Page 20 of Real Forever
Jake:Whoa. That’s huge. And Mrs. Perfect-Christian-Family definitely wouldn’t want it getting out to the public.
Madison: Right? So we definitely have to follow her again. Can you do Friday night?
Jake: Yeah, I can do Friday. You want me to drive?
Madison: Nah, I’ll pick you up again. Omg, Jake. We might actually get this bitch.
An hour later,she finished curating the playlist. She opened up her messages and tapped another one to Jake.
Madison:P.S. I made you something:
She copiedand pasted the link to the playlist she’d made for Jake into the message box and felt her heart jitter as she pressed the send arrow. She chewed the inside of her cheek as she waited for the three little dots to appear on her screen, indicating Jake was typing a reply. They appeared, disappeared, appeared, disappeared, and then appeared once more before his message came through.
Jake:Madison, wow. I don’t know what to say. This is probably the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever given me. Seriously, thank you so much.
Madison beamedand hugged her phone to her chest.
12
Jake
Jake pulled off his shoes,unclipped the elastic pant strap from his right leg, and placed it, along with his helmet, on the shelf inside the front hall closet.
“Zach? You home?”
“Yeah, in the living room.”
Jake entered the living room to find Zach on the couch, playing Call of Duty in his boxer briefs. Zach nodded in his general direction but didn’t take his eyes off the screen.
“How was work, fuck-face?”
Jake sat down on the other end of the couch. “Work was fine. Normal. What did you do all day? Did you even leave the building?”
“Today was the best. I found this guy on Tik Tok that deep fries stuff.”
Jake scrunched his face, “Deep fries stuff?”
“Yeah. Like all kinds of random shit people suggest. Mother fucker.” Zach cursed at the game and mashed the controller buttons before continuing. “Food obviously, but also, like, batteries, and a rubber duck, and those little packing peanut thingies.”
“Why?”
“Why? It’s TikTok. There’s no why on TikTok, dude.”
Jake shook his head. “Well I’m glad you had such a good day. What’s up for tonight?
“This,” Zach replied, motioning to the video game controller in his hands.
“Feel like going out for wings?”
Zach paused the game and set the controller down on the coffee table. “I’m sorry, what? It sounded like you asked if I wanted to go out for wings. But I know that’s impossible because it’s only Wednesday. Or maybe it’s Thursday, I don’t know. Point is, Captain Perfect never goes out on school nights.”
Jake rolled his eyes, “Do you want to go or not?”
“Yeah,” Zach chuckled, “Of course. You know I’m always down to get my wing on.”
“K, cool. I have a few things to finish up so I’ll be working for an hour or so and then we can take off.”
Zach replied with a devil horns hand motion.
