Ask me something
64. Ask me something
🤍🖤🤍 Natalie 🤍🖤🤍
Jacob did not mind dropping me back home. But he was being quiet, and it bothered me. I didn’t want to leave him all alone in a gloomy house. After an odd day at school, I was finally feeling comfortable around him. So I told him I will stay for the night.
I lay in his bed and he sits next to me with his back on the headboard.
“I still can’t believe it’s Friday! I did all those assignments for nothing.”
He chuckles and I add, “I am so glad, I went over to your house to ask for notes of missed class… Otherwise, I would have ended up in school tomorrow!”
He grins and says while checking his phone, “I read somewhere you had a severe allergic reaction to the syllabus of that class.”
God, that was lame… A corny joke to get him to respond.
I glance up at him. “You know what? Your company is ruining my taste. If I knew I would start cracking lame jokes, I never would have talked to you…”
He tsks. “Just admit it. You love it.”
“How did you go home?” He asks me out of the blue.
“ahh, I… I took a bus.” I startle at the suddenness of his question.
He squints his eyes at me. “Natalie Relish… Are you lying?”
He changes his position in bed. Now he is sitting opposite. About to interrogate me. His suspicious eyes make me feel fidgety. To stop myself from squirming under his gaze, I sit up and press my back to the headboard.
“Nooo,” I scowl.
He grins, ”Somebody is lying. Tsk. Shame!”
I cross my arms in annoyance, and he laughs.
“It’s such a simple question… Why would you lie about it?”
“Because it’s embarrassing!” I cry.
“Ok. Now I am damn curious… You cannot leave me in middle, Natalie.”
“Dad had to pick me up…”
He raises his eyebrow. “Because?”
“I fell asleep at school.”
“Am I missing something?”
“I fell asleep and was left behind at school like a 5-year-old!” I exclaim, “Dad picked me up after school was over many hours ago. HAPPY NOW?”
He is stunned. “Nooo. You did not!”
I cover my face in shame. “Yes….”
We laugh and talk as the candle burns towards the end.
“It’s beautiful right?” He says, looking at the flicking candle flame.
“hmm… I hope you have extra candles.”
He frowns at me and asks, “Are you afraid of dark?”
Maybe…
“I like light more than darkness.”
“What else do you like?” He asks as he gets out of bed to light another candle from table drawer.
I raise my eyebrow at him. “Are you interested to know?”
“Oh, I am more than interested.” He says casually, and it makes me blush.
I am intrigued to know him too. We meet every day but rarely talk in depth. Sometimes I have this urge to understand him better. His likes and dislikes. What makes him happy? What upsets him? If he ever gets angry or is he always calm and collected?
“We barely know each other.” Words slip out of my mouth. “I mean for real…”
“We could change that…”
I blink at him. He sits next to me after lighting the candle and asks, “Let’s start small. Ask me something..”
I hesitate. “Your argument at home. Was it bad?”
He sighs. “Yes.. kind of… My turn. Why is your face swollen?”
My eyes pop out. Is it still swollen?
Fuck.
“Ohh…” I wince and mumble,” I kind of cried a little… for some lame reason...”
He goes quiet for a while then says, “Well, if it made you upset enough to cry, I am sure it wasn’t lame.”
His words are oddly comforting. We ask short but random questions back and forth, without touching the real reason why we ended up here tonight.
“Your turn.” He says.
I think for a while. I have a million questions, but none seem appropriate. So I settle for the least appropriate one.
“Why are you still single?”
He raises his eyebrow.
“I remember you told me you dated almost a year ago. That stalker girl, right?”
He gives me a tight smile and nods.
“So, why are you still single?” I repeat myself.
He chuckles and sighs. “I guess…because… the girl I am into isn’t interested in me.”
How is that even possible? I open my mouth to ask ‘who’, but he cuts me off.
“My turn! Why are you single?”
I chuckle and think before answering. “uhmmm…. well… at first nobody wanted to do anything with me at school… When I did find some people to hang out with. I realized there is no point dating because we will be off to college soon.”
Nico was one of them. My face burns remembering Nico’s observation about Jacob.
“He is damn possessive, that’s for sure. Anybody would think he’s your boyfriend or something…” He had told me.
Jacob’s face turns serious. “You are right…” He mumbles.
I frown but ask my question before I can forget it. “Where are you going to college?” I have been willing to ask him about it for a while.
This question seems to open a pandora’s box I wasn’t expecting. Jacob opens up about his recent dilemma about applying for a sports scholarship. I am surprised why he didn’t do it sooner and why he has a sudden change of heart. But I don’t press it. For the first time, I have realized chemistry matters to him. Probably more than hockey itself.
“Are you really good at chemistry?“ I remember he had a competition before joining our school. I never asked him how it went.
“I am fine… But I do enjoy it more... more than anything in my life. Even Hockey..”
Bingo.
“But you are good at hockey…”
He chuckles, “I have been playing it since I was 6. Anybody can be good at it if they start this young.” He goes quiet, then says, “Hockey wasn’t my choice. I… I play because dad wanted me to. But it’s not my thing, to be honest.”
I can see him contemplating if he should share more or not, So I stay quiet and let him decide.
He continues, “This argument today… It was with my dad. To be honest, I am tired of tiptoeing around him. I am so done trying to please him. There is no point trying to do things for him when he hates me.”
“Don’t you think hate is a strong word?” I wince as words slip out of my mouth.
His voice goes somber. “He never really liked me, Natalie... It fucks you up, you know. The thought that your father or mother or worse, both of them don’t love you. I noticed his indifference when I was barely 5 or 6 years old. But as I grew older it became more and more obvious. I was barely ten when I had figured out… I wasn’t his son… He is my stepfather… and June is my half-sister.”
My chest tightens as words come out of his mouth. I can tell it is the first time he has opened up about it to anyone.
