Claiming Her

by Noelle, Alexis

  I hear a knock at the door. I’m only wearing one of Jake’s t-shirts, so I throw on a pair of shorts and run downstairs. When I open the door, it is the absolute last person I wanted to see. Jaimie.

  “What are you doing here?” She looks me up and down as if she is judging my walk of shame attire.

  I couldn’t care less about what she thinks. I’m finally happy. “I think the question is what are you doing here? I was invited to be here.”

  “I meet Jake every morning, and we go for a run.” She shifts her weight, and I look at the skimpy clothes she is wearing. All she has on is a sports bra and booty shorts. It’s November and thirty degrees outside! Put some damn clothes on!

  “Well, he isn’t here. He went to a meeting.” I begin to close the door, but she sticks out her foot and stops it.

  “You know he’ll never stay with you, right. I mean, Jake probably loves your ‘hard to get, damsel in distress’ bullshit, but he always gets sick of it. Once he ‘saves’ you, he’ll drop you and then come back to me.” She smiles at me.

  “See, you might think your lies are going to get to me but I know the truth. He’s never touched you, and you’re bitter about it. You think putting me down will make you feel like a bigger person and like you’ve won. But this is the thing, I won. He’s with me.” I move to shut the door again when a punch blindsides me to the face.

  Holy shit! This bitch just hit me! I have never been in a fight in my life, but I am ready to tear her apart. I swing back at her and soon we are both on the ground rolling around. After what feels like forever, she is pulled off of me. I look up to see a confused Jake and a laughing Brian.

  “What the hell is going on?” He is looking at me for an answer while he loosens his hold on Jaimie.

  “Why don’t you ask her? She’s the one that came over here and tried pretend like you guys hooked up. I told her to leave and went to shut the door when she punched me!” I am so mad that my hands are shaking.

  Jake looks over at Jaimie. “Seriously?”

  “No, she’s lying. Why would I do that?” She tries to give him her innocent face.

  “She’s in love with you!” Silence falls, Jaimie gives me a death glare.

  “Jake, I…”

  “Wait a minute. This whole thing with Nina. This fight. Jaimie, I’m only going to ask you once. Have you been sending that crap to her?” His tone is harsh.

  I never even thought about that. I mean the cops asked if I had any enemies, but I guess I never thought to include Jaimie. I just dismissed her as a jealous idiot.

  “What? No! I would never!” She seems shocked and a little hurt by his accusation.

  “I don’t know that I believe you, but what I do know is that this is done. You are fired effective immediately. If I find out you had anything to do with this bullshit, there will be hell to pay.” He turns his back to her and walks past me into the house. Brian joins him while Jaimie is still standing outside. I give her the finger before smiling and shutting the door. I know it’s immature, but it felt so damn good.

  Jake and Brian are sitting in the kitchen and when I walk in Jake hands me an icepack. “Here, Rocky.”

  “Shut up! I have never been in a damn fight in my life. Leave it to you to get me into one, Flash.” I smile at him.

  “Flash?” Brian looks back and forth between the two of us. “What the hell is that about?”

  I look over at Jake. “Well…”

  “No, Nina. Don’t do it.” He arches an eyebrow at me.

  “Don’t you listen to him, girl. I need to hear this.” Brian is goading me.

  “Let’s just say it has to do with the first time we met.” Jake’s eyes narrow at me.

  “That is awesome! I can’t wait to tell the guys that!” Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.

  “You’ll pay for that later.” His gravely voice whispers in my ear. A sense of excitement runs through me. His threat sounds more like a dirty promise. Jesus, when the hell did I become this girl?

  “You want to grab lunch? Brian has to leave.” Jake’s hands land on my hips.

  Brian raises his hands in surrender. “I can take a hint. Bye, Nina, see you later, Flash!”

  I start to laugh until I catch the look on Jake’s face. He starts toward me, and I run up the steps and into the spare bedroom locking the door. “I’m still up for lunch whenever you calm down!”

  “Yeah, well just remember I might forgive, but I won’t forget, Sparky. Get dressed and meet me downstairs, I’m hungry!” I hear him walk away and can’t help but laugh. I love being here, and being with him.

  We decide to go into town for lunch. There is a cafe that has the best paninis and chocolate cake. When the waitress comes over, I decide to order my cake first as an appetizer, then I give her my sandwich order. As Jake orders, he spends the entire time looking at me like I have two heads. Once she walks away, he shakes his head. “You have a crazy sweet tooth.”

  “Nina?” I hear a voice call my name and my stomach drops.

  I turn to see all the people I have been avoiding for years. My mom, stepdad, and Camden. Can I just pretend it’s not me? Maybe I have a doppelganger. Nope, totally wouldn’t work. “Hey.”

  I have no idea what to say to them, even though my mom has tried to reach out I never really responded. All their memories held for me was pain. I know I shouldn’t have taken it out on them, but I just don’t feel at ease with them, and I’ve pushed them away because of it.

  Everyone is just standing there frozen in awkwardness. “Hey, I’m Jake.” He offers his hand to my stepdad, then Camden, before greeting my mother as well. They introduce themselves as I am still in shock. “Would you guys like to join us?”

  Say no!

  “That sounds nice.” My stepdad replies in his no-nonsense tone.

  Fuck my life.

  Chapter Twenty One

  Nina

  Sitting here with my family and Jake is the most awkward thing, ever. Everyone is sitting in silence, and I am glaring at Jake, cursing his soul for initiating this.

  “So, Jake, how do you know Nina?” My mother asks in her singsong voice.

  “Um, we are dating.” He looks over at me and seems confused as to my irritation.

  “That’s nice. How have you been, Nina? We miss you.” She looks at me, and I swear she has tears in her eyes. I know I hurt her when I left, but that house and everyone in it is just a bad memory. They all remind me of what I lost that night. My sister.

  “I’ve been good.” What else do I say? I mean it’s not like I can sum up six years in a sentence. Even if I could, I’m not sure that I would.

  “You know, you’re always welcome to visit.” My stepfather joins in. He and I have never really been close. In a way, I guess I always resented him for not being my dad. We never bonded and I know that is largely because of me. He and Camden moved into our house a year before Carly died.

  “I know, thanks.” I nod, completely uncomfortable.

  My phone rings and I thank God. “Hey, Sam!”

  “Hey, did you want to hang out tonight? I haven’t seen you in forever. I could kick Hunter out, and we can have a girl’s night.”

  “Oh my God! Are you serious? No, don’t worry about it. I’ll be right over.” I know it’s wrong, but I need a way out of this lunch.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Her voice raises in confusion.

  “Okay, I’ll see you soon!” I hang up the phone. “Hey, sorry, but I have to run. A friend of mine is having an emergency.” I stand up, wave goodbye to everyone and run away from that nightmare. I don’t even care that I don’t have a car I will hail a damn cab.

  I feel like a complete bitch. I wonder if any of them even bought my story. I know they are my family but being around them just seems wrong and I don’t understand why. My attitude is completely immature but I don’t know how to handle this any other way. Avoidance is the easiest method and the one that has been doing just fine for me.

  “Nina!”
I turn around to see Jake running up to me. “What was that all about?”

  “You know you shouldn’t have done that.” I cross my arms still angry with him.

  “Done what? Be polite and introduce myself to your family, or offer to let them eat with us? I don’t understand the issue here.” I know he was just trying to do the right thing. Besides the one time we talked about Carly, I haven’t told him much about my family.

  “I know that you didn’t know, but I’m not close with my family. I was completely uncomfortable.” I look down embarrassed for being mad at him and for how poorly I handled the situation.

  “Why? What happened that you are so closed off from them? I mean I know you lost Carly, but I would have figured you would lean on your family.” His words hurt, mainly because I know he is right.

  “It’s not something I want to get into right now. Maybe in time.”

  He wraps his arms around me. “It’s okay, I’m here whenever you’re ready. Just next time clue me in.”

  I nod. “Deal.”

  “Okay, well, I’m still starving. Are you going over to Sam’s?”

  “Yeah, but not ‘til tonight. Let’s get some food.” I grab his hand, and we walk toward his car. I shoot a text to Sam letting her know I haven’t lost my mind and that I’ll see her tonight.

  ***

  I pull into Sam’s driveway for our girl’s night. Before I can knock, the door opens, and Hunter is standing there. “Hey, I was just leaving so you girls can spend the rest of the night binge eating and man-hating.” He smiles at me before walking to his car.

  “Sam?” I walk into the house and close the door behind me.

  “In the kitchen!” I walk through the house finding her opening a bottle of wine. “Hey! I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.” She walks over, giving me a hug and then handing me a glass of wine. “Come on let's sit down.”

  We head to the living room, and Sam puts on some movie that we have seen a million times. We tried renting movies before, but we usually just end up talking through most of it, so it’s a waste.

  “So what’s been going on? How is everything with Jake?” She crosses her legs and faces me.

  “Everything has been good. It's…different. He is the first guy I have ever been in a relationship with. Honestly, I feel lost most of the time because I have no idea how to function in it.” I take a sip of my wine. “I’m also scared that I’ll screw it up. I just don’t want to get hurt.”

  “Let me fill you in a little bit on Jake. He is one of the most genuine guys I have ever met. He means what he says, he doesn’t play games, and he will do anything for the people he loves. Don’t second guess anything. You’re lucky because Hunter and I spent most of the first few months we were together messing with each other’s heads.” We both laugh. I remember how she used to vent to me that he drove her crazy. “Just relax. Let things happen naturally. If you spend every minute trying to prevent bad shit from happening, you’ll never experience any of the good.”

  “You are very wise, Yoda.” I laugh, and she throws a pillow at me. “Hey now! You almost made me spill my wine. That’s a party foul and a crime punishable by execution.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Any way, I’m glad that you guys are giving it a shot. I swear the boys were about to start taking bets on how many times you told him to get lost.”

  I laugh thinking about Jake’s persistence. I’m going to try to follow her advice and stop stressing all of the little things. Jake has never given me a reason to worry or doubt him; I need to relax.

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Nina

  I’m going over my apartment to see Tina today. I’ve been putting it off because of this whole situation with the notes. I feel like me being there might be putting her in danger, and I know she is going to want to know everything. The truth is, I have no idea what is going on other than some psycho has been following me.

  As close as Tina and I are, she barely knows anything about me. I have never been someone comfortable with sharing my story, or much else about me. Whenever we would have girls’ nights, she would mainly talk, and I would listen. I liked it that way. Everything seemed so simple.

  I knock on the door instead of just walking in; it hasn’t been that long since I went to stay with Jake, but I feel awkward. Tina opens the door greeting me with a smile, and I follow her in. Once I close the door, she wraps me in a hug.

  “Are you okay? I’ve been so worried about you.” Her voice is full of concern and guilt consumes me that I haven’t come to see her sooner.

  “I’m okay. I’m sorry I haven’t been around. Things have been so hectic, and I’m apparently horrible at juggling.” I’ve never had a relationship and really never had close friends before Sam and Tina, now having both and trying to balance everything is hard.

  We walk into the living room and sit on the couch. “So what has been going on?”

  That’s a loaded question. “Some creep had been sending stuff to my work. First it was a black rose; then it was a decapitated mouse. They come with really cryptic notes, and they are freaking me out. After the last one, Jake told me to stay with him because he wanted to be there in case anything happened. He’s been great.” I can feel myself blush thinking of being with him.

  “Check out at that dreamy look on your face! I cannot believe you are all googly-eyed over this guy. Honestly, with the way you used to shoot him down I thought you might just be gay.”

  I laugh. “Nope, definitely not. I’ve just never met anyone like him. He is so…different.”

  “Different good, or different like he has a weird looking schlong?” She scrunches up her face.

  Not expecting that I choke on my own spit, completely unable to breathe for a minute. “Different good.” I finally choke out.

  “Okay, good.” She winks at me. “So anything else happening?”

  My dead sister has been showing up in my dreams and giving me advice. Tina doesn’t know anything about Carly. I have never told that story to anyone but Jake. I guess I feel like since I couldn’t protect her when she was alive, that now I need to protect her memory. “Not really. You know I’m boring.”

  “Have you and lover boy done the dirty yet, or are you still playing Mother Teresa?”

  My mouth drops open. “We um…we did the other day.” I’m so embarrassed. I am not comfortable talking about this.

  “Good. I mean, honestly, I worried he was gay too. I mean what kind of guy sleeps in girl’s bed and doesn’t touch her?” Jake never tried to make a move the nights he stayed over.

  “He definitely isn’t gay! He told me he swore to himself he wouldn’t be the first one to make a move. He said he thought if he tried something too early he would scare me off.” When he said that to me, it only solidified how right he is for me. Without me telling him, he knew that I was scared of that type of connection. It’s like he knew me better than I knew myself.

  “Whatever, my gaydar was seriously beeping for a while there.” We laugh and spend the rest of the night catching up. I have missed her.

  When Jake texts me saying he is on his way, I say a silent thank you. All this wine has made me so damn tired, and I’m about to pass out in the middle of our conversation.

  I give Tina a hug, and she makes me promise that I won't let it be so long until we see each other again.

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Nina

  I wake up to an incredible smell. What is that? When I walk downstairs, Jake is standing in the kitchen shirtless, making pancakes. I watch him while I have the opportunity to do so without him knowing. His muscles tense and ripple with each small movement, and I swear they are hypnotizing.

  He turns to grab a plate and sees me standing there. “Way to ruin my surprise. I was going to bring these upstairs to you.”

  I walk over to him and wrap my arms around his waist. “How did I get so lucky?” I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him.

  “I have no idea, but you can show me how thankful you are after
breakfast if you want.” He gives me a wink before turning back to the griddle and removing the pancakes.

  I sit at the counter and think about how much my life has changed in the last six months. How much Jake has changed me. Ever since the day we had lunch with my parents, Jake has been trying to help me work through my issues. I even called my mom the other day; we talked for a few minutes, and while it was awkward it wasn’t horrible. He has been so supportive, and even though the notes have stopped coming, I’ve still been staying with him. We both think that it was Jaimie since everything stopped once Jake fired her.

  I have become more comfortable with the physical aspect of our relationship. I have never felt more at ease with someone. We have been spending more time with his friends, and they feel like a second family. Grace comes over a lot, and as much as I always shot down the idea of ever wanting kids, that little girl is adorable. She loves Jake, and I can’t get enough of watching him with her.

  “Hey, where did you go?” He is standing in front of me holding the plates.

  “Sorry, guess I’m still a little tired.”

  He places the plate in front of me and then hugs me from behind. “I can take you back to bed if that will make you feel better.” He kisses my neck, and I relax against him.

  “I just might take you up on that, after I stuff my face with carbs.” I turn my head to the side giving him a kiss.

  “Please eat, you get kind of scary when you’re hungry.” I shoot him a dirty look.

  “”The term is hangry, and I cannot control it.” I stick my tongue out at him before I take a bite.

  We talk about today and Jake reminds me that he is supposed to help Mason with a new project today. Mason and Brian flip houses, so they need some muscle today, and Jake volunteered.