No One Does It Better

I stood outside my apartment after dropping Vic and Mike home, I was fumbling around with my keys trying to get the right one. Why is it so hard to unlock a door when you’re meant to be being quiet?
I finally unlocked the door and started to swing it open. The loudest most high pitched creak came from the door making me cringe.
“Jessie, is that you?” I heard a voice call from the kitchen. I walked in to see Jake standing there wearing a shirt, pants and a tie. Damn he looked attractive in his work clothes.

“Yeah its just me, hi. Did you just get in?” I asked before moving in to quickly kiss him.
“Yeah, I’ve only been here about 5 minutes. Where were you?” He asked. I couldn’t tell him where I really was, that would cause too many questions that I wasn’t ready to answer.
“Kelly and I were talking… I guess the time got away from us” I lied. Jake nodded his head before reaching for my hand. He lifted his spare hand moving a piece of hair from my face.
“Lets go to bed” I said leading Jake into the bedroom.
As soon as we were through the door I felt myself being pushed down onto the bed. Jake hovered over me looking me dead in the eyes. “I feel like I haven’t really seen you since we’ve moved here…I’ve missed you baby” He whispered before leaning down to kiss me.
“I’ve” “missed” “you” “too” I said in between kisses. A small moan escaped my lips as Jake started sucking on my neck. I pulled off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt as he took off mine...

---

I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing from my bedside table. I reached over and picked up my phone. On the screen I saw that it was 6 o’clock. Who would ring at a stupid hour like this? The name at the bottom read Papa Grover.
“Hey daddy” I mumbled
“Hey sweetie, did I wake you?” I could hear the smirk in is voice.
“No, I’ve been up for hours” I said sarcastically
“Good! I raised you well. I know you’ve been busy getting settled in so I’m just reminding you that you and Jake are meant to be coming down this weekend”
“Oh right, I completely forgot. Thanks Pah. I’ll see you later on then. Love you” I said hanging up
I heard Jake groan from next to me.
“I totally forgot about that” his raspy morning voice said. I looked over as he lay on his back with a pillow over his face. Neither of us were morning people. “We don’t have to be up for another 2 hours, so I’m going back to sleep”
I cuddled up to his warm side, letting my eyes close shut.

---

I don’t think I have ever experienced a quicker 2 hours in my entire life. I sat up in my bed trying to keep my eyes open. I traced circles on Jakes naked back as he lay on his stomach. “Can we stop at your work and get coffees on the way?” He mumbled trying to stay awake.
“That’s a good idea. I should probably have a shower before I fall back asleep” I said standing up and stretching.
“I need to start getting ready too. I could join to save water” Jake said suggestively making me laugh.
“You wish you could get some of this” I joked at he threw his pillow at me.

It didn’t take us very long to get ready considering how un awake we were. Within an hour we had dragged everything we needed to visit my dad in San Diego to the car. I climbed into the car reaching over to the radio putting on the music. Jake hopped in and began driving to Café Charter.

As we walked through the double doors, he lowered his hand linking his fingers with mine. We walked up to the counter and ordered our coffees.
I was staring off into space when Jake’s voice snapped me out of it
“Are you staring at my ass?” He asked mockingly. I realised that I was while I was off in my own world.
“What if I was?” I asked putting my hands on my hips. A smirk grew on Jakes face.
“Well then I would probably have to do this” Jake moved towards me picking me up and spinning me around causing me to be in a fit of laughter. I stopped laughing when Jake put me down. Just at that moment I realised who was standing behind me.

“Hi Jessie” Mike mumbled awkwardly. He was standing there looking worse than hungover. His face was covered in a light stubble while his brown eyes were bloodshot/
“Hi” I replied forcing a smile. My stomach did flips just seeing him. Jake instinctively put his arm around me and stuck out his hand.
“I’m Jake, her boyfriend” He said emphasising the ‘Boyfriend’
“Mike” He introduced himself, looking Jake in the eyes, shaking his hand. There was an uncomfortable silence between the three of us. Mike stood there with his mouth slightly open as if he was about to say something. After an excruciating minute of silence my name was called from behind the counter. I picked up the coffee's handing on of them to Jake.
“Lets go babe” I said quietly taking his hand.
Jake and I were almost at the door of the café when Mike’s voice rose “I’ll see you later then Jessie”
Butterflies went through my stomach as I nodded my head before walking out of the door.
I was trying so hard to be mad at him.

“So, who was that?” Jake spoke up once we were in the car.
“Just one of Kelly’s friends” I said quickly. I had never lied to Jake until Mike came into the picture. I couldn’t tell if I was protecting Jake, Mike or myself. Only time will tell.

---

“Hey Jessie?” Jake spoke up as we passed the ‘YOU ARE NOW LEAVING ARIZONA’ sign.
“Yeah?” I replied fiddling with a loose string on my dress.
“Do you remember that time after graduation when I told you that I had never been happier with someone? Well I just want you to know that nothing has changed in the way I feel” He said sending me a smile which I forced back. Something about Jake saying this made me feel a little uneasy.
“I love you babe”
I really did, but he deserved so much better than me. It had been the absence of Mike that drove me straight into Jakes arms. Sometimes I wondered whether I was just using him to fill the void. But then again, Jake made me feel something that Mike never did.
After a couple hours of driving, neither of us had enough energy to continue talking. I started to fall asleep as William Beckett’s voice sang through the car speakers.

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“Hey kids, who wants some pizza before they leave?” Dad asked as we were about to walk out of the door.
“Oh my god Pizza” Mike said as he sprinted to the dining room. I walked down the hallway to see my dad and Mike demolishing the pizza in front of them.
“No its okay, start eating. Don’t wait for me” I said sarcastically sitting down. They both grunted in response.
“So Phil, what are your plans for the rest of the night” Mike said after he finished his 5th piece.
My dad’s cheeks started becoming red.
“I’m actually going on a blind date” He said clearing his throat. A sharp pain hit my chest. As much as I want my dad to be happy I didn’t want the same thing to happen again. I don’t think either of us could handle it. Before I could say anything my dad stood up from his chair looking at his old wristwatch.
“Speaking of which, I am late… Bye kids, don’t forget to lock the front door” He said running out of the room.
Mike looked at me as I traced the pattern of the table cloth with my hand.
“He’ll be fine. Don’t even think about her okay?” How did he know what I was thinking? I nodded my head as we stood up walking out of the house.

--

It was less than a five minute walk before we were at the Fuentes house. I spread out on the couch as Mike sat in front of the DVD case.
“Okay so, out of the five that I have chosen which one do you want to watch?” He said spinning around to face me. “The butterfly effect, Donnie Darko, Peter Pan, Scott Pilgrim or Spiderman” A smirk grew on his face.
“Fuck you, you know they are my five favourites. But I think I’ll choose my boy Scott Pilgrim”
Mike came over to the couch after he put the DVD in, I lay my head on his lap once he had sat down.

This was probably the 100th time we had watched this movie. We recited the lines as Mike played with my hair. He started to hum along to a song being played in the movie, I turned my head to look at him. The light from the TV was softly hitting his face. I didn’t know where my burst of confidence came from when I sat up letting my lips crash onto Mike’s. It was less than a second before he started innocently kissing back. The kiss grew less innocent by the second. Mike flipped me so that I was lying down with his face looking down on mine. His face moved down until our lips were connected again. My hands were working at pulling off his flannel shirt until it was on the floor. Electricity ran through my veins as his hands made their way under my shirt. Mike released a low growl as I pulled on his bottom lip with my teeth. His hands were moving up to undo the clasp on my bra when my phone started blaring from my pocket. His dark eyes met mine, I look of disappointment hit his face. I sighed reaching into my pocket.
“Hello?”
“Hey kido”
“Dad?”
“Hi Jessie, I uh. I’m coming home and um, wanted to know if you wanted to watch a movie with your old man?” He said as his voice cracked.
“Sure thing papa” I said feeling worried
“Mike can come to, I’ll bring Ice cream” He said almost whispering before hanging up.
I turned to face Mike who was buttoning up his shirt.
“He sounds upset, He wants us to watch a movie with him” Mike nodded his head and put out his hand for me to take.
“I’m sorry if that was weird and uncalled for Mikey” I said as my cheeks started heating up.
He let out a chuckle before bending down to quickly kiss me. “I’m sorry if THAT was weird and uncalled for” he said smirking.

---

we walked in my house to find my dad sitting on the couch holding three containers of ice cream. I sat down beside him as Mike sat on the floor. Before either of us could ask my dad spoke up.
“Her name was Anita…” He said uncomfortably. “…Just like your mothers”
How is it fair that that monster gets to have a happy life while my dad and I are stuck like this?