The Apocalypse (14 page)

Jake reacted with disbelief masked with sarcasm. "Uh-huh."

"We were looking at picture albums last night, okay? Mom, Hannah, and me." Isaac's gaze was intensely settled out the window. "Han asked a lot of questions, obviously, but when she recognized you in one, she got more into it and asked even more questions. And the crazy thing is…I think she remembers some of the stuff. She got this far-off, dreamy look on her face when Mom was talking to her."

"Kind of like the far-off dreamy look she gets when someone tries to explain something to her?"

"I hate you sometimes," Isaac sighed, shaking his head; apparently he'd caught the sarcastic inflections in Jake's question. He ran a hand over his blond hair and sighed deeper, seeming torn about something. "But I've got a favor to ask of you anyway."

Dread filled Jake. "A favor," he repeated, his eyebrows raised cynically. His truck was nearing the street that he and Isaac lived on, so if he could just make it a little farther… "What kind of favor?

"Come hang out with me and Hannah tomorrow. I figure we can walk over to the park." Isaac shrugged and kept his gaze out the window. "It'll be cold, but…you know. And having you there would make Hannah more relaxed."

"You're her brother," Jake replied as he maneuvered his car toward his driveway. "I think you can handle her by yourself."

Nose wrinkling, Isaac turned to look at Jake pleadingly. "Please? Come on, it won't kill you. I don't…I don't know what to say to her all the time. She likes talking to you. You'll keep things more natural."

Jake thought about this, personally believing that Isaac must have inhaled paint fumes or something if he believed that load of crap. But he'd said 'please,' and Jake had a hard time saying no to a friend, especially when he didn't have any better plans. Since he'd only worked at Häagen-Dazs during the summer and could only spend so much time indoors, he didn't really have a better option. His mom would be working, and considering that Jake spent a good percentage of his weekends with Isaac anyway, it made sense for Jake to go, even if Hannah would be there. Besides, he couldn't remember the last time he cruised through the neighborhood to the park.

"Say yes, Jake." Isaac's blue eyes were rounder than round and wider than wide. "Come on…"

As he parked, Jake shrugged. "Sure. Why not."

Still on a high from the victory of his basketball team the previous night, Jake knocked on the Ayers's front door, something he hadn't done…ever. So he let himself in and was met with Patricia's friendly smile and warm, "Hello, Jake."

He smiled back. "Hey. Where's Isaac?"

Patricia rolled her blue eyes. "He was still in bed twenty minutes ago." Jake looked at his watch incredulously, seeing that the time read
11:26
. Sleeping till then was crazy to him, but Isaac was
not
a
morning person. "You can go wake him, if you want, but it's at your own risk. Hannah's waiting for you in the kitchen. Do you want me to go get her?"

Jake blinked. "What?"

But Patricia didn't have to repeat the question, for Hannah appeared, smiling slightly. "There she is," Patricia announced, stating the very obvious. She looked back at Jake. "Come on back here later, Jake, and I'll have hot chocolate ready. It's freezing out there. You'll both be sick."

Still confused, Jake nodded ever so slightly and opened his mouth to question just what was going on. But then it dawned on him. Isaac had set him up. For what, Jake wasn't sure, but he could tell. Hannah was dressed in jeans and a blue and green American Eagle hooded sweatshirt, obviously prepared for the cold, and yet Isaac was nowhere to be found. It didn't take a genius to see that Isaac intended for Jake and Hannah to spend the day together, and Jake cursed himself for not thinking ahead.

"Ready?"

Hannah's tone was bright, and she made her way to the door. No, Jake wasn't ready, but he couldn't think of an excuse to get out of going, so he followed her and closed the door behind him.

"Wow, it really is freezing," Hannah remarked as she and Jake walked down the steps and moved to the sidewalk. She paused, and Jake pointed in the direction that led to the end of their street. Following his guidance, Hannah laughed rather nervously. "I need a map. It sucks."

Jake lifted
a
corner of his mouth almost into a half smile and shoved his hands into the pocket of his own hooded sweatshirt. "You'll get used to it," he replied, not even sounding convincing to himself. It wasn't that he wasn't convinced, however; it was just that he didn't particularly care for reassuring her.

Frowning, Hannah turned to look at him. "Didn't we talk about this, Jake? No pity." She skipped ahead merrily, laughing a laugh that Jake had never heard. "Oh, I'm so glad we're going somewhere that's not school! I haven't been anywhere else, really."

Walking to the end of their street, Jake turned around a curb. Figuring he might as well try to be interested in something she was saying, Jake asked, "Did you have fun at the game last night?"

He saw her nose wrinkle. "Not exactly," Hannah answered, looking around at the houses. "I mean, the game itself was okay, I guess, but…there were so many people there. They got on my nerves."

Pondering this, Jake decided to ask another question—one that he'd been wondering. "Why don't you spend much time with your friends? You used to be with them all the time."

Hannah didn't answer, and Jake didn't press her; he didn't care
that
much. Instead, he kept walking down the street. If she didn't want to talk, that was fine with him. In fact, it was a feeling that they could share. Jake did risk a glance at her though. Hannah's strawberry blonde hair was blowing in the light breeze, and her blue eyes were full of thought, as was her expression. If Jake wasn't biased, he might have said that the expression suited her, but Jake
was
biased. He didn't think Hannah was ugly or anything, but she wasn't gorgeous either, not even with an expression that kept her mouth shut.

About two minutes later, Jake and Hannah reached another corner, but this time, Jake reached over and caught Hannah's wrist. "We cross the street here," he informed her, dropping her wrist as quickly as he'd grabbed it and starting across the street. Hannah was at his side immediately. "It's not too much farther either."

Hannah remained silent, and Jake was beginning to worry about how awkward this outing was going to be. As they continued the short trek to the next block, Jake and Hannah crossed the street again, and the park was in plain view. Jake gazed at Helke Park and remembered walking there when he was younger.

"We used to come here every Fourth of July," Jake said suddenly, glancing at Hannah for just a second. "My family and yours. There were fireworks, and the whole park would be crowded with people who came to watch them."

Seeming to study the park a little
harder
, Hannah smiled. "Really. And what usually happened?" Jake almost froze, feeling as though she'd read his mind. "I mean, we didn't just watch fireworks, did we?"

"Nah. We chased each other with sparklers."

Hannah laughed but then sent Jake a funny look. "Sparklers?"

"Sure." Jake then realized that Hannah was questioning what they were, not asking for confirmation. "They're like…sticks. But when you catch them on fire, sparks and different colors shoot out. Like mini fireworks in your hand."

"I see."

Not sure if he believed her, Jake looked over to see Hannah smiling, and, sure enough, she did have a distant, spacey expression on her face, and all of Isaac's words came back to Jake. He'd have to pay attention today, just to see if Hannah liked him as much as Isaac believed she did. Jake had no way of knowing what Hannah was like without him around, but he could definitely say that there were issues between her and her friends. Those issues didn't seem to exist between him and her though, which was hard for Jake to fathom.

Jake led Hannah around the park, walking slowly, in pretty comfortable silence. At every chance he had, Jake glanced at Hannah, curious to see if the 'crush' that Isaac spoke of was there. Instead, he just saw her in relaxation. Growing doubtful of it, Jake scanned the opposite side of the park, thinking he recognized some guys playing tennis.

"My friends annoy me," Hannah commented out of nowhere. Caught off guard, Jake turned and looked at her, only to see that she was looking back at him intensely. "
Really
annoy me. Tisha is so pushy and touchy and talkative, and-and Morgan is all right, I guess, but she seems so—like you said once—bossy. And don't get me started on Libby. Can she do anything
but
fight?"

Jake stared at Hannah through green eyes, not having a clue about what to say. "Well…" Hannah was looking at him expectantly, and Jake realized she actually cared what he said. So he shrugged. "I don't like them either. Libby's a bitch."

Seeming relieved, Hannah smiled. "I think so too."

Though Jake was a little confused, he was more impressed with himself for not insulting Hannah too. "But don't take my word for it," he surprised himself more by saying. "They're your friends. Ditch them now, and you might regret it later."

Hannah seemed to be considering this as they walked on, but Jake couldn't
tell
what she was thinking. He didn't have much experience processing thoughts of hers that weren't negative. Suddenly, Hannah's face lit up, taking Jake aback. She pointed across the way and asked, "What's that place? More of the park?"

Jake followed her finger across some fielded distance, and his forehead wrinkled. "No… That's our old elementary school."

"Can we go over there?" Hannah questioned, angling her head thoughtfully. Jake didn't see the appeal, but he shrugged anyway. He was rewarded with Hannah's grin, and suddenly she was sprinting in that direction. "Come on, Jake!" she yelled back at him. "Come
on
!"

Unsure, Jake watched her for a second but suddenly realized that he should probably go with her. So taking off at a run, Jake easily caught up with her and crossed the grass and the outfield of the baseball diamond to reach the playground of Helke Elementary. As they approached, both of them slowed, and Jake could hear Hannah catching her breath; the cold stung his own lungs.

Her face aglow, Hannah jogged over to a recreational structure, and Jake watched dubiously as she climbed an orange-painted, metal ladder to the top of the structure, where there was a slide and a metal pole for sliding. Instead of picking
a
way to go back to the ground, Hannah hopped down the side and went across the swinging bridge, clutching to the sides to keep her balance.

"What are you doing?" Jake asked, walking along beside her on the ground. His shoes crunched on the small white pebbles that covered the surrounding area.

"Trying to imagine playing on this before."

Jake easily moved up a few steps, bent down, and attempted crossing the monkey bars, but he was too tall to do it smoothly. "Oh," he replied, not sure what to say. He could feel Hannah's eyes on him as he traveled to a platform and began to swing on the chained monkey bars, which were higher from the ground. But they still weren't high enough, and his feet nearly grazed the surface. "Having any luck?"

"Not really," Hannah answered, and when Jake glanced back, he saw her looking around the area. She hopped off the structure, so he dropped from the monkey bars, and followed her toward the string of teeter-totters. "Tell me about it."

Considering this, Jake pointed back to the swinging bridge structure. "In the second grade, our entire grade used to pretend we were on the Titanic, and that whole thing was the ship. We had a captain and everything, and then we'd pretend to drown or freeze after abandoning ship."

Hannah was staring at Jake quizzically as they walked, and he then realized that she didn't understand, so he briefed her on the infamous sinking of the Titanic. She didn't appear to be amused, so he tried again, saying, "And when that got old, we'd play Jurassic Park. All these little stones were made of 'lava,' and we had to 'wear' lava shoes."

Still blank, Hannah shrugged and sat on one end of a teeter-totter. "I have no idea what you're talking about." She shrugged and added, "But I guess it's not too important."