Free Always Been You by Tracy Luu

aimed them towards my mom standing in the hall.
    “My goodness, Jacob, don’t you look handsome,” she sighed, walking up to him and patting him softly on the cheek. “And you, Jenna. You really should take the time to dress up like this.”
    “And what’s wrong with the way I normally dress?” I asked her.
    “You just look so much nicer and prettier this way,” she said.
    “I think Jenna looks great all the time,” said Jacob, picking up the tie from the floor.
    “Always the gentleman,” she smiled at him. “Oh, we must get a picture.”
    “Mom, it’s really not necessary,” I said.
    “Nonsense dear,” she said. “Harold!”
    “What?!” my dad hollered back.
    “Grab your camera and get over here!”
    “Why?”
    “Just do it! That father of yours sometimes. Oh, where is he? Harold!”
    “Don’t get all testy. I’m h—”
    Freezing in mid-sentence, my dad had this awed look on his face as he stared at me, his eyes brimming with unshed tears.
    “Oh, my baby girl,” he sniffed, wrapping me in a tight hug. “Come. We must take a picture to capture this moment.”
    “Jenna, help Jacob with his tie,” chastised my mom. “And make sure its straight.”
    I refrained from rolling my eyes dramatically in case my mom saw and grabbed the tie back from Jacob.
    “Yeah, Jenna,” smirked Jacob, smothering his laugh with his fist, as I wove it around his neck. “Better make sure its straight.”
    This time it was my turn to be smug as I purposely pulled the knot a bit tighter than I should. Jacob’s muffled chuckle quickly turned into a strangled cough.
    “At least it’s on straight,” I whispered back.
    Ignoring his glare as my face started to twitch, I then twisted back to face my parents with a pleased grin on my face just as the camera clicked.
    “That was perfect,” said my dad.
    “Harold, take some more of them,” said my mom.
    “Baba, we really need to get going, or we’ll be late,” I said, stopping my dad from bringing the camera back up to his face when I finally spotted two identical grins at the top of the stairs.
    Then before my parents could trap us in the hallway and take more pictures, I quickly grabbed Jacob by the elbow as he struggled to contain in his laughter again, and used my other hand to push both Amy and Matt out the door.
     
    Despite the greying clouds overhead, and the hint of rain in the air, the sky was still bright when we were finally done with our pictures. Since it was still early, we all decided to catch a movie and grab some dinner. But instead of looking like we came out of a photo shoot, we all went home to change into something more comfortable to wear.
    A half-hour later, I was in a pair of jeans and my favourite white hooded sweatshirt, standing alone in line and waiting to be let in to the movie we had chosen to see. While I was also waiting for the rest of my friends to arrive, and for Jacob to come back with the popcorn he had left to get, my head then suddenly began to spin, and the image of Jacob’s face while I was tying his tie appeared.
    I was positively sure my face was etched with confusion with the way how Jacob had looked at me. Why would Jacob make his move now after all these years? Is it because Aaron was in the picture? Before I could finish that thought, I then began thinking about Amy’s logic.
    Since Aaron and I had only gone out a couple of times after our first date, I doubt what we had could even consider us as being a “couple”. We’d never really had that particular conversation. If our dates were meant as more than casual outings, wouldn’t we have made time to see each other, despite our busy school schedules, just to see if that was true?
    Shaking my head at all the unanswered questions flitting around in my head, I decided to forget about Aaron and Jacob when someone blocked my view. Within five minutes, I felt like wanting to hurl.
    This guy was handing me cheesy lines, saying things like how my beauty had captivated