Best Friend’s Brother: Best Friend's Brother Romance (9 page)

“Jennifer hey,” Jakob got up from the blanket and gave her a warm hug.

“Oh wow, I didn’t even realize that that was your sister.  Hi Lauryn,” Jennifer said.  Lauryn waved from where she was sitting.  “And Zooey.  Hi.”

Zooey was a bit more polite than Lauryn.  She stood up next to Jakob and gave Jennifer a hug.  They talked for a bit, catching up.  Jennifer was mostly interested in Jakob and how he had been since the war.  It was obvious that there was a little bit of a crush still there.

“What about love?  Are any of you married?” Jennifer asked.  She had a drink in her hand, and she twirled her swizzle stick around in it nervously.  The ice clanked together in the little cup.

“Well, my man’s Mr. Michael Phelps over there,” Lauryn pointed out at the water.  Ryan had just done a somersault into the water from a dock.  He looked up at them to see if Lauryn was watching.  Lauryn clapped and waved at him.  “He’s a pediatrician.”

Zooey didn’t know what to say.  She shot Jakob a nervous glance.  When their eyes met they smiled and both looked down.

“Zooey and I are…” Jakob started.  He put a hand on the small of her back and flashed her a smile.  Zooey blushed and kept her head down.

“Oh, oh!” Jennifer said.  She nodded her head vigorously and smiled.  “That’s great!  I always knew you two would end up together.”

Jennifer was really nice.  She didn’t let anything get to her.  She even joined them on their blanket and spent a lot of the afternoon talking to them.

The majority of the people were either in the lake or closer to the house.  Carla was doing her job of being hostess and was mostly inside bringing out food and other refreshments.  Jakob left everyone on the blanket for a bit to go inside to help.

“So, Zooey, how long have you and Jakob been an item?” Jennifer asked.

“Since the 6th grade, they just didn’t know it,” Lauryn laughed.

“We’re not officially an item.  We’re kind of just seeing how things work out,” Zooey admitted.  That was when Ryan joined them.  He introduced himself to Jennifer, and wrapped a towel around his waist.  He sat on the blanket beside Lauryn and kissed her on the head.

There was loud laughter coming from the direction of the house.  Jakob and Carla both had trays of food, and they were talking and laughing for a while before going to the picnic tables to put them down.  Carla laughed again, and playfully pushed Jakob.  He blushed and laughed too.  Zooey could feel her face getting hot, but she didn’t say anything or act like this was something bothering her.  She had no right to be upset.  Jakob didn’t belong to her, and he clearly was a good enough person to want to be friends with his ex-girlfriend.

Jakob was coming back over to them, and Carla was with him.  She linked arms with him.  Lauryn looked over at Zooey, who was looking down and playing with her fingernails.  Lauryn knew that Zooey had seen them.

“Hey,” Lauryn tapped Zooey on the shoulder and whispered in her ear.  “Don’t let it get to you.”

“Is everybody having a good time?” Carla smiled at each of them when she was within earshot.  She put a hand on Jakob’s stomach and rubbed it before letting go of him and unlinking their arms.

“It’s great.  Thank you for inviting us,” Jennifer said pleasantly.  She took a sip of her drink from her straw, oblivious when it came to the tension that hung heavy in the air.

“Yeah, it’s a beautiful day.  Thanks,” Zooey said.  Her voice was low, but she tried to sound as genuine as she possibly could.  Jakob held out both hands, and Zooey took them and stood up.  He kept hold of her hands even when she stood.

“Wanna go for a walk with me?” he asked like there was no one else around them.  Zooey stared into his blue eyes.  He didn’t take his eyes off of her.  Lauryn grinned like a dope from the blanket, but didn’t say anything.  Zooey nodded.

“First stop, hot wings.  Excuse us ladies.  And Ryan,” Jakob saluted everyone.  Ryan saluted back.  Carla’s smile was plastic, but she wished them a good walk.  She insisted they didn’t go too far away because there would be games later.

“You’re really proud of your hot wings huh?” Zooey giggled.  Jakob kissed one of her hands.

“I was proud of my hot wings at the barbecue.  These are all Carl.  She still makes them the best.”

“Did she teach you?”

“She sure did.  Have one,” Jakob pinned a wing down with a plastic fork and brought it up.  Zooey used her hand to take the piece off of the fork, and she took a bite.  Her eyes widened.  It was the best thing she’d ever tasted.  She grabbed Jakob’s fork and a styrofoam plate and took up a few more wings.

“I’m glad you guys can still be friends,” Zooey said.

“Me too.  She’s probably the best friend I have now,” he turned to look behind him.  Carla was sitting on Zooey’s blanket, and she looked like she was having a conversation with Lauryn.  Lauryn didn’t look like she was about to throw a punch, so that meant that things were going well.  Zooey really didn’t have anything to worry about.  She trusted Jakob, she even trusted Carla; what she wanted to figure out was if she trusted herself and her own emotions.

“That’s so weird,” Zooey admitted.  Jakob laughed.

“How so?”

“I dunno.  Look at me and Lauryn.”

“I had no idea you guys were the poster girls for best friendship,” Jakob laughed again.

“We should be.  I look racially ambiguous too, we should have our own poster.”

“Or sitcom,” Jakob shook his head and rolled his eyes.  He picked up a chicken wing from Zooey’s plate and took a bite.  They continued with their walk.

Zooey felt a bit more at ease now.  She felt like there was at least a label for what she and Jakob were, if only she knew just what that label actually was.

They walked in the opposite direction of the barn.  Zooey wasn’t feeling anxious anymore.  Jakob never made her nervous.  She would always be grateful for him for that.  They were about to step into the miniature orchard.  There were peach and apple trees in rows along the way.  The trees were bearing fruit, and there were large wooden fruit baskets under the trees.  Some had fruits in them, and others were empty.

Jakob picked up a peach and took a bite.  He closed his eyes to take in all of the flavor.  He reached into another basket and took a peach out for Zooey too.  She was busy with her last hot wing, but she took the peach happily.

“Give me a song,” Jakob said.

“
Give
you a song?  How does one give one a song?” Zooey’s mouth was half full and she paused for a second to lick hot sauce from her fingers.

“I meant sing me something.  Or at least give me some new music.”

“Does new have to mean 2014 or just new to you?”

“New to me.”

“I’ve been listening to Gregory Porter lately.  He’s a jazz musician.  I think you’d like On My Way to Harlem.  It’s a bit fast paced,” Zooey started snapping her fingers and humming along to a beat that only she knew.

“Brave enough to sing it?” he’d never heard her sing.  She only really let Lauryn hear anything she’d ever recorded or worked on, but Zooey rarely tried public singing.

“I’d feel more brave trying to sing Painted On Canvas, which is arguably one of Gregory Porter’s best.  The drum beat is soft, and lazy, and inviting.”

Jakob watched Zooey intently when she spoke.  Her eyes lit up when she was talking about music.  She was so passionate about it.  Jakob loved to watch her explain songs or describe musicians.  He urged her to give a little sample.  She’d been talking about Gregory Porter for the last few weeks; he wanted to see if she could do him justice.

Zooey started to snap her fingers and hum the intro of the song.  Her face was red, but she didn’t look too worried.  She sung out the first notes, being sure to keep up with the beat with the snap of her fingers.  She turned to look at Jakob when she got to the chorus.

“Step back and admire my view.  Can I use the colors I choose?  Do I have some say what you use?  Can I get some greens and some blues?” her eyes were closed now.  She was completely enraptured with the song.  Her voice sounded like it was floating.  It was beautiful.  Jakob applauded when she stopped.

“Amazing.  I loved it.  I’ll definitely check him out,” his words made her smile.  Zooey took him by the hand, and moved closer for a kiss.  Just before their lips met, from across the lake, came a bloodcurdling scream.

Chapter Seven

“How did I know I was actually gonna puke on her?” Lauryn whined.  They were on their way back from Carla’s house.

“Couldn’t have turned your head away last second?” Jakob shot her a look from his rearview mirror.

“I wasn’t aiming for her.  It just sorta came.  I think I had that yogurt too fast, or food poisoning.”

“Food poisoning and you’d still be puking.  How are you feeling?” Ryan had Lauryn cradled in his arms in the backseat.

For the most part things had been ok.  Carla’s scream was an understandable reaction, but she collected herself and dived into the lake to clean herself off.  Her plastic smile was now through gritted teeth, but she politely asked how Lauryn was feeling before storming inside to change.  She didn’t spend much time talking to any of them after that.  Lauryn had to fling herself and the blanket into the lake too to get everything cleaned.  It was embarrassing, but something deep down inside Lauryn thought it was more hilarious than anything else.

They dropped Zooey off and said their goodbyes.  The Savages had agreed to let Ryan stay with them that night since he had a flight early in the morning.

“ZoZo!” Isaiah was jumping up and down on the couch.  Kady was sitting on the floor close to where Isaiah was jumping.  When Isaiah was feeling brave, he would jump from the couch and leap into her arms.  Peter was in the kitchen.  He was cooking and listening to jazz.

Zooey waved at her family and stepped into the living room.

“How was the lake?” Kady asked.  She was fanning herself with an open coloring book.  Markers and colored pencils were strewn across the carpet of the living room floor.

“It was nice.  Lauryn kinda threw up on the hostess.”

“How did that happen?  Is she sick?”

“She seems better now.  Ryan thinks she’ll be fine,” Zooey said.

“Alrighty.  How was your time with Jake?” Kady said in a sing-song voice.  She gave Zooey the same smile she did when Zooey told her about her first crush in 2nd grade.

“Jake as in Lauryn’s Jake?” Peter used a hand and expertly flipped the contents of the frying pan that he was holding.  He was a former cruise ship chef, but he was now the owner of his own restaurant on the other side of town.  Peter picked up a slim glass bottle of what looked like oil and poured a bit of it into the frying pan.  A fire started in the pan, but Peter flipped it a few times to settle the flame.

“Yep,” Kady said gleefully.

“Isn’t he going back to Iraq?”

“Nope.”

“You and Jake huh?  When did that happen?”

“That’s
exactly
what I said,” Kady said.  She winked up at Peter, who returned the wink with one of his own.

“Hasn’t actually happened yet,” Zooey said.  “Not yet.”

*

Zooey woke up to the faint sound of clicking on her bedroom window.  It took her a while to focus on where the sound was coming from.  Someone was throwing stones at her bedroom.  Zooey stumbled out of bed and moved toward the window.  She opened it and looked outside.  Lauryn was on the lawn, and she looked upset.