My Fair Lady

"Thank you so much Jakob." Lauren gushed as she and Jakob hung up the last of the large pink posters all over Hillcrest.

"No problem Lauren." Jakob responded in a monotone voice as he tried to wipe the glitter that came off the outline of a tiara on the poster that was stuck to his hands off on his jeans. He sighed deeply. "That was all of them, right?"

"Yeah." Lauren led the way back to her car. "I just hope I beat Katrina this year. I want to be the Queen of Hearts so bad and just rub it in her face. Jakob, what is wrong with you?" She looked at her friend who had a sad look on his face that a child would wear if their pet disappeared.

The argument with his father flashed through his mind as his argument and frustration with Chloe followed. "Nothing Lauren. Just some personal stuff. My dad's being an ass and Chloe's acting weird and I don't know why, and... .." He trailed off.

"Yeah," Lauren nodded, "Frankito's been acting weird lately too. Like, when we're together, he acts like he's so tired he doesn't want to do anything and I hardly ever get to see him or talk to him. It's getting on my nerves."

"Well, when me and Chloe are together, everything is fine." Jakob started up Lauren's car. "Everything is great but the moment we're away from one another, she doesn't want to talk to me, tell me what's going on, nothing."

Lauren quietly twirled her hair around her fingers for a few moments. "Do you think that Chloe and Frankito are... "

"No." Jakob said firmly. "I don't think that.

"Good. I don't either." Lauren agreed quickly. "I was just... ."

"I know. For one, Frankito can't lie and Chloe isn't like that." Jakob pulled up in Lauren's driveway and got out to get his car.

"Yeah." Lauren agreed as she started for the front door of her house. "I'll talk to you later Jakob, and thanks again."

Jakob just nodded and waved as his engine started up. He leaned back in the leather seat as he let the windows down and turned the radio up. He didn't want to go home because home had become a battlefield. He didn't want to go to a friend's house because he wasn't really in the mood for company and he knew Chloe wasn't home.

With a disgruntled sigh, Jakob turned on his familiar home street and followed it to his driveway. He would be the bigger man and simply ignore his father. No matter what he would say or not say, Jakob would ignore him.

His mother had become incredibly frustrated with both Jakob and Billie Joe. Adrienne was to the point of yelling at both of them and neither one of them really had the nerve to fight her back.

When Jakob pulled into his driveway he noticed something a little odd. His mom's car was gone and he didn't think she had plans to go anywhere tonight. Jakob didn't dwell on the thought. Adrienne was a grown woman and she could go out whenever she please. Jakob just really hoped she didn't put Billie Joe in a right nasty mood before she left.

Jakob opened the door and let himself in. His book bag was heavy with books that were filled with homework questions for him to do. As usual, there was no smell of home cooked food, but there was the unusual absence of take out boxes. There was a slight strumming of a guitar coming from the living room and Jakob cautiously made his way to it.

"Uh, where's mom?" He asked softly and carefully to his dad, who was leaning back in his chair, guitar across him, his eyes closed. Jakob had no intentions of infuriating the possible bad mood Billie Joe could be in.

"She had to fly out to Minneapolis. You're grandfather fell and broke his hip and he needs someone to help him and Adie is in a better position than the others to do so. So... " He strummed the guitar absently.

"When did this happen?" Jakob asked as he sat down on the couch and pulled out a Calculus book.

Billie Joe instead looked at the guitar in his lap than his son. "Just this morning. We didn't want to call you and worry you. You know your grandpa has been on the downward spiral since your grandmother died. We just... I don't know. He's going to be okay. You're mom's going to be out there for a few weeks; so for now, it's just you and me."

"Oh." Jakob pulled his legs up under him and pulled his notebook closer.

"Yeah." Billie Joe chanced a glance at Jakob, who was becoming absorbed in his math. "Yeah."

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Jakob woke up to the slight rumbling of thunder outside. He leaned up from his lying position on the couch and rubbed his eyes. The clock on the mantle said it was two thirty in the morning.

He looked down to find a throw blanket over him and his watch removed. His watch was placed considerately on the coffee table in front of him, his Calculus book and notebook next to it, the places he had been studying previously marked carefully with coasters.

Jakob leaned up to find his dad still in his chair asleep, the guitar resting against the chair on the floor. His mouth was slightly open and another throw was placed haphazardly across him.

Jakob sat up, the throw slipping off his body as he did, and just watched his dad. His dad had fine lines around his eyes and mouth from years of singing his boys to sleep and laughing at their jokes. His hair, that was constantly pulled by Joey and Jakob when they were infants was still intact for the most part, just a different shade. His arms, with their names forever etched onto the skin, were resting comfortably on his stomach; where they had slept as children. His guitar that sang many a songs to them and about them glistened in the dim light of the room.

Thunder rolled again, it was closer and louder this time.

Jakob looked back to his Calculus book that his dad marked for him so he wouldn't loose his place. Even though he used the wooden drink coasters to hold it, it was held. Jakob's pencil was tucked into the spiral of his notebook, which was placed neatly on top of the book.

Jakob rubbed the warm side of his face that had been buried in couch cushions and sighed. Lightening brushed through the sky outside as rain began to pitter on the windows.

Billie Joe shifted his body in his chair. He closed his mouth and tilted his head downward a bit, the throw slipping even further off of him.

Jakob got up and crossed quietly to his dad, his socked feet making no sound on the carpeted floor. He gently picked up the throw and placed it tenderly across Billie Joe more securely.