Pleasure

Chapter Thirty-Two

I'm walking around the empty apartment, taking everything in.

"How do you like this one?" My dad asks, holding my mom in his arm.

"It's better than the other ones," I admire, looking everything over. "How much a month?"

"Four hundred." He notes. "But you won't be paying all of it on your own."

I smile hard to myself. I'm happy I'm moving into my own place. I can't say it won't be sad seeing my parents leave, but I feel like this is a huge milestone in my life. I'll be out on my own. There's no telling what's in store for me. The apartment isn't that far from school either, and it's close to a lot of the good restaurants and strip malls.

"We'll sign the lease and you can start moving in." My mother smiles. They walk out and leave me to the empty space. I can't help but think of all the possibilities of what could happen in the near future.

As I'm driving back home, I call Jacob to see what he's up to. I can't hold my excitement in, I want him to know everything. It takes a while for him to pick up, which isn't usual for him.

"Hello?" An unfamiliar rusty voice speaks. He sounds angry or drunk. I scrunch my face at the phone, confused.

"Uh, hello?" I answer.

"Yeah, who the fuck is this?" The man roars.

"I'm calling for Jacob?" There's shuffling and loud music in the background. I hear a crash, kind of like glass hitting the floor, then a bunch of people shout.

"I'll just ... call later." I speak, but halfway through my sentence the phone disconnects. I try to place a name on the voice but I don't recognize it. The more I wait for Jacob to call back, the more irritated I become. Why did someone else have his phone? I mean I guess that's no big deal, but why did they sound so rude about everything?

Later in the evening, I sit in bed eating dinner and watching tv. I hear a familiar tap on my window and look towards it. I turn the volume down and crawl out of bed. When I approach the window I see Jacob standing there, rocking back and forth. I can't wait until he realizes he can use the front door.

I open the window and walk back towards my bed. He climbs in and closes the window behind him. He walks in and sits on the bed, then faces me.

"You weren't answering my calls." He notes, looking at me with a confused expression. My face pinches tightly together.

"I didn't even know you were calling." I respond. He stares at me for a moment, waiting for me to say more but I don't.

"Are you okay?" He asks. I nod, keeping my eyes on the tv. "You don't seem okay."

"Where were you earlier?" He shoots me a strange look. "I called and some asshole picked up the phone. I asked for you but you were busy apparently."

He shifts on the bed and bites the inside of his cheek. "What'd you hear?"

"What?" I shake my head in question. "What's wrong with you, why do you never answer my questions first?"

He shrugs and stands. He walks over to the side of the bed and sits down next to my legs.

"I was with some friends, that's all."

"They weren't very nice friends," I mumble, looking away. I can tell he's staring at me, but I don't bring my eyes to his. I hate when he gets like this; all sneaky and secretive. It makes me wonder what's going on in his mind. What he thinks about and what he knows that I don't. I'm too curious not to want to know.

"I'm sorry." He takes my arm in his hand and slides his thumb up and down on my skin. "I left my phone on the table for a second, someone must've picked it up."

"Yeah I guess so." I murmur and shrug, pulling my legs into my chest. He sighs, realizing he can't get through to me. I don't know why I'm so upset about this. Why I'm upset at all. He gives me explanations, but they seem distant for him.

"Why are you mad?"

"I'm not mad." I snap, lying. I sigh and roll my eyes. We both know it's a lie. "I'm just ... I don't know, upset."

"Why?"

"Because I feel like you're hiding something." I say my words without even thinking. I don't want him to think I'm a crazy, stalker girlfriend. "I don't know, I feel like there's something deeper than what you tell me."

"So you think I'm lying to you?" He asks, defensively with his chest poking out.

"I didn't say that-"

"You're implying it though." He grunts. I shake my head and furrow my eyebrows.

"Why are you getting so hostile?" I ask. He shakes his head and lets out a sigh. He slouches his shoulders and looks up at me.

"I didn't come here to fight with you." He admits. I take my bottom lip into my mouth.

"I'm sorry." Jacob gets up from the bed and leans down to kiss my forehead.

"It's late, get some rest." He promotes. I want to be stubborn and make him stay, but his mind is elsewhere and I can't make him do anything.

I bite my bottom lip and reach for his face. I kiss him on the lips hard. He grabs my shoulders and moans, but doesn't hesitate to kiss me back. Passion falls over us as our lips disconnect and connect once more. He pulls away and looks down at me.

"I love you." He mumbles with his lips close to mine.

"I love you too." I reply. He stares at me for a moment, searching my face. He looks pained. His eyes are glossy and almost red. He pinches his lips together and walks away, crawling out of my window and into the darkness.