bloom // jake kiszka

2.

I sat at my small dining room table, picking at what was left of my dinner while i listened to the gentle hum of the music i put on to soothe myself.

I begin thinking of this past weekend, starting and ending it wrapped in Jake's arms. I think about his brothers Josh and Sam teasing him when Jake made one of them move so he could sit next to me on the couch, and how they teased me just the same when my cheeks turned red.

I've known them my whole life, all 3 of them still grasping onto an endearing kind of immaturity they've always had, even to this day. They're idiots, but i love them all, and i would do anything for them.

Although, not to state the obvious, but my relationship with Sam and Josh is a little different to my relationship with Jake.

We sort of latched onto each other pretty early on, and our bond has always been, well, different, to my bond with the other 2. It's hard to explain, but that's just how it's always been.

It's quiet in my apartment, silent, other than the rain gently trickling outside. The record i put on has reached it's end, so i get up to turn it off.

My phone rings, and i smile as i look to find Jake's photo filling the screen.

"Hello?" I answer. "Hey, we're at our parent's house, and me and Josh just found a huge box of old pictures. We looked at a few and...they're pretty hilarious. Do you wanna come over and look through them with us?"

I smile, it always makes me feel warm when they think to include me in things like this. "Um, duh. I'm on my way" I tease, before we both say goodbye and hang up the phone.

I quickly fix myself to be moderately presentable, but i don't spend too much time worrying about it. If anyone has seen me look my worst it's probably them.

On the drive over i crack the window and decide to leave my music on low volume, letting the hum of the wind fill most of the silence.

It's unusually warm for mid april, reminiscent of a gentle summer night, the kind that serves as a backdrop for many of the fond memories i have tucked in my brain.

These roads are like a living scrapbook as i get closer and closer to Jake's childhood home, having spent any time i wasn't at my own house growing up, at his.

I pull into the driveway and make my way inside. "Hey, It's me!" I announce, as to not alarm anyone. "In here!" Josh's voice yells back from the living room.

I find the twins sitting on the floor by the couch, a box off to the side, and a pile of photos splayed out in front of them.

"He literally has not let me touch a single photo since he called you" Josh says flatly, shooting a playful glare at Jake.

"You act like we've been sitting here doing nothing. You've been telling me the longest story in the world about some movie I've never heard of-"

"A GREAT movie-" Josh cuts Jake off, only to be cut off himself. "That I am begging you to never bring up again." Jake finishes.

"Is it the one that's entirely in russian with no subtitles?" I question. Jake half rolls his eyes and nods. Josh goes to open his mouth to say something but i start first, "enough said."

At this point I've made my way over to sit in between them on the floor, so we begin looking through the photos.

Memories ranging from the twins 5th birthday party, to summers at their cousins pool, 8th grade graduation, senior prom, and everything in between.

We sat there, laughing and grinning at our past selves and each other, reminiscing on all the good times we've been lucky enough to spend together.