Sweetness (Bold As Love) (12 page)

I shake my head. “You don’t get it.” I pick up my full tray and toss in in the trash on the way out.

“
Emily,” Jake calls after me. He follows me out into the hallway and calls my name again.

I stop and turn around. “What?”

“
What’s wrong?”

“
What’s wrong is you scared the hell out of me. What’s wrong is you talked to her just like my mom talked to me. I don’t care what kind of person Claire is, I don’t want to be around someone who can talk like my mother. I can’t deal with this right now.” I turn and head to the double doors that will lead to my car.

“
Em, I’m sorry.”

I don’t turn around. I don’t stop. “Jake, pick Drake up for me, will ya?” I hear him say yeah as I push open the door. I run to my car and speed off towards my house. My mind was so muddled. I drive all the way across the county and back. After thinking it through, I’m still no closer to any conclusions. All I know is that I want to feel like I did this morning all the time. I know that I don’t want to be around people like my mother. One outburst doesn’t make Jake like her, does it?

I call my dad once I get home. “Hey hon, what’s crackin’?”

I laugh and say, “I was wondering if I could talk to you for a second.”

“
Sure. You have my full attention.”

I explain to him what happens and ask him what he thinks about Jake. “I think you need to talk things over with Jake. He was angry and didn’t keep control of his anger. Just tell him how you feel and things will settle like they should.”

“
You’re right,” I say feeling a bit better.

“
Of course I’m right,” he says.

I give a small laugh. “Thanks Daddy.”

“
No problem honey. I’m just glad that you came to me.” I smile and hang up.

Jake

After school, I pick up Drake and head to the house. Although I told my dad the other day about us being gone, I wanted to remind him. He was sitting in the recliner already shit face. This was ridiculous. I sit on the couch and he doesn’t even acknowledge my presence. “Dad?”

“
Yeah,” he slurs.

“
I just wanted to let you know that Drake and I will be back around eleven or twelve.”

“
What are you going?”

I sigh, “We are going to Raleigh to the hockey game.” He nods and continues to drink his beer. “Dad, you need to quit drinking so much and live your life,” I began but he cuts me off.

“
You killed her! You think I can just go on with my life when my love is dead and it’s my son’s fault?”

“
I’m sorry! She would’ve died someday Dad! She had cancer; she would have died by now anyway! The only thing I could have done was help her stay here a bit longer so I didn’t kill her!” I scream.

He throws his beer at me, but narrowly misses. “You don’t know that! Chemo could have kept her here. It could’ve killed that cancer!” he yells angrily with tears streaming down his face.

“
Dad, she hated chemo and you know that. At least now she’s not in pain. You know what Dad? The only reason I am trying is because Drake wants his dad back, but I guess that won’t happen!” I storm upstairs, get Drake, and get out of the house. I drive around to cool off before going to Emily’s.

I guess it was better for him to drink his life away and let Drake go without a father than to suck it up and move on like we had to do. I slam my palm against the steering wheel. Damn him! Yeah, maybe I could have saved my mom so she could live a little longer, but the cancer would have eaten away at her and she would’ve died anyway.

I take a deep breath and tell the silent Drake that things will be okay. He quietly lets me know that he doesn’t think I hurt our mom in any way. “Thanks buddy.” I turn left to go Emily’s. I knock and she yells for me to come in. I walk in and see her sitting on the couch. Drake runs and sits beside her. I don’t know how she feels after what happened today, so I sit in one of the recliners. Emily lights up as she talks with Drake, who fills her in on his day. I see him lean into her and whisper something that makes her laugh. What am I going to do to fix things?

I mumble something about getting a drink and head to the kitchen. I hear laughing in the living room. I fix a glass of Pepsi and walk in the living room to see what looks like a tickle war with Drake and she is clearly winning. “Jake! Help!” Drake yells in between laughs.

As I come closer, Emily says, “Don’t even think about it Jake.”

“
He’s my brother Emily,” I tell her, placing my glass on the coffee table. I reach out and tickle her stomach without worrying if she is okay with that. She releases Drake and falls onto the couch. I take a chance and straddle her. I tell Drake to get her. I hold her arms above her head with one hand and put a tickle attack on her with the other. Drake goes to her stomach too. She laughing nonstop and begging us to stop. I laugh and tell her, “Not a chance.”

She’s squirming underneath me with her hips grinding against me. “Jake, Drake,
please
stop.” If she doesn’t quit moving under me, I’m going to go crazy.

“
Alright Drake, stop.”

He retreats and plops into the recliner. Emily is trying to catch her breath and glares at me. I burst out laughing and lean down to give her a quick kiss on the lips without thinking. She tenses under me. “Sorry, I mumble getting off of her.

She brings her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them. Drake turns his attention to the TV and Emily quietly asks to speak with me in the kitchen. Pain strikes my heart to hear that voice return. I follow her in the kitchen and lean against one of the counters as she hops onto the counter on the other side of the room. “I want to talk about today. Jake, you really scared me in there. I can’t have that kind of energy around me. I won’t have it. I don’t think this is going to work.”

The whole times she spoke, her voice was low and she avoided looking at me. I cross the room and turn her head towards me. Her eyes are watery and she closes her eyes, just as a tear falls. I wipe it away. “Em, I’m so sorry. I was just so angry that someone would talk to you like that after all you’ve been through.”

“
So you think it’s right for you to speak like that to someone else?”

I shake my head. “No. Look, I’m sorry. You’ll never have to see that again. I promise. I won’t ever do it again. Just please don’t kick me out of your life.”

She leans forward and rests her forehead against mine. “Okay,” she says quietly. I wrap my arms around her with relief coursing through me. I kiss her lips tenderly. I take her hand and we go to the couch to watch TV with Drake while we wait on Mike.

Mike walks in, greets us and tugs at his tie saying, “I need to change. After that, we should be good to go.” He leaves us to change. A few minutes later he returns and asks, “Alright, who is ready to go to the hockey game?”

“
I am! I am,” Drake yells to Mike. He laughs and tells Emily to go get the tickets. She runs into the kitchen and returns moments later with four tickets.

“
Let’s go,” she says. We stand and walk through the kitchen and to the garage. “We’ll take my car,” Emily says. She gets in the driver’s seat and Mike tells me I could sit up front.

“
No, no. That’s fine. You can.”

“
No, you go ahead. I’ll sit in the back with Drake.”

I nod and get in the passenger seat. Then we’re off. Raleigh is about an hour and a half away. Conversation moves from school to hockey to girls Drake likes at school to music. I learned that Emily was a country music gal, but she did like pop and rock too. A lot of her favorite singers were “hot” as she would say. Seeing her comfortable, laughing and talking just set my attraction for her skyrocketing.

Finally, we are at the RBC Center and after parking, we follow the crowd into the building. We waited in the security line and pass through a few minutes later. We walked around until we found our section and then got our tickets checked by the woman guarding the entrance.

She let us through and we went down the stairs until we reached our row. We were maybe ten rows back from the glass and we were behind one of the goals. We took our seats with it being Mike, Drake, Emily, and then me. The air was cool and it felt refreshing to feel compared to Emily’s hand hot in mine. The game would start in about fifteen minutes and Drake was beyond excited. He talked nonstop about how cool it was that he was here.

Emily was bubbling with excitement as well. I guess she was ready to see her man. She was wearing a Penguins t-shirt with Crosby’s name and number on the back. She was one of very few in the building not wearing red. Soon enough, the players came out and skated around the rink to warm up. Emily squeezed my hand when she caught sight of Crosby.

“
It feels so good to be back here again,” she tells me. I smile and thank her for bringing us along. It doesn’t take long before her attention is back on the ice and her eyes follow Crosby around the rink. Do Emily’s eyes follow me around when she comes and watches me play? I hoped so. We stood as some girl came out to sing the national anthem. When she got to the ‘rockets red glare’ part, everyone in the building screamed “RED!” as was Canes tradition.

Then the game starts. Here, Emily doesn’t care if she draws attention to herself. When the Pens do something good or if they score, she shows her support. Whether she’s yelling, cheering, or clapping. A few of the people around us send a glare her way when she does. The score is 1-1 when the first period finishes. Emily looks over at me and smiles. “Let’s make a bet,” she says.

I lean towards her. “What kind of bet?”

She giggles and says, “Twenty bucks says the Pens will win.”

“
Twenty bucks says the Canes will win,” I counter. She holds out the hand I’m not holding and we shake on it.

“
I’m going to be twenty dollars richer by the end of the night,” she tells Drake and Mike.

“
You wish,” they tell her.

“
Crosby won’t let me down,” she says looking me in the eye.

“
Neither will I,” I tell her. Mike and Drake leave to go grab us a drink and I lean over and give her a kiss.

“
Jake?”

“
Yeah?”

“
I meant to tell you earlier, but I didn’t get the chance.”

“
What is it?”

She locks eyes with mine and puts on a serious face. “Don’t ever tickle me again.”

I can’t help it. I bust out laughing. “Oh, c’mon Em. It was fun!”

She shook her head and said, “For you and Drake!”

“
You can’t tell me, you didn’t like it at all.”

She smiles and gives me a sexy look. “There was one part I liked.” She pats my leg. I don’t get a chance to say anything because Mike and Drake return with a Dr. Pepper for us both.

Emily returns her attention to the game once second period starts. The Canes score twice and the Pens only once making the score 3-2. During second intermission, Emily talks with Drake who is having a blast. Twenty minutes later, the third and final period starts. No one scores until the last five minutes when the Pens tie the score. Emily is trying to contain her excitement when they score again with two minutes left.

“
The game isn’t over until the buzzer sounds,” I remind her.

“
There’s no way the Canes will score.” Turns out she was right and boy did she tell me. “Told ya I would be twenty bucks richer, which means I was right!” I chuckle and we get up to leave. Emily practically skips to the car. She jumps onto my back and I tote her to the car. She kisses my neck and repeats that she won.

“
Okay, okay. I know you won.”

She giggles and she hops off since we are at the car. “Hey Dad, why don’t you drive and Drake sit up front?” He hesitates for a moment but Emily tosses him the keys and gets in the back. I shrug my shoulders and follow her. Drake, who is happy from going to an NHL game, is even happier to sit up front.

When we get on the road, Emily moves to the middle, buckles up, and pulls my arm around her shoulders. She leans on me and rests her hand on my thigh. “I’m so tired,” she yawns. In my arms, all of her excitement leaves and fatigue replaces it. Ten minutes down the road, she’s asleep. “Thanks again, Mike,” I say.

“
No problem. It was worth it to see Emily like that.”

“
Yeah, it was.”

Drake falls asleep soon after. The ride to Emily’s house is silent with the exception of the radio playing softly. I leaned my head against Emily’s and closed my eyes enjoying her in my arms.

The ride home ends too soon and I wake Emily up. She gives me a kiss good-bye and I carry Drake to my car. “Bye guys,” I say as the head to my car. Emily waves goodbye. I set Drake down in the passenger seat and go home.

The school day could not end fast enough. Drake was going to spend the night at a friend’s and I was picking Emily up at six thirty. I raced home after school and showered. I had to get Drake packed and to his friend’s house. “Jake! Quit rushing me. I’ve got time,” Drake says.

I let him be and go back to my room. While I wait for Drake to get ready, I clean up my room until it’s spotless. “Jake! Let’s go!” I grab my wallet and keys and we’re off. Having to walk Drake in and make small talk with the boy’s mother seems to go on forever.

Finally, I’m on my way to see Emily. I pull up and knock on the door. Mike answers. “Hey Jake. C’mon in. She’ll be out in a second.” I follow him into the living room and have a seat. “How’s your day been,” Mike asks.