The Misadventures of Jake Foley

Jake's Misadventure #22: Skeleton's in the closet.

Trish sits in her car in silence. Her mind races to the scene at lunchtime. The imagery of Jake smiling at Beth creates an unnerving sensation in the pit of her stomach. Tears glisten across her vision but she quickly wipes them away. She turns the keys over and backs out of the school's parking lot and darts down the street. Arriving at Jake's residence, Trish quickly gets out of the car. Arriving at the front door, she knocks. After a minute or so of delay, the front door opens, revealing an unlikely figure. Tristan rests on the opposite side of the door. He couldn't help but smirk, his hands resting across his chest. 

"Well. . . Well. . . Well. Look who it is. Trish Krouser!" Trish rolls her eyes. 

"You were always one for the dramatics," Tristan smirks, leaning on the door frame. 

"What do I owe the pleasure?" Trish shrugs her shoulders. "I'm here to see Jake." Tristan chuckles a bit. 

You're here to see Jake? Why aren't you with him?" Trish sighs before firing back with her own question. 

"Jake decided to walk home for some weird reason. I'm here to meet him in his room." Tristan's eyes widen.

 "You think I don't know about you two?" Trish avoids eye contact, Tristan begs for eye contact. 

"I'm assuming you know now." Tristan laughs obnoxiously for a moment, creating an uneasy feeling. 

"I knew about you two as soon as Jake was coming home later & later." Trish shrugs her shoulders. 

"The world doesn't revolve around you, Matthews. Good to know things haven't changed." 

Tristan visibly becomes upset about the comment. 

"And it looks like things haven't changed with you either! Using Jake in your own personal chess game against me. But the truth is Trish? He can have you. But so help me god, if you hurt him me and you are going to have a problem." Trish unexpectedly smiles before dissipating the distance between the two. 

"You want so hard to have this whole thing be about you. But I hate to break it to you, but it's not and it never was." Tristan laughs once more. 

"That's a great joke you've made. Are you planning on becoming a comedian?" Trish rolls her eyes, her patience wearing thin. 

"Are you going to let me in or not?" Tristan shrugs his shoulders. After a moment of contemplation, he steps to the side, allowing entry into the Foley residence. 

"It's not my house to say no to you." Trish walks past Tristan, leaving a sweet and sensual aroma that caught Tristan's senses by hostage. 

"If this isn't your house then what are you doing here?" Tristan chuckles.

 "I do live here. . .  Now." Trish rolls her eyes. 

"Well isn't that perfect." Trish attempts to walk up the stairs, however, flashes of the encounter she witnessed at lunch plagues her thoughts. She turns to Tristan once more. 

"Do you know who Beth Sanders is?" Tristan stops in his tracks. After a careful moment of contemplation, Tristan replies. 

"No, No I have not. Who's that supposed to be?" Trish shrugs her shoulders, the question playing in her head all afternoon. 

"Some girl I saw Jake talk to at Lunchtime." 

"AWW How cute! Trish Krouser is jealous?" Trish shakes her head before walking up the stairs. She turns her head over her shoulder and yells downstairs to Tristan. 

"Try not to look at my ass as I walk away," Tristan replies with a bit of blush becoming visible on his face. 

Jake arrives home after a walk from school. He raises a curious eyebrow when he notices Trish's car resting in his driveway. Jake opens the door, revealing Tristan on the couch eating a bowl of cereal. 

"She's in your room." Jake ignores Tristan and quickly hurries upstairs. Opening his room door, his heart sinks to the floor. Trish is seen sitting atop his bed with her legs crossed. One ankle dangling, dangerously about to connect with the box of memories underneath his bed. Anxiety riddles his body and before he knew it, his mouth opens. 

"What are you doing here?" Trish smiles, rising from the bed to approach Jake. 

"I'm here to surprise you!" She smiles, walking towards him in a warm embrace. Jake doesn't reciprocate. 

"I'm going to need you to leave." Trish's calm demeanor collapses into a state of confusion. 

"What's wrong?" Jake shakes his head, dropping his bag near the door. 

"Nothing is wrong. You just didn't tell me you were coming. And now you're in my room without permission from me." 

Trish, confused and baffled continues to question Jake. 

"You've been acting so weird lately Jake. Ever since you've punched Devin-" Jake opens his bedroom door calmly. 

"Who's Beth?" Jake's entire body reacts to the name. 

"I'm going to need you to leave." Trish scoffs, anger fueling her. Trish grabs her thing's and quickly walks out of the room and stomps downstairs before slamming the front door. Trish slams her car door in anger. Sitting in the driver seat, she holds her head in her hands, wiping away any frustration from her eyes. She backs out of the driveway and strides down the road. 

From his room, Jake closes the curtains as he sees her car driving away. Jake takes a deep breath, the anxiety taking over him once again. He gets on his knees and searches the underbelly of the bed. He grabs Beth's memory box and opens it, scanning the contents from within. 

"Everything's here." Jake breathes a sigh of relief, clutching the top of the box to his chest. Jake notices pain in his chest, a pain that reminds him of the continuous lies he's told to Trish. Stuck in a rock and a hard place, Jake chooses to go back to the past. He opens the box and smiles, searching through the memories.