Viciously in Love

Fifty one.

"It's ridiculous." he mocks me.

"It's funny." I puff.

"It's a cartoon. What is funny about that?" he gesticulates to the Tv.

I puff again and I turn my head back to the Tv, ignoring him.

"Jake."

We turn our heads around when we hear Liz who was just about to leave the house. With a sigh, she holds out an envelope which he doesn't take.

"Jake..."

"I don't want to know anything about him." he says looking disgusted.

"You'll have to talk to him. Even if you don't want to." she caresses his arm. "Convince him." she mouths to me.

"Is everything ok?" I ask him after Liz leaves the house.

He doesn't answer. He just nods and continues to give the Tv his entire attention.

"It seemed serious." I insist hoping I will get an answer.

"It's not. Trust me."

"Jake..."

"It's about my dad..." he puffs making me tense. "He keeps sending me all kinds of letters... like phones don't exist." he mumbles rolling his eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't want to give him the attention he craves."

"Ok." I bite my lip trying to help myself from any other question.

I can tell that he's affected by this. I know the situation with his dad is delicate, but I don't think he should close up like this. Especially now that he's trying to get in touch with him.

"Ask." he sighs.

"What?" I frown.

"I know you have questions. Ask."

"No." I say taking him by surprise. "I have a few questions, but it's not my place to ask. I know it's a delicate subject and I'm not going for put any pressure on you." I say and he smiles.

"He left when I was about 3 years old." he gets serious. "My mom just finished med school, we had no house, we were living in a stupid apartment downtown. He was an accountant or something... He and mom just met, and a few months later I showed up. My mom didn't want an abortion for anything in the world... my dad's parents even tried to pay her to do so. She didn't want to. My dad said he'll help her, he said he'll be there for her. They moved in together, they got married, everything was good... Until one morning he woke up and he decided he didn't want to be a father anymore. So he left. We haven't heard anything from him ever since. He started to send some mail a few months ago, saying he wants to meet... he wants us to get to know each other and shit like that. Just a fucking idiot. That's it."

"Jake..." I mumble grabing his face so he would look at me. "It's not your fault. You know that, right?"

"Aha." he mumbles rolling his eyes and looking away from me.

"Jake!" I say almost screaming. "It's not your fault. Just because your stupid dad decided to not be involved in his amazing son's life, it doesn't mean you should blame yourself. It's his loss."

"God, I love you!" he says after he kisses me for a few minutes straight.

"I love you too." I say making him smile.

"I know." he looks at me arrogantly.

I grab one of the pillows from the couch and I start hitting him with it.

"You can't do that. You love me." he says trying to defend himself.

"Really?" I say still hitting him.