Jake was on his cellphone when I walked up to him after school.

He nodded to me in greeting but didn’t say anything. He listened to his cellphone for a few more seconds before he flipped it shut.

“So, you ready to go?” I asked.

He shoved his phone in his back pocket and gave me a pained look. “There’s a slight problem.”

I raised a brow. “What’s up?”

He started walking down the school pathway and I followed him. “My parents are going out tonight and want me to watch my little sister.”

“Oh,” I said. “I guess you want to reschedule then.”

He shook his head. “I was actually thinking that you could come over to my house instead. Unless you mind studying with a four year old hanging around.”

I smiled. “No way. It might be fun to watch your sister torment you, actually.”

Jake groaned. “Maybe it’s a bad idea putting the two of you together.”

I slipped my arm into his and moved him along. “Too late to back out now, Jake.” I gave him a wicked grin and after a second, he grinned back.

An odd feeling of excitement and apprehension was starting to fill me and I had no idea why. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I hadn’t been to Jake’s house in years. That was the only possible explanation. The only explanation that made sense, anyway.

…

“You know this is the first time I’ve been to your house since we started high school,” I said as I walked into Jake’s house.

Jake shut the door and threw his bag on a chair. “Probably. Nothing much has changed since then.”

I looked around and realized that very little had changed. The Pendleton house was still as cozy and homey as it had always been, except now there were telltale signs that a little girl was in residence. Barbie dolls and stuffed animals lay on the floor.

We walked into the living room and saw Jake’s father sitting in front of the TV watching the news.

“Hey dad,” Jake said.

His father looked up and gave him a relieved smile. “Thank God, you’re here.” He glanced towards the stairs and in a loud voice called, “Lois, the kids are here.” He turned back to us and smiled at me. “Elizabeth, we haven’t seen you around here in a long time.”

”I know, Mr. Pendleton. Jake refused to let me into the house,” I said jokingly.

Jake snorted at that. “Where’s Penny?” he asked.

“She’s right here,” Mrs. Pendleton said coming down the stairs with an excited four year old bouncing down after her.

Penny ran to the sofa as soon as she got into the room and parked herself in front of the TV.

“Hi Mrs. Pendleton,” I said, when she stepped into the living room.

She gave me a beaming smile. “Elizabeth. How nice it is to see you.” She came over and hugged me.

I’d known Jake’s family as long as I’d known Aaron’s. I’d never hung out with Jake as much as I did with Aaron but the three of us had spent a lot of time together.

She let me go and glanced over at Jake. “I made a casserole. Just pop it in the oven for a few minutes and it should be fine. Make sure Penny doesn’t stay up past eight and try not to fill her up with sugar like you did last time.”

Jake gave her a wounded look. “What did you want me to do? She was giving me the puppy dog eyes and her little voice broke when she said “pwease” not even please with an ‘L’. Please with a W. How was I supposed to fight those tactics?”

His mom giggled before giving him a hug. “You’re going to spoil her if you don’t. And thank you for doing this, honey.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and went to get her purse.

Warmth filled me at the display. I never got the chance to see Jake like this.

Mr. Pendleton had already gotten up to get his hat and opened the door to let his wife go ahead of him. “You kids have fun. We’ll be back later.”

He closed the door behind them and suddenly it was just Jake, Penny and I.

“Come on. Let’s re-introduce you to Penny. You haven’t seen her in a year, right?” Jake said.

I nodded and I walked beside him as we went over to where Penny was perched on the sofa.

“Penny, this is Elizabeth. She’s going to help me take care of you today.”

Penny looked up. Her deep brown eyes, Jake’s eyes, took me in. “She’s pretty,” she said to Jake.

Jake laughed and I looked down in embarrassment at her words. “No, she isn’t,” Jake said and I looked back up, my mouth opening so I could stick my tongue out at him.

Our eyes met and before I could do anything, he turned back to Penny and said, “No, she’s beautiful.”

My mouth dropped open even further and I could feel a blush creep up my cheeks. What? Jake thought I was beautiful? Confusion filled me and I didn’t know what to say.

Suddenly he laughed. “I’m not trying to hook up with you, E. I was just stating the truth.”

Another wave of redness fell over my cheeks as I became more embarrassed. I was overreacting. Why was I freaking over one little compliment? Of course Jake wasn’t interested in me. I ignored the brief shot of disappointment that filled me at the thought.

I cleared my throat and tried to stop the sudden awkwardness I felt. “Umm, I know. I just – I just didn’t expect you to say that … but thank you. You too, Penny. I think you’re pretty too,” I said to the little girl, who’d been listening to our conversation with rapt attention.

“Thanks. Mommy says I’m pretty like a princess.”

Jake picked her up. “You are a princess, kiddo. So, you hungry?”

She nodded. “Can I have cookies?”

“No. If you get in the cookie jar, you’ll have to deal with mom and then I’ll have to deal with mom. And we don’t want that to happen.”

“Just one, pwease.” She widened her eyes and her mouth trembled into a frown.

Jake sighed. “You do that on purpose. Fine. One cookie but you have to drink milk with it.”

She nodded and he let her down so she could run to the kitchen and get her cookie.

“She has you wrapped around her little finger doesn’t she?” I said.

“Pretty much,” Jake said laughing.

I laughed too and any remaining awkwardness disappeared. “So, do I get a cookie too?”

“No. You have to work for your cookies.”

“What? How’s that fair?” I gave him a fake pout.

“That’s not going—“ The sound of glass shattering followed by a tiny “oops”, interrupted whatever Jake was about to say.

“Oh shit,” Jake groaned and went to investigate what had happened.

We both hurried into the kitchen to find Penny with a guilty expression on her face. We looked down at the same time and saw broken glass and the milk that had assumedly been in it on the floor.

“Are you okay?” Jake asked Penny.

She nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Her eyes were filling with tears.

“It’s okay, Pens. Don’t cry. Next time you let me pour the milk for you, okay?” She nodded and Jake kissed her on the cheek.

My heart melted. If the girls at school could see this side of Jake, he would never get any rest. In fact, he would be stalked even more unmercilessly than he already was.

After we had cleaned up the broken glass and given Penny a new glass of milk and her cookie, we got down to studying.

I was distracted the whole time. I couldn’t stop glancing at Jake. Something about him was different. Something that I’d never seen before. I wasn’t exactly sure what had changed but something had and it scared me a little. Something was happening with me and somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, I knew what it was and that’s why I was scared.

 

 

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