I wake up the next morning with a pounding head ache and a heavy hand. I squint at the light shinning through the windows, making everything worse. Then I look down and see Jake gripping my hand tightly as he sleeps on the floor, and Charlie sleeps opposite me on the other sofa. I can't believe they both stayed with me... And I can't believe how much I need to puke right now!
I leap off the chair, waking the two boys by accident, and make a bee line for the bathroom. I hate throwing up, it always makes me feel so disgusting and I can never do anything about it.
I feel a warm hand on my back, rubbing soothing circles, and they pull my hair back so I don't get puke in it. I know exactly who it is.
Due to the small amount of food I ate yesterday, I didn't have much to throw up, so I was mainly just dry heaving and coughing at this point. I lift my hand up to flush the toilet, and sit back against the wall, wiping my mouth which made me wince because of my split lip. "Does it hurt?"
"Like hell." I answer. "What're you doing here Jake?"
"I don't like to see you upset and I know how much you hate puking." He states.
"I also don't like absolute strangers knowing my personal business, but you didn't really care about that yesterday, did ya?" I sneer.
"Look Mads, I'm so so sorry. I don't think I've ever been this sorry in my life." He says dramatically. "But if you would've heard what I was saying then you wouldn't be angry or upset. You'd understand."
I stay quiet and start to brush my teeth, so he continues, "Do you ever start to talk about something that you really really like and you just don't know how to stop talking and you just go on and on and on and you describe every aspect that you can?"
"You know I do. You know me better then anyone." I mumble.
"Well that's what happened yesterday in the lake. I started talking and I couldn't stop. And I didn't see her there I was in my own world reminiscing on all the stuff we used to do an-and I didn't know how to shut up." He explains.
I roll my eyes and spit the toothpaste out, "Well learn, jerk off."
He sighs, "Maddie, I'm trying to explain myself and I feel like your not listening to me."
"Oh I'm listening, I just don't believe you." I shrug.
"Well start believing. Please believe in me and the way I feel towards you." He begs. "Or-or just try to. Please."
"I'll think about it." I stand up, walk out the bathroom, and Nigel, Kyle and Mike see me and run straight at me.
"Maddie!" "Sonny!" They cheer.
"Boys! I have head ache." I cheer.
"Sorry!" They apologise.
"Its fine, don't worry." I smile at them. "Come on."
"Okay." Nigel and Kyle nod and start walking but Mike stands there expectantly.
"What?" I ask.
"I'm tired." He pouts and I jokingly roll my eyes.
"Come here." He smiles widely and lifts his arms up so I chuck him over my shoulder. I look back and see Jake staring at me sadly in the hall, I give him a tight-lipped smile, before walking off with Mike over my shoulder.
_____________
"Hey boys, do you wanna go get some ice cream?" I ask the twins and the nod eagerly.
"Yeah!" They cheer.
"Yeah!" I high five them.
"Can Jake come too?" Nigel asks, elbowing his brother.
"Yeah!" I say less enthusiastic. "If he wants to."
"Go ask him!" Kyle tells me.
"Alright." I sigh and walk out to the dock. "Yo Jake!"
"Maddie?" He asks and stands up, his legs dripping due to where he had his legs in the water. "What's up?"
"Um, I'm kinda taking the twins to get ice cream and they asked if you could come as well." I say awkwardly.
"Oh yeah sure." He nods. "Let's go."
"You might wanna put your shirt on first." I point at his bare chest.
"Oh yeah. I'll be back in five." He jogs to the house and I walk to the front porch where the twins are.
"He's getting changed, we've just gotta wait." We all sit down on the front step to wait.
When Jake comes back we wordlessly start walking.
_____________
"Hiya what can I get ya?" The lady behind the counter asks.
"Chocolate!" The boys cheer.
I laugh, "Um, two chocolate and a rocky road whippy please." I request.
"Okay. Anything else?" She asks.
"Um, a large blue raspberry slurpee as well, please." I add.
"That all?"
"Yep." I smile.
"That'll be 15 dollars." She says. "Cash or card?"
"Cash." I reply and reach for my purse but Jake beats me there. "Jake!"
"Maddie!" He mimics me.
"What're you doing?"
"What does it look like?" He raise an eyebrow at me. "I'm paying for the ice creams."
"Yeah but-"
He cuts me off, "As a great man once said, 'no buts, no cuts, no coconuts'."
"Did you really just quote your dad?" I ask him, dumbfounded.
"I did." He smiles proudly.
"Two chocolate whippies." The lady hands me over the counter. "And a rocky road whippy, and a large slurpee." She hands these to Jake as I crouch down in front of the twins.
"Thanks." Jake smiles polietly.
"Boys, what do you say?" I raise an eyebrow at them.
"Thanks ice lady." They smile.
She laughs, "You're welcome boys."
They reach forward but I pull them back. "Nu uh huh." I shake my head.
The boys look at each other a plant a big kiss on each of my cheeks, causing me to giggle and the lady and Jake to chuckle at our antics. "Alright boys, thanks. That's enough. Here." They push their faces further into my cheeks, muffling my voice. "You can have your ice creams."
"Nigel, Kyle, stop squishing her face." Jake laughs and they pull away giggling to themselves.
"Have your ice creams." I hand them an ice cream each.
"Thank you!" They chorus and I laugh.
I stand up straight and Jake hands me my slurpee and places his hand on my waist. "There you go."
"Thanks, babe." My eyes widen at the pet name I gave him. "I-I mean... I-"
He laughs, "Don't sweat it, Pretty Girl."
I groan into my hand when the lady speaks up, "Aw! You two are so cute! Your quite possibly one of the cutest families to walk in my shop."
"Oh we're n-"
Jake cuts me off, "Thanks. But we've gotta go. Bye!"
"Bye!" The four of us rush out of the shop and start walking home.
"Well that was fun." Jake speaks up awkwardly.
"Yeah. Fun." I say unenthusiastically. "Is that good?"
"Sure is. You want some?" He asks and before I can reply he shoves it in my face, covering my nose in ice cream.
"Jake!" I shriek and he laughs. I hit his chest, "Its not funny! My nose is cold." I pout.
"Oh, is the princess' nose cold?" He mockingly pouts at me.
"Yes." I mumble and wipe the ice cream off my nose.
"Here." Jake wipes my nose with the back of his hand, gazing into my eyes.
"Thanks." I breathe out.
He gently kisses my nose, "No problem."
"Jake! Sonny! Come on!" The twins call us and we turn to walk alongside each other, our arms brush against each other occasionally.
_____________
We're all sitting down for dinner to have a family barbeque. I'm sitting in between Jake and Sarah as usual, and Jake is trying really hard to act like everything's okay but also is making a huge effort to try and prove he's sorry. Its very confusing and frankly, unnecessary.
I've decided that I forgive him because he's always been there for me since I moved in and apparently much longer according to Romanow. Obviously, I'm still not okay with what he did but I want to put it behind us and just carry on as normal and that's what I thought we were doing but every now and then he just over does it.
"You okay, Mads?" Jake asks, breaking my train of thought.
"Yeah, just thinking." I shrug.
"About?"
"You." I reply bluntly. "And- and me."
"What were you thinking?" He turns to me in on the bench.
"That I'm tired of walking on egg shells around each other." I answer truthfully. "I just want things to go back to normal."
"Really?"
"So Sarah, Elliot seems, uh, okay." Tom states, and takes a seat at the table. "I see why you like him."
Sarah blushes and Jake teases her, "Somebody's turning red."
"Shut up!" Sarah groans. "Thanks a lot Dad."
Sarah storms off, and I hit Jake over the head. "Idiot."
"What'd I say?" Tom asks.
Kim scoffs, "Men can be so clueless."
"Honey, men aren't clueless." Kate tells her daughter before hitting her husband and scoffing. "I'll go talk to her."
Lorraine shakes her head, "Mom, let me do this, okay? Trust me, I've got a little experience in the area of parental harassment."
With that she walks off to follow her sister, so I stand up. "Well, I have no experience in that area. At all. But I know that when Sarah's annoyed, she doesn't need a Barbie trying to talk to her."
I follow Lorraine, but stand a few feet away to give Lorraine a chance to talk to her.
"Hey..." Lorraine sighs, "I totally know how you feel. How are you?" Sarah stays silent. "Dad can be pretty hands on sometimes, huh?"
Sarah aggressively shrugs Lorraine's hand off, "Just leave me alone."
Sarah walks off to sit on a fallen log, and Lorraine angrily storms away.
"Don't take it personally Lorraine." I try but she already walks off so I just head straight over to Sarah. "Hey Chiquitita."
"Chiqi- what?" She asks confused.
"Chiquitita." I correct. "Its an ABBA song." She raises an eyebrow at me but I wave her off, "Anyway, that's not important. Are you okay?"
"I'm so embarrassed." She holds her head in her hands.
"Yeah I understand that." I nod.
"You do?"
"Well not entirely. This has never really happen to me with my parents because you know..." I swipe my hand across my neck, "But I guess I get embarrassed when people ask about me and Jake. Is that like similar?"
"Yeah I guess." She nods. "You know, you're not very good at this whole making me feel better talk, right?"
"Well this just isn't easy for me to talk about cos I'm just as confused as you..." I trail off. "But I'm normally really good at these kind of talks!"
"I'm sure you are." She laughs.
"Hey! Ha! Ha!" I exclaim pointing at her excitedly. "I made you laugh! I made you laugh! I'm still good at this!"
"Yeah, you're great." She jokes.
"Hey." I say sadder before smiling. "You wanna come eat some dinner, now? Cos I really want a hot dog." She rolls her eyes. "Eh, don't roll your eyes at me Missus, I saw you eyeing up the burgers."
She laughs and we both walk back over to the table. "Hey." Kate greets us cautiously as well as everyone else.
"Well don't just sit there. Charlie, get a burger ready for my pal Sarah here." I wrap my arm around her shoulder with a cheesy smile on my face. "And I'll get my own hotdog thank you very much."
I walk over to the barbeque and everyone starts talking again.