An Alien Summer (Jake Pearson x O.C.) (Aliens in the Attic)

Chapter 5

Tom and Rayah walked side-by-side out the front door of the cabin just as a bright yellow convertible came roaring down the driveway. Rayah almost could have sworn she needed to wear sunglasses so that the color wouldn't blind her.

As soon as the brunette girl registered who was driving the car, her face that was still flushed from a moment ago dropped in annoyance.

"Please tell me i'm hallucinating, Tom," Rayah deadpanned as her eyes fell into slits. It was too bad that the surprise guest of the hour couldn't physically feel the daggers she was shooting at him.

"Unfortunately, no. You're not," Tom breathed out exasperatedly. He didn't think the vacation could get any worse, but he was proven wrong. Again.

"Then knock me out, then I would be hallucinating."

Tom turned quizzically to his friend. It wasn't uncommon for him to worry about her mental health, several times a day.

Instead of wasting his breath and answering her, Tom simply brought his hand up to flick her forehead.

"Ow!" Rayah cried out, mostly in injustice rather than pain. "What was that for, meatball head!?"

"For asking dumb questions, birdbrain."

Rayah was one second from retaliating, planning on wrestling Tom into the dirt, but the nuisance, also known as Bethany's boyfriend, had already parked his car next to them, and had jumped out of the driver's seat.

"Surprise, surprise, princess," Ricky taunted Tom once he reached the duo.

Tom scowled at the blonde. He didn't like him on several different levels. And he surely did not like him within 500 miles of his best friend.

Just as Ricky had opened his mouth, Rayah had immediately turned on her heel to get as far away from the twat waffle as possible. Unfortunately, Ricky had been faster and swung an arm around her shoulders, ending her escape.

"And look at here. We get to meet again, sweet cheeks."

"Oh, what joy," Rayah sarcastically spit out at the older guy.

The first time Rayah had ever met Ricky, she had been on the front porch of the Pearson household. Tom's parents had been out, so her and Tom had been spending the evening on their front porch catching up on a grueling history project.

Tom had went inside to fetch Rayah some cheetos after she had beat him during their rock, paper, scissors match to determine who had to go inside to get the snack. During Tom's absence, a yellow convertible had pulled to the curb and honked obnoxiously, gaining the brunette's attention.

A blonde guy, who looked old enough to be in college, had hopped over the door of the car and strutted into the front yard with a creepy grin.

"And who might you be, sweet cheeks?" he had flirtatiously asked.

Rayah just sat there staring at the boy in front of her, quickly assessing that she did not like even an atom in this random guy's body.

"Uno reverse, weirdo," she calmly responded to the blonde.

Ricky was caught off guard as his mind almost short circuited. It took him a moment to finally realize that she was asking for his name instead of giving out her own.

He did not have to answer the brunette, since a female voice rang out as she came running out the door in a flash.

"Ricky!" Bethany ecstatically explained as she jumped into his arms.

By this time Tom had walked back out onto the porch to stand beside Rayah. The pair watched as Ricky and Bethany giggled like little girls as they piled into his car.

Before pulling off, Ricky had looked back at Rayah giving a sultry wink before they drove quickly out of sight, leaving her scowling.

"What was that about?" Tom asked his friend, already assuming the answer.

"Bethany's boyfriend is a pig."

Back to the present, Rayah's skin crawled where Ricky had his arm draped around her. In one motion, she elbowed him in the ribs and slipped away, heading as quickly back to the cabin as possible.

Rayah was fuming as she entered back into the cabin, heading upstairs. Ricky made her uncomfortable, but even more so, ticked her off more than words could say. Bethany was way too good for someone like him. If their first encounter was anything to go by, Rayah knew it was only a matter of time for Ricky to cheat on her, if he hadn't already.

So far gone into her little bubble of anger, Rayah wasn't watching where she was going as she turned the corner and ran into a brick wall.

"Whoa, girl. What's got you in such a rush," the wall spoke as it reached out to steady her. The wall was not actually a wall, but was instead Jake.

He had been watching from upstairs as an uninvited vehicle had driven down the driveway. To make matters worse, the driver had stopped by his cousin and Rayah, and proceeded to put his hands all over the brunette girl.

Anger had started to bubble up in his chest, so he had decided to head down to assess who this stranger was, and why he thought it was justified to act that friendly with Rayah.

If Rayah's mind hadn't been so cluttered, she would have realized who exactly the brick wall was. But her voice moved quicker than her brain.

"Just trying to get as far away as possible from the human being I despise the most in the whole entire world. Maybe even the whole galaxy for all i'm concerned," she bit out.

"Well, that's a relief. I thought I had claimed that spot. Now I know I have a better chance than at least one person to get into your good graces."

Rayah quickly looked up into the eyes of Jake. Not only did she come to the realization of who she had actually bumped into, but she also sucked in a minuscule breath at how close they were standing.

Jake's hands were still on her forearms from where he had steadied her. As he looked down at the brunette, a soft smile graced his features without him even meaning to.

"My chances are looking up," he finished.

As if frozen, the two stood in the hallway just looking at one another, almost as if for the first time.

Jake noticed the small freckled that dotted across Rayah's high cheekbones, and how her chestnut hair was coming out of the half-updo it was currently in. As he stood there, he was having to hold himself back from reaching out and moving a stray piece away from where it was almost falling over her left eye.

On the other hand, Rayah was caught up in her own world as she compared the earlier event to what she was feeling now. Whereas when Ricky had his arm around her, Rayah felt disgusted and had the overwhelming need to squirm away. But right now, on the other hand, Rayah felt warm jolt of electricity shoot up her arms from where Jake's hands gently laid.

The two simultaneously broke from their trance as they heard Ricky's booming voice enter the house. Jake quickly took his hands from off of Rayah's arms while she took a small step back, bewildered by what had just transpired.

"So, uh, who's the new guy?" Jake asked Rayah as he sheepishly reached behind his head in slight embarrassment. He had just remembered how the guy had his arm swung around the girl just moments ago.

Rayah finally found her voice after a beat of silence to answer the boy. "Bethany's boyfriend, Ricky. But I think calling him Creepy Ken is a bit more fitting."

"I don't know about that, Buff Barbie Wannabe also sounds pretty good."

Rayah couldn't hold it in as she burst with laughter at the new nickname, which in turn had Jake turning into stitches as he joined her.

"Ok, just this once. I'll admit that was a good one," she managed to get out in between peels of laughter.

This was probably the first time Jake had ever been the reason for a genuine smile to grace Rayah's face, let alone her infectious laugh. He quickly decided that he quite liked it, and wouldn't mind for it to happen again.

Maybe Jake Pearson isn't that bad after all.