“Get out,” he said. He threw her out. He was so
cool.
“Don’t think I don’t know you slept with Sarah!”
Ashley yelled from outside. “You’re so nice to
her…”
བཔ་1 ཁཔ་བ ་ཐ པ དཁ
Jakola sister
Someone slapped her. It was Jake’s sister.
“My brother doesn’t hit women,” she said. “I
do.” She knew me. She wasn’t around much,
but she was always kind.
Ashley slunk away, defeated.
- 27.
One evening, I fell asleep at “Old Harbor,”
exhausted from studying. I woke up with Jake’s
jacket draped over me. He’d made me noodles.
He held the bowl, the tattoos on his forearm
flexing as he stirred the noodles.
“Smells amazing! Thanks, Jake.”
“Eat. Then go home.”
He sketched while I ate, the light catching his
profile. My heart fluttered just watching him.
<
“Can I stay here tonight?” I asked when I was
finished.
His eyes narrowed.
“I…I can pay.” My dad had given me a lot of
money after he’d slapped me. I hadn’t eaten
dinner with “the family” for days.
“I don’t need your money, kid.” He refused.
“I stayed here last time when I fought with
Ashley. Why not now?”
“That was different.” He picked me up. “You’re
a young girl. You can’t just sleep at strange
men’s houses.”
He drove me home, ruffling my hair before I got out. “If she bothers you again, you tell me.”
I watched from my window as he drove away,
<
then parked down the street, his figure silhouetted against the streetlights, a cigarette glowing between his fingers. I took a picture, treasuring it. Ashley hadn’t told Dad about me spending time at “Old Harbor” because she thought Jake was a bad influence. But he hadn’t given me a chance to be “bad.” For my
eighteenth birthday, he gave me an SAT prep
book. So romantic.
- 28.
I visited “Old Harbor” less often as schoolwork
intensified. When I finally went back after a big
exam, the shop was full of trendy–looking girls.
I wished I’d changed my clothes. A blogger had
featured the shop, and it had become a
hotspot. Some were there for tattoos. Most
were there for Jake. He just had to stand there
in a black t–shirt to draw a crowd.
“Hey! Jake’s little sister!” they’d say. I’d never
hated that phrase more.
<
“Where’s Jake?” I asked.
He emerged from the back, his hair a little
longer now, falling over his eyebrows. He
looked at me, a playful smirk on his face.
“Who’s this?” he asked.
“Sarah,” I said.
“I thought our little scholar had forgotten all
about me.”
“Just checking if you were still alive. Looks like you’re thriving.”
“Sure am.” He didn’t deny it.
I seethed. Several girls approached me.
