Far From Home - Chapter 15: Chapter 15

The Last Week of October
The week after midterms was a well-awaited relief for everyone. As the grades from exams came rolling in, so did the rejuvenation of spirits that had been drained from an exhausting work load so far. All four members of the House of Dobovic were getting more and more excited as the week went on, focused on the upcoming holiday instead of what a hell last week had been. Jake did his best to track the conversation, but between Camilla exchanging incomprehensible looks with Kris, and Rose trying her best to include everyone—overshooting with most attempts to bring in Jake—he was utterly lost.
"I think I'm going as a nurse to Kappa, and a cheerleader to ours." Rose smiled as she spoke across the table to Kris about their Halloween party plans.
Jake was seated up against the window per usual, across from Camilla like he was the first day he had met her. The seating arrangement didn't typically change much, but today Kris had taken Nat's seat and Nat was nowhere to be found. He wasn't uncomfortable being alone with the remaining three girls, in fact he found them all to be quite entertaining when Nat wasn't there to control damage.
"We're going as prom king and queen." Kris clicked her tongue.
"He agreed to that?" Rose raised her eyebrow in speculation.
Jake didn't know exactly who he was, but he knew better than to ask unless he wanted a story about who Kris had banged at a party last week and how he should have seen x, y and z.
"Didn't take much convincing. It's his birthday, he'd love to wear a crown."
"Where the fuck are you getting the crowns?" Camilla chimed in. "I want one."
"Friends of a friend were actual high school royalty." Kris said as if it were some impressive feat. "We're stealing theirs."
"I didn't know you got to keep those." Jake found himself curious.
"They did at our school." She shrugged. "Don't know about you guys."
Rose sighed. "I don't remember much of high school."
"Me neither." Camilla mumbled. "But I went to Catholic school, so it's probably for the best."
"That explains why you're so bitter." Kris faked a smile to her housemate across the table.
Camilla gave her a friendly middle finger and then picked up her phone to sink away in some other conversation that had nothing to do with the three people in front of her. Jake leaned back into his seat and stared out at the empty plate in front of him, pondering how long it would take for anyone to notice if he didn't say anything at all. Camilla always seemed to come and go in conversation as she pleased, Jake couldn't help but wonder if the same rule of conversation applied to him yet. He didn't get a chance to test it before Rose was pulling him back in.
"You're coming to the house party, right?"
He turned his attention back towards her. "Uh, when?"
"Halloween night!"
"It's actually kinda awesome. Last year the whole football team showed up and we didn't even invite them." Kris chimed in.
"I don't know. I'm not into costumes..."
"You don't have to dress up." She smacked his shoulder with the back of her hand. "But you'll have a better time making out with people when your identity is a mystery."
"Not looking to make out with a stranger again. I learned my lesson with that at the last party I went to."
Camilla's eyes darted up to him in surprise. "Ope–"
"I feel like there's a story there, but I know you're not going to tell it." Kris motioned out her fork to him as a prompt.
"You'd be correct." He nodded back.
Nat's arrival saved him from any further embarrassment about recalling that night. She grabbed a chair from the table behind them and swiveled it around to the end of the table, where she plopped down between her sister and Rose. They were quick to clear their things to the side.
"What'cha talking about?" She joined as if she hadn't been gone the entire time.
"The party." Her twin was the first to answer her.
"I still want to know why Jake learned a lesson making out with a stranger..." Camilla lowered her gaze to him.
"Yikes, man." Nat sighed, taking out a water bottle this time instead of tea. "Happens to the best of us."
"Yep." Jake glued his lips together in a desperate attempt not to talk about it.
"You should come to the party, though. Free booze."
"I think I've also learned a lesson with that."
"Maybe you should stop seeing everything as a lesson and more like... an experience." Camilla suggested.
"Or maybe he made a mistake and actually learned from it." Rose turned to her. "You could afford to do that every once in a while."
"Shove it up your ass, Rose."
"Suck a dick, Camilla."
"She doesn't need persuasion to do that." Kris grumbled under her breath and Jake bit down on his lips to stop himself from laughing.
"You guys are so vulgar, what the fuck." Nat shook her head in disbelief that the conversation had escalated so quickly in the two minutes she had been seated with them.
Jake had learned early on that the girls didn't censor anything around him. He fit into any and every conversation—whether it was whose ass looked better in the jeans they raided from Nat's closet, which professors had a harder grading scale, or what sex position was the best to alleviate period cramps. That last one scarred him a bit, but he tried not to let it show on his face, because although sometimes it was brutal, he appreciated their honesty. They were living proof that friendships between genders could be strictly platonic because not a single one of them so far knew he was gay, and yet not one of them had hit on him either. It was relieving if he was being honest with himself. Even with their obscenity and complexity, Jake found himself engaged with the inner workings of their lives like they were his own. They trusted him like a brother, and Jake loved the familiarity of it.
"I'm gonna send you the address anyways, okay?" Nat looked over to him.
"Hm?" He stared at her for a few seconds before it clicked. "Oh. Oh, yeah. Okay."
"If you're worried about literally anything, let me know." She started typing out on her phone. "You can stay over if you get drunk, or Kris can drive you home, or literally whatever, okay? No pressure at all."
"I have a futon in my room, you're welcome to have it." Rose smiled.
He smiled back. "Thank you. I don't anticipate getting wasted though."
Camilla sighed. "Shame."
Kris sent her a wrinkled glare that Jake read as 'what the fuck?'.
"What?" She glanced up to her in retaliation. "I bet he's really funny. Nobody is that quiet without having some filthy wild side."
Jake didn't mean to smile, but he broke out in a toothy grin. She might be right, but she'll never get to see it.
"You're fucking smiling. I knew it! I knew you couldn't be that boring."
"Damn, you're meaner than Kris today." Nat mumbled behind her phone.
"No, I'm honest." Camilla pointed over to her. "And totally fucking right."
Jake allowed her to revel in the piece of his personality she thought she pulled out of him. Seeing her smile was worth it, even if it came at the cost of his life as entertainment. He owed her that much when he had been listening to her rant and rave about her own endeavors for the past two months.
"What is it? Do you sing bad karaoke? Are you known for stripping when the tequila hits?" She leaned over the table. "Why did you learn a lesson the last time you were drunk? Was it about who you made out with?"
His smile had faded a bit, but he was still looking her directly in the eye. She interrogated him without mercy, and none of the other girls stepped in to stop her. However intrusive it was, he almost didn't mind it. He wanted them to ask him questions because he knew it was the only way he was going to give up information voluntarily. Camilla tried to read him like a book, but she wasn't Connor, and she wasn't nearly as good at it as she thought.
"Nope, I figured it out. It's BDSM isn't it? You like tying bitches up, right?"
"Camilla!" and "Oh my God!" came from two of the girls beside him, but he couldn't tell whose voice was whose.
Jake's cheeks flushed red before he could stop to think about it. His neck was burning, but he didn't even know why—it wasn't like he had experience in the field and even then, it didn't even sound like something he wanted to try. Something about the thought of taking away someone's control in a situation like that made him feel grossly uncomfortable. It didn't come from a place of judgment, it came from a place of familiarity. He would never put someone in a position of powerlessness, even if they asked for it. He could never risk feeling that much closer to becoming his father.
"It's always the quiet ones you gotta look out for." She sat back in her seat, satisfied. "Kinky motherfuckers."
"Um... no. I don't like tying people up. Thanks, Camilla." Jake finally managed to mumble out with a voice that sounded too weak to be his own.
"Not convinced."
"Didn't ask." He shot back, which earned him another grin from her for standing up to her.
God, you and Kris are a match made in heaven.
Or hell.
"Leave him alone." Rose whispered and it sounded too serious to be just more playful banter.
Camilla's eyes shot over to her, ready to put up another fight for the sake of her own entertainment. Jake half-expected her to make some comment about how Rose was the same way, one of the 'quiet ones,' but her lips fell into a flat frown as she glared at her housemate's face. Something had struck and Camilla was rendered a completely different person. Jake tried watching Rose's expression—studying her warm eyes and the gaze they held on the girl beside her—for the answer, but he couldn't find it. Whatever they had was a mutual understanding that Jake was too foolish to understand.
Camilla turned back to him with her eyes low. "Sorry, Jake."
Jake didn't have time to issue forgiveness before Nat was trying to derail the conversation as far away as possible.
"Did you see the midterm grades?" She pointed to him, which took his attention by surprise.
"Uh... yeah." He cleared his throat. "Got an eighty-six."
"Fucking nice. Eighty-three."
"We passed." Jake grinned.
"We sure did."
"Lame, I got a ninety-four." Kris interrupted.
"You have a different professor." Her sister shot back unenthused.
"You're just mad you don't have a flawless memory like I do."
"Uh-huh, okay. You go ahead and feed that ego a little more, Kristiana."
She tilted her head over with a smile. "Never as big as yours, captain."
The term 'captain' was used as an insult most days instead of a compliment. Jake picked up pretty quickly on the situational nicknames—which almost always included using anyone's full-name, along with whatever status they were most proud of. For Nat that was 'captain.' For Kris it was 'heartless bitch' from everyone else, and 'diablo' from Camilla. For Rose it was 'virgin.' For Camilla it was 'sorority slut.' Even in their vulgarity, they took each name with pride. Jake hadn't pissed anyone off to the point of earning his own nickname, but it didn't help him from questioning how they would name him if the occasion ever arose. He guessed now it would rest on some 'quiet ones' joke or maybe even 'kinky motherfucker,' but that was only if Camilla was left in charge of determining his fate. What the rest of them would name him, he didn't know. Kris might settle for something like 'wallflower,' whereas her sister might choose something like 'introvert.' Rose would throw him for a loop because she never had anything unkind to say to him to begin with. Whatever he earned, he hoped at least maybe some part of his insult would be a little bit true.
"Whatever," Nat grumbled under her breath. "What are you going as for Halloween?"
"I'm going to be a cheerleader." Rose piped in with her typical bubbly demeanor.
"Great, now you just need to find a football player."
"I was a football player." Jake found himself offering for no apparent reason.
"Really?" Kris turned to him, critical as always.
"Yep. Six years."
"Damn, you're kinda hot now." Camilla shrugged, but Jake knew it was a joke from the unimpressed eyebrow raise she gave him to accompany it.
He shot her a dissatisfied grimace that made Kris laugh, and then returned back to the conversation.
"You were hot to begin with Jake, don't worry." Nat offered to make him feel better, but she carried the same amused smile as her sister.
He rolled his eyes. "Thanks Nat, really means a lot to me."
"Do you still have a jersey?" Rose's cheeks met the rim of her glasses. "I'd love it if you dressed up with me."
"Um, yeah I think so."
He didn't remember if he had brought it with him, but he knew for sure he had his senior year jersey—that was the only one they actually let them keep instead of repurposing them for the incoming freshman's practice jerseys. It was always a little weird to have one of the younger boys running around with his name on his back, but as the years went on, he learned to care a little bit less about it. Hunter always had such immense pride in whatever unfortunate soul picked his up on the first day of summer practice. He would follow them around like a mentor, offering play advice and extra snacks. It always made every other freshman jealous, without question. Jake hoped maybe one of the boys who had picked up his jersey had now taken his place. Maybe there was another golden trio out there taking the field just like the three of them had their sophomore year. It brought a fond smile to Jake's face along with the hope that— whoever the three of them were—they were having a good time.
"Would you?"
"I mean..." He sighed. "I could."
Camilla shot him a look to persuade him. She tilted her head over with the fakest smile imaginable, but her eyes shot daggers into his. Jake furrowed his brow at her, keeping his eye on her as his face turned back to talk to Rose.
"Sure, why not?"
Rose clapped her hands together once in front of her face in excitement. "Thank you. I have been looking everywhere for someone to match me."
Camilla leaned back into her chair, feigning her disinterest now that Jake had agreed. He sensed a weird dynamic between the two of them that no one else seemed to notice. They were at each other's throats all the time, but Jake couldn't help but feel a bit of a protective vibe from Camilla. Camilla was a bitch, she claimed it through and through like a part of her personality that gave her the most satisfaction, but Rose wasn't afraid to keep her in check. Jake assumed their banter gave their relationship a foundation—the simple understanding that 'no one else in this room is allowed to hate you, but me.' And they did. They hated each other so deeply. Jake saw it in every twisted smile that Camilla put on to mock her, and every scowl on Rose's lips from insensitive words muttered from her mouth. But love and hate were two sometimes indistinguishable feelings, and Jake had gathered that the line that separated them was more blurred than either of them cared to admit in public.
They had a weird way of showing it, but they definitely had the closest relationship out of anyone at this table, and that included the literal pair of twins at the end. He knew it wasn't anything more than friendship because Rose seemed disinterested in relationships in general and Camilla preferred hook-ups over romantic attachment, but that didn't mean he couldn't see the compatibility between the two of them even in a strictly platonic way. For some backwards reason, it reminded him a lot of him and Hunter. If Hunter hadn't been such an intolerable dick, they could have been close like this. A part of him wondered if Hunter ever thought about it too—what jealousy had destroyed between them, and what it would take to rebuild. Maybe one day he would give him a shot at forgiveness, but it wouldn't be anytime soon. He still owed himself that much self-respect to hang on to his grudge for a little while longer.
Maybe next summer.
I need to figure out me before I figure out him.
Kris elbowed his arm, directing his attention back up to the girls at the table. She knew he had zoned out, but Jake didn't know how. He cleared his throat and straightened himself up in his seat.
"So... what time is the party?"