Jacqueline || BWWM

Chapter Six

Edited.

Jaylin is about to say something but doesn't get farther than opening her mouth because I beat her to it.

"I'm totally ok with shopping by myself." I quickly blurt and then wish I hadn't when they all look at me. Jaylin included.

"Huh?"

Licking my lips nervously to buy time, in my rush to stop drama I hadn't thought of what I'd say after proposing my idea, I take a breath before looking up at Beatrice. "I...um...I can go shopping on my own."

"Terrific idea, Darling, but you don't know anything about this city." She smiles genuinely, her green eyes crinkling a little at the corners. "You might get lost."

"That's why they invented Google maps, Mom," Jaylin mumbles, but no one really pays attention to her.

"I'll be fine." I smile what I hope is my reassuring smile and not my please-don't-let-me-do-this-grimace. "I've lived in this part of Yakima before."

Though it was a long, long time ago.

"Yeah, Mom. Plus I'll be with her." Jace gets up, plate in one hand, and pats me on the shoulder with the other.
My eyes instantly drift to that shoulder.

Ok...

"Alright then. It's settled." She gets up from the table, and I follow suit. Dumping what little food I have left in the trash before rinsing my plate off and gently shoving it into the silver dishwasher. "Jace and Jacqueline will go shopping. Robert and I'll go to work. And Jaylin will stay at home, cleaning up the entire house." She says the words in such a nice, and sweet way, that even if I was the one who got stuck cleaning the house, I wouldn't complain.

But Jaylin isn't me, and apparently can complain. "Um...why am I the one cleaning the house? I got plans, Mom."

"Plans I don't care about." She shrugs, grabbing a little blue hand towel and wiping down the island. Jace empty's the leftover food into containers and bags while I grab the used dishes and put them in the dishwasher. "And it's either cleaning the house spotless or being grounded for a week."

"WHAT? I've done nothing! How can you punish me for that?"

"Honey, disrespecting someone isn't nothing. Now stop yelling: you're going to give me a headache."

"Argh!" Jaylin groans, but says nothing more. Instead, she quietly heads back up the stairs. By this time, I'm done with the dishes, and Jace is finished with the food.

"Sorry about her, Sweetie." Beatrice tosses the wet blue clothe onto the faucet, and drys her hands. "I've got to get to work, but here's some money." She pulls out a small black wallet. Shifting through the green bills, she draws out three of them. Giving me two, and Jace one. She looks up at me. "Buy yourself some clothes and whatever else you need." Turning to Jace. "You need new shoes, Mister. These beat-up Nikes have to go."

I nod and Jace grumbles a fine.

And with that, Beatrice walks out of the kitchen.

Jace and I stay in the kitchen for an awkward minute. Him leaning on the island and staring at the ceiling, and I to the side of him, searching my fingernails for the mysteries of life-- there's no another reason to why a sane human, like myself, would stare at her fingers for so long-- on the counter across from him.

Finally, one minute and thirty-two seconds later, Jace decides to put both of us out of our misery by speaking. "Ok, so it's eight forty-nine right now. I have baseball practice at two. So that gives us about six hours to do whatever shopping you need to do, eat lunch, and do any exploring you might want to do. You in?"

Sounds good.

I'm about to voice that thought, but a deep voice beats me to it. "Yup. I suggest we leave at nine."

Sigh...even his voice is hot...

You sure are one heck of a creep.

Rolling my eyes at little Jax's jab, I turn my head to the side to see the guy who just entered the kitchen. As you might have guessed, it's Finn. My knight in modern-day clothing.

He walks around the kitchen like he owns the place. First going to the fridge and taking out the food we just put away and then grabbing himself a drink as the food warms up in the microwave.

To me, watching him move around with the confidence of an Abercrombie model is like watching my favorite movie: I can't take my eyes off him. They unconsciously follow him around with no shame whatsoever.

"I was talking to Jacqueline, Hudson." Jace rolls his eyes in what he makes out to be an annoyance, but I can tell he's playing.

"Oh. I'm in." I blurt quickly and then blush at how loud my voice. Though a part of me tells me this is how loud normal people speak. I ignore that part of me and listen to the more reasonable part that tells me to feel embarrassed and blush.

"I'll..ah..be ready in..."

I was doing fine. Really. My voice was its original soft and quiet tone, my eyes were fixated on the counter in front of Finn and Jace, and I wasn't stuttering. It was going AMAZING.

But then Mr. Knight McHottie moved into my line of vision, making me make eye contact with him, and ruining my chance at speaking normally.

To be fair, he just looked at you. Nothing else. You can blame him for nothing.

She can too. It's number ten on the list, remember? I imagine Fat J rolling her eyes at little Jax when she says this.

The list fat J talks about is one I've had for a few years. It's of all the things that I fear, quite a long once upon a time. I started it some time doing Lin's life type, and I guess it stayed with me. Over the years I've narrowed it down to only ten.

Back in the land of present-day, out of the mind of a crazy seventeen-year-old, I shift my eyes to the window in front of me and take a deep breath before re-starting my sentence. "I'll be ready in f-five." My eyes find my feet, as my teeth latch onto my bottom lip. Looking at the ground weirdly soothes me. It makes me feel like I'm invisible in social situations. I like that idea.

"That works."Jace is the one to talk, Finn just nods. Seemingly to focused on his food.

I shake my head in acknowledgment of his words before silently leaving the room, and heading upstairs.

______

Hey! Thanks a ton for reading! Please vote, comment, and share if you liked this chapter:)

If you care: Camp was great!... I got to get closer to God and a few guys;)
*Cough* Garyo *Cough*

UPDATE: I'm back in for my deals and all that stuff.

I publish the first chapter of FTN on the fourth. With that in mind, (please) understand that my updating schedule will be a lot more irregular as writing two books is hard work. I'll try my best, of course, but no guarantees that I'll have a chapter up every week.

I love you guys almost as much as chocolate ;)

Liv~

WC:1,138
DP: Aug.1.17