Summer for Suckers

7.)

It's two weeks later when Jacob is at your house again, and he's here with a purpose.

He heads upstairs and storms into Shawn's room, finding him on the bed as he's putting on socks and says "You'd better tell her the truth before I do."

At that, Shawn rises to his full height, reminding Jacob that he is taller, stronger, and more than capable of taking him on in a fight if necessary. "Excuse me?"

Jacob doesn't falter, steps right into Shawn's face. "You heard me, Mendes. This bet wasn't made so you could date her and fall in love and get married and raise children and goldfish together. I thought you just wanted to fuck her and leave, not pull this shit."

"Why does it matter to you Jacob? It's not like you want in her pants either."

"It matters to me because she ruined my fucking life and you are my best friend. Gabe is her brother, I get that, but you? You never had any ties to her. You were supposed to be on my side, not hers."

Shawn scoffs. "This isn't high school anymore, Jacob. This is real life. And if I want to be with her, then no one is going to stop me."

"Except me." Jacob reminds, voice going low and threatening. "Does she know the only reason that you're her boyfriend right now is because I made a bet with you? Because that bet dared you to ask her out? Does she know her entire relationship is a lie? That all she's worth is five hundred dollars to you? Because in my mind she's worth a lot less."

Shawn wants to pummel his face in to the point where it's so unrecognizable God wouldn't know what to do with him. But instead, he strides over to his drawers, pulling the top one out and retrieving the five hundred dollars in question, before turning around and jabbing it into Jacob's chest.

"If all of this is about you losing your money," Shawn says, voice calm, "Then here. Take it and keep it. It's worthless to me. She is worth more to me than all of the money on this earth, and she means a lot more to me than our friendship does."

When he says this, he can see something flash in Jacob's eyes. Jacob is quiet for a minute, before his face pulls into a twisted smile, and he laughs, nodding and patting Shawn on the shoulder. "Yeah, alright then. Good to know." He starts to leave, Shawn sort of surprised that he's not putting up a fight, and before he shuts the door, Jacob says "See you at the bonfire tonight, Mendes."

-

You're walking up the driveway, humming a little to yourself when you look up and see Jacob leaving. He's got his signature scowl on his face, but when he sees you, he smiles at you and waves. "Hey! Did you just get out of work? How was it?"

His newfound friendliness is starting to creep you out, makes your stomach churn, but you promised Gabe to try to be nice, so you say "Yeah, I did. It wasn't too bad. Are you leaving?"

Jacob nods. "I am, gotta go back to my place. Mat and Cody are helping me get stuff for the bonfire tonight."

"Oh yeah," you say, laughing slightly. "I forgot that was tonight. Do you need us to pick up anything? I mean...anything that's not already here?"

He shakes his head, smiling. "No don't worry about it, I've got it covered. But hey! Why don't you invite some of your friends over? There's gonna be plenty of food and drinks and stuff for people."

You blink, shocked at his offer. "Really? But I thought you said my friends were lame?" You're half teasing, but also half double checking he's not being an asshole and kidding around.

"I was just giving you a hard time about that." He says. "But really, invite them! It's your house, so why not invite your friends? That way everyone is around."