How The Cookie Crumbles (22 page)

“What? Is there something wrong?” I asked, pushing back my hair.

“What are you talking about?”

“You keep staring at me.”

“Geez, sorry. You just look so good in the morning.”

I had no makeup on, my hair was falling all over the place and I was wearing a robe and bare feet. I kind of doubted his statement and I just grunted. Once I had a shower and got dressed, I could feel more normal.

Jake

Ever since I first saw Frankie, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with her but I wasn’t getting anywhere because she was so tightly wound. Last night, maybe I had pushed too hard, but she was so hot and the summer was almost over. Maybe it was better anyway, because when she kicked back, she was the kind of girl I could imagine being for more than a few dates. Luckily she didn’t relax that much.

To be honest, this whole weekend was fucked. I kinda imagined that Frankie and I would be at the cottage alone together, and she would have fun and relax. Then maybe we could have sex in every room of the cottage. And outside too.

But Frankie made it clear she wasn’t going if it meant a weekend alone with me, so I invited Tolly and Andrew too. Then I figured maybe if everyone else was getting it on, that might inspire Frankie. But so far, no dice. And now my mom informed me that they were antiquing in Tweed on Saturday and wanted to drop by on the way.

My parents often came up to the cottage on weekends, but usually they didn’t bother if I was having a bunch of friends over. Unfortunately, my mom was dying to get to know Frankie. Back when I had borrowed the food processor for Frankie to make doughnuts, she had given it back to me in a big bag. I brought the bag home and left it in the kitchen. What I didn’t realize was that Frankie had put some fresh doughnuts and a thank you note to my mom inside, but I had found out the next day at dinner.

“Jake, tell me more about this girl that borrowed the food processor.”

“Frankie? She’s just a chick I know.”

“She seems so nice, she wrote me a lovely note, and she made these delicious doughnuts. An old-fashioned girl.”

“Um,” I didn’t know what to say, but I knew that look on my mom’s face. And Frankie was kind of an old-fashioned girl, with all her dresses and her cooking. Not to mention her attitude about sex, which seemed to be from the 1800’s.

“So, what does this Frankie look like?”

Nicola piped up, “You’ve met her, Mom. Remember, she was that waitress at The Keg?”

“Oh, her! Well, she’s very pretty. And so nice, she brought us a lovely dinner and everything.”

“Mom! That’s her job.” I groaned inside, I knew what was coming next.

“That’s just the kind of girl you should go out with. Have you thought about that?”

Yeah I had, but I wasn’t sharing any of my thoughts in this area with my mom. “Naw, she’s too busy, she works two jobs.”

“How hard-working.” Frankie was zooming up my mom’s rating scale, and this could only mean trouble for me. “Maybe she’d like to come over for dinner?”

“Leave the boy alone, Sandy,” my dad finally rescued me. “I’m sure he can find dates on his own.”

My mom sighed and stopped talking. But I could see the gears turning in her head and I knew this wasn’t over yet.

And now that both of them were going to be at the cottage at the same time, I could sense trouble for me. Frankie was showering, with the door locked, no doubt. She took a while to get ready, but as usual she was smoking. She went straight to the kitchen to start making a big lunch, so my plans to go out on the lake together went down the drain too.

“You look great,” I told her. But I felt a little sad about that. I always figured that she dressed up to look good for me, but apparently not.

“Thanks, I think. What’s wrong? You look unhappy that I look good.”

“I don’t get you,” I told her, “I mean, you always dress so hot, but you don’t want me to hit on you.”

“Hot? How do I dress hot?”

I couldn’t believe she was asking me this. She was wearing a little top that was all tight around her tits, and a sheer skirt and high heels. Her hair was done up, she had make-up on, and her lips were all wet and shiny. If I looked at her long enough, I was going to get a hard-on. “Uh, well, I can see your, um….” What was the right word here? I looked down at her tits, and she rolled her eyes.

“You know what Jake, it’s hot out and I have breasts. Get over it.”

But I wasn’t willing to let this go. “But y’know, you’re always doing stuff for me, like cooking me meals or that time you sewed up the rip in my jacket. The stuff that people do when they like someone.”

“So? Are people not nice to you?”

“Sure, my old friends are. But these days when people are nice to me, they want something. I just don’t get what you want.”

“I don’t want anything from you. In fact, what do you have that I want?”

“Duh, like money, or hockey stuff.” But as soon as I said that, I knew she didn’t give a shit about hockey stuff, and she had never asked me to take her out someplace nice or buy her anything. Chloë had said stuff that made me think that Frankie’s family was pretty well off.

“What is wrong with you? Can you not trust anyone?”

“I don’t get you! Sometimes you act like you hate me, and sometimes you act like you’re totally into me. But if I touch your holy body you go all crazy. You drive me nuts!”

She turned and looked at me, and her lips were parted like she was going to yell at me. But then she closed her mouth and looked away. She turned back to me and spoke calmly. “It’s about last night, right? Look Jake, I hated like the way you acted, but I was thinking about things and I’m sorry if I confused you in any way. To tell the truth, I don’t always know exactly what I want.” She shrugged, “But I do know what I don’t want.”

“It’s not easy, y’know,” I told her honestly. “It’s not fun to be the guy and to get shot down all the time.”

She looked closely at me. “Yes, you’re right. Maybe we need to communicate better.”

Why were chicks always into communicating better? I think I was communicating fine, I just wasn’t getting the answer I wanted. “Why don’t you tell me when you’re ready, when you’re all in? That could save us both a lot of hassle.” Maybe that would be better, I’d leave her alone and she could come to me for a change. In fact, almost every time I left Frankie, I made up my mind not to bother with her anymore. Of course my resolve only lasted until I saw her again.

Frankie nodded. “Yeah, okay. I don’t really know what’s going on. I haven’t had sex with you because it didn’t seem right. It’s just that sex is something important to me, and I don’t think it’s the same for you. For you, sex is just something physical.”

“Of course, sex is physical!” Sex was physical and it also felt great. Did Frankie not get that? “I think it’s dumb, y’know, that you don’t do anything that might make you feel good. That you can’t relax and enjoy stuff.”

“And don’t you think it’s kind of sad that you can’t accept that I might like you because you’re funny and nice, and not because you’re a stud defenceman? That if you let down your guard and stopped hitting on me, you might get judged on being a person and not a stereotype.”

I groaned. Frankie was absolutely nuts and she was making me crazy! Could she not relax and stop analyzing everything to death? “I’m going out on the boat,” I told her. I needed to get out of here.

Just then Andrew and Chloë showed up, all smiley and happy. “Hi guys,” Andrew said. “How’s everything going here?”

“Fine,” said Frankie.

“Shitty,” I said, at the same time.

Jake’s mom and his two sisters, Angela and Nicola, came over around noon. They assured us they weren’t staying long, but I had already made a lunch for all of us.

“This lunch looks just lovely, Frankie,” his mother, Sandy, said as we sat down at the long dining room table. It was kind of last minute, but I had pulled together an iced gazpacho, rye bread, and a simple salad with greens and berries.

“Nice flowers,” Angela said, looking at the wildflowers I’d gathered and put in a jar. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen flowers in this place before.” I couldn’t tell if she was being sarcastic or not. She seemed to be very down-to-earth like Jake. Nicola seemed quieter and more sensitive.

“We were just headed out to this farmer’s market,” Sandy explained. “And we thought we’d stop by and say hello.”

“Because you don’t get to see Jake enough,” Angela said with one eyebrow raised.

“What market is that, Mom?” Jake wondered, smirking at her, and drinking his beer.

Sandy flushed, “Oh, you know the big flea market… near Tweed.” It seemed pretty clear that they had come specifically to check me out. Throughout lunch, Sandy kept referencing some future where I would be visiting Jake in L.A. and be invited to family events in Kingston. I thought Jake might correct her, but he didn’t say a word.

I finally got my chance to set the record straight when I was alone in the kitchen with Nicola.

“Uh, Nicola. Not to be presumptuous or anything, but you know that Jake and I are just friends, right?”

She looked at me and sighed. “Really? Well, you guys seemed to hanging out so much, we hoped.” She shook her head.

“I don’t get this, why are you all so keen to fix him up? I think he goes out with a lot of girls.”

“Yeah, that’s the problem. Too many girls! Mom and I are worried that he’s going to get himself into trouble. Like knocking up some sk… I mean, getting involved with some girl who’ll take him for major bucks. Jake is way too trusting.”

I started cutting the banana cake I had made for dessert. “Well, how do you know I’m not some gold-digger too?” I wondered.

“Frankie, it’s Kingston. I had probably heard everything about you by the time you got off the airport express bus. You’re a university student from Vancouver with a broken heart. You work two jobs. You haven’t dated anyone but Jake all summer.”

Well, that wasn’t quite right, but I guess that Liam, being from Toronto, was under her scary radar. And I hadn’t actually dated Jake, although I guess it might appear that I had. Angela brought some plates into the kitchen as we were talking, and inserted herself into the conversation.

“You forgot the part where Jake saved her from getting gang-banged at that big Queen’s party.”

I winced. I guess Liam hadn’t escaped notice, even if the facts weren’t quite right. “Did Jake tell you all this?”

“As if. Jake tells us nothing about anything,” Angela snorted. “We hear everything from the grapevine.”

“You do know how creepy this all sounds, right?” I said, as Nicola helped put the cake onto plates.

Nicola nodded her head. “Tell me about it. I love Kingston, but I’ve lived there my whole life and it’s a freaking fishbowl. Once Jake got famous, it only got worse.” She sighed. “Jake’s a great guy, Frankie, and I think he really likes you. Why don’t you go out with him?”

Well, that was the question I seemed to have to answer all summer. In truth, I did find him more attractive these days. The more I got to know Jake, the more I liked him. In fact, if Jake hadn’t come on so strong last night… well, it’s not like I would have had sex with him, but I certainly would have been more receptive. But he had totally turned me off. I hated being pressured into anything, and right now it felt like I was getting pressured from all sides.

“I know he’s a great guy,” I reassured her, “But….”

Angela interrupted, “Nic, you need to leave Frankie alone. Jake’s not exactly boyfriend material, and I think she can see that.” She turned to me, “My mother and my sister are huge romantics, but I’m a realist. Jake’s a nice guy, but he’s immature as hell, and I wouldn’t want any friend of mine to date him right now.”

“But what if all he needs is a nice girl to straighten him out?” Nicola wondered.

“Because two older sisters and a mother aren’t enough? He needs to grow up first, and nobody can make that happen,” Angela concluded. The cake was all ready, so we took out the plates and thankfully ended the whole conversation.

The subject of our conversation was sitting there, chatting with his mom and Andrew. Chloë just sat there smiling. Apparently all my fantasies had actually come true for her.

“This cake is great, Frankie,” Andrew said. Jake was too busy eating to say anything.