Jake Undone (5 page)

him looking at my browsing history or text messages, even though there was really nothing incriminating.

I shouted. “What are you doing with my phone?”

“Don’t worry about it,” I heard him yell from his room.

“Can I have it back please?” Why was I listening to him and staying here in the kitchen like an idiot?

A few minutes later, he came back down the hall and handed it back to me. “I programmed my number

in. So, if for some reason, you have to reach me for anything, you have it. I’ll also call you if I am running

late from work tomorrow night before we study.”

“Okay, thanks.”

“Don’t be scared. You’re gonna do fine.”

I nodded silently, wondering how I got myself into this.

Jake grabbed a banana, then his jacket and laptop from the couch. “I have to get back to work. I just

came home because I forgot my laptop. I’ll catch you later.”

“Okay. Catch you later. Oh, wait…Jake?”

He turned around. “What’s up?”

“I never thanked you for my bat.”

He said nothing, just smiled, winked and stuck out his tongue in jest. For the first time, I noticed it was

pierced too.

Damn.

When the door slammed shut, I closed my eyes and sighed.

Oh yeah, I was in deep doo doo…in more ways than one.

From the street, I could hear Jake in the distance.
“Fuck you too, Mrs. Ballsworthy!”

I covered my mouth in laughter. My new home was a bizarre place, but there was nowhere else I

wanted to be at that moment.

Then, I looked down at my phone and noticed he had changed the wallpaper on the screen. It was one

of those “Keep Calm and Carry On” sayings that pretty much summed up my day, in honor of my

encounter with our lovely neighbor:

Keep Calm and Go Fuck Yourself.

CHAPTER 5

Tuesday was my day off from classes, and I spent the day doing laundry and nervously anticipating my

tutoring session with Jake that night. I was 22-years old, but the level of obsession I was experiencing made

me feel like I was sixteen.

I still could not believe I had agreed to the terms of his bet. Truthfully, I knew I wasn’t going to get A’s

on my tests no matter how hard I studied, so I could pretty much start mentally preparing myself for the

worst. Even though what Jake proposed terrified me, I really didn’t ever consider telling him no.

He was like no other guy I had ever known. It wasn’t just that he looked different (in a very good way).

He had a self-assurance and commanding way about him that was hard to resist, but that oddly, also made

me feel safe.

Growing up in my small town, the guys I had met from the time I was a teenager up until I moved here

were cookie cutter. I had yet to meet someone like Jake: dark and dangerous on the outside but smart and

clever on the inside; someone who owned a room the second he stepped into it.

My last serious boyfriend, Spencer, could not have been more different from Jake. He was a clean-cut,

church-going kind of guy, who my parents and everyone else just loved. He was a few years older and sold

insurance for a living, but looking back, if you ask me, the only thing he was ever really good at selling was

a false impression of himself. What my family didn’t realize was that behind that squeaky-clean exterior,

was a man that constantly tried to berate me with critiques and put-downs. And ultimately, he cheated on

me. I felt like I wasted three years and got nothing out of it, except a certificate of completion in Asshole

101. He was the only guy I ever slept with. What a waste.

I shook my head to rid my mind from thoughts of Spencer as I continued to fold shirts in the basement

laundry room. Then, my cell phone rang, and I saw it was my father.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Hi, sweetie. I am just checking in. How are things going at the new place?”

I can’t stop obsessing over my roommate.

“Pretty good so far.”

“How’s Ryan?”

Who?

“He’s great. Turns out he’s actually dating my other roommate, Tarah.”

“Really? Good for him. Nice girl?” he asked.

“Yes, very.”

“Well, you know Ryan is like family to us. So, I couldn’t be happier that he is there to look out for

you.”

Actually, Ryan’s head is so far up Tarah’s ass, I am lucky if he even realizes I still live here.

“Me too,” I said.

My father sighed. “What about the other roommate? A guy, right?”

Yes, a really hot guy, with tattoos and piercings on his face…and tongue…and God knows where else…

and I sometimes want to lick him.

“Jake…his name is Jake. Good guy, kind of quiet…an engineer.”

“Ah, good, he must be nice and nerdy. I won’t have to worry.” He laughed.

Dad, you should be so worried.

“That’s exactly right. He is a bit of a nerd.”

“How are classes so far?”

I am going to fail math.

“So far so good. Math is going to be a challenge.”

“Well, I have confidence in you, honey. You made this big move to the city, and I know you won’t let

yourself fail.”

I just wish I had confidence in myself.

“Thanks, Dad. I better get back to folding laundry. Tell Mom I love her.”

“Ok, sweetie. Love you. Bye bye.”

***

It was 4:30 in the afternoon, and since I had been up tossing and turning the previous night, I decided to

try to take a nap since Jake wouldn’t be home until after six o’clock.

I had set my alarm—or so I thought—for 5:30. So, you could imagine my surprise when I woke up and

saw that it was 7:45. My heart was pounding, and I was beyond agitated when I realized I had overslept.

I got up and scratched my head, lifting the alarm clock and noticing that, while yes, I had set the alarm

for 5:30, it was for am not pm, which did me absolutely no good.

Shit!

I rubbed my eyes and matted my hair down, unsure of what I would be met with when I emerged from

the bedroom.

To make matters worse, I looked over at my nightstand and my pulse quickened as I discovered

evidence that Jake had been in my room while I was asleep. There, next to my tissue box was another black

origami bat. I shook my head in disbelief and began to unfold it.

Did you know that you drool?

That’s so not cool.

Showing up is my number one rule.

Now, get up, fool. You’re late for school.

Mortified did not even begin to describe how I felt. Even though I would have rather stayed put at that

point, I knew I needed to go out and face the music. I took a stick of gum from my purse to mask my sleep

breath and quickly inspected myself in the mirror. I grabbed my math books and syllabus and headed down

the hall.

When I got to Jake’s room, his door was cracked open, and I could see that he was sitting up in bed

wearing headphones and writing on a laptop. He hadn’t noticed me, so I stood there for a minute taking

him in.

His hair was flattened, like he had just taken a shower, and there was a loose piece hanging over his

forehead. He had beautiful, shiny dark hair that looked jet-black when it was wet. He was wearing black

cargo pants and a navy blue t-shirt that hugged his muscles and showed off his tattooed arms. The room

smelled like cinnamon candle, musk and cigarettes, even though I had yet to see him smoking in the house.

His long legs were stretched out to the end of the length of the bed. He was tapping his foot fast and

nervously as he typed, bobbing his head to the beat of the music.

I clutched my textbook and was nervous just looking at him, while anticipating the grief he was going to

give me for sleeping through our tutoring session.

I finally coughed to let him know I was standing at the doorway.

Jake looked up and slowly removed his headphones. “Well, well, well, look who finally decided to

wake up.”

I stayed at the threshold. Waving the paper bat he made me, I said, “I am sorry, Jake, I really am. I set

the alarm for am instead of pm.”

He closed his laptop and sat up into a sitting position at the edge of the bed. He wasn’t smiling. “You

should be apologizing to yourself. You’re the one who’s gonna fail.”

Okay, hard-ass.

“Why didn’t you just wake me up?”

“I tried to nudge you, but you didn’t even move. I had to check your pulse to make sure you were still

alive. Then, you farted, so I figured all was well.”

“I did not!” I laughed, but was dying inside.

“I’m kidding. Relax.”

Dear God, thank you.

“When is your first exam?”

“Tomorrow.”

He shook his head and sighed. “Tomorrow…” Rolling his eyes, he ran his hands through his hair in

frustration.

“Yes. Professor Hernandez doesn’t waste any time.”

“Well, then, it’s a good thing you napped because I hope you’re ready to be up all night.”

Shit. He was serious about this. There was no joking around in his tone, making this situation all the

more intimidating.

I looked down at my feet and then back up at him. “I am
really
sorry.”

Jake’s green eyes seared into mine for a few seconds. “I don’t bite, you know,” he said in a low voice.

“Excuse me?”

“Why are you still standing in the doorway, using your textbook as a shield?”

I laughed nervously as I entered the room. He was right. I was hesitating. But it wasn’t for the reason he

probably thought.

I wished…he would bite…and that’s what scared me.

Control yourself, Nina.

“Should we study in here or in the living room?” I asked.

“That’s your decision. You’re the one that needs to focus,” he said.

“Okay. Here is fine. Tarah and Ryan will probably come home and want the living room.”

Bad choice. Being in his bedroom was by far the most distracting place.

“Let’s get started then.” Jake reached out his hand. “Show me the assignment.”

I handed him the book and syllabus, as he pulled up a wooden chair and sat down, kicking his legs up

onto the foot of the bed. I sat on the ground with my legs crossed.

“You don’t have to sit on the floor. I sat here, so you could have the bed.”

“Okay, thanks,” I said as I got up and planted myself on his bed. The mattress was firm and it was like

lying in a sea of his masculine scent. The black comforter was surprisingly soft, and I ran the tips of my

fingers across it as I watched him look over my syllabus.

“Okay, this shit isn’t going to be easy for you,” he said.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence. That is certainly an understatement.”

He looked up at me. “Let’s start with the linear programming problem.”

I scratched my head and leaned in. “Okay.”

“You have to create a problem like the one listed here, using the same model but your own variables,

and then you need to solve it.” He grinned. “We can make this interesting if we want.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. All it says is that it has to involve transportation.”

“Yes.” I nodded.

I had no idea what he was talking about.

“Okay, so the example in the book uses a lumber dealer transporting wood to warehouses.”

“Yes.”

“So, you could use, for example…a pimp transporting whores across the country.”

“Excuse me?”

“We need to keep you awake, so let’s go with that. The problem is to find the most economical way to

transport the prostitutes to various cities.”

I rubbed my temples and chuckled. “Oh my God. Okay.”

“First, you have to determine your variables. There are two variables, x and y. If x represents the

number of whores to be driven from New York to L.A., then since L.A. needs 25 whores, the number of

whores to be shipped from Philadelphia to L.A. is 25 minus x.

He looked up to see if I was paying attention and continued. “And if y represents the number of whores

to be driven from New York to Las Vegas, then since Las Vegas needs 30 whores, the number of whores to

be shipped from Philadelphia to Las Vegas is 30 minus y.”

He then built a cost table showing the transportation routes, number of whores and various costs of

each route. Eventually, he came up with a formula and made me run through the entire problem until I

understood it. Even though it took over an hour, I finally did get it. I was amazed at how capable I could be

when interested enough to apply myself.

And I was definitely interested.

There was also a nutrition problem where the object was to design a low-cost recipe that provided

required levels of proteins, calories and vitamin B12. We had to choose variables again and assign different

costs. Jake substituted the samples used in the book for things that would make me laugh. In this case, the

recipe was for Mrs. Ballsworthy’s “shit cake,” and the ingredients were chocolate, shit and whole-wheat

flour. Again, he built a table to organize the data, and after another hour, I was finally able to run through

the formula myself.

He was so animated and never seemed to tire when I couldn’t grasp what he was teaching. Instead, he

would just find a new way of explaining the problem to me, like he enjoyed the challenge. His tables and

graphs made things easy to understand, and after running through those two examples repeatedly, I was

starting to think that maybe I
could
pass the exam tomorrow. If only I could just remember Jake’s

methodology and apply it to whatever problem Professor Hernandez came up with.

By the end of the night, we were both sitting on the floor, stretched out with white papers everywhere. I