There was a moment of silence. He sighed and took a step away from her, running his fingers through his hair. It was an idiotic move, he knew, but he couldn’t help it. His cool always gets out of control whenever he was with her. He almost told her he wanted her.
If only she knew.
“Can you smell that?” she asked, pulling him out of his thoughts.
“What?” The only thing he could smell was her scent. The sweet fragrance was clouding his space. God, how could she not see that?
“Come on,” she said.
“Fück,” he silently cursed under his breath as she grabbed his hand, their skins brushing against each other, and led him upstairs to the kitchen.
“Oh, hello, Jack,” Lola greeted with a smile as she saw them enter the kitchen. She placed pancakes on a plate and expertly poured sweet syrup upon the plate. “Come, eat.”
Anna dragged Jake to the counter and placed a piece of pancake on his plate and placed another piece on her plate. Jake shook his head at this. “Anna–”
“Do you know it’s rude to refuse a gift?” she asked.
“Do you know it’s rude to force something to someone?”
“Especially to a visitor,” Lola added.
“But Grandma’s pancakes are the best!” she exclaimed but then paused and thought about what she said for a moment. “Maybe because hers are all I’ve ever eaten,” she trailed off.
He laughed and decided it would be rude to refuse her offer. He stabbed the pancake with a fork and took a big bite of it. She waited patiently as he swallowed.
“So?”
He gave a thumb up and smiled proudly at Lola who was looking over at them with an amused expression on her face.
Licking his lips, “Best pancake I’ve ever had,” he said and looked at Anna. “Does that count?”
“One point for you, Mister Anderson.”
Lola cleared her throat. “You children never grow up, do you?” she said, shaking her head a little at this out of amusement.
“How old are you again, Grandma?” Anna asked, mouth full of pancake pieces.
“Nevermind my age, Dear. Ages.. are just numbers. Being old and mature depends on a person’s attitude. And being too old.. means knowing enough.. and knowing it’s too late.”
“Too late for what?” Anna asked.
Lola gave her a sad smile. “Too late to go back and set things right. Life goes on, Anna. But never comes back.”
There was a moment of silence just as the doorbell started ringing downstairs.
“I’ll go take it,” Grandma said, walking out from the kitchen door and gone within seconds.
“She’s awesome,” Jake said, breaking the silence.
Anna sighed. “She always talks like that. Always talking in riddles. So deep that Adele can’t even roll in it. Not even to the other side.”
Jake laughed. “Nice one, Babe.”
She ignored his nickname for her. “She always seems very sad, you know. Her eyes fulfill the whole definition of loneliness. And I don’t know how I should feel about it.” She pouted slightly, sticking her bottom lip out a little.
“The past can be very tragic,” he said. “So what do you expect?”
“I’m curious,” she said and paused for a moment, remembering something. “Jake, what do you think happened in the past?”
He shrugged, swallowing another piece of pancake. “Wars,” he said. “Death.” That was everything there was in history books anyway.
Anna sighed. Maybe Jake was right. And maybe he was wrong. Who would know? Standing up, she grabbed the heated kettle across the counter and gently poured hot water down a mug. Even being gentle didn’t help her. Hot water escaped some holes from the kettle and it rolled down to burn her fingers.
“Ouch!”
“Tsk. Tsk. Tsk.” Jake came up beside her and took her hand in his, inspecting the peach area. Gently touching her burned fingers, he brought it to his lips and gently kissed the pain away. He looked at her eyes and he saw pure innocence. How could she be so attractive just like that?
“Still hurts?” he softly asked, murmuring his soft words to her fingers.
She shook her head, no words escaping her lips.
He smirked at her flushed face. “Speechless, Babe?”
She shook her head again, and still without words, as she gently tried to remove her hand from his but failed to do so. Then, it was that awkward moment, when she heard a loud growl from the kitchen door. The ground trembled beneath her bare feet. Shook. Quivered. As if an earthquake was taking place. Because when she turned her head, her heart screamed inside her chest.
Zach.