Page 73 of Real Forever
“Now, about this timeline…”
Jake picked at the corner of his laptop while Adeline droned on about the Calgary opening and her suggestions for how to manage it. He dropped in an occasional “Okay, Mom,” or a “Good idea, Mom,” but otherwise he checked out.
Zach snatched the phone from his hand, startling him out of his inattention. He gaped as Zach held the phone to his mouth.
“Pshhhh, pshhh… I… pshhh… cutting out… pshhhh.” He pressed the end call button and threw Jake’s phone on the couch.
Jake was stunned. “What are you doing?”
“What am I doing?” Zach was pissed off, and Zach was never pissed off. “Bro, what thefuckare you doing?”
“Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry, dude. I know it’s not, like, my place or whatever, to get involved with your shit, but I can’t keep listening to this and not say something.”
“Listening to what?”
“You. You and your—” Zach held his hands up apologetically, “I’m sorry, but your insane, raging wench of a mother—”
Jake stood up. “Whoa. You can’t call my mom a—”
Zach cut him off. “She’s the devil. I love you dude, and I gotta say it because I’ve been living with you for like a year now, and you don’t seem to seem to see it. I know she’s your mom, I know you love her, but dude—She. Is. The. Devil.”
Jake let out an exasperated sigh. “Zach, I appreciate that you care, and I know my mom can be a lot, but—”
“Are you happy?”
The question caught him off guard. “What?”
“It’s a simple question, bro. Are you happy?”
“Of course I’m happy.”
“Really? This is you happy? Moping around the fucking condo, attached to your laptop, only leaving the house to go to work? That’s you living your dream, eh?”
Jake paced into the living room. “It’s not that simple. I’m trying to build something here. I’m working hard to achieve my goals. There’s nothing wrong with that.”
Zach didn’t let up. “Your goals? Are they your goals, or are they your parents’ goals?”
Jake threw his head back and rubbed his face.
Zach continued. “Let me ask you this—why do you like mountain biking?”
“What? What does biking have to do with anything?”
“Humor me. Why do you ride?”
“I don’t know. I guess it makes me happy.”
“Makes you happy, how?”
Jake’s frustration was growing. “I don’t fucking know, Zach. It feels good. I feel… free when I ride.”
“Ok, so does this Calgary shit make you feel free?”
Jake stopped pacing and glared at Zach.
“These past few weeks, since you’ve been hanging out with Madison,” Zach went on, “it seems like you’ve been happy a lot more often, man. And you’ve been so much more chill and I feel like, I don’t know. Like you’ve been yourself.”
