Love Obsessed (10 page)

“I am. Will you please consider it? Sleep on it.”

I continue to stare at him. He’s offering me a new start. “Are you serious about this?”

“Very. Baby, I love you, and I want to take your pain away, and this place is what’s giving you that pain.” I nestle into Jake and fall asleep, seriously considering what he is proposing. A fresh start. New people. Me and Jake.

Cole

“I’m going to break up with Beth. You were right. I am only seeing her to piss Erin off. I never expected that Erin would,” he stops, gesturing to the empty room, “do this,” he finishes.

We look around the vacant room that Erin once occupied. “Do you know where Jules lives?” I ask, hopeful. I have met Jules, but not enough times to know where she lives. 

“No.” He fisted his hands. “This is not right, Cole. It wasn’t meant to go like this,” Brandon whispers. He is holding something in his hand. I can’t make out what it is.

“You were too protective of her, and pushed her away.” I hate Brandon for what he did, but he is my brother none the less.

“This is on both of us. We need to get her back,” he finishes, his words laced with determination, and then I see what he is holding. It’s the necklace that he gave Erin for graduation. She left it behind. She was leaving Brandon behind.

Erin

Jake stays with me after he makes a trip home to get some dry clothes. He doesn’t let me leave the bed unless I have to, and even then he carries me to where I need to go. My feet hurt. They’re tender and sore. By Monday morning, I can stand on them, not for long, but it’s progress. We both call in sick to work for the next few days. Jake doesn’t leave me once. We don’t speak about moving again until Tuesday.

“I looked it up. We need to give the school two week’s notice before we leave. Just so you know, if you decide to move,” he trails off.

“Why the big move, Jake?”

“I want to be with you in a place that doesn’t hold bad memories and pain.”

I love Jake for wanting to take the pain away. “So what? We give them the two weeks and leave? Where will we live? What about your friends and your life here? There’s a lot to consider in this.”

“If we do this, we find somewhere to live over the next two weeks. My friends over there will go and have a look at the places we choose, and we can get the keys before we move. My life is anywhere you are, and I will still have friends here when we move.”

“You’ve thought this through.”

“In depth. I want this, Erin.”

I can tell by the look in his eyes just how much he wants this. “Mum and Dad will want to meet you before we leave.” The smile Jake awards me with is all I need. “We’re moving to New York.” Saying it out loud makes it seem real, good, and right. Jake kisses me in a way that I feel his love. We write up our resignation letters, and I feel the happiest that I have been since graduation. Tomorrow is the start of our new life.

***

“I haven’t told them about New York.” We are in the car on the way to Mum and Dad’s for dinner.

“You haven’t told them yet?” Jake asks, taking his eyes off of the road briefly to look over at me. He has insisted on driving, since I’m a nervous wreck.

“Not yet. I will. I just need them to like you before I tell them that you’re taking me away.”

“Ok,” he says, reaching over to give my hand a squeeze. It’s his way of reassuring me that tonight is going to be fine.

As per the recent behaviour, the front door opens before we have even put our feet on the ground. “You ready for this?” Jake asks over the top of the car.

“I should be asking you if you’re ready.”

“Let’s go.” He smiles, coming around to meet me, and grabbing my hand. We walk up to Mum and Dad who are standing at the bottom of the front steps.

“Mum.” I hug her and then go to dad, hugging him as well. I step back so that I’m beside Jake.

“Mr Riley, Mrs Riley,” he offers his hand, “I’m Jake. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Dad takes his hand, “Jake, it’s nice to meet you, too.”

Mum hugs him gently around the shoulders, “We’ve heard all about you.” She pulls back, continuing, “Dinner’s ready. Let’s go inside.”

We follow them into the house, and Jake looks around, admiring it. “You have a lovely home,” he exclaims.

“Thank you. Why don’t you go and sit down, and I’ll bring dinner out,” Mum offers.

“Do you want something to drink?” I ask Jake.

“I’ll get them. You two go and sit down,” Dad says, turning to leave the room.

“Dad, I can...” I start to protest, but he leaves the room before I can finish my sentence. “Let’s have a seat, then,” I direct to Jake, sitting down myself.

Jake sits down in the chair next to me. “Breathe,” he whispers into my ear. I knot my hands together and nod. Jake kisses my cheek. Dad re-enters the room carrying the drinks, and Mum follows with the food. They place everything on the table and dinner begins.

Cole

Erin’s car is in the driveway when I pull up at Mum and Dad’s. I need a change of environment, but seeing Erin will be better. Finally, I’ll have a chance to speak to her. I climb out of the car and run into the house. The kitchen and dining areas are clear. I can hear laughter, so I follow the sound outside. Once I step outside, all I see is red. Jake is in my parent’s home, laughing, and has hands on Erin. Once I take the step outside, all heads turn in my direction, smiles disappear, and my eyes are on Erin only. I hear a chair scrape across the cement, and then Dad is in front of me.

“Inside,” he directs, shoving my shoulder slightly.

I turn and follow him into the house. “What is he doing here?” I grate out, so angry at the situation.

“Jake is here with Erin.”

“Why. Is. He. In. My. Home?”

“Because Erin is our daughter, and we want to meet the men in her life, and today that man is Jake. Can you handle that, Cole, because if you can’t, you need to leave.”

I’m breathing so deeply, I have to start moving to try to alleviate some of the anger. I’m pacing around the room, hands on my hips. This sucks and it pisses me off. “Cole?” Dad’s questioning voice makes me stop and stare.

“Yeah. I can handle this.”

“Good,” and he leaves the room.

A moment later, I step back outside carrying beers, and sit down. “Hi. We haven’t officially met. I’m Cole,” I offer my hand to Jake, my eyes on Erin. She is looking at me like I’ve gone mad.

“Jake.” He shakes my hand. It takes everything in me to not pull him across the table and beat him to a pulp. I let go of his hand, and he rests his arm across Erin’s shoulders. My body tenses at his movements. His eyes are on me, and he sees the reaction. I can tell it got him.

“I didn’t know that you would be joining us tonight,” Erin states.

“That’s right, dear. You usually call first,” Mum adds.

“I thought that I would surprise you. Isn’t a son allowed to do that these days?”

“Of course, Cole,” Mum finishes. The conversation is light and easy. I can’t take my eyes off of Erin. Every now and then, they briefly go to Jake who seems to be watching me. He tightens his grip on Erin. So he wants to play it that way.

Mum and Dad are talking about a holiday they’re planning on going. “We haven’t had a holiday in years,” Mum is saying.

“It’s been a while,” Dad says, ‘not since that cruise.”

“Oh God, no.” Erin shoots in. I laugh and Erin smiles. “It wasn’t funny, Colby cheese. I haven’t been able to look at the ocean the same after that.”

She just called me Colby cheese. God, I love her.

“What happened?” Jake asks.

Erin looks up at him and then back to me. “We went on a cruise a few years back, just a few days on the water, no destination, out to sea and back,” Erin begins. “We were...what do you think, Dad? Half an hour after leaving the port?”

“I don’t even think it was that long,” Dad chuckles.

“Oh god.” Erin sinks deep into her chair.

“Poor Erin got so sick,” Mum says, a smile on her face.

“It was horrible,” Erin explains, sitting up straighter.

“Sea sickness. Instead of enjoying the cruise, you were in bed, willing the ship to sink.” I laugh, fond of that memory. I got to spend a lot of time with Erin, just us in a room. She was so cute all sick. Erin bites her lip. I love it when she does that. She is looking at me, too. That holiday meant something to her as well.

“I stayed with you and kept you company. It wasn’t fair that you had to miss out,” I say quietly.

“You didn’t have too,” Erin whispers.

“I wanted to.”

“Of course, Brandon wanted to turn the ship around and take you home,” Dad says.

Mum laughs, “He was unbearable to be around. Well, this time, we won’t have you kids with us, so we’ll be able to enjoy it.”

“What? We’re not invited?” Erin jumps out of her seat. I crack up laughing. “Shhh, Colby cheese. Mum and Dad are having a holiday, and us kids aren’t invited. Where’s the fairness, the love?”

“True,” I stand up too. “Where’s the love?”

“Kid free holiday. We’ll love you when we get back,” Dad responds. Erin sits back down, pretending to sulk.

“Not cool,” I state, sitting back down.

“It’s a good thing we’re flying to New York, then,” Jake whispers into Erin’s ear. Her face pales, her eyes on mine.

“What?” I ask.

Erin

“You’re leaving?” Cole asks me. The look in his eyes is painful. I had to look away.

“I have family there. We’re going to visit them,” Jake speaks.

“That’ll be nice, Erin. You always said that you’d like to see New York,” Mum says, getting up from the table. I can’t take my eyes away from Cole.

“It’s getting late. We better be getting off to bed.” Dad says, standing. I draw my attention away from Cole to Mum and Dad. I get up, walk around the table, and hug them both goodnight. Cole does the same.

“It is getting late,” I say, needing to go. The pain in Cole’s eyes is too much to bear, and I don’t want Jake to spill that I won’t be coming back from New York.

“When do you leave?” he asks.

Jake answers for me, “Not next week, but the following.”

“Night, Cole.”

Jake stands up and comes around, and Cole engulfs me in a hug that I didn’t see coming. “Turn your phone on. I need to talk to you,” he whispers into my ear.

“We better be going,” Jake says.

Cole releases me, but not before kissing my forehead, “See you later, honey.”

“Bye,” I say weakly. Jake grabs my hand, and we walk to the car. Jake puts me in the passenger side, and then he jumps into the driver seat. Pulling away from the house, I can see Cole standing in the driveway, watching.

***

“What do you think about this one?” Jake slides the laptop across so it’s sitting on my lap. Handing over the ice cream, I take the laptop and read about the apartment displayed on the screen.

“I like it.” I read on about the space and the view. It’s close to everything.

“So, I’ll tell Scott to check this one out?” Jake asks, his question full of hope.

I’ve already turned down a few before this one. “Yes,” I say.

Jake kisses my cheek, picks up his phone, and dials Scott. “Hey. I got one for you to check out. Yeah, she does. This is the one. I’ve got a good feeling. Cool. Get back to me.” It isn’t a long conversation, but enough is said. I look around Jake’s lounge room.

“I have no furniture, or anything else to really contribute to the apartment when we move,” I admit. Jake has a full set up. I have me and a few boxes of personal belongings.

“You’ll contribute you. That’s all you need to bring with us. All I need.”

“It doesn’t seem fair.”

Jake removes the laptop from my lap and pulls me into his lap. “If you want, when we move we can get new stuff; things we both picked out and paid for.”

He says it so gently, in a way that makes me feel important to him; loved. “No. We don’t have to do that. You have...”

“We have,” Jake whispers.

I smile at him, “Everything. I’m just being silly.”

“Nothing you say is silly. If that’s what you want, that’s what we’ll do.”

I wrap my arms around him and hold him to me. “I love you, Jake.”

“I love you, Erin.”

***

We get the apartment in New York, and the packing stage of the move begins. I hadn’t brought a lot from Brandon’s, but what little was mine. I repack it all from Jules’ and take everything over to Jake’s. If everything is there, the movers will only have to stop at one place, and since Jake has the majority of stuff, it makes sense for it to be his place. We also discuss and decide that I will be staying with Jake at his place for this final week until we move.

“What about the cars? We really don’t need them, but if you want to keep yours, we’ll have to organise a way to get it to New York,” Jake says while we’re packing up some of his kitchen.

“What are you doing with yours?” I ask him. My car was a gift from Mum and Dad. They insisted that I needed one since public transport isn’t that safe. I’ve already decided to give it back to them. It’s not mine to sell, and I don’t think that I’ll need it in a city as big as New York. “I’m selling it. I’ll use it until we leave, and then leave it with a friend to sell for me.”