-Chapter Twelve-
Jake was on Skype as I continued packing. I just started filling the second suit case when Danielle walked into my room. Exactly when did she get to my house?
“Hey, Alex—” She stopped mid-sentence when she saw me packing up my stuff. “Why are you packing up?”
“Vacation, remember?” I reminded her. Every time I tell her that she has short term memory loss, she denies it. I have no idea why. Isn’t obvious?
“Oh yeah! When are you going?” she asked.
“Next week,” I told her.
“You’re coming next week?” Jake asked, intervening in on me and Danielle’s conversation.
“Is that Jake?” Danielle asked as she walked towards my computer. “Hi, Jake!”
“Hey, Danielle. So you’re coming next week?” he asked me. “I thought you were coming in two weeks.”
“My mother changed the date. It’s the only flight that we were able to book. It sucks.”
“And why is that?” he questioned.
“Because that means one less week without Danielle.” I sighed.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow your roll, woman!” Dani said. “I am most definitely coming with you. Even if your mom says no. I’ll even pay for myself if I have to.”
“Danielle, you can’t come. You don’t even have enough money saved up for a plane ticket,” I told her. “A job as a babysitter doesn’t provide that much money, you know.”
“I’ll just take some money from my parents, and pay them back when we get back! Simple and easy. Done and done!”
“Easier said than done,” Jake commented. “I have been there and done that. If you don’t pay them back, they’ll hold that against you forever. Trust me.”
“Yeah, Dani. You should listen to Jake.”
“So you don’t want me to come?” Danielle asked sadly, frowning deeply.
“No! I just don’t want you to spend all of your money, that’s all. You can come, I guess. If you really want to.”
“Okay then! It’s settled, I’m coming!” Danielle was jumping up in down in excitement. She’s been to California before, no need to be that excited. Abruptly, she stopped, and settled down. “Jake!”
“Yeah?” he asked.
“Are we going to see you in California!? Oh my gosh, that would be so awesome!” she chirped. “Please say yes!” Danielle crossed her fingers as she smiled widely.
“Actually, no, Danielle. Jake here, has never even heard of Fountain Valley,” I informed her.
“What’s Fountain Valley?” she asked as she cocked her head to the side. “I’ve never heard of it.”
I face palmed myself. Do I have to spell it out for her? “It’s where Aunt Vicky lives!”
“Oh yeah!” Her smile faltered. She turned back to Jake.“You’ve never really heard of it?”
“Nope!” Jake said, popping the ‘p’. “I have no idea where it is.”
“Really? I was looking forward to meeting you! That sucks. . .”
“Danielle, I already told you. California is hugemungo. There’s no way we would possibly meet Jake,” I told her for the millionth time. Well, no, I over exaggerated. It’s only the second time I’ve told her that.
“I know, I know.” Danielle began fiddling her thumbs, going into her own little world.
“Did she really think we were going to meet?” he asked, showing an adorable crooked smile. Those dimples! I just want to eat them up! Er. . . Too far?
I nodded. “Yeah, she did.”
“Did you?”
Well, I kind of did. . . But, I’m not telling him that. I’d probably make a fool of myself anyways. So. . . I lied to him. “No, I didn’t.”
“Well, you never know. It’s possible. . .”
Danielle’s head shot up in my direction, and gave me ‘the look’ that says: did you just hear that!? I stopped folding my clothes, and looked at my computer.
“What did you just say?”
What is this boy hiding!?
* * *
Okay, this is totally wrong. I know it is! I knew I shouldn’t be doing this. . .
Scrolling through my friends’ list on Facebook, I found the name I was looking for: Jake Carter. I clicked on his name and waited for his profile to load.
This may sound really stalker-like, but I need to know where this kid lives. Does he live close to Fountain Valley? He said he doesn’t even know what or where that is! Is he lying to me? Why would he lie to me? The only way to find out if he does live anywhere near Fountain Valley is to look on his Facebook profile. Everyone has all their info on there, right?
Blah, blah, blah. I was looking for where he lives, I didn’t want to know his freaking life story!
Found it! I stared at the screen blankly. You’ve got to be kidding me, right?
Lives In: why do you want to know? ;)
Seriously, Jake?
I still need to know where he lives. . . Gosh, that sounds so creepy! Hm, I wonder what he would say if I just asked him? Yeah, I’ll do that! If he doesn’t tell me, then he’s probably up to something. But what? He doesn’t really have anything to hide, it’s not like I’ll stalk him if he does tell me.
Wait. . . I kind of will. . . Well, the whole point is to find out where he lives, right!?
Before I could even realize what I was doing, I was calling Jake. It was already on the third ring, no turning back now, Alex.
“Hello?” he asked huskily. “It’s. . .” He paused, probably looking down at his phone. “. . .Like midnight in Florida.”
“Um. . .” I was suddenly lost for words. How can I say this without sounding like a stalker!? “Where do you live?”
“Are you trying to stalk me again?”
“No?” Well, yes, yes I am. “This information won’t hurt anyone, will it?”
“Okay, search this up on Google. Knowing you, you’re probably already on your laptop, looking it up on my Facebook profile,” he said. Yeah, I was.
I scoffed. “No. . .”
“Were you really doing that?” he laughed loudly.
“No! Shut up. Okay. What do you want me to search?”
He cooled down a bit before replying, “Type in the letter ‘I’,” he commanded.
“Okay. . . Then what?” I asked.
Saying it slowly, he replied, “L-I-K-E-B-A-N-A-N-A-S.”
I typed in those letters. “You live in ilike— Hey! That’s not even a real place! Or word, for that matter! No one cares if you like bananas, Jake!”
He started laughing; not just a chuckle, but an actual laugh. “Well, some people seem to think that it is an interesting fact.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, are you going to tell me where you live or not?” I asked impatiently.
“I think you’re definitely trying to stalk me, Lexi. . .”
“I don’t care. I am not stalking you.” Yes, actually I am. “Are you going to tell me or not, Jake? You’re wasting my time!”
“No, I am not telling you.”
Before I could retort, I heard the phone click, signaling he ended the call. He did not just hang up on me! Wait, yes he did. Ugh, fine then, Jake.
I know you’re hiding something, Jake Carter. But what in the world does he have to hide? Something that I had denied for a little too long popped in my mind.
What if I was actually going to meet him? What if he lived close to Fountain Valley? What if. . . Those two words. . . No, I’ve officially gone crazy. Jake lives nowhere near where I am supposed to be traveling next week.
“Well, you never know. It’s possible. . .” Jake’s words played back in the back of my mind. The way he said it. . .
As much as I feel like a stalker, I am going to say these words anyways. I need to find where Jake lives.
I pulled up my sheets that were tangled around my legs up to my chest. As fatigue washed over me, sleep finally ended our game of hide n’ seek as it found me.
* * *
“Mkay, bye Mom,” I said, giving my mother a quick kiss on the cheek.
“Bye, hon. Oh, and don’t be back too late! We have to go over the family schedule,” she explained.
“What the heck—”
“For the trip. It’s a schedule for the family. We need to be organized about this kind of stuff.”
I rolled my eyes at her, smiling. Trust my mom to have a schedule printed and hung up on the refrigerator for everyone to see.
“It’s on the fridge,” she told me, practically reading my thoughts.
“Okay, Mother. I’ll be sure to check it out later.” My phone buzzed in my back pocket. I looked at the text message and frowned when I saw that it wasn’t from Jake telling me where he lives. It was from my best friend, Danielle.
“Come on, woman! I’ve been parked in your driveway for like one whole minute!”
“Bye, guys!” I called, as I made for the front door.
A smiling Danielle was sitting in her yellow mustang, moving her head to the music that was playing just a wee bit too loud. Of course she would be the one to put her music on full blast in one of the quietest neighborhoods in this city.
As I jogged down the front path, Dani finally saw me and began to wave like a maniac. “Get over here!”
“I’m coming, geez.” I opened the passenger door, placing my purse next to my feet on the floor.
“It’s about time! I’ve been waiting for like—”
“—One whole minute, I know,” I interjected. “You said that less than a minute ago.” I waved my phone at her. “Remember?”
“Shh, don’t disturb the driver. I’m trying to drive here!” she said.
“You’re still parked in the—”
The roar of the engine shut me up as Danielle backed out of my driveway and began her journey down the street.
“Where do you want to go first?” I asked her after a moment of silence.
“What did Jake say after his whole mysterious ‘Well, you never know. It’s possible’ line?” Danielle asked, completely ignoring my question.
“Nothing. He didn’t tell me where he lives yet.”
“Wait. . . Why do you want to know where he lives?”
“Because then I can see if he lives close to Fountain Valley by using Google. I’m so glad that the internet was discovered,” I added.
“So you’re kind of tracking him down?” she asked.
“Yeah, I guess.” I looked out of my window as I watched the passing landscape.
“You’re such a stalker.” Before I could deny that fact, she continued. “So he didn’t tell you anything?”
“Other than the fact that he likes bananas—no.”
Confusion swept over her face, but she shook it off. “He’s hiding something,” she stated, smirking.
“Yep. And I am going to figure that out.”
WOO! Finally updated >=D Sorry it took so long. The big chuck of blah that I call "my computer" is crappy, and slow, and my mother refuses to get me another one :c ANYWHO! I will not be doing the first comment gets a dedication this time, BECAUSE I am dedicating this chapter to a girl whose birthday is coming up! HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!! And NO, I am not stopping the first comment = dedication, it's only for this chappie =) Well, I'm rambling. . . SO BYE! Xx
~Storylover11~