Page 31 of Jake Forever
It matched my mood.
Jake's voice cut through the silence. "What was I supposed to do? Shriek and run away?"
I turned toward him and said, "Well, you didn't have to look so happy about it."
"Hey, you play the hand you're dealt."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
He shrugged. "I dunno."
I didn't want to, but I had to ask. "And what about your pants?"
"What about them?"
"Why'd you change them?" I hesitated. "Was it because of her?"
"What do you mean?"
Fearful of sounding even more like a jealous harpy, I struggled to find the words. "Well, you were gone a long time, and when you showed up, you were wearing different pants, so I was just wondering how that happened…" I let the words trail off, hoping he'd pick up the thread.
He didn't.
His arms were crossed, and his muscles were bulging. The look on his face was making me just a little bit nervous. I couldn’t quite read his expression, but I'd be a fool to think it was a happy one.
Lamely, I continued. "So I was just wondering, you know, what happened?"
His voice was cold. "To my pants?"
"Well, uh, yeah, actually."
"Like I told you last night, I changed them."
"But why?"
"Is that a serious question?"
I felt myself nod.
As an answer, he turned away and stalked across the open space, heading toward his private office. I watched, silently, as he opened the glass door and headed to the area behind his desk. Across the distance, I saw him reached down and grab a wadded bundle off the floor.
I recognized the bundle immediately. It was his pants from last night. He left the glass-enclosed space and stalked back until he was, once again, standing across from me.
He shook out the pants and held them up between us. "What do you think? Nice, huh?"
I stared at the pants. Nice? Not really.
Jake continued. "Let's say I came home wearing these, would've you liked it?"
I was still staring. All across the crotch were smeared streaks of pink –brightpink, lipstick obviously. Right there. At ground zero.
Jake made a scoffing sound. "Yeah, you'd have loved that, right? Me, showing up, in these?" He tossed the pants onto the floor and waited in stony silence until I looked up to meet his gaze.
His eyes were dark, and his expression was stormy. There was something vaguely accusatory about the way he was looking at me.
I didn't like it, because for one thing, I'd done nothing wrong. But of course, he could probably say the same. Couldn't he?
I felt myself swallow. "Jake—"
