Chapter 16 Brown and West, Sitting On a Tree…
Brown and West, Sitting On a Tree…
I wake up with the sound of voices. I open my eyes and… I’m embraced with Jake!? How are we cuddling? And why did I get to be the little spoon?
Then I see that the voices came from Riden and Allison. I get out of Jake’s arms and smack him.
“What the hell, Brown!” I send him a pointed look, and he sees that we have company.
“Oops, caught in the act.” He smirks, and I punch him, hard, on the arm. “Ow!”
“Isn’t it a lovely afternoon?” Allison asks.
“Oh yes, it is.” Riden responds.
I sit on the blanket.
“What do you mean afternoon? What time is it?” I ask, half asleep and rubbing my eyes. I admit, it was the nicest sleep I’ve had in a long time.
“Only 2 PM.” She responds relaxed.
“I need food.” I say.
Glad that on weekends we don’t have a shift in the library, or else we would be late.
“Your dad is already cooking, so come on, get up!” She says, putting her arms in front of me to help me get up. Meanwhile, Jake is already up and talking to Riden. The latter speaks.
“What the hell were you talking about yesterday, Mads? Come on, don’t be shy. Tell us the whole story.” He grins, and Allison is looking at me and Jake, ready for an explanation.
“I don’t know why, it just came out of my mouth!”
“Yeah, right.” Allison speaks.
“It’s true! And we decided to keep this until Amanda wants him back. Until then-”
“She’ll have the privilege to be my girlfriend.”
“Fake girlfriend.”
“Whatever.” He responds as if it’s the same thing.
Maybe for him, but not for me. For him, it would be one of the many relationships he has.
Yes, because he has a lot of them. When he and Amanda break up, he goes back to the city, as do we, and goes to school, our school, where girls fall at his feet, and he dates one per week, and that’s an understatement.
“Wait! My dad. He must be worried!” I remember. I didn’t tell him that I had gotten home yesterday, and I didn’t even leave a message.
“About that.” Allison grins.
“I got up with your dad asking where you were, and I didn’t know, so I called Riden to ask if he had seen you two. He said that he hadn’t, and Jake’s parents were also worried. While we were still on the phone, I remembered to go to the clothesline, and your dad followed. And then-”
“Oh my dear god! He saw us like this?!” I frantically ask.
“Yep, but he wasn’t the only one! I was still on the phone with Riden and told him I had found you and said to him and Jake’s parents to go to the balcony and-”
“The Wests saw us like this?!”
“Oh yes.” Riden is the one talking now. “Then all the parents disappeared, and I came to meet Allison here, took a few selfies and photos, and then you woke up.”
Of course, they took photos. They are gonna haunt me to my dying breath.
I walk to the kitchen with all of them following.
“Good afternoon dad!” I say.
“Look who decided to show up! No note, no warning! You scared me, Maddie!” He scolds. “And when I do find you, you are very, very close to Jake West.” He may be scolding me, but I can see a smile starting to appear. I just can’t with this family. Has he finally gone crazy?
“Why are you smiling?” I question.
“I tried to be mad at you, but my little girl finally has a boyfriend.” He sighs. “I was starting to get worried that you wouldn’t have the experience, since you were always in here with your sister and me, and you were always with your nose in books and you didn’t sociali-”
“Okay dad. I get it.”
He isn’t wrong, though, and I don’t blame him for thinking, and I know he did, that I was going to stay single until I finished college, or until I’m 30. I guess I love to think about it and read about it and see it, but I don’t have the patience to be in a relationship.
The teenagers start to laugh at my dad’s comments.
“And you three, stop laughing!” I glare at them.
“Where’s the food?” I ask, annoyed, and hug my dad.
“The food is on the table, and I made it for all of you. I already ate.” He presses a kiss into my head, then I let go of him, and he gets out of the kitchen.
I sit at the table, not waiting for them, and start to eat with my usual manners.
They then sit around the table, and Allison is currently face-palming, Riden is shaking his head, eyes wide open, probably still not believing that I eat like this, and Jake is used to it, so he casually speaks with an annoyed face.
“Have you ever considered, I don’t know, maybe being civil?”
“And have you ever considered not talking?” I reply.
Allison finally intervenes.
“You two stop with the bickering, and Riden, stop staring at Mads’s manners.
I think this plan’s crazy, but it could work.
I’m dying to see Mads being all softie with Jake.
” She grins, probably imagining me being a sweetheart with the one and only Jake West. I don’t know how I am going to do it.
I’ve never been a soft, caring person at all.
I hate hugs and kisses and handholding. I’m a bitter, loveless old lady, I’m aware.
“Oh shut up. I can do it!” I defend.
I can perfectly fake my disgusted face every time I have to touch Jake.
I’m a good liar when I want to. Usually, I’m too lazy to be a good liar, but I’ve already tricked many people, and they never suspected it.
That’s why Allison thinks I can’t do it.
Because I never bothered to really lie to her, so I always failed.
But this time I won’t be lazy. I just have to get used to it, that’s it.
“Yeah, right. Seeing is believing.”
I finish eating, ignoring Allison.
“Anyways, we have to start practising the song for the fair.”
“We haven’t even signed up yet!” He informs whining. Wait, we didn’t?
“Then we go after you eat.” I say, somehow progressively more annoyed.
The food on his plate lasts five minutes, and then we leave home.
We’re already out of the gate when Jake turns to me and asks, “May I hold your hand, honey?”
“Yes…” I say unsure and more preoccupied with the hands, to ever call him out for the nickname. When his hand grabs mine, I flinch a little at the sudden touch. Deal with it, Madelaine.
“You okay?” He asks, surely noticing.
“I’m just not a big fan of physical touch.”
I hate all types of physical touch, definitely not my love language. I mean I like to give hugs, but that only happens when I’m excited or need comfort.
“Now that you’re my girlfriend, you better get used to it, because there will be a lot.” He jokes, but I, being me, take it personally.
“Whoa, easy there. There is not going to be that much.” Pause. “Hand holding and…” Do I really have to say it? Fine. “Hugs,” I make a disgusted face, “are allowed, but that’s all you’ll get.”
“I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
“Oh no, you always have a choice, honey, we just want to make it believable, don’t we?”
“I can’t believe I underestimated your blackmail abilities. Okay, fine. But don’t you think people are going to be suspicious if the famous Jake West doesn’t kiss his girlfriend?” He has a point, but I’m not going to tell him he’s right. Instead, I respond,
“You’re right, they will find it suspicious if the town’s whore isn’t putting his tongue down my throat…” He fake-laughs, which makes me smile. “You can only kiss me if it’s really, really necessary. Like if someone questions our relationship. Deal?”
“Deal.”
Silence takes hold of us, but not for long, because my thoughts burst through my mouth.
“This is so weird.” I state, lifting our hands.
“I know. I couldn’t stop thinking about it last night.” He sighs in agreement.
“Ah, always thinking of me, aren’t you sweet…” I joke, pinching his cheek like I’m sure his grandma does, and he slaps my hands away.
“Stop that.” He speaks, rubbing his cheek like I’m contagious, annoyed.
“Oh, how the tables have turned.” I happily grin, and he rolls his eyes.
I love seeing him like this. Love is a strong word to be associated with him. Let’s take a deep breath and rethink our words of choice. I enjoy seeing him like this.
We continue our conversation, each one of us defending our positions until we reach the town board. The flyer states that the person responsible for signing up is… Linda! Good. With Jake’s hand still holding mine, I drag him to the ice cream place.
“Good afternoon, Linda!” I greet.
The second she sees me, she speeds to me and presses her palm to my forehead.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Madelaine Brown, are you sick? Fever? Headache? Anything?”
I don’t see where this is going, and I’m not sure I want to.
“Are you crazy? I’m fine!”
Her mouth opens to a big, mocking smile. “I heard you were dating Jake West and thought you were sick.” She removes her hand from my head and continues. “I mean, when I first heard you were dating him, I thought I was hallucinating!”
“Me too.” Jake responds, a traumatized look on his face.
I hit him on the arm and then turn to her.
“Stop exaggerating, Linda.”
“No, no, no. All those nights I babysat you two, and there was screaming and fighting and sometimes hitting, which led to this. That’s a fucking good plot twist if I’ve ever seen one.”
“We’re here to sign up for the talent show at the fair.” I sigh.
“You know, punching each other and being mean doesn’t actually count as a talent?” Linda jokes, and I roll my eyes.
“We’re going to sing.”
“Right.” She comes back to reality. “Wait, you two sing? You can be together on the same stage without security?”
“Actually, yes.”
“Okay. This year’s talent show is going to be sent from hell, great!”
“Bye, Linda.”
“You and he can’t possibly be dating.” She says, more to herself.
For god’s sake…
“Kiss.”
“I’m sorry, what?!” Okay, maybe I was too loud because people are staring.