I'm Yours (Bold As Love) (9 page)

“
I hope you are being careful,” my dad says after a moment.

“
No worries, Dad. We’ve got double protection. Thanks though.”

“
Every time? It only takes once, son.”

“
I know,” I say as I put the last of the groceries away. I went up to my room and unpacked my bag. There was still a lot of the day left. What could I do with it? I did have a bit of homework to do, so I pulled out my books and got started. An hour later, I was finished and Drake wanted me to play a racing game with him. I walked across the hall to Drake’s room and plopped down into one of his two bean bags.

I picked a random car and we raced over and over for hours. I won most of them, but Drake won a lot too. Soon, my dad was calling us down for supper. We sat at the table and ate a meal of tacos together. Drake was going on a field trip to an aquarium so he was really excited about that. Even more excited that my dad was going with him. I really hope Dad could keep things together.

Which reminds me of my promise to think about forgiving him. Maybe I already have. I don’t feel anger towards him anymore. I was actually happy he was back. “I’ll help you load the dishes, Dad.” Together we started putting the dishes away into the dishwasher. After we finished, I leaned against the counter and tucked my hands into my pockets.

“
Dad, I just want to let you know that we’re good. I’m not mad anymore. I really happy that you are doing better and spending time with Drake. He really missed you.”

My dad came over and hugged me. “Thanks son. That really means a lot. I plan on staying like this too. Maybe next weekend, we can go to Raleigh for a hockey game.”

“
That sounds great Dad.” He smiles and pats my shoulder. I go upstairs and call Emily.

“
Hey love,” she answers on the third ring.

“
Hey Sweetness. Busy?”

“
Not at all. Dad and me are watching a movie. What’s up?”

“
I just wanted to tell you that I talked to my dad.”

“
You did? That’s great, Jake! Now you two can rebuild your relationship,” she says with way too much excitement.

I chuckle. “Yeah. We are planning to go to a hockey game this weekend coming up. Should be fun,” I tell her.

“
Drake will love that. Dad’s giving me the evil eye for talking during the movie, so I’ll see you tomorrow,” she says.

“
Okay. I love you Sweetness.”

“
I love you too.”

I set my phone down on my nightstand and plug it into it’s charger. I turned on the radio on my alarm clock, changed for bed, and laid down. I listened to music as I thought about our future. Where was Emily going to college at? Would I be fine with her going to a different college than me? How far away would it be? Long distance would be hard, but I would try. What about after college? I was planning to play with the NHL, if I could.

What was Emily wanting to do? What if Emily found someone else at college? Would she give us up for the chance with someone else? I sighed. Too many questions to which I didn’t know the answer. We would find a way. I was determined to make that happen. With that thought, I fell into a peaceful sleep.

“
Hey, prom is coming up. Are we going?”

Emily looks over at me and bites her lip.

“
What is it Sweetness?” I ask.

She shakes her head and smiles. “Nothing. Of course we’ll go. I just need to get a dress.”

“
Why don’t you wear the one you got this weekend? You would have everyone there jealous.”

“
I might. What’s the theme this year?”

“
Masquerade, I think.”

“
Then we’ll need a mask,” she says as we walk into the classroom. We go to our separate seats and excitement flows through my blood. I can’t wait to see Emily in that dress. I had three weeks to wait. Prom would be on the Friday, April 29
^th
. There would be an after party somewhere. It would be great. I pushed the thoughts of prom out of my mind as I focused on class. I would buy our prom tickets after class.

The rest of the week went by just like Monday. Emily and I hung out after school, usually with Drake. The hockey game was Saturday and I wanted to spend some time with Emily before we left, but she had other plans. She was going to head to Wilmington and find a mask to wear. Therefore, I spent the better half of Saturday with Drake and Dad. We had a good time and soon we were off to Raleigh.

Emily

I found a silver mask with purple swirling on it for myself. It would cover my eyes and nose. The silver would bring out the beading on my dress. I wasn’t sure what to get Jake, so I figured I would let him find something he liked.

It was about eight at night when I got home. Before I left, I put my dress in my car so Dad would think I bought it while I was out. That way he wouldn’t ask where it came from if I brought it out of my room. I grabbed my things and went inside to show him.

“
Wow, that’s a beautiful dress Emily. You’ll look great in it,” he comments as I hold it up for him. I show him the mask and he approves. I go to my room to put my dress and mask away. Suddenly, I have a crazy craving for ice cream. I head to the kitchen and start searching. YES! There is a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey ice cream. I pull it out, grab a spoon, and go into the living room to watch TV.

I can’t help but moan when I take that first spoonful. I
love
this ice cream. Once, I left at midnight to run up to Wal-Mart and buy some. It was definitely worth it. Castle was on TV and I watched it with my full attention. At the end of the show, I went to dip my spoon in the ice cream only to discover there wasn’t any. Great. I’m a pig who ate a whole pint of ice cream in one sitting. Oh well. It was delicious.

I put away my trash and spoon and tell my dad good night. I dig fresh clothes from my dresser and go take a shower. The hot water pelting down my skin relaxes me. I take a long shower and afterwards feel refreshed. I crawl into bed and turn on my TV. Jake said he would call me once he got home, which could be close to midnight, so I was going to stay awake until then.

Well, that didn’t happen. I woke up and realized I had fallen asleep. I roll over to look at my alarm clock. Nine in the morning. The aroma of bacon, sausage, and more food found my nose. I threw off the covers, instantly feeling hungry and made my way to the kitchen.

“
Wow, you really outdid yourself Dad,” I comment as my mouth waters from the food on the table. In addition to what I smelled was eggs, rice and white gravy, and biscuits. I retrieved a glass from the cabinet and poured myself a glass of milk. I sat down at the table with my father and dug in. It was delicious. “Thanks Dad,” I say as I put our plates away.

“
I’ll get it. Call Jake. He’s been calling all morning.” I give my dad a kiss on the cheek and head to my room. I grab my cell and call Jake.

“
Hey Sweetness,” he answers.

“
Hey. How was the game? Sorry I fell asleep.”

“
It’s okay. It actually went pretty well.”

“
That’s great love!”

“
Yeah. So you want to come over?”

“
I’ll be there in a few,” I reply. I hang up and go take a shower. Squeaky clean, I find a pair of Capri’s and a light sweater to go with. “I’m heading to Jake’s,” I holler over my shoulder to my dad.

“
Don’t stay out too late,” he calls back. I open the door to the garage and quickly make my way to Jake’s.

I rap on the door twice and a few moments later, Jake opens the door with a smile on his face. He pulls me to him and gives me a sweet kiss. “I love you,” he says, pushing a stray strand of hair behind my ear.

“
I love you,” I reply.

He tugs me inside and before I can ask he answers my unspoken question. “They went out for another father-son day.” He leads me up to his room and wastes no time getting me in the mood.

I snuggle up to Jake under the covers. “What’s going on in that head of yours,” he asks twirling his index finger on my bare shoulder.

“
Nothing much. Just thinking about all that’s happened since I met you last August,” I reply tracing his stomach.

“
A lot has happened.”

“
Seems we just attract trouble” I comment quietly.

“
Maybe so. But think of all the good times. If we do attract trouble, we also attract happiness.”

I cuddle closer to him and close my eyes. “Not going to fall asleep on me, are you Sweetness,” Jake asks reading my mind.

“
No,” I say with a yawn. He chuckles and soon I’m fast asleep.

“
What in the hell?”

I groggily roll over at the sound of a voice. My eyes pop open when I hear Jake reply, “Dad, be quiet. She’s sleeping!” Oh my goodness. Thankfully, I’m facing the wall and Jake, who happened to not being looking down at me. I closed my eyes and I hear Jake tell his dad to just get out in a hushed voice.

“
Jake, you have a naked girl in your bed with your brother across the hall!”

“
She won’t be naked if you get the hell out!”

A few seconds later, I hear the click of the door. Jake flops back down and looks over at me to see my eyes open. I can’t help it. There’s so much tension that I just laugh. Jake gives a halfhearted smile. “How am I supposed to face him now,” I ask once my laugh calms down.

“
Just like always. Confident.”

“
I guess I better go,” I say reluctantly.

“
You don’t have to go. Just get dressed.”

I look to see the alarm clock seeing that it was a little after five. Wow, I slept for quite a bit. “No, I should probably go.”

At this, Jake pulls me to him and holds me tight. “I don’t want you to go Sweetness. You’ve been sleeping the day away without me.”

“
You didn’t sleep,” I ask. He shakes his head. “How about I stay longer next time?” He kisses my forehead and says okay. I roll over and sit up. I get up to find my clothes and start to put them on while Jake lays on his back with one hand behind his head, watching me. I pull the my sweater over my head and look at Jake looking so sexy.

I walk over and climb on the bed to straddle him. I lean down and place a long, sweet kiss on those lips of his. “I love you,” I tell him.

“
I love you Sweetness.”

Sadly, I get off him and wave goodbye once I’m at his bedroom door. Somehow, I manage to avoid Drake and Mr. Benson. I don’t know how, but I’m grateful. I spend the rest of my evening doing schoolwork.

Jake

I wait a few minutes after Emily leaves to go find my dad. I can’t believe he just barged in. I take my time pulling on my boxers and shorts. I open the door to find my father standing outside with his arms crossed. “Why didn’t you just barge in,” I ask.

“
Don’t start Jake. You shouldn’t have been like that in the first place.”

“
You already knew that we were active! I said so after we came back from Uncle Roy’s! You should have knocked. No one was here. We did nothing wrong.”

“
Bullshit. Look, you just better keep that out of this house. What if it had been Drake instead?”

“
Drake knocks.” My dad shakes his head and storms off. I walk over to Drake’s room and knock. Drake opens the door and smiles. “How was your day buddy,” I ask walking in. I plop into a bean bag and Drake goes into extensive detail about his day out with Dad. “I’m glad you had fun. Want to race,” I ask. Drake grins from ear to ear and goes to set the racing game up. I picked my car and Drake picked out the track.

He decided to go with a really curvy one, proudly stating, “I’m beast as this game.”

I chuckle and say, “Let’s just race.” After an hour or two of racing (and me losing), Drake pauses the game and looks over at me. “One day this week can just me and you hang out and do something?”

“
Sure thing. Let’s go eat supper. I think I heard Dad calling us.” We race down the stairs and into the kitchen. We slide into our seats and have a family dinner that is slightly awkward since my dad is still pissed about earlier.

After supper, I usher Drake upstairs to take a shower and I do the same. I slip on some pajama pants and crawl into bed. I text Emily sweet dreams and a smiley when she replies with the same message. Soon, I fall asleep.

The shrill ringing of my phone goes off from a text message. I pick it up and look through my sleepy eyes to see a text from Emily.

Midnight walk?


I throw my covers off and grab a hoodie from the floor. I slip on a pair of shoes and sneak downstairs and out the door. Standing at the end of the driveway is Emily. She’s wearing one of my hoodies
and
pajama pants. “Do you rummage through my drawers and steal all my clothes,” I ask.

She smiles and shrugs. “I like them.”

I greet her with a kiss and inquire about her reasoning for being out tonight. “I just wanted to see you.” She hooks her arm through mine before returning her hand to her kangaroo pocket. We walk down the road a bit and to our bench in the park. I sit down and Emily surprises me by straddling me.

She gives me a sweet, slow kiss before resting her head in the crook of my neck. I place my hands on her hips and wait. I know something is bothering her. That’s why she’s still awake. I just have to wait until she is ready to tell me. I get a little restless and slip my hands under her hoodie to discover she’s wearing nothing under it.