thirty nine

I took the note, reading the messy handwriting

'thanks for the place to crash, something came up

-R'

Dread filled my body as I looked up at Jake. His eyes were glazed and his jaw was clenched. He seemed so angry but I could see the sadness.

However much he didn't want to admit it, he was hopeful that Rodger had changed.

I quickly pulled Jake into my arms, and we stood in silence.

The air felt heavy.

I pulled away, Jake's head facing the floor. He looked up slightly and my heart broke even more when I saw a few tears running down his face, his expression locked in anger.

I tried to wipe his tears, but gave up when even more fell.

I couldn't even begin to imagine how he felt, seeing as I was this angry, and i barely knew the man.

I wrapped my arms around Jake again, and I could feel him tense, trying not to let the crying take over his body.

"Jake, you're allowed to cry" I said quietly and he broke down.

I kept my arms around him as he cried, a deep hatred for Rodger growing inside of me

Eventually Jake calmed down, sitting on the side of the bed. I sat next to him, holding his hand and stroking the back of his palm.

"I'm really sorry" I managed to get out

"It's not your fault" Jake said, weakly squeezing my hand

"But it kind of is, I convinced you to let him stay." I sighed

"Y/n you made me do the right thing. He chose to do the wrong thing. Again.

What about Callie?"

"Jakey, im sure she would rather have a fun day, with her amazing dad, than with someone she barely knows"

He smiled at me, gratefully, this time pulling me into his arms, and i lost my balance, falling back and bringing Jake with me, so we were lying next to each other.

We stayed like that, our faces practically touching, as we stared at each other.

His eyes were so full of emotion, it was overwhelming.

I leaned my arm over him, letting my hand rest in his messy hair, gently running it through my fingers.

His hand moved to rest on my waist, lightly skimming his fingers over my skin.

We lay like that for what must've been an hour, not talking. We didn't need to talk. I just had to be there for him.

We heard Callie call for us, having woken up. And her endless babbling of nonsense started.

We reluctantly got up, walking slowly to her room, hand in hand.

I watched with love, as Jake swept her into his arms, giving her a squeeze. She grabbed his face between her little hands and pouted her lips, leaving a wet kiss on his nose. I laughed, and Jake passed her to me, her doing the same.

"Ice ceeem"

Jake laughed, before his face darkened slightly, "Callie, Grandpa is gone, because he had a work emergency, it's not your fault"

Her face fell, "no ice ceem?"

Jake breathed out a small sigh of relief, Callie seemed more intrested in the food than Rodger.

"Don't worry Cals we're still going to take you!"

I told her enthusiastically and she grinned, eyes shining. Me and Jake shared a small look of pride, as we got her ready.

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We sat in the little ice cream stand, eating as Callie had the time of her life.

She was on a huge sugar high, and me and Jake knew it would come back to bite us later, when we tried to get her to sleep, but for now it was nice.

Jake seemed to have almost completely forgotten about his dad, and it was great to see him laughing and smiling.

——————————

I tucked Callie in as she drifted off to sleep.

It had taken a while, but after Jake had chased her around the apartment for an hour, she was completely exhausted and could barely keep her eyes open.

I jumped when Jake's ams slid around my waist from behind, making him laugh softly.

I leaned into him, his head resting on my shoulder.

"Wanna watch a movie?" I whispered

"Only if it's Die Hard" he whispered back and I grinned.

We walked out to the couch, and I went to grab a few snacks. I decided on popcorn and a huge bottle of orange soda, knowing Jake would be happy with it.

I made my way back to the couch, seeing diehard ready to play on the screen. I quickly placed the snacks on the small table, and turned, seeing Jake had grabbed a fluffy blanket.

He sat, his arms and legs outstretched to me and I couldn't stop giggling as I clumsily climbed into his embrace.

I leaned back melting into his chest, as he put the blanket over us and started the film, before laying his hands on my stomach.

I had watched the movie so many times by now, I knew the memorable lines by heart.

So did Jake, and so whenever an iconic line was about to be said we both joined in.

"You know Charles thinks it's 'yippee kayak other buckets'. It upsets me every time" Jake said, sounding extremely offended.

"Isn't that it?" I asked Jake, pulling on my most convincing look of confusion. Panic flooded into his face, making me roll my eyes and smirk at him.

"I'm just joking Jakey"

"You better be" he muttered, making me grin.

"I've missed this" I said quietly

"Me too" his arms tightened around me, and we watched the remains of the film, even though all I could think about was Jake.