Black Dress Wedding

Chapter 6

A cooling breeze from the setting summer sun sent a shiver through me and pulled me back to the reality of my surroundings. I was not a teenager; I was twenty-five. I shook the cobwebs of my memories from my brain and pulled the door open. I felt the music's bass before I heard the song; it rattled my already distracted mind. Desperate to escape the pounding, I headed to the bathroom. As I gazed at myself in the mirror, I realized that Jake Miller was a drug, and I was currently detoxing. I stared at my own sunken eyes as I recalled the first time I tried to dispel Jake from my heart.

It was that first semester of my Freshman year of high school; one song and a curt brush-off had bruised what I had been so confident was impossible to injure: my love for Jake. One look at Will giving me a ride to school, and Jake was equally as happy avoiding me. And so began two months of Jake detox. It hadn't been that bad; I had Will to distract me, but as Thanksgiving approached, I knew I would be tested.

We always spent holidays with the Millers; that Thanksgiving was no different. I was dreading it, Ana was obsessed with it, and Will was trying to pretend none of it bothered him. It did worry Will, though, and it presented by him being a royal jerk. So, as if by design, just before Jake was to be thrust back into my life, Will and I broke up.

I should have been heartbroken. Will had been my first boyfriend, and I had loved it like everyone loves their first experience with love. But my mind could not rest on Will, Jake was coming, and my heart was beating stronger with every passing day. I usually dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner, but to avoid any impression that I was trying to impress Jake, I opted for jeans and a plain old grey sweatshirt.

I heard the voices of the Millers echoing up the stairwell to my room. In avoiding Jake, I had also been avoiding Beth. Hearing her voice cause tears to prick my eyes. I bounded down the stairs to her and threw my arms around her in a hug.

"Where have you been, Jen? We live right next door, and I feel like I haven't seen you in months?" Beth chided.

"I know, high school is kicking my ass," I covered. "Have you lost weight?"

Beth's frame seemed even slighter than usual.

"Oh, just a couple pounds with all the hustle of the holidays," she tossed back to me casually with one of her electric smiles. "We have to catch up. I want to hear all about your first semester."

"Of course!" I gave her an extra-wide smile, and in an apparent maneuver to avoid Jake entirely, I did a complete 180 degree turn to my mom. "Mom, do you need help with anything?"

There was a moment of surprise from my mom at my offer before she regained herself with an "always! Jake, you come too; I have a few platters above the fridge that I could use your height for."

I grumbled to myself that my mom was oblivious to me avoiding Jake and followed them both down the hallway to the kitchen.

"So, how is Shelly," my mom ask him casually.

"We broke up again. I think it will probably stick this time," Jake's voice came lower, more like a man's voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Must be going around; Jen and Will broke up just last week." I both wanted to die of embarrassment for my mom talking about my dating life, but I also needed to know Jake's response.

"Yeah, Freshmen; they break up and get back together between periods," he said casually.

My head spun. How dare he? He was only two years older than me. It was not like he had some deep level of maturity that had escaped me. From everything I read, girls matured faster than boys. In many ways, I was the more mature one, if those ways included obsessing over your neighbor like a pathetic stalker.