The 'F' Word

(Author's Note: I finally finished another chapter. Yesssssss. I'm sorry for another AAR relation... they're coming to town... and I am... EXTREMELY excited. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. R & R I promise to have longer ones up in the future)

Chapter 6: Final

“ I can’t take it,

This welcome is gone,

And I’ve waited long enough,

To make it…”

-- “ Can’t Take It” by the All-American Rejects

I stifled a yawn, as I trudged the school hallways heading towards my locker. Due to trouble getting to sleep, I woke up late and rushed to get ready. My father’s car keys jingled in my hand, as I was about to turn the corner.

“ Tyson… I don’t know if we should see each other anymore,” Nell’s voice wavered.

“ Got your eye on someone else again, huh? Thought so,” Tyson’s tone was drenched with impatience. “ Don’t answer that.”

I heard his footsteps stomping in my direction, and I hurriedly turned around and bumped into something hard.

Gunnar’s chest.

“ Zoey, what the hell are you—“ my hand rushed to his mouth.

“ Shut the hell up,” I hissed. “ Walk with me.”

I tugged his arm and started laughing immediately as we turned the corner. Tyson strode past us, paying no attention whatsoever, as Nell turned to head up the stairs.

“ Okay, what’s going on?” Gunnar asked.

“ Nell just broke up with Tyson… again,” I explained.

“ Ah, can’t say I didn’t see that coming,” he sighed, as I released my grasp of him.

Sure as hell picked an interesting time and place to do it, I thought.

We wandered silently through the quietly blurred conversations of kids, leaning against the stone cold of their blue chipped lockers. My eyes caught the sight of a burst of laughter, the skipping stone in an undisturbed lake.

It was Nell, Gabe, and (gulp) Jake.

Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I approached with a calm ease, and noticed my now undeniable crush was sitting against my locker. Yes, after my night of restlessness, I finally came to the conclusion I indeed like Jake more than a friend. There’s a round of applause in my head.

My high-top sneakers are really appealing to my eyes right now, and Nell interrupted my concentration, “ Hey, guys.”

Damn you, Nell.

“ Hi,” I mumbled. “ Excuse me, Jake.”

I couldn’t—wouldn’t—meet his eyes; my footwear was keeping me busy. My ears caught the subtle shuffle he made to move to the locker next to mine.

“ Thanks,” I replied feebly.

Silence.

If it’s one thing I absolutely hate, it’s that tension filled silence. Especially the kind from half strangers. And the kind from your crush.

I dared a glance at him, and his eyes were fixated on my black and silver graffiti shoes. (What was it with them?)

“ Peace,” he said rather idly, translating the word on my sneakers that was in different languages. “ Cool.”

“ … Thanks…” I replied rather sheepishly.

He nodded, and then locked those mind-numbing emerald eyes on me. The lump reappeared in my throat, the tension seeping into my skin. My view quickly changed from lustrous green, to the dull beige painted, cold metal of my locker.

“ Zo, who’s buying those tickets for the AAR concert?” Nell asked me coolly, her long legs seen from the corner of my view.

“ Not sure… but it’s most likely Alana,” I mumbled, stuffing my biology textbook into my backpack.

I looked up to see her twirling a bouncy lock of fire around her long, slender finger, and staring at Jake.

She quietly asked in this subtly ‘innocent, but sexy’ voice, “ Jake, are you going?”

“ Yeah, if we can get tickets—ah shit!” he hissed a curse.

Laughter erupted from my throat, as the expression on Nell’s face changed from her sultry innocence act, to one of irritability for a boy not noticing her.

Nell’s eyebrows furrowed in bafflement then went back to her target, “ Something wrong, Jake?”

“ I forgot my tabs at home… and I’m supposed to record today!” he banged his head against the locker. “ Okay, I’ll see you guys later.”

“ You gonna run it home, Steld?” Gabe queried. “ You won’t make it back in time, dude.”

Instinctively, I blurted, “ I can drive you home. Really, it’s no problem.” Oh, no. Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. I have the biggest mouth. Ever.

Please say no, please say no, my mind reeled, as I twiddled my fingers behind my back.

“ Uh… yeah, that would be really nice,” Jake seemed almost surprised of my gracious offer, yet relieved at the same time.

Oh, if one could see the look on Nell’s face, such a mix of pain and pleasure. In the midst of questioning her motives, I thought of Tyson and how he’d laugh at this picture of his ex.

“ You’ll have to direct me. All I know is that it’s past my house,” I rushed out in a breath.

“ Yeah, no problem,” I glanced at him, and his eyes glittered with amusement.

We remained silent for the next few minutes to reach my dad’s aging green Ford station wagon. Despite my mother’s protests of buying a new, more sophisticated car (this occurred after that fateful summer in Brunei), my dad simply could not—I repeat, could not—give up his old faithful. Sure, every now and then he’d lend it to me, just to give my mother some assurance that it was, in fact, still usable.

Beeping noises generated from the set of car keys, as they unlocked the front doors. I hastily got in, took a deep breath before Jake opened his side.

Key in the ignition, the engine came to life, and so did the CD player; the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “ Gold Lion,” strummed its way between us, on its catchy chords and rocky feel.

Going in reverse, I caught Jake bobbing his head to the tune, bringing me relief. He would be too distracted to mention anything about yesterday. God, how I wanted to avoid that incident like my mother and her incessant nagging.

“ Gold lion’s gonna tell me where the light is,” a subtle mumble came from Jake’s lips as he sang along. “ Gold lion’s gonna tell me where the line is…”

I couldn’t help the laugh that came from me; I just found it… cute. Oh, Lord, strike me down now. Please.

“ Is it wrong of me to sing along to good music?” he asked me, as I tried to tame the smile dancing on my lips.

“ No, nothing at all. I just think it’s—“ Whoa, Nelly; careful about my word choice here. And cute definitely wouldn’t be an option. Funny. Yes, I’ll go with funny. Funny, funny, funny. “ Cute.”

Shit. My knuckles turned a lighter brown from having a death grip on the steering wheel. How many times did I say funny in my head? Why the hell didn’t it come out? Crap, crap, crap. Don’t freak out, don’t freak out, don’t freak out. Perhaps he didn’t hear me.

“ Did you just say cute?” Jake was amused, as usual.

I quickly changed the song and sang along, “ Who shot that arrow in your throat, who missed the crimson apple? God, you gotta love the Hush Sound. Awesome band.” You think I would’ve given up this bad hearing act a while ago, because Jake catches on to anything, really. But I felt like running away, anything to avoid the problem.

“ Come on, I know you said it,” he ignored my useless banter. “ Take the first left turn after you go past your place.”

I nodded silently, as I proceeded to do exactly so. Then he continued, “ So, I’m going to assume you said what I think you did, because I definitely know you did…as confusing as that sounds—slow down here—and there’s more where that came from, if you’d just say ‘yes’ to a date with me.”

The car screeched to a halt, and coincidentally in front of Jake’s house. I stared at him speechless, as he glanced at me and shrugged. He certainly didn’t care how cheesy the statement sounded, a smirk of satisfaction displayed proudly on his mouth, as he said, “ I’m still waiting for an answer, and hopefully I’ll get it soon. Be back in a few minutes.”

Temptation bit me on my fat rump, as thoughts of screeching down the road back to school without him, drifted into my mind. Unfortunately, he was quicker than my decision, and hopped back into the car with ease.

“ Okay, I believe that’s everything,” he hinted, as I delayed getting back onto the road. Fingers still gripping the steering wheel, I remained parked before his house. “ We can go now, Zoey.”

I shot back quickly, “ No.”

The sudden change of mood caught Jake off guard, as he stared at me quizzically. A moment later, he replied, “ I don’t mean to sound like a stiff, but we’ll be late for biology.”

Call it courage, or whatever you will, but something came over me. I couldn’t hear the words that tumbled out of my mouth, but I was determined to say them.

“ How about Friday?” it was as if someone else had possessed my body. Someone more defiant, more risqué.

“ Friday for wh—“ he stopped, realizing what I had just said. A cheeky grin spread from ear to ear, showing his vampire like white teeth. “ Sure. On one condition.”

I stared at those emerald eyes, awaiting his speech.

“ I get to plan everything out. From start to finish.”

“ Agreed,” I nodded, a bit confused.

We drove back to school, in a comfortable silence, with the Subways humming softly in the background.

I’m going with Jake Steld on a date.

Jake Steld. Date.

Shit.