HEY JACOB, IT'S JAKE (Jacob)

[JAKE CHRISTIAN CAMERON]

It was evening, and Jake had no idea what to do. Tori was busy with school work, and he didn't want to disturb her. Speaking of Tori.. he was going crazy. He wanted to see her. He wanted to be with her. He wanted every day to be like the time at the cliffs. But.. Why did he have to go to the cliffs every day? Why couldn't they talk in public without their elements giving them hell about it? It sucked. It really, trully sucked. Would the elementals ever get along? Or would it be a constant war, from one generation, to the next, until the end of time? It was unfair for those who just wanted peace (mostly the earth elementals), and for those who were friends with people from other elements. But life was like that. It was unfair. He had to tell someone about this unfairness, or he'd go crazy thinking about it. And he had the perfect person in mind to tell it to.

He had met Jacob when he was still new at the academy. Jacob had already been a senior then, so Jake was surprised when he was pulled under the older male's wing. They got along well, and whenever Jake had problems, he would tell them to Jacob. In a sense, he was like the older brother he never had. It was common knowledge that he had a sister in fire, and if anyone could understand Jake's situation, it was him.

With that idea in mind, he set off for Jacob's house. The weather was colder than usual, so he grabbed a leather jacket and wore it over his brown t-shirt, with the name of the brand printed in front in big bold letters. He stuck his feet into a pair of white rubber shoes before heading off.

He knew where Jacob lived, as he had been there before a few times. The neighborhood looked pretty.. normal. He couldn't help but compare it to Josh's neighborhood, which he would much rather avoid during night time. When he finally reached the door of what he knew to be Jacob's house, he knocked a few times on the door, loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to be considered rude. He considered hiding and jumping out to scare him, but with Josh, that had ended up with him almost getting shot, so instead, he just waited for Jacob to answer the door.

[/justify][/size]

[marci3]

Tasha


”Ty, why isn't Jos here?”

Jacob sighed, putting down his book and looking over to Tasha. The incorrigible little girl was in her pajamas, straddling a kitchen seat the way no self respecting young lady should. She looked at him through big, chocolate brown eyes, her expression barring him from any ill-mannered comment, despite the fact that he'd been trying to get her into bed for the past thirty minutes. He knew how disappointed she was; Em came to stay over once a week, and other than that Tasha was basically alone or with Jacob. Maybe he'd get her a puppy.

”I told you, she's got too much homework to come over. Girl procrastinated again and she's got a test this week.” He pulled himself up from his position—laying across the couch—to sit up straight and look right at his little sister. Exhaustion hung clear on him as he leaned forward and folded his hands together. ”She'll be over next week. Now go to sleep.”

Tasha's eyes narrowed, a pout overcoming her expression, ”You told me you'd never lie to me. You guys fought again, didn't you?”

Jacob sighed again, his head rolling forward as he groped about for some sort of answer that would keep this argument from happening again. As much as they needed each other, this family had a bad habit of using the death of their parents against each other in an angry moment. He'd been down this road many times with Tasha, trying to be the mediator and ending up with her comparing him badly with their parents. She'd always feel horrible about it later, but she had her sister's streak of temper. He was just opening his mouth to answer her when a knock came at the door. Thank god.”

He started standing up, but Tasha was up and running before he could even stand. ”Tash, no! Not in your....” He got around the corner to see her opening the door eagerly. First she looked dejected that it wasn't Emilia, then she thought better of it and gave Jake a bright, shy smile. A hand rose to Jacob's face as he relived the last ten times Jake had come to visit them, Tasha making it deeply apparent that she had a crush on the much older guy. Jacob wasn't worried about it, though—Jake was a good guy. He just wished Em had chosen such a guy for herself to go bibbledy over.

Jacob walked up behind Tasha, who was looking at the ground and shifting her weight nervously. From the safety of being outside her line of sight, he smiled fondly at her, putting a hand on her shoulder. She leaned back into him a little, and he looked up at Jake. ”Hey. Come on in, Jake. I was just getting Tasha to bed.”

”Hi.” She said quietly, not making eye contact.

[/center][/size]

[JAKE CHRISTIAN CAMERON]

Jake waited, expecting to see Jacob opening the door. The door did in fact open, but there was no Jacob. This momentarily confused Jake, until he looked down a little and saw a little girl.

"Oh hey there Tasha. What are you doing still awake? You know, you won't grow up big and tall if you don't get enough sleep." he grinned at her, leaning down to ruffle her hair a little. He absolutely adored Tasha. Sometimes, she even made him wish that he had his own little sister. Though, being the naive person that he was, he had no idea about her crush on him. Reaching into his pocket, he brought out two pieces of chocolate, wrapped in black and white with the brand of the chocolate printed on the front. He had picked them up at a store on the way there. "Oh, and I brought you a little something. he said, handing her the sweets. "Don't eat them right now, though, or you'll have trouble falling asleep." he gave her a quick wink.

Turning back to her older brother, he sighed, giving him a sad smile. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything. It's just.. I got a few things on my mind, and I.. I dunno, I just need someone to talk to." for a moment, his smile faltered, but it quickly returned, as sad as ever.

[/size][/justify]

[marci3]

Jacob had to hold back laughter as Tasha peeked up incredulously up at Jake. The little eleven-year-old narrowed her eyes, ”I'm a girl, I'm not supposed to grow up big and tall. Boys get power naps, girls get beauty sleep.” She kept looking at Jake scrupulously, as if he had said something wrong and she was deciding how dire a punishment he deserved. But then he leaned forward and her expression turned delighted. She held her hands out to let him drop the chocolates, and then folded her hands over them and pulled them back toward herself. Since she then turned shy again, Jacob took this chance. He put a hand on her shoulder again, turned her a little.

”Bedtime, Tash. Thirty minutes is plenty to stay up late.” She pouted at him, opening her mouth to spew the usual argument. What if Jos did come? All her friends at school had later bedtimes than eight-thirty! Come on, just this once? She'd been god all day. But Jacob held a hand up, throwing Jake a smile as he said, ”Unless you want Jake to tuck you in, I suggest you go now.” A blush instantly overcame Tasha's features. She threw Jake one glance and then fled to her room. Jacob then let out the chuckle he'd been holding back since Jake had arrived.

”Wow.” He said, looking to the last place he'd seen Tasha before she'd turned and been lost from view. After a second of ogling, he turned to face Jake again and grinned, ”You should come over here more often; I've never gotten her to bed so quickly.” Well, sometimes he did, but normally it had nothing to do with him. If she'd had a rough day at school, she would hole herself up in her room and not even come out for dinner. Sometimes Jacob wondered if this was how his parents had felt, trying to get him and Em to do what they wanted at bedtime. If so, he was very, very sorry.

Jacob caught the sad smile, immediately frowning a little in concern. He stepped aside to let Jake into the house, putting a hand on his shoulder in greeting as he came in, ”You're not interrupting anything, Jake. Like I said, just getting Tash in bed.” Then he closed the door behind Jake and led him into the living room, which was furnished by a rocking chair, a smaller cushioned chair and a sofa. And one of the kitchen chairs. Jacob sighed as he took the time to pull the kitchen chair back under the kitchen table in an adjoining room.

Motioning for Jake to take a seat anywhere he wanted, Jacob sat on the couch, reclining just a little as he allowed himself to relax. It seemed unlikely that Tasha would want to come down again—once her shyness got her to run off from Jake, she normally didn't came back down. Rubbing his brow, he said, ”So what's up? Anything I can help with, or do you just need a sounding board?”

[/center][/size]

[JAKE CHRISTIAN CAMERON]

Jake chuckled, "My mistake then, what I meant was, you'll turn ugly if you don't get enough rest." shows how much experience he had with kids. But hey, practice makes perfect. It was a bit puzzling, the way she kept turning shy when he was around, but it was also pretty cute. Note to self: get a daughter someday. Which of course got him thinking about Tori again. Maybe he'd give her some chocolates too. But he'd also give them in wrappers, so that she wouldn't suspect anything. God, he was such a hopeless romantic. When did he start to become like this? He couldn't remember. He really couldn't. He needed help. Which was exactly why he had come in the first place. But could he trust Jacob with the entire truth? He thought for a moment, before deciding that he'd only tell the partial truth for now. If ever word got out.. he would be screwed. It wasn't that he didn't trust the elder male, he just.. wasn't ready to share his feelings with anyone yet.

At the sound of his voice, he pushed aside his thoughts and focused on the present. "She's a good kid. Seems a bit shy though." he said, grinning back.

Jake let himself be led inside the house. Gratefully, he sat down on the smaller cushioned chair. He considered the couch, but he had a feeling that if he sat there, he might end up lying down on the whole thing and talking to Jacob as if he were his psychiatrist. No, the chair was good enough for him.

He turned serious though, when Jacob spoke.

"I think you could help.. You have a sister in fire, right?" he asked, even though he already knew, just to make sure. He would be able to sympathize. Hopefully. "See, I have this friend from thunder. And, well, yeah, she's from thunder. We're really close, and it's just.. kind of sad that we can't talk or be seen together in public, because of the stupid alliances." he sighed.

[/size][/justify]

[marci3]

Jacob couldn't help but laugh a little when Jake mentioned that Tasha was shy. It was a real wonder that Jake didn't understand exactly how the little girl saw him, her junvenile crush making her far more shy toward him than she would be to just about anyone else. Indeed, she didn't get wary of anyone of the opposite sex, losing some of her ability to ask incessant questions and trust everything they said. Which, in all honesty, was completely to Jacob's liking. He didn't want to think about having two little sisters in his care who were as boy crazy as Emilia. Em was a real piece of work in that respect. He got chills every time he saw her riding away in some new boy's car.

When he got his seat on the couch, Jacob let out a long sigh and rubbed his face tiredly. He waited for a second, then let himself speak his thoughts. ”Jake, you are a savior sometimes. Tash and I were just readying for another fight when you arrived. Lord, I'm gonna get grey hairs ten years early at this rate.” A grin accompanied this, showing that he meant it more in jest than anything. Though this was hard for him, he didn't see it as a chore. It was a duty, sure, but he'd prefer to do this than just about anything else in the world.

Jacob gained an intrigued look when Jake mentioned his sister. He nodded, not sure where this was going. But realization dawned on him in the form of a sort of grimace and slowly closed eyes. He'd leaned forward when Jake had first started speaking, but he leaned back now, nodding slowly as he digested the information. Not too much emotion showed on his face for several moments. The water leader had a friendship with a thunder student. Obviously it was more than 'friendly acquaintances', or Jake wouldn't have needed advice about it. It was obviously something that triggered a bit of loyalty.

”This girl....” He said carefully, ”Wouldn't be a romantic friend, would she?” It would be a little bothersome if she was, but Jacob decided to hold back any advice he could give until he had a better grasp of the situation. He knew what it was like to love a person from the other faction of elements, though not romantically. His duty was to Emilia and Tasha first, the rest of the world second. This he'd figured out long ago, and it had cause him as much trouble as it had assurance. He met Jake's eyes with a serious look. ”And don't worry about me telling tales to anyone else. That's not me.”

[/center][/size]