7 07: The Day He Was My Delivery Guy

JADE

Upon reaching home from the convenience store, she was greeted by the sight of Maya fixated on two wooden spoons and a lever while Nick was in front of the computer, back hunched and eyes squinting at the screen as he clicked away.

"Hey Nick, you got a second?" Jade asked as she dropped her bag by the door and went toward her brother who hummed in question.

"It depends on what you're asking," Nick said. He turned to her and added, "But I'll hear about it."

"Actually, it's a clarification."

"Yes okay."

Why was this bothering her? The restaurant incident had been three days ago. Jade shouldn't be thinking about it much so why? But anyway, she shook her head to clear out the nerves and asked as nonchalantly as she could, "If you dislike someone at first, it's okay to like them as a person after a while, right?"

Nick blinked and nodded slowly.

"Well, in order for that likeness to be achieved I guess the disliked person must have done something for your initial opinion to change. It's totally plausible. There's also no issue if you dislike that person every time you meet due to contrasting personalities and such. Not everyone will like you, anyway."

Jade nodded as she headed for the stairs.

"Right. Uh... I'm gonna go do some studying first then I'll prepare dinner for us."

"Sure!" called Maya. "Hey Nick, you think it's possible to fling a wooden spoon from here back to its original place?"

"You'll have to calculate its trajectory, the angle of where you're going to throw it, the force of the push you're going to give the spoon—"

"So it's possible."

"I—" he blinked, "yes, it's possible."

Jade chuckled under her breath at their conversation and silently went up the stairs, going into her room and flopping on her bed. She thought about how that guy—Jackson, right?—really stepped up to pretend to be her lover when all their past interactions for the day had been nothing but downright awful. And yet he still helped her. Does he have like, a secret goal or something? Maybe a stupid bet among his friends?

But his friends seemed nice and rowdy and didn't look like the kind to play such pranks on people. Or maybe she was thinking all this because she didn't know them very well? After all, what went through guys' minds anyway?

And now she had to tutor him... was it a great idea to actually agree to Mister Simmons' request? And it was a little weird and unsettling that he knew she was a musician.

Speaking of which...

She took a peek at the keyboard she had and involuntarily smiled. Should she test it out again? She missed her guitar though but it wasn't like she couldn't play anything else. Besides... her mother loved it.

Taking a deep breath and going to sit on the rickety stool, she crouched down to plug in the socket and turn on the keyboard, pressing one of the keys and testing out the notes. It's been a while since she touched this thing... wouldn't hurt to play a few songs.

But first... finger exercises. Jade did those, trying to refresh her memory on where the fingers should be and how they should be positioned in each scale.

After looking through a few easy songs online, she tested them out on the keyboard and practiced a few in a slow pace, cringing every time she accidentally pressed one of the wrong keys and throwing the whole tune off-key.

"Man oh man was the piano always this hard?" she asked herself, scratching her scalp and going over her desk to look for a clamp that could hold her long hair in place so it wouldn't continuously block her view.

She took a peek at her cat wall clock and did a double take. She had to prepare dinner!

Jumping down the last few steps to the first floor, she was about to reach for a pan when the house telephone rang, Nick picking it up easily and saying in a polite voice, "Hello Alderson residence. Oh hey Dad."

Feet shuffling across the floor, Jade made to reach for the telephone but Nick stood and went away from her, keeping her at arm's length as he talked to their father.

"Nick—"

"Oh you ordered take-out for us? Is it paid already?"

"Take-out?" sputtered Jade. "But I—"

"Ohh you want Jade to pay?" Nick gave her a mischievous smile. Jade stopped trying to reach for the phone and widened her eyes at him threateningly. "Oh you already paid for it. Aw Dad... I wanted to see Jade pay for it."

"You little brat!" she couldn't help but shout the same time the doorbell rang.

The three siblings paused.

"You get it, Maya," Jade instructed to her younger sister.

"Can't. Too busy."

Jade rubbed her eyes in exasperation and stomped over to the front door, swinging it open. As soon as she retrieved the bags from the delivery guy she halted. He did too.

She blinked in bewilderment at him. He stared back, mouth open.

"I—" she uttered, mind whirling a mile a minute at seeing Jackson Arden standing at her front porch.

He seemed at a loss on words too but regained himself quickly and smirked, tipping his uniform hat toward her. He was wearing a shirt from one of the fast food chains with brown pants and it was such a jarring sight to see that Jade couldn't speak.

"Well now I know where you live."

Her eyes narrowed at him, regaining the ability to think and talk clearly. "Don't even try breaking into my home, you piece of chewed-up gum."

He blinked and then the door opened wider for Maya to peek out. She took one glance at both teens and turned to the eldest.

"You know this guy?"

"No."

"Yes."

Maya looked to the male and smiled. Jade blinked. Maya wasn't one to smile at strangers but before she could comment on it Maya asked, "You know my sister?"

"Yes," Jackson said with a heart-warming smile as he stared at the younger girl. "Me and your sister go to the same school. Coincidentally, she's also my Math tutor."

"HEY!" exclaimed Jade as Maya giggled and took the orders from her. The younger girl disappeared inside the house, leaving Jade to stand there awkwardly in an oversized shirt and shorts. It felt vulnerable to be seen like this when she wasn't all dressed up. Now all her insults and looks didn't seem to deter him much.

He was smiling crookedly at her and Jade couldn't seem to cling onto irritation.

How is it that they've only just met and there were all sorts of crazy instances where they bumped into each other? It's crazy.

Jackson clapped his hands once and walked backwards towards his scooter.

"Well, your food's already paid for so all you have to do is enjoy it."

"Yeah thanks." She didn't know which spirit possessed her to call out to him but she did it anyway. "And if you're serious about us studying here at home, then you know where to find me!"

She slammed the door on him before she could see his expression, too scared and nervous as heck to even chance a glimpse of him.

Instead, she laid the food on the table and called her siblings over for dinner.