26. Jake
JAKE
The sound of the tape snapping grates on my nerves.
I glare at Adam, half-wishing I could snap that into his back.
He’s had it out for that arch all day, claiming that the guys didn’t do it right.
I don't see anything wrong with it personally, but that's just Adam for you. He’s a perfectionist and a micromanager by default.
I swear, most of my job here is to get him to lay off the rest of our employees so they can do their job.
But he likes to be extremely hands-on with everything, and usually, I’m the one here helping him not to piss them off.
But I can’t for the life of me do that today.
I walk in here and can't so much as manage a smile.
Everything has been irritating me, from the back pat that Boris gave me, to Sienna's nasally greeting, to the damn drill noise coming from the inner rooms, to Adam's godforsaken snapping.
“Enough," I finally snap. “Put that shit away, Adam, the arc is fine.”
“It's not–"
“It’s fine,” I say again, and this time there’s enough command in my voice that he turns around to raise an eyebrow.
“Who pissed in his coffee?” Amy murmurs, and I run my hand over my face.
“Listen. The arc is fine. Everything's fine. Let’s just do the final inspections, and everyone moves on. And where the fuck is Sam?”
A knowing look crosses Adam’s face as though he suddenly guessed the source of my irritation. I look away. I hate that I’m so obvious right now.
I’m not usually envious of people, especially not Sam. In fact, I work very hard not to be envious of him, but last night I was tormented by dreams of Chelsea falling in love with Sam and not wanting the rest of us anymore.
In the dream, I went to pick her up for our date, and she said, “Oh, actually, I don’t want either of you anymore, I just want to be with Sam.”
Yeah, that whole thing had me waking up in cold sweat, and now I'm irritated because why should I care? Why should something like that scare me? I mean, I guess, I could be disappointed and a little hurt by it, but scared?
Yeah, that's too much. Why should I be scared by her not wanting to be with me?
"You okay?" Adam says as he approaches me, while the rest of the workers disperse to complete the last touches.
"Yeah." I give him a tight smile, not quite managing the casual tone I was going for. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because you look like someone pissed in your coffee. Let me guess, it has to do with Sam and his date."
"No," I deny, and he raises an eyebrow.
"You call him this morning?"
I shake my head. I had to really sit down and talk myself out of it because if I did call him, I would demand to know everything and irritate him with questions.
But hell, he could have at least come in early today so we could grill him.
"There's no reason for me to call him."
"It might help with your jealousy."
"I'm not jealous."
“Yes, you are, because you’ve never been in a situation like this,” he says, raising his eyebrow.
“Every girl you’ve ever wanted has wanted you back.
There’s never been a point in time where anyone ever chose Sam over you, but you can tell that there’s a genuine connection growing there, just from how she looks at him.
You notice she doesn't look at either of us like that. It’s like they’ve known each other for a lifetime. "
“What’s that supposed to mean?
“I mean, they’re alike in some ways and might understand each other better. She feels more comfortable around him because he’s like her, both a little socially awkward."
“She’s not socially awkward,” I say.
He raises his eyebrow. "She ran from us the first time we met up again. Stumbled over her words. It was cute, and there was a good reason for it, but there was certainly some social anxiety tied up in there."
"She didn’t seem like it when we first met her.”
“When we first met her, she was playing a role. That wasn’t the real her."
“And how do you know who she is now isn’t playing a role? How do you know it’s the real her?"
He sighs. “They’re both probably the real her.
But Sam right now is her comfort zone. He’s someone who understands her personality as it is now, someone stable for her.
You and me, we’re wild cards. I bet she’s never been with a man who sleeps with a woman at the drop of the hat, a man who wasn't soft and romantic.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I scoff. “If it’s romance she wants, I can be a romantic guy.
Certainly more romantic than Sam." Hell, I was romantic enough that I even considered giving her up so they could be together because I could see how much he liked her.
Fat lot of good that did for me in the long run.
He smirks, and I roll my eyes. “What? You think Sam’s a lot more romantic than me?"
“I think you're acting like a tool right now and being a jealous ass.”
“I’m not jealous,” I lie even though I am.
He sighs. “This is exactly the reason I didn't want to do this. I knew you guys wouldn’t manage to keep your emotions in check, and I really don’t want anything to happen to our friendship.”
"Nothing will,” I assure him.
“Oh yeah. So what was the weird tension between you and Sam the last time we were at his house?’
“That had nothing to do with her. It has to do with Sam being an annoying bonehead who never shares whatever’s going on with him.”
“You know they say that eavesdroppers walk in to people saying bad things about them,” a voice from the doorway comes in. “But I still didn't expect this welcome.”
“Sam,” Adam straightens, but Sam doesn’t look offended at all. If anything, he looks amused. He also seems extra glowy today. Like his eyes are just a bit brighter, his face has more color, and his hair is perfectly windswept. Not to mention that aura of satisfaction that he oozes.
I hate him so much right now.
“How did it go?” Adam beats me to it by asking.
“Well,” he answers cagily.
I raise an eyebrow. “Well? That’s all you’re gonna say?”
“Yeah. What else am I supposed to say?”
I want to ask for details. I want him to tell me what she wore, how her hair looked, where he took her, what she said, the jokes that she laughed at, what she looked like when her face was turned up to the sunset…
Okay, now it’s starting to seem like an obsession, but I swear it’s not. It’s just a very normal curiosity I have toward the woman my best friend went on a date with.
The woman that I should be going on a date with too, next weekend.
But first it's Adam's turn. I drew the short straw, which means my date is all the way at the end of the week.
Fuck.
"Just tell us more," I say out of curiosity. "What was it like?"
Instead of answering, he looks up at the arc. "It’s crooked."
I want to tear my hair out as Adam gives me a told you so look
Sam doesn’t share anything else for the rest of the day, no matter how much I torment him. I can't get under his skin as easily as I used to, either. He's just a little too happy as a clam.
I’m tempted to kick his ass like they did back in high school.
"You ungrateful bastard,” I tell him. "After how much I’ve done for you." If not for me, he would probably still be friendless and morose, completely without charm.
He smirks. "Don't worry. You'll get your turn."