[Jake] Lovers Of Waverly Place

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani smoothed her hand over her hair giving a slightly disgruntled look. “ I just don’t see why Logan would have given a shit,” she said, looking down at the hair that was laying against the floor. ‘ That’s just the e-mail we got..’ her stylist said before giving a small shrug of her shoulder. Dani pursed her lips, deciding to focus on something more important than her hair anyways. Her clothes. “ Whatever, I’ll talk to him about it later,” she said submissively before she stepped over to her wardrobe. Skinny jeans with ankle boots and a flowy top… pretty much the staple of what she wore on the television show. But, that’s also because the last season of Wizards started to copy Dani’s personal style in real life. She changed quickly, pushing her now shorter hair away from her face when she heard her phone vibrating against the make up counter. Dani finished pulling on her high eel and picked up her phone. “ Hello?” she said quickly, placing her phone between her ear and her shoulder. ‘ Well hello dearest…’ Joels voice rang from the other end. “ Hey, can I call you back later? Jake and I are about to do our first interview as … well you know” she said, looking in the mirror and adjusted the bottom of her shirt against her jeans. ‘ Yeah, I’m aware. How’s your haircut?” he asked causing Dani to stop and stand up straight. “ This is your fault?” Joel laughed from the other end of the phone before he continued. ‘ Look, one of the biggest issues people are going to have with you and Jake dating is the fact that your audience is young, and that you guys yourselves are seen as young. Cutting your hair.. it’s a small thing, but you’re going to look more sophisticated, more adult. You’re going to look like a young woman making a choice about love, instead of a little girl on a Disney show who got some crush on her co-star… it’ll help you both for appearances, guarantee it. Besides, it’ll help brand you outside of Disney. You’re your own person now. You’re on to different things.. Taboo..movies..”. Dani rolled her eyes as she listened to Joel, some fair points. “ Alright, fine whatever.” she said testily. ‘And I already made an appointment for you to get extensions if you want,” he added “Alright I gotta go to sound rehearsal. Kick ass, Coop” he said before hanging up, leaving Dani looking at herself in her reflection, combing her fingers through her hair before she mumbled to herself. “ Well he’s a full blown Renner in training” she said before she left the dressing room and headed to the set. Normally when she and Jake did interviews together they had separate chairs, but apparently with the news of them being together, they had decided to place them on a small couch where they were basically forced to sit on top of each other,..or at least pretty damn close.

Dani walked over to the couch where Jake was already sitting with his arm spread along the back of it and sat down, crossing her legs lethargically as she placed her arm subconsciously along the inside of his leg so that her hand rested against the inside of his knee. “ Hi,” she said happily, leaning into his side so she could give him a kiss. She stayed against him for a moment, smiling against his lips before she sat back and placed some of her hair behind her ear. “ You’re wearing that shirt?” she mumbled under her breath as she smoothed her hand over his chest to smooth the fabric out. She felt the ends of her hair and twirled it loosely. The sooner she could get extensions the better, plus she knew that Jake wouldn’t say anything but he would prefer her hair longer. Actually that wasn’t true; he would say something. He’d be one of the few guys to actually do so. Finally the host came up, sitting down in the chair across from them before she reached out and shook each of their hands, Dani leaving her left one tucked around Jake’s knee. After the usual greetings and small-talk exchanged between host and guest was over, Dani took in a deep breath and sighed, relaxing slightly against Jake though she was still clearly fussing over the shirt he was wearing.

Dani adjusted the back of her shirt once they were done adjusting her microphone and waited as the host opened the show, talking a bit about Dani and Jake before the camera panned out to show all of them. To be honest she wasn’t really paying a whole lot of attention to whatever the girl was saying, though it was sort of obvious that the host was checking Jake out every now and then, but Dani couldn’t blame her enough to get angry about it. He was hot as hell. ‘ So,. For you two, how does it feel to finally be out in the open? To not have to hide behind anything?” she heard the host ask and Dani was brought back into the moment before she offered a small smile, deciding to go ahead and take the first question so Jake wouldn’t have to. “ Well I mean obviously it’s a little bit relieving.. not to say that I made it any easier on us,” she said, referring to the Joel situation without going into detail about it. That was important to Dani. She knew what she would be honest about; Joel, how long she had been with Jake, whether or not she loved him, how it effected Lance, if she planned on continuing to stay with him. But things she wanted to keep between herself and Jake were things like.. them living together, what they did on Friday nights, how far their relationship had gone in the sense of intimacy. Basically, if her friends knew about it but didn’t see it, she didn’t want the rest of the world to know about it. Being public didn’t mean they had to lose their privacy. “ It was mainly my idea to sort of keep things quiet, Jake was much more relaxed about the idea of it being out, but I just had this paranoia that things would sort of..explode.. with executives and fan reaction,..more precisely fan parental reaction. But in the end, I don’t regret it. Jake was worth it. “ she said, but honestly what were people expecting her to say? Gosh no, I loved hiding it so much more. That made it sooo much easier. It was a ridiculous question. ‘ And the fans reactions.. are you worried about how they’ll perceive their favorite pair of Disney siblings now being a couple? Do you think it will create a world of confusion and what’s your response to a group of parents who have expressed concern?” she asked, this time causing Dani to lick her lips and look up at Jake, hell he’d always been better at words than her.

Outfit

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Jake was already sitting on the couch when Dani came out of hair and make up. He'd been talking sports with one of the stage guys setting up lights since it hadn't taken him nearly as long to get ready, but now he knew what had taken so long when he saw Dani approaching with half her hair missing. She sat down next to him and settled in for the interview, leaning over to kiss him, "Hey," he smiled tentatively, examining her hair. Before he had anything to say she made a comment about the shirt he was wearing, which was annoying because it was just a shirt. "Yes I'm wearing this shirt, what's wrong with this shirt?" He shook his head, addressing her hair, "Why the hell did you cut your hair?" he paused, looking at it, "Not that it looks bad, it doesn't. It looks nice actually... whatever." It didn't matter, its not like cutting her hair made her ugly, she was still gorgeous. Jake noticed the guy finishing the lights watching them out of the corner of his eye, probably shocked that they acted like that. But Jake was like, whatever. We're kind of out of the honeymoon stage. Actually, they never really had one, they always bickered. They bickered when they met, bickered on camera, bickered in private. It was just part of their relationship. And it didn't change the fact that they still had a hell of a lot of good moments. They were still head over heels for each other.

Jake grabbed her hand briefly after shaking the interviewer's hand, stopping Dani from fussing over his shirt. He left his other arm slung over the back of the couch though and the interviewer started by asking what it was like to be out in the open. That was easy, it was a relief. Jake nodded in agreement when Dani said that it was. She was right, it had made it a little easier to hide them when she was pretending to date someone else. Took some pressure off of them. The interviewer asked about the fans reactions to them dating. Jake answered, "Yeah, you know, there's entire fan sites dedicated to our characters dating, I don't think that us dating in real life is really going to cause such a stir other then that we kept it so hush hush. I mean, kids know the show ended, they know it can't go on forever. It's a show, with actors. I really do think fans have a good perception of us in real life. They know we're not really siblings. And as far as parents go, its like, that's your job to explain to your child that its fictional. We did our jobs well, we played our characters well. But it isn't our job to pretend in real life. I think, if people do have a problem with it, its something that can be accepted, it just needs some time." Jake shrugged, rubbing her arm, "It's obviously not new for us, but is new for everyone else, so I can see how it might take some getting used to." The interviewer nodded, asking, "So as you said, this isn't new for you. How long exactly have you been officially exclusive towards each other?" Jake raised his eyebrows an jokingly said, "Too long." Before he glanced at Dani and smiled, laughing softly.

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani traced her thumb back and forth over Jake’s hand as she watched him explain how he thought fans would perceive their relationship, nodding in agreement when he said that it was the parents responsibility that their kids know that the show wasn’t real since they had done their jobs. He was so cute when he was in interviews, so well thought out with how he approached everything. She shook her foot absent mindedly as the interviewer asked how long they had been together and Jake answered by saying too long. “ I don’t even know why I’m still with him other than the fact that he can reach the lightbulbs in my place to change them and I can’t” she said flatly with absolute seriousness before she looked at Jake as she tried to remember. “ A little over a year.. yeah, just a little” she said before she looked back at the interviewer. “ Was it hard to force the bickering that your sibling characters are so famous for? “. Dani laughed as she asked the question, giving a quick shake of her head. “ No, oh my god… absolutely not. There were so many days where they had to tell us to cool it down a bit, not yell at each other so loudly, look annoyed not like we were going to kill each other,” she said, giving a small shrug of her shoulder. “ If anything, dating him just made those scenes easier because it was so easy to already be irritated,” she said knowing how true it was for both ends of the spectrum.
Dani pushed some more of her hair behind her ear, fidgeting with it since she still wasn’t used to it before she slipped her hand back into Jake’s hand. “ Now going back, you had said that you’ve been together over a year? Jake you and Lance are well known for being best friends, how did he feel when you came to him and told him you were dating his ex-girlfriend so quickly after they had broken up?” she asked, looking up at the two of them. Dani looked down at her shoe, almost becoming suddenly fascinated by it before she switched the way her legs were crossed over one another. Anything to avoid an awkward confrontation.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Jake knew the question was directed at him and he was trying to figure out how to answer this with out say, 'well my best friend actually punched me in the face for this one.' And to be honest, he and Lance never really had that conversation, not ever really been straight about it. Jake knew Lance had much more accepted it now, but it didn't change the lasting guilt that still kind of lingered. "I think you know, it was something that, again, took some time to sink in, and accept. It was definitely, you know obviously I didn't want to lose a friendship over it, neither did Dani. It was definitely kind of a, something I had to do but at the same time kind of dreaded," he gave a small smile, "You never mean for anyone to get hurt in a situation like this, but it's been a little while now, that Lance has known. If anything it had been nice that there was someone that knew. Even if it was only for a short time." Jake wasn't going to tell anything more than that. It kind of hit a point where it was just prying into their personal lives too much and no one wanted that, not Jake or Dani, not Lance. No one wanted to discuss this for the public. "So the rumors that you two started seeing each other while Dani was still with Lance?" Jake shook his head, annoyed, "Again, the specifics of our relationships among the three of us are something we dealt with privately, as of right now we've all accepted the outcomes of whatever decisions were made." Jake was so annoyed the interviewer would press on like that, he felt him saying that last part with such finality he almost felt bad for getting slightly hostile.

The interviewer seemed to get the idea that he would not say anything else on the subject, so she changed it and asked them both, "You both indicated earlier that arguments between your characters was easy for both of you. Is your relationship a pretty steady one, or do you tend to bicker a lot yourselves? Do you think having a secret relationship put a lot of strain on your relationship?" Jake shook his head, "Just because we bicker doesn't make our relationship rocky. Yes, we argue, but that's just us. Some couples are extremely lovey dovey, we bicker. I don't think our relationship being a secret really has anything to do with it. At the end of the day I'm still head over heels for her, even when we piss each other off." He laughed, at least they could lighten the mood. Because in all honesty, they laughed about their arguments later on all the time. "So what then, do the pair of you argue about?" "Anything. Everything. Stupid things mostly." He shrugged, smiling.

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani remained extremely quiet when Jake was talking about Lance. She didn’t need to throw in her opinion on anything. Neither of them looked like a saint if people knew. The girlfriend who fell for the boyfriends best friend. The best friend who fell for the girlfriend. It had just all led up to horrible timing, but that didn’t mean they were bad people. But Dani was the one in the relationship, she should’ve been the better person, but she hadn’t. So when she asked about the rumor about them seeing each other when Dani and Lance had started dating, she sort of felt like her character was being torn apart. Even if it was a result of her own choices. But she nodded once, agreeing with what Jake had said. They were here to admit the main point, talk about then show. They didn’t need to go into great details about things. Being honest didn’t mean you had to let people in to every detail of your life. Dani made a face that suggested she thought it was ridiculous that just because they bicker their relationship was rocky, but there was Jake again, correcting that bit of information. Passionate? Yes. Rocky, no. She lit up instantly, looking at the interviewer as Jake said that he was head over heels with her still, though she wasn’t going to look at Jake with that smile. Why give him that satisfaction? She gave a slight gasp of surprise as he said that they fought over stupid things and turned her upper body to look at him like he’d lost his mind. “ We do not fight over stupid things,” she said, before looking back at the interviewer and confirming it. “ It is not stupid. He yells at the tv… like they can hear them. That’s stupid. Or Ill make him dinner at his place and right away he’s playing xbox and I’m cleaning in the kitchen,” she said before putting her free hand up as a way of stopping herself from going any further.

‘ So the bickering is something you two have in common with your characters, what similarities and differences do you see in each other and the characters you play?’ she asked, causing Dani to bite the inside of her lip as she thought. “ Jake and Justins only real similarity is how smart they both are. Like.. overwhelmingly incredibly smart. Which makes it difficult to argue with them, but yet Alex and myself both do it anyways. Oh I guess.. I mean they’re both confident in themselves. Which is great. Justin is this really nerdy, alien-talking, loves robots type of guy. If it isn’t by the rules, he won’t do it. Jake’s not really like that. He has his passions but they’re a lot more.. I guess masculine. I would definitely rather be with a Jake than a Justin..clearly.. But the one nice thing about Justin is his wardrobe. Especially in this last season. He wears a lot of nice black pants with the really, really nice long sleeved button up shirts, which really show off his arms. I don’t know if wardrobe did that on purpose. I never get to see him dressed up if it wasn’t for those times though, so I’m really , really going to miss that. The most I get from him is a clean shirt on when I want to go out, and even that seems like it's a stretch.“ she said, giving a small nod.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Jake shook his head when Dani said they did not argue about stupid things, "Stupid, stupid things. Most of the time I have to ask my self what we are arguing about," he laughed. Dani told the interviewer that Jake was pretty much the laziest guy on the earth. Jake shrugged, "She makes me out to be worse than I am," he chuckled. Yeah sometimes he did let her do a lot of the house stuff, but he spent a lot of time now that Wizards was over trying to figure out what to do with himself, especially when Dani was at the studio. He'd been getting the hang of a lot of things, including the most efficient way to load the dishwasher and what not to put together in the washing machine. He'd even switched out all the burned out light bulbs in the apartment the other day and he'd dusted the ceiling fan since he knew Dani couldn't reach and she hated the idea that there was dust lurking up there that she couldn't get to. He was getting better. Give the guy a break, he'd grown up in a straight up Italian household where everyone spoke English and Italian fluently. The whole house chore thing was new to him. But he was catching on, trying to be helpful.

Jake listened while Dani talked about Jake's wardrobe. She was so silly sometimes, she acted like she had no control over what he wore but they both knew damn well he'd wear whatever she wanted him to wear, because he really didn't care just so long as he looked good. "That is not true, half of the things I wear are things you picked out. But thanks you anyways, I do work on my arms..." he trailed off, admiring them momentarily. "I think Dani is a lot like Alex in some ways. They're both smart, quick witted. They can both hold their own in a debate slash argument... both are feisty." He grinned, "I think I would totally date Alex, but probably because she is so much like Dani and Alex is pretty much what Dani made her. Dating Alex would be dating Dani, which I already got covered." He nodded, trying to work through that in his head. Made sense to him. "So going back to your relationship being kept a secret, how has the pair of you going public affected Joel Foster? Surely it looked like he was being cheated on, but then it turns out it was fake on both ends?" Jake looked at Dani before responding, "Well, for me it was just annoying watching some other guy macking on my girlfriend." He laughed though shrugging, "I think for Joel it was a safe way to kind of, keep his fans in check, make it appear he was taken in hopes that he wouldn't attract any fans that were too... over the top." He said carefully, not wanting to say Joel's fans were a bunch of psychos.

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani tossed her arms up in the air lethargically and rolled her eyes as he said that she made him out worse than he was. “¿Por qué diablos iba yo a tratar de hacer que el hombre que estoy enamorada de mal sonido? lo hace a sí mismo y me esforzaré al máximo para demostrar a la gente que estoy enamorado de ti y que acaba de pelear conmigo, siempre. y si ni siquiera saben lo que nuestra lucha se trata, entonces no hacerlo tu mismo.” she rambled out quickly before she pushed her hair out of her eyes with her forefinger and adjusted back against his side, sliding her hand back into his. She began to shake her foot slightly out of annoyance, but what was the worst that was going on? Jake was wrong? He was wrong all the time, shocker. Dani smiled and turned her head towards Jake as he checked out his own arms and kissed his cheek as he looked down at them. He was ridiculously adorable sometimes. He should appreciate his body, she sure as hell did. She smiled faintly as he called both her and her character smart, tilting her head to the side as she let her freshly cut hair fall off of her neck before she adjusted it and looked back up at the reporter as he finished speaking. “ Why would you say you would date someone else if they’re like me and you’re already dating me, just say you would date me… “ she said, looking at him with a small shake of her head. “ That makes my ‘ I would date Jake but not Justin’ a waste. I mean Lance and Mason are the same person. Dated Lance, but I’d rather date a Mason. Werewolf Lance is awesome.” she said, letting out a small sigh.

Dani felt herself tense as the interviewer brought up Joel, but probably not for the reason that a lot of people expected. “ The relationship between Joel and I is anything but fake,.. the way he chose to have people perceive it is. Was it over the top with the kissing, yes. Did I ever flat out say we were dating? Not once.. I mean,. He said he loved me a lot, but that’s the thing. We do love each other. And he firmly believes that someone, well now Jake, since everyone knows.. loves me the way he felt I should be. I have girlfriends in my life that I treasure and absolutely always will, they keep me together. But there are two friendships in my life that I will never let go, ever. I mean,.. there’s my group of friends which consists of.. I mean.. Jake, Lance Renner, Kiersten Bannon, Claire Madden.. Fox, Shane Madden, Felicia O’Neil, Zoe Pierson, Gabe Atherton, Dex Jenkins,.. I’m probably forgetting people, but anyways.. but um.. then there’s a whole new level. Joel Foster and Ryan O’Neil are two of the most important people in my life, and to describe the way I feel about them, would sound a lot like I was in love. And I think it’s very safe to say that Joel feels the same way about me. He would still stand on stage and say that he loves me, just as I would declare it for those boys. All of that being said, Jake really didn’t like it when Joel would make out with me. But it wasn’t a lot of fun for me either to get so much hate mail from pre-pubescent girls who are so uh.. passionate.. about how much they love their favorite artist.” Dani licked her lips as she watched the interview take all of that in and then redirect her new questions towards them, ‘ On the subject of love, which is afterall why we are here today. When did it all begin, how did it all start?” Dani could tell that the question was directed at her. When it came to Jake and people in her personal life, like her parents, she could tell them to fuck off. She found it harder when it was a part of this and someone was just trying to do their job. “ I’m not an idiot I realize that answering that sets a timeline, and we all already know when Lance and I dated,” she said, licking her lips out of annoyance before she leaned back, “ I guess for me it started well.. I mean every girl in America had a crush on this kid, watching him grow up so . small crush aside.. the actual feelings started .. May of 2010. We did an episode called Alex’s Logo. Where Alex haha.. has a logo.. clever, and she sort of tries to start her own business. But the reason I fell for him in that time was because it was the first episode that he had ever written. He’s written two for us, and quite honestly they’re two of my favorite episodes. Jake is a phenomenal writer, and I really wish he would sort of.. embrace it, more. It was a really attractive thing for me to see someone do something they were so good at , and to see them be so proud of it at the end of the day. I found myself wanting to do better for what he had written, and make him proud and deliver the lines the way he had wanted me to or how he envisioned them when he wrote them, far more than I wanted to for the other writers, haha…sorry guys.. but yeah, it just sort of lingered in the back of my mind after that, for the longest time. And then voi la.. one day he felt the same way.. for some reason…luckiest girl in the world,” she said, pushing her hair from her face. Joel was gonna get it for having her hair cut.

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Jake listened while Dani said some pretty well thought out words. But she was right. It wasn't as if she had done Joel some terrible wrong. They were still close friends, even Jake loved the guy even if he didn't love the guy making out with Dani. Jake leaned over and kissed the side over her temple, not caring what the interviewer thought about their relationship at this point. After doing this interview, Jake really only had a few thoughts and it was the fact that no matter how they got there or what ways they felt at the time they had to go about it, they still got there. Still had each other. Yeah secrets sucked, and a few people may have been hurt along the way, a few faces punched. But there weren't any hard feelings. There wasn't any drama like this interviewer was expecting. because at the end of the day these people were their close friends, the people they loved to death besides each other. Friends forgave each other, and moved on, its what they did. Jake didn't feel that he or Dani owed anyone an explanation except the people involved. This interviewer didn't need to know just exactly what went down and just who exactly got hurt. It was ridiculous. Things were not ll rainbows and butterflies, but they were okay. Not this big drama pit that these interviewers and tabloids made it out to be. The people who mattered were already over it. And Jake was over this interviewed.

Jake tried to steer the interview into safe waters for the remainder of the time they were obligated to give to this interview. As soon as they were free to leave, they left together, not stopping on set for anything. For a first interview as a public couple that had been productive and shitty at the same time. Jake didn't say much on the ride home, mostly he was still kind of thinking about what she said. About when she first started to have feelings for him. Jake never really gave thought to when he first had feelings for Dani, mostly because it hadn't been a one day they weren't there, then next day they were, type of thing. He'd noticed her from day one, the first time they met to read lines and let the producers figure out where the show plot would go. Before Lance was cast on the show. Back when the only guy Jake was really competing with was himself. And she'd probably think he was an idiot for not making a move earlier if he'd liked her from the get go. Thinking back now, he really though it was kind of stupid too. But he didn't know then what he knew now. So maybe it wasn't so stupid. if he could go back in time and tell himself that he and Dani's relationship now was beyond anything he'd ever thought it would be, he'd have been skeptical of himself.

After they got home, Jake sat down on the couch and pulled Dani down beside him, her legs across his lap. So his writing a couple of episodes was what made her notice him? Hmm. He didn't know that. But he was glad he did now. "I didn't know you thought so highly of my episodes I wrote," he laughed slightly, "That's when it all started for you?" He asked, still in thought, "Man, if I'd have known..." Jake shook his head, "Well, it doesn't really matter though, does it? At least we have each other now," he said, leaning down to kiss her. "Remember the first time we met, we had to read lines, that was when our characters were still supposed to be love interests. I noticed you then. You thought i didn't know you existed as an option," he teased, "but I did. I just knew you were going places. I didn't know what on earth you would want with a guy like me." Jake laughed softly and joked, "I think it's even been at least 45 minutes since our last argument, that has to be a record or something." But all joking aside, Jake didn't want to argue with Dani right now. He didn't want to argue with her for the rest of the day if he could help it. Just for the fact that their shit was on blast ans everyone was making their relationship out to be such trash or whatever, it only made him more appreciative of the fact that he had her in his life at all. He wasn't going to let the rest of the world get in the way of what he knew was pretty much the relationship of a lifetime. It wasn't a Hollywood fling, no ridiculous Kardashian shit where you promise someone forever and end it a few months later. Jake and Dani fought, argued, got on each others nerves, challenged each other. But they also supported each other, depended on each other, loved each other unconditionally. Jake knew he'd never loved like this in his whole life again. This was the real deal for him. With out thinking, and with out realizing he was doing it, the words slipped out as if was never speaking English all this time. "Ti amo, Carina."

[Dani Marie Cooper]

Dani tilted her head towards Jake as he kissed her temple and brought her left hand to find his own before she clung to it tightly. She was getting tired of defending them, tired of saying they weren’t bad people for falling in love, tired of having to apologize for the timing of everything. People found love, shouldn’t that be celebrated? They weren’t hurting anybody. Well, the people they had hurt had already forgiven them and the people that were judging them the most weren’t even involved in it at all. She was growing exhausted from it, but was doing her best to keep her patience for both her and Jake’s sake. Thankfully though Jake had sort of taken control of the interview and began to navigate it in a way that it barely tread on others anymore and focused just on them, their goals, expectations, etc. The interview seemed to be dragging on forever but that could be because of the discomfort she was experiencing, and just like that it was over. No talking to anyone backstage, no stopping to do anything. In the car and on the way home, away from all of the craziness, and just alone with the only other person in the world who could possibly understand what she was feeling right now. They were done explaining themselves, done defending it, done hiding. Being alone now didn’t mean they were hiding. She was just appreciative to get away from everyone.

Basically the entire car ride home Jake was quiet as a mouse, but all things considered that wasn’t abnormal. He was probably working through the entire interview in his head right now and depicting how he felt about the whole of it. She knew how she felt; exhausted. Dani sank into her seat, wrapping her arms tiredly around her legs as she watched the buildings go by the window in a quick fashion. That was one thing she had to look forward to. This was New York, the industry they were in…everything was so fast moving. People would be onto the next subject by next week, and no one would care if they were dating. No one would force them to explain it. When they got inside their apartment she knew there was so much she had to get done. She hadn’t even started dinner yet, and Jake had to be getting hungry, but she was relieved as he just pulled her towards the couch and pulled her legs over his lap. Dani sank back into the softness of the couch and looked at her feet, bouncing gently before she reached forward to take her heels off, completely unaware of the workings going on inside Jake’s mind.

Dani was slightly surprised when Jake started talking, the first thing he mentioned being when she had noticed him. She smiled as she listened to him talk, “ You’re an amazing writer, what can I say… I just wanted to impress you so badly on those episodes..” she said, leaning up to meet him in the kiss before she settled herself against his chest. She found herself caught off guard, surprised in fact, when he mentioned that he had ‘noticed’ her the first day. “ What, really? You were such an ass” she said neutrally, not trying to start a fight with him or anything, just stating a fact. “ Going places… “ she said , shaking her head. “ I no longer have a tv show and my music is subpar. The only reason it works is because I’m dainty and marketable, not because I’m talented,”. She jokingly looked at her watch as he said it had been 45 minutes since their last fight. “ Actually it’s been an hour and fifteen,” she said, correcting him in a joking manner so it would look like she was trying to start a fight.

Dani closed her eyes, settling in close against Jake until she knew she couldn’t ever feel more comfortable. There were plenty of times where she wanted to just rip his clothes off, and then there were times like now when she just wanted to be with him. Simply for the fact that she could, and no one else could say that. She could lay on him, head on his chest, legs over his lap, and no other girl in the world got to experience that right now, or the sense of love that she felt whenever she was around him. As if right on cue, his voice broke the silence, speaking in his perfect Italian accent. Dani smiled slowly, trying to repeat it back to him quietly in a similar accent. “ Ti amo..carino?” she said with a slight bit of questioning at the end. “ No one seems to be betting money on us lasting….” she said before she lifted her head up to look at him. “ What happens then?” she questioned. What would happen if they didn’t last, they fought like cats and dogs together, how would they possibly destroy each other apart. Dani leaned forward, closing her eyes as she kissed him, placing her hand against his cheek. “ You must be hungry… what can I make you,bello?”

[Jacob Daniel Russo]

Jake laughed at her trying to understand, "No, Carina is like, is means 'beloved' or in Italian people use it to say 'cute'. I just think it sounds good on you," he shrugged. The whole not fighting for once thing was nice. Rare, but nice. Dani mentioned that no one was really betting on then asked what would they do then. Jake looked at her like she was being ridiculous, but smiled, "Nothing happens then. Just because people aren't betting on us doesn't mean the odds aren't in our favor." He leaned over to kiss her and she stood up, saying that he was probably hungry. He was hungry. And just like that, the events of the day didn't matter. All the doubts, the regrets, the bitter feelings, and the fact that most people thought they deserved each other for how they became a couple, all went out the window. This, at home with Dani and feeling like it was the most natural thing in the world, like maybe things really would turn out right for them, was all he really needed to know. Sure he felt guilty all the time for what they'd done to Lance. Jake wasn't sure it would ever sit right with him, but as horrible as it felt to have done that to his best friend, Dani was worth it. Jake stood up, following Dani into the kitchen, "Yeah what do you have in mind? Give me a job to do, senorita," he grinned. Definitely worth it. They didn't need to let people judge them, they knew exactly what they were and that was enough.