Marley had gotten a shower, got dressed and drove down to the nearest store before Jake woke up. She felt guilty for last night, even though he was her friend and had been there through so much, he shouldn't have had to deal with her problems when he should be getting sleep. She figured that making breakfast for him would be a good way to apologize and say thank you. Marley was standing over the stove cracking an egg and keeping an eye on the bacon when Jake stumbled into the kitchen. "What time is it?" Jake said as he rubbed his eyes.
Marley smiled at him and turned away from the sizzling food. "Almost noon. I went to the store and got us some food that'll last for a couple of days and I thought we could talk over bacon and eggs." Jake walked closer to her and gave her a shy smile. "Bacon? I may be half jewish but there is no stopping me when it comes to bacon." Jake chuckled as he went to grab one of the already cooked pieces that were already on a plate. He got a piece before Marley swatted his hand with her own. "Shower first." He groaned dramatically before turning around and walking towards the bathroom. Marley laughed as he walked away, it took him less than twenty minutes to get a shower and get dressed before he was back in the kitchen.
Marley had set the table and got food onto both of their plates when Jake took a seat at the table. "Thanks for making breakfast, Marls." She smiled and took a seat across from him after she grabbed the orange juice from the fridge. "No problem." Jake took a bite of his food and a sip of orange juice before he spoke again. "You said you wanted to talk about something?" Marley nodded. "I wanted to thank you and apologize for last night. I want to thank you for being there for me and making me feel better but I'm sorry you had to deal with that. Those are my problems and I shouldn't shovel it all onto you."
Jake shook his head and grabbed her hand from across the table. "Please don't apologize, I'm glad you let me in and that I was able to be there for you. I know that being vulnerable isn't something most people are comfortable with but if you ever need to get something out of your head or want to talk about how you're feeling, I'm here and I'll always be here." She just smiled and ate her breakfast. Afterwards they both did the dishes and Jake volunteered to take her to his favorite/secret spot by the lake later and when he did Marley insisted that she would pack a lunch for them.
They cleaned up the house from the small mess they made the previous day and Marley was going to go get ready. "Make sure you wear something you can swim in!" Jake called as she walked to the bathroom to change. She brought three bikinis with her, she normally wasn't the type of girl to wear a bikini but somehow Quinn managed to convince her it wouldn't harm anything to get a couple. She wasn't the most confident or secure girl, but Jake made her feel comfortable and pretty. Marley finally decided on a light blue bikini and after making sure she looked okay in the mirror she put on a dress over top of it, she left her hair down. "Jake!" She left the bathroom and walked down the hall in search of him.
She found him channel-surfing while sitting on the couch. He turned to look at her and smiled. "I'll get changed. Are you sure that you don't need any help making lunch?" She shook her head. "I've got it. It'll be a surprise for you." She smiled at him before he picked up his clothes and walked passed her to the bathroom. Marley made some mac and cheese from scratch along with some sandwiches, she got some chips and something for them to drink, she also included napkins, plates and a couple of eating utensils. She found a picnic basket in a closet by the kitchen that would be perfect for her to pack their lunch in.
After she packed everything up she walked into the livingroom to find Jake channel-surfing once again, however this time he was wearing a tshirt and swim shorts. "Are you ready to go?" She asked as she walked up beside the couch. He stood up and grabbed two towels before took the basket from her hands before he slipped on a pair of flip flops and opened the sliding glass door. "You coming, Marls?" She chuckled and slipped on her shoes and followed him out the door.
After fifteen minutes of walking Jake stopped by a large tree on a small hill that had a beautiful view of the large lake. There was a small dock that led a little ways into the water a little ways. Jake sat the basket down and turned to Marley. "So what do think?" She couldn't stop smiling, he was such a sweetheart. "It's amazing, Jake. How did you find this spot?" Marley looked out at the lake as the warm sun hit her face, it was so warm. Perfect weather to go swimming. "One time, I got super pissed at Puck after we had a big fight about me going home." Jake paused for a moment and had an expression on his face that looked like a mix between sadness and anger. Marley thought it would be best if she didn't question him, for now. "Anyway I started walking to blow off some steam and I came across this place. Since then, it's kind of been my getaway, you're the only person I've shown it to."
Marley smiled as he spoke. "Well, I'm glad that you decided to show it to me. So would you rather eat or swim first?" Jake took off his shirt, kicked off their shoes and ran towards the water. He ran on the dock and jumped into the water, when he came up he saw that Marley was stepping onto the dock. "Come on Marls! The water is great!" Marley chuckled and kicked her shoes of before she walked to the end of the dock. She let her dress slip off of her shoulders and to her feet, she crossed her arms over her body as Jake looked at her. "Do I look okay?" Jake was absolutely mesmorized by how beautiful and he was caught up in his thoughts until she asked him if she looked alright. "You look great. Now get in here!" Jake chuckled and watched as Marley dove in and came up from under the water. They swam in the water for about an hour until Jake got hungry and they decided to get out and have some lunch. After they ate it was almost five o'clock. Jake and Marley walked back to the house and put away the items from their picnic.
"You wanna go for a walk?" Jake asked as he put the basket back in the closet and finished throwing away the last bit of their trash. Marley smiled. "I would love that." They left the house and walked on a path that was next to the house. "It's really beautiful out here, I'm glad you brought me." Marley looked over at Jake and smiled before she tucked a damp piece of hair behind her ear. Jake smiled back at her before he nervously reached for her hand, intertwining their hands together. Instead of pulling her hand away from his, Marley let him hold her hand. "I'm happy I brought you too." Jake laughed and kept walking with his hand in Marley's. The feeling was different, it felt natural, like it was supposed to be that way. Friends could hold hands right? There was nothing wrong with that.
They walked down to the lake hand in hand and stayed by the warm water for a while. When they got back to the house Marley took a shower and changed into a tshirt and some shorts, she put her hair in a bun. Jake got a shower upstairs around the same time Marley did, except he was done quicker than her. He wore a pair of basketball shorts and an old tshirt. He went downstairs and sat on the couch to wait for Marley, he found a movie that she liked and paused it to wait for her. He popped some popcorn and put it in a bowl. Marley was walking down the hall when he was going back into the kitchen to get something for them to drink. "Hey, Marls I found a movie to watch and I made some popcorn. What do you want to drink?"
Marley was still thinking about how Jake had acted earlier when he spoke about the fight he had with Puck. She didn't want to push him to tell her things he wasn't comfortable with, but she had shared so many things with him, he knew so much about her and all she knew was the Jake she met on that street on a raining night and yet for some reason she would still trust him with her life. Quinn had said that he would opened up if Marley asked, maybe she could ask him. She smiled slightly at him when he asked her what she wanted to drink. "Water. Thanks." During the beginning of the movie, Marley was able to watch it and even commented on how she had always wanted to dance in the rain like the main characters were.
But she still wasn't able to shake her thoughts and Jake seemed to notice. Halfway through it he paused it and turned to Marley who was sitting on the opposite side of the couch. "What's up, Marley?" Jake sat up and she just stared at him for a moment, processing his words. "I-I uh..." Jake scooted closer to her and took her hand in his own. "You what?" Marley met his eyes for a brief moment before looking back at their connected hand. "Earlier when you mentioned how you found your spot and fighting with Puck you just seemed a little off to me." Jake noticably stiffened. "What do you mean?" Marley almost bit her tounge but the words came out before she could control them. "It's just that you seemed sad almost and I..." She stopped when she realized she had pushed too far. "Nevermind, Jake I was probably just overthinking it. Let's just finish the movie." Jake played the movie again and sat back in his original spot.
When the movie finished, Marley said she was tired and Jake told her which room she could sleep in upstairs. It was awkward when she left the livingroom, and she wished that she'd never had mentioned his fight with Puck. When she got to her room she got in bed and laid there thinking of Jake. She eventually fell asleep trying to think of a way to fix the damage she had caused.
Walking down the steps, Marley found Jake sitting on the couch with his head in his hands. She quietly walked to the couch and sat next to him, rubbing his back. "Are you okay?" Jake sat up and turned to look at Marley. "Can we talk Marls?"
"Sure." She sat silently as she brought her legs up on the couch and tucked them under her. "What do you want to talk about?"
"I know I a haven't shared much with you about my past and I'm sorry if I made you feel as if it were only a one way street when it came to us sharing things. I want you to know, I do, but it's just that only a few people know the whole story." Marley watched him as he spoke. "Jake, it's okay, you don't have to tell me anything. I trust you."
"And I trust you, that's why I want you to know." Jake turned to look out at the lake. "I found that secret spot the summer before my mom died." He looked back to her for a second and then turned to look out side again. "Puck and I are only half brothers, same dad different moms. Our dad split on me before I was born and left Puck when he was young. Puck found me when he was sixteen and we became close. He was there through almost everything that happened with my mom. She got married when I was thirteen and her new husband was great, his name was Ethan. I had no idea that he sold and distibuted drugs and neither did my mom until he asked her to help him. She was in love and she was afraid of being left again so she would've done anything for him."
He paused for a moment. "He had her do things with other men with me in the other room, that's how I knew. Ethan got her to try drugs once, it wasn't a very strong drug but later he got her to do the kind that make people go crazy. When I turned fifteen, Ethan tried to get me to help him sell around my school, but I refused. I ended up convincing my mom to go to rehab but Ethan said that if she went he wouldn't support me or her, so she stayed. I needed to get away so I went to LA to see Puck and I begged him to let me stay here with him, but he told me I had to go back, that's what we fought about. He made me go back home after the sunner and my mom had gotten worse. Ethan started leaving for days when I was sixteen and my mom would be home alone while I went to school, she wasn't there when I came home most of the time."
He paused again and Marley could see his eyes glossing with tears, she moved closer to him and rubbed his back again, she held his hand for extra comfort. "Jake, you can stop if you want to." He shook his head. "No, I'm almost done." Marley gently squeezed his hand. "As I got older, his little 'trips' became longer, my mom was sad when he left and I would do my best to take care of her. One day I came home from school and found her in her bedroom unconscious so I called 911 and waited for them. She didn't have a pulse and when the police and ambulance showed up they said that she had been dead for hours. In a way I feel like, she died before then. She wasn't the woman who raised me, who laughed all the time and was happy. Ethan ruined her life and he got sent to jail after he got busted for drugs, Puck's mother was nice enough to let me stay with her until I graduated and when I finally did I left and thats when I met you."
"I'm so sorry, Jake. That's terrible." Jake turned and embraced Marley in a hug, she hugged him as tightly as he hugged her. He kissed the side of her head and let go. "I'm glad I told you. You deserved to know. I'm trying my best to keep only the good memories of my mom, not the bad ones." Jake took a deep shaky breath and stood up. "Come on, enough about that. I made YOU breakfast today and if we don't eat soon it'll be cold." Marley just nodded and followed him into the kitchen. After he told her what happened she felt connected to him more, if that even made sense. They both were raised by their mothers and when they remarried, their stepfather's came in stole them from Jake and Marley, it was unfair. Jake was an amazing man, even after everything he's been through and she was just broken, how could someone be so strong? After breakfast they decided to just hangout outside for the day since it wasn't too hot or too cold outside. Marley put on a dress over her bikini and grabbed a book as she followed Jake outside. "It's still warm enough to go swimming." He said as they walked farther from the house to a space that was close to the lake and had some chairs. "I might jump in for a little while." He continued before he sat down.
"I might." She slipped her dress off and sat down, opening up the book she brought with her. She might as well get some sun, she was a pale girl and whenever she got a tan from going to visit family that lived by the beach people said she looked amazing. Jake took his shirt off and got into the lake, her sunglasses masked the fact that she was stealing glances at his perfect body. After twenty minutes of floating around in the water by himself he called to Marley. "Come swim with me!" She just laughed and responded with a no thanks. "Please!" He shouted, however he sounded closer this time. Marley continued reading and sent him another no. She felt Jake's shadow over her and looked up from her book, she took her sunglasses off and put them on the ground next to her. She raised her eyebrows at him to say she was expecting him to say something but instead, he picked her up and threw her over his shoulder. "Put me down, Puckerman!" He just laughed. Jake ran off the dock with her in his arms and when she came up from under the water, she splashed him. "Damn you." He laughed again and swam to her. "What's a little water gonna do?" He smiled and swam off leaving her laughing. She got out of the water and put her dress back on after she did her best to dry her hair out. When she sat down, she noticed that the sky was darker. "Jake! Do you think it's going to rain?" She asked as she continued to look at the sky. Jake got out of the lake and sat on the chair next to her. "It looks like it might. Do you wanna head back?"
"Yeah." Just as Marley stood up it started raining, hard. She laughed and looked over at Jake who smiled and walked over to her. "You said you always wanted to dance in the rain. We're already soaked, might as well make the most of it." He brought her body close to his and smiled while she just laughed. He danced with her and picked her off of the ground to spin her like the movie. They danced until the rain let up and walked back to the house drenched from all the water. "I'm gonna go take a shower and change." Marley said as she began to walk up the stairs. Halfway up she turned around to look back at Jake. "That was fun. When we are both cleaned up we'll make dinner together, okay?" He nodded and left the room to go take a shower as well. Marley was finished before him and he found her in the kitchen in a pair of pajama pants and a tank top, she had ingredients on the counter. "So I was thinking we could make some pizza. That okay?"
"Pizza sounds great." He helped her make the pizza and they ended up making a bit of a mess so while the pizza cooked they cleaned up. They cut the pizza up and took it into the livingroom to eat and play video games. Jake had a lot of fun watching Marley yell at the tv because the zombies wouldn't die. They spent the rest of the day hanging out and Jake put on a movie when it started to get dark outside. After the movie, the tv screen went black but Marley stayed in her spot next to Jake on the couch. They were both laying together side by side, Marley looked over at Jake. "Do you think I'll ever be able to be normal again."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, do you think that one day they'll stop looking for me?"
"I don't know. I know that after a certain amount of time they can declare you're death or something like that. But, if they did find you, which they won't, they can only make you go back until you're eighteen and then you're free." She'd never thought about the fact that she was going to be an adult. Nick would have no legal rights to her. She might actually have a shot at everything she's ever wanted.
"I wish I'd turn eighteen faster." She chuckled.
"What are you going to do when you're eighteen?"
"I'm going to go all over the world and never look back!" Marley exclaimed but laughed afterward. Jake made a puppy dog face at her, she chuckled then took his hand. "I'm kidding. I don't know exactly what I want to do, but I know that whatever I do or wherever I go I want you to come with me."
Jake smiled. "I'd go anywhere with you." She kissed his cheek. "Good, because you, Quinn, Puck and Beth are all I have." Marley got off the couch and yawned. "I think I'm going to go to bed." He nodded and told her goodnight before she went upstairs.
Jake laid on the couch to watch some tv, not that there was really anything he wanted to watch it was mostly paid programming. He fell asleep after forty minutes of watching some man trying to sell a fruit mixer.