Uncaged

Chapter 10

With under two weeks till the Christmas party, school was a madhouse near Jasmine. Her kid brother Adam had shockingly been with the same girl for over 6 months now, and people had stopped thinking he was a player these days. Jasmine was, as of yet, without anyone she was dating, and there was a constant queue of people of every gender trying to ask her out in hopes of getting invited to the party. Jane was almost in tears every day for fear of losing Jasmine before the yard work on Saturday, but so far Jasmine had turned everyone down.

I held out hope the entire week that things would work out, I knew they liked each other, they just needed to admit it. Not that such a thing is easy, expressing yourself and taking that chance can be terrifying, but I hoped I had given them each the little bit of a nudge that they needed.

By the time Saturday arrived, I was worried that Jane might have given herself an ulcer with how much she was worrying, but when I called her before I left, she seemed okay. We were meeting at the Garrison house so that Jane could potentially stay later while I went to the garage. It was when I was on the way there that I realized that I had screwed up.

If Jasmine was outside with Jane, there was no way that my girl would be at the window.

Shit!

She was never in the window when Jasmine came to the shed obviously, so there was some way to keep her away. I had to assume that with Jane hanging out, she would be hidden the entire time. I was an idiot. If I had realized that in time, I could have at least warned her! I couldn't even sneak back after I was done to spy, since Jane would be at the pool, and they wouldn't let her see Jasmine's twin then either.

Jane beat me to the house, and she was hanging out with Jasmine already in the front gardens, both of them looking thrilled to be together. I may have screwed my own day up, but at least it looked like they were going to have a good time. I gave them a quick wave before heading back to the shed to get the lawnmower and got to work. If they were starting out front on the weeding, I would do the back yard mowing so I wouldn't bother them. I even mowed around the flower beds they would be weeding, so if they finished early, I wouldn't be near them. Hopefully they would be done before I was, and it would be easy for me to go to the front. Truthfully, they should finish fast. I wasn't due to weed for another 2 weeks, so there shouldn't be too many of them. I just wanted Jane to have a chance to be with the girl she liked.

As expected, the window was empty, and I was heartbroken. I had seen her every Saturday for the last 6 months, and her absence left me feeling hollow. I just put my head down and started mowing. The faster I was done, the quicker I could get out of there and go mope elsewhere. I didn't know if she could hear my thoughts when I wasn't in sight, but I still apologized in my mind over and over.

The only positive of not being able to gaze up at my girl was that I finished the lawn faster. She's a gorgeous distraction, so I had been mowing slower and slower once I realized that she wasn't Jasmine. Now, I just powered through it, and finished a lot faster than normal. The girls had finished the weeding early, and I could hear them laughing in the pool area while I cleaned up the mower.

I stopped by the pool on the way out to make sure Jane was good and saw her and Jasmine sitting next to each other on the pool steps, both giggling quietly. "Hey, I'm all done and taking off. Hope you guys have fun!" I threw them a wave.

"I'll call you later Lucas! Say hi to your granddad!" Jane called out, while Jasmine just gave me wave back.

The events of the morning weighed on me at work. It was a good thing there wasn't anything too complex to work on today, just a lot of oil changes and tire replacements. That meant I could go on autopilot for a bit, because all I could do was hope that it worked out for Jane so that my plan for the party might work. The shop closed early on Saturday, and I grabbed some pizza on the way home to make the evening easier for everyone. One less meal to cook.

"Oh man, pizza!" Fran cried when she saw me bring in the three large boxes. "My prayers were answered!"

My three younger siblings descended on the pizza and ripped them apart like swarming piranhas. It was a scary sight, if my hand had been close to the pizza, it would be gone. I grabbed a few slices and sat down to eat, slowly making my way through the meal, but barely tasting anything as I stared at the phone, willing Jane to call me.

The pizza was long gone, and I had showered and was finally relaxing when Jane called around 8pm. "Hey Jane, I guess the day went well if you're calling me this late?"

"Hey! Thank you so much Lucas! And umm, the day isn't over, I'm spending the night here," Jane finally blurted out.

"You are? I don't think she's ever had a sleepover!" I was amazed to say the least.

"Yeah, I know! Oh my god this was such a good day! I even told her about my crush on her, and she liked me too!" Jane gushed, almost out of breath. This wasn't exactly news to me, but I was glad they had the guts to admit it to each other.

"You looked pretty comfy together when I left," I commented. "I'm glad you both admitted it."

"Yeah, I don't think your truck had even started up before we were had our first kiss. I'm pretty sure we had both just been waiting for you to leave," she admitted with a giggle.

"Well, I mowed the lawn as fast as I could!"

"For which I thank you!" she laughed. "Oh, I'll be here for the party too, so you should be able to stay here after your dad is done."

"Oh man, thanks!" I breathed a sigh of relief at that, since I had no idea what I would have done if she hadn't gone back for that.

"The bad news is that she wants me back here next Saturday too, so you might miss your mystery girlfriend again," Jane added in a whisper.

"Yeah, I half expected that," I admitted. If their goal was for me to not see her for some reason, then having Jane come over was a better option than having Jasmine pretend to like me as a distraction, since I knew she really liked Jane.

"Lucas, is it weird that part of me thinks that she is only use me to keep her twin away from you?" Jane asked quietly, a tremor in her voice.

I hadn't even thought about that! Had I not known from her sister that she really did like Jane, I'd be worried too, but in this case, I was sure that Jasmine's feelings were genuine. "I understand that worry, but I think she really likes you. I bet that after the Christmas party, you'll know for sure."

She breathed out a sigh of relief tinged with worry. "I really hope you're right. I've never tried dating a girl, and I'd hate to have my first time go up in flames."

"It will go great, I promise. Don't worry too much, just go have a great night," I commanded, hoping she would do just that.

"I will, you too!" she happily replied.

"And no sex!" I ordered.

"Seriously Lucas? Do you think I'd do that as soon as we started out?" She replied in a shocked voice.

"Nah, I didn't think so," I answered with a laugh.

"But tomorrow morning maybe. Morning sex sounds good."

"Hey!"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'll call you tomorrow," she promised.

"Yeah, have a good night."

As for me, I spent the rest of my night in with my mom. She was asleep, but I hung out in the chair next to the bed for a few hours while just reading online. It was hard to predict when she would wake up, but I wanted to be here if she did tonight. But of course, it being my luck, she didn't awaken.

After reading till my eyes were tired, I finally headed up to my bedroom and crashed, visions of my girl in my head.