cooking and kissing

"When you said you're not a good cook I thought this dish should be a good start since I remember you telling me you bake for your family sometimes. Looks like I was wrong." Jake says chuckling lightly and hugs Juleka into his side when she looks sad.

"Let me tell you something Juleka." He says, starting to clean up the messy kitchen and tosses out the burned meal Juleka produced.

"What?" She asks, wiping away some tears threatening to spill out of her eyes.

"I set fire to our kitchen when I first tried to cook." Jake says and she looks at him to see if he's lying.

"And my mom, she said that it's best if you start with something you don't need to heat." Jake tells Juleka.

"What are you talking about?" She asks, looking at him quizzical.

"We are gonna make wraps." Jake tells her, getting the ingredients he already prepared just in case.

"But I just..." She says depressed, only for Jake to move around her and push her closer to the kitchen counter.

"You make a wrap for me, I'll make one for you." Jake tells her, leaning over her shoulder for a moment before moving to the spot beside her at the counter with a small blush himself, remembering the almost kiss with her the other day.

"I'm sorry I ruined the meal." Juleka says sadly.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Jake tells her squeezing her hand supportively without thinking about it and immediately pulls his hand back embarrassed.

The two then make a quick wrap for the other and sit down in the living room to eat the food.

"It tastes great." Jake praises her while tasting the wrap she made for him.

"You think so?" She asks shocked, her eyes opened wide.

"Yeah." He replies, nodding eagerly and she smiles to herself, hiding most of her face behind her curtain of hair.

After the meal was eaten in silence Jake collects the dishes and puts them in the kitchen sink.

When he returns to the living room moments later he notices Juleka moving nervously on her spot.

"Are you OK?" Jake asks, sitting down on the floor next to her instead of across from her.

"Ye-yes." She stammers nervously.

"Come on, something is up, you're not usually this nervous." Jake says quizzical.

"I keep remembering tuesday." She says quietly.

"What about it? I told you being forgetful is normal." Jake says, hoping she won't focus on her memory loss.

"It's not that. When you were cooking..." She stammers, her eyes darting from her lap to his face over and over.

"Ohh..." Jake says in realization and rubs his neck nervously.

"Are you mad about it?" He asks.

Juleka's cheeks flush red while she shakes her head negative shyly.

"Good." Jake says, his voice cracking a bit from his own nervousness. He then leans over to her again, Juleka closing her eyes in anticipation.

Their lips are a handwidth apart when Fu enters the upstairs apartment with the door rattling loudly from his abrupt entrance.

"Eeep." Juleka squeaks quietly and pushes herself back, falling over unceremoniously.

"Sorry... " Fu says with a sly grin and moves to his bedroom while Jake seems to try to light him on fire with his glare.

"I... I should leave." Juleka says hurriedly and dashes out of the house, not knowing that Jake goes after her.

She stops her quickened steps when she's standing at the entrance to the marina and descends the stairs to the dock at a normal pace.

Hearing quick steps on the stairs behind her Juleka turns around and sees Jake only two steps away. He closes the distance between them in record time and pulls on her arm carefully, pushing her up against the wall on the side of the stairs with one arm behind her, separating her from the dirty wall.

"I want to kiss you." Jake says breathing heavily from rushing after her.

"Can I?" He asks after she stares at him as if frozen in time.

Juleka doesn't reply in her shock and sees Jake's expression sadden the longer she remains still.

With a shaky hand she caresses his cheek and slips the hand behind his head, pulling him towards her and captures his lips with her own while she hears her pulse reverberating in her head.

Jake quickly relaxes into her touch and replies to her kiss, his free hand moving to her lower back and pulling her towards him.

"That's my daughter." The two hear Juleka's mother say proudly and both teens turn to the captain standing on the deck of her ship, watching them.

Juleka freezes up once more and her head is beet red.

"Juleka, don't mind her." Jake says, sitting down on the stairs and tugging on her hand gently to coax her to sit next to him.

After a good 4 seconds she sits down next to him nervously.

"Will you go out with me?" He asks her, squeezing the hand he's still holding.

She stares at him and tilts her head quickly so her long hair hides her face from his view.

She then nods slowly and her thumb brushes over the back of his hand gently.

"Great." He says, letting go of her hand and pulls her with strength she didn't think he has to sit in front of him.

"This way I can't see you." He tells her, his breath tickling her ear after he moves her hair out of her face again and hugs her carefully from behind.

"Sorry." She stammers shyly.

"Don't be, it's who you are and I like who you are." Jake tells her.

"Your mom is still watching us." Jake tells her quietly, waving to the woman who smiles from ear to ear.

"Sorry." She says again, this time sounding embarrassed.

"At least she waited until after the kiss unlike my gramps." Jake says jokingly and Juleka chuckles slightly.

"Do you want to meet somewhere tomorrow?" Jake asks, since on Saturday they don't see each other at school.

"Yes. I'd like that." She says, glad to be facing away from him with him unable to see her deep red blush.

"Great. I'll text you later." He says getting up, but instead of leaving like Juleka would have thought, Jake steps around her, helping her up and turns her around so her back is facing her mother before kissing Juleka once more, the girl slowly relaxing into the kiss which lasts maybe half a minute while Jake pushes her long hair away from her face carefully so it's not in the way.

"Don't let your mom tease you too much." Jake tells her and fixes her hair back in front of one of her eyes like she likes to do, leaving with a big smile on his face, Juleka sitting down again and only moving from the stairs after calming down.