Page 17 of Jake Forever
Chapter 7
Steve was still looking at the wrinkled slip paper. And, he was still laughing. "This was supposed to be for us?"
"Yeah," I said. "As a joke. And obviously, you think it's funny, so…" I didn't bother finishing the sentence. Just because my brothers would've found it amusing, it didn't mean that a nice, dignified couple would've been nearly as entertained.
Steve tossed the crumpled paper to Anthony, who picked it up and looked. Now, he was laughing, too. "No way," he said. "You sent this to a customer?"
"Not just one customer," I said. "Twocustomers. Unfortunately."
Anthony set the paper, face-up, on the table, next to the open pizza box. It wasn't really a note so much as a doodle. Some might call it a cartoon. I called it sheer stupidity. Bare-butted stupidity, to be exact.
Anthony pointed down at the drawing. "So, whose butts are those supposed to be? Ours?"
"I guess," I said. "Honestly, I didn't give it a whole lot of thought. I was just playing off the whole 'moon' thing, you know?"
Steve gave a slow nod. "Oh, I know. And I totally approve."
"You would," I muttered.
"So how'd they take it?" Anthony asked.
"The customers?" I winced. "Not so good."
"So they complained, huh?"
"They did more than complain." I hesitated. "Well, actually, the guy was a pretty good sport about it, but his date – afirstdate, by the way – threw a giant hissy-fit."
I reached up to rub the back of my neck. It felt all stiff and funny, like I'd slept on it wrong. "I apologized like crazy and tried to explain, but…" I shrugged. "Well, anyway, the lady wasn't really listening at that point. And my manager? He's actually a pretty cool guy, but the drawing? Well, let's just say, he didn't find it nearly as funny as you guys did."
Steve grinned over at Anthony. "Next time we're in there," he said, "let's order a Cock and Balls, see if ol' Moon Pie can drawthat."
"Oh shut up," I said. "I'm not drawing anything. And besides, I probably won't even be there." At the thought of finding a new job, I wanted to cry. I'd been atthatjob for only a couple of weeks. I was just starting to settle in.
"Aw c'mon," Steve said. "Lighten up. If you lose the job, so what? It's not like you need the money."
"I do, too," I said. "Why wouldn’t I need it?"
"Because Jake's loaded," Steve said. "And you live with him. What do you need money for?"
In a way, Steve had a point. Jakewasloaded, and like clockwork, the money kept flowing in, buckets of it, even while he slept.
And with every video he put out, the bigger those buckets got – more money, more fans – I sighed. More drama. More girls chasing him. More reasons to wonder why, exactly, he'd settle down with one girl, me specifically.
But the way it sounded, that's what he wanted.
Supposedly.
I mean, it's not he'd made it official or anything. And for the tenth time today, I couldn’t help but wonder, why was that? Why would he hint at something more permanent, but then do nothing about it?
Damn it. I needed to stop thinking like that. We'd been together less than two months. I was putting the cart way ahead of the horse, as my grandma might've said.
Steve's voice interrupted my thoughts. "If you want a job so bad, you should work for Jake."
That was another sore subject. For weeks, Jake had been suggesting the exact same thing. And for weeks, I'd been resisting. Lately, he'd been pushing harder. And for whatever reason, I'd been pushing back just as hard.
It wasn't that I didn't want to work for him. It was just more complicated than the way Steve made it sound.
"I can't work for him," I explained. "What happens if we break up?"
