the whole world could change in a minute {JAKE}

[Lissie Hewer]

just one kiss could stop it spinning
we could think it through
but I don't want to if you don't want to
we could keep things just the same
leave here the way we came
with nothing to lose
but I don't want to if you don't want to

- want to by sugarland

---

Lissie closed the door after her brother walked outside and was gone in a flash. She leaned against the door and closed her eyes for a moment, suddenly feeling a little nervous and a little guilty but also excited. Jake was coming over! Lissie opened her eyes and flew into the kitchen to glance at the time at the microwave; she had about forty-five minutes to get ready. Jack was great at being a guardian, but he needed to realize that his sister was older now and she didn't need supervision or to be asked, "You sure you're going to be alright?" multiple times anymore.

Then again, Lissie thought as she made her way to the bathroom, maybe I do need supervision. She tried to ignore the guilt that was slowly consuming her; she was abusing Jack's trust. She should have been honest with him, but then he would have cancelled his plans and Jake would have never agreed to come over. Lissie let out a noise of frustration as she pulled her shirt over her head and unclasped her bra. She wasn't going to think about Jack for the rest of the night.

Slipping out of her pajama shorts and undies, Lissie jumped into the shower and turned it on full force. It took a moment for the hot water to seep through, and when it did, she got shivers. Lissie took the quickest shower of her life and then jumped out. She wrapped a towel around her thin body and bounded down to her room, where she debated on what to wear. Something casual, but maybe a little sexy. She frowned as she fingered through her clothes; she didn't have any sexy clothes. Grabbing an outfit that she deemed well enough, Lissie shrugged on the clothes and then went back into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

By the time she had finished getting ready and cleaned up after herself, Lissie still had about five minutes before Jake was due to arrive. She collapsed on the couch and switched on the tellie, flipping through the channels until she found something that caught her interest. She didn't know what tonight was going to hold; would they stay in? would they go out? She was prepared for anything. She hoped.

---

((OOC: is this okay? =X ))

[Jake Gullane]

Jake had been taken aback when Lissie's invitation had arrived. He still wasn't at all sure what they were doing, and for the most part he was trying not to think about it too much. Going with the flow as easier, and the flow seemed to be taking him to some pleasant places. They had hung out for the day earlier in the week, which had been nice - nice was a pathetic word for what it had been, in fact, but if he tried to analyse it enough to know what it really been, he only alarmed himself. They had kissed again, and laughed a lot, and Jake had caught himself thinking about her quite a lot of the time since then - and then had caught himself involuntarily smiling with the thought, all of which made him suspect that he was in far too deep here.

For a moment, when he had read her letter, he had hesitated. Hanging out in Muggle London was one thing - going to her house in the evening, when she was the only one in, was another thing altogether. If she had been a different girl, his mind would immediately have leapt to one thing. No, who was he kidding? His mind did immediately leap to one thing - not that anything like that would happen, of course. He had to admit he'd like to, but there was no way he was going to push her, so really he needed to put that right out of his mind. Still, there was no harm in being slightly prepared for the merest possibility.

His own preparations were fairly minimal - he'd showered when he got up, which had been after midday (he'd been working late the night before) so didn't feel the need for another one, seeing as he'd done nothing remotely strenuous since then. However, he'd pulled on a pair of not-too-disreputable jeans and a clean shirt. He felt like he ought to take something, but as she'd given him all of an hour's notice and he had nothing to take, there wasn't a lot he could do about that. Besides, the obvious thing was alcohol, and he didn't even know if she drank. He'd just have to turn up empty-handed - he thought she'd forgive him.

He knew where the house was, of course, since he'd been friends with Rupert for years, but just walking out of the fireplace seemed a bit rude, so he stuck his wallet and phone (he spent enough time in the Muggle world for taking a phone to be automatic, even though he wasn't expecting to need it) in his pocket, and Apparated to a point just outside her gate. He really wasn't sure what to expect from this evening at all. This was all moving very fast and he was only just keeping up with it. Probably she just wanted to hang out, and had never even thought of the implications of inviting him to her house at night, when she was alone. He found himself ridiculously, stupidly, slightly nervous.

Pulling himself together, he strolled up to the door, and rang the bell, stepping back slightly to wait for her. God, he hoped Jack Hewer really had left - he hadn't thought of that until now, and it was too late to do anything about it, short of running away, which would be fairly stupid since he'd already rung the bell. He checked his phone quickly - yes, it was a good hour since she'd said an hour - and was just pushing it back into his pocket when the door started to open.

((OOC - It's perfect!))

[Lissie Hewer]

Half of Lissie's mind was on what she was watching the television, and the other half of her mind was on Jake. Would he show up, or - what was the phrase? - stand her up? Lissie dropped her face into her hands, and shook her head, groaning. What was she doing? She and Jake had only hung out a total of three times, then she had gone and invited him over to the house. Is this how girls acted when they liked guys; half-crazed and doing things they normally wouldn't? If this is what crushing on someone felt like, Lissie could only imagine what being in love with someone felt like. She seriously needed a girl to talk to about this sort of thing - and not Lavinia.

When the doorbell rang, Lissie was startled. She jumped and lifted her head from her hands. Jake was here. She swallowed and stared at the door, suddenly feeling very awkward. What if he thought the same thing she was thinking? Or worse... She tried to clear her mind by shaking her head and shaking her hands in the air as if she had something too bitter or too sour in her mouth (minus the facial expression.) Standing up, Lissie reminded herself that they were... they were friends. Weren't they? When they had spent the day together on Monday, there had been a lot of kissing, but Lissie didn't think they were anything more than friends. Jake never said anything otherwise, and she was too afraid to lose his friendship to ask. So she played the game, hoping she was making the right moves.

Walking briskly towards the door, Lissie put on a smile. She grabbed the door handle and pulled the door back, her smiling face greeting Jake. "Hey," she said casually, stepping aside. "Come on in."

---

((OOC: outfit, i guess? idek))

[Jake Gullane]

The door swung open and there she was, smiling as if this was the most normal thing in the world - just two friends hanging out in one of their houses. Two friends who had done quite a lot of kissing in the last week or so. No assumptions, Jake reminded himself, and smiled easily back at her.

"Hey - thanks for the invite. 'Fraid I didn't bring anything - I didn't have time to run to any shops. And you know how bad we are at having things in the flat." He stepped past her into the hall, feeling almost like an intruder in the house. He'd been here before, but this felt very different - he didn't need to ask whether Jack knew he was here, because it was quite obvious that he didn't. They were sneaking around, which was something that Jake was very used to, but not in this context. He hadn't had to sneak around with girls since he'd been at school.

He glanced down at her, already remembering the taste and feel of her lips. No. He couldn't jump on her the moment he was through the door - he'd probably send her running in the opposite direction if he did that. He hadn't been able to help the quick appreciative flick of his eyes up and down her though. It was a warm night and her arms and legs were bare and easy for his gaze to be drawn to. However, it was only for a moment, before he got control of himself.

"So your brother's gone to get drunk with his students?" he asked with a grin, deliberately exaggerating what she'd told him - he had no idea whether Jack would get drunk, and they were ex-students, not students. "And you take advantage and secretly ask a guy over to your house. You Hewers are all as bad as each other..."

[Lissie Hewer]

To see Jake smile back at her was comforting. It didn't seem forced or fake, so Lissie took it at face value. It was nice to see him again, she couldn't help but think as the older boy stepped into the house. Lissie shut the door and turned to face her guest. She half-shrugged.

"You're welcome. I thought that... hanging out tonight would be better than being alone," Lissie explained. "Of course, had you had plans, I would have been the sore loser." She poked her tongue out at him, feeling at ease almost right away. She always got herself so worked up over Jake. But it was nice that she was able to calm down almost instantly when around him. "Hey, don't worry about it. I wasn't expecting you to bring anything, so it's not a big deal. Come on, make yourself at home," she added as she walked over to the couch and plopped down. She didn't know if Jake would sit next to her or distance himself from her.

Lissie couldn't help but to grin at Jake. "We are pretty bad-arse," she said smugly, grabbing the remote and putting the television on mute. She had never considered herself bad before. She still didn't. She was just... doing was teenagers did. They sneaked around, kissed boys and even made friends with them. Her brothers had girls as friends when they were her age; so why couldn't she have boy friends? She looked at Jake a little more seriously now.

"So, I have two questions. One is, would you like something to eat or drink? The other is... did you want to go out, or stay in? I don't care either way," she added. Most of her wished that they would stay in, though, because she had never really been "out" at night before.

[Jake Gullane]

"Hanging out's always good," Jake agreed lightly. Living with three other guys, there was usually someone in in the evenings, unless they were all out together, so he'd probably have had someone to hang out with at the flat, but he saw them every day. Hanging out with Lissie was a more interesting option right now. He hadn't bothered to find out what his friends' plans were for tonight though, or to mention that he was going out. They didn't live in each other's pockets, so they wouldn't wonder too much where he was, and he figured that no explanations made things a lot simpler. That way, he didn't have to lie.

He obeyed her instruction to make himself at home, hesitating only for a split second before taking the other half of the couch. Sitting at the other side of the room seemed unnecessarily uptight, and as usual, he found it impossible to be uptight around her. "Well, I'd still have brought something. But unless you fancied a gift of frozen sausages or David's leftover dinner, there weren't many options."

He laughed at her description of her family. "Well, some of you are at least. I'm not so sure about Rupert, but there we go," he joked.

He leaned against the back of the couch, considering her questions. "I'm fine just now," he told her. All he actually wanted was to pull her close and kiss her senseless - he was now realising the danger of sitting on the same couch - but he stopped himself from saying this. "I don't mind either," he went on thoughtfully. "I'm happy here, unless you wanted to go out. It's funny, when you work in a bar, you're not so fussed about going out to them." Even on a night with the boys, these days he'd often prefer a night in with a crate of beer to a bar crawl. And there were always restaurants, if she wanted a meal, but he'd never been a restaurant person - they were an unnecessary expense.

[Lissie Hewer]

"I thought so," Lissie agreed with a smile, completely forgetting that Jake lived in a flat with a bunch of guys, one of them being her brothers. She supposed it was a good thing, the way she was able to forget that her brother lived with the boy she hanging out with tonight, the boy she fancied. And it was also clear that Jake didn't have his daughter tonight, though Lissie wouldn't have minded one bit if he had. She liked Skye.

Lissie laughed and shook her head. "No, it's alright," she reassured him. "It's honestly not a big deal. However, I appreciate the thought." It was nice that Jake had even thought that it would be a good thing for him to bring some sort of food or drink over tonight, but it was really unnecessary. Him showing up was enough by itself, though she kept that sentiment to herself. It made her seem way too clingy, and she didn't want to scare the guy off.

"I dunno. I think he's more bad-arse than I am," Lissie admitted, amused by the idea that Jake didn't consider her brother bad-arse. It took guts to sneak behind Jack's back and invite a guy over to an empty house, when there was obviously something between them; but Lissie was sure her brothers had done more daring things.

Lissie nodded, her soft brunette waves bouncing slightly. "Just let me know when you want something," she told him. "I think Jack's got some beer or some sort of alcohol, if you want that." Lissie didn't drink herself, but she wasn't opposed to it. She thought about Jake's offer for a moment before deciding that maybe it was best if they stayed in. She didn't want to force him out, and as it wasn't high on her priority list, she thought that having a night in would be a good change of pace.

"Staying here is fine," Lissie agreed. "We can watch something on the tellie, or - we have lots of movies. There's board games. Or, I mean... just talking is okay. Whatever." She shrugged, blushing slightly. She felt very childish suddenly; she didn't know how to entertain someone. Well, she knew what Jake liked, but she wasn't sure he would appreciate it if she started snogging him within five minutes of him entering the house. Part of her felt like offering him a tour of the house, in case he needed to use the bathroom, but that was just... no.

[Jake Gullane]

"Okay, I'll believe you're not offended," Jake said, also laughing, then went on teasingly, "I would say I'll bring something next time, but that would be assuming I'm going to get another invite." In all reality, he doubted that they'd be doing this often - from what she'd said, it didn't seem like she was alone in the house that much. There wasn't really anywhere they could hang out regularly.

"If you say so. I'm not sure I'm convinced." Jake grinned. Rupert was an ex-Gryffindor who worked with dragons for a living, but for Jake to admit that there was anything remotely impressive about that career would go against his code when it came to his friends. Of course, he'd defend them furiously to outsiders, but he didn't think that Rupert's sister counted as an outsider. "At least he doesn't steal other people's Nutella," he added, as if this was an entirely relevant point.

"Thanks - I will do, though your brother might notice if he came home to find his beer stock gone. He'd think you were drinking it secretly in your room," he teased her. "I'm perfectly happy with non-alcoholic though." He'd probably be better keeping his inhibitions with him tonight, he thought, even as he smiled at her obvious slight nervousness. She probably wasn't used to this kind of thing - which was fine, since it was a bit weird for him too. Mainly because he wasn't sure what sort of ground rules they were abiding by - if any.

"Any or all of that sounds good," he assured her. On an impulse, he reached for her hand and squeezed it, wanting to reassure her that he really was absolutely fine with just being here with her. He didn't let go, but laced his fingers with hers. Touching her was beginning to feel more normal and natural, and he hoped it was for her as well, though he didn't want to rush anything. "What kind of films have you got?" he added curiously. He tended to find that all-wizarding households had an odd mixture of things.

((OOC - Sorry this has taken me forever, I got half way through and Chrome ate it!))

[Lissie Hewer]

Lissie smiled at Jake and scooted a little closer to him, her hand lying over top of his gently. "I would say that of course you'd get another invite," she started off in the best sultry tone she could manage, "but it all depends on my brother getting out of the house." It really was awful that they couldn't be open about this... this... whatever it was. Relationship? It was a relationship of some sort, Lissie just wasn't sure what. She was seventeen and yet here she was sneaking behind Jack's back like a fourteen-year-old. Didn't most girls her age have mature, out-in-the-open relationships?

"Sorry that it has to be like this," Lissie said. Then she leaned towards Jake to kiss him lightly on the lips, hoping that a kiss would be all it took to forgive her. Then again, he didn't want to tell anyone about their relationship, either. So she didn't really need to apologize. (She just liked making up reasons to kiss Jake.) She shook head and laughed. "Nutella? What has that got to do with anything? Is someone stealing yours?" Boys could be so weird about their possessions. But Lissie reminded herself that Jake wasn't made of money and, from seeing the product in the store, she knew that (depending on the size of the jar) it could be somewhat pricey.

Lissie laughed again and rolled her eyes. "First of all, I wouldn't let you drink all of it," she told him, nudging him in his side with her elbow. "If one was missing, I doubt he'd notice. And if he did... then he really needs a hobby!" Because of counting how much beer he had was what Jack did all summer, Lissie would be very concerned for her brother. She nodded. "We've got pretty much everything under the sun. Jack has this thing about making sure we have everything that I could possibly want - even if I tell him no, don't buy it - so just let me know what you want and I'll get you something. The same goes for food," she added.

She squeezed his hand back and smiled. Lissie looked toward the muted television and sighed. "What don't we have?" she commented. "We've got action, adventure, rom-com, comedy, sci-fi, fantasy, historical, historical fiction, crime, thriller, romance, political, horror, musical... just about everything under the sun." Lissie looked back at Jake now, still smiling. "Oh, and Disney."

[Jake Gullane]

"Hey, it's cool." Jake smiled at her as she moved closer to him, and would have continued, but her lips met his and cut off what he'd been going to say. Strangely enough, he didn't mind too much, and turned his head slightly to be able to kiss her better. He was still smiling as she pulled away. "Honestly," he added, stroking her hand with his thumb. "Let's just keep this... for you and me, for now." He needed to sort this out in his own head before Rupert got to hear about it, that was for sure. If they were just messing about, he doubted that his friend would be too impressed, given Lissie's age and Jake's own past record, both in relationships and life in general. If it was more than messing around, he hoped that Rupert would be reasonable (he wasn't so sure about her other brothers), but as long as he wasn't sure what it was, he also preferred to keep it quiet.

He laughed at the memory of the Nutella incident, which had annoyed him for all of ten minutes, and had then merely amused him. "Oh, Kieran ate the last of mine, because he's a prick," he said cheerfully. "And then didn't know how to get any to repay me, because he's a clueless pureblood. I ended up getting him to buy me the biggest load of Nutella you ever saw. Skye thought it was brilliant when she saw it. The jar was almost as big as her."

"Well, if you say so," he went on, raising his eyebrow slightly. "Still. I think sneaking into his house and drinking his beer might be a bit unfair," he added, grinning. He nodded approvingly at her list of film types. "I'm impressed. What kind's your favourite?" he asked curiously, then added with another laugh, "Though you can't beat Disney, really."

She was sitting close enough now that he could slip an arm round her waist, which he did, thinking again of how easy it felt just to be sitting here with her. Fuck it, why did it have to be complicated by age and experience differences? Three years wasn't really much at all (okay, it was almost certainly more than three, since he was turning twenty one in October, and he wasn't sure when her birthday was), and maybe he was capable of being more responsible and serious than he had been a few years ago. Maybe he could actually navigate this without hurting her, because he definitely wanted to. Trying to concentrate merely on enjoying her company, he glanced down at her, and impulsively leaned down to capture her lips again, kissing her for slightly longer this time.

[Lissie Hewer]

Lissie nodded her agreement. "I know," she said softly, glancing down at their entwined hands. "It's just that... sometimes I think you think I'm too young or sneaking around is babyish and you might... leave me." She looked up at him now, her blue eyes searching his face. "I dunno what we're doing, but I like it and I don't want to see you go." There: it was out in the open. She was being honest and that was important in any sort of relationship. Only now Lissie feared to sounded pitiful; ugh, could she do anything right around Jake? She did her best to shoo the feeling away, replacing it with the thought that Jake would see her honesty was maturity.

The story about the Nutella was short, but Lissie was grinning by the end of it. She laughed, imagining the entire scenario in her head. A clueless Kieran (whom Lissie didn't know so well), Jake duping him into buying a huge jar of Nutella and Skye's eyes lighting up when she saw it. "Well, then, it all worked out in your favor from the sounds of it." Lissie didn't care too much for the spread, which was good because Jack loved it and would probably eat it straight from the jar. (In fact, Lissie was sure he had.)

"Okay, fair point," Lissie said, knowing that Jake was right about it being unfair to sneak into Jack's house and to drink his beer. However, she felt like a bad hostess if she didn't offer him everything under the sun. Lissie thought about the question for a moment. She did love Disney movies, but again, she didn't want Jake to see her as a child. She was about to answer with 'historical fiction' (hello, Titanic) when suddenly Jake's lips were on hers. There was no hesitation in kissing him back. In fact, she maneuvered her body so that they weren't in such an awkward position. One hand gently touched Jake's face while the other rested on his shoulder.

Snogging Jake anywhere was fun, but at home it was much safer. Anything could happen and she wouldn't be as embarrassed as if they were out in public. Making a bold move, Lissie slide her tongue into Jake's mouth. She hadn't been the one to initiate that until now and she wondered how he would react. She ran her tongue over the roof of his mouth, having read it in a book once and deciding to try it.

[Jake Gullane]

Jake was silent for a moment after she spoke, his face thoughtful. He couldn't, in all honesty, assure her that he did not think she was too young in the slightest, because her age was one of the things causing him dilemmas over this. Babyish, no. And really, it was not so much her age as her inexperience.

"I don't think you're babyish," he said slowly at last. "And I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping things to ourselves when it's all just... starting out and we don't know where it's going." He looked down at her, turning his body towards her and leaning his arm on the back of the couch, his eyes serious. She'd been honest with him, he needed to be honest with her too. "I do feel like we shouldn't be doing this sometimes," he admitted. "It's not that you're young though." Though she was. "It's just that..." He paused, not knowing how to phrase it. "You've never really done this before, have you?" he said gently in the end. "I mean, that time we kissed last year... that was your first kiss. And there are so many better, simpler guys for you to be doing it with. I don't want to mess this up for you. I don't want to hurt you. But I'm not..." He broke off and took a deep breath. "I break laws. I get into trouble. I've been in prison, Lissie. And I have a kid. I don't exactly come without baggage. I like this too," he went on quietly. "I don't want to stop it. I just don't know if I can give you want you deserve."

A proper relationship, was what she deserved. An actual first boyfriend she could go on dates to Hogsmeade with in term time, some kid her age who'd be simple and safe, who she could hold hands with in public and bring home to meet her brothers. That would be better for her, but selfishly, he didn't want to let her go. And part of him was insisting that so long as he was honest with her, if she still chose to stick around then he wasn't really doing anything wrong, was he?

The idea of watching a film seemed to have been shelved for now - which Jake was fine with, since when he was kissing her, he could let all the worries and misgivings go. She wanted to kiss him - of that there was no doubt at all, he thought as she shifted her position. With the hand still round her waist, he pulled her close against him. She was more confident than she had been, and her tongue sliding into his mouth was a surprise - a very pleasant one. Any doubts were immediately erased, and he kissed her harder and more passionately, his tongue dancing against hers and his hand moving to the back of her neck.

He finally broke for air, and pulled back a little, slightly breathless. "God, Lissie," he murmured. "I really don't want to go anywhere..."

[Lissie Hewer]

The was Jake was speaking, in that slow, Lissie knew that not all he had to say was good. She bit her lower lip and swallowed, doing her best to prepare herself for what he might say. She stared back into his serious eyes, her own trying to match his demeanor. She didn't want to play the wide-eyed and innocent look anymore; after all, it wasn't likely to work on Jake. He knew.

Lissie let Jake's words circle around her head. No, she had never done this before. She'd never had a boyfriend. She'd never snogged guys before. Yes, he was her first kiss last summer. All of these things obviously played an important role in Jake's mind when he was with her. And with good reason. Lissie's brothers, though they probably never wanted her to come home with a boyfriend, would rather see her with someone her own age who hadn't been in prison and didn't have a kid; than her brother's roommate who was an ex-con and a teenage father. While those things did sound bad, people often judged other too quickly for their past. At least Jake admitted that he didn't want to hurt her; other guys would probably do it just for fun.

"I understand," Lissie replied, her eyes flicking down for a moment as she thought of what to say. Her brows furrowed. She looked up at Jake again. "I don't want to get hurt, either. But it's a little late to think about that. One way or another, someone is going to get hurt. It could be me, or it could be you." She offered him a small smile. "Just because you have a past, doesn't mean that you'll always be the bad guy." She might seem perfect and innocent, but that could change (and it already was.)

Kissing Jake was so much better than watching a lousy movie. Lissie wanted this movie to continue all night - well, at least until Jake came home. (Okay, preferably before Jack came home. But only just.) She rested her forehead against his when he pulled away, the words he spoke coming out in hot puffs. Lissie wrapped her arms around Jake's neck and pulled her face away from his ever just so slightly. "Then don't," she whispered. She stared at him and swallowed again. Her head was spinning and everything was moving so fast, yet she didn't want it to stop. Without a word, Lissie suddenly stood up and held her hand out to Jake, holding her breath that he'd take it.

[Jake Gullane]

A little late. Jake didn't really want to have to think about exactly what she meant by that. Was it really inevitable that someone was going to get hurt? He hoped not. And honestly, he'd spent so much time worrying about hurting Lissie, it hadn't even occurred to him that he could possibly get hurt himself. But the truth was that if he were to stop seeing her now, it would hurt - more than he really wanted to admit, even to himself.

"I hope that's not true," he said softly. "Because I like this. And I like you." He gave her a small smile, then sighed. "I know. I mean, I'm not- well, I hope I'm not totally a bad guy. I'm just saying... It's not exactly totally simple. I'm not saying I don't want to keep seeing you - because I do."

If it was only his past, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. There would still be plenty of barriers, because his experiences were so far from hers (though she had lost her parents, he reminded himself - it wasn't as if she'd had some charmed life), but there were still things she didn't really know about him. He hadn't kept strictly within the law even since he'd been released from prison, and he knew there was always a danger he'd slip back into his old ways, and potentially get caught again. And quite apart from the fact that he'd once got a girl pregnant (which was something he was fairly confident he wouldn't repeat), he'd always been terrible at trying to have 'proper' relationships. He'd never wanted to be exclusive with anyone - it has seemed too serious and too much effort, and the few times he'd attempted that sort of relationship, he'd ended up cheating, something he wasn't proud of. He couldn't quite bring himself to tell her that though - either about his recent activities or the cheating - because he found he couldn't stand the thought of her drawing away from him, of seeing disappointment in her eyes. Kissing her and holding her felt like much better options, and as they rested for a moment, looking into each other's eyes, he allowed himself to realise that he was very deep into this.

And then suddenly she was standing up, her hand held out to him. For a moment, he paused, staring up at her. He wasn't entirely sure what she wanted - well, she wanted him to take her hand and go with her, obviously, but why was a question he didn't know the answer to. He definitely wanted to find out though, and, as seemed to happen every time with Lissie, what he wanted was strong enough to overpower any caution. So he only had a moment's hesitation before raising his eyebrows at her, the corner of his mouth turning upwards, and putting his hand into hers. "We going somewhere?" he questioned, pushing himself off the couch.

[Lissie Hewer]

"Then that's all that matters," Lissie said with a small, but genuine smile. So long as they both wanted to be together, that was all that mattered. They were both taking risks to be with another, but that was just how relationships worked at times. Risks had to be taken. Someday, hopefully, they wouldn't have to continue to take risks. Someday they would both be able to step out of the dark and tell everyone that they were a couple.

When Jake didn't immediately take her hand, Lissie nearly pulled her arm back. But she waited another moment and let out her breath when he finally did grasp her hand. She noticed his smile and gave him a similar one in return. She stepped back as he pushed himself off of the couch, her hand holding onto his tightly. "Smart one, you are," she teased, poking out her tongue. Then she pulled him gently out of the living room and began to lead the way to her room.

In her head, Lissie wasn't sure what she was doing. She was telling herself that it was just so they could be more comfortable, but she had a gnawing feeling in her stomach that perhaps... they would get too comfortable. It wasn't a bad feeling, really; she felt a little excited. But she was worried that Jake would think she was trying to prove something to him and she wasn't! Glancing over her shoulder, Lissie stopped in front of the doorway to her room. She studied the feature's on Jake's face, all of them already seeming so familiar.

"This is my room," she announced. And she released his hand and stepped inside. She turned around to face him, letting him decide what he wanted to do. She knocked her head back towards the bed, which was behind her, and stepped out of the way, revealing her dog. "And that's Duke." Something to ease the air. The Great Dane was lying on her bed, taking no interest in the two humans.