Old Place
23. Not my problem
🤍🖤💜 Jacob 💜🖤🤍
June scurries around the living room as I throw a few cushions on her way. I chase her behind as she goes upstairs to her room.
“Behave like your age, Jacob!” Mom yells from behind.
God everyone pampers June so much! I gotta kill her. I don’t think I have ever felt this much embarrassment in my life before!!!
I try to push through June’s door as she tries to stop me from entering her room.
“I did you a freaking favor!” She glances at me from the door crack.
“Let me inside! Or I will push hard… Don’t cry mommy when you fall on your bum.”
“Promise we will talk like civilized people.”
“Ok..” I stop pushing the door and June locks it.
I scoff. ”I knew it. Coward.”
“Go pick someone your own size!”
“How long are you planning to stay there? You gotta come out sometime.” I warn her and walk away from her door.
Wait, what?
I go back to her door and knock.
“I am not stupid, Jacob!”
“What do you mean, you did me a favor?”
There is a pause, then she opens her door. If she has risked opening the door, she must have faith in herself. I cross my arms to hear patiently.
“She is totally into you!”
I roll my eyes, “You have an overactive imagination, June.”
“Oh, come on…” she waves me to come inside. “You two didn’t even make eye contact. But let me tell you, she was checking you out! Like a LOT!!!”
No, no-no-no. I know what this is. She loves messing with my head. She wants me to forget the real problem.
“Why did you think it would be a good idea to barge into my room?” I come back to the real point.
“Not my problem. You have a messy room. I was just giving her a tour. And I didn’t ba…”
I don’t let her completely and smack the pillow on her face.
Ten Points!
“Mom!!!!”
It’s my turn to scurry away, avoiding books, pillows, and whatnot June is throwing in my way.
Terrible aim!
I get back to my room and grimace immediately, thinking about the impression I left on Natalie with this mess. In my defense, I had spread all those clothes because I wanted to see what to keep and what to throw.
God! The chances of me dying alone are increasing exponentially.
24. Open gallery
🤍🖤🤍 Natalie 🤍🖤🤍
“Took you long enough to deliver a cake,” Amy comments as soon as I reach home.
“They gave me a house tour… along with coffee.”
She giggles. ”They always insist on staying. It’s tiring.”
“Did you see that Jacuzzi and walk-in closet?” She asks.
WHAT?
Why didn’t I see any of that?
Oh!
It cannot be in the basement or his room. Not that it was possible to notice anything in that room with all the mess and his hot, inviting body standing tall.
“I didn’t see Master Bedroom.”
She shakes her head, “Nooo. It’s in Jacob’s room.”
My eyes pop up. “He has a jacuzzi in his bath?”
She nods. “They are loaded.”
And surprisingly down to earth.
“I wish I had an attached bathroom to my room,” Amy adds, sighing.
It reminds me I need to take a bath. Because images of Jacob & his jacuzzi are invading my mind.
I go into my room and turn on the music. So no one can hear me… Sometimes I am not very quiet.
Then I take a bath.
A long fulfilling one…
Once I am ready, I wait for him. My mind cannot stop whirling. I receive his text after a while.
Jacob: ‘Waiting outside.’
I rush downstairs and frown when I see him and Coco waiting in a car outside our house. He grins and waves for me to get inside.
“You could have called me, you know!” I tell him. “You live barely 200 yards away from my house.”
“I know.”
As I sit in the passenger seat next to him, Coco starts struggling to get in the front seat with me. I would have sat next to her in the backseat, but that would have been inappropriate. Not as inappropriate as things I was imagining while touching myself earlier, but still inappropriate.
“I assume we aren’t going to the usual park today,” I ask, while wearing my seatbelt.
“Nope! Dog park it is… Right Coco?” He murmurs in a soothing voice.
“And also I have to collect some stuff from our old place. Hope that’s ok?” He adds after a pause.
“Oh!! You guys haven’t sold that place yet?” That was a stupid comment. They barely came here 2 weeks ago. I am not sure how real estate market works though.
“Dad wants to renovate it before selling.”
Of course.
I shrug,” I don’t mind!”
Rest of the drive we stay quiet listening to music and Coco’s occasional barks at random people.
“So… How far tidying up your room went today?” I ask to break the awkward silence.
He smirks and pulls out his phone,”I knew this would come up.”
“Don’t use your phone while driving!” I tell him in panic.
He smiles and shakes his head. “Don’t worry!”
Don’t worry???
“I don’t wanna die, Jacob!” Don’t use the fucking phone.
He unlocks his phone with faceID and hands it to me. “Open gallery.”
“I was just unlocking it, you know!.” He tells me in a calm voice.
I frown but follow. I wasn’t wrong to panic. Right?
I fumble with his phone in my hand and look for gallery images, hoping I don’t stumble upon another bare chest image. Took me too long in the bathroom to clear my head earlier.
Then I see it.
His Room. Wow… It’s clean. Like a hotel room. Clean and bright. Nice..
“You did this in an hour?”
He chuckles, “You know you came at the worst time possible... All that stuff you saw laying on the floor, I was about to throw those. Most of my time went by clearing the bed afterward.”
“I am impressed,” I tell him, and ask after a pause, “You took this pic to show me?”
He flusters,” Well, it’s for anyone who doubts my ability to own a clean room.”
25. Old Place
🤍🖤🤍 Natalie 🤍🖤🤍
It takes us ten more minutes to reach the park. It’s in the middle of the city. But not a very nice neighborhood... Coco is ecstatic. There are so many happy dogs around. Park isn’t green or beautiful, instead, It’s a concrete park with boundaries and a fenced entrance.
Jacobs lets Coco out of harness and she decides to go for a run.
“She will come back… Right?”
I remember him complaining about her not being well trained.
“I hope so.”
My eyes widen at his response and he chuckles, “I bought her here every day before shifting…. so yea, she will come back.”
“Every day?”
“Yea… See that house?” he points at a house around the corner. “That’s our old place.”
“Oh!” That’s the only reply I can give because I am astounded. His old house and this neighborhood do not match Amy’s ‘They are loaded’ description. Did they win the lottery or something?
“Almost a month ago, I found Coco in this park. She was alone, and it was very cold. I waited for someone to come and pick her up. But I guess they dumped her.” He tells me.
“She isn’t your dog?”
He chuckles,”Noo, she has been with us for barely a month. Mom wasn’t happy when I bought her home. No one has claimed her yet.”
“Wow! That is… kind of you…”
“Could you blame me? She is adorable.” He laughs.
I nod, Indeed she is.
“It was difficult to adjust here with her. With packing and everything she made Mom’s last two weeks here hell,” he adds, reminiscing.
After a while, he glances at his watch and calls Coco to come back and she listens to him. This is probably the only time I have seen her follow an instruction.
“This was originally my grandma’s house.” He tells me while unlocking the front door.
“It’s…” a small place for four people.
“Tiny… I know.” He completes for me.
Coco goes haywire again as if she didn’t spend enough energy in the park. She probably recognized this place. Jacob goes inside and I stand awkwardly in the living room. Old furniture is still there. Vintage. Very old, as if it hasn’t been changed for years. I am damn curious how they went from this vintage to that bright & modern house.
“You can look around if you want to. Will take me ten minutes to grab all my things,” his voice booms somewhere from inside.
I frown, “You didn’t move your stuff two weeks ago?” I start looking around.
“Ehhh It’s complicated!”
Each room has a distinct vibe. They didn’t take the furniture with them at all.
They are loaded.
Yup, they are!
“I am all ears if you want to share,” I say as I move along, looking at each room. Even the master bedroom is small.
“I didn’t want to move. I wanted to go to college from this house.” He says as I finally find him in a room. His room.
It isn’t messy like a tornado passed through it or plain like it has no personality. This room has its own charm.
“But mom insisted I should give the new place a chance. Because I will probably never come back to this town again.”
I chuckle. My feelings are mutual.
“How long have you lived here?” I ask as I see him taking down some posters carefully.
“Last 7 years. We moved in because Grandma didn’t want to leave this place.”
I frown, But I’m afraid to ask about her whereabouts.
He senses my question. “She passed away 8 months ago.”
“I am sorry.”
“So you planning to put those in your room?” Some posters are too old to be honest.
He grins,” yea. I want to keep this room’s memories with me for a few more months.”
Once he is done, we start walking toward the car.
“I wanted to thank you.. you know….,” He says.
“For what?”
“For coming into my room today.” He shrugs, “If I hadn’t been embarrassed today, I wouldn’t have realized why I was delaying my room’s decoration…”
He continues saying something about missing his grandma and trying to keep the memories, but I barely understand a word. Because my mind blanks out.
He is flustered about his room. As if him being around in boxer shorts was a normal thing. Was it?
I redden as our previous encounter invades my mind again. He is so freaking casual about it. Why can’t I be the same?
God!! I am a pervert.
