Blue Jeans

3. James, Jean, and Mike

"Um... James?" I asked as we pulled into a slightly uphill, gravel driveway. James was quick to reply, "Yup, we're here." I gulped down the nervousness that had surfaced during the car ride here. Why should i be nervous anyway? If anything, the old man should be nervous to meet me. Besides, it's not like i even want to be here. But the more I tried to convince myself I didn't want to be here, the more I came to realize that James was continuously making things bearable, pleasant even.

The house we were pulling up to looked old and colonial, like it had been around since the 1800's, which was probably the case. The house was made of brick and there were big, chunky columns framing the front porch and holding up a balcony above. In the driveway was a silver truck that was definitely far newer than James' truck, but also far from new. Surrounding the house was what appeared to be miles of land. Fields lined with fences and rows of crops from all directions. In the front yard was chunks of broken stone, a wheelbarrow of dirt, and a middle aged man shoveling into the ground.

"Awe, shit," James cursed. "He's at it again with that damn walkway."

"walkway?" I asked.

"Yeah we had a little cobblestone walkway leading from the driveway to the porch, but its so old the stone started cracking and turning into a mess. Dad decided that since people just kept walking around it and in the dirt anyway, he'd just tear it up and build a new one."

"What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong with it is that he's not Bob the Builder. And he's old as the dirt he's been shoveling up. If he throws out his back playing in the dirt, I'll be stuck covering his shift at the shop. Or he'll insist on still working and hurt himself worse."

"How old is your dad?"

"Ancient."

It was at this point that James stopped just in front of where his father was digging, put his gear in park, unbuckled his seat belt, rolled down the window, holstered himself up and out of the window to where his butt was where the window was rolled down, and yelled, "Hey! Old Man! I'm not gonna listen to ya wine like a sissy when you throw your back out!"

The man then halted his work, turned around with a grin and yelled with a noticeably thicker southern accent than James, "Sissy my ass! You just don't wanna cover any of my shifts at the shop!"

"Damned right I don't! Now come on! I brought home you're luggage!"

"Luggage!?" I piped in. As expected, James ignored me as he slid back in his seat and began to pull farther up in the driveway. "You know, calling a lady luggage, in most parts of the world, is considered rude." James laughed. "Oh, you're fine. Besides, you've got more important things to worry about." And, with that, James hopped out the truck and headed towards the back for my actual luggage.

Men. I thought as I rolled my eyes and followed him out. "Does this thing even lock?" I asked as I approached James. He gave me a cheeky grin as he pulled my luggage from the back of his truck. "Sometimes."

"Well no one would steal this piece of crap anyway."

"Hey, people steal pieces of crap cars all the time. The cars they steal just happen to look like they're nice."

I crossed my arms as I leaned in James' truck. "So you have a camouflage car."

James gave a proud look as he posed with finger guns. "Exactly." I rolled my eyes at his antics.

I then saw James' father round the corner of the house, striding toward us. My hint of a smirk vanished as I entered back into reality. "How was traffic?" He asked as he approached. "Ah," James scoffed as he stepped towards his father, "terrible as always." They shared a quick and bro-like hug before James' father turned towards me.

Despite my unfriendly look, the man smiled. "Hello there, Janean. It's good to finally meet you. I'm Mike." Mike stuck out a hand as a greeting. "Jean." My reply was short and stern as I firmly shook his hand. At least he didn't expect me to call him Dad. 

"Jean," Mike nodded. "I like it. Now come on in, you two. The pizza came almost a half hour ago. You might have to heat it up in the microwave."

"Wow, I didn't know pizza delivered to the middle of nowhere." I smirked towards James.

James was quick to smirk back, "Cute."

"I try."

Mike chuckled, "I see you two are already getting along."

We entered the house through a side door and through a sort of mud room. The room consisted of shoes covered in mud, different assortments of cleaning supplies, an old dresser that had been sanded down, a laundry area, and an old TV that looked like it was at least 20 years old.

After exiting the mud room, we entered the kitchen. With old rustic wooden cabinets and counters and an old, tan tile, the place looked old, but well taken care of. On the Island sat two pizza boxes. One was opened and had two slices taken from it, while the other box remained untouched. 

"Yes!" James exclaimed. "All meat, Baby!" I rolled my eyes as James snatched up two pieces of the already open pizza, already stuffing the first piece in his mouth.

"Jean, Honey, I Ordered just a plain cheese as well because I wasn't sure of what you liked."

"Uh... thanks." I Opened the second pizza box and took out a slice.

"You would prefer that plain Jane trash over this meat lovers beauty!?" James dramatized.

"I'm a vegetarian, meat boy." 

James fake gasped in melodramatic horror. "You disgust me!"

Shaking his head at James' antics, Mike rounded the island, plates in hand. As he handed me a plate he said, "Well, I will keep that in mind for dinner options. Is a veggie pizza more your style?" I nodded in response, accepting the plate he gave me. "Good. Now, James, don't eat all of that pizza. I'm not full yet. I'm gonna go finish up what I was doing outside, and then I'm coming right back for my pizza."

James saluted with a third piece of pizza and responded, "Sir, yes Sir!" with a mouth full of pizza.

Mike rolled his eyes at his son, but just before he walked out the door he stopped. "Oh, and show Jean her room once she's finished eating." James nodded, mouth too full to reply.

Mike wasn't what I expected him to be. But, then again, what did I know to expect. It's not like I had anyone to compare Mike too. Especially now that... No, don't think about that. Not again.

I sighed as i stared at my pizza. James and Mike might not be as bad as I thought, but that doesn't mean I'm through the fog yet.

...

I am so sorry for the long hiatus this story has been on. My first semester of college was a huge change, and took a lot of adjusting. But I'm back, and I'm hoping to update this story more now that I'm settled. Unfortunately, this book isn't my top priority. My top priority is a book that I cannot publish on Wattpad, for I hope to publish it for profit after I graduate. I don't ever plan to make a profit off of this story, so I'm open to publish it for free. But, either way, thank you for your patience.

Next Chapter we'll be introduced to some already teased new characters. Also, I might go back and change a couple of things from previous chapters. I had a bit of a breakthrough with this story about a month ago, and I'm going to change the direction of it a bit.

Until next time,

Jessica Alise