37. Jealousy
thirty-seven
Jealousy
“ W e need a girl’s night out,” Jasmine says on the way to her car after school. “Like desperately.”
“I can’t. I have a ton of homework.” It’s not exactly an excuse. I do have a lot of homework, but the main reason I don’t want to hang out with Jasmine is that Jacob is coming over tonight. At least, I think he is. He’s been at our house almost every night for the past two weeks.
“But we haven’t done anything together in forever,” Jasmine whines. She’s been in what (for her) constitutes a long dry spell since Gage left. Now that Taryn has Ryder, she gets left alone a lot.
I feel guilty, but not guilty enough to sacrifice what might be more time with Jacob. “Sorry, I need to keep my grades up. I need a scholarship or I’ll end up living with my parents and going to community college.”
Jasmine doesn’t understand why I worry about college. In her case, her dad just throws his money into any school she chooses, and she’s in. She stops and puts her hand on her hip. “You’re choosing homework over me? On a Friday night?” She doesn’t sound like she believes me.
Maybe if I explained to Jaz what’s going on with Jacob, then she’d understand, but I’m having a hard enough time explaining it to myself.
We always hang out when he’s over, but that’s all it is, hanging out.
I can’t figure out if I’m building some kind of relationship, or grasping at something that’s never going to happen.
Whatever it is, the last thing I need is for Jasmine to analyze every conversation I have with Jacob. I manage enough of that on my own.
I teach swim lessons and then an aerobics class on Fridays after school, so it’s already late by the time I get home. I’m rubbing my hair with a towel when the phone rings. It’s Jasmine.
“Jess, I need your help.” She's breathless, but Jasmine has a way of making the simplest situation sound desperate. “Remember those guys we met at the track meet?”
I don’t remember, but the answer doesn’t matter to her, anyway. “Yeah, sure.”
“One of them asked me out for tonight,” Jasmine replies. “I need your help.”
“What, you’re not sure what to wear?”
“Please be serious. He wants me to bring a friend for his friend to double with.”
“So call one of your cheer friends.” I’m looking at the clock. It’s almost eight, and Jacob hasn’t shown up or called yet.
“The guys specifically asked for you. And seriously, when was the last time you went out?”
“I don’t do blind dates.”
“It’s not really a blind date. We met them already. Besides, a date tonight might speed up the whole ‘homework’ thing.”
I stop rubbing my hair, wondering what Jasmine knows. “Why? Is this guy some kind of math genius?”
“Don’t play dumb. Taryn filled me in on the hanging out with Jacob thing. And by the way, I’m totally mad at both of you for never telling me anything. So he keeps coming over, but no lip action, right?”
“Right.” I toss the towel over the back of my chair and sink onto my bed. “He’s here all the time, but he hasn’t even tried to hold my hand.” It sounds pathetic when I say it out loud.
“Which is exactly why you need to go out tonight. If Soulja Boy gets the idea you can live without him, he might speed things up a little. Jealousy is a powerful motivator for a guy.”
“Yeah, because that worked out so well with the Nathan thing.”
“Totally different. This one won’t be his brother. C’mon, you know I know guys.”
That I can’t argue with. Maybe she’s right. “Okay,” I say slowly. I’m still not convinced this is anything close to a good idea. “When are the guys coming?”
“Nine-ish. They’re picking us up at your house. I’ll be over in five minutes to help you pick out something to wear. No t-shirts this time, okay?”
Forty-five minutes later, Jaz has coaxed me into a sleeveless blue blouse and a tight pair of jeans.
She does whatever magic I can't make work and gets my hair to go straight.
For the final touch, she lines my eyes with smokey gray eyeliner and adds a pale pink lipstick.
I barely recognize the girl who stares back at me from the mirror.
She sits back and admires her work. “You look perfect, and just in time.”
The distinctive sound of Jacob’s car roars up the driveway. I look out the window and watch him park by our garage just as another car turns into the yard.
Jasmine adds a layer of lipstick to her full red lips and then caps the tube. “This should be interesting.”
I’m panicking. I’m not sure if jealousy is a good thing at this point. I didn’t expect Jacob to be meeting my date at the same time I am.
Jacob knocks once and then lets himself in.
“Jess,” he calls up the stairs. “That new belt for the Nag finally came in. I’m going to get started installing it.
I need your keys.” I come out of my room as he sets a bag down in the entryway.
He watches me come down the stairs with an expression somewhere between disbelief and confusion. “Are you going somewhere?”
Jasmine sweeps down behind me. “We have dates.”
“A date?” Jacob looks at me as if he’s never heard that word before. “You have a date?”
I bristle. “Sometimes I have a social life.”
“I know... I mean... I thought... that we would... Don’t you have homework?” He finishes.
“Yeah, Dad,” Jasmine mocks him, “But it’s Friday night, we have the entire weekend to get it done.”
I shoot Jasmine a warning look. “You didn’t call,” I say lamely. “I didn’t know if you were coming over or...”
“How late are you going to be?” Jacob asks.
“We’ll be back before curfew; we’re big girls now.” Jasmine says. She’s pushing this too far. I can tell Jacob is annoyed, but I’m not sure how to rein her in.
The doorbell rings. Two guys peer through the window. Jaz pushes past Jacob and opens the door for them. “Hello," Jasmine says, her voice dropping into a familiar flirty tone.
“Hey, Jaz. Hey Jess,” one says.
“Hi...” I hesitate. The boys look kind of familiar, a curly-haired blonde and a taller, thinner guy with dark hair. We met them a few weeks ago, but I don't remember their names.
“Jarom,” Jaz supplies, pushing me toward the blonde.
“Jarom,” I repeat, “Good to see you again.” Jacob looks at me and then at the two boys. They both look at Jacob. “Jacob,” I say, all the ‘j’ names have me even more flustered. “This is Jason—”
“Jarom,” Jarom corrects.
“Jarom,” I continue, “and...”
“Kirk,” the other guy says. At least his name isn’t Josh.
“Guys, this is Jacob, a family friend.”
Jacob steps forward and shakes hands with Jason and Kirk. They murmur some kind of greeting, but it looks like they’re sizing each other up.
“We’d better get going.” Jasmine reaches for her purse and nudges me toward the door.
“Right,” I pick up my jacket. Jacob is leaning against the wall, looking nonchalant. I can’t decide how he feels about my date. I fumble for my keys in my purse and then hand them to him. “Thanks for helping with my car.”
“Sure,” he barely touches me as he takes them. Jealousy? Indifference? I wish I could read what's written in those deep brown eyes.
Jasmine’s date makes a grand gesture of opening the door for us. I follow her out, my date close behind. I resist the urge to take one last look at Jacob.
I'm positive this is a huge mistake.