Stir-Crazy

You could tell Jacob was over, because Cora’s door was shut. And by the looks of it, probably locked.

It was time for one of those daily snack intervals, and I made my way downstairs to get some food. Deciding on a bowl of Cap’n Crunch, I grabbed a cereal bowl from the top cabinet in the kitchen, before attempting to hunt down the cereal.

Searching through all the top cabinets turned out uneventful, and suddenly I remembered a lecture my mother had given me about John's cleanliness and how I should be as clean as him.

If I remembered correctly, John kept his cereal and breakfast snacks in the bottom section of cabinets. Who keeps their cereal at the bottom?

But that was just John.

I bent down, attempting to find the cereal, and grinned triumphantly as I saw a box with a cartoon sailor staring at me.

“Aha!” I shouted at the cereal, before raising the box in the air.

“Someone’s enthusiastic.”

My face must have turned as red as a fire engine as I whipped around to face Jacob. Not just because I had just yelled about finding a cereal, but because he had quite a nice view of my ass. Not that he was probably looking or anything...but the thought still made me tingly.

“Can’t a girl enjoy her cereal?”

“I suppose.”

Jacob swung open the refrigerator, got the carton of milk, closed the fridge, opened a cabinet drawer and got a cereal bowl, opened the milk and poured it into the bowl.

He did this all in a matter of seconds, and I knew if I blinked, I would have missed it. I was speechless, and I knew if I hadn’t been staring at Jacob, I wouldn’t have noticed his lips moving.

“What?” I asked, snapping out of my daze.

“I asked you what your story was.”

“My story?”

“You know, where you come from, what your name is. Stuff like that.”

“You heard my story back at Emily’s.”

''That was your public story. I want to know the real story.”

“Public story?”

“The stuff that people normally ask you. A public story is stuff no one ever knows.”

“Like secrets?”

“You ask a lot of questions.”

“I know.” I giggled, “so, what do you want to know?”

“Why did you move here?” He was leaning against the counter now, his cereal long forgotten.

“Well, my parents got divorced so I moved in with my mom. I was going to live with my dad, but mom got remarried to John, and they invited me to live with them, so I did.”

“You don’t seem like you want to be here.”

“Is it that obvious?” He nodded.

“Why don’t you just move in with your dad?”

“He and I…don’t get along.”

“So you moved in with your mother, even though you have to put with her annoying stepfamily everyday.” He nodded as if this actually made sense. “Interesting.” I waited as he processed this information before he began asking more questions.

“What’s your favorite ice cream flavor?”

“Chocolate Chip cookie dough.”

“Your favorite sport?”

“Doesn’t this fall into a public story?”

“No.”

“Skateboarding.”

“Interesting.”

“What?”

“Nothing.” He was staring at me oddly, and I quickly averted my gaze to the floor.

I noticed that Jacob was barefoot, and he seemed to prefer going without shoes. He was in the same jean cut-offs as usual, yet they still made him look gorgeous.

“So why are you down here anyway?” I attempted to break the awkward silence.

“What do you mean?”

“Shouldn’t you be frolicking with Cora somewhere in a meadow of daisies acting all couple-y or something?”

“Frolicking?” I rolled my eyes.

“You know what I mean.”

“Can’t a guy visit his girlfriend in peace?”

“I suppose.”

“Are you mocking me?” he narrowed his eyes and I tried my hardest to keep a straight face.

“No.” I stifled laughter.

“Well, I best be getting back.” He smiled slightly, before leaving. I stared confused, before shrugging and turning back to my cereal.

I shook the box, and a few crumbs tumbled out of the box and into the milk. I peered into the cereal box which turned out to be empty, before glancing at the counter where Jacob’s cereal bowl had once been. Everything slowly clicked together.

That bastard.