Evolve (Soulmates Book 4)

by Dykes, Nicole

  I loved Mrs. Clark, she was everything a mom should be. She even looked like a typical mom, with short hair and maybe a few extra pounds. More than that though she was caring and encouraging. “Hi, Mrs. Clark. I’m doing okay.”

  She smiled, “Well hopefully you can stay for dinner. I’m making pot roast.” She turned to Andy, “I’ll be outside doing some gardening. Try to keep it down, your dad is still asleep.”

  Andy nodded and she went out to the backyard. Andy turned back to me and gestured to the living room that we were standing in, “So is this okay to work in?”

  I nodded and sat down on the large comfortable couch. “Works for me.”

  He joined me on the couch and I took out my laptop and my history book from my backpack. “So we can pick anything relating to the Civil War, so you know everyone is going to pick Lincoln and Gettysburg.”

  Andy took out his history book, “Yeah so let’s try to be original.” He thought for a minute, “What about ghost sightings at the battlefields?”

  I laughed and shook my head, “That may be too original. Probably not enough actual facts to do a report on.”

  He smiled, “Hmm….okay. I saw something on the history channel about the aftermath of the Civil War on our country. What if we do our report about that?”

  I nodded, a little surprised that he watched the History Channel. “Yeah that sounds interesting.”

  He must have seen the surprise on my face, “Yeah, I watch the History Channel when I’m bored. It’s got some interesting shit sometimes.”

  I laughed. “I’ll take your word for it.”

  We worked on our project for several hours. We also took a few breaks and talked about school and basketball, until Mrs. Clark came into the living room, “Dinner is ready. Jackie will you be joining us?”

  I stood up, “Oh I don’t know…”

  Andy interrupted, “Of course you are joining us. Mom’s pot roast is the best.”

  I smiled, “I don’t want to intrude.”

  Mrs. Clark waved me off, “Oh please, it’s no intrusion and I made plenty. Come on into the dining room.”

  I followed Andy and his mom into the dining room, it was way too hard to pass up a home cooked meal. My own mother never cooked. We usually had take-out or premade salads for dinner.

  I sat at the large dining room table next to Andy his mom placed a plate full of pot roast along with potatoes and carrots in front of me. It smelled delicious and I smiled up at her, “Thank you so much, it looks amazing.”

  She smiled and put Andy’s plate in front of him and Andy’s dad came into the room. It looked like he had just showered and dressed for work out on the rig. He greeted Andy by ruffling his hair and smiled kindly at me, “Well Hi Jackie! It’s been a while since we’ve seen you.”

  Seeing Mr. Clark you know exactly where Andy got his good looks and charm from. His hair had just started to turn gray and he was starting to look a little rough from the years of hard work, but he was still a good looking older man. “Hi, I know it’s been a while. School has been really busy.”

  He nodded and kissed Mrs. Clark and commented on how good dinner looked. It was clear they were still very in love and it was cute.

  We had a really nice dinner and afterward I helped Andy do the dishes while his parents finished getting ready for work. As Andy was drying the last plate his mom came into the kitchen and gave him a hug, “Okay, we are heading out. Make sure you lock up before you go to bed and you guys stay in the living room okay?”

  He nodded, “Don’t worry mom. I know the drill.”

  “Uh huh.” She looked over at me, “Not that I don’t trust you Jackie. It was so good to see you. Don’t wait so long before you come back.”

  She gave me a warm hug, “I understand. We will stay in the living room, but I’m getting ready to go home soon anyway. And we aren’t anywhere close to being done with our report so I’ll be back very soon.”

  She smiled, “Well great, see you soon then.”

  I thanked her again for dinner and her and Mr. Clark left to go to work.

  Andy and I went into the living room and sat down on the couch. I started gathering my stuff. “Well it’s a good start, but we have a lot of work to do.”

  Andy turned the large television on and started flipping through the channels, “Yeah, It’ll be fine. I’m not worried.”

  “Yeah that doesn’t surprise me. Today was fun. I forgot how much I like your family.”

  He settled on a music channel and put the remote down, “Yeah they really like you too.”

  “Well I better get going. Tomorrow is a school day.”

  “It’s only seven. Hang out for a little bit.”

  I looked over at him, “And what would Kourtney think of that?”

  He shrugged, “Honestly I don’t really care. We are friends we can hang out.”

  I settled into the couch a little more. “Okay, I guess I can stay for a bit. It’s not like my mom will care.” I look over at him, “Does your mom really think you obey her rules?”

  His face scrunched a little, like he was actually thinking about it and then looked mildly ashamed, “Yeah. I think she really trusts me, but it’s not like I disobey her all the time.”

  “Oh really so Kourtney hasn’t been in your room?”

  He grinned that Andy grin. “Not all the time. You really want to know about Kourtney being in my room?”

  I gave him a grossed out look, “Pass. You really are an asshole though, you know that? I mean your parents really love you and care about you and you disobey them at every turn.”

  “Wow, are you lecturing me Jackie? Damn you are starting to sound like Maddy.” He smiled over at me so I knew he was teasing me.

  “No. I just think you take them for granted.”

  He ran his fingers through his thick hair and then through the sexy stubble on his chin, “I know I do. They are really great parents. And it’s not like I defy them all the time. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

  “Uh huh. Just keep telling yourself that.” I stood up and stretched, “I better go. I’ll see ya at school tomorrow.”

  He got up from the couch and walked me out, “Jackie?”

  I turned to him, “Yeah?”

  “I’ll probably always be an asshole, but I do appreciate you calling me on it.”

  I smile at him, “Hey, we are just helping each other keep our New Year’s Resolutions right?”

  He nodded and walked me out to my car and I drove home.

  Andy

  After Jackie left I went back inside and cleaned up the mess in the living room. She was right, my parents are amazing and I have taken them for granted. Jackie’s face when she was talking to my parents and eating my mom’s pot roast just showed how lucky I am. It seemed like Jackie never had that at her own house.

  I still couldn’t believe that I had known Jackie for so long and didn’t truly know her. Just then my phone rang and I looked at the screen and saw Kourtney’s face. She had taken a selfie and set it to pop up when she called. I just let it go to voicemail. I really wasn’t in the mood to deal with Kourtney.

  I know that it is messed up. Kourtney was technically my girlfriend, but truth be told she was starting to be a pain in the ass. It had started out so easily, but I just hadn’t wanted to be around her since that night with Jackie. Part of me really did want to change and not just be the asshole jock who only thinks with his dick.

  The next morning at school Kourtney had been waiting for me at my locker with her best pouty face, “I tried to call you three times last night.”

  I opened my locker to get my books for my first class, “Sorry I went to bed early.”

  “Oh, well what did you do yesterday?”

  “I told you I had to work on that report with Jackie.”

  She folder her arms and sneered. “Oh yeah. Jackie.”

  I saw Jake walking down the hallway toward the class we have together and looked over at Kourtney “Look I gotta get to
class. I’ll see ya later.”

  Before she could say anything else I gave her a quick, awkward kiss on the cheek and went to catch up with Jake. “Hey.”

  He laughed, “What the hell was that?”

  “What was what?”

  “She looks pissed off.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah she’s jealous.”

  We reached the classroom and went inside to find our usual seats. “Jealous of what?”

  “Me spending time with Jackie.”

  He nodded, “Ah. That’d do it.”

  “There’s nothing going on between us. We’ve been friends for a long time and I’m not the one that fucked her.”

  He looked slightly irritated then smiled slyly, “Doesn’t mean you don’t want to.”

  “We are friends.”

  The bell rang and the teacher cleared his throat and greeted us all. I tried to pay attention, but my mind drifted to Jackie several times during that hour and the entire day. I went with Kourtney at lunch to get a hamburger, trying to make up for being a prick that morning so I didn’t see Jackie until after school when we were both heading to practice.

  She looked cute with her hair in a ponytail and had already changed into shorts and a t-shirt for practice, “Hey Jackie. How are ya?”

  She smiled over at me as we were walking toward the school’s gym, “I’m good Andy. How are you? Where were you at lunch?”

  “I took Kourtney out. You doing anything tonight?”

  “Yeah I’m actually hanging out with Maddy. I haven’t seen that girl much lately. Why?”

  I felt a little guilty knowing exactly why she hadn’t seen Maddy lately, but it really wasn’t my place to tell her about Maddy and Jake hooking up. “Just wanted to see if you wanted to work on our project.”

  She looked thoughtful, “Hmm…I have to work tomorrow and Wednesday after school. And Thursday I have plans with Michelle. How about Friday? Around six? Unless you don’t want to spend your Friday working on something for school.”

  “Friday works for me. My house I’m assuming?”

  “Yes.”

  We split up and each went to our own practice and I actually couldn’t wait for Friday. Jackie was awesome and I enjoyed spending time with her.

  I only saw Jackie a few times the rest of the week and we were always with someone else and it was usually Kourtney. She was extremely clingy all week and never wanted to leave my side. She was pissed off again when she wanted to come over Friday and I told her I was working on the project with Jackie, but I didn’t care.

  Jackie came over to my house a little before six and I answered the door, excited to see her. I couldn’t help the huge grin on my face, “Hey.”

  She greeted me and walked in, putting her bag on the floor by the couch, “Where are your parents?”

  “It’s their anniversary so dad took mom out to dinner before work.”

  She sat down on the couch. “Aw. That’s sweet.”

  I grinned. It was pretty cool that my parents still loved each other after nineteen years of being married. That was rare these days and I couldn’t imagine being with one person for that long.

  I sat on the couch next to Jackie, “Okay. So you ready to get started or do you want to watch TV first or something?”

  She picked up her bag and started looking around, “Let’s work on the project first and then maybe hang out after?” She was still rifling through her bag, “Shit.”

  “What?”

  “I forgot my laptop.”

  I laughed, “You’re kidding right? So really you just came over to hang out with me huh?”

  She laughed with me, but I could tell she was upset she forgot it her laptop that had our project saved. “I can’t believe I did that. I could run home and get it.”

  I shook my head, “You emailed me a copy remember?” I stood up. “Come on.”

  She stood up cautiously. “Where are we going?”

  I started walking back to my bedroom, “My room. That’s where my computer is.”

  She stopped following me, “I can’t go in your room. It’s against your mom’s rules.”

  I turned to look at her and saw her face was one hundred percent serious. “Jackie, it’s for school. My mom would understand. Don’t worry about it.”

  “I am worried about it Andy. I really don’t want to upset your mom.”

  I smiled. It was cute that she cared. “Jackie she will never know. I promise. We are just working on our project. We aren’t doing anything wrong.”

  I started walking again and she reluctantly followed me into my room.

  My room was a typical guy’s room. With dark blue walls and posters of random hot chicks and a Kansas City Chief’s poster I have had since I was eight years old. Jackie looked around. “Exactly what I pictured.”

  “Ah you’ve thought about my room, huh?” I grinned at her.

  She just rolled her eyes and walked over to my desk. “Shut up. Let’s get started on the project please.”

  I walked over to my desk and pulled up her email with the report and opened it. Then I stood up and let Jackie have the desk chair. “I’ll be right back.”

  She nodded already in the zone, ready to work. I went and got a chair from the dining room and brought it back into my room and sat next to her. “We are nowhere near done are we?”

  “Nope. Good thing we have a month to get this finished. It’s worth a huge part of our grade.”

  “Don’t worry we are going to get an “A”.”

  She laughed, “I hope so.”

  We worked for a few hours and got a lot done, but around nine thirty I was completely sick of it and Jackie picked up on it, “You’re done for today aren’t you.”

  I stood up and stretched, my body was stiff from the kitchen chair. “Yeah, I think we got plenty done for one day.”

  “Okay. So what now?”

  “Movie?”

  “Okay.”

  I walked over to the TV that sat on my dresser and the stack of DVD’s. “Dazed and Confused?” I remember her telling me she loved that movie and it was one of the few movies we had in common.

  She stood up and stretched. “Sure.” Her sweater rose showing a sliver of her perfectly toned stomach and I couldn’t help but stare for a second. We were just friends and I had a girlfriend, but I was still human and she was gorgeous.

  I put the DVD into the player on my dresser and walked over to my bed quickly pulling the sheets up to make the bed and sat down. Jackie crossed her arms over her chest. “We aren’t watching it in here.”

  I groaned, “Why not? We are already in here and my bed is comfortable.”

  She sat down on the floor next to my bed. “Fine, but I’m staying down here.”

  I looked down at her, sitting on my floor leaning up against the wall. Memories of the New Year’s Eve party popped into my head and I laughed. “I can sit on the floor. You can have the bed.”

  She shook her head, “No. I’m perfectly fine down here. It’s not okay to be on your bed.”

  The DVD menu popped up on the TV screen and instead of arguing with her I grabbed two pillows from the bed and sat next to her on the floor. I handed her one pillow and I put the other one behind my back. “You are so damn stubborn.”

  She smiled big at that and put a pillow behind her. “I’m right and you know it.”

  I held the remote in my hand, but didn’t start the DVD yet, “So, next week is your birthday right? Any plans for the big eighteen?”

  She shrugged her shoulders, “No probably not. My mom hates birthdays with a passion.”

  I raised an eyebrow, “Your mom hates her birthdays or all birthdays?”

  “All. They remind her she’s getting older. We don’t celebrate birthdays.”

  “Since when?”

  She looked slightly irritated and I wasn’t sure if it was with me or with her mother, “Since always. It’s really not a big deal.”

  I turned my body more toward her so I could see her face, “You�
�ve never had a birthday party?”

  She sighed, “No. I know it’s weird, but please just drop it. It doesn’t matter. It’s just another day.”

  “It’s not though. It’s your birthday. It’s another year that you are here. Your mom should be thrilled that she was lucky enough to have another year with you. You never wanted a birthday party?”

  “I mean yeah. I used to get really jealous when you and Maddy and even Jake had birthday parties when we were younger. Especially yours. Your parents made a huge deal about the “birthday boy” and always went all out, but after a while I got over it.”

  My parent’s loved birthdays and always made a huge deal. In the fifth grade they even rented out the local skating rink and invited my fifth grade class. We got to spend hours skating, playing in the arcade, and eating pizza. Jackie was in my class that year and I remember playing air hockey with her. I was never invited to any of her birthdays, but it never crossed my mind that she never had a party. “I’m sorry Jackie. That really sucks. Does your mom at least make you dinner or something?”

  She scoffed. “You’re kidding right? My mom doesn’t cook. No we completely ignore birthdays. Please let it go. I know it’s weird, but it really doesn’t bother me anymore.”

  I knew that she had to be lying. It would bother anyone, but I decided to drop it for now and pushed “Play” on the DVD player.

  Chapter 5

  Jackie

  “Andrew William Clark! What the hell is going on here?”

  I slowly opened my eyes and realized my head was resting on Andy’s chest, our eyes met briefly before we both sat straight up and stared at his severely pissed off mom.

  “Mom? What are you doing home?”

  She just stood there angry, with one hand on her hip. “It’s seven in the morning. I’m always home at seven in the morning. What are doing with a girl in your bedroom? And at seven in the morning!”

  Oh this was so bad. We must have fallen asleep watching the movie. I spoke up, my voice sounding weak, “Mrs. Clark, I am so sorry. I forgot my laptop and we had to work on our project, and…”

  She cut me off, “Jackie, I think you had better get home. Your mom has to be worried sick.”