Chapter Twenty-One

"A good sleep and a good laugh are the two best cures for anything."

LUCY

There was one week before the dance. Normally I never thought much about those type of things, but it had been consuming my mind for weeks then. The time was finally nearing and I still had not found the balls to ask Clayton to the dance as my date.

I munched hard on my Fruit Loops, staring even harder at the back of Jacob's big head as he sat on the couch. He was watching some stupid comedy, and his laugh was becoming annoying.

"You sound like a dying cat, ya' know?"

I heard a grunt. "And you sound like a cow chewing its last meal."

"Touché." I shrugged. "But anyways. . . What are your plans today? Anything dealing with Abby?"

Jacob sighed heavily, as if I were a pestering bug, and paused his movie. He flipped around, a bored expression on his face.  "No, she's busy." He looked a little deflated at that, but not enough for me to ask about how their weird not-so-kind-of relationship was going. "We have been texting though."

A brow of mine rose. "About?"

"Clayton."

I groaned. These two couldn't keep out of Clayton and I's business. It was starting to get on my last nerve with Abby, so I told her last week to not say anything else negative about him. Now I don't need to hear the same from my brother.

"Nothing bad, Luce. I promise."

I wanted to believe him, but I knew he wasn't the biggest fan of Clayton. He had never said it, but I could tell by the way he would stare him up in down, trying to size him up whenever they were in the same room. I was pretty sure Clayton was even starting to dislike him then because of that, too.

"Come over here, Lucy. I've been meaning to actually talk about him with you." He didn't sound like his usual amused, sarcastic self. His face even appeared to be caring. It left me daunted in my seat upon the breakfast table. "Oh come on, before I fling my leg at you."

There we go! He sounded and looked like himself again.

I shoved the last bit of cereal in my mouth and then headed over to the couch. He had his prosthetic leg off beside him, while he rubbed the nub of his leg protectively. Pulling the blanket over my body, he stole a piece of it to share with him.

"So, you guys have become good friends since I was last here."

I nodded slowly, my eyes glued to the paused TV screen as if something were playing.

"He treats you well?" Jacob continued.

Yet another nod, but this time is was stronger. Clayton treated me perfectly well. He was a complete gentleman and always wanted me to be as comfortable as possible. I thought Jacob already knew this from the countless other times he had asked me that question, but he obviously wasn't getting the memo or didn't want to believe it.

Jacob was silent for a bit. He ended up continuing the movie, but after a few minutes he turned back to look at me.

"I've never seen you this way about 'just a friend'  before."

I had tried my very best to remain calm, but the heat was starting to rise to my cheeks. It suddenly felt a lot hotter than I last remembered.

"How do I appear?"

He hummed for a few moments, and I could tell he was analyzing me. Jacob was very good at reading people, it was one of his many so called "talents". So as I sat there trying my hardest to appear less than effected by our conversation topic of Clayton, I knew he could see through me no matter my attempts.

Clayton had that type of effect on me. Our surprising friendship has escalated into something I couldn't quite put my finger on. Whatever we were, it made me want to smile for hours on end. At least until my cheeks couldn't go any longer.

"You look so. . happy." He blurted out suddenly. Then, he took it back, "--well, besides the fact you aren't smiling. But I can feel how happy you are from the inside out. If that makes any sense at all?" He chuckled nervously. "It reminds me of how I was with someone a while back. . ."

My brow rose, curious as to who that someone was. He only had a couple of girlfriends throughout the years, and they were all short-lived. At least that is what I had known of.

He must have noticed me catching on to something, because he swiftly turned the subject back to Clayton.

Question after question, Jacob became some sort of therapist trying to get any possible answer out of me. He asked about how Clayton was around his friends, if he was any good at baseball like I always boasted about. At first it felt weird talking so intimately to Jacob like that, but it grew on me rather quickly. My mind went back to the months I went without seeing him, and how much I should have appreciated times like those with him.

After all, we could have all lost him before.

The ending credits of Jacob's movie began to roll, but he did not seem to mind. We had spent close to an hour just talking about Clayton and I, and it finally appeared like he was done assessing the situation.

"Can I be honest with you, Luce?" He put his hand on my knee, squeezing it a bit.

I expected to hear about how he thought Clayton and I were never going to happen and that I needed to keep my head out of the clouds. So I cleared my throat and shot out, "I already know, I'm getting ahead of myself. But I really do feel like something is there between the two of us. I have never felt so comfortable and happy around a guy before--"

"--Besides with me." He corrected with a sly grin. "And daddy and grandpa." The mention of grandpa made us fall into a small silence, but Jacob continued with what he was going to say before. "Anyways, before I was rudely interrupted. . . I see something special with you and Clayton."

To say I was taken aback was an understatement. This was the guy who could never get his damn name right, yet here he was, further confirming what I was hoping to be true.

"Yeah, sure, I haven't exactly acted like I've liked him, but I definitely do. I mean, have you seen his face?" He fakes a high-pitched giggle. "But in all seriousness; he is a good guy. He makes you happy. What more can a big brother ask for his annoying little sis'?"

I know I had a million ways to react. I could have been overcome with joy that I gave his stinky self a hug, or even be so amused by his "have you seen his face" comment that I could have busted out in laughter. However, for some reason, I ended up shoving him pretty hard on the shoulder.

I wasn't exactly annoyed - I was too happy to be annoyed - but I was definitely feeling a tinge of irritation. All that time I had assumed he hated Clayton, but there he was, saying it was all a facade because he thought it was amusing.

"Well shit, that's not how I thought you'd respond." Jacob eyes squared onto me as if I burned him. "Mooo-om! I just confessed my love for Lucy and Clayton's love and she hurt me!" He yelled out, holding his shoulder like I actually did any damage.

If anything, that was a love tap.

"Yep, I'm the mean one. Definitely," I spoke sarcastically, even with a smile.

We were both playing with each other of course, by my poor mom had no idea about that. She came rushing into the room ready to protect her little boy from my oh-so obvious strength over him.

Her hair was disheveled and her once perfectly crimson lips were now smeared across her chin.

Jacob must have been confused too, because his facade of playing victim fell instantly. Any other day Jacob and I would have assumed something not so kid-friendly went on in their room. However, when our dad appeared out of the hallway scratching his head, we knew something was up.

"I know what you two kids are going to say when I tell you what we just found out, but I just want to clarify something: forty is not too old to have another child, okay? It's the new twenty anyways."

I blinked.

Jacob blinked.

Then, finally, the news she was trying to break finally made it to our slow brains.

"You're pregnant?" Jacob and I both said in unison.

I sounded a lot less excited than him; but that was definitely because if it were true, my youngest child label was going to be stripped.

"Well, after what just happened with us, maybe!" The two not-so adults busted out laughing, pointing at our shocked faces. They revelled in our twitching brows and disgusted expressions.

Sometimes I wondered who were the kids in this family, because I definitely couldn't be the baby of it.

"We're not pregnant." My mom wiped a fake tear away, then clasped her hands together. "Thank goodness. But a family we know are expecting a baby now. . ."

Jacob and I sat there, waiting for them to say who was expecting. I was thinking it might have been the Anderson's across the street. They are always popping kids out, so that wouldn't be too surprising.

"Looks like Clayton isn't going to be an only child anymore, Lucy. You're gonna have a sister-in-law!"

I didn't know what to be more surprised over: the fact my mom thought Clayton and I were gonna make it down the aisle, or there was gonna be another cute Hugh addition to the world.

It was honestly good news to me, because I loved babies and children in general. The only thing that worried me was that Clayton hadn't told me.

"Before you get mad at your boyfriend. . ." My dad chimed in from behind my mom, beginning to wave a finger at me. "-- which I can tell you are starting to. He doesn't know yet. And you can't tell him yet."

Oh, shit. They knew how bad I was at keeping secrets from people. Especially people I was close to.

"Tomorrow they want to get some people together at their house for a barbeque, and they are going to break the news then. So don't worry Lucy, you don't have to keep it from him for too long."

I breathed out a little bit. I was always bad at keeping secrets. Maybe it was because I felt insanely guilty keeping things from certain people, I wasn't too sure. But if I had to keep a monumental secret like this one, I would no matter what.

I'd just suffer in the process.

After that little revelation, I ended up heading to my room to lay around. Clayton was busy that day helping Mateo with his baseball, so I was not so patiently waiting for them to finish so we could text. I tried working on some homework, but I was too distracted on the idea of Clayton with a baby.

That would be so cute. . .

The ring of my phone almost shook the pencil out of my hand. I was expecting a text from Clayton, but I got something even better: a phone call.

"Hey, Clay." I smiled into the phone. "How did the practice go?"

He sounded like he was moving some things around. "It went alright, he still has a long way to go." There was some more shuffling on the other end of the line. "But anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to come to my house tomorrow? My parents are throwing some random barbeque, and they expect me to get the whole house ready for company by then."

I chuckled a little bit. "Are you asking me to come to the barbeque or save you from cleaning your whole house?"

"Well let's just say if you come a little earlier you'll be treated to some milkshakes and tater tots." I could almost imagine the inevitable smirk on his face.

As long as he were there working alongside me, I didn't need any kind of bribe to urge me to help out. The shakes and tots were just a triple bonus.

"Of course I'll help. How about I come at noon?"

I could hear a car door shut. "Yeah, that works. Thank you so much, Lucy. You're the best."

"I know." I fell back on my bed, grabbing my stuffed elephant to hug tight to my chest. Clayton's laugh had that effect on people.

"Well, I should probably let you go now. I'm gonna drive over to town and grab some things from the store for tomorrow. I'll let you know when I get home."

"Oh, okay! Drive safe. Love you."

The minute the words fell out of my mouth, I regretted it. It came out so naturally because normally I said good-bye to my parents like that. It was a mistake that made me freeze in my spot, eyes clamped shut with fear.

"Uh, yeah. I will Lucy. Bye. ."

I wasn't sure what scared me the most: the fact I accidently said I love you to a guy I might have actually  fallen for, or that he seemed just as freaked out by it as I was.

Way to go, Walker. Way to go.

Jacob is probably one of my favorite characters in this book to write because there is so much to him. Which leads to some awesome news I think you guys might like. . . I AM GOING TO BE DOING A SPIN OFF BOOK FOCUSING ON SOMEONE VERY SPECIAL IN THIS BOOK! More details will be revealed in later chapter author notes, but that's all I'm going to say for now. :)

Also, thank you so much for 4 million reads! That's way over anything I ever expected, so thank you.

QUESTION OF THE CHAPTER: How do you feel about Lucy's slip up with the "love you" comment? Have you ever said something you didn't mean to like that to someone before? I know I have, haha! So embarrassing.

This will finally be the year when I enter the Watty's for the first time! I'm excited to see how it turns out, even if I don't win an award.

I'm shooting for the update to come either next week or two weeks! My aim is to have this book finished by the end of the summer at the latest!