I laughed. “Of course we can. I loved Cars, especially Mater. Let me run and get my wallet and we’ll go.” I ran down the hall to my room, bounced across the bed and retrieved my wallet along with my keys from my nightstand drawer. “Alright, Drake, let’s go.”
6
Jake
My errands weren’t really errands. I needed to clean the house and it was always harder when Drake was there. I returned home and dad was already drunk. When I started cleaning, of course I made noise. That just pissed dad off.
“I wish you would quit making so much damn noise! Your mother never made any noise when she cleaned.” The mumbling continued while I worked my way around the house ignoring him.
Two hours later, the house was clean from top to bottom. I was exhausted, but I dragged myself upstairs to shower. I would need to run by the grocery store sometime today too. Somewhat refreshed, I headed out after taking the card from my dad’s wallet on the kitchen counter.
Maybe I would take Emily’s suggestion and do something for myself. She didn’t seem to mind watching Drake. She actually seemed happier to see him than me. I sighed. I wanted so much to feel her touch again or see her looking at me. I practically drowned in her brown eyes this morning. What was it about her anyway?
I shook my head as I made my way down the aisles, picking up things here and there. Once I had a bunch of frozen foods that would easily go into the microwave and some meat for us to have a real dinner a few nights of the week, I went to check out.
After dropping the groceries off at home, I did as Emily suggested. I was going to take some time for me. I did it in the only way I knew how. I grabbed my skates and took off for the rink.
As expected, it was empty. Coach always left the doors unlocked in case any of us wanted to come in. I slipped on my skates and began running up and down the ice, occasionally doing a few suicides. I loved the cool sting of the air and the sound of the ice as my blades cut in it. For me, there was nothing like skating around as fast as I could. Once I was exhausted, I went to the locker room and took a quick shower. Then I changed into some clean clothes that I had in my locker.
Outside I was met with darkness. How long was I in there? I had better get over to Emily’s. Drake could be worried. I was supposed to go back and get him after a few hours. A few minutes later, I parked on the curb and went up to the door, knocking three times.
Inside the lights were off. Where were they? I took out my cell just as someone pulled up and parked in the garage. I made my way over to see Emily and a laughing Drake getting out of her car. Drake ran over and I picked him up. “What’s up, man?”
“Today has been the best day ever! We went to see Cars 2 and then we went to McDonald’s. No one was in the play room and I wanted to play and guess what?”
“What?”
“Emily went into the play house with me! We played for an hour.” Drake leaned in and whispered in my ear, “I’ve never seen someone laugh so much.”
I smiled and followed Emily into the side door that opened into the kitchen. “I’m glad you guys had fun.”
“I’m not finished, Jake!”
“Well finish. I’m listening.” We settled down on the couch and Drake continued his story. I noticed a big bag sitting in front of Emily.
“Then we went to Cold Stone and got ice cream. It was so good, Jake! After that, we went to Toys-R-Us! And guess what? Emily let me get some toys!”
Drake hopped off the couch and started taking out various toys, exclaiming over each one. I looked over at Emily who was smiling at Drake’s excitement. “You shouldn’t have.”
Drake lost his smile and looked at me with sad eyes. Three words and he was upset. “I can keep them, right Jake?”
“Of course you can,” Emily said. Just like that, Drake’s smile was back and he began to take the toys out of their boxes. There was a remote control car, two or three action figures and a video game in there too. It made me uneasy to see the money she spent on Drake today.
“Emily, can I have some Pepsi?” Drake asked.
“Of course,” Emily went to stand up.
“Actually, Drake, we probably need to head home,” I cut in. Emily sat back down looking deflated.
“Aw. Not yet, Jake. Please! Emily said we could play,” Drake pleaded.
Emily’s soft, reserved voice was back. “We can always play Monday after school, Drake. If your brother says it’s time to go, then you had better listen to him.” Drake glared at me and got up to hug Emily goodbye. “How about you leave the remote car here until Monday so I can make sure everything is ready?” Emily suggested. He nodded and started putting everything back but the car. Seeing the sad look on Emily’s face and the same expression on Drake’s, I felt horrible.
“Honey! I’m back,” Mike’s voice boomed into the house. He walked into the living room. “Hey, guys, what’s up?”
“Just picking Drake up,” I said once it was apparent that Emily and Drake wouldn’t say anything. I did not know if that was expected with Emily or not. I knew that if Drake was mad, he wasn’t going to talk to me.
Seeing that the toys were up, I stood. “C’mon, Drake. See you later, Mike. Thanks again, Emily.” She nodded and Mike waved. Drake sullenly followed me and we headed home. I tried repeatedly to talk to Drake, but I received the cold shoulder each time.