First Crush (Dark Falkon #1) (7 page)

He sorted through Sienna’s CD collection, true to her word, she had all three of their albums and every single they released. They were all sitting neatly in their cases and Jake was afraid to touch them in case he did the slightest damage. He had been in her bedroom many times, but this was perhaps the first time he could analyze everything for a long period of time. He knew that she was obsessed with Lukas, but looking around, he didn’t quite expect this sort of an infatuation. Posters, t-shirts, CD’s, DVD’s, bags, bracelets, she had them all.

####FRIENDSHIP####

It was after seven by the time Sienna and Ivy got home. Carrying a pepperoni pizza and some ice cream, Sienna threw her handbag on the benchtop and walked into the kitchen. Jake was standing at the stove, preparing some rice and steamed veggies.

“Sorry, Jake I should have told you that Ivy was coming over for dinner. I didn’t realize we were going to be so late though, the traffic was a bitch.”

“It’s okay, there’s enough here for everyone, so if you guys want to have the pizza and feel like more, then help yourselves.”

The three of them sat down at the table, eating their meals when Sienna looked up at Ivy.

“Who is he?” she asked.

“Excuse me?” Ivy replied, totally confused.

“Well, you ditched me at lunch, surely there’s a guy involved,” she said.

Ivy and Jake quickly exchanged eye contact before turning back and looking at Sienna, “Um...No one, just a client from work.”

“I thought you never mixed business with pleasure, Ivy.”

“I didn’t, it was a business meeting.”

“A business meeting? Is that what they call it these days?” Sienna smirked and bit into her pizza.

“I’m serious, there’s no one. If there was, you and I both know that you would be the first to know about it. Do you honestly think I could ever keep something that big from you?” Ivy said.

“Yeah that’s true. So how was band practice, Jake?” she asked.

“Yeah great. Since our show at the charity benefit the other week, the band and I are getting a lot of offers now to perform at other gigs.”

“That’s great, right?” Ivy asked, trying to ease the tension that she felt again with Jake.

“It’s fantastic, it just means that we have to work harder than ever to make sure that we are the best that we can possibly be. We’ve started writing some new material, so we can head into the studio soon and record them.”

“Let me guess, nothing that we can listen to, just yet?”

“Of course not, you know me better than that,” Jake replied.

They finished dinner and packed up their plates and then sat down on the sofa.

“What about you, Jake?” Sienna asked, getting comfortable.

“Huh?” Jake asked, confused.

“Anyone special in your life? I mean, with all these gigs that you and the band are doing, surely there’s someone around.”

“Are you suggesting that I just fuck the first chick that comes onto me at a club, Sienna?”

“Sienna did,” Ivy laughed.

“Bitch,” Sienna replied, giving Ivy the finger.

“Love you too, babe.”

“I’m not like you Sienna, I don’t just pick up some random chick at a club. Besides, I don’t have time for a relationship right now.”

“You know, that’s exactly what she said,” Ivy replied.

“Ivy!”

“What? It’s true.”

“That’s beside the point,” Sienna said.

“Come on Jake, you’re amongst friends, why is it that you don’t have anyone in your life? Tell the truth.”

Jake sighed, this was not really a conversation that he wanted to have right now, least of all in front of Sienna.

“I’d rather not to be honest,” he said.

“Ah ha, see there is someone. I knew it.”

“Sienna, seriously! You know me, we live together, don’t you think if I had anyone special in my life, you’d know about it.”

“He kind of has a point,” Ivy replied.

“Shut up.”

“Well, there is this one girl-”

“I knew it,” Sienna whispered.

“It’s nothing. The truth is, I can’t be with her anyway.”

“Why not? Doesn’t she find you attractive?”

“No, it’s nothing like that. The truth is, she doesn’t actually know how I feel about her.”

“You haven’t told her?” Ivy asked, slightly intrigued.

“No! I can’t. You see…well, it’s kind of complicated.”

Jake suddenly felt very uncomfortable, he stood up; “And where are you going now?” Sienna asked.

“To the bathroom if you really must know.” He walked away hastily, Sienna looked at Ivy; “Did you know about this?”

“Me? How the hell would I know? You live with him.”

“I know but I thought maybe he would have come to you or something. I know sometimes when things are on my mind, I like to talk to others about it.”

Jake came back into the room and the two of them stopped talking. “You know you two don’t make it only half obvious that you were just talking about me.”

“Who? Us?” Sienna asked.

Ivy remained quiet, although, she couldn’t help but smile.

“Look, Jake, I think you need to tell this chick exactly how you feel about her. If you don’t, it’ll just eat you up inside and it’ll eventually kill you.”

“Like I said, it’s complicated, she…” he hesitated, “She’s in love with someone else.”

Sienna pulled back and stopped biting into the chocolate bar she had been eating for the past five minutes. Ivy looked at Jake, trying to act surprised.

“And does this guy know how she feels about him?” Sienna asked.

“No, well I don’t think so anyway.”

“So you might still have a chance then?”

Jake was starting to get really frustrated now, he didn’t want to continue this conversation anymore. Running his fingers through his hair, he sighed and looked at the two of them; “To be perfectly honest, I don’t think she even knows that I exist. I pretty much throw myself at her and it all goes unnoticed. I just don’t know what else I can do to make her get the message.”

“Jake, don’t let it get to you. I can tell that you obviously dig this girl, a lot and this chick, whoever she is, clearly doesn’t know what or who she wants. Girls can be bitches, seriously, we can, but the bottom line is, don’t give up on something if you want it that badly. On that note, I’m going to have a shower, Ivy do you want to stick around until I get out?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll keep Jake company.”

Sienna smiled and headed for the bathroom, she closed the door behind her, locking it while Jake sat in the living room with Ivy.

“She really means something to you, doesn’t she?”

“Who? Sienna?”

“No! This chick that you like, she really means the world to you.”

“Yeah she does, but it’s no use, Ivy, we’ll never be together.” He stood up and headed for his room.

“Never say never, Jake. I believe in fate, and I believe things will work out for you, one way or another.”

“Thanks, Ivy. I’m just going to change, I’ll be back in a second.”

“Yeah, I need to use the bathroom anyway,” she said, getting up off the sofa.

Jake removed his shirt and changed into his boxers, he walked back out into the living room, sat down on the sofa and switched on the television.

Ivy returned a few seconds later and sat down beside him as the two of them flicked through the channels, trying to decide what to watch. At that moment, the water to the shower stopped running and Jake could hear Sienna humming the tune to Dark Falkon’s Way Back Home. The door opened and Sienna appeared in nothing but a towel, her hair was wet and dripping down her back. She walked through the living room and into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge. As she walked past again, Jake couldn’t help but look up, his eyes widening as she walked past him, dripping wet. Ivy looked up and noticed Jake, his gaze fixed on Sienna the entire time, and then it hit her.

“Oh my god,” she said, as Sienna’s bedroom door closed.

“What?” Jake asked, turning and looking at her.

“It’s Sienna!”

“What?” Jake asked.

“It all makes sense now, I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before,” Ivy said, standing up.

“What are you talking about, Ivy?” Jake asked, slightly nervous.

“Sienna! She’s the girl that you want. The one that you’re in love with.”

“Ivy, please-”

“Don’t try and deny it, Jake, I could see the way you were looking at her just now.”

Jake took a deep breath as Ivy stood up. Sienna’s bedroom door opened and she walked out, her hair was wrapped in a towel and she was wearing her negligee and a night gown.

“Everything alright in here?” She asked, noticing the tension between Jake and Ivy.

“Yep, fine. Um…Babe I have to go, see you at lunch tomorrow?”

“Yeah…Sure, are you alright?” Sienna asked.

“Yep, fine. Just something I have to do. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I’ll walk you out,” Jake said, walking her to the door.

As he opened the door, Jake looked over at Sienna, making sure she was out of earshot. “Ivy please, I’m begging you, you can’t say anything. Sienna can never know how I feel about her,” he swallowed.

“Goodnight, Jake,” she turned and headed for her car.

The growing pile of paperwork on Sienna's desk was never ending. She could barely see the end of her table anymore. She had been working late every night this week, and she missed spending time with Ivy. Even Jake had been coming home earlier from band practice. She sat there, typing away rapidly, responding to her emails.

“Sienna there's someone else who wants to look at that apartment on Fourth Street. I've advised them that you'll be there around five thirty p.m.,” the receptionist called through the intercom.

“Thanks Deb,” Sienna replied, she was exhausted, it was a Friday afternoon and all she wanted to do was go home, put her feet up and have some wine. She didn't want to spend the night dealing with clients.

     Everyone started to go home for the day, it was almost
five p.m. and Sienna decided to head off for her appointment. After closing down her computer, she put on her jacket, grabbed her purse and headed out into reception.

“Hey, Deb I'm heading to that appointment. What was the client's name?”

Deb sorted through the paperwork on her desk, trying to find the sticky note she had written his name on.

“Sorry, Sienna I can't seem to find where I put his details. I think his name was John, James...god I don't know, sorry.”

“Never mind. I'm heading off, I guess I'll see you on Monday.”

“Yep, have a good weekend.”

“You too,” Sienna replied and headed out the door.

The peak hour traffic through Manhattan was horrendous. Sienna was already running late and she really didn't want to stay any longer than she had to.

By the time she arrived at the apartment it was just after five thirty pm. she grabbed her file and headed up the stairs. As she approached the apartment, she looked ahead at the person standing outside the door.

She recognized him immediately.

“Jesse?” She asked, raising her eyebrows.

“Sienna?”

Immediately, she got very awkward standing there and she suddenly regretted the fact that she was in heels, limiting her chances for a quick getaway.

“You're the one who's looking at the apartment?” She asked.

“Yeah! You never told me you were a real estate agent.”

Sienna remained silent, she was at a loss for words. All she wanted to do, was run.

“You never asked me. Anyway, I'm in a bit of a hurry so shall we take a look inside?”

“Yes,” Jesse replied following behind her.

“So, is it just yourself moving in, or will you be sharing with someone?”

“Um...well that all depends, for the moment it'll just be me moving in. But who knows, maybe later down the track I might find someone to share it with.”