Cake: A Love Story (3 page)

When the waitress came around, Jake ordered chicken tacos and water, not that I was spying on him or anything. The waitress stumbled on her words a bit and seemed flustered. Being a server myself, I probably wouldn’t have been able to keep my cool around Jake either. It seemed all eyes, including mine, were still trained on him. A few times he looked up from his conversation to scan the room with those beautiful eyes of his. People would quickly look away, pretending like they hadn’t been staring at him the entire time. But he knew. He had to know. None of us were being real subtle with our gawking. He was like some exotic zoo animal that we were all peering at through the cage trying to get a better look at.

Toward the end of dinner, Jake’s father, Scott, slightly drunk and boisterously entertaining, told a colorful rendition of his path to fatherhood, much to the embarrassment of his wife and kids. The story went something like this. After becoming a father to Mitch at twenty-three years old, Scott met Michelle and they had their first son, Keith. Then, two years later, they had a daughter, Emma. They decided that was enough kids for them. But then three years later, they had an “oops”…Jake. And just 11-months after Jake, they had a “make an appointment now”…Kyle. A vasectomy followed. And as Scott told it, it was the best decision he ever ‘didn’t make’ because, after having to live through the “the twin toddler terrors” as he called Jake and Kyle, more kids was the last thing he wanted. But then, as Scott remembers it, five years later his wife was begging him to have just one more baby after the boys started school. So “poor, suffering” Scott went and had the vasectomy reversed and a year later, their youngest son, Quinn, was born. But Michelle was unhappy again because she worried that Quinn would be lonely without a sibling close in age so two years later their youngest child, daughter Grace, was born. During the entire story the McKallister kids were covering their faces in mock humiliation and Michelle was shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

When Scott was done embarrassing his family, Jake’s older brother, Keith, grinned and said, “Geez Dad, seriously? Was that really necessary?”

Scott raised his glass and jokingly nodded his head as if he’d just done a valuable public service to the community.

“Well all I can say after that story is…Jake, I bet you’ve never been so happy to be an ‘oops’.” Everyone burst out laughing as Keith patted his brother Kyle on the shoulder sympathetically. Kyle raised his hands in defeat then pretended to cry. Jake slapped Kyle on the back supportively. It was such a cute, light-hearted moment for a family who had undoubtedly lived through some very dark times.

After dinner was finished, Sarah, who had been trying to get Jake’s attention all evening, made a beeline for him. During the rehearsal she’d been flirting with Jake’s brother, Kyle, who she was partnered with for the wedding. But now that his brother was in the picture, Kyle didn’t stand a chance. I watched him saunter off with an annoyed look on his face as Sarah introduced herself to his brother. Jake scanned her appreciatively with his eyes. With her shiny blond hair, high cheekbones and tall, model-worthy body, Sarah was stunning. Every guy thought so.

Girls, on the other hand, weren’t as impressed. Sarah may have been beautiful on the outside but her insides needed a little work. The first time we met, I, at least, tried to give her the benefit of the doubt but damn, Sarah was a difficult one to like. Just after being introduced, and getting an unimpressed once-over from her, I attempted to break the ice with a joke. Instead of laughing Sarah just stared at me like I was some annoying little gnat then turned her attention to someone else. She made me feel like a total idiot and, from that point on, I didn’t like her. But sadly, our paths still crossed occasionally because Kate and Sarah had been friends since birth. Their families lived next door to each other growing up. So occasionally when I went out with Kate, Sarah was there too. And when she was with us, the guys fought over her. It was as if Kate and I didn’t even exist. Occasionally one of Sarah’s rejects would hit on me, but any guy who was interested in Sarah, was not a guy I wanted to get to know. That’s why I hated the idea of her hitting on Jake. Once she had her claws in him, the rest of us were toast. As if, Casey.

Of course, I guess I couldn’t blame him for looking. She was practically thrusting her cleavage in his face. What straight man wouldn’t react to that? I noticed Jake’s eyes lingering a second too long on those impressive orbs. Sarah saw it too and took it as a sign to up her flirting. After all, she’d been waiting for this day to come for a long time now. So I watched as she boldly asserted her intentions. She was giggling and jiggling. If Jake wanted to, he could be having sex with her in a matter of minutes. However, the jury was still out on how he felt about her overly assertive behavior. I saw him look past her a few times. Was he planning an escape or was that just wishful thinking on my part?

Then Sarah made a big mistake. She placed her hand on his chest. As if someone flipped the switch again, Jake’s walls went back up. His relaxed smile from earlier instantly faded and the strained one was back. His body seemed more rigid and his face took on that same unapproachable quality.

Sarah saw it too. But instead of conceding defeat, she changed her tactics. The horny sexpot wasn’t working. She became more serious, more mature. I imagined she was telling him some sob story to get his sympathy. I wanted to laugh. Sarah was pulling out all the punches. But why wouldn’t she? In her eyes, Jake was the ultimate prize, a sexual encounter she could brag about for years to come. But just as Mitch had predicted, Sarah’s fawning didn’t go over well with Jake. He looked incredibly uncomfortable and did not seem in the least bit interested in Sarah. Huh…maybe her charms were not full proof after all.

Just then Kate’s mom, Angie, came up to me.

“Quite a looker, that one,” she remarked smiling and gesturing toward Jake with her eyes. “Damn,” she whispered.

I blushed. Had I been so obvious in my stalking? Angie must have taken my silence as surprise.

“Hey, I may be old…and married…but I’m not dead.”

I laughed. “Don’t explain yourself to me…I agree with you…he’s smoldering eye candy.”

“Poor boy doesn’t know what hit him. Sarah is a force to be reckoned with.”

“I’m sure he meets Sarahs every day. Somehow I think he can handle himself just fine,” I replied.

“Oh I’m sure you’re right. Hell, if I was 30 years younger I’d be giving it a shot too…oh crap, who am I kidding, I would never have had a chance at a guy like him.”

“You and me both,” I laughed.

“Hey, don’t sell yourself short. You’re ever bit as gorgeous as Sarah, you’re just more subtle in your beauty.”

“Yeah, well a flat chest will do that to a person,” I joked. Angie cracked up.

“You’re so funny Casey. I’ll see you tomorrow for the big day. I’m so excited,” Angie squealed joyfully then hugged me and walked off. I glanced back. Sarah was still working her charms on what appeared now to be a completely uninterested Jake. Then, all of the sudden, Jake’s oldest brother Keith swooped in, made some excuse, and pulled his brother away. I smiled. Jake’s brothers were his escape route and I was certain they had ‘saved’ him many times before.

I smiled. Jake had just gone up a whole bunch of notches in my book. As he went back to his family, I walked to my chair to gather my things. I knew I should probably go over and introduce myself since we were paired together for the wedding but he kind of terrified me for reasons I could not explain. So I took the coward’s way out and made the decision to wait until tomorrow, just before the ceremony, then I would say hi.

As I was preparing to leave, I heard Kate call my name. I turned around and, to my horror; I saw her walking up…with Jake. No…oh God…no. Instantly I felt weak in the knees.

Jake stared at me impassively with that face…with those eyes…wary of another Sarah episode no doubt. Swooning girls must surround the guy all the time and I got the impression he did not entirely appreciate the adoration. I was determined not to be that girl.

“I just wanted to introduce you guys. Jake, this is my very good friend, Casey Caldwell. She will be your partner for the ceremony tomorrow. She can fill you in on anything you missed at the rehearsal.”

Jake politely reached out his hand. I put mine in his. “Nice to meet you,” he said.

“You too,” I managed to say before I gazed up at his gorgeous, famous face and, for some reason, all rational thought left my brain. For probably the first time in my life, I became hopelessly and completely tongue-tied. I could not come up with even one tiny thing to say to Jake. Not only was I not THAT girl, I wasn’t even a girl who could carry on a normal conversation with the guy.

Jake let go of my hand and looked away, no doubt sensing the awkwardness too. An uncomfortable silence followed. Panic took over. My list…my list…what the hell was on my list? The three of us stood there uneasily for a few seconds before Kate prodded, “Casey maybe you can tell Jake what he missed.”

“Yeah, sure,” I mumbled. Then I had to think. What did we even do in the rehearsal? My mind was a giant blank. More silence.

“Okay, so I’ll leave you guys to it…I have to talk to my mom about the wedding before she leaves,” Kate claimed before scurrying away like a coward.

Kate just left me dangling off the ledge. What a traitor! Jake and I watched her walk away. I had a feeling that he felt as betrayed by her as I did. Reluctantly he turned back to me.

Jake cleared his throat, “So…uh…is there anything out of the ordinary I need to know or is the wedding pretty standard faire?”

And then he did it. He scanned the crowd looking for his brother to come and save him…from me. Oh no you don’t, asshole! You will not reduce me to a ‘Sarah’. All the sudden my voice returned. Jake McKallister was about to meet the real Casey Caldwell.

“Yes…pretty standard wedding…except…you know…for the dance moves at the end.”

This got Jake’s attention immediately. Where he might not have really noticed me before, Jake gaped at me now, his eyes opened wide with surprise and confusion. “What do you mean the dance moves?”

“You know, at the end, the whole wedding party…we are all doing the dance.”

The color nearly drained from Jake’s face. He looked truly shocked. He was shaking his head. “No. Nobody told me.”

Now any normal person would have shut it down here. I mean this was Jake McKallister, a goddamn, worldwide celebrity who was certainly not known for having a sunny personality. But, oh no, not me. I had the unfortunate disease that others had referred to as verbal diarrhea. Once I got started, the words just poured out of me.

“Yeah, they surprised us with it at the rehearsal this afternoon. Have you ever seen on the internet where the whole wedding party dances down the aisle in celebration?” I asked.

“I…maybe…I don’t know,” Jake uttered, stumbling over his words.

“Well, that is basically what we will be doing,” I continued in a pleasant voice.

Jake just stared at me in disbelief before saying, “I just can’t believe no one said anything to me.”

“Well I think it was a last minute thing, you know?”

“Still, I mean, you’d think that is something they’d mention,” he replied shaking his head. His eyebrows were furrowed in frustration. The initial shock was wearing off and now Jake just looked pissed. It was definitely time to stop. He was getting agitated. It was entirely possible that he wouldn’t find my little prank humorous. Best-case scenario: he laughed. Worse-case scenario: he would seek a restraining order against me. That should have been enough for me to shut the hell up but…nope. Instead I just upped the ante.

“Yeah, that is weird…huh? Anyway…no worries. The dance is really easy. I’ll teach you…it goes like this, one-two-three hop then skip then back two-three-four hop then skip. See, it’s pretty easy.”

To illustrate my terribly choreographed fake dance, I did a ridiculous ‘stand in place’ version. My arms were flailing all over the place and my feet were doing something close to Irish dancing. Jake’s mouth dropped open in horrified disbelief as he watched me.

“You want to practice?”

My rockstar partner stared at me like I had two rotating heads before regaining his composure and shaking his own head in annoyance, “No, not really.”

“Okay…suit yourself. Oh shoot…I almost forgot…at the end, just as we leave the church, we all have to jump in the air and click our heels together.”

“What?” Jake blurted out with a seriously irritated look on his face. I’d crossed the line of his tolerance. “Are you serious?” He asked me, not so much as a question but as a complaint.

He’d just given me the question I needed to end my little rouse. I smiled, shook my head and answered, “no.”

It took a few seconds for my response to register with Jake.

“Wait…are you kidding?” He asked in disbelief.

“Yeah, I’m just kidding,” I grinned. “No dancing…just your standard wedding faire.”

Jake stared at me in surprise, no total shock, and, for a second, I worried that worst case scenario was about to become fact. But then a smile, so dazzling and so sincere, spread across his handsome face and he said, “Seriously? You’re just messing with me?”

“We were having an awkward moment,” I grinned, shrugging. “I thought it might lighten the mood.” No way was I going to tell him my true motivation behind the prank.