“I know. It’s just these kids are raised text messaging. Their syntax is abysmal.” She gave me a quick hug. “Please promise me you’ll never spell the word ‘before’ with the numeral four.” She shuddered.
“I promise I will never, ever spell with numerals. Even when I text.”
“You are my silver lining, sweetheart.” Mom patted my butt, and I hurried to my room to give Jake the good news.
I spent Friday a bundle of raw nerves, especially since it seemed like Saxon could see right through me and read every nervous thought jangling in my head. By the time the entire school day was done and I got into Jake’s truck, I felt too keyed up to sit back and relax.
Jake’s good mood was a stark contrast to my nervous worry. He’d smiled blithely through the entire day, and didn’t even give a second glance to Nikki when she stopped him in the hall to invite him to some bonfire. On the ride to his house, he whistled along to every song on the radio, and he ran to get my door with a frantic excitement that reminded me of a puppy.
I could have gotten bogged down in worry and unease, but with Jake so happy, I decided to let myself fall into the happiness, too. We’d had so much drama and craziness, it was nice to just relax. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me soundly. I wrapped my arms and legs around him and he lifted me up and carried me into his house, both of us laughing hysterically. He put me down on the dining room table and put one finger up, indicating that I should wait a minute to see what he had planned for me.
“Look at this.” He opened the fridge, and there was a tray of lasagna that could have fed a small army.
“What’s that?” My lips curved up in response to his proud smile.
“A friend of mine gave me her mom’s lasagna recipe. I got all the stuff to make it and cooked it last night. We just have to put it in the oven, and it will be ready for dinner.” He held the tray out proudly. “I grated cheese for this. Like, a lot of cheese.”
I got up, took the tray out of his hands, and set it on the table next to us. I wound my arms around his neck and just looked at him for a long minute.
“I love you, Jake.” I had said those words before, but I wanted him to understand how much I meant them, with every breath I took and every beat of my heart.
“It’s just a lasagna.” He was trying to joke, but I could see the worry that clouded his eyes.
“I’m really sorry for everything. Honestly, I screwed up big time.” I kissed him softly. He kissed back hungrily and soon I was pressed against the kitchen counter, and Jake’s hands were everywhere at once.
He finally pulled back, panting. “I’m going to put that lasagna in the oven. You wait for me in my room, okay? I’ll be in, five seconds.”
I kissed him, grabbed my backpack, and headed down to his sterile little room. My hands brushed over the bangles on his desktop, and I felt a smile tug at my lips. I turned to the bed and I felt a little clutch of panic.
The last time I’d seen that bed, it was in a picture Jake posted. With a condom wrapper on it.
I knew everything had been washed and changed since then, but it still felt alien and dirty, somehow.
Jake skidded down the hall and burst through the door, then stopped and looked at me looking at the bed. He looked back and forth between me and the bed. “Bren? Is something wrong?”
“Uh, it’s just…you know, the last time? It was you and…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
Jake pulled me into his arms and kissed my lips. “She didn’t mean anything, okay? It was stupid. The only reason I did it was to make you jealous, and it was still a dumbass move. Do you believe me?”
I leaned my head on his chest and nodded. He scooped me up and dropped me on the bed with a bounce, then climbed on top of me and boxed me in with his arms as I giggled and squirmed.
“This is our space. This is our night. We both did things that were dumb, but let’s forget them for a while.” I stopped giggling and he lowered his mouth to mine, kissing me softly. “I’ve been waiting to get you alone since the minute I left you in your driveway before you went to Paris. I missed you so damn much.”
I pushed my mouth back up, close to his and we kissed and held each other first sweetly, then with a more powerful need. Soon we were surrounded by discarded items of clothing and toppled pillows, our hands and mouths grabbing greedily at that feeling we had both needed from each other for the time we’d been apart. When we were finally satisfied, Jake kissed my shoulder, pulled his shirt on, righted his pants, and pointed down the hall.
“I can smell the lasagna, so it must be done. You hungry?” His hair was tousled, his eyes were hooded and heavy-looking, and I wanted to crawl into his arms and never come back out again.
“Starving. I’ll be out in a minute?” He whistled down the hall and into the kitchen, and I called my mother to check in. She asked how the night was going and complained about her students’ inability to follow very clear instructions, then we exchanged good nights and clicked off. I let out a sigh of relief and headed to the bathroom. I searched for a brush, but only managed to find a comb, so I did the best I could to my wild hair and headed out to the dining room.
Jake had the lasagna on the table, which was set with plates bordered with olive, orange, and gold tulips, mismatched plastic cups and paper napkins from Dunkin Donuts.
“Dinner is served,” he announced solemnly. I sat across from him and watched as he shoveled an enormous amount of layered pasta onto the plate.
I took a bite and closed my eyes. “This is amazing. I had no idea you were such an awesome cook, Jake.”
“I was thinking about shaking up my weekly dinner menu a little. But maybe I have to make a little less next time. I think this lasagna will last a whole month.” He motioned to the enormous dish in the center of the table.
We laughed and joked through dinner, and I helped him portion some of his delicious lasagna to freeze for later. We did the couple of dishes we made side by side at the sink and had a soap sud fight that left us breathless and necessitated getting out the mop.
“I should invite you over more often,” Jake commented as I sopped up the last of the water. “Awesome dinner and a spic and span kitchen?”
“The dinner was all you. And I only mopped because I feel bad about how totally soaked you got. I didn’t want to be a sore winner.” I shrieked when he came at me, his fingers bent to tickle my sides.
When we were done in the kitchen, it was only eight.
“Wow.” Jake stretched and yawned a huge fake yawn. “I’m ready for bed.”
I felt a sudden flurry of nerves. “Um, you want to go to bed?”
He started down the hall backwards and crooked his finger at me. “Yep. C’mon. It’s chilly. I need you to warm me up.”
I swallowed hard. “What if your father comes home soon?”
“Pool and darts tonight. He’ll be in after midnight, and he’ll go straight to bed. C’mon.” He was at the door of his room now. He crooked his finger again, and I followed like I was connected by a string.
He shut the door and we tumbled back on his bed in his dim room.
“What do you usually do on Friday nights when we don’t go out?” I ran my fingers through his hair.
“I wait for you to call me. Or I play video games.” He looked at me and smiled. “Wanna play?”
“Okay. But I don’t want you to be a big baby if you lose.” I sat, cross-legged, and waited while he flipped on his PS3 and opened a dresser drawer full of games. He took out one and held it front forward, his face serious.
“This is Little Big Planet. Have you ever played this game?” I shook my head. He sat down on the edge of the bed. “This game is the most amazing game in the world. This game will change your life. Are you ready to play this game? Brenna, stop laughing. Are you ready?”