Tangled Love

CHAPTER 136

Jake's POV -

"Tobias, get the door."

"No, you get it," Tobias hits back, sounding irritated. We're both sprawled out in the living room, aimlessly watching the television.

"Dude I can't move without feeling like I'm snapping something. Answer the door before I drop kick you." I reply, rolling my eyes in his direction. Tobias huffs and stands off the couch, dusting off his clothes.

"Lazy good for nothing idiot," he mutters under his breath, loud enough for me to hear it. I grab the cushion behind my head and swing it at him. It hits his head hard before bouncing off the floor and I laugh loudly, wincing a little from the pain in my sides.

"Hey!" He yells, disappearing out the doorway to answer the door. I hear him chatting quietly before the door slams shut and he walks in holding two pizza boxes. "Pizza's here."

"State the obvious Sherlock." I respond. Tobias frowns at me —

"God, you're the definition of sarcasm sometimes, you know that? Its good to have you back," he grins, punching my arm lightly. I give him a small smile in response.

"Did you get me extra cheese?" I ask, changing the subject. Tobias nods, pushing one of the boxes in my direction.

"You and Emily are obsessed with extra cheese," He mutters playfully before realising what he'd said. I look away from him and feel my chest tightening —

"Can we have a conversation without bringing up Emily?" I snap, opening up the box and grabbing a pizza slice. Tobias holds his hands up in surrender, his eyebrow raised at me.

"Why don't you fix things with her?" He argues back. I sigh deeply, slapping my pizza back down onto the coffee table.

"She doesn't want me whilst I'm in the gang Tobias. What do you want me to do? Lie to her? I won't do that, she deserves better. She deserves so much better."

My voice cracks with pain. Every time her name is mentioned, I feel a deep lump lodge itself inside my throat making it difficult to talk or breathe.

"You're not happy without her," Tobias states, sitting down on the other couch. He leans backwards and put his pizza box on his knee before opening it up and reaching for a slice. He didn't even wait for it to cool down before taking a large bite, demolishing half the pizza in seconds.

"You eat like a pig," I mutter wanting to change the subject desperately. Tobias scoffs at my words, chewing quickly before swallowing.

"You always stole my food when we were kids. I had to teach myself to survive."

I chuckle as I remember the fond memories. I would always steal his food and he'd sit there whinging about it before he finally had enough and punched me one day, giving me a black eye. I didn't dare steal even a crumb of his food since that day.

"I was a growing boy, I needed my vitamins." I explain in my defence. I reach for a slice of pizza and lean back, biting into it. Extra cheese is the definitely the one.

"You were such a pain in the ass." Tobias said putting it nicely. That's definitely not the words I would have used to describe me as a child. I was difficult, that was certain. Every day me and Tobias would

bike around the town causing mischief and mayhem everywhere we went. We spent every single day together as children and they were easily some of the best days of my life.

"Remember that day you climbed the tree and got stuck on the top branch? Your shoe fell off and you were screaming for help. Your face was priceless." I chuckle, struggled to contain my laughter. I hear Tobias snort beside me, laughing from the memory.

"I remember that! I was so scared, you stood at the bottom laughing at me before you finally climbed up with my shoe and helped me down," he chuckled fondly, shaking his head.

"You always were a shit climber," I add, glancing at my phone. Still no call of text from the gang or Emily. I sigh as my attention is diverted back to all the problems I have going on in my life right now.

"Life was simpler as a kid" I comment letting him in on my thoughts. He nods, his mouth full of pizza before mumbling —

"I agree."

I grimace at the sight of him and throw a cushion his way. It misses and lands beside him and he stares at it, his eyes narrowing.

"Dude! Stop throwing things at me!" He yells, finally swallowing the chunks of pizza in his mouth.

"Don't talk with your mouth full Tobias, that's rude." I scold him, a smirk on my face. He shakes his head at me before flipping me off and I roll my eyes at his childish behaviour. I realise we're both acting childish. . .

That's how we express our love for one other.