Fic: A Girl Like You Is Impossible to Find (GH, Lana/Jake, Lanaverse)

[empressearwig.livejournal.com]

Title: A Girl Like You is Impossible to Find
Author: empressearwig
Prompt: 100 - Writer's Choice
Pairing/Character(s): Lana/Jake, Molly/Cameron
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Any character originally appearing on General Hospital does not belong to me.
Word Count: 1933
Spoilers/Warnings: Part of the Lanaverse.
Summary: When he was honest with himself, he could admit that what he’d felt for her back then had never gone away either.
Author's Notes: Written for theechochorus. I strongly suggest listening to the song "Fall For You" by Secondhand Serenade while reading, because it is heavily influenced by it. And the title is shamelessly stolen from the lyrics.


Jake leaned back against the bar and smiled.

Convincing his dad to throw an all ages New Year’s Eve party had been a truly inspired idea if he did so say himself. And he did.

The band they’d hired was better than he’d expected, the place was packed with revelers, a mixture of the PCU crowd and people he’d grown up with. The bartenders were having trouble keeping up with the demand, and there wasn’t a seat to be had, which mean the dance floor was packed.

A truly inspired idea, indeed.

He stroked his hands lovingly against the bar. When his Grandpa Luke died, and his father and aunt inherited this place and the Haunted Star, as well as the interest he’d held in Kelly’s, neither of them had known what to do with the small restaurant and entertainment empire they suddenly found themselves with.

Luke’s had been empty and out of business for years, at that point, but his dad had decided that restoring it to its former glory, to the place he remembered from his childhood, would be the best way to honor his father’s memory. So he’d bought out his sister’s interest, and set out to return it to what it had been.

His dad had pitched in, helping the contractors, doing what work he could, between his other responsibilities. And he’d dragged Cameron and Jake along with him, making them pitch in on weekends and after school.

Jake had fallen in love with the place during the long hours of labor, and somewhere in the back of his mind he’d known that someday he wanted this place to be his.

He’d gone off to Cal Tech with every intention of having a career working in computer engineering, but the closer he got to his degree the more he wanted to come home.

To work here. To run this place that was one of his family’s legacies.

He hadn’t mentioned it to his parents yet, but he knew that when he graduated he was coming back, and that sooner or later this place would be his.

He let his eyes wander across the crowd, trying not to look for her, but not able to help it. They’d always been freakily in tune with each other, able to sense each other’s presence even in a crowded room.

Lana Drake.

He spotted her in the middle of the dance floor, dancing with Molly and some other girls that he recognized from high school. She moved with the dancer’s grace that she’d always possessed, long dark hair spilling down her back, a back that was mostly uncovered, revealing far too much of her incredibly tempting skin.

He stuck his hands in his pockets, because the impulse to touch was far too great, and he knew he wasn’t allowed to do that anymore.

Hadn’t been allowed to for a very long time.

But the impulse had never gone away.

When he was honest with himself, he could admit that what he’d felt for her back then had never gone away either.

He was just as crazy about her at twenty as he’d been at eighteen, as helpless to resist her as he’d been when they were still kids and he pretended to not like girls.

She’d always been there.

And he was starting to realize she always would be.

He noticed her breaking off from the group of girls she’d been dancing with, winding her way through the crowd. Before he realized what had happened, she was standing next to him at the bar, pressed lightly against his side.

“Hi,” she said, leaning further into him as she was bumped into. “Great party.”

He nodded, trying not to notice just how good it felt to have her there next to him.

She poked him in the side. “What’s wrong?” she demanded, tilting her face up towards his. “You’re too quiet.”

Somehow he didn’t think telling her that he wanted to press her back against the bar and kiss her senseless was the right answer. “You looked like you were having fun out there,” he said instead. “Why’d you stop?”

She frowned, but let the change of subject pass. “Water.”

“Water?”

“Need water,” she elaborated, fanning herself. “It’s hot in here.”

She had no idea how much he agreed with her. He turned to the bar to flag down one of the overworked bartenders. “Let me help. They probably can’t see you.” He smirked at her. She’d never liked comments on her height, or lack thereof.

“Ha ha,” she said, turning around as well. She tapped her fingernails on the bar. “So, no date tonight?”

He’d been in the process of taking a drink when she asked that question. He set the bottle down instead, and looked at her with what he was sure was a strange expression. “No. Why?”

She shrugged. “You usually do.” She craned her neck to look for a bartender. “Where are they?”

“You don’t have one either,” he pointed out. “Where is your boyfriend tonight, anyway?”

“In Chicago. We’ve only been dating for a month and a half. We both already had plans to go home.” She shrugged again. “No big deal.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Really,” he said flatly, disbelief laced through his voice.

“Really,” she answered. She poked him again. “What’s it to you?”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Absolutely nothing.” He saw one of the bartenders break free and raised a hand to signal him.

“What do you need?” the bartender asked impatiently.

“Water, please. Make it two.”

Two bottles were set on the counter and the frazzled bartender darted off to fill more orders.

“Thanks,” Lana said, twisting the top off and taking a long drink.

“Not a problem.”

They sipped their drinks in companionable silence for several minutes, watching the crowd, and for Jake, trying not to let his hyper awareness of the person next to him show on his face.

The band slid into a cover of a song that had been popular while they were in high school.

A song that Lana had claimed as theirs.

She looked up at him and smiled. “I believe you owe me a dance.”

She shook his head. “You know what happens when we dance,” he warned.

She didn’t answer, but grabbed his hand and dragged him out onto the dance floor.

He let her pull him. “They’re your toes,” he muttered, as they joined the crowd.

And my heart, he thought to himself.

“What was that?” she demanded, looping her arms around his neck.

He smiled at her. That indignant look of hers was one of his favorites. Always had been. “Nothing.”

“Liar,” she accused, but she smiled up at him as she said it, dimples winking out.

“Prove it.”

They grinned at each other, till she turned her face to the side and tucked her head against his chest.

He tightened his arms around her. He hadn’t wanted to do this, he’d known it would feel too right. He’d just gotten her in his arms, and already he was wondering how he was ever going to let her go.

They slid into silence, swaying together to the beat of the music.

Gradually the song ended, and Lana drew back a little, looking up at him with confusion on her face.

He was strangely gratified by that. It at least meant that he wasn’t the only one feeling things. That was something, right?

She opened her mouth to speak, but the lead singer of the band stepped up to the microphone and announced that they were getting ready to begin the countdown to midnight.

Suddenly, there were even more people crowded around them, and it seemed perfectly natural to pull her back into the circle of his arms, bringing them closer together. Molly and Cameron squeezed their way through the crowd to join them, and despite the raised eyebrows from both of them, he kept her right where she was.

And she didn’t really seem like she was trying to pull away.

With ten seconds left in the year, the singer started the countdown.

“Ten.”

He looked down at her, seeing her smiling brightly, laughing at Molly and Cameron.

“Nine.”

She looked up at him and smiled.

“Eight.”

He raised a hand to her face and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Seven.”

Her breath caught, and a flicker of confusion crept into her eyes.

“Six.”

His hand slid down her face, tracing across her skin.

“Five.”

She leaned into his hand, sighing gently.

“Four.”

He brought his other hand up to cup her face, tilting it up to him.

“Three.”

Her eyes slid closed, but not before he caught the flash of desire in them.

“Two.”

He bent his head to hers, hovering over her lips, waiting.

“One.”

They held there, just a breath apart, waiting for the moment that would make this okay. Make the rest of the world go away.

“Happy New Year!”

Their lips crashed together. It has been so long since they kissed, that is should have been awkward. They should have had to relearn each other, but this was sensory memory. It was knowing what to do no matter how much time had passed.

Around them people were celebrating, exchanging hugs and kisses and engaging in every time of celebration imaginable, but for them, no one else existed.

They were alone in the middle of a crowded room.

When Lana finally drew back, she looked up at him, and he could instantly see exactly how she felt. She’d never been able to hide what was in her eyes.

Guilt, confusion, longing, they all played together in the dark brown eyes that he knew so well.

“Lana,” he started, but she cut him off, shaking her head.

“No, don’t.” She tried to smile up at him, but he could tell that she was forcing it. “Happy New Year, Jake.”

“Lana,” he tried again, but she was gone, weaving her way through the crowd, walking away from him.

Away from them.

He looked over at his brother and Molly, who were looking at him with expressions of pity.

“What?” he snapped.

Cameron just shook his head. “Man, you suck.”

He blinked. “What?”

Molly poked Cameron. “Shut up, Cameron.” She smiled at Jake. “It’s about time, is all I’ll say. And if you screw it up this time, I really will kill you.” She stepped over to him and kissed his cheek. “Happy New Year, Jake.”

“Happy New Year,” he echoed, confused. Screw what up? He looked at his brother. “What is she talking about?”

“You’ll figure it out.” Cameron clapped Jake on the shoulder. “Happy New Year, brother.” He wrapped his arm back around Molly’s shoulders. “Now if you’ll excuse us…”

Jake watched them walk away, leaving him alone in the crowd, trying to figure out what had just happened.

What was he going to screw up? What had just happened with Lana? What did it all mean?

So many questions were running through his head, and he didn’t have answers for any of them.

The one thing he did know was that kissing Lana felt right. It had felt more right than anything had in a long time.

Maybe there was something to that.

Maybe that was what mattered.

Doing what felt right.

Lana felt right.

Suddenly he realized that’s what Molly had meant.

That he wanted her back. That he wanted what she made him feel. That he just wanted her.

Around him, the party raged.

And all he could think about was the girl.