Arrest His Heart

Movie Time

Jake felt butterflies in his stomach when he left work on Wednesday afternoon. In a few hours, he would be with Maddie for their date to the movies. He was nervous all week and considered backing out. Once he told Nate that though, Nate scolded him and told him to man up. Jake sighed. He knew his little brother was right. After all, Jake really liked Maddie and could not stop thinking about her. He had to push through his insecurities and fears that Laura instilled in him when she broke his heart three years ago.

Yesterday, Jake had texted Maddie that he would pick her up at 7pm tonight. He went back and forth a million times about what movie to take her to and finally settled on an action movie that was supposed to be funny as well. Jake wanted to keep things as light-hearted as possible to hopefully calm his nerves. Jake drove back to the apartment and trotted up the steps to get ready for that night. Nate was in the kitchen making his famous lasagna with garlic bread, while Ryan was working on homework at the kitchen table.

Jake's mouth watered at the delicious smell filling up the apartment. When they first moved out, Jake worked all kinds of hours and was not always home for dinner. Nate stepped up and cooked dinner every night. He actually enjoyed it and made a hobby out of making scrumptious meals for them to enjoy. The best part was he still continued to make dinner almost every night, even though Jake worked the daytime shift now.

"Smells good," Jake complimented.

Nate sent a quick smile to Jake before frowning when his phone chirped. Nate checked his phone, his brow furrowing. He sighed and shook his head before clicking the phone off.

"What's wrong?" Jake inquired, a worried expression on his face.

"Rachel must have gotten another phone," Ryan butted in. "Nate's been getting texts from her but from a different number."

Nate looked at Ryan and shook his head.

"What did we say about running your mouth and butting into other people's business, Ryan," Nate chastised.

"Sorry," Ryan said sheepishly, looking back down at his homework.

Jake walked to the refrigerator to get water before turning to Nate.

"How long has this been going on Nate?"

"Just today, a little while ago," Nate said with exasperation. "I'm going to block this number too, ok? I just want to finish dinner up, and then I'll deal with it. Anyway, I made dinner early so you can eat before you pick Maddie up. You said 7pm, right?"

"Yeah, thanks," Jake responded. He knew Nate changed the subject on purpose but decided to drop the Rachel situation for now. It was worrisome that the girl would not accept that Nate did not want to talk to her anymore. Jake hoped the situation would resolve itself without getting any worse.

"I'm gonna jump in the shower real quick."

"Ok, it should be ready when you get out," Nate added.

"Good. I'm starving," Ryan exclaimed.

Jake rolled his eyes at Ryan's enthusiasm over dinner and made his way to the bathroom. After a quick shower, he scarfed down some lasagna. Jake decided to skip the garlic bread. Although he wanted to take things slow with Maddie and did not plan on trying to sleep with her tonight, he did plan on rekindling their kiss that got interrupted by her friends on Friday night. Garlic breath would probably not win him any points with Maddie.

A little while later, Jake was grabbing his keys and ready to head out the door. Nate and Ryan assured him that they were both staying home this evening, with Parker joining them after work and probably staying the night again. Nate, of course, encouraged Jake to stay out late and "live his best life". Ugh, Jake thought, his brothers were always nagging him about something. One would think that Jake was the younger brother with the way those two coddled him all the time!