I’m Only Me When I’m With You

The days flew by as Cora settled into the routine of going to class, doing homework and juggling her relationships. It was finally the weekend, which just so happened to be the weekend of the first dance of the year. Tap Cora stirred and rolled over. Tap…tap she groaned and rolled back onto her back. She grabbed her phone to look at the time. Annoyed, she sat up and looked out the window to see where the tapping had been coming from. Jacob was standing at the pine tree, preparing to throw a small pebble. She pushed open the window and narrowed her eyes at him.
“What are you doing here?” She hissed, hoping he heard the annoyance.
“I was in the neighborhood.” He smiled a toothy grin.
“At seven in the morning?” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Just…Stay there. I’m coming down.” She closed the window before crawling off the bed. She grabbed her black cardigan and slipped on her fuzzy black slippers before leaving the house. He came in for a hug but she stopped him with an open hand to the chest, wanting answers. “What are you really doing here, this early in the morning?”
“My dad wanted to do some early morning grocery shopping, I didn’t want to join him so I came here to say good morning to my oh-so-beautiful girlfriend. Is that such a problem?” She rolled her eyes and couldn’t help but smile.
“I guess when you put it that way, I can’t be mad.” Cora felt a couple of drops of water splash against her skin, great it was starting to rain. “You should come inside so we don’t get sick.” She looked over at the patio door, then back at him.
“I really shouldn’t. Fiona might not approve of it this early in the morning. She might think something else.” He had a point. After that night she had been trying to talk to Cora about ‘being safe’ and The Talk. As well meaning as it was, that was the last thing on her mind, or Jacob’s. They had talked about it before and decided to wait until at least after graduation, but Fiona didn’t want to hear it.

“You’re not wrong, unfortunately.” She sighed and crossed her arms. “Should I get dressed and we can go get coffee in town?” Jacob shook his head.
“I just wanted to see you before the dance. There was something I wanted to talk to you about, but I think it can wait until later.” This piqued Cora’s curiosity.
“Well now you have to tell me.” She put her hands on her hips and rose her eyebrow.
“I think I figured out what I want to do. For the future” He gave her a stern look. “Promise you won’t laugh?” She nodded and held out her pinky.
“Promise!” He wrapped his pinky around hers and shook it before kissing her hand.
“I-” He took a deep breath. “Want to open a bakery.” His gaze fell to the stone below, he was feeling unsure. Cora was beaming at him. She knew he was passionate about baking, this was perfect for him!
“That’s genius Jake. Why didn’t we think of this sooner?!” She threw her arms around him and kissed his forehead. “Thank you for sharing with me before you were ready. I love you Jacob.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and placed his lips on hers. He broke the kiss and held her close to him.
“Love you too.” She felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He let go of her and pulled his phone from his pocket. “I gotta go, it’s dad. I’ll see you tonight.” He gave her a quick kiss on her cheek before jogging towards the docks. She went back inside to get everything ready for tonight.

Four o’clock — it was time to put everything on! It took her about an hour for her to do her make up and her hair since she wasn’t really into that sort of thing. She didn’t really like dressing up, but tonight she felt like a princess going to the ball with her prince charming. Once everything was on, she looked at herself in the mirror. For once, she actually felt beautiful and not just pretty. She twisted and turned to look at the dress on her. “Not bad for something thrifted last minute.” She giggled as she admired herself. She applied one last touch-up to her make up.
“Cora! Madeline is here.” River’s voice echoed up the stairs. Cora jumped, startled by her mother’s voice.
“Coming!” She slipped her shoes on and ran down the stairs.

Squeals pierced Cora’s ears as soon as she walked outside. “You look breathtaking Cor!” Cora blushed and shook her head.
“Thank you, but have you seen yourself? Drop dead gorgeous. Cassie is going to absolutely die when she sees you.”
“Aw shucks, you’re just sayin that!” Madeline cackled and put her hands on her hips. “Wait until Jakeypoo sees you, he won’t be able to keep his hands off of you.” She teased with a wink. Cora snorted with laughter.
“Really Mads? Jakeypoo?” Cora closed her eyes and shook her head, still smiling. “I’m going to call him that from now on. And I will blame you. I hope you’re prepared for that.”
“Bring it, you know I can take him in a fight.” Madeline boxed the air, quickly stopped before she lost her balance in her heels.
“I dunno, have you see how uh,” Cora remembered how strong his arms felt this morning and blushed. She cleared her throat. “how muscular he is now?”
“I haven’t because I tend to not look at men. Gross.” Madeline scrunched her face up and stuck her tongue out, making a gagging noise. “Okay real talk though, he has filled out a bit, hasn’t he? And he’s definitely more stylish. Whatever he did over the summer, I can think of a couple guys that need to go lest they offend our eyes much longer.”
“All I know is he went camping with his dad and sister.” Cora shrugged. He still hadn’t opened up to her about what happened during the summer, she knows something happened because he changes the subject every time she asks…so she’s stopped asking. “How are things with your mom and her new husband?”

“Oh do not get me started on Marcus. He’s a complete meat head, nothing but fitness and working out goes through that brain of his. He had the audacity to tell my mom she could benefit from some yoga or meditation. I mean, yeah…she is a little high strung and needs to chill out sometimes, but to be all like ‘blah blah blah’ about it.” She growled and stomped her foot. “I think I preferred her previous husband over this one. And you know how much I hated him.” Cora nodded. “Such a tool.” Madeline hissed through clenched teeth. “Anywho, enough about my mom’s love life, anything happening for River?”
“No. Did you know she still hasn’t told me who my father is? She knows because she gets child support from him directly into an account for me. So I don’t know if maybe she’s still in love with him or something but I would love to know who my dad is, ya know?” Cora exhaled sharply.
“Yikes. I’m glad my mom never hid it from me, it was a one night stand but she hadn’t slept with anyone except him during that time. He ordered a paternity test of course because Landgraab is going to be like that, but now I get money for college directly into an accou-oooh, what if your bio-dad is rich or famous, or both? And that’s why it’s a secret!”
“I’ve thought of that but then there’s no way. My mom is such a workaholic, there’s no way she would have the time to meet rich or famous people, let alone schmooze one into bed.”
“That’s the River of today, the River of yesterday might not have been a workaholic. Just something to think about. Oh!” A soft notification sound chimed. “It’s time. Let’s go get our dance on.”