The New Boy

Chapter twenty-three part two

"Jake, this is Alex," I say to him and he looks at me then at Alex.

"Hey," Jake says to him and Alex waves. Jake gets a bottle out of the refrigerator and gives it to her. "Can you take her?" he asks and I nod. I take her from him and hold the bottle up with one hand and hold her with the other.

"She's cute," Alex says quietly and I smile.

"Alex, who are you?" Jake asks and laughs a bit.

"I was Jamie's friend through middle school. I just moved back," he says back and Jake nods.

"Do you go to school still?" Jake asks and Alex nods.

"I'm going back to school tomorrow," he says and Jake nods.

"The one around here?" Jake asks and Alex nods.

"Yeah, twelveth grade" Alex says back and I look down at Emily.

"Me too," Jake says back and I know that Alex already knows that since I told him, but he still just nods.

"You guys seem to be getting along good," I say and look up at them. They both look at me and I smile.

"How old is she?" Alex asks and I count in my head.

"Six or seven days." I say back and he nods. I hand the now empty bottle to Jake. "Take that," I say back and he puts it on the counter next to him.

"You're going back to school tomorrow?" I ask Jake and he nods.

"I have to," he says back and I nod.

"I should go, but I'll uh, talk to you guys soon?" Alex asks and I nod.

"Sounds good," I say back and smile. He waves at us and opens the door. He walks out and I look at Jake. "So..." I say to Jake.

"What?" he asks and looks back at me.

"Alex?" I ask and he shrugs but nods.

"He's fine," Jake says and I smile.

"Good," I say back and he smiles back. He pecks my lips and Emily stares at us. Jake lightly kisses her forehead and she makes a very quiet 'Ah' sound.

"She's small," he says and looks at me.

"I know," I say back and he wraps his arm around my waist.

"Like you," he says back and looks at me. I give him an offended look and he laughs. "I love you guys so much," Jake says and I smile.

"I love you too." I say back and I lean my head on him. "I'll meet you at the school tomorrow, out front."

"Why?" he asks and I shrug.

"I want to take Emily somewhere, plus I need to get out of the house." I say back and he nods.

"Okay," he says back and I look down at Emily who yawns.

"Life is so hard for a baby," I say quietly to her and Emily lightly smacks her lips. She closes her eyes and I shake my head, smiling.