The beginning of 'I love you'

You know the ending but do you know the beginning of 'I love you'? Fromthe romantic story of 'I love you' shows the beginning of Layla and Jake--the beginning of 'I love you'.

It's been 6 years probably since his death and I reminisce about the times I had spent with Jake. I remember our first date, our first fight, more importantly how we first met. It was the first day of winter and I just moved here. At that time, I didn't know anyone except for my cousin, Eva.

 

She and I went to a coffee shop next to her school the 3 weeks before I transfered to her school and we were talking about a lot of things. Back then, Jake was already a sophmore and I had just become a freshman and during those times, Jake had already had a girlfriend. She was my cousin, Eva. Here's how it began:

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We sat in the coffee shop for hours waiting for him to show up and at the time, I was impatient and was in a hurry to get back home. "Eva, I have to get home early today. Where's your boyfriend?!" I asked Eva, impatiently.

 

"He'll be here, just stay a few minutes longer and then you can go. You can't leave me here by myself, please?!" she begged. She batted her eyes and had a puppy dog face which was so hard to say no to.

 

I sighed and nodded. "Just 5 more minutes, if he's not here by then... I'll leave."

 

"Thank you!"

 

Five more minutes later and he wasn't there either, so Eva let me go. As I rushed to the door, I found out the door was connected to a body, meaning I crashed into someone when I opened the door.

 

"Ow" said the person and me in unison. I looked up and saw a cute guy, he had lustrous jet-black hair and when he opened his eyes... I saw a pair of blazing emerald green colored eyes. I could tell my interest was piqued by him then.

 

He looked down at me and smiled. I liked his warm smile. "Need a hand?" he asked, revealing his velvety voice. I nodded, not daring to say a word--how could I when all words were stuck up my throat? He pulled me up and our eyes met. "Hi."

 

I blushed. "Hi." I greeted back. I could hear music playing in the background and thought to myself, Who is he? and that's when Eva came up to us.

 

"Oh my god, are you two ok? Jake, you're late!" she said, seperating the both of us.

 

He looked genuinely surprised when Eva came between us, like he was lost in thought. "Eva... you know her?" he asked.

 

"Oh right, you guys haven't officially met. Jake, this is my cousin, Layla. Layla this is my boyfriend, Jake." she said, introducing me to him.

 

He smiled again. "Sorry about that, I guess I didn't watch where I was going." he apologized.

 

I patted the dirt of my outfit and tucked the strands of hair on my face behind my ear. "I-It's fine, I was also at fault." I turned to Eva and whispered in her ear, "I have to get going, Eva."

 

"Oh right! See you tomorrow, Lay."

 

"Bye." I said to Jake and Layla. "Nice meeting you, Jake." Saying his name made me smile when I left the coffee shop and walked back home. I liked the sound of his name when I said it.

 

Since then, I spent a lot of time with Eva and Jake that week and I found out a lot of things about him. How he's a sophmore and how he's captain of the soccer team at school. I even found out we had a lot of things in common. Seeing Eva with Jake made me feel jealous and I felt guilty for even thinking of breaking them up.

 

It was already snowing outside the coffee shop, where we hung out most of the time, and I was sitting at a booth near the window reading a good book and drinking hot chocalate when I heard knocking on the window pane next to me. I turned my head to see Eva. She walked in and sat in front of me with a wry smile on her face.

 

"Hey Lay." she said. "Can you do me a huge favor?!"

 

I placed the book down and looked at her. "What is it?" I asked.

 

"You know how you've been haging with Jake and me lately? Well, it's fine but me and Jake got in a fight the last few days and I need a few me and him time alone. Is it okay if you stop haging with us for a while?"

 

"Oh..." I felt uneasy thinking about her and Jake all alone and honestly, I didn't like that at all. But he was hers and I'm just a third party, the observer... it's not like Jake liked me or anything. "Yeah, it's okay."

 

Eva squealed out of joy and relief and hugged me. "It's only until we're out of the red area and back on the green!" she explained.

 

"Eva, I already told you it's ok."

 

She smiled and flagged the waiter down. She seemed to know him, he was good-looking but I thought, Jake looks more handsome than him. She ordered hot chocalate and he left but not just before smiling at me. "Ooh~! I think he likes you." she cooed.

 

"Him? He's just being friendly, I guess."

 

"Friendly, my foot! He's so into you, I know him. His name's Hunter... he's Jake's best friend and the best thing is, he's available! Totally in the market for you-oo~!!"

 

"I'm not interested." I said.

 

"Then who are you interested in??!" she asked, grinning.

 

Who was I interested in, she asked. I knew who it was, Jake. There was no one I liked more in this new town better than him except my parents. I couldn't tell Eva that I liked her boyfriend, she'd hate me! It took me a long time to answer and Eva got curious and suspicious.

 

"No one." I answered, finally.

 

"No one? Come on, Lay. Don't keep it from me~!!" she whined. "Who do you have a crush on?!"

 

"I'm serious, Eva. No guy in this town even make me look their direction." I lied. There was one and he's belongs to her. "No one."

 

She held my gaze, searching for the answer in my eyes. I didn't know if I gave anything away then but she couldn't be dumb enough not to realize by then. I had a crush on her boyfriend. When she looked at her wristwatch, she suddenly got up. "S**t! Sorry, I've got to go... Jake's taking me to a movie." She rushed out and she left eagerly to go to her boyfriend, Jake.

 

I sat there, staring at the direction she ran off to. hunter approached my seat and I looked at him. "Hi, you're Hunter right? Jake's and Eva's friend." I said, simply trying to make conversation.

 

"Yeah, you're Layla... Eva's cousin." he said. He smiled warmly and we chatted about a few things. He was different than other boys too, he was older and in college so it was weird but nice weird. "So, how're you holding up?"

 

"Huh?"

 

He sat in front of me where Eva sat. "Don't pretend now. I'm a studying psychology, and I'm not dumb." I was unsure what he was talking about but I knew he knew that I liked Jake when it was clear that he belonged to Eva.

 

"Not bad..."

 

"Not bad? You're here everyday since you two met and when Eva's late for a date with him here or when she's late coming here before you 3 go off somewhere, you're flirting with him."

 

"I am not!" I said, defensively. "I'm just making sure he's not bored."

 

"Uh-huh, you're not Abraham Lincoln. You're lying."

 

"...Ok fine. So maybe I flirt a little, but I would never steal him from Eva."

 

"Never said you would but between you and me, she and Jake... never going to last." he said, getting up from his seat.

 

I yanked on his apron. "Why's that?" I asked curiously.

 

"She doesn't know the meaning of 'in a relationship'. She has tons of boyfriends and she's making Jake the numero uno because other girls want him, including you." I didn't like the fact that she could have him just because. She has Jake and she thinks he's going to just accept that fact. I felt sick to my stomach. Hunter sat back down. "Little tip, their fight was about her cheating on him with Ron, some guy she met a few weeks back. Jake's going to break up with her. At least that's what I heard from him."

 

I knew it was cruel of me to be happy when he said it but I couldn't help but smirk all by myself like a crazy person. Soon (maybe), Jake was going to be an available guy and I could have a chance at him but I shouldn't try so hard with him first, go with the flow the first few weeks and then... I could-- OH NO~!! Stop it, you can't even be thinking about this! Eva will be heartbroken and she'll hate you. Serves her right for cheating on Jake. What are we? A s**t!? Respect yourself... I mean...ourself...? As I shook out that thought, I walked back home, grabbing my muffler and my coat on the way out.

 

I walked back to my house but it was cold and a bit far away. The sound of a car honking beside me made me stop and look. It was Jake in his car. He smiled and parked the car beside me.

 

"Hey, need a ride back?" he asked.

 

"Yeah but-- I thought you were with Eva. She was heading out to meet you just now, your probably just missed her."

 

"Maybe... hey, you should hop in. It's cold out and it's a long way back to your house."

 

Jake, himself, incvited me for a ride back home. How could I refuse? He was the one who invited me for a ride back and... this whole thing was just his way of being friendly to his girlfriend's cousin. "Sure, thanks."

 

"Your welcome."

 

I hopped into the car where it was all warm and I was in sitting in front with Jake beside me. I could feel blood rising up to my cheeks and my palms getting hot and sweaty just from being by his side. I didn't even look at him but my eyes wandered everywhere else. The silence inside the car made me nervous.

 

"What do you think of Eva?" Jake finally asked.

 

"Huh?"

 

"Sorry, I'm just asking you what you think of Eva. You know her better than I do..."

 

Was he asking me this because he wanted my opinion before breaking up with her?? I thought to myself. An opportunity had presented itself so i could split them up, but I couldn't do that. Eva was my cousin and she helped me make friends when I was so lonely here... I was being selfish and mean and I owed Eva even if she was at fault with Jake.

 

"Oh... I think she's a great person. There's no one better than her for you, Jake. She's absolutely... marvelous. You can't have picked a more perfect person." I hated having uttered those words. I couldn't stand myself for even making him believe that when she cheated on him.

 

"That's what I thought too. But that thought kinda ended after seeing her cheat on me."

 

"I know... and with a guy named Ron?!" I blurted out. I bit my bottom lip, feeling rueful for blurting that out like it was my buisness. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

 

The car stopped as the light turned red. He stared at me. "How'd you find out about that?" he asked.

 

"Hunter told me back at the coffee shop." I had to make it right, I felt guilty for even thinking so many bad things about Eva. "I know it's probably not my place to say, but... Eva really likes you so I hope-- I hope you won't--break up...with her."

 

He averted his eyes back to the road and smiled a little. "Thanks for the advice but I already have broken up with her." he said.

 

"Oh." I blushed as I felt a little embarassed. "When did you two--?"

 

"Just now. She handled it well and she said we could still be friends." I felt happy inside but I didn't show it. I had as many chance to have him but I didn't know where to start.

 

"Should I say congrats or sorry?" I smiled because he did too, and that was enough for me. "I think I'm gonna go with congrats you two are still friends."

 

'Why's that?"

 

"Because..." I paused for a moment, thinking what I could say. But I finally answered with something I should have said, " Because there's no point in reliving yesterday's failed attempt in love. We should all move on and recreate a new love, one that you'd be able to say and understand the magical three words."

 

"The magical three words?" He chuckled and I didn't mind it. "What are they? Please and Thank you?"

 

I shook my head and stared at him. "It's 'I love you'. Someday, I'll say it to someone I want to spend the rest of my life with. Hopefully, I can meet him soon."

 

"Maybe he's closer to you than you think."

 

"Maybe."

 

We stopped in front of my house and he walked me back to the front porch. We stood there for a couple of minutes, talking about school and stuff. "Hey, I have an extra ticket for this new movie. I was gonna take Eva but you know-- so want to come with me?" he asked.

 

Ecstatic, that was the word. I was ecstatic and probably floating on cloud nine when he asked me that. I smiled, blushing slightly and answered, "I'd like that." He walked back to his car and I entered my house slightly but I turned around to asked him, "Jake? What's the title of the movie?"

 

"I hear it's a romantic movie with a tragic ending.."

 

'So what is it?" I leaned back on the door, looking at him smiling at me.

 

"What else but the three magical words?"

 

I love you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------That was where it all began, me and Jake went on our first date to that movie and from then, we started hanging out together more often. On Christmas Eve, Jake asked me to be his girlfriend and that was what I wanted all along. Santa got my wish.

 

I remeber the words I told him before, 'there's no point in reliving a failed attempt at love' and I still relive the moments when Jake had lived because, he wasn't a failed attempt at love... he was my love.

Author's Note

Hello guys, sorry I've been busy with school and today I'm graduating the 11th grade!! 1st in class!!! >3< whoo-hoo! So i'm creating a sort of sequel to my 'I love you' story and hope you all love it! Jake and Layla's beginnning! LIVE IT, LEARN IT, LOVE IT!!!

Reviews

[Kate Hunter]

this is awesome. I love it.

[Cafe Reader]

Great writing!

[Sam]

oh my god, this is adorable!!!!!!!! I absolutely LOVE it! At first I wasn't sure how it would go, but now it kind of makes sense. Jake must have been really ticked about the relationship with Eva to not even give 'sad' time over the break up. Nope, he slipped in with Layla quickly. Adorable!

[Short.Nerd]

Oh this is so sweet! I love it (: You did an outstanding job!