My Twisted Teenage Romance

A day and a half later and my hope that I would see Jacob again had been greatly reduced. To put it in words, I was on edge. Suddenly I cared just a little too much what I looked like when I ran the simplest of errands. Every time I walked into a crowded store or restaurant I was secretly hoping that he would be there. I found it rather pathetic and found myself pitting girls who were always like this.

So here I was, Saturday afternoon, a day and a half since I had met Peter's mysterious second cousin, looking up anxiously every time the bell on the door to the café rang and secretly hoping it was him who walked in.

''Nikki? Nikki?'' I was vaguely aware that Jason was trying to get my attention as the bell jingled yet again.

''Nicole!'' Jenny snapped, slamming her cup unnecessarily hard on the small table.

''Yea? What?'' I said as I turned back to my friends.

''You're staring at the door again.'' Jenny explained

''Oh, sorry guys.'' I said, breaking off a piece of my muffin and shoving it in my mouth.

''So like I was saying, I need to start looking for a new job. Working at that antiques store is driving me nuts. Everyday we get a grand total of five customers, they never actually buy anything and they're all like a hundred years old!'' Jenny complained.

''Why don't you apply here? I mean, we spend enough time here anyway.'' Jason said and I could virtually see the little light above Jenny's head light up.

''Are they hiring?'' she asked, suddenly excited.

''No!'' I said sarcastically and pointed at the giant now hiring sign in the window.

''I'll be right back!'' Jenny said, hopping up and going to the counter.

It was true, we did spend most of our time here in this café, and it was one of our favourite places. It was only a small café, but they made ht best muffins in the entire town. It was never very busy let alone crowded in here, but that's why we liked it. We sat at the same booth every time, the one closest the back. The people who worked there knew us by name plus our preferences; they had making our coffees down to a fine art.

It was a relatively small building with one counter that ran all the way from the front to the back that was dotted with barstools closer to the end. There were booths against the other wall and in between were the tables. The counter top and all the tables were a dark wood and there were curtains on the front windows hat were a beautiful dark green, giving it a soothing atmosphere.
The bell on the front door jingled again and out of instinct I looked up.

''I don't think he lives around here.'' Jason said and I snapped my gaze back to him. I gave him a questioning look.

''Jacob, I heard he lives at the edge of town with his parents and two brothers, I also heard his brothers are just as gorgeous as he is.'' Jason said, grinning slightly.

''How do you know I'm watching for him? '' I asked as casually as possible.

''Oh come on! I've seen that look on you before! You are wishing he would be the next person to come in that door.'' Jason said, pointing at the door with his thumb.

''Is it that obvious?'' I asked, folding my arms on the table and resting my head on them.

Jason raised his eyebrows as if to say 'are you serious?' and I groaned.

''Do you think Jenny knows?'' I asked. I knew from past experience that she would use this little crush against me whenever the opportunity presented itself, and I had definitely returned the favour.

''Are you kidding? That girl was so wasted she doesn't even remember the guy who she was kissing's name.'' Jason laughed

'''Why did he have to show up now?'' I asked and Jason shrugged.

''Fate?'' he suggested and I rolled my eyes.

''That's a pretty twisted fate don't you think? I see him once then go crazy when I never see him again?''

''Maybe, but what if you will see him again?'' Jason asked innocently

''What do you mean?'' I asked, narrowing my eyes at him.

''Oh nothing, I just might have heard that his family is moving in next to Peters, nothing really important.'' He said with a grin.

''Jason! He's moving here!'' I asked, more like stated, excitedly.

''How d'you know?'' I asked

''I hear things.''

''And I see dead people.'' Jenny said as she sat back down.

''So will we be able to use your employees discount any time soon?'' I asked, wiggling my eyebrows a bit and she laughed.

''They want to see my résumé first, but Mandy said that even though there's no guarantees, I'm most likely for the job, we practically live here anyway.'' She said proudly. Mandy was the manager and owner; we were on a first name basis with most of the staff.

''Yea. So what are we doing this afternoon?'' Jason asked.

''Well I'm going home, I need to get my résumé and drop it off before closing, then I'll probably end up back at your house so I'll see you guys in a bit.'' Jenny said, getting up and walking out to her car.

''See you later.'' she said as she left and we waved.

''So he's seriously moving into that big old house next to Peter?'' I asked the second Jenny was out of the store.

''I think so.'' Jason shrugged.

''You know what this means right?'' I asked playfully.

''He'll probably end up at our school!'' Jason said, sounding as excited as I felt.

''I was going to say we're going to have to spend more time at Peters but I like yours better!'' I laughed.

''So what do you propose we do on this fine Saturday afternoon?'' he asked.

''Come on, lets' go watch a movie and wait for Jenny.'' I said as I got up and he groaned.

''A movie? That’s the best you could come up with? We have no school to worry about, no boyfriends that we need to see, and you come up with that.'' he said, following me to the door.

''What would you have us do?'' I asked as I opened the passenger's door on his SUV.

''We could go to Jenny's and hang out in the hot tub with her brother.'' Jason said with a little grin.

''Ew Jason! Its her brother. '' I laughed as we pulled out.

''It doesn’t mean he's not hot.'' Jason said happily

'I'm in the business of misery let's take it from the top, she's got a body like an hour glass that's ticking like a clock…'

''It's my song! And that’s still gross.'' I laughed as I turned the volume on the radio way up.

We turned onto my street and Jason immediately started to grin. There on the lawn next to mine, was Jenny's older brother Michael, mowing the lawn, with no shirt on. He was sweating and the sun bounced off it, making him glisten when he was in the light. Some time in prison had treated his body very nicely and now I could see why Jason was all for hot tubbing with him.

''Jason! My driveway!'' I laughed as Jason drove past my house and towards Jenny's.

''Right! I knew that!'' Jason said as he slammed on the brakes and reversed into my driveway.

I quickly jumped out of the car and walked over to the hedge that divided Jenny's house from mine. I waved to Michael and he smiled and cut the power to the mower. As he walked over he took off his work gloves and put them in his pocket, then he grabbed the towel that was hanging from the back of his pants and wiped off his forehead and chest.
He had a new armband tattoo, it was barbed wire and on his right arm, he must have got it when he was in jail. Jenny and I were the only ones who ever actually liked his tattoos, they drove his mom crazy. He told us that if we were ever going to get any done, he wanted to be the one to take us.

I felt my cheeks go pink when he noticed me watching him just a little too closely.

''Hey Michael, how've you been?'' I asked when he reached the hedge.

''Can't complain, I'm home right?'' he laughed.

''Yea, and it looks like they've got you working already.'' I said, nodding my head towards the lawnmower.

''Yea, I think my dad fired the gardener.'' he joked and I laughed.

''Well we're going to watch a movie, so I'll see you around.'' I said as I walked back towards my house.

''Later.'' he said, turning back to his half mown lawn.

I walked back to where Jason was leaning against the hood of his car and nudged him playfully with my shoulder.

''Stop drooling.'' I joked and he mock glared at me.

''I'm not.'' he said, sticking his tongue out at me.

We went inside and found no one was home. We went to the living room and I plopped down in front of the movie rack. We had hundreds of movies, and I'd seen them all, making it hard to choose one to watch.

''Guess what Jason?'' I said, giving him my most angelic look.

''We're watching the covenant aren't we?'' he groaned

''Oh yea.'' I laughed. Jenny and I had made Jason watch this movie too many times to count. We never got sick of it, but Jason was another story.