“Um, OK. I’ll see you at dinner,” I said, turning to Jane.
“Yeah, I’ll save you a seat and Jake can go sit with the aunts and uncles.” She turned to stick her tongue out at Jake, but he quickly grabbed my hand and led me out the door.
Jake’s room was a palace compared to Jane’s. It was so large and filled with so much furniture, the giant king-sized bed looked dwarfed. I never realized anyone could have so much furniture in one room. There was a desk along the west wall as well as rows and rows of shelves filled with books. These were the kinds of shelves one would see in movies, where old men went to retire in their libraries. He had one of these libraries on one wall of his room.
If the west wall was for intellect, the south wall was purely for entertainment. On this wall hung the largest TV I had ever seen. There were probably invisible speakers mounted everywhere. In front of the TV sat sleek couches, chaises and lounge chairs—the kind for video game purposes only. The east wall had two doors. One led to a giant bathroom that looked bigger than my master bedroom. The other door led to a walk-in closet that was definitely twice the size of my master bedroom.
“How do you not get lost in your own room?” I half joked. “Your room is practically the size of my entire house.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that. It’s not that big, is it?” He looked around trying to gauge the dimensions.
“Why would you want to move out and get a place of your own when your room is this palatial? If your room looks like this, what does your house look like in the Valley?” I wondered in amazement.
“My house is small. It’s probably smaller than yours. I think I’m going to rent it out and move back into my parents’ home to be closer to you and the hospital. Nothing is keeping me in the Valley anymore.”
“And, there was somebody keeping you there before?” I tried to ask nonchalantly.
“I’m digging this jealous tone, but it wasn’t anybody, just a hospital. Remember how I told you that my residency was at a hospital in the Valley? I hated the commute back home in the wee hours of the morning so I bought a house out there.”
“I see.”
“So, are we OK?” He sounded so un-Jake-like, so unsure of us.
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You were the one upset. Here lies a permanent scar etched on my heart because of your meanness!” I pointed to my heart and added an umph for effect. “Jane was right. You can be really nasty when life doesn’t go your way.” I giggled as he tugged me to him.
“This is going to be another Allison situation, huh? You’re going to use my folly against me for the next month.”
“A month? Are you kidding me? This is worth at least a year!”
“Is that right?” With speed and determination, he picked me up and threw me on his bed.
His lips came down roughly on mine and it was clear that he was not letting go of me for a while. Knowing he wasn’t going to get very far didn’t sway his determination to undermine my beliefs. I had to admit, I was the one caving toward his beliefs. His right hand immediately began unbuttoning my dress and his left arrested my protesting hand.
I tried to come up for air but his solid body lay on top of mine and didn’t give me any room for escape. He finally moved his lips away from me and I let out a whimper. “Jake…your parents…your entire family is in this house.”
In between moving his mouth from my lips down to my exposed chest, he uttered, “I don’t care.” He knew I wasn’t putting up much of a fight. Skillfully, Jake managed to pull off the top half of my dress and his hands reached to take it completely off when there was a knock that saved me from Jake as well as from myself.
“Jake…oh, Jake…” Nick’s voice called out.
“Go away!” Jake growled.
“Mom told me to come and get you and Emily. Everybody’s waiting. Dinner’s about to begin. Come out soon or I’m going to have the chief come up and get you.” Nick broke into a guffaw.
“Nick, I’m going to remember this next time you have a girl up in your room,” Jake threatened amid a loud bellow from beyond the door.
Jake grudgingly let go of me, and I jumped up out of bed reassembling my dress. I couldn’t help but laugh at his surly face. “Jake…” His once complacent look turned into a scowl as we were about to leave his room. “Jake. Can I give you your Christmas present before we go down?”
His face lit up instantly. I walked over to my purse and brought out a journal that wasn’t wrapped, but tied together nicely with ribbon and a big bow.
“You have to promise me one thing,” I said before giving him the present.