Nothing ever Changes

19

"See you later, Ari." I call from the couch as they walk out of the apartment.

Ace went to the hospital a while ago, and Ari's leaving now to go back home. Jake is sitting across from me on the couch.

"Lio?" He says quietly. "What happened to Jackson?"

I sigh. "Stay calm, okay?"

His hands are already trembling. I sit up, and take them in mine.

"Jake. He's okay. He's just..."

"Coma?" He whispers. "He's in a coma, isn't he?"

I sigh again, and nod. Tears slip down his face. "I'm so sorry, Jake."

He pulls his knees up to his chest, rocking back and forth. I wrap my arms around him, and let him cry into my shoulder. I murmur, "It'll be okay," and "Don't worry."

When he calms a bit, I pull away. "You okay?"

He shrugs, and wipes his eyes. I decide to change the subject.

"So, I need a new job."

"Oh, yeah...Wait, what if you can't?"

"Jake-"

"No, really. What if we lose the apartment?"

"If that happens, DJ said we can stay with him."

He frowns. "Why haven't I gotten to meet him?"

"Because." I say. It's because DJ is a lot like Him. "You'll meet him eventually. You want to watch a movie?"

I look for jobs the rest of the week. Luck clearly isn't on my side, because I can't get one. Jake can't either, though he's worked at a lot of places, then quit, so that's probably part of it. When the Corner closes, I'm unemployed.

"Okay, so we have about 10,000 dollars in our savings," I say to Jake. It's Saturday, and we're in the living room, trying to figure out how long we can keep the apartment. "The rent is about 1000 a month, plus, we have bus tickets, and grocery bills."

He sighs. "So less than ten months, unless we get jobs."

"Maybe we should see if we can stay with DJ for a while." I say. I haven't spent a whole lot of time with him and Ace recently, but they both said they get it. "What do you think?"

After a second, he nods. "Yeah, okay. I want to meet him first, though."

I call DJ as Jake goes to the kitchen, and he answers almost immediately.

"Hey," He says.

I smile. "Hey."

"Did you find a job?" He asks. It sounds like he's walking around, and I hear a door close.

"No. We probably have less than ten months to keep the apartment if we can't find a job."

"Do you want to stay at my house?"

"We wouldn't be a bother?"

"No, of course not. Just a warning, though, I live with six other guys. And we have a dog."

"Really? Okay, hang on." I look at Jake. "How do you feel about dogs?"

He hesitates. "It's fine."

I nod, and go back to the phone."Well, I don't think that'd be a problem. I promise, after I get a job, I'll pay you back, and-"

"No. I'm offering this. You don't have to pay me."

"Are you sure? You spend a lot of money on me, you know."

"Of course I'm sure. You guys can stay as long as you want. We have plenty of space."

"Thank you so much." I say. "Also, Jake wants to meet you. Are you free any time soon?"

"I'm free today. Can I meet you guys somewhere?"

"Can you meet us at the beach at three?"

"Sure. I'll see you then."

We hang up, and I go into the kitchen. "He said we can stay as long as we need. We're meeting him at the beach at three."

"You really like him, huh?" He asks.

I sigh. "Yeah."

"Do you love him?"

"No. I don't. Don't worry."

"I'm not worried. You should fall in love."

"We'll see." I say. Like that'll happen. "C'mon, let's get ready to go out."