Chapter 4: open wounds

The next few days crept by slowly for jake as he was still getting things situated in his new room and house. Although not meaning to, he inadvertently ended up claiming the garage for himself. double d was perfectly fine with it as long as things stayed organized. There wouldn't be any problems in that aspect because jake tended to be tidy. As saturday rolled up, jake finally started to feel at home. It was early morning and jake had been itching to break out the punching bag and pick up his old routines again.

He went and threw on some old basketball shorts and a sleeveless shirt so he could go for a morning run to get the blood flowing before he hit the bag. As he walked downstairs he saw edd finishing up the last of the morning chores. "hey cuz, you know of any good trails around here that i can run?" Asked jake. Edd stood and pondered a moment before answering. "i do believe there's one near the construction site that winds back into the woods if thats fine with you." "awesome" jake replied, "that'll work just fine." Jake slipped on his running shoes and stepped out onto the front porch. He did a few stretches before making his way to the trail for his morning run.

Marie stretched and yawned as she rolled over to look at a blurry alarm clock. She rubbed her eyes before focusing back at the time to see that it was only 7:30 am. She sighed as she rolled onto her back and looked at the ceiling. She knew she wasn't going to be getting any more sleep even if she just layed there. A groan escaped as she sat up and pivoted, resting her feet on the floor taking a moment to gather herself. As she stood up, the sound of barking dogs drew her attention to the window. "what's got them all riled up?" She thought to herself as she walked up to the window to see what was going on. As she followed the dogs with her eyes, she noticed that they were chasing something on the other side of the fence. she looked up and squinted to focus a bit trying to see who it was pestering the dogs. when she recognized who it was she nearly smacked her head on the glass doing a double take. "what the hell... Why's he up so early? Is he running?" She stood there watching him until he dissapeared from sight. "maybe i'll go get that answer he promised me the other day..." She thought to herself as she started to get ready for her visit.

By the time she was ready and started heading out the door it was already 9 am. She made her way through the construction site and down the street towards the cul-de-sac when she once again heard music coming from the direction of double d's house. As she got closer she noticed the garage door open and approached slowly not sure of what she would see. When she reached the side of the garage she noticed the music was blaring out of jakes amp and that he seemed to be hitting something suspended from a rafter. She watched him for a moment until a new song came on and he started to weave and bob to the music. She was about to laugh at him until she noticed that his hands were taped up and it was a punching bag he was sparring with. She stood back and watched him as he swayed, kicked, and jabbed to the beat of the music. While he was throwing sets and combos in harmony with the beat she noticed how swift and accurate his hits were, always landing on the same spot on the bag even while he bobbed to the left or right. She took a seat on the hood of his car and watched as he worked harder and faster as the tempo sped up. As the song finished he stepped back and decided to take a break. While reaching for his towel he heard clapping from behind him. As he turned around to see who it was his expression hardened as he saw her on his hood. "get off" he said coldly as she stopped clapping. She gave him a puzzled look as he walked towards her. "OFF! NOW!" he yelled as he approached. She slid off and quickly became defensive. "what's the deal? Afraid i'm going to scratch daddys car?" She mocked "it's mine" he retorted, still cold. "oh, so did daddy buy it for you?" She asked, still teasing. "he bought it for me when i was 10. We built it back up and he put it in my name when i turned 16. It's very precious to me." "Is that so?" She laughed "whys that?" "Because." Started jake "it reminds me of the time we spent together before..." he trailed off, putting his hand on the hood of the car seeming to lose himself in distant memories. "... Before what?" Asked marie, her curiosity peaked. "before he died." Jake looked at her with a pained smile that even she could tell was forced. "I loved it. Being able to work on this car with him meant so much to me. I'm sorry i yelled at you." He sighed as he stood there looking at her. "i'm so sorry. i didn't know." she apologized "i wouldn't have sat on it if i knew. And i'm sorry about your dad. It must be hard for your mom as well..." She drifted off, noticing jake cringe at the mention of his mother. "oh no," she started "she..." "my mother and father both died at the same time. They were involved in an accident." He now stood there solemn. Swimming through all the painful memories as they came to him one by one, filling his mind with painful images and his heart with a sore ache. He missed them terribly. Suddenly, he felt something pressing against him, and arms wrapping around his back. It startled him so much that he almost fell over backwards and would have if he hadn't been bracing himself with the car. She was warm and soft, and smelled of perfume he noticed, catching a drifting fragrance when she pressed herself against him. "i'm so sorry" she said while hugging him "i didn't mean to bring up something painful like that." He breathed in deeply, then sighed. He couldn't be mad at her, how could he? She didn't know. and yeah, she picked fun at him, but when you've had friends like jake has you tend to not let things like that get to you. there's no way she's as bad as double d was making her out to be... "i probably reek" he laughed as he looked down at her. "i did promise you an explanation when the timing was more appropriate. If you wanna come in i'll take a quick shower and we can talk after, ok?" He started walking back into the garage. "alright, sounds good to me..." she said as she followed him inside.

When they went inside, he led her to the living room. "would you like anything to drink?" Asked jake as he walked into the kitchen and peered into the fridge. "have any soda?" "yeah is dr. pepper fine?" "sure." He snagged a can and a bottle of water for himself and walked back over to her. handing her the can, he smiled and started walking towards the stairs. "give me 15 minutes and i'll be back down, the remote for the t.v. is on the side table by the couch. She plopped down on the couch and flipped the t.v. on as he headed up the stairs taking them 2 at a time. As she heard the shower kick on, her curiosity got the better of her. What better way to see what kind of person jake was than to see what his bedroom looked like? She slowly got off the couch and lightly walked over to the stairs. She knew her way around double d's house from the several times she snuck in to see her oven mitt in a more 'private' manner, be it to just to see his sleeping face. She quietly but quickly climbed the flight of stairs first passing double d's door taking a quick listen to see if edd was in there. As she heard him moving about she figured he was occupied. "better make this quick" she thought to herself as she slipped into jakes room.

At first glance it looked like a normal boys room, but as she took a closer look she noticed several trophies sitting on his shelves near the bed. As she continued to look around seeming to drink in a bit of his personality, she noted car and band posters "good taste in music" she thought to herself and smiled. While She continued to pan across the room she noticed an acoustic guitar, a flatscreen, some gaming consoles, and a... "sketchpad?" she walked over to it and picked it up. "i wouldn't have pegged him as the artsy kinda guy" she said aloud as she opened the cover and flipped through a couple of blank pages and spots where it looked like pages had been torn out. When she finally got to the first drawing her eyes got wide as she stared at the picture. It was his car, but so much detail and effort was poured into the sketch it nearly looked like a black and white photo. She flipped through the next several sketches and found them just as amazing as the first. Even though it was just random subjects, the amount of detail in each sketch shows the care he had for the object or person. As she got to the last pages of the pad she came across a sketch of a woman. She was slender and beautiful, with a warm smile and soft eyes. Her hair was shoulder length and curly, shaded a light grey. She admired the drawing a minute longer before flipping to the last page. She stood shocked as she looked at herself. The sketch mirrored her perfectly, down to the freckles and how her hair swept over her right eye.

"you can have it if you want." She nearly jumped out of her skin. "i uhh..." She stammered, looking for the words to get her out of this mess. "how did you draw me so well? You couldn't have seen my face for more than 5 minutes before i left the other day." He leaned against the door frame and let a smile cross his lips. "i have a good memory, thats all." His smile widened a little "more importantly, what are you doing in here?" What she first failed to notice was the fact that he was standing there in his towel, and a sudden blush crept up her face. He hadn't completely dried off and was still dripping where the towel didn't cover. He felt her stare wash over him causing him to tense up slightly and flex. When she realized that he caught her staring she changed the subject. "why are you naked?!" "well, i wasn't expecting company in my room when i was finished with my shower... So if you wouldn't mind please i'd like to put on some clothes, unless you're wanting a show?" She huffed and pushed past him, dropping the sketchpad where she found it and went back to sit on the couch. As jake got dressed and started heading downstairs, edd popped his head out of his door. "that voice just now..." Edd shivered "was that perhaps... Marie?" "yeah, sorry. She snuck into my room while i showered and i caught her." "why is she here?" Edd asked, still shaking slightly. "we're going to have ourselves a nice little chat is all." Jake smiled and started walking down the stairs. "I'll tell you all about it after i'm done."