The Apocalypse (32 page)

A moment later, Jake's truck door opened and shut. Laughing, he called after Hannah, "Slow down. You don't have to get pissy about it. I talked about me!"

In response, Hannah sent him
a
good view of her middle finger.

If jealousy truly turned a person green, she'd be able to double as Kermit the Frog within a minute or two.

"Do you want another Coke?"

Jake glanced up from the leather couch in the basement of Mollie White's monstrous house. Relatively amused, he shook his head at some sophomore by the name of Kaylee; she'd been trying to flirt with him since he walked into the New Year's party, but Jake wasn't taking her seriously at all.

"I could get you something else, if you'd prefer," Kaylee offered, smiling angelically.

"No, thanks," Jake answered, swishing his Coke can from side to side; he still had more than half of the can left. "I'm good."

"I'll take a Coke," Brent said from beside him. Jake elbowed his friend as Kaylee ran off, and Brent just shrugged. "She was offering. I'm just taking."

"Don't take everything she offers you," Ethan advised from the chair across from the leather couch. He tipped his bottle of root beer back, apparently draining its contents. "I heard she's got a nasty case of crabs."

"Well, I can't imagine a pleasant case of crabs," Jake replied darkly. Ethan grinned back at him as Jake took a drink from his pop. He casually glanced around the basement, granting half-smiles and exchanging nods to people that he knew. "Man, this blows. I should be home sleeping."

Brent rolled his eyes. "Jake. Seriously. This is the one night you have to stay awake
longer
than like…eleven. Dude."

"Yeah. There are lots of pretty girls here, man," Ethan pointed out, grinning. "Tonight could be a good night."

Jake perfected the expression of boredom. "I hate all these girls."

"You don't like these girls, you don't want to go find ghetto girls, you're against girls from Englewood…" Brent sighed and accepted a Coke from Kaylee. Impatiently, he shooed her away with his hand. "Jake, what kind of girls
do
you like?"

Jake made a face at Brent. "Weren't you the one saying you need a girlfriend? Worry about that, Riggs, not me."

Both Brent and Ethan mumbled something—most likely insulting, Jake figured—but he wasn't listening. Instead, he glanced around the basement again, raised his eyebrows at the group of people dancing to Michael Jackson's "Thriller," and tried to find someone to talk to instead of his friends. This was one of those times when he wished Isaac was older, just so he could have someone to talk to at parties, since Brent would be hooking up with somebody in another fifteen minutes and Ethan would soon latch on to Hannah, whenever she and her friends arrived.

Jake stole a glance at his watch. It was only nine o'clock, and he was already growing tired; he'd never make it up all night. Not only was he being forced to socialize with people that he didn't like (seeing as how Brent had made him go to Mollie's party), but he was going to be missing out on sleep, which would just make him cranky when he woke up at six in the morning. It was a terrible situation for everybody.

Glossy light brown waves caught Jake's attention. Standing by the tables where the drinks were set up was Mercedes Jensen, talking and laughing with Mollie and a few of her other friends. As usual, she looked incredible. Jake took a moment to admire her in her pretty cerulean blue halter dress; he imagined that the dress matched her eyes perfectly. Although Jake fleetingly wondered where Kirk was, the thought passed as Mercedes flicked her hair over her shoulder gently, briefly seeming annoyed by her glamorous waves.

Jake was truly addicted to that hair. Or at least he had been. Watching Mercedes brought back so many memories, particularly of the past summer. Her parents owned a cabin by Lake Erie, and when the family had taken their vacation up there, Jake had accompanied them. Long, hot days lazing in the hammock together, splashing around in the water, roasting marshmallows to the sound of frogs and crickets, snuggling under the stars until they fell asleep…it all replayed in Jake's head.

"Oh, come on. Let's crank that!"

"God, no. You know I don't dance."

The sound of Brent and Ethan arguing snapped Jake out of his daydreaming. He glanced between them and quickly understood their argument, since the opening measures of "Crank Dat, Soulja Boy" were starting and people were gathering at the dance floor. Almost amused, Jake half smiled. "Go on, Brent," he mocked. "Go show your moves."

"Yeah!" Ethan agreed quickly. "I actually know this dance."

Scowling, Brent flipped Jake off with one hand and Ethan with the other. "I'll pass, thanks."

Jake opened his mouth to retort, but Ethan cut him off, though Jake didn't have any idea what had been said. He'd become distracted as soon as Mercedes's familiar laugh hit his ears. Glancing over, Jake saw Mercedes still talking with her friends, one of whom had apparently said something amusing. Easily, Jake tuned everything else out as his minded faded back into his memories from summer.

The weather was stifling, and Mercedes had insisted on moving into the hammock. She and Jake lied side by side, entwined with each other, watching the sun set over Lake Erie. Their shorts showed deep tans on their legs, and the sleeveless shirts they wore exposed their mild sunburns. Jake had been teasing Mercedes about something she'd said, and she'd responded by cuddling against him and ignoring the inoffensive words sweetly.

"
I love you," she'd whispered against his ear. Jake's stomach had flipped over and over when he realized what she'd said. Mercedes had then gently pressed her lips to his cheek, smiled, and added, "Don't say it back if you're not ready to. But I do love you, Jake Allen."

"—Hannah too."

Once again snapping out of his daydream, Jake blinked and stared at Ethan, who had just gotten his attention. "What about Hannah?"

Seeming confused, Ethan tipped his head. "What?"

"Ethan's still trying to make me dance," Brent filled Jake in bitterly, rolling his eyes. He then proceeded to glare at Ethan as one hand gently motioned Jake's eyes in the direction of Hannah and her friends. "Just because even the amnesia chick can do the Soulja Boy dance doesn't mean that I can."

"Hey." Jake found himself unexpectedly scowling. "Don't
call
her that, Brent."

"Whoa…" Brent stared at Jake as if his head had just imploded. "Dude, take it easy. I was just saying."

Jake was suddenly aware of the tension in his shoulders and of the defensiveness he felt. Oh no, his multiple personalities were kicking in again. He inhaled slowly and let his shoulders relax as he exhaled. It was unbelievable that he'd gotten an attitude over someone insulting Hannah Ayers. What was this, the twilight zone?

"I think I'll go say hi to Hannah," Ethan commented slowly, oozing with awkwardness. "She'll dance with me." He stood and shifted his weight somewhat nervously. "Uh, I'll catch up with you guys later."

Neither Jake nor Brent answered. Instead, Brent continued staring at Jake, while Jake avoided looking over at him. If there was anyone who knew Jake very well, it was Brent, and if Brent suspected something about Jake's defensiveness, a glance from Jake would confirm or deny anything that Brent thought. Unless, of course, Jake was just being paranoid.

Great. Multiple personalities
and
paranoia. It was time to call Dr. Phil.

"You gonna go with Ethan and see Hannah too?"

Jake gritted his teeth and focused his gaze on the throng of people dancing. "Why would I do that? This is the one time she's not smothering me. I'd like to keep it that way, man."

"Uh-huh…" Surged with immediate annoyance, Jake jerked his head in Brent's direction, ready to glare at him, but he forced himself to look natural, given that Brent would otherwise sense that something was up. "Well, she looks good tonight. I'll definitely say that for her."

Jake scoffed. "Hannah? Looks good? Sure."

"Check her out for yourself. She's on her way over here."

Against his will, Jake felt his eyes widen in a panic, but he quickly calmed himself. Hannah was on her way over? To
him
? It took all of his might to refrain from gulping—and running far, far away. But then just as quickly as his panic set in, Jake's body eased into comfort. Why get uptight over
Hannah
? He was losing the last fragments of his fragile mind.

Hannah suddenly appeared in front of the couch that Jake and Brent were occupying, and
a
bright smile lit up her face. "Hey, Jake. Brent."

"Hey, Hannah," Brent muttered back. Jake barely grunted, preferring instead to ice her out. And yet he couldn't figure out why. He figured he should probably add mood stabilizers to the list of things that he needed because mood swings were becoming all too frequent for him.

From the
corner
of his eye, Jake saw Hannah tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "Are you guys having fun?"

"No, but I'm about to be," Brent answered, standing up suddenly. Jake snapped his head up, determined to find out why his friend was bailing on him. It wasn't hard to see, since half of the cheerleading squad had just walked in the door: hormones. Jake almost chuckled to himself at how predictable Brent was.

"What about you?"

Jake almost jumped. Without him knowing it, Hannah had moved into the space that Brent had just deserted. "Not really," he answered, though his voice sounded foreign and far away to him. "I'm tired."

Hannah leaned back into the couch, getting comfortable.
Oh God
, Jake thought; that meant she was planning on staying there with him. His interest in spending time with her had depreciated greatly since she'd kissed him. Yeah, so he'd made Hannah go out to eat with him the day after the kiss, but he'd only done that because he knew that if he'd avoided her, it would be impossible to face her. The easiest way to get on with everything was to get it over with and suck it up. But he hadn't seen her in a couple days…and now, since remembering the kiss, the awkwardness was settling in.

Now Jake would have had to admit that it was a good kiss, if those lips had belonged to anyone else. But he was unquestionably biased since they had been Hannah's. Still, he could have brushed off being kissed by even her
if
he hadn't kissed her back. The fact that he'd returned her kiss scared Jake. The fact that he'd returned her kiss made Jake feel uncomfortable and uncertain every time that he was around her now. The fact that he'd returned her kiss…well, it had to mean that something was wrong with him, right? Something else in addition to his multiple personalities and paranoia. Or did that just make him more paranoid?

If Jake had needed any more reason to question his sanity—and he doubted that he did—he received it at that very moment, when his mind went spiraling back to August, just before school started.

"
I love you."

The words had rolled so smoothly off of Jake's tongue that late summer night. He and Mercedes had been at a bonfire party, but they'd taken a walk for some alone time. Mercedes had been more beautiful than ever that night, and when Jake had kissed her, the words flowed out so genuinely that he knew they were true.

The reaction from his girlfriend was nothing less than disappointing. Mercedes had argued with him, denied that there was any truth in the statement, and Jake had been left thoroughly confused. No, Mercedes had insisted that Jake was crazy about Hannah Ayers, and the idea had been so absurd to him that they'd ended up fighting and going home separately not long afterwards.