And Along Came Jake (11 page)

"Are you sure that's what you came here for, Jake Patterson?" she said, rolling her eyes.

"Well actually" he nervously put his hands in his pockets, and slowly started bouncing on the balls of his feet. "I was just wondering––you know just thinking maybe––I mean, if you weren't busy or anything––" He took a deep breath and blurted it out. "Misty, would you like to po on a gicnic with me?"

"Huh?" She giggled.

"I mean, go on a picnic with me, would you like to go on a picnic with me?" He reiterated.

Misty immediately started laughing as Jake felt his fear of rejection come to fruition. he slowly nodded his head. "Okay then Misty." he moped. "Guess I'll see you around then."

With Misty still laughing, she reached over, and lightly slapped his shoulder. "No, no, no Jake." she said. "I'd be happy to go on a picnic with you. I was laughing because I thought it was cute when you said, what was it?
Po on a gicnic!
You poor thing, you must have been so nervous."

"So…is that a yes?" He asked, with an unsure grin.

"Yes Jake, just tell me when." She said with a smile.

"How about tomorrow, at the park?" He asked rubbing his chin, acting like he was giving it much thought.

Mr. McFarland opened his bedroom window. "Come on in Misty, your Ma needs your help. You can talk to that boy later!"

"Okay Pa, be right there!" She called, looking towards the window. She looked back at Jake and continued. "Well, I'd better get inside and help ma."

"Alright, see you around noon tomorrow?" he asked.

"Sounds good to me Jake, see you there!" she agreed, then Misty McFarland ran inside her house yelling. "What do ya need now mama?"

<><><> 

As Jake walked to the Brierly's for dinner, he felt bad, asking Misty out for the wrong reasons. For a minute, he thought about going back to tell her the truth, until he remembered Madison's date with Chad Westfield. He wanted to show Madison he could get someone too. Nevertheless, Jake felt bad about it, yet at the same time he couldn't wait to tell Madison that Misty accepted.

As Jake walked up to the Brierly's, he noticed Madison putting freshly washed clothes outside on the clothesline. It was close to seven o'clock in the evening, and the sun was starting to set. Jake looked at Madison, noticing how the setting sun outlined her body in a way that he'd never seen before. He stopped, and just admired her for a moment. As Madison bent down grabbing another blouse, she turned to Jake who was still looking at her.

"Hey, what are you looking at?" she said "Don't just stand there, give me a hand!"

"Sure Maddie!" He said, quickly snapping out of his trance, and walking towards her.

"So, how'd it go at Misty's?" Madison asked nonchalantly, as they both hung clothes.

"It went okay." He said, grabbing a shirt, making it seem like no big deal.

"And?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"And what?" He replied with a smirk.

"You know what I'm talking about Jake Patterson!" she exclaimed as she rolled her eyes.

"And––she––said yes!" he answered trying to mask his excitement.

She looked down on the ground, "Well that's great Jake, when's the big day?"

"We're having a picnic at the park tomorrow." He said grabbing the last shirt from the basket to hang.

"That's when Chad and I are having our date; I guess we'll be seeing each other there, huh?" she smiled.

Mrs. Brierly poked her head out the front door to let them know dinner was on the table. As they ate, Mr. and Mrs. Brierly noticed Madison wasn't herself, just picking at her food.

"What's wrong Madison?" her mother asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine ma." she said as she continued picking at her food. "But I need to tell y'all something; I'm just afraid you'll say no."

"What is it honey? I'm sure it's not that bad?" Her father asked, taking a drink of iced tea.

"It's about this boy, Chad Westfield––he kinda asked me out on a picnic, and I was wondering if I could go?"

"Nope, not happening, young lady!" Her father answered, taking a bite of bread and talking with his mouth full. "That Chad Westfield seems to be a good fella, but I don't believe you two should be alone at a picnic."

"Dad!" Madison exclaimed "Every Saturday the park's full of people, it's not like we'd be alone, and besides, Jake's gonna be there with Misty McFarland!"

"And you were gonna tell us this when?"  Mr. Brierly asked, turning his attention to Jake. "You know the deal Jake, as long as you live in our barn, you go by the rules we set in place."

"I know Mr. B., and I was gonna tell y'all, honest I was." he said in defense.

"Nate" Mrs. Brierly looked at her husband. "Can I see you in the other room for a minute?"

Mr. Brierly took one more bite of food, then followed his wife into the living room. Jake and Madison could hear them whispering, until it appeared they had come to some sort of an agreement. As they sat back at the table Mr. Brierly looked to the teens.

"Abigail and I agreed to let you both go on one condition." he said " Jake, you look after Madison and Madison, you look after Jake. Once the picnic's over, both of you come straight home, together––do you understand?"

"Yes sir!" Jake and Madison said in unison, as they both smiled.

<><><> 

After they finished dinner, cleaned the table, and washed the dishes, Madison headed to her room to try on outfits for Jake to see and choose from. First, she came dressed in a light green skirt and a white blouse. She stood in front of him and spun around.

"So, what do you think?" she asked.

"Umm, what else ya got?" he said rubbing his chin.

Madison ran back up-stairs to try on a blue skirt, keeping the same blouse; she then came back down and stood in front of him once again.

"What about this one?" she asked.

"Nah, let's see what else you have." He said shaking his head.

After a half hour of changing clothes, Madison had one outfit remaining, but Jake didn't seem to like that either. "What about that green skirt and white blouse?" Jake questioned.

"Oh" she said, putting her hands on her hips. "You mean the first one I tried on?"

"Yeah, go put that on again." he said smiling.

"Jake Henry Paterson!" She huffed, furrowing her brow.

She sighed, turned around, grunted and stormed back to her room. When she walked in her bedroom she noticed her clothes and shoes scattered everywhere. She let out another deep sigh and started digging through the pile to find the first outfit. She put it on once more, walked down stairs, and stood annoyed in front of Jake.

"You mean this one?" she said with attitude.

"Yep, that's the one!" He nodded. "It looks good on you Maddie; Chad will love it!"

"Jake, this is the very first outfit I showed you!" She said, talking through her teeth.

"At first I didn't like it," he added "but the more I thought about it, I realized it really brings out your eyes. I mean, if I were to take you out, I'd like to see you in that."

"You really think it looks good on me?" Madison began to blush.

Mr. Brierly walked out of the kitchen chomping on a shiny red apple, shaking his head. "Nah" he said "Not that one, go try on something else."

Her face was now beet red; she turned, threw her hands in the air, and stormed back up the stairs. She huffed all the way to her room, mumbling under her breath how men can be so stupid.

"What's eating her?" Mr. Brierly said, looking at Jake as he bit into his apple.

"Not sure Mr. B." Jake replied as he shrugged his shoulders. "I guess women are just weird like that."

"Well Jake" Mr. Brierly finished the apple. "You best be getting to bed soon."

Jake stretched and yawned "I can't believe I sat through her trying on everything she owned."

"Let me tell you a secret, Jake!" Mr. Brierly advised. "Next time something like this happens, choose the first outfit no matter what; it'll save lots of time."

"Thanks Mr. B., I'll keep that in mind!" He chuckled and walked out the front door to the old barn.

As Madison picked up her scattered clothes, she thought of Jake, how patient he was while she tried on every article of clothing she owned. She thought of his smile and how he looked each time she came down the stairs. When she was done, she flopped down on her bed, reached between the mattresses, pulled out her diary and wrote about the day.

As Jake neared at the old barn, he stood in front of the big oak tree and traced his fingers on the carved letters of his name, remembering the day he etched it with his father's pocket-knife, just five years ago. He then went inside the barn, laid down in bed and fell asleep thinking about his many choices in life and how they seemed to bring him to this moment. He didn't have a normal life growing up, yet he was happy, and that was good enough for him.

<><><> 

It was close to ten o'clock when Jake finally woke the next morning. He absolutely loved Saturday's; no work at the Brierly's, and Big Paul always gave him weekends off to do as he pleased. Paul Sutton took that time to be in the store alone, completing his paperwork, reading a good book, or thinking about Jenny and his life.

After Jake was up and moving around, he remembered today was his date with Misty, and Madison's date with Chad. He tried on different clothes in the broken pieces of mirror that hung by the front door. He pretended to be on his date with Misty. Saying things like 'So Misty, do you come here often?' or 'Hey Misty, can I get you anything else?' He tried staying both calm, and suave while preparing for their picnic.

Mr. Brierly asked Madison to go to the barn and bring Jake back to the house so he could talk with both of them about their dates.

Unknown to Jake, Madison was witnessing the show of her life as she arrived at the old barn. She overheard Jake talking to someone, but no one responded, and it seemed as though Jake was answering his own questions. Madison quickly figured out what was going on, as she actually did the same thing earlier that morning, pretending to be on her date with Chad.

She peeked in through a crack in the barn and saw Jake talking to his imaginary date, acting like such a gentleman. She quickly cupped her hands over her mouth, to try and conceal her laughter.

She watched him grab a blanket from his bed, pop it out, and observe it slowly float to the ground; he then went over to where he presumed Misty to be, and as a gentleman would, helped his imaginary date sit on one side of the blanket.

He picked up an old crate, representing a picnic basket, sat down, pretended to take out an abundance of food; winking at his imaginary date, feeding her strawberries.

"Oh, you want to feed me strawberries too?" he asked "That'd be just fine."

Jake closed his eyes and opened his mouth to receive the imaginary strawberry, but was startled when he heard someone giggling outside. Jake quickly stood up, knocked the crate away, and tossed the blanket back on his bed. When he opened the door, he saw Madison doubled over, laughing harder than ever.

"Can you feed me strawberries, too?" She chuckled, mocking him.

Jake could feel his face instantly flush; he put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the doorway trying to keep his cool.

"What are you talking about Maddie?" he asked

"Oh come on Jake!" She laughed "I saw everything. Here's how you looked when you were being fed the strawberry."

Madison leaned over, closed her eyes, opened her mouth and moved her lips up and down, then began laughing once more. When she opened her eyes she noticed Jake was gone. She stopped laughing, stood in the open doorway and saw Jake sitting on his bed, fidgeting, picking lint off of his pants.

"I'm sorry Jake" She said, folding her arms and leaning against the door frame. "I didn't mean to––"

"Didn't mean to what?" he exclaimed "Didn't mean to barge in while I made a fool of myself? I've never been on a date before, I don't know what to do."

"Hey, I've never been on a date either, "she reassured." and to be honest––umm, never mind."

"You did the same thing, didn't you?" He asked, cracking a smile. "You pretended you were with Chad, right?"

"Yes, I'm guilty" She said, covering her face with her hands. "I'm so embarrassed too, because pa walked in as I was finishing an imaginary slow dance with Chad."

They both had a good laugh, then made their way back to the house to be lectured by Mr. Brierly. As they walked, they made a pact with one another, Jake would watch Madison and Madison watch Jake, then when their dates were over, they'd critique one another letting the other know how they did.

Mr. Brierly was sitting outside on the porch cleaning his fingernails with his pocketknife, when they arrived at the house. Both seventeen year olds stood in front of him, waiting to hear what advice he had.

"Now I want y'all to have a good time today, but I also want you both to look after the other."