Jacob's Bet

Chapter 17 - Thin Line

"I'm sorry," I say sitting down right beside him.

It took a while but I finally found him, he was sitting on the bleachers right in front of the soccer field and I was no longer mad.

"Sorry for what?"

"Sorry for yelling at you."

"You don't have to be sorry for that."

"You say that like I have to be sorry for something else."

He doesn't reply and just looks out onto the field, "Jacob, why were you jealous?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"If it was I wouldn't be asking you this question."

"You were flirting goddammit!"

Sighing, I turn away from the field and look over at him, "I don't get why you were jealous that I was flirting with Duke but whatever the reason can we just forget about all this? I really don't wanna fight with you because I can bet you a hundred bucks that I'll end up winning the argument and you won't be happy about that."

"You winning the argument?" He scoffs.

"I can sense an argument about to happen."

"Damn right you can."

"Lets just go back to class," I say getting up but am quickly pulled back down onto Jacob's lap. I struggle for a while trying to get off him but he keeps an iron grip around my waist so after some time I give up and lean into him.

"I don't wanna go back, let's go somewhere else."

"Where?" I ask playing with his hair.

"Anywhere."

"Can I ask you a question?" I think it's time to finally ask the question that's been at the back of my mind for a while now and find out the real answer.

"You just did."

"Fine. Another?"

"Shoot."

"Wh-what was the purpose of the bet?"

He's quiet for a while and I can tell he's thinking about how to answer the question.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"You'll hate me once you find out."

"I already hate you so whatever you say won't really make a difference."

"You don't mean that."

"But I do."

"Well I'm still not telling you."

"Jacob pleaseeeeee."

"Riley nooooooooo," he responds mimicking me.

"C'mon, I promise I won't hate you anymore than I do right now."

"Not telling you now lets go," he says removing his hands from around my waist. I get off of him and follow him as he walks to the car park.

"Wait, we're just gonna ditch school?"

"Are you okay with that?"

I've only ever ditched school once, and that was because Hunter had to go to the hospital for something Ali did to him. Not gonna lie, it was pretty serious but hilarious because of the amount of times Hunter had screamed like a little kid but yeah I ditched school to see him in hospital.

"No, I can't ditch school again! What if we get caught?!?" I ask starting to panic. It was bad enough I had run out of class and now I was skipping school, this was gonna end badly.

"What do you mean get caught? Miss Dunbar already saw you run out of class," he replies calmly.

"Okay, you got me," I say opening the car door and getting in.

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"Where are we?" I ask getting out of the car. We were standing just outside a forest 40 minutes away from school. It looked deserted and dull and there was nothing else around us besides the road that led back to reality.

"Just follow me," he says walking into the forest.

"I don't think this is a good idea," I say but follow him anyways.

"Don't worry, I've been here plenty of times," Jacob replies.

5 minutes later I'm standing outside a small cottage that looks occupied. Lights are on and smoke is coming out of the chimney.

"What the hell? Who would be in here at this time?" Jacob asks opening the door. I follow him in and see Steven laying on the floor unconscious with a smashed beer bottle in his hand.

"Steven!" Jacob runs forward picking him up off the ground.

"Steven, can you hear me?" He asks slapping Steven's face.

"You're gonna hurt him!" I shout moving his hand away.

"Is he okay?" Jacob asks me, worry etched onto his face.

"I don't know, what do you think happene- holy shit is that blood!?!?" I tilt his head to the side and sure enough there's blood running down his face.

"Let's get him to the hospital!" Jacob shouts starting to run with Steven in his arms. I start to follow but all of a sudden a burst of pain floods though my leg.

"Jacob!" He turns around quickly running back to me.

"What's wrong?"

"My crutches," I say panting, "I can walk without them but I still can't run, so go without me, I'll wait here," I say pressing my forehead against a tree.

"No way, you're coming with just walk as fast as you can, I'll be right behind you."

"Okay."

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We pull up at the hospital and I watch as Jacob takes out the keys from the car and runs in. After sitting in the car for about 5 minutes, I decide to go in.

Walking up to the counter I put on a smile, "what room is Steven-" I'm cut off by a loud ring tone. Digging my hand into my pocket and pulling out my phone, I turn away from the lady and answer the call.

"Hello?"

"Riley! Where are you?" Jacob asks.

"Front desk, what room is Steven in?"

"Room 218," he answers back.

"Okay, I'll see you in a bit," I reply hanging up.

Walking along the corridors, I get lost a few times and after 13 minutes I finally find the door. Just as I'm about to knock, the door is pulled open and Jacob steps out.

"Riley, I have something to tell you," he says running a hand through his hair.

"What is it? Is Steven okay?"

"Steven's fine, I just- remember this morning when you asked me why I made the bet with you and how I told you I was jealous that you were flirting with Duke?"

"Yeah?"

"I made the bet with you b-b-because I'm falling for you, I'm completely and utterly falling for you and nothing can stop that," he says leaning down and crashing his lips onto mine and in that moment, I realise that Ali was right all along, there is a thin line between love and hate.

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If you see any typos please tell me!

I'm so sorry for the short chapter but I've been really sick lately and I barely have enough energy to stand.

And I'm also really sorry with the last paragraph. I know I haven't shown the fact that Jacob likes Riley much but he does like her I'm just not good at romance scenes and stuff, I prefer to write happy scenes where Riley is being all sarcastic and funny. So yeah, I basically shoved all of Jacob's feelings into one paragraph oops.

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