Nobody Likes Megan McGowen

42. A Helping Hand

On the way back to Megan's house, she was unusually quiet.

"Something on your mind?" Jake asked. It was a risky question, he knew. But somehow it was worth it.

"How come you're so nice to all our friends?" Megan asked. Jake laughed.

"What's that mean? Should I not be nice to them?"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. He only hoped Megan wouldn't take him up on the suggestion. Hanging around these humans so much must really be getting to him; he never would have said something so careless before. Megan just looked at him like he was an idiot before responding.

"Of course you should be nice to them if they're your friends." she told him. Then sighing she added quietly, "You really don't like me, do you?"

"What?" Where did that come from?

"It's really obvious. Maybe Jen was right." she muttered that last part to herself.

"Jen wasn't right." he said.

He couldn't quite bring himself to say he liked her; it was too risky for him. No matter how he might feel about her, every experience he'd ever had told him to keep quiet. Especially since he still wasn't completely sure what she was thinking on the subject herself.

"So if she's not right, what is it?"

"It's complicated."

"Look, if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." she said. "I don't want to make you."

"It's not that–" he started, already scrambling to come up with an explanation that would have satisfied any one of the countless people he'd served over the years. Then what she said hit him. "Wait – really?"

"Of course, really." she looked insulted. "What kind of person do you think I am?"

"It's not that." he told her.

How did he always seem to make these kinds of mistakes with her? She stared intently at him for a while, and he started to get uncomfortable. People scrutinizing him like that rarely worked out well for him. He did his best to brace himself for whatever she was about to say.

"You know that whole genie thing doesn't matter to me, right?" she said finally. "I like you anyway."

Jake stopped dead in his tracks, staring at her for what must have been a full minute. He tried not to look like he was in shock, but he was pretty sure he wasn't succeeding. Megan actually laughed.

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen that expression on you before."

"...Just surprised." he managed finally.

"Is it really that amazing?" she looked skeptical.

"Well, you're the first person who's ever said it." he told her.

"You lie." she said.

"You know I don't." he said almost automatically.

She lapsed into a thoughtful silence as they walked down the street. Jake stared at her as they went. It finally occurred to him that she might actually like him – for who he really was. He'd never had that before.

"Oh, great." Megan said, stopping short. Jake followed her eyes and saw that she was staring at her house; the downstairs lights were on.

"What's wrong?" Jake asked. It wasn't even ten o'clock yet; she should be fine.

"I wasn't actually supposed to go out tonight." Megan mumbled.

"Why not?" he asked.

"Remember that history test we got back?" she asked.

"I do."

She'd flipped it over as soon as she got it and refused to show him.

"Well I failed it." she said quickly, like getting the sentence out faster would make it sound better.

"You did? Why didn't you tell me?" He would have seriously considered fixing it for her.

"Because we spent so long studying...and I didn't want you to be disappointed." She said it so low he almost didn't hear. "So now I'm sort of grounded until I can pull the grade up." she said brightly, as if none of this was a big deal.

"Then why did we go?" Wasn't this all her idea? What was she thinking?

"Well, you looked so sad sitting there, and I thought if we went out, you'd feel better..." she trailed off.

"Really?" Jake asked. No one had ever done anything like that for him before. "Thanks."

"Only here to help." she said, adopting his more reserved speaking pattern and giving him a very familiar bow.

"I don't sound like that!" he told her. Was he really that formal? No wonder no one thought of him as equal to humans.

"You really do." she grinned. Then turning serious, she asked, "Any ideas on how we can get in?"

"Sneak in?" Jake shrugged. Of course, Megan wasn't impressed.

"Yeah, I figured that." she rolled her eyes. "But there's no way up the stairs that they won't see."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm open to suggestions. What've you got?"

"Nothing good." Jake said.

He closed his eyes and silently cursed himself for that. He'd meant to say nothing, but the idea had already been forming in his head and it just came out.

"So what is it?" she asked.

"I'd rather not say." he told her.

"You know how to get inside?"

"I do."

"Without getting caught?"

He nodded.

"And you're really not gonna tell me?" she asked. "You gonna magic me out of being grounded then?"

"Fine." Jake said, relenting. "Just don't get weird if I do it, alright?"

"Do what?" she asked, eyes narrowing in that familiar expression of worry she seemed to get so often.

"You know how I always get up there?" he asked.

"Yeah..." she said slowly.

"We can both go that way."

"Really?" Megan's eyes widened, and Jake couldn't help but grin. "You can do that?"

"Well, I don't make a habit of it, but yes."

"Show me." she said. And she didn't look the least bit nervous.

Jake wrapped her in his arms, glancing down the street to make sure no one was watching. Then, when he was sure, he did it. There was a kind of tightening in his chest and that familiar lightheaded feeling that only lasted a second or so. And when he opened his eyes, they were standing in the middle of her room. Jake waved his hand to turn on the light.

Carefully he stepped back, trying to see Megan's face. She had a kind of wide-eyed expression that he couldn't quite read, and Jake hoped she wouldn't freak out. If she got upset about that, it could be all over for him again. She looked around for a minute, disoriented.

"That was weird." she said finally.

"You get used to it." he told her. "I probably should have warned you first though."

He hated even those kinds of apologies. Megan didn't seem to notice.

"I mean, it's probably not something I want to do every day, but it's not too bad, you know?"

"Really?"

The last person he'd done that to had spent half an hour telling him all the reasons he should never, ever do it again – ever. But Jake was pretty sure that man got motion sickness, so maybe he didn't count.

"Although...it would make getting to school a lot faster..." Megan grinned.