Page 94 of Under the Waves
“I saw the way he looked at you, you know? Like you hung the stars across his darkness. I always thought I knew when my best friend was happy, but Poppy, with you…I’ve never seen him smile like that before and it was all because ofyou. All those years…he didn’t just want to be better than you, Poppy. He wanted to bewithyou. He may have not known everything that was going on in your life back then, but he knew enough to sick by your side at every heat. Even if you tormented the hell out of each other, he knew you needed it. He let you have that part of him because he only ever wanted to see you smile. It’s so rare these days.”
I gulped down the knot of words forming in my throat. “So should you,” I said.
“What are you talking about?” he grinned, biting down on his lip to hide a wince…but I saw it. I was a master at covering up my emotions at home. I knew.I knew it all too well. “I’m always smiling.”
“None of them are real, though, Jakson.”
His smile disappeared as my words sank in. I could see his mind working trying to process what I’d said. It was like I just told him the government was corrupt and controlling our every move with the way he looked like he couldn’t understand why I’d said what I did.
After a moment, he whispered so quietly I thought I’d imagined it. “As long as it keeps the ones I love smiling, I’ll fakeas many as I have to make sure they never have to feel the way I do.”
“Why are you telling me this?”Wait. No that came out wrong.I cleared my throat as he stifled a grin. “What I mean is…Well, we aren’t close, like at all, so I don’t really understand why you’re trusting me with this…”
He smiled lazily. “I don’t know,” he shrugged sullenly, “I know that you feel like a piece of you is dead inside…I just felt like you could use with knowing that you aren’t alone. I see you, too, Poppy Wells, and I think all your imperfections are nothing but beautiful.”
I was damn near sobbing my eyes out over a boy who almost died,twice, and had only met a few times. No wonder everybody was drawn to him. If his golden charm didn’t draw you into his orbit, then his words certainly did.
“Did you just quote Harry Styles to me, Jakson Calloway?” I laughed through my sobs. What a mess of tears I’d become. “I think you might just be my new favorite person.”
His face lit up like a puppy that had been told it was a good boy. “What do you think, Pops? Should we ditch these losers and run away to some far away country where no one even knows our names and our pasts are as memorable as the old, rusted road signs we’ll cross on our way?”
I always forgot that Jakson wasn’t just a simple small-town boy like the rest of us were. His family were some big shot city folks who ownedCalloway Empireswhich was a huge, generational, old money type of brand or something. I didn’t know much about his family or him at all really, apart from the fact that he followed Lia around with these big, golden retriever puppy eyes and did everything he could to make his best friends laugh.
Perhaps there was more to him than the jokes he told so effortlessly.
“I’m sure Jasper and Lia wouldn’t be very happy with us.”
He groaned, throwing his head back against the pillows. “Ugh, you just ruined our little fantasy. I’m heartbroken, Pops. I accept payment for this emotional distress via knock-knock jokes or shoulder massages.”
I couldn’t stop myself from giggling like a damned little girl.
Jakson Calloway you are made of sunlight, and I love it.
“Why not something simple like cookies?” I asked.
“I only eat Lia’s baked goods.”
“What?”
“I only eat Lia’s baked goods,” he repeated casually.
“Well then I’m afraid I’m in debt to you, Sunshine Boy, because I don’t know any jokes.”
He gasped dramatically. “What! This is simply absurd, we must change this right now.”
And that was what we had been doing for the last fifteen minutes—me making an absolute fool of myself, laughing like I was genuinely on drugs, whilst Jakson educated me on the art of telling knock-knock jokes.
He truly was one of the funniest guys I’d ever known.
Nurses flooded into his room, occasionally checking his vitals and whatever else they did before letting me know that visiting hours were coming to a close for the day.
This wasn’t how I had planned to spend my birthday, but Jakson Calloway had somehow managed to turn one of the most miserable days of my year into something much more special.
He may not have given me a physical present, but I had gotten something much more valuable:friendship.
As I turned to leave, I turned around and walked back to the side of Jakson’s bed. Without thinking, I threw my hands around him and hugged him. His body tensed underneath mine before relaxing into my embrace.
I pulled back just enough to whisper in his ear, “If you ever get tired of pretending, tired of protecting everyone else, I will always be here for you Jakson Calloway. You don’t have to pretend with me. After all, we’re Hawthorne Hills fucked up partners in crime, right?”