Jake grinned. “That’s what I like to hear.” Once the soldier had headed out of the parlor, Jake began to clean up his station. He glanced at the large clock that hung on the wall. He had an hour to kill before his brother, Luke picked him up. When Luke had asked him to take a ride with him to pick up his best friend, Jake jumped at the chance. Nick Foti had left Riverdale six years ago, when he moved to Seattle to work for his father. It had taken them all for a loop, because right before he left, he was supposed to go into business with Luke in a collision shop. Not to mention Jake would’ve bet his last dollar, that Nick had something going on with their little sister, Sam.
Nick may have been Luke’s best friend, but he and Jake were really close, as well. After Luke’s girlfriend left him to raise their infant daughter, he had been tied up in a shitload of responsibilities. Luke had found himself raising a baby and trying to make a career for himself all at the ripe age of twenty five. He assumed his responsibilities, and never once complained. Nick had been there a lot for Jake, taking the role of big brother in many ways. Jake was wild and out of control, and any jam he had gotten himself into, Nick was there for him. Jake loved Nick, just like he loved his brother, and was thrilled that the son of a bitch was coming home, and from the looks of it, it would be a permanent thing too.
The door chimes sounded, and Jake glanced up to see who it was, he didn’t have time for a walk in, and he’d have to have one of the guys do it. The person, who walked into Riverdale Ink, wasn’t looking for ink, she was looking for him, and when her eyes found his a grin spread across her beautiful face. Cara Sloane, was Jake’s best friend since they were sixteen years old, there wasn’t anything she didn’t know about him, or he about her. He often thought about the first time he met her; he almost didn’t go to the movies that night. A bunch of friends were going to the movies, and asked him to come with them. They were the only two out of the bunch that weren’t coupled up, and so the two singletons sat together and shared a tub of popcorn making fun of their friends that were all in relationships that no doubt would be over by the end of next week. They had hit it off right then and there and when the relationships ended, they were still standing. He couldn’t picture life without her, and never wanted to. For that reason alone, he never tried anything with her. Everyone always got on their cases, no one understood why they weren’t a couple, hell half the time he questioned why they weren’t. It always came down to, that she was too important to him, to test those waters.
Cara was beautiful, with auburn hair just above her shoulders, wavy and framing her face. She had the prettiest eyes, he ever saw, he figured they were hazel, because usually they were brown, but there were times they were green, like when she drank too much. She usually didn’t wear lipstick or that shiny, sticky crap, but today she had some on, because her full lips were a plum color. Best friend or not, he was a man, and he noticed her body, he noticed her body a lot. She was a petite little thing, with curves that drove him crazy, but he would never admit that. The jeans she wore, shaped those curves like a second skin, and rounded her heart shaped ass. She removed her short leather jacket, and revealed a long sleeve midriff baring sweater. She was hot, and that was a problem for Jake, she constantly had guys flocking to her and working at Rudy’s Bar and Grille, didn’t help the cause either; it didn’t matter who the guy was, no one would ever be good enough for his Cara.
She leaned over and pressed her pretty plum colored lips to his cheek, before running her finger over the mark her lipstick had left behind. “Now that should be your next tattoo.” She winked and rubbed it off with her thumb.
“Right; your lips on my cheek, how would I explain that one?” He said smiling at her, though he did kind of like the idea.
“Who cares?” Her eyes twinkling as she teased him, “We’ve explained a hell of a lot more. You know, our anniversary is coming up.”
Jake chuckled, swiping a hand down his face, remembering. When they were twenty three, they had pulled the ultimate April Fools prank on their friends and Jake’s parents. They had gone out the night before, and when the clock struck midnight, and it was officially April first, Jake got down on one knee in the middle of the bar and proposed to her. They had gone the week before to Canal Street, in Manhattan, to buy a fake engagement ring. His sister had called his parents from the bar and told them, when they got home his mother had called the entire family at five o clock in the morning to tell them he was engaged. Needless to say, when the jig was up, Jake had caught all sorts of heat from Deb and Joe. Still, it was one of his and Cara’s favorite memories, and every year she wished him a happy anniversary.
“This has got to be the longest running engagement, ever! I say this year we tell them we got hitched!” Jake said half kidding, half wondering if they could pull it off.