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(this takes place before yesterday's strip... okay? --Mike) Jake went to say something, and then held up. He really didn't know what to say or what to do, and, instantly, felt way, way over his head. He had gone downstairs, a little earlier than he was used to waking up, to be the first thing Shamecca sees when she herself wakes up. Tip-toeing down the steps he went, grin ear to ear. The past nights regrets (letting her sleep on the couch when he should have) wiped away, he eagerly awaited the kiss or the hug or whatever she would lay upon him when her eyes opened and there stood him, Jake, her boyfriend and lover. But, of course, things don't always go the way they should. After rounding the corner into the main living room where Mecca was sleeping, Jake tripped on a loose sock ("how do you trip on a sock?!?", Mecca asked later) and fell, face first, into the couch. The certain way Mecca was laying (her stomach down, back up) matched with the angle of Jake's fall caused his nose to land in a spot where most women really don't want men's anything, let alone their noses and in such a rapid rate of descent. She shrieked, and swung blindly about the sudden intrusion. Jake fumbled for his balance, didn't get it, and stopped one of Mecca's flailing fists, full brunt of it, with his, well, very, very inner thigh. "What", she asked, "were you thinking?" That wasn't why they were sitting on Jake's couch, unable to really talk. After a delicately placed ice pack and giggles aplenty, Jake accidentally let the three words he really didn't want out, out. "Um," he tried to recover, but the damage was done. Fine. It was out there. Better that way. "Well… Mecca…?" He waited. There was inner conflict raging inside Shamecca. What was she going to say to him? During school they had gotten together, on her pursuing, even though she was with someone back in Philly. Her former boyfriend, Jared, was not the type of guy she liked or wanted to be with, but circumstance had brought them together. It was her brother, actually. Jared was one of his friends. All attitude and all thug-wannbe, she wanted no part of the life anymore. Jared reveled in it, and, it fitted him. She liked that it fitted him, even though it didn't her, and they all knew that. She got out, after all, to a good (some say a bit higher than mid-average) university and she was going to better herself. Then she would go back and save Jared and they would get a house in Harrisburg and raise little thugs. Except she decided to go for a long haired blond guy who was funny, cute, and totally innocent. She didn't know how Jared had taken the news since he was in jail serving a 3 month sentence for something Mecca's brother said he wasn't even in town for. She told him to tell Jared and he said he would. He knew, Mecca thought, but it's cool. That's the way Mecca and her brother, her twin brother, were. Tight. But Jake didn't know any of this. Was not the right time to tell him? "I know why you're upset, Mecca…" He was sort of half-smiling. She looked at him, didn't know how or what he knew. "You don't want to say I love you to me because I don't know your last name…" Silence. She shook it off. Was this even happening? "What…?" "Your last name… I don't know it.." "Yes you do… I know I've told you…" "No, Meck, you haven't. Look, I'm sorry I blurted that out without thinking. I'm like that sometimes… I'm not saying I didn't mean it or anything, it's just that, I guess, I got caught up in the heat of the moment… So, let's just write that-" "I had a boyfriend, back at home." "What? Um… I had a girlfriend here, too, babe, what's-" "I had a boyfriend this semester, Jake." "…oh…" Jake looked at her. Then looked down. Was this even happening? No wonder she was acting all weird… she was already with someone back at home… but… but… "But… you broke up with him before… uhm… us…. Right?" Mecca fixed her eyes on the Bruno houses dark brown carpet. "No", she looked back up at Jake, "But I did when I got back to Philly after the semester…" "So… we… I… shit, Mecca, I don't know what to say." Sitting. Quiet. Uncomfortable. Too many things were bouncing around Jake's head. Initially, it didn't sink in what she had said. But since nothing had been said since, he really got to think about what she did. She cheated on her boyfriend from back home, lied to everyone, especially to him, who she then asked out. He didn't remember who kissed who first, all he remembered was waking up in her bed and them kissing that morning and a couple days later it was official and a couple more days later they had sex. He was disgusted, everywhere all at once, but one look at her, sitting there, on the verge of tears, made him realize how hard it was for her. "I can't say I'm not upset, Meck, I can't say I'm happy about this… but…" "It's Schwartz", she said, hint of a tiny smile breaking through trembly lips. "My last name is Schwartz." "What? Your name is… Shamecca…" "Schwartz. Yes. Me and my twin were adopted by a very nice Jewish couple. My parents. There. You know my last name now." "Your name is really Shamecca Schwartz?!?" "Yes!" "Oh, uh, I was going to say let's just try and put the past behind us, we all make mistakes and since you're here and I, well, y'know, and you didn't run away then maybe we have something here, something special. That we could work on. But, since you said that your name is Shamecca, uh, schwartz, I don't see ho-" "Shut up, Jake. Just… shut… up…" That kiss was one of the ones that tingle, and you feel that tingle all over your body, from your head to your feet to your very, very inner thigh, Jake had said later on in life, reflecting back on that moment. One of those kisses where you just know everything is going to be all right.    
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EVERYTHING JAKE is TM & (C) 2000-2011 by Mike Rosenzweig. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
