Dinner Surprise

Keisha’s POV

“Jake, what are you doing here?” The answer was as clear as day but I still asked out of the shock I just received.

“You just stole my line, I should be asking you that, this is my house.” He replied as he started to walk closer to Rowan and I with his hands in the pockets of his sweatpant.

“Wait. How is that possible? I thought the both of you were just cousins.”

“We are brothers.” Rowan answered.

“Half brothers.” Jake corrected.

“So, you lied to me and the whole school? Why did you do that?” I directed the question at Jake, but he simply stepped backwards and gave me a hard look.

“I don’t need to give you an explanation for my actions.” He said in a cold tone before walking away.

Wow! That response explained a lot if he didn’t know. I knew it shouldn’t hurt me but I couldn’t help it, we used to be very close and we had no secrets between us, but finding out that he kept such a big thing from me just proved that he broke my heart and ran away on purpose.

“Don’t mind him. He is grumpy sometimes.” Rowan said before walking off towards where I assumed would be the kitchen.

Rowan’s parents, also the owners of my school, welcomed me into their home. I sat next to Rowan and opposite Jake at dinner. As much as I anticipated this dinner and wanted to be around Rowan, I wanted it to end as quickly as possible. The excitement was gone and replaced by a fresh feeling of hurt.

Rowan’s father asked me some questions which I answered without them suspecting that I was no longer interested in this dinner.

“Are you okay?” Rowan whispered to me.

“Yes.” I responded with a curt smile.

“You sure?” He asked again, moving a bit closer to me, his breath fanning my face. 

Normally, the movement would have made my heart beat quicken, but right now it had no effect on me.

I nodded my head in response and offered him another smile, making sure it didn’t appear forced. I looked up and met Jake's burning gaze. He stared at me for a while longer, his jaws clenching and unclenching.

I wanted to know what he was thinking so badly. Was he regretting his actions? Was he ready to apologize for hurting me?

He pushed his chair back and stood up abruptly, making me startled.

“I’m going to bed early.” He announced as he carried his plate and then looked at me, "Good luck dealing with him." He said as he cast a glare at Rowan before walking away.

“Goodnight, son.” His father said but there was no response from him.

There was a bit of silence at the table and I took that as my cue to leave too, using some nonexistence assignment as an excuse. Rowan offered to walk me outside but I declined. 

I kept thinking about Jake, the letter and the surprise I had received at dinner this evening, what else could he be hiding? 

I tried to force him out of my mind and eventually fell asleep. To make matters worse, I had a dream that he wrote another letter, telling the whole school that I had been all over him since he got back. 

---

My mom dropped me off at school after going to drop off my brothers then head to the hospital for an emergency they called her about. It was still very early so none of my friends were around yet.

I badly wanted to spill the tea to them yesterday but they told me they preferred to hear it when we see, I knew it was so they could tease me about whatever they had hoped had happened, little did they know that I barely thought about Rowan last night!

“Hey!” I heard someone call out as they opened the locker beside mine.

I turned to look and it turned out to be Jake. A frown immediately appeared on my face and I rolled my eyes at him.

“Oh, come on! Out of all the empty lockers, they choose to give you the one right next to mine?” I groaned as I folded my arms across my chest and watched him place his bag in his locker. I blamed Victor, the previous owner of the locker for moving to another school.

The universe hated me. I knew it.

Jake shrugged and without turning to look at me, he said, “talk about fate. I guess you will have no choice but to be friends with me again.”

“In your wildest dreams, Jake.” I said, repeating the same words he said in the letter he wrote three years ago, hoping that would hit a spot. I walked away, not bothered with what his reply would be.

“Keisha!” I sighted Yuri, Nicole and Amy in the hallways. I hastened my steps and moved closer to them.

“Okay, Spill!” Yuri ordered. I pulled them to one side and stared at them one after the other. Even Amy looked interested in what I was about to say.

“Did the dress work? Has he confessed his undying love for you? Did he give you a goodnight kiss?” Nicole asked, pulling her arms together and batting her eyelashes at me.

“What!” I laughed.

“This isn’t a Disney animation, it is real life, Nicole. The dinner was just to confirm if he likes her or not.” Amy explained to her.

“Guys, you won’t believe what happened.” I told them while they all stared at me expectantly. “Jake and Rowan are brothers. Half brothers.”

Yuri’s mouth fell open while Nicole's eyes became wider. Amy didn’t look much surprised which made me wonder if she already knew.

“Did you know about this?” I raised my brows at her.

“No, but you shouldn’t be really surprised. The whole school knows they are cousins but it turns out they are actually brothers, I think it’s cool.” She answered.

“You can be really weird sometimes, Amy. But, why did Jake let everyone think they were cousins?” Yuri questioned.

“I wish I knew the answer to that.”

“Wait, maybe he was trying to cover up the fact that his dad has a mistress.” Nicole’s eyes brightened as she made the suggestion.

“That might be true, but it wouldn’t hurt to tell the truth.”

“It would hurt if he is the mistress’s son. He probably didn’t want people to tag him as an illegitimate child. Honestly, I kinda get why he lied.” Amy said, nodding as she spoke. Sometimes, she could be weird and smart at the same thing. I liked that about her.

“Keisha!” I heard someone call through the hallway just as the bell rang. It was Rowan, a smile automatically made its way to my face.

“Oh! It’s your prince charming.” Yuri nudged my arm as he walked over to us.

“Hi.” He said as he stood in front of me. He greeted my friends before smiling at me.

“Hey, Rowan.”

“What class do you have?” He asked.

“Um, Chemistry.” I answered as I looked over at my friends, they were watching us as if a movie was playing right in front of them.

“Cool, I have English but I will walk you.”

“Alright then.” I said with a grin, I waved at my friends and went off with Rowan.

”So, last night was really cool. I enjoyed spending time with you.” He said as we walked past some students also going to their classes.

“Yeah, I enjoyed it too.” I lied. I had always wanted Rowan to talk to me, and now that it was happening I didn’t want anything to ruin my chances with him. Like finding out I didn’t enjoy the dinner because of his cousin- I mean brother.

“Um, I’m not supposed to tell you this but I kinda overheard my dad talking to our mathematics teacher earlier this morning. She is going to be conducting a test for us very soon.” Rowan paused and stared at me for a reaction but I simply nodded and signaled for him to continue.

“You see, I’m not really good at math and I might need someone to help me with a few topics before the test and I think you are the best person for that. That is, if you are willing to tutor me.”

Oh, my gosh! This was the perfect opportunity to get closer to my crush. The universe didn’t hate me afterall.

“Su- sure, I’d be delighted to help you out.” I giggled as I brushed a strand of my hair off my face.

“Wow! That’s a relief.” He brushed his hand through his hair and God, he looked so sexy that I forgot how to breathe for a second.

“Yeah, so how do we do this?” I asked him. I could already picture us together in his room, studying, Rowan playing with my hair while he solves an equation, listening to music while we rest our brains and maybe have our first kiss.

Okay, that was too much. One step at a time.

Rowan eventually collected my number and promised to contact me. Then he left after giving me the sweetest smile. My insides were literally on fire by the time he was out of sight.

“Yes!” I squealed as I fisted my hand and punched the air like I just bagged something big.

I was about to enter the class when I saw Jake standing at the door and staring at me. For how long had he been standing there? Did he see everything? Not that I care but I didn’t want him around my business.

Well, that was going to be impossible because I had a crush on his brother.