The darkness receded slowly, clearing small tunnels of light that grew until I had regained my vision. I was dimly aware of the older-looking car with two teenaged guys in it as it squealed around the corner. “Crazy chic!” the passenger yelled out the window as the car sped away.
“Jaye, are you all right?” Isaac demanded, taking hold of my hands.
I forced my attention on him, making myself look into his eyes. “I’m okay,” I managed to say, though it was obvious I wasn’t. My entire body was shaking and my heart was pounding.
“Are you sure?” he persisted. I could feel his hands trembling. He was scared too.
Without thinking, I wrapped my arms around him and rested my neck against his. It seemed to be the only thing I could do, and Isaac didn’t seem to be against it. He put his arms around me and held onto me as if I were going to slip away. Still shaking, I attempted to take in a few deep breaths to combat the tears that threatened to fall. Waves of terror washed over me. I closed my eyes.
The two of us just sat there on the curb for a few minutes. Finally, when Ike had calmed down enough to speak, he whispered, “Do you want to go home now?” All I could do is nod in response.
Neither one of us moved. Even if we had tried, I don’t think either of us could have stood up. Instead, we just kept hold on each other, both of us still shaking. After a short eternity, Isaac cleared his throat. “Okay,” he murmured. “What’s say we take off these skates and head back, huh?”
“Okay,” I agreed, my voice in a whisper. Slowly, we let go of each other. I untied the lace of one rollerblade before saying, “Today has really not been my day.”
Isaac’s body seemed to tense. “Do you wish you weren’t here?” he asked.
“No,” I replied quickly. “I wish I weren’t such a klutz today is all.” I looked over at him and softly touched the side of his face. “I wouldn’t wish not being here for the world.”
He placed a hand over mine. “That’s good to know,” he said.
When we were both finished removing our rollerblades, Ike took both sets in one hand and my hand in the other. We stood up and started for the house.
“Jaye-Jae, what happened to you?” Evie demanded as I walked into the Hanson driveway.
Isaac let go of my hand and started into the house with the rollerblades before I replied, “I was nearly attacked by an oncoming automobile.”
“Oh, my god!” she cried, running over to me and wrapping her arms around my neck. “Are you all right?”
I smiled, placing my arms around her. “Yeah, I’m fine. Isaac crashed into me and sent me sprawling for the curb, but that’s better than being hit by a car, I guess.”
Evie took a step back from me. “You’re okay though, right?”
“I always am,” I assured her.
Lynnie walked over to me. “You’re not having a good day,” she told me obviously.
I grinned. “Ever the observant one,” I said sarcastically, ruffling her blond hair. I surveyed the back yard. Taylor was on the half-pipe, rolling back and forth. That seemed to be the only thing going on. I guess they got bored with stick-in-the-mud, I thought irrelevantly. “I’m going inside,” I announced. Lynn and Evie just nodded.
I walked in the house the same way Isaac had gone. No sooner had I closed the door behind me than I heard the voice of Diana. “I’m seriously considering confining you to the house,” she said.
I looked at her and smiled. “You might have to,” I agreed. “My parents won’t be too happy if I’m in the hospital when they come to take me back to Michigan.”
Just then, Isaac walked into the living room. “So, has she been banned from outside yet?” he asked, leaning up against the wall and sipping a glass of juice.
“Not yet,” I said. “But I think I’ll stay in for a while anyway.”
Diana cleared her throat. “Isaac, aren’t you going to offer our guest something?” she asked.
“Oh, yeah,” he said quickly. He turned to me. “Do you want anything -”
“Something to drink would be nice,” I said before he could finish. He nodded and the two of us walked into the kitchen.
Ike opened the refrigerator door. “You can have anything,” he said openly.
“Um.” I took inventory of the beverages. “A glass of milk,” I decided at length.
Isaac took the milk out of the refrigerator and brought it to the kitchen counter. He got a glass from the cupboard and started pouring the milk for me.
Watching him, it was all I could do to keep from laughing. An image of Isaac, Taylor, and Zac’s milk ad had found it’s way to my line of thought, and the word “MMMilk” kept going through my head. I giggled.
Isaac topped off the glass and set the milk carton on the counter. He picked up my glass and handed it to me before asking, “What’s so funny?”
I shook my head. “Don’t ask,” I told him, taking a sip of milk.
He gave me a strange look but nodded. Isaac put the carton back in the refrigerator. The two of us stood in silence as we finished off our drinks. Finally, he turned to me. “What do you wanna do now?”
I shrugged. “Something I can’t get hurt doing,” I offered.
He looked up, deep in thought. After a few seconds, he looked down again and grabbed my hand. Before I could ask what he was doing, Ike pulled me into his bedroom and closed the door behind him.
I laughed, stumbling on the still-out trundle bed and landing on the mattress. “What are we doing in here?” I asked, still laughing.
Ike grinned. “Legos.” He then dove onto the trundle bed and landed next to me.
“Legos?” I asked critically. “I can make, like, a box; that’s about the extent of my abilities,” I told him.
“I’ll teach you,” he announced.
“You’ll teach me?” I asked. Without waiting for a response, I poked his sides. He laughed, so I continued tickling him.
“Stop!” he insisted. When I didn’t, he began to tickle me.
We laid there on the trundle bed, tickling each other and laughing and squirming until Isaac squirmed a little too far back and fell off the bed. Momentarily, I took a rest. However, before I could even catch my breath, Isaac grabbed me by my arms and pulled me down off the bed after him.
I landed virtually on top of him. The two of us smiled at each other. Slowly, the smiles faded, and Isaac tilted my chin and brought his lips up to mine.
Slowly, together, we rolled onto our sides and then over so I was on my back. “Ouch!” I cried, quickly pulling away from Isaac and sitting up.
“What?” he asked quickly, scooting away from me as if afraid to hurt me.
I smiled and looked at the floor. My fingers closed around a yellow plastic block and I held it out to him. “Legos.”
He smiled back. “We really should start keeping this room clean,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
