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Everything Jake #837 Junior Year Three Tier Turkey Day The Conclusion Faith got up from her couch and stretched. The clock on the wall read two fifteen, on the AM. Why hasn’t he called yet? The TV stopped being interesting about an hour ago, life without HBO is no life at all. She had tried to read a book but all the ones in her old rooms were already read to death, she didn’t feel like resurrecting any of them, not for the short bit of time anyway. She wanted to check her e-mail, the internet was always good to kill an hour or five, but they didn’t have a computer in the living room, and Jimmy had gone to bed hours ago, with his computer safely tucked away in his room. It felt like high school all over again. There’s a big party somewhere, and Faith Robbins is sitting at home trying as hard as she could not to be bored. Actually, it was worse than high school, here she was with a boyfriend (her second, but Mr. Turtleneck seemed West Coast far away), and he was out, and she was staying home. Jake is probably just passed out somewhere, had a bit too much to drink and passed out in the corner of Rich’s basement, of which she’s heard the stories but never actually been. The basement stories weren’t as plentiful as the backyard parties, but on terms of good stories, they were just as good and maybe even one up. He’s probably just too drunk to dial the phone. He seemed upset when he left, and I can’t say I blame him, Mom has just been looney lately. Jimmy says she’s getting worse, she stopped going to the doctor. He thinks she’s depressed, I don’t think so, but then again, I’m not home with her all the time like he is. I can’t even imagine what it must have been like for him, moving out of his own apartment to move back home. He’s stronger than I am, no way would I ever do that. Why do I feel so lousy about saying that? Sometimes it’s okay to be a little selfish, that’s what the shrink said to me, but that doesn’t make me feel any better about it. Faith grabbed the remote and went to check her phone, she patted around the couch and she couldn’t find it. Isn’t my phone right… she realized the phone was still in her purse, which was upstairs in her old room. I left my phone… oh no, I thought I had it with me the whole… a picture of Jake behind the wheel of his Jetta, trying to focus on the road but too drunk to do so, splitting his car with a pole. She shook it off, and galloped up the stairs. There was three messages, all from an outside caller. The last one was received over an hour ago. There was three new messages. Shit. She listened to them as she quietly got her coat on, it was bitterly cold outside, not upstate cold, but pretty harsh just the same. She had the key in the ignition before she finished the last one. Pea Sized Jake sent out an All Points Bulletin. Do. Not. Let. Her. Get. To. Us. Mecha Jake heard the APB, acknowledged it, and chose to slightly ignore it. “You look great Nicole…” “Thanks Jake, you do too, I mean, even though you’re pretty drunk.” “M’not that drunk.” “Sure you aren’t. So I guess the old Jake who swore off alcohol for his entire senior year died when you went upstate, eh?” “I don’t remember that Jake… oh, and look, I smoke too now.” “Ah, that’s fantastic. You’ve totally taken a downward spiral into the normalcy of all college knuckleheads.” “Did you just really say knucklehead to me? On Thanksgiving, 2002?” “It’s just the Maryland in me now, I guess, we all tend to take a little bit of our surrounds with us.” Pea Brain Jake deleted the next thing Mecha Jake was going to say, which would have gotten them into trouble (how much of Maryland got into you?) and replaced it with a nice, wet burp. Jake covered his mouth a full five seconds too late. Nikki looked away, kind of repulsed. “So, Jake Bruno, what else is new with you? I mean, can you even talk right now?” “Like I said, M’not that drunk, seriously.” Jake thought of London. He thought of Poke-X, then Albert, and now A.L.B.E.R.T. He thought about his new uncle, about not being able to use this gift of telekinesis and then losing it. He thought about Sarah, Mecca, the hickey that was there but not. He thought about the kid who thought he was gay, the fights he had in a room where no matter how bad you get hurt it will still heal. He felt like he could share everything with this girl who he first said I love you too. Jake opened his mouth and then closed it. Nikki was giving him a look he had never seen. But he knew what it meant. And he smiled. “When I have been drunk, I’ve been writing. It’s an awful lot of work, but I’ve made some great friends.” “Me too! Hey, remember when I said I was going down to school to find myself?” “I don’t remember that, but it sounds like something you would say.” Jake smiled, she thought he was serious for a second. Classic Nikki. Never really did understand sarcasm. “I’m just joking, Nikki, I remember that, it was the night of the prom. If, I think, I can recall, is the night we first—“ “You don’t have to remind me about that night Jake, I remember it fine. I thought you were serious, that’s all.” “I wasn’t.” “I’m getting better, I had a friend down there, he taught me how to recognize sarcasm a bit better.” She’s single, she can’t keep a boyfriend. Jake knew it as well as knew he had to pee very, very badly. “Good for him, and good for you. So, uh, you found yourself in Towson?” “More or less, I’m taking some anthropology courses, and I absolutely love it. History is so interesting, isn’t it?” Jake wanted to say five different things, most of which meant ‘so you learn from your mistakes’, but when he opened his mouth, all he said was, “Yes.” “So I heard that you had a girlfriend, a, uh, black girl…?” “Mecca. I did. We broke up, shit, almost a year ago?” “My sources are not as they used to be.” “It’s okay. And you?” “Been single for a while. Just, you know…” “Finding yourself?” “Yes.” Probably whoring around. “Do you ever see that girl that went to high school with us, Jake? Faith Robbins?” “All the time.” “You guys good friends now or something?” “You can say that, yes.” “You’re not together, are you?” “We might be, yes, why?” “She just walked in the door…” Pea Brain Jake was doing his best to keep the bladder situation under control while keep up decent conversation with Nikki; with Faith walking in it was almost a breakdown of all systems. “What?” Jake looked around, found the door, and made eye contact with Faith. He didn’t realize how it looked, and was just glad to see her. He waved over, “Faith! Over here!” Faith’s heart sunk to the pit of her stomach, and if it could have went lower, it would have dropped to the floor. Nikki Bradshaw had represented everything wrong with the senior year of high school, she was Faith’s personal demon. Not that Nikki had ever done anything directly wrong to Faith, she was most likely a nice person. But Faith saw the power she had over Jake, and for that, somewhere down deep, Faith despied her. Nikki was now waving over to her as well. Was this some kind of sick joke? Faith instantly was brought back into 10th grade, the worst year of high school, and turned around and ran out the door. Pea Brain Jake went on Defcom 2, get the hell after her, but Mecha Jake appealed and won. We have to piss first. Jake looked at Nikki, Nikki looked lost. She shrugged. “Nice seeing you Nikki, gotta go.” “Okay, Jake, um, seeya!” Jake ran to the bathroom, there was a line. “Let me in! I have to piss!” The three people in line told him numerous colorful things, all of which meant the same thing. Pea Brain Jake, in a last ditch effort, plead with the now dominant Mecha Jake. We are going to lose her if we wait any longer. Go after her, now. From somewhere deep inside Pea Brain, Wuss and Macho agreed. Go find Faith. NOW. Jake gave his bathroom line counterparts a very animated middle finger and went for he door. He kept his finger out to Rich who was sitting down next to Nikki on the couch. He opened the door, and the cold hit him like a freight train. Jake had, of course, sacrificed his coat for Faith, running outside in just a tee shirt (anything else he would have been too hot at the party). His hands went to his arms, his bladder burned, but he saw Faith’s car turn the corner. She was fucking leaving. He ran as fast as he could, ignoring the cold and pain. He realized later how silly he might’ve looked. Opposite hands on his arms running down Rich’s street yelling, “FAITH! FAITH!” But to him, then, it didn’t matter. He was going to catch that car no matter what. He reached the corner and had to stop for breath. When you’re drunk, sometime you just get that extra speed burst or flash of energy, as if the sober part of you can reach out and take control for a second or two to give you that go. That didn’t happen to Jake. He was wiped. He put his arms on his knees and was gasping for air, he was sweating, red-faced, and so cold he could feel the urine that was on deck start to freeze right there in his bladder. She fucking left. What do I do now? A car came up from behind him and was idling next to him. He could barely have the energy to look over at the driver. It was probably Pete or Tom, Jake didn’t care, whatever abuse was coming his way he deserved in every regard. The window rolled down and Faith was there. “Jake? What are you doing?” “FAITH!!! But… but… whose car is this??” “I had to take Jimmy’s car, they took mine off the road. Get in, it’s freezing out there.” “Then who did I run after?” “No idea. But I’ll tell you how funny I thought it was watching you run after that car thinking it was me.” “Faith, I swear I didn’t do anything with…” “I know, Jake, get in, you’ll die out there.” Jake hobbled around the car, knowing that he should feel like the Biggest Ass in the World, but the thought of being warm bypassed that. He closed the door, and they drove for a few feet, then Jake barreled out the door, found a bush, and took the longest piss of his life. Epilogue: The Car Ride Back to School “When I saw you two there, Jake, I don’t know what happened. All of a sudden I was in Mr. Limmer’s Earth Science Class, trying to do a presentation on dew point statistics, fumbling with my words, the whole class giggling and laughing a me. It was horrible, and for some reason, that’s what it was like in that house.” “Faith…” “No, Jake, I’m sorry I didn’t have my phone on me, I thought I did, but it was upstairs. I guess it’s my fault, the whole thing, really, because if it wasn’t for—“ “Are you always like this?” “Like what?” “Look, it was both our faults, Faith. I shouldn’t have gotten so drunk that I couldn’t even see straight. Don’t blame your mom or anything like that, she just wanted to see you, that’s all.” “You’re right.” “I know. I promise I’ll never make you to go Rich’s house again. I know we had different paths in high school but, that’s history. It doesn’t matter anymore. What matters now is, well, now. Us. We. When I saw you leave, I thought I screwed up, thought I had lost you.” “Really? Is that why you chased that car?” “It looked like your old car.” “That’s sweet you remember my car.” “It’s hard not to forget such a piece of crap car. And let’s not talk about me chasing that car, to anyone, anywhere, ever again, okay?” “I already told Trish.” “Does that mean everyone knows now?” “Hopefully. But it was one of the most romantic things I’ve ever seen.” “Really?” “Yeah, I was mad at you, sure, but it wasn’t your fault. It’s just that… she was there…” “You really don’t like Nikki, do you?” “No, and I don’t know why. Or I do, and I keep telling myself it’s sill to think that way. Jake, you… you used to look at her… in such a way… I never thought you guys would break up.” “You kind of had a part of that, on graduation day, remember?” “I don’t count that, come on, you guys were going to break up before that anyways.” “Maybe, maybe not.” “What did she say? What’s she up to?” “She found herself, in Maryland, it appears. Y’know… for most of the first year, she kind of haunted me… I thought I would never get over her. Now, it seems like a different person talking, but then, Nikki Bradshaw was…” “Your Jake Bruno.” “That’s so abstract it hurts my head. But, yes. Nikki Bradshaw was my Jake Bruno.” “But no more?” “You even have to ask? When I was sitting there, drunk, almost passed out talking to her, she gave me a look that made me realize something. Whatever spell or cast or anything Nikki had on me was wiped away. Poof, like that.” “What kind of look did she give you?” “Strangely enough, it was a look of pity. I’m assuming she came to the party because I was there, she’s single, you know, but when she saw me, a drunken mess and shit, she changed her mind. She thought I was too much of a mess for her.” “And that’s good how?” “It’s good, trust me, it’s very good.” “And if you didn’t drink and she was there?” “Glad I drank. That’s all I’m saying.” “Me too, it would’ve been an awkward ride home. Her and you up here, me in the back…” “Or the trunk, she has a lot of stuff.” “Watch it buster, I’m almost a black belt. You’re actually not looking too good, how’re you feeling?” “I feel like God shit on me and then smashed it in with his foot. It feels like the flu.” “Hope not. We have some making out to do when we get back.” “If I’m sick you’re already sick, Faith. I haven’t had a cold… in a very long time.” “Ever?” “I’m sure I have, but this isn’t like ‘Unbreakable’. I had mono between seventh and eighth grade, you know. Lost all that weight.” “And grew four inches. I remember.” “I just hope it’s a cold. I hope it’s not the flu.”    
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EVERYTHING JAKE is TM & (C) 2000-2011 by Mike Rosenzweig. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
