by J. Bengtsson
“I did.”
Jake shook his head laughing, “My God Casey, people have called me a lot of things in my lifetime but I’ve never ever heard that one. That’s impressive!”
“Well, thank you,” I laughed. “And to answer your question I’ll be a senior this year.”
“To tell you the truth, I forgot what question I asked you,” Jake laughed.
“That’s okay…we can’t all be as smart as me.”
Jake smiled at me in a playful way, “Uh-huh, says the ASU student.”
“Oooh…that was a low blow!” I laughed. Hot, talented, nice…and a sense of humor? Be still my wildly beating heart!
“I know. Sorry.”
“Hey, never apologize for a well-placed comeback.”
Jake smiled then looked down at me with a sexy tilt of the head. I could feel a tingling of excitement race through me. Wow. I was really crushing on this guy. He was super chill. I stared into his beautiful eyes. We didn’t speak for a second. Jake grinned. I smiled back.
“So…uh…how do you know Kate?” He asked, breaking the silence.
“We were waitresses together at Outback Steakhouse until she moved in with Mitch and quit. I’m still there serving up Bloomin’ Onions five days a week.”
Jake nodded. “Actually I’m more of an Aussie Cheese Fries kind of guy.”
“No way…so am I,” I exclaimed, probably more excited than I should have been but Jake didn’t seem to mind my enthusiasm. “…only in the girl version, of course.”
“Of course. So being an employee, do you get to eat unlimited cheese fries at work?”
“Dude, seriously?” I gave Jake the stink eye. “Do I look like I eat unlimited cheese fries?” I scowled in a teasing way. “I’m offended.”
“Oh God…I’m so sorry,” Jake proclaimed, looking genuinely embarrassed and putting his hand over his mouth. “That came out all wrong.”
“You probably ask fluffy ladies when their due dates are too, don’t you?” I jokingly criticized, not letting him off the hook too easily.
“No. I swear I don’t,” Jake argued, laughing. Just then one of his brothers came over.
“Hey, dad needs to talk to you.”
“Yeah, give me a sec. I’ll be there soon,” Jake said and his brother left.
I stared up at Jake in an amused way.
“What?” he asked, looking perplexed.
“I know the little game that you’ve got going on here,” I smiled knowingly. “Your brother just gave you an escape route. Just like with Sarah back there.”
“Oh, you caught that, huh?” Jake replied, actually seeming impressed.
“Oh yeah…I caught it.”
“Did you also catch that I sent him away?”
“I did, actually,” I smiled. “And I’m honored.”
Jake smiled at me.
“So I have to ask, Sarah is a beautiful girl…why would you need saving?”
“Well…she was…uh…getting a little handsey.”
“Handsey? Is that even a word?” I laughed.
“I don’t know. It should be,” Jake replied.
“Well, if you ask me, she was a little boobsey too,” I added.
“Yeah, well the boobsey part didn’t bother me as much,” he laughed.
“Clearly,” I teased.
Jake grinned then voiced playfully, “So then…what…were you like checking me out during my conversation with Sarah?”
“Oh please…don’t flatter yourself. It was more like observing a rock star in his natural habitat,” I blurted out. “How could I look away?”
Jake stared at me in an amused way. His beautiful eyes shimmered as he shook his head, smiling.
“You’re funny,” he said simply.
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“You should.” Jake agreed. Our eyes met and there was something…a little spark that passed between us…something entirely unexpected. And the strangest part about it was that I was almost certain Jake felt it too.
Neither of us spoke for a moment then I broke the silence. “So I thought for awhile there that I would be dancing my way down the aisle alone, Jake McKallister.”
“Yeah, I like to show up fashionably late,” Jake replied. “Make an entrance, you know.”
“Well then…well done,” I praised him. “I especially liked the added touch of the screaming girl being pulled off you when you first arrived. It kind of gave your entrance that extra shot of attention it was so lacking.”
Jake grinned. “Right, because that’s me…always trying to draw attention to myself because I just don’t get enough of it in my everyday life.”
I nodded. “I mean why settle for three-quarters of a room staring at you when you could have 100% participation.”
“Exactly,” he grinned. “That’s just what I was going for.” His eyes were twinkling. I got the impression that he wasn’t used to being called out on stuff and I could tell that he was enjoying it. I felt such a sense of satisfaction knowing that I could make him laugh so effortlessly.
“So do you typically show up late to weddings?”
“I haven’t really been to any other weddings and since the ceremony is tomorrow I’m technically not late for it.”
I nodded, smiling up at him. Nice. I liked his confidence. He seemed so sure of himself.
“And besides, I have a good excuse.”
“Yeah, yeah…I know…concerts, groupies, Europe, those pesky first class flights not leaving on time. Excuses, excuses. Wah Wah,” I teased.
“Geez, you’re a tough crowd,” Jake stated, smiling.
“Excuse me if I don’t cry you a river but I had problems of my own…real life problems…trying to get here on time today.”
“Oh really?” Jake replied, looking genuinely curious. “Real life problems, huh?”
“Yep.”
“Am I going to get to hear your little sob story?” He joked.
I sized him up with my eyes and teased, “I’m not sure if you can handle it.”
“Oh trust me…I can handle it.”
“Okay but I’m warning you now that my story involves bodily excretions.”
Jake reacted with surprise, then laughed out loud. “Wow…you really know how to build excitement.”
“Do you want to hear my story or not?” I asked in a demanding tone, all the while, flashing him a devious smile.
“Yes. I’ll be quiet.”
“Thank you,” I sassed. Unlike his conversation with Sarah, Jake seemed completely engaged in ours. “So last night my roommate hooked up with some random guy at a bar. The two of them got pretty drunk. Anyway, I guess he got up early to try and sneak away before she woke up, as these winners often do, but decided to use the toilet first. I woke up to my roommate screaming. Apparently this idiot had clogged our toilet before slipping out the front door and now it was overflowing all over the floor and there was literally crap floating across the linoleum.”
“God no,” Jake laughed, shaking his head.
“Oh yes. And it gets worse. I ran in and my roommate was as white as a ghost. She was looking at me with that face.”
“What face?” Jake asked, completely mesmerized by my tale of woe.
“The barf face,” I revealed, dramatically.
“No?”
“Yes.” I confirmed.
Jake laughed. He was clearly enjoying my story.
“So I’m like, ‘Oh no…no no no…and as soon as I say that, she pukes…and it’s like projectile vomiting. I only narrowly escaped a direct hit. My roommate starts bawling and says she can’t deal with it and runs out of the bathroom. Now normally, I too would be running for the hills, but, with the wedding rehearsal at 4:00pm, that was not an option. I still had to shower and pack and run errands. So while you were all cozily nestled up in your first class fantasy seat, I was living the life of a real live Cinderella…scooping up poop, mopping up puke, and plunging the murky depths of a toilet.”
Jake just stare
d at me with a combination of disgust and awe. Crap! I’d gone too far. Why did I always have to push the limits of social acceptability?
He shook his head and said, “Wow.”
“See I told you, you couldn’t handle it,” nervous dread crept into my voice.
“No. It’s not that,” Jake refuted with a serious look on his famous face. “I just didn’t realize how bad the real world had become since I started living it up in first class.”
I burst out laughing. Jake joined in. So loud was my amusement that people around us turned to stare. Sarah gave me a malicious once-over.
“I think you’re the funny one, Jake McKallister,” I claimed after catching my breath.
Jake looked pleased by my assessment. “Are you going to call me by my full name all the time, Casey Caldwell?”
“Possibly. I haven’t decided yet.”
Jake looked amused then said, “You know, this might come as a surprise to you but most people I meet for the first time don’t entertain me with stories of vomit and crap.”
“Seriously?” I questioned, pretending to be surprised.
“Yeah, most people just ask for an autograph or a picture,” he affirmed.
“So then, this must have been quite a treat for you?” I replied with an innocent look on my face.
Jake laughed. “You have no idea.”
Just then his mom called him and told him it was time to go.
“Okay,” he replied then turned back to me. “That was not a set up. She actually really wants me to go.”
I laughed. “I know…I got that…ASU student, remember?”
“Oh yeah…I forgot,” Jake nodded, smiling. “Well, I guess I have to go make her happy.”
“Ah…you’re a good son.”
“That’s up for debate.”
I laughed. “I don’t want to keep you. It was really fun talking to you Jake McKallister.”
“You too Casey Caldwell,” Jake replied then smiled this cute, almost shy, little smile. He cocked his head just a smidge and hair fell over his light greenish grey eyes. I swallowed hard. I’d never seen any man as sexy as him in all my life. Everything about him made me quiver. He lingered there a second staring at me with that smile on his face, almost like he didn’t want to leave. “Okay, well, I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”
“Yep…I’ll have my dancing shoes on.”
“Yeah…you do that,” he said as he walked away laughing. Jake stopped by the door to gather his belongings and just before exiting; he turned around and smiled at me. It was a sweet, friendly smile and it was meant just for me.
When Jake left, I just stood there…possibly in a state of shock. A shiver ran through my body. I could not believe I’d just had that conversation…with Jake McKallister of all people. I felt the butterflies in my stomach. I could not remember a time when I’d felt that comfortable around a guy I was attracted to. The conversation just flowed so naturally. He may have been a famous rock star but he acted like a normal guy, albeit the coolest normal guy I’d ever met. I went over every little part of our conversation again in my head, committing it to memory. Damn Jake McKallister had been flirting with me! That was so totally unexpected.
“Oh my God Casey,” one of the bridesmaids, Kelsey, squealed. “You talked to him…for a long time. Weren’t you nervous?”
“At first yeah, but he’s actually super cool. And funny.”
“Really? You’d never think that…” Kelsey stated, shaking her head, “after what he went through.”
I felt just the slightest tinge of annoyance at her assessment of Jake. He was so much more than what people imagined him to be. Of course, who was I to talk? I’d thought the same of him only a half an hour ago. If that was the ‘real’ Jake I was talking to, it made me wonder why he didn’t let the world see him for the amazing guy he really was.
“Damn, he’s gorgeous,” Molly, another bridesmaid stated, snapping me out of thought.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“He’s even better looking in person than he is on TV and in magazines,” she gushed.
“I know…those eyes…mmm,” I affirmed.
Sarah was standing nearby and had obviously overheard our conversation. She walked over, looking beautiful but annoyed, “I still can’t believe they gave Jake to you. I should have been the one talking to him.”
I was instantly annoyed with her. Gave him to me? Did she think the only reason he was talking to me was because he was ‘assigned’ to me? Bitch. Although I wanted to punch her in her smug little face, I took the high road instead, for Kate’s sake. “I had nothing to do with it. I was as surprised as you were.”
“Yeah, well, just so you know, being paired with him doesn’t mean he’s yours, Casey. I’m still going to hang out with him tomorrow.”
“I never said you couldn’t.”
“I wasn’t asking for your permission. I was just making sure you understood that,” Sarah stated then walked away.
I wanted to scream at her but I kept my cool. I knew what she didn’t. Jake wasn’t interested in her. Was she so oblivious that she hadn’t picked up on the whole brother running interference thing? Still, it made me nervous. When Sarah wanted someone, there was usually no denying her.
“I saw you two laughing,” Molly recounted, interrupting my thoughts. “What did he say that was so funny?”
“I don’t know,” I said. For some reason, I didn’t want to share with others the conversation I’d with Jake. “We were just chatting.”
“About what though?” Molly pressed.
“My school, where I worked, stuff like that.”
“But what did he say about himself?”
“Nothing really. He was more asking me questions,” I replied. I then realized that we actually hadn’t talked about him at all. Was I being too pushy? No, he was the one asking the questions. Clearly he’d enjoyed our conversation. At least I hoped he had.
“Why would he ask you questions?” Molly asked, looking perplexed.
“I don’t know,” I grinned at the off-handed insult. “He must have found me unbelievably interesting.”
“That came out wrong. I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” Molly laughed. “I just meant he’s a freaking rockstar. Why weren’t you asking him questions?”
I threw my hands up in the air laughing. “It was a natural, free-flowing conversation. I guess I didn’t think to ask him about his life as a rockstar. Sorry.”
It took a few more minutes of stupid questions before the others finally stopped badgering me about Jake. I excused myself then and drove back to the hotel. I changed into a pair of gray ASU sweats and a pink tank top then pulled my hair into a high ponytail. I had numerous missed calls from my mom. I smiled. She was dying to know how the day had gone. She said I could call anytime even if I thought she might be asleep. Since I had one bar in the room I took the elevator down and went outside and sat on a bench by the pool as I called.
“Did you meet him?” My excited mom answered my call with a question.
I laughed, “Oh yeah, I met him.”
“And?”
“And I’m in love,” I sighed. “I’m already planning our wedding.”
“Wow, that was fast. Does Jake know?” My mom joked.
“No. I’ll just invite him and hope he shows up,” I giggled.
“Yeah that sounds like a smart plan. Did he seem to like you though?”
“Yeah, I mean, he was super nice to me. We actually talked for a while.”
“Really? I wouldn’t have thought he was a talker.”
I giggled, thinking back to when I called Jake chatty pants and his shocked reaction to it.
“Well, I don’t think he normally is but he was talkative with me.”
“Really?” My mom seemed genuinely surprised.
“Yeah, I mean, he comes across kind of distant but once you get to know him he’s actually a really personable guy.”
“And you got to know him?”
“Well, not re
ally. I mean, he was asking all the questions but we had a really fun conversation. We were kidding around. I’m telling you mom…we had a little spark going on and, maybe it was just my imagination, but I think he might be in love with me too,” I teased.
“Huh. How much time did you say you spent with him?”
“Like 20 minutes.”
My mom laughed. “Boy you move fast.”
“Gotta be quick when you’re dealing with rockstars. They are flighty creatures.”
My mom giggled.
“Seriously though…Jake really impressed me. He has a great sense of humor and is so genuine and self-assured…but not in that cocky ‘I’m better than you because I’m famous’ kind of way. His is more like a quiet confidence. And his eyes…oh God…did I tell you about his eyes?”
“No.”
“They are the bomb! They were like this really light emerald color with these thick, long lashes. They were so pretty I wanted to lick them.”
“Please tell me you didn’t?” My mom replied giggling.
“I managed to control myself.” I laughed. “But barely. I mean, damn, Jake is my total dream man. Good job, nice guy, laughs at my jokes, and he looks like a supermodel. What more could a girl want?”
“Oh, you were actually serious about being in love?” My mom joked.
“Yep,” I giggled.
“Oh boy. That’s what I was afraid of.”
I laughed. “Anyway I just feel really fortunate to have had the chance to talk to him. He’s such a cool guy.”
“And you get to hang out with him tomorrow.”
“I know. How lucky am I?”
“Very lucky…just don’t come home pregnant with a rockstar’s baby,” my mom joked.
“Oh God…what a cliché,” I said, rolling my eyes.
My mom laughed.
“Although it’s not a bad idea. I think we would make a pretty cute baby.”
“Casey! Don’t even think it!” My mom laughed.
“I’m just saying.”
“And I’m just saying…condoms are your best friends.”
“Yeah yeah. God you’re so old-fashioned.”
My mom laughed. “If I was old-fashioned we wouldn’t be talking about condoms and you getting pregnant with a rock star’s baby.”
“True,” I giggled. “You’re the best mom in the world!”
