It had been about five minutes since Jake had taken Megan and Jen back to Megan’s room. Jen was sitting up now at least, but she was still looking a little pale. Megan was feeling pretty ok herself. Jake still hadn’t said much, but maybe that was because he was waiting for her and Jen to recover from their little trip. Maybe Megan could fix that.
“So, does anyone feel like celebrating?” Megan asked.
“What?” Jen asked blankly. She still looked a little shaken, but mostly fine. Definitely fine enough to do a bit of celebrating, Megan decided.
“If Jen would like to,” Jake said. Megan noticed that he’d emphasized Jen’s name just a little too much there. Maybe he wasn’t as happy about all of this as she could have hoped. Did she make another mistake?
“Well, I mean, we did just get Jake away from Tara,” Megan said. Wasn’t that a good enough reason? She would have thought they’d be happy about that, but it looked like she had underestimated her friends’ reactions. So she decided to add, “Besides, none of us have had lunch, right?”
“Well, I could eat…” Jen agreed slowly. That was something at least. Megan decided to take that as a yes from both of them; Jake had already said he’d go if Jen wanted to.
“Great. So where to?” she looked at Jake as she asked. He instantly looked over at Jen, but Megan wasn’t about to wait for Jen to chime in. It was supposed to be Jake’s celebration, not Jen’s.
“What do you want, Jake?” she asked.
Jake glanced briefly at Jen. She didn’t say anything, so he responded.
“Chinese?” he asked. Then grinning, he added, “And maybe some ice cream afterwards.”
“Sounds great,” Megan said, returning the look. She was glad to see him start to act like her boyfriend again. She always did hate when he acted like he was just a stupid genie.
“Yeah, we can do that,” Jen said getting up slowly from the bed.
“Then let’s go,” Megan grinned.
Jake pulled her up off the floor and the two started towards the door.
“Wait – stop,” Jen said. Jake planted his feet firmly on the floor and turned back to look at Jen. Megan did the same.
“I need to get my car,” Jen told them. “It’s still over by Tara’s.”
“We can go by and get it on the way,” Megan told her. But Jake wasn’t looking so confidant.
“Are you sure you can drive?” he asked, staring just a little at Jen. He gave her just the tiniest bow, which actually set Megan’s teeth on edge. Not only was he back to acting like a genie, but he was now doing it to Jen. But Jen didn’t seem to notice.
“Yeah, I’m good to go,” Jen told him, standing up.
“Then we’ll follow you downstairs,” Jake said, swinging his arm out in a gesture that clearly said Jen should go first.
“Ok… fine…” Jen said. She looked suspicious, but didn’t say anything as she made her way to the door.
“If I might – one suggestion,” Jake said as Jen passed him. She turned back.
“Yeah? What?” she asked, confusion on her face.
Jake glanced down for a second before looking straight back at Jen.
“Perhaps a change of clothes?” It was only barely a question.
Jen looked over at Megan.
“Really?” she asked. Megan just shrugged, so Jen turned back to Jake. “Sure – fine. Wear what you want – whenever you want. Ok?”
Jake gave that annoying bow of his, but he didn’t actually say anything. He moved his hand just slightly, and went from wearing that genie outfit to what he’d had on at school. Then, he grinned.
“Shall we?” he asked, opening Megan’s door. Jen stuffed Jake’s bottle into her backpack and the three headed for the front door.
The ride to Jen’s car was pretty short. Megan sat in the front seat next to Jake, and Jen got the back seat all to herself. Megan noticed that Jake had magicked up a normal car for once. That was good though – they probably didn’t want to draw too much attention to themselves in Tara’s neighborhood. Especially after what they’d just done.
Jake pulled up behind Jen’s car. Megan looked around, but she didn’t see anyone. It looked like the coast was clear.
“Shall we go together or separately?” Jake asked. Megan couldn’t tell if he was asking her or Jen – his eyes never actually left the back of Jen’s car.
Megan thought about it for a minute. She did want to ask him what was going on with him – when they were alone, of course. This could be a good opportunity. But maybe they should go as a group. Megan was still a little weirded out about sneaking into Tara’s house like that, and being back in this neighborhood so close after it happened was sort of giving her the creeps. She kind of didn’t want to split up if they didn’t have to.
“I guess we can take separate cars,” Jen said. “I’ll follow you guys there. It’ll give me a chance to think anyway.”
So the decision was already made then. Megan guessed that was a good choice.
Jen got out of Jake’s car and walked towards her own.
Once Jen was in her car, Jake pulled out around her, and she followed.
Megan immediately turned to Jake. Now that they were alone, she had a few questions for him.
“Is everything ok?” she asked.
“Of course,” he told her.
“It’s just that you’ve been acting really weird since we left Tara’s.”
“I’m acting normally,” Jake insisted.
Megan was about to argue with him when a thought struck her. Maybe he was acting normal – this was how he had acted when she first met him, after all. And how he’d been acting most of the time when he was with Tara. Maybe him acting like a normal kid was actually when he was being weird.
“It’s just that I kind of thought you’d be happier once we found that bottle,” Megan mumbled.
“I’m very happy about that.”
“Well, you don’t seem like it.”
He hadn’t looked all that happy since he’d seen her in that room. Well, except for that kiss – he had definitely seemed happy enough to see her when he did that.
So what had happened after? He’d taken one look at Jen standing there holding the bottle, and his whole demeanor had changed. Great. Megan sighed to herself.
“Is it because Jen has the bottle now?” she asked.
Jake shrugged but didn’t say anything. He was clearly trying to pretend it didn’t bother him, but Megan knew better. That was the look his eyes got when he was ignoring something he really didn’t like. Besides, he was paying way more attention to the road than he normally did – he was obviously stalling for time.
“Come on,” Megan said. “I really need you to talk to me.”
It took Jake a minute before he responded.
“Is there a reason she has it?” he asked finally.
“Well… we didn’t have a lot of time…” Megan started slowly. “We didn’t know if I could have it again… since I lost it.”
“Why would you not be able to have it again?”
“Because I already had it once?” Megan asked. “…Does that mean I could have taken it back?”
“As long as you have at least one wish left, you can always take it back,” Jake gave a kind of shrug.
“Oh,” Megan said. That would have been nice to know.
“Perhaps I should have mentioned it,” Jake admitted.
Megan kind of wished he had. But she guessed it wasn’t really his fault. It hadn’t occurred to her either until she and Jen were in Tara’s room. Actually, it hadn’t occurred to her at all. Still, maybe this wasn’t so bad.
“Look on the bright side,” she told him. “It might be nice to have a master – a whatever – in charge who isn’t your girlfriend.”
She’d quickly changed it when she saw him wince at the word master; she noticed he seemed to really hate that word. Megan guessed she could understand why. She promised herself she’d be more careful in the future.
“I already had a whatever who wasn’t my girlfriend,” he said. He looked tense.
“Well, yeah… that’s true…” Megan conceded. “But I was thinking someone who wouldn’t be so atrocious,”
“And you’re confident this will be the case with Jen?”
“Yeah. I mean, I’ve known Jen for years,” Megan said. “She wouldn’t do anything like that to you.”
Megan tried to sound confident, but she remembered how even a few hours ago she would have said the same thing about Tara. But then, Megan hadn’t actually known Tara at all until just a few months ago. Jake still didn’t look convinced.
“And if she does, I’ll steal that bottle back, and you can turn her into a frog or something,” Megan added.
Jake actually laughed.
“You think that’s what I do?” he asked, grinning as glanced over at her. Megan thought for a minute.
“I’m not actually sure what you do,” she admitted. She wondered if she’d be about to find out now that Tara wasn’t in charge of him anymore.
“I wouldn’t do that,” Jake told her. Megan was relieved. Until he added, “I don’t think Greg would be happy if I did.”
“What?” Megan blinked. She had been half-joking when she’d said it, but could he really do something like that to a former master? He would never do something like that to her, would he?
Megan heard Jake snicker. She looked over and saw that impish grin of his. She was almost positive that meant he was joking.
“I hate you,” she mumbled.
“No, you don’t,” he said confidently. Now this was the Jake that Megan had missed seeing.
“You should act like this when we get to the restaurant,” Megan told him as they pulled into the parking lot.
“Should I?” he asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion just a bit. Well, that didn’t last long.
“I just mean… Maybe act more like the kid in her class and less like the genie you were when she first met you.”
“That did not work well with Tara,” he said neutrally. He pulled into a space, seemingly a little too focused on the task.
Megan thought for a minute. What could she say to get him to relax – to prove that Jen was different?
“Well, I don’t think I heard Tara ever call you charming before.”
Jake just stared at her.
“Jen called me charming?” he asked incredulously.
“She did,” Megan nodded. It was when they’d all gone out to the movies for the first time. And sure, Jen had said he was too charming for his own good, but close enough. “And that you were cute.”
“I remember that,” Jake nodded.
“Really?”
“Yeah. In your room. When I first met her.”
“Oh,” Megan blinked. “Then I guess she said it twice.”
“Really?” Jake asked. And that incredulous look was back.
“Really,” Megan confirmed. “So just be cute and charming and not a genie. Ok?”
Jake gave a short nod.
“I’ll try.”
ns216.73.216.10da2
and then Add to home screen.