Someone Left Behind

It was about 8 and the sun had just went down and the fireworks were about to start. The whole Staal family gathered around a picnic table, Jared and Marc sitting on the edge of the table and pointing out pretty girls as they went along, Eric and Tanya sitting cuddled up and talking quietly. Jordan was sitting with Sandra but they were both off in their own little world, Linda and Henry sitting much the way Eric and Tanya were, all cuddled up.

Eric suddenly stood up, “I gotta go find Jake before the fireworks start.” he announced before wandering away. He walked around for a bit then laughed when he spotted the evidently very popular Jake. He was sitting on a picnic table, his feet on the bench with about 10 kids surrounding him, either sitting next to him or sitting on the ground looking up at him. They were very interested in whatever he was explaining, his hands flying around every which way as he tried to get his point across.

“Jake! The fireworks are about to start!” he yelled over the murmur of the crowd. Jake’s head snapped up and the whole crowd of kids looked up at him, eyes widening as they realized who it was. He saw the little boy sitting next to Jake lean closer and read his lips as he whispered frantically in Jake’s ear ‘You know him!?!’ He chuckled quietly when Jake only smirked and hopped off the table, bounding over and stopping a couple inches from him, looking up at him with wide eyes.

“I like the kids around here!”

“Yeah…it’s a good place to grow up.” he ruffled his hair and put his hand on his shoulder, leading him back to their table
.
They arrived back to the table, Jake hopping up in between Eric and Tanya, Eric put his arm over his shoulders and the little family talked quietly until the fireworks began.

Jordan watched his brother and Jake as they started a little game, ‘Ohhing’ or ‘Ahhing’ at the fireworks, trying to say the same thing as the other one, Tanya giggling hysterically at them. At one particular firework, a big blue one, Eric ‘Ohhed’ while Jake ‘Ahhed’ they both giggled and he heard Jake exclaim, “I think that one was an ‘Ahh’…yeah definitely an ‘Ahh’!” Eric tickled him slightly and they both continued on happily with their game.

Marc and Jared joined in a short time later and Jordan sighed. He was jealous of how he was left out of the loop with Jake, he didn’t understand what he’d done, he never even spoke to the boy and he was immediately disliked. His brothers got along so well with the Jake, accepting him into their family like blood, like he was actually their nephew instead of some random stranger’s kid who their brother happened to end up with. Jordan liked the little boy, he really did, he was funny and smart and he felt a connection with him but he didn’t understand why Jake didn’t like him. His brothers seemed to subconsciously circle the boy whenever he came near, seemingly trying to protect him from any sort of harm or hurt, even though Jordan would never do anything to hurt him. But Jordan didn’t think they even knew they did it, sort of like a instinctive thing. He wanted to be part of the loop, he wanted the boy to like him but he didn’t know how to make that happen, so he just wandered around, being nice to Jake but not really trying to make conversation or play with him. He’d watched his brothers interact with Jake the past few days and he realized that they could be doing pretty much anything, yet they’d immediately drop it to be with Jake or to talk to Jake.

The little boy suddenly turned around and caught Jordan’s eye, he smiled at him before turning back and laughing at Jared attempting to explain how a firework worked to a blonde girl sitting at the table next to them. Jake shook his head and shoved Jared off the side of the table before actually explaining how it worked, then announcing proudly that his Daddy had taught him that.

An hour later, after fireworks and saying goodbye to everybody they started to head home. Jake had fallen asleep on Eric’s shoulder. Jared and Marc were loading the picnic stuff and prizes into the back of the SUV while their parents had headed home about half an hour ago after the fireworks. Suddenly Eric turned around and handed the small boy to Jordan, then reaching to help Tanya up off the bench. Jordan was startled but shifted so that Jake was more comfortable; Sandra was glaring at them but Jordan didn’t notice. All he could focus on was the small puffs of air hitting his neck from Jake breathing, it was something he immediately knew he’d never forget. Jake’s arms wrapped around his neck as he carried him towards the car, carefully avoiding bouncing him around to much. He set him down in his car seat and untangled his arms from behind his neck before buckling him in and hopping in the very back where there were 3 more seats. Sandra climbed in next to him complaining about how they had to sit all the way in the back. They were dropping her off on the way home.

After dropping Barbie off they arrived home and Eric took Jake up to his bedroom while Jordan helped bring in the picnic stuff and prizes Jake had won. They all went to bed soon after, leaving the bags to be unpacked in the morning.