Always Been You Read online

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Because when Jacob found out you started seeing Ethan, he seemed really disappointed,” she explained. “Matt thinks that’s the reason he left a couple of days earlier for Australia. It was to get away from losing his chance to be with you.”

  “If that may be the case, it still doesn’t change things between us.”

  “But—”

  “How about we just see where it goes? If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.”

  A few hours later, all of Katie’s guests were gathered downstairs in the entertainment room. All, except for Katie, Jacob, and me. We were still busy in the kitchen with the food. But then just as soon as I had turned around to wash my hands in the sink, I felt a tap on my back. When I turned back and caught Katie’s eye as she pointed over her shoulder, we then had to bite our lips to stop the grin from overtaking our faces.

  Apparently, Jacob had completely forgotten about us. Using one of the carrots I had left unpeeled as a microphone, Jacob was shaking his body to the tune playing in the background and singing at the top of his lungs. However, once he spun around and saw the identical smirks on our faces, Jacob then broke out into an embarrassing grin, quickly placed the carrot back down on the chopping board, and began backing away.

  “Um…I think I…um…I better go see if Alex needs help setting up downstairs …right,” he muttered and hastily left the room.

  “That was very entertaining,” giggled Katie. “Do you think he’ll perform for me later?”

  “I doubt it,” I laughed. “So, what else do we still need to do?”

  “Can you see who can help us bring all this food down while I load the dishwasher?”

  “Sure.”

  I turned to go down the hall, intending to head downstairs, when I ran into someone rounding the corner and fell to the floor.

  “Are you all right?”

  I gazed up to apologise for my clumsiness, but before I could stop myself, my mouth opened in surprise. He was tall with broad shoulders, his eyes were hazel, and his chestnut hair hung in waves below his ears.

  “Are you all right?” he repeated, smiling at me in amusement, but not rudely so.

  “Yes,” I said, as he helped me up from the floor.

  “Aaron, I thought I heard your voice,” said Katie, suddenly appearing in the hall. “I see you’ve met Jenna.”

  “Yes.” He smiled at me.

  “Jen, this is Aaron Jennings, my neighbour from my old house,” said Katie. “Jen, is something wrong?”

  “What do you mean?” I asked her.

  “Your face is all red.”

  “Well…um…”

  “I sort of surprised her,” Aaron interrupted smoothly. “I was trying to find the washroom, and I guess I shouldn’t have snuck up on her like that.”

  “Well then, I’m sure Jenna can show you where it is,” said Katie. “Isn’t that right, Jenna?”

  “Um, sure,” I said. My answer sounded like a question.

  “Then let’s go,” Aaron grinned.

  I wondered what was going on as the two shared a wink, but I chose not to ask, feeling Katie’s green eyes boring on my back, as Aaron and I started down the hall.

  “Sorry about bumping you into you back there,” I whispered to him.

  “No harm done,” Aaron whispered back.

  “Well, here’s the washroom,” I said.

  “I actually don’t really need to use the washroom,” he grinned.

  “Then why…?”

  “It was an excuse so I could talk to you in private.”

  I pressed my lips together in a cautious line. “Why?”

  “So I could find out if you have a boyfriend before I ask you for your number.”

  “Aren’t you a bit forward for someone I just met?”

  “Then what if we re-introduce ourselves? Would that help?”

  “Maybe,” I said, biting my lip to hold back a grin.

  “Hi, I’m Aaron Jennings,” he said quickly.

  “Jenna Chow,” I said, shaking his outstretched hand.

  “Now that we know each other’s names, do you have a boyfriend? If not—which I hope is the case—would you kindly give me permission to ask you for your number so I can take you out for dinner sometime?”

  With his widening smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes, I couldn’t help but be charmed and cracked a grin of my own.

  “And what if I said no to the first and yes to the second?” I said.

  Rather than answering, Aaron hastily disappeared around a corner, and a quick second later, came back with a piece of paper and a pen in his hands. Letting out another smile, I then took the pen from his fingers and jotted my number on the paper.

  “So what are you doing this Friday?” he asked.

  “I guess something with you,” I said with a shy smile.

  “That’s great. I guess I should let you get back so you can help Katie.”

  “Actually I was just going to see if anyone could help us bring all the food downstairs,” I said.

  “Then I guess I’ll be seeing you in the kitchen in a bit.”

  My face nearly split in two as I silently watched him walk away. Once he rounded the corner and gave me another wink before disappearing into the kitchen, I then couldn’t resist the idea and punched a fist into the air.

  “I’d be jumping up and down too if a college guy asked me out on a date.”

  It felt like my heart had lodged into my throat. I quickly spun around and found Nikki, Amy, and Matt standing in the hall.

  “Nikki, what’s the idea of scaring me like that?” I gasped, clutching at my chest.

  “How would I know you’d jump like that?” she giggled.

  “I still can’t believe Katie never told us about Aaron before,” said Amy. “I just met him downstairs, and I have to say it’s rather difficult to resist his charm, don’t you think?”

  “Hey!” said Matt, staring at his girlfriend while pretending to feign a look of hurt.

  “Like you’ve never commented on a beautiful girl in front of me before,” she snapped.

  “I haven’t! Give me one example!”

  “How about Mia Turner?”

  Matt’s mouth flapped open like a fish out of water, looking lost at what to say.

  “Sometimes I wonder if those two getting together was a good idea,” I whispered to Nikki, as we rolled our eyes and silently followed the bickering couple down the hall.

  “Same here,” she sighed. “If I knew we were in for this kind of torture, I would’ve said no when they asked us if we would be uncomfortable if they started dating.”

  “It’s too late n—” I suddenly felt a familiar swooping sensation settling in my stomach as I caught Aaron’s gaze.

  “You like him, don’t you?” asked Nikki.

  “I must if I just accepted a date with him for this Friday,” I said.

  “Hey, can I come?”

  “You’d probably drool all over him like how you’re doing now.”

  “Probably, but it’s not fair that you have two hot guys who are totally into you,” she pouted.

  “You mean one,” I corrected.

  “Two,” she grinned. “If you haven’t notice, Jacob’s been watching Aaron since we came in here.”

  I swivelled my head. Jacob, who was leaning against a counter by the stove, had his arms crossed tightly across his chest. With his eyebrows furrowed and his jaw clenched, he was staring at Aaron with a look that put the medusa to shame. I swore if Jacob stared hard enough, Aaron would turn to stone.

  “Oh, he’ll get over it,” said Nikki. “It’s not like you’re his or anything, now is it?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “Then it shouldn’t matter to him with who you want to date,” she grinned. “Oh, how I wish I was in your shoes right now. An older guy! Wow!”

  I tried to muster up a smile as she fanned her face and did a pirouette, but I couldn’t stop this odd, nagging feeling creep
ing inside the back of my mind.

  Normally, I wouldn’t think twice about Jacob’s unexpected reaction. I don’t think I could ever fully understand that boy, even if I had an entire lifetime to dissect his mannerisms. But instead of trying to figure out why Jacob was still giving Aaron daggering glares, I ignored the uneasy feeling and laughed at Nikki. She was now acting liking a ballerina, dancing around the room.

  I found it very difficult during the rest of the week with trying to decipher why Jacob was still acting weird. He has been distant ever since he had accidentally stumbled upon me giving Aaron directions to my house. Except every time I approached him, Jacob always told me he was busy and couldn’t talk.

  Everyone else also knew something was bothering Jacob, but he avoided them, as if they had the bubonic plague. Unless it was an assigned seat, Jacob always sought other places to sit. When he was forced to sit with them, he then would then act like he didn’t know they were there.

  By the time it got to Friday afternoon, I was fuming under my breath as I sat down in the cafeteria and ate my lunch.

  I had managed to catch up to Jacob once biology was over. Except, just as soon as I placed my hand on his shoulder, Jacob then quickly moved my hand, placed it at my side, and had walked away. The coldness of his action felt like a slap across my face.

  “What did your sandwich ever do to you?”

  Curly brown hair flashed in the corner of my eye as Amy joined me at the table, watching me angrily shred my turkey sandwich to pieces.

  “I don’t want to talk about it, Amy,” I muttered to her.

  “Jacob still hasn’t said anything to you yet, has he?” she sighed.

  “In bio, the only questions he’ll respond to are the ones that have to do with the lesson. When he does reply, I then get monosyllabic answers from him.”

  “At least he’s sort of speaking to you. He won’t even speak to me, or answer any of Matt’s calls. We’ve even tried going over to Jacob’s to talk to him, but he always manages to leave the house before we get there. What happened anyway?”

  “He overheard me and Aaron talking at Katie’s.”

  An amused grin came upon her face. “That’s it?”

  “That’s it.”

  “I never knew Jacob was the jealous type,” she said. “But I guess he’s only acting this way because you now have this hot, older guy, who’s totally into you.”

  “And I’m still not falling for that notion of Jacob actually liking me again,” I said. “Remember what happened last time you told me that? He went out with Ivy.”

  “Yes, except things have changed between you two,” she said. “However, if Jacob wants to act like a jerk, then let him act like one. Right now, I think you should just concentrate on being excited about tonight’s date. And once you’re done, call me with all the details on what happened with Aaron.”

  Four hours later as I got ready to go out with Aaron in my pale green room, my mind was still straying towards how unfriendly Jacob had been. But whether or not I hated the way he was treating me and our friends, there was nothing I could do.

  Letting out a sigh, I got up from my striped, blue and green bed and headed to my closet to grab my outfit when the doorbell suddenly rang. Quickly slipping on my black dress pants and a pink satin, sleeveless top Amy had said complemented my complexion, I then went to check the mirror in my bathroom. Once I made sure my outfit wasn’t inside out, I then headed back to grab one of my thicker cardigans from the closet, and left my room.

  Aaron was wearing a blue shirt with a light grey tie, and had his jacket slung over his left arm. He was waiting for me in the foyer, looking a bit nervous, but still acting like a gentleman, as my dad vigorously shook his hand.

  “Maybe you should go save your date before your dad starts telling him one of his stories,” my mom whispered from behind me.

  In a weird way, I actually wished my dad was giving one of those father-type talks. Like ones where a dad talks about the rules, or when he thinks is the proper time to bring his daughter home. In my case, whenever I brought a friend over, my dad always tried to convince them to accompany him into the living room, only to show them a new card trick he had learned, or maybe tell them a strange story from his teenage years.

  “Are you telling me you approve of this one?” I whispered to my mom.

  “He’s handsome and very polite, but still not Jacob,” she said. “Now you better go stop your father before he decides to trap him here.”

  Rolling my eyes at her, I then hastily ran up to interrupt my dad as he slung an arm around Aaron’s shoulders.

  “Um, baba? I’m sure Aaron would love to hear your story about how you were the real inventor of toaster waffles, but we really need to get going so we don’t miss our reservations.”

  “Then another time, Aaron?” he asked.

  “Of course, Mr. Chow,” said Aaron. “It was really nice meeting you too, Mrs. Chow.”

  “You too, Aaron,” she replied.

  Giving me a conspiratorial wink, my mom then held back my dad, who still looked eager to keep Aaron in the house, and I quickly shut the front door.

  “Thanks for not feeling a bit freaked out with what just happened back there,” I said.

  “It was no problem,” he grinned. “Now let’s get this date started.”

  A little over an hour later, we were at the top of Grouse Mountain, dining in a classy restaurant known as The Observatory. Albeit the subtle murmurs from the other patrons, the atmosphere of the place was romantic and quiet. A fireplace gave the dimly lit room some extra warmth, while candles softly flickered in their glass votive holders atop the tables covered in crisp, white linen. As we sat at one of the tables that hugged the large windows, my attention was drawn to the breathtaking scenery below. Amidst the tops of the shadows of the evergreen trees, the downtown city lights were sparkling like a sea of stars on a clear summer night.

  “Jenna, I should be the one apologising for bumping into you,” said Aaron, taking a sip of his wine. “I was the one who walked right into you that day at Katie’s. There you were, absolutely gorgeous with this incredibly stunning smile on your face, and I couldn’t move. I was just so shocked that it was you.”

  “Thanks for the compliment, but I reckoned you may have overlooked something when you saw me.”

  “Wow! Modest and beautiful.”

  “So, that isn’t the reason you came, is it?” I asked, feeling a slight flush in my cheeks as I desperately tried to redirect the subject off me while cutting a piece of ahi tuna from my plate.

  “Well, sort of,” he admitted shyly. “Originally, I was going to just drop by for a bit since I had a huge psych exam on Monday. But once Katie mentioned your name, I knew she was using that as an excuse to entice me to stay longer, and I did. You see, I’ve never asked about any of her friends like this until recently.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “I thought it might get weird if I did,” he explained. “Anyway, when I was about to ask her to introduce us, we literally ran into each other. I knew I had to pretend I didn’t know you, so I wouldn’t scare you off. I was even happier to get your number.”

  “Well I’m glad you did, or we wouldn’t be sitting here getting to know one another,” I grinned. “But I do have one question.”

  “Ask away.”

  “If you’ve known Katie for so long, how come she’s never mentioned you before?”

  “I told her not to. I didn’t think you’d be interested in someone like me.”

  “You shouldn’t say that. All the girls at the party were gushing about you.”

  His cheeks flooded with colour, and he ducked his head bashfully. “I’m very flattered you think that, but you don’t have to be nice on my account.”

  “And you say I’m modest. You have no idea how handsome you really are, do you?” I asked incredulously. “Or even how much of a gentleman you are too?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “None of the guys I know ha
s ever opened the door, held out my seat, or even helped me into their car like the way you have. And you did all this in one night.”

  “So is there anything else you want to know?” he grinned.

  “How come you and Katie never got together?” I said.

  “I guess growing up next to each other all these years, we both never thought of it. I love her as a friend, but that’s all. I’m sure it’s like that for you with one of your friends.”

  “If you mean Jacob, then yeah, I guess you can say he’s my closest guy friend.”

  “He was jealous of me, wasn’t he?”

  “How did you know that?”

  “Well, seeing that I’m a guy, I could tell from the way he was looking at you there’s something more than just friendship.”

  “Maybe, but let’s talk about something else besides our annoying friends.”

  “Yes, let’s,” he agreed, reaching over the table to grab my hand.

  The rest of the night went by so quickly and before long, it was time for me to go home. After loitering in the quiet restaurant for a while, talking about things one would normally talk on a first date, Aaron and I finally decided to head back to his car. The date had been so wonderful that by the time we made it to my front door, I felt like I was floating on air.

  “So,” I said.

  “So,” he repeated.

  “So,” I said again.

  A moment of silence passed before we both blurted out “I had fun tonight”. We chuckled.

  “Thank you for a wonderful evening,” I grinned.

  “You’re welcome,” he grinned back. “Would you mind if I took you out again sometime?”

  “Do you promise to make sure the next time it won’t be so fancy?”

  “You didn’t like the restaurant I chose?”

  “No, I did, but honestly, I’d rather go somewhere less posh.”

  “So, you don’t like places like that either.”

  “Either? You mean you don’t too?”

  “I hate wearing ties,” he said, pulling at the knot.

  “Then why in the world did we go to a place like that?”

  “I thought that’s what you do if you want to impress a girl.”

  “Well, picking a restaurant on top of mountain where you have to ride a gondola just to get to certainly will impress anybody.”