My Fair Lady

The next few months were a blur for Jakob. He kept trying to get in touch with Chloe, but he was rejected every time. Only knowing one way out of the pain, he threw himself into what he knew; school and soccer.

Life at Oakland Community College was exactly what he needed to move on, or at least pretend too. There was always a bonfire of someone's ratty recliner in the courtyard of his dorm. There was always a party at an abandoned suburban lot that was always busted by friendly cops who offered to buy more beer. There was always a constant stream of girls who wanted to hang out with the first string freshman soccer guy who kicked the winning goal at State Championships.

Frankito was his roommate and Frankito was his only source of Chloe updates as he was in The Clefts under the direction of Chloe's dad. Jakob knew that Chloe was leading a life in New York as a posh Broadway star starring as Eliza Doolittle in George Benard Shaw's play, My Fair Lady. Frankito's knowledge was both a blessing and a burden to Jakob.

Succumbing to a bout of frustration, self-pity, and drunkenness, Jakob hooked up with a girl at a party and began to see her, loosely. Her name was Lindsey and she was the newspaper editor for the school. He didn't tell his parents that he was seeing someone else because they were still very attached to Chloe and were waiting for them to get back together. Jakob didn't bring her home until after midterms.

"Well this is lovely." Billie Joe muttered sarcastically as he took a sip of wine.

Nobody responded and the only noises that were made were of the scraping of knives and forks on plates and the settlement of glasses on the wood of the table.

Lindsey sat next to Jakob and looked around nervously. Adrienne had yet to say a word to anyone aside from a hello at the beginning of the evening. Joey was sitting across from them with a sleeping Sterling in his arms from where she fell asleep after he fed her. Joey was eating carefully with the wrong hand as his other was supporting his daughter. Amy was working late.

Jakob was biting the inside of his cheek, tired of the quietness. He knew his parents were still attached to Chloe but they needed to accept the fact that he couldn't just sit around and wait for her when she didn't ever want to see him again.

Billie Joe tapped a random tap with his fingers on the table. "So, uh, Lindsey, what's your major?"

"Yes, yes, good question Dad." Joey said, waving his fork. Apparently he had been just as eager to end the uncomfortable silence, but didn't know how. "And where do you plan on transferring?"

"Um, my major is accounting and I plan to transfer to State after I graduate." Lindsey said quietly, playing with her fork nervously.

"Hmm, that's nice." Billie Joe murmured.

"Lindsey's mom, aunt, and grandmother are accountants." Jakob piped up from his seat. He squeezed Lindsey's hand underneath the table in reassurance.

Billie Joe nodded his head. "That's nice. Isn't it Adie?" He turned to his still silent wife who looked up at him and looked at Lindsey.

"Yes, that's lovely. Excuse me." Adrienne got up from the table and took her plate, that was barely touched, into the kitchen.

Frustrated and angry at his family's actions, Jakob threw his fork onto the plate and caused a great clatter that caused baby Sterling to stir in her father's arms. Joey glared at Jakob, which was returned.

Everyone at the table continued to chew in silence and didn't even speak when the door was opened and closed and excited chatter came from the kitchen; Amy must have arrived.

It didn't take long for her to announce her arrival properly to the rest because she bounced into the dining room, her grin wide and bright, Adrienne behind her with a similar tone. "Guess what! Guess what, guess what, guess what! Oh, hello precious." Amy quickly lowered her tone and kissed her baby's head. "Guess what?" She hissed in an excited whisper.

"What?" Billie Joe was watching her as if she had lost her mind.

"Chloe's nominated for Brockwells!" Amy shrieked, apparently been bursting to tell the news for awhile. "She called me today! She wants me to do her hair and makeup. This is so excited and this could mean promotion because she's on Broadway and a VIP client!" She squealed and clapped her hands. "Isn't it exciting?"

"It's so wonderful. I have to go call her." Adrienne shot back out of the dining room.

"What's a Brockwell?" Joey asked as Amy took Sterling out of his arms.

"It's like a Tony and Brockwell winners are normally Tony winners. Chloe's nominated for Best New Actress in a Musical, Best Muscial Ensemble and Best Musical." Amy gushed as she drank out of Joey's water glass.

"Oh, well, she's a shoo in then. She was awesome when we saw her last month, wasn't she Jakob?"

"Jakob didn't go baby." Amy said cautiously and sat down, and for the first time realized that Lindsey was there. "Oh, hello."

"Hi." Lindsey responded.

"This is Lindsey, Jakob's new girlfriend." Billie Joe said as he picked his plate and empty wineglass up. "Hungry Amy?"

Amy stared at Lindsey before Billie Joe's words jerked her out of it. "Uh, no, no. I'm not. Thanks, Billie." She turned her attention back to Jakob and Lindsey. "So, uh, when did you two start dating?" Everyone noticed that Amy had a hard time saying the word 'dating'.

"Uh, beginning of October pretty much." Jakob scratched the back of his head as he explained his and Lindsey's relationship.

"Oh," Amy nodded her head, her eyes too wide for truth. "That's lovely."

Lindsey smiled weakly in response. "So, uh, who's Chloe?"

"Chloe is a star on Broadway and Jakob's ex-girlfriend." Adrienne stated from the doorway. "Billie, I got her on the line if you want to talk to her."

"Yeah." Billie Joe got up and followed his wife out of the room.

Jakob shook his head in frustration. "Come on." He took Lindsey's hand and went out the door. "I'm sorry." He said once they were outside. "They're just so attached to Chloe they won't even realize that I've moved on."

"Well, we'll have to make them." Lindsey purred as she kissed Jakob's neck. "I love you."

Even though he had been anticipating her words, once they were said, Jakob could not bring himself to say them back. He simply kissed her and tried to ignore the fact that Chloe's face came to mind when his lips touched Lindsey's.