The sacrifice Episode 88

#THE_SACRIFICE

EPISODE 88
©Sir Zach

Jake picked up the food from the restaurant. He had placed order before they arrived.

“I’ll be back” He said to Jade before hoppping out of the car. Jade simply nodded as she watched him leave. Her eyes fell on the nameboard of the restaurant at the t©p of its roof.

“IL PIRATA” She softly muttered the name, adding some weird talian accent. She chuckled at how weird she sounded. She wondered what it meant.

It didn’t take more than three minutes when Jake returned with three bags of food. She watched as he placed them at the back seat before hopping into the drivers seat. Jake noticed the awkward look on Jade’s face as she stared at the bags of food.

“What, too much?” He asked her, c0cking a brow.

“Obviously”

“I didn’t know what you’d like so I ordered quite a few, but I’m sure you’ll like them” He as-sured her.

Well, she was sitting right here and he could have asked her instead of ordering the entire menu. Jade simply shrugged and looked ahead, there was no use crying over spilled milk. No matter what she said now he definitely can’t return the food.

“re-ady?” Jake asked with a smile across his face. He couldn’t help but smile whenever he’s with her. This wasn’t his fault right? This girl has captured his heart and right now all his attention and smiles were just for her.

“re-ady” Jade replied. Of course she was always re-ady to go whenever it comes to hanging with Jake.

She thought about the awkwardness she felt the first day she had an outing with Jake. How she had wanted that day to come to an end and how she dre-aded every weekend that c@m£ after that. But now here she was totally and helplessly in love with him, enjoying and craving for his company, even wishing he was attra-cted to her.

Jake and Jade continued their journey to the drive-in theatre in silence. A plethora of thoughts going throu-gh their mind, ma-king the car extremely silent.

“What movie are we going to watch?” Jade asked breaking the silence which has lingered for too long.

“Some horror movie”

“What?” Jade asked with incredulity, ma-king Jake snap his head towards her.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Jake asked with concern hoping it had nothing to do with the genre of the movie, even though he was sure that’s why she snapped. Looking at Jade, he noticed her eyes were wi-de-ned in shock and her mouth slightly agape.

“Who watches a horror movie at this time of the day?” Jade looked outside the window it was alre-ady sunset, and by the time they got there it might be a little dark. She knew that was a stupid question, because most people liked watching horror movies at night, except her. She didn’t even want to watch it all!

Jake noticed the fright in Jade’s eyes and he couldn’t believe it. “You’re scared of horror movies aren’t you?” He asked suspiciously even though he was sure of it, a teasing smile etched on hisl-ips.

Jade regained her composure, before eyeing him. “Who’s scared? I’m definitely not scared. It’s just that I thought drive-in cinemas are supposed to screen family-friendly movies, but a horror movie isn’t….” Jade’s words trailed off, her palms bec@m£ sweaty and she slowly ru-bbe-d it over her go-wn.

‘Why would he go to a drive-in cinema where an horror movie is being screened?’ Jade asked in her mind. God how she hated horror movies. As a matter of fact she hated gory stuff. They weren’t are thing at all. She could go for some action movies but never an horror movie….it was too…horror!.

Jake could see how uncomfortable she has become, from the corner of his eyes. He had no clue about the movie to be screened tonight, but he was certain it wasn’t an horror movie. He had asked his secretary to book the tickets from one of their Drive-in cinema. Acrosoft owned a few of them around the city. From one of his recent research he found out that watching a movie at a drive-in theatre was good for couples. Well they weren’t a couple yet, but that shouldn’t st©p them from spending quality time together, right?

Jade remained quiet throu-gh the drive till they arrived their destination. Jake chuckled when he noticed she was getting really uncomfortable.

Is she that scared of horror movies?’ He asked himself.

“Okay fine it’s not an horror movie” He confessed, as he drove in to the open field.

Jade snapped her head to him with a frown forming on her face.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to mess with you, but it’s good to know you’re scared of horror movies” He apologized, an amused smile hung on his face, but he didn’t dare to look at her, he didn’t want to be murdered by her glares.

Jade’s blood boiled, she felt like sma-cking him to death. How dare he do that to her? The mental torture she had endured in the last few minutes was devastating. She had tried to covince herself that it wouldn’t be that bad and it was going to be one movie, but the more she thought about it the more she bec@m£ scared.

She still hasn’t forgotten the trauma she had pas-sed throu-gh after seeing the ‘Ice Spiders’. God, that was a traumatizing movie. The screech of that black widow spider was forever etched in her memory. She could still envision the numerous bodies of the scientists sprawled over the lab. That was the first and last horror movie she has seen, thanks to the mischievious Walker siblings.

“Just so you know, I wasn’t scared” She retorted.

“Yeah we know, you were just petrified” He tea-sed before bellowing out a short sarcastic laugh.

“Whatever”

“At least now I have some leverage over you” Jake said amusedly, while Jade rolled her eyes at him.

Jake was directed to the front row, obviously Patrick had booked a ‘premium seating’ for him. He turned on the wireless speaker box that was given to them at the entrance.

When Jade saw the title of the movie displa-yed on the screen, a sweet smile broke on her face, it was her favorite r0m@nç£movie of all time. ‘Can You Keep A Secret’.

She couldn’t count the number of times she had seen this movie, but she still couldn’t get enough of it. Jake couldn’t help but notice how her mood had suddenly taken a 360 degree turn. He looked back at the screen before returning his gaze back to her, the happy sparks in her eyes were so enchanting.

How he wished she could at least look at him like that. He sighed.
Wicked girl!

Naturally, Jake wouldn’t watch a r0m@nç£movie, but right now ma-king Jade happy was his utmost priority, and if watching a r0m@nç£movie would make her smile this brightly, then he didn’t mind.

He noticed they were too close to the screen and Jade probably wasn’t having a really good view of the screen. He knew he has to recline the seat backward.

“Jade?”

“Hmm?” She responded abs£ntmindedly, her eyes glued to the screen. This was one of her favorite p@rt of the movie, where the female lead kept ranting out her secrets to the guy seated next to her in the plane, because she was scared they were about to crash.

Jake looked up at her, she was so engrossed with the movie. He scratched the back of his n£¢k, as he thought about how he was going to recline her seat without it looking awkward, knowing well he had to lean over her to do that.

He sighed out loud before stepping out of the car, going around the car was the best option at the moment. Jade turned towards him when she heard the door unlock and she saw Jake stepping out.

“What’s wrong, where are you going to?” She curiously asked shuffling gaze between Jake and the screen, but Jake simply ignored her and walked around the car to the other side -Jade’s side -, her eyes carefully following him.

“Jake what’s wrong?” She asked again, when he opened her door and gave her a look she didn’t quite un-derstand.
‘Why the grumpy look?’

It wasn’t until he bent down and reclined her seat that she finally got the memo.

Before she could utter a word he said, “You’re welcome” hissing un-der his breath before returning to his side of the car.

“Thank you” Jade said smiling cutely at him as soon as he hopped back into the car, her smile completely disarming him. She returned her gaze back to the screen, she had to admit that the view was way much better than before. She stole a quic-k glance at Jake who was now leaning to the back seat doing God knows what. Her heart was swelling with so many emotions. Her feelings for him were growing by the second and she couldn’t help it.

Oblivious to Jade’s stare, Jake picked up the bags of food from the back seat and started to unpack them.

“Jade, here” He pas-sed a plate of tortellinis with shrimps and veggies.

“Thank you” Jade received it with a smile. She would have rejected it, if she hadn’t had a taste of it before now. Thanks to Amy who had f0rç£d her to an Italian restaurant on one of their outings.

They both ate silently while watching the movie, or rather while Jake watched Jade who in turn was watching the movie. He couldn’t st©p staring at her, taking in every inch of her beauty. His heart beating ha-rd ly behind his che-st.

“That’s one of my favorite movie. Jake thanks for bringing me” Jade turned to Jake after the movie ended. This was the first time she was paying any attention to him since she started watching the movie, except the time she had spoken to him when he reclined her seat, only if that counts.

“And thanks for coming with me” He replied with a small smile.

“Aren’t we leaving too?” Jade asked when she noticed the other cars exiting the premises.

“Do you want to?” Jake asked her. He didn’t want to leave just yet. Though they weren’t saying much he liked the fact that they were both seated down in his car enjoying each others company.

“Well they might chase us out” She reasoned. She also didn’t want to leave yet. Even though there was no movie to watch, she could still see his handsome face. It was more handsome than the male lead in the movie they had just seen. She had always had a crush on the male lead, but seeing Jake right now, she now thought the male lead isn’t as handsome as she thought he was. He couldn’t even hold water before this heavenly beauty sitting next to her.

“Only if they want to get fired” He said nonchalantly. Jade was surprised when she heard that. That meant he owned the place right?

Jake chuckled when he saw the surprised look on Jade’s face. He really didn’t see the reason for her to look so surprised, after all Acrosoft was a multinational conglomerate. Though their focus was more on developing softwares, they also had different ventures. “You don’t have to look so surprised” He chuckled.

“Well don’t blame me. Sometimes you just feel like royalty especially with all this” She gestured to the vast land which they were parked in right now, and also referring to the hvge empire un-der his management.

‘If I’m a prince then you’ll be my princess ‘ Jake said in his heart. He was amused by all the cheesy lines that were going throu-gh his head lately.

“It’s all my grandfather and father’s ha-rd work. I’m only reaping the benefits” He said. Jade looked at him, she really doubted that. From what she had re-ad from articles and heard from Amy, she knew he was just being modest.

Jade looked outside the windows and noticed the stary-sky.

“There are so many stars tonight. Since we’re not leaving, can we sit out and just gaze at the stars” She asked, expectantly looking at Jake. Was Jake going to turn her down? Hell no!

“Okay” He replied. Jade excitedly jumped out of the car and hurried to sit at the bonnet, where she lifted her head up to look at the galaxy of stars. The night was so beautiful, as it was full of stars and the moon was shining brightly.

Jake stepped out of the car too and joined her. Jade was surprised when she felt some warmth suddenly wra-pped around her. She looked over her shoulder and saw Jake’s jacket dra-pped over it. She surreptitously too a whiff of it and Jake’s smell c@m£ wafting throu-gh her nostrils, ma-king her cheeks blus-h.

‘It smells just like him’ Perv Jade thought to herself. She glanced at Jake and the thumping in her heart increa-sed drastically. Jake was also staring at her, and he must confess that she looked so alluring un-der the bright moon light.

“I want to know you Jade” Jake suddenly spoke up, earning him Jade’s attention as she looked at him intently, patiently waiting for him to continue.

“I want to know the small things about you. Things that might not matter, I want to know them all” He said in the most gentle and lovely voice he had ever spoken in. And Jade couldn’t help but fall in love with it too. Her eyes were glistening as she watched him speak.

“Like what?” She asked turning her head away from him, before she blurts something out. She was having a heard time holding in her feelings especially with the way he was staring at her.

“Like your favorite color” He said.

“Blue” She responded. Jake smiled at the way she answered him while avoiding his gaze, but he didn’t mind. He liked it.

“Favorite food?”

“Nachos”

“Favorite artist?”

“Ethan Hills” She smiled when she remembered she had seen her once upon a crush artist.

“Favourite song?”

“I still love you by Ethan”

“Hmm, shoe size?”

“Eight” She blu-shed listening to all his questions, but she tried hiding it with her long hair.

“Have a b©yfri£nd?”

Jade paused. Her response didn’t come as prompt as usual. She c0cked a brow as she fell in thought. Hasn’t she answered this question before? She sighed and replied anyway, “No”

“Then can I be one?”

Jade heart skipped a thousand beats the moment she heard Jake’s question. She was frozen in space and she couldn’t even turn to look at him. Her b©dy was stiffened as she just remained on that sp©t trying to wra-p her head around the situation on ground.

Wh—at did he just say? Did he just ask if he could be her b©yfri£nd? Wait! was he asking her to be his girlfriend? Was he asking her out right now?

Maybe she had heard him wrongly, it has to be. She must be imagining things. Maybe she has started hallucinating. She hasn’t been thinking about having a relationsh!pwith him so badly that she has started conjuring things into her mind right?

Jade’s eyes wi-de-ned even more, a bit more effort to wi-den it and she was sure her eye lids might come ripping off.

Jade’s was completely unresponsive. Her br@in has suddenly forsaken her, leaving her completely blank, and surprised, confused, shocked….whatever vocabulary you can find in the dictionary.

Jade slowly turned to him, bewilderment clearly written all over her face.

“Wh–at..” She opened her mouth to say something but she clamped it shut when she couldn’t find the right word to say, or rather there was no word forming in her head.

She wanted to ask him to repeat what he had just said, but her br@in has gone on vacation.

She wasn’t thinking straight, as a matter of fact she wasn’t thinking at all.

Jake wasn’t left out on being nervous. He was equally surprised by his question. He hadn’t planned to ask her that question, but he just blurted it out at the spur of the moment. This was not what he had in mind, but seeing Jade looking so beautiful and captivating as she was right now his heart couldn’t take it any more and he had just let it out of his mouth without thinking about it. But seeing Jade reacting this way was really scaring the $h!t out of him, his heart was beating wi-dely against his che-st.

Jake panicked when he saw the look on her face. ‘He didn’t scare her did he?’

He sli-pped off the bonnet and jumped to his feet, anxiously running his hand throu-gh his hair. Jade’s eyes slowly following him.

Jake st©pped to look at her seriously, after his inner struggle, he decided it was probably time to tell her how he felt about her. Maybe he shouldn’t wait anymore. Actually, he had planned to tell her exactly how he felt about her, and that he wanted her to be his girlfriend, after tomorrow’s p@rty. But he didn’t have to wait anymore.

He slowly swallowed, taking a few steps towards Jade and st©pping two feet away from where she was sitting. His hazel eyes holding her sea blues eyes. Jade’s heart lost it’s rhythm as Jake stared at her so intently, it was beating haphazardly.

He took a de-ep breath to calm himself, but like hell he wasn’t calm not even in the least.

“Jade …. I want you to be my girlfriend” He said slowly yet nervously.

Jade felt like her heart had st©pped for a second, as she blinked at Jake in surprise.

“Wh..at…did you say?” Jade couldn’t believe what was happening right now. Jake had said it again.

Was this really happening right now? Jake was truly asking her out and she wasn’t dreaming? Her heart began to race heavily again, a wave of excitement, surprise and shock surged throu-gh her b©dy, as she kept staring at him completely stupefied.

She had silently been hoping for Jake to get attra-cted to her or maybe like her, but she wasn’t really expecting him to suddenly ask her to be his girlfriend. Did he by chance like her too? Her eyes suddenly sparkled at that thought. She couldn’t help but ask him, “Why?” Her eyes were filled so much expectations and anxiety at the same time.

Jake could tell she was having another wave of shock so he took a step closer, this time only a foot away, his eyes were calm as they looked at her. His look was serious like what he was about to say was as serious as life and death.

“Because I love you” He confessed in a gentle and firm tone.

WATCHOUT FOR EPISODE 89