by Debbie Civil
Chapter 36
Carmen
I’m not sure how to feel. On one hand, I hate Amber for shooting Maggie. Maggie was my babysitter. She was the cool person that through haunted houses and helped the younger kids with their homework. I can’t believe that she’s in a wheel chair. I hadn’t heard from her since her folks decided that a new scenery would be best for their daughter. I also can’t believe the nerve of Adriana. Why did she dare Sharp to do what he did? Didn’t he know that Amber would get attached? I wonder this, but I don’t bother saying anything. Instead, I allow Jake to place me on one of the beds. He moves apart from me and I notice that Peter and Chelsea didn’t follow us in. The thought of being alone with Jake is nerve racking. I had only had my first kiss a couple of weeks ago.
“Relax. I’m not going to pounce on you,” Jake says as he cautiously sits on the edge of the bed. I sit up and pull my shoes off. I sigh and smile at Jake.
“You usually hate when people sit on beds in street clothes,” I tease. Jake looks down at the bed and winces. I chuckle.
“I didn’t notice that,” he says.
“Jake, I understand why you didn’t say anything. I just…” I don’t even get a word in. Suddenly, Jake is hovering over me, his breath so close that it’s caressing my cheek. My heart begins to pound as his eyes rove over my lips.
“I’m done talking about Adriana,” he seductively whispers. “Why don’t we focus on something else?” He’s doing this to distract me. I know that much. But it’s working. I stare at Jake, study the curve of his lips and can’t help myself. I wrap my hands around the back of his neck and kiss him deeply. His mouth is warm and sensual. As soon as our tongues touch, I feel like I’ve just tasted the best chocolate in the world. My fingers begin traveling through Jake’s dark curly waves. His hands are under my shoulders. He pushes upwards and I nod, sitting up on the bed. Our lips never part. Well, they stay locked until we hear the clearing of a throat. We break apart to see Peter standing there, frowning at us. He’s holding two water bottles. He hands us each one of them.
“Sorry to interrupt. I had no idea that…”
“It’s fine,” I huskily say.
“No it isn’t,” Jake grumbles. But I’m honestly glad that Peter interrupted our kiss because we really do need to talk. Jake and I aren’t in a good place yet. We’ve have nothing aside for one semi date and a ton of stolen kisses. I deserve more than what he’s offering me.
“So, I’m going to…” Peter doesn’t finish his sentence. He just leaves.
“Now, to return to where we left off,” Jake says, his eyes darkening.
“We are going to talk, August,” I snap.
“About what, Darling?”
“About our ground rules.” When I say this I get off of the bed and stand in front of him with my hands on my hips. He has got to take this seriously. Jake sighs.
“Can’t we talk tomorrow?” He wants me to forget for one night, because of what’s happened. I’m guessing his memories of what happened to Maggie are killing him. But this relationship has to be more than just stolen kisses. I want everything with Jake.
“I know that this isn’t the time for serious conversation. I understand that. But I want to make one thing clear, Jake,” I begin, staring into his eyes. His passion is fading and it has been replaced by an empty look. I hate when his eyes don’t show any emotion. It makes me feel like I can’t reach him. “I want a commitment from you. I don’t want you to kiss me if you won’t commit to me and only me,” I tell him. Jake sighs.
“I escorted you down the aisle.” He says this statement as if it’s supposed to make some kind of sense.
“And?” I don’t mean to be impatient but the guy really has to start being more clear.
“Carmen, I could have escorted Jill. But I chose you. For now on, I’ll always choose you.” His declaration somehow feels like more than just a commitment. It seems life binding. Now, I’m about to panic. Jake and I can’t make that kind of devotion to each other yet, not when I haven’t figured out what I’m supposed to do. I calmly breathe in and out.
“Now that we’ve got that covered, I want you to take me on a date.” Jake frowns at my request.
“Out there? What about the paparazzi?” He does have a point. Because he had been dating America’s Darling, people have taken more of an interest in him.
“Well, we can have dinner on the patio. We can watch movies. We can go for walks in the garden. I just want to spend some quality time with you, Jake. I’ve been kissing you and I don’t know much about you.” Jake shakes his head.
“You know me better than everyone,” he gently corrects. “And I know you.” I think about what he has just said and decide that maybe I am wrong. After all, Jake is a complex individual who has opened his heart to me. If I really think about it, I know most things about him. But I want to know everything about him.
“Jake, will you follow those rules?” He smiles at me.
“I won’t kiss you until you ask,” he declares, before rubbing the back of his neck. It’s like Peter and Chelsea have great timing. They enter carrying plastic bags.
“I have junk food,” Peter announces and I’m excited by this prospect. The food at the wedding was mostly sea food, yuck, and I didn’t eat much. Jake on the other hand ate enough for the both of us. I ended up giving him half of my plate. It isn’t that I don’t like sea food. It was just that the food wasn’t seasoned to my liking.
“I bought a DVD,” Chelsea announces as she waves something at me. I’m dreading what she’s picked. “I think that it will be more up your alley Carmen.”
“And we got you guy’s clothes and housekeeping will be here in five minutes to change the sheets,” Chelsea finishes. At the mention of getting out of the monstrosity I rush over to the bags that the couple have placed on the desk and sort through them. I take out a pink tank top and black shorts and a pair of flip-flops and gesture for Chelsea to follow me into the bathroom. She gets the hint. She helps me out of the gown. When she undoes the corset, I sigh in relief.
“What the heck was Aunt Shelly thinking?” Chelsea asks me as she hangs the dress on the towel rack.
“I want to get rid of the dress,” I complain as I turn on the tap. It’s time for a shower. Chelsea had also bought me a pack of underwear. Chelsea leaves the room and lets me get to it. After I’m done showering, Jake has a turn. The house keeper has already cleaned the sheets so I slide into them.
“You know, I do not like musicals,” Peter tells Chelsea as he sorts through the bags. He pulls out a bottle of water and takes a long drink.
“Hey, I’ve never seen it. I figured that it would be up Carmen’s alley.”
“If I was five years old,” I playfully argue. After Jake leaves the bathroom, I frown at him. He is carrying two neatly folded towels. He walks over to me and lays one on my lap.
“You don’t want to get crumbs on the bed,” He reasons before retrieving a family sized bag of Doritos from the bag. After sitting beside me, he opens the bag and I grab one.
“Can we debate this movie choice?” Jake asks Chelsea. My cousin smirks.
“Nope. I’ve always wanted to see this movie. I love Mandy Moore!” That doesn’t surprise me. She’s made me watch “A Walk to Remember” fifteen times already. I’m into movies where supernatural creatures fight or fall in love. Seeing a musical isn’t up my alley. Okay, it is. I did enjoy “Rent” and “Josie and the Pussycats”. Though, I’m not sure if the latter is really considered a musical. But I’m not into cartoons. But, as Chelsea points out, we really don’t have a choice and she pops the DVD in.
“An army of men using frying pans,” Jake grumbles and I laugh. That really was an uplifting movie. I didn’t think that I would like it.
“I like the part when they all pull swords on the thief,” Peter grudgingly admits. Jake nods.
“That wasn’t too bad. But all of that singing. It’s just…” He doesn’t finish his statement. It’s just
too much for him to bare. So I guess that I like musicals, animation or otherwise, but Jake does not. But he did laugh on occasion which is such a beautiful sound.
“I can’t believe that Eugene and the Princess end up together. I didn’t see that coming,” Chelsea admits as there is a knock on the door. I get out of bed and peak through the peep hole. Figures, my father is looking back at me. This is my cue.