30 Days To Fall In Love

Day Twenty-One - Jake

Day Twenty-one

***Jake***

There are many mysteries in life, but the biggest one for me had always been how people can be morning people. I never understood how they could leap out of bed at the sound of their alarm, jump in and out of the shower in about thirty seconds, then slide down the banister to the kitchen to grab a bite of toast. That was never me. I usually crawled out of bed an hour after my alarm goes off, struggling to keep my eyes open in the shower, then stumbling down the stairs to the smell of burnt toast.

But on the morning on my twenty-first day of my challenge with Emma, I really did manage to leap out of bed at the sound of my alarm. I couldn’t help but imagine the day with her and how helplessly perfect it was going to be.

She wanted us to be together!

Since when did that happen?

I got in the shower, singing some corny love song to myself at the top of my voice until Sapphire screamed at me to shut up.

It wasn’t until I got downstairs and saw my so-called father sitting at the kitchen table that I remembered things weren’t so perfect. My stomach turned and I felt sick. He was flicking through a newspaper wearing glasses on the end of his nose and eating some pancakes.

“Morning, Jake, I made us all pancakes. I know how much you like them,” he said with a warm smile.

I thought about yesterday and how he knew about Emma - he took her back home. Mum and Sapphire were nowhere to be seen, but was I just supposed to talk to him about her? Or just about ordinary father-son things (whatever they were)?

“Nah, I don’t like pancakes anymore,” I said, pushing them away and turning up my nose. Instead I helped myself to some suspicious looking muesli from the cupboard.

“Are you worried about Emma?” he asked, brushing his hands on his jeans.

“Why would I be worried? She’s home now, end of,” I said, shuffling my muesli from one side of the bowl to the other.

“Have a pancake, Jake,” he said with a sigh.

“I don’t like them anymore,” I snapped.

“Why? Because I made them?” he sighed.

I shrugged.

“I’m not expecting you to forgive me. I’m not even expecting you to want to speak to me again, or for me to be like a father to you. But can’t you just pretend to be nice to me for the couple of days I’m here?” he sighed.

“I can’t pretend. Everyone else is great at pretending and creeping around telling lies, but I can’t deal with that. So I’m sorry, but I can’t stand you being here...” I snapped, taking a mouthful of the muesli and swallowing it grimly.

“I love you, Jake...” he said.

“Yeah, well, I’ve got school to go to,” I said.

I stormed upstairs to finish getting ready, catching a glimpse of my face in the mirror. It was his face too, near enough. He was my father, even though he left and he’s going to marry somebody else. And he was there for me for a long time before he went. And he did leave with the intention of getting us money. Things got in the way... that was all.

Things always get in the way.

As I walked downstairs and saw Sapphire waiting for me in the doorway, I muttered a, “thank you” to him.

He often me a smile and his face creased up like someone had screwed up his face into a ball like it was paper. I wasn’t exactly happy with him, but he had taken Emma back home and not mentioned it to Sapphire or Mum.