Anyone But Him // Jake Seresin

Chapter Three

Jake Seresin
September

After Margot left, Jake headed home. He wasn't surprised to find his best friend in his apartment. Coyote had a key, and sometimes came over to play Jake's gaming system. He usually gave a heads up, and Jake never minded. They had that kind of relationship. The two had seen combat together, and both were stationed at North Island currently. Coyote had other duties, while Jake was moving into becoming a Top Gun instructor. He wanted to do that for few years before moving on. He'd always had some interest in teaching, plus he knew he was a born leader.

Jake slumped onto the couch after fixing another drink, staring at the tv screen as Coyote played.

"See that hot girl again?" Coyote asked, "The pictures you showed me, you need to wife her the fuck up. She was way out of your league."

Coyote was right, Margot was hot. She was confident, sexy, but even more so, Jake hadn't had that much fun with a girl in years. The sex was fucking great, but he had found their conversation stimulating. He never talked like that with women, it was usually just sex. They had stayed up into the night talking, and that was a first for Jake.

"I'm not going to see her again. She's got a lot of baggage she needs to sort and I'd add to it." Jake answered. Her situation was complicated, and he didn't want to come between her and her family. Of fucking course she was Rooster's sister. He knew he'd never touch Margot again with a ten foot pole if Rooster had anything to do with it.

Coyote paused the game and turned around. "Are you fucking insane?" He asked, "Did you see that body? And more importantly, you wouldn't shut the fuck up about her on our run this morning. Which you never do."

Jake had gone on about her and how great she was. After the initial frustration, and confusion, over why she snuck out. He didn't get it, he thought they had a good time. But then he remembered, both of them had just been out for sex. He hadn't expected to be interested in her past a hook up. He hadn't experienced that in a while. While he didn't disagree, he felt a little frustrated by Coyote only talking about her body, which was usually something he'd agree with. But it felt different here. "She's Bradshaw's sister." Jake told Coyote. Unfortunately right as his friend took a drink and he choked on it.

"What?" Coyote asked, "What the hell did you get tangled up in, Seresin?"

Jake explained everything that had happened, the Top Gun run in, her family, and their conversation earlier. The more he shared, the more shocked Coyote looked.

"Damn. You picked the wrong girl to fall for." Coyote said, and Jake shot him a look. "Don't deny it. You liked her. You never talk about women you've slept with the way you did her. You also don't really care to have actual conversations." He told him. "Just my two cents, she's an adult. If her family doesn't like you, they need to grow the fuck up."

"You're also forgetting the portion where we both just wanted to have sex." Jake reminded him. "I'm not pursuing it. For once in my life, I'm not going to be selfish." Which was fucking hard, Jake hadn't stopped thinking about her all day.

"You know all that soulmate and fate bullshit you believe in?" Coyote asked, "And how you were going to call up Veronica again, and saw Margot's notification on your dating profile? You didn't go out with her for her looks, you told me you thought it was funny her page said 'I want to be the reason you look down at your phone, smile, then walk into a pole.'" He told Jake. "That doesn't sound like you entirely went for it for sex."

Jake hated when Coyote was right. It happened on occasion. He usually seemed air headed, and most of the time he was, but he knew Jake better than anyone. "It doesn't fucking matter. I'll go to work, do my shit and come home. And she'll be on her way in thirteen weeks. I'll stay away from her."

"And how was the sex?" Coyote questioned.

"Really fucking great." Jake answered and Coyote seemed to be smirking.

"Because of that emotional connection." Coyote pointed out, turning back to his game. "Could be your future wife and you're missing out."

"You're my friend, not my fucking therapist." Jake responded, getting up. He couldn't let this get to him. He never let anything drag him down. There were plenty of other women, and it wasn't like he had a hard time with it. Except anything further than sex. He knew he was arrogant and his personality was a lot sometimes. Margot hadn't seemed to bat an eye at in, in fact, she could dish it right back.

Jake checked his phone after he showered, scrolling the app he had met Margot on. He noticed she had deleted her profile sometime today. They hadn't exchanged numbers, so he didn't have a way to contact her besides it. That told him enough, he needed to forget and try to move on. It was going to be hard seeing her every day, and Jake sometimes dwelled on the what-if's of life.

Like what if he had asked his dad to stay home that night in high school. His parents had been splitting and had a huge fight over where Jake was gong to live, even if he had been sixteen. His dad left before things got heated, and was hit by a drunk driver. Jake had almost asked his dad to stay and play basketball or something to blow some steam off. He still felt responsible, he'd had a gut feeling to beg him to stay and didn't.

Jake had a similar gut feeling when he met Margot, even just in the few hours he knew something was different about her than anyone else he'd been with. Coyote laughed about him believing in fate, but he did after what happened to his dad. He never told his mom about it, she felt guilty in her own ways. Jake had never wanted to add to her burden. So he just put on a mask, and acted fine. That felt like the easier thing sometimes than letting people see the real you.