Goin' to Jackson { Jackson Wang Series }

Chapter 8

Jen stood in the small shower stall, trying to get directly under the weak stream of water coming from the shower head. The lukewarm water ran over her hair and down her back. She looked at the shampoo her grandma had bought. It had a picture of a jalapeño on the bottle. As she poured a large amount into her palm, she wondered if it really had chili peppers in it. When the shampoo reached her scalp, she knew the answer. The tingling sensation bordered on being painful but was not altogether unpleasant.

When she finished her shower, she stepped out onto the wet floor. She took the mop that was leaning against the corner of the wall and wiped up the water as best she could. She put on her clothes, being careful not to slip on the wet floor.

When she entered the main living space, she found her grandpa sprawled out on the couch. Her grandma was standing by the stove, heating corn tortillas to go with the huevos con salsa verde. Jen liked the smell of charred tortillas that spread through the house at every meal.

"María!" called Abuelito. "You're an enchantress of a woman," he declared.

Jen's grandma laughed as she flipped the tortillas on the comal with her bare hands. "Mira nada más, este viejo," she scoffed, poking fun at her "old man" who was almost 10 years her senior.

"María!" he called again from the couch. "Every day I love you more than the day before."

"Is it lunch time already?" she questioned. "He always starts trying to butter me up when he gets hungry," she observed.

"María!" he called for a third time. "Could you move those beautiful hips and bring me some coffee?"

"Algo quiere y no es dinero," she joked.

"Yeah, he definitely wants something that isn't money," confirmed Jen.

"You know, he was always after my ass when we were dating," said Abuelita, placing the hot tortillas in a towel beside the stove.

Jen rolled her eyes. "Abue, you're so bad!" she replied.

"María, don't be vulgar," Abuelito cautioned.

"You know it's true, old man. You were always after my tail." Abuelita turned to Jen and whispered, "But I wouldn't put out back then." She smacked Jen lightly on the behind and said, "They are always asking for it, but you have to make them wait it out."

"Oh, Lord," bemoaned Jen. "You've got to stop. I don't want to be having this conversation with you."

Just then, Jen felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out to see that Jackson was trying to Facetime her. It had been months since they had spoken. All their communication had been over text. So, she was apprehensive about the call. She wasn't sure what the status of their relationship was. She considered ignoring the call but decided instead to shut herself in her bedroom before picking up.

When his face appeared on her screen, she felt that familiar flip of her stomach. She touched her wet hair nervously, wishing she had pulled it up. Instead, it hung freely about her face and stuck to the back of her neck.

"Hello," she said after waiting several moments, hoping he might speak first.

"Hey," he said casually, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to call after months of silence. "What are you up to?" he asked.

"I'm at my grandparents' house. We're going to have lunch soon," she said.

"Oh, well, don't let me keep you from it," he replied.

"No, no. It's fine. We should talk. We haven't talked for a while." There, she had said it. She finally addressed the elephant in the room.

"Yeah, it's been too long," he said, looking down away from the camera.

"Yeah," agreed Jen. "Yeah," she repeated, not knowing what to say.

"Are you enjoying teaching?"

"Yeah, it's everything I hoped for and more," she gushed. "Guanajuato is so beautiful! You would love it here. All the produce is so fresh. You should meet my fruit guy. He hooks me up with the good apricots. He always holds back a bag for me before they can get bruised from everyone squeezing them," Jen said.

"It sounds great," said Jackson in a non-committal tone.

"Yeah," said Jen, looking around the room to avoid having to look into Jackson's deep brown eyes.

The door creaked open as Abuelita entered the room to put away some folded shirts in Jen's dresser drawer. She stopped halfway to the dresser to peer at Jen's screen.

"Abue, this is Jackson. Do you remember I mentioned Jackson before?" Jen asked as she turned the phone toward her grandma.

"Yackson," said Abuelita. "Nice to mee ju," Abuelita said in her best English accent, which wasn't that great, but still she beamed, seemingly proud of her efforts. "Yackson, listen," she continued. "My Jen is special. You be good to her, o si no, te doy pow-pow," she said, slamming her fist into the palm of her other hand. Even though Jackson didn't know Spanish, her threat was clear enough.

He bowed his head respectfully to Abuelita and said, "Nice to meet you, ma'am."

"I no ma'am," Abuelita protested to Jen. "Tell him I no ma'am. I too sexy to be ma'am," she corrected.

Jen's face turned red as she said, "Abue, he can hear you. I don't have to tell him what you said," she clarified. "Jackson, just forget you ever heard any of that. I apologize for my grandma. She's kind of...earthy," she said when she finally decided upon a word to describe her grandma's incredibly free manner.

Abuelita leaned down to look at Jackson on the screen again. "And don't ask her for her nalgas because she's not going to give them to you."

Jackson looked puzzled but merely nodded, feeling the need to consent to anything Abuelita said because her manner was slightly threatening.

"Abue!" Jen scolded. "Don't you have somewhere else to be right now?" she asked with irritation in her usually calm voice.

Abuelita laughed heartily and yelled, "Bye, Yackson," as she left the room.

"Sorry about that," Jen said. "She's very open. We'll call it that for lack of a better word," bemoaned Jen.

"I like her," said Jackson. "At least you know where you stand with her."

"Yeah," Jen whispered, wishing she knew where she stood with Jackson. "Are you done with the tour?" she asked, knowing full well that he was.

"Yeah, I'm taking a bit of time off before we start rehearsal on the songs for the next album," he said.

Neither one spoke for several moments. At one point, Jackson took a deep breath, as if he were going to speak, but he let it out again and continued to sit in silence.

"I guess I should let you go," he said. "It was nice talking to you...and your grandma," he added with a laugh.

"Yeah, you can call me anytime. It's always good to hear from you," replied Jen, not knowing how much to say about what she was feeling in that moment.

Finally, Jackson whispered, "I miss you."

"I miss you too," admitted Jen. With that, Jackson exited the call, leaving Jen to wonder what had just happened.