Chapter 15: So Long For Now
Jake’s POV
“But Jake,” Izzy paused and looked me in the eye, “if you hurt her, I will kill you. She’s been through enough bullshit. She doesn’t need you adding to that. Got it?”
“Yeah. Bye Izzy.”
Jeez that chick can be scary. I thought she would be like Rikki and be snappy but sweet not scary. It was nice to get to know her sister but I want to know where Austin and Rikki went off to.
I didn’t even know that Rikki’s brother’s car was here. I wonder why she never told me. Maybe she did, and I forgot. Whatever it was, I need to go home. It’s a long ride.
I put my headphones in and cranked up some CCR. {aka Credence Clearwater Revival} The music drowned out the rest of the world. I was so into it I didn’t notice the car right in front of me. I swerved out of the way right before we collided.
I kept peddling but looked over my shoulder and saw the car had stopped. The people inside had turned around but I didn’t care. I just kept going until I hit the town center. I needed to get home to call Rikki. I forgot to ask Izzy to tell her why I was there.
Rikki’s POV
“Austin, watch out!” There was a bicyclist right in front of us and Austin wasn’t slowing down.
“Calm down, Rikki. I see him. Everything will be fine”
“I know we can see him but I don’t think he’s seen us.” Suddenly the biker looked up and swerved out of the center of the road. Austin stopped the car and we looked over our shoulders at the boy peddling away.
“See I told you everything would be fine.” I looked over at him and hit his arm.
“Would you just drive?”
“You know, for some one who’s asking a favor of me, you could be nicer.”
“Austin.” I looked over at him and gave him the puppy dog face. “Elle and I really need you to drive us to the airport. You would say no after you already said yes would you?”
He looked over at me and mumbled under his breath. “What did you say?”
“That I’m glad I don’t have any sisters. That face is impossible to say no to.”
“I know.” I said with a smile of victory. A minute later we pulled into the driveway. I climbed out and opened the door. Austin pulled in and climbed out. He tossed me the keys.
“Are we going to take John’s car to the airport?”
“Only if you want to. But I’m guessing you probably want to take it.”
“Of course. So I guess I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Thanks again Austin.”
“No problem.”
He climbed back into his car and drove away. I washed the car. It was covered in dirt and John would have freaked if he saw it left like that. I ran up the stair and into the house. “Elle, are you awake?”
“Yeah and there’s no need to shout.” I followed her voice and saw her sitting on the couch, 10 feet away. Oops.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were in here. I got you a ride to the airport tomorrow.”
“Why?”
“That acting camp Aunt Jane is sending you to.” She still didn’t understand. “The one in California for two months.”
“Oooh. Okay now I know what you’re talking about. I leave tomorrow?”
“Yeah, the camp starts July 1st and today is June 30th.”
“Wow. Really?”
“Yes. Why would I lie about that?”
“I don’t know. But whose driving?”
“Austin, Jake’s brother.”
“Oh and by the way Jake was here looking for you. He left like half an hour ago.” Oh my gosh. Was that Jake on the bike? Before I could ask why he was here the phone rang.
Elle checked the caller ID and tossed it to me. “It’s Jake.”
“Hello?”
“Rikki? It’s Jake.”
“Hey. What’s up?” I walked out of the room to get away from the nosey Elle.
“I was wondering if we could meet up tonight. I have to tell you something.”
“Sure. Where?”
“The gazebo? Around 7?”
“Sounds fine. See ya later.”
I hung up and turned around to put the phone back in the charger. “Ooof.” Right behind me was Elle. “Were you eavesdropping?”
“Normally, I would deny it but we don’t have time, so yes. Now we have some work to do.”
“What are you talking about?”
“It’s 1 o’clock. Meaning I have a few hours to pick out an outfit for you and then you have to walk into town.”
“Wait, what do you mean you’re picking out an outfit for me?”
“You’re meeting Jake and I am going to make you actually look like a girl.” I looked down. I was wearing denim shorts and an old softball shirt. “And before you complain, please just let me do it this one time. Please. Just once?”
She looked so happy. “Fine.” Elle ran to the stairs. “But no skirts!”
She kept going up the stairs but I heard her yell back. “No promises.”
-A few hours later-
“Rikki! Get up here!”
Ugg. She’s ready for me. It’s only 4. I’m not meeting him for another 3 hours. It only takes half an hour by bike. So that leaves 2 and half hours for this. There is no way this is going to take this long.
I dragged my feet up the stairs. I am not looking forward to this. My feet had barely hit the floor when Elle grabbed my arm and pulled me into her room.
Her floor was covered in clothes. Her desk had all of her make up out on it. This just got even less enjoyable.
“Sit.” Elle said while pointing to the desk chair. I sat down and she pulled out a hair brush. Elle began attacking my curly hair with the brush. A few minutes later the curls were gone. In their place was very poofy hair.
Suddenly, she had a curling iron in her hand and started re-making my curls. She pulled each one after removing the curling iron. Half and hour later she had stopped fussing with my hair and had moved on to my nails.
Then she was directing me to make different facial expressions as she put on mascara, eye liner, eye shadow, and blush. She tossed my and outfit and told me to get changed.
Elle had pick out a denim skirt and white halter top with a baby blue tank top underneath. I looked around for the mirror but I couldn’t find it. It was probably in the bottom of one of the piles of clothes.
Elle spun me around a few times and sprayed hair spray into my hair. “Okay now, you can go look in the mirror.”
I went out into the hallway and stopped a few feet way from the mirror. The person in the mirror doesn’t look like me but she is gorgeous. My hair was perfectly wavy, unlike my normally tangled curls. “Oh one more thing.” Elle came over and put lip gloss on me. “Now your perfect. And we need to go.”
I check my watch and it was already 6:10. All of this had really taken 2 hours? Then I realized she said we. “Wait, we?”
“Yeah. I need to go to the store and you won’t bike back here in the dark. Let’s go.”
She tossed me a pair of flip flops and went downstairs. How was I supposed to ride my bike in flip flops?
By the time I caught up with Elle, she was in the driveway with our bikes. She wasn’t wearing any shoes. “Where are your shoes?”
“I threw them in your basket. It’s easier to ride barefoot than in flip flops.” And sure enough, inside my wicker basket was a pair of orange flip flops. I added the light blue sandals in and Elle and I were off.
A little over half an hour later, Elle and I were locking our bikes up at the town square. She went off to the stores and I sat down on the bench inside the gazebo. Jake should be here in a few minutes.
Jake’s POV
I saw Izzy and another girl come into town together. I was sitting in Paige’s shop. Austin had dragged me here so he could see his girlfriend. It’s her shop. I was staring at the girl the Izzy came in with.
Izzy walked off and the other girl went into the gazebo. No. It couldn’t be. Is that Rikki? But she’s wearing a skirt. I’ve never seen her in anything other than jeans and shorts.
She looked nice but now I was kind of scared to tell her. She looks so out of my league. What if Izzy was wrong? What if she doesn’t actually like me?
“Aren’t you supposed to be meeting Rikki?” Austin was right behind me. “If you ask me, she looks way out of your league.”
Was he reading my thoughts? “Thanks for that.”
“Just go.” He shoved me out of the door and pulled it shut after me. Paige came up next to him and flicked her hands at me, telling me to go. It’s now or never.
I walked into the gazebo and Rikki immediately stood up. “Hey, Jake.”
“Hey, Rikki. You look different.” But in a good way.
“Yeah, I know. Elle did it.” Oh so her sister made her do this? Why? “So why did you want to meet up?”
“I wanted to tell you something.” I paused and looked at the ground. A minute passed and I still hadn’t said anything. I managed to look up at her and she was just looking back at me.
“Uhh… I wanted to say th-that I” Stop stuttering. You are looking like an idiot. Just spit it out. I like you! It’s not that hard. “That I-I’m going to be leaving tomorrow morning.” That was not what you had practiced. I mentally slapped myself.
“Oh. Where are you going?” Was it just me or did she sound disappointed?
“I-I’m going to Matt’s house. He lives in upstate New York so my parents are driving me up in the morning so they don’t have to drive back at night.” You’re rambling.
“Oh.”
We sat there for a few minutes. Neither of us said anything. And it was defiantly an awkward silence. I would have done the awkward turtle but that would have made it worse.
“Do you want to go to the music shop?” I managed to choke out.
“Sure.” She got up and waited for me before walking across the common in the direction I had come from.
I ran up ahead of her to open the door. “Thanks.”
“No problem.” I looked around the store and it was still empty. It was just us and Paige and Austin. Austin looked over to me when Rikki wasn’t looking. He silently asked me if I had told her. I shook my head and he so did he. I am such a loser.
Rikki’s POV
Jake and I were walking around the music store when Austin and a girl came up to us. “Rikki, this is Paige. She owns this shop and is my girlfriend. Paige this is Rikki, a friend of Jake’s and mine.”
“Nice to meet you. Do you like music?”
“Yeah. Who wouldn’t? I have a record collection at home.” It’s still weird for me to call Aunt Jane’s house home but that’s what it is now.
Jake joined the conversation then. “You should see it. She’s got like 300 records.”
“Its 287, actually.” I was bored one day so I counted them all.
Paige asked me about them and we talked for a little while. Before I knew it Elle came in the store. “Hey Rikki. You ready?” I looked out side and saw it was already getting dark. According to my watch it was 8:15. We only have about 40 minutes of day light left.
“Yeah one second. Bye Jake and Austin. It was nice meeting you Paige.”
I followed Elle out. We didn’t talk until we got to our bikes. But Elle was the first one to say something.
“So what had Jake wanted?”
“He was telling me that he wasn’t going to be around for a few weeks.”
“That’s it?”
“Yeah.”
Why does it seem like she knows something she isn’t telling me?
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So obviously I managed to write another chapter but this is the last one until early August. Sorry but like I said last time, I will try to have a few chapters ready to go when I get back. But no promises.
Anyway, comments? Let me know what you think.
Thanks for taking the time to read!
-Siobhan