couldn't Jen keep those kinds of thoughts to herself? This was serious after all.

"Sorry." Jen mumbled. She didn't sound all that sorry, but at least it looked like she understood Megan's train of thought. Then she added, "But he did kind of set himself up for it."

Megan didn't find it all that funny, but Jake had a kind of grin on his face.

"I do see your point." he told Jen, shrugging.

"See?" Jen asked, turning back to Megan and looking vindicated.

"Whatever." Megan grumbled. Then sighing in frustration, she asked, "Can we get back to the topic at hand?"

"Fine." Jen said. Then turning back to Jake, she asked, "So who took the bottle?"

"I can't tell you that."

"How can you not tell us?" Megan was incredulous.

"It's not like I don't want to." he told Jen. He tried to hide it, but Megan could tell he was frustrated.

"Well then, what do they look like?" Megan asked.

Jake hesitated a minute. When he didn't answer, Jen spoke up.