—DAMIEN—

Jake jolted from where he’d been snoring in the passenger seat. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as he looked out the window, hunching into himself. He’d never say, but if I had to guess, he’d been having another nightmare. Most days I just wanted to wrap him up in a blanket burrito. Hopefully he would talk when he was ready, but I certainly wasn’t going to push him before that. 

It was several more miles before Jake finally spoke, still staring out the passenger window. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Sorry.” 

“No big deal.” Except that I was really worried about him.  He would talk about it if he wanted to. Unless it was one of those “complicated” things. I shook my head a little to dispel the thought. I could seriously fixate on the worst stuff some days. 

“I’m gonna need to stop for gas in about 30 miles. You good until then?”

Jake finally turned to look at me and I glanced over quickly, trying to get a read on his expression. Which was entirely too neutral for him. Something was definitely wrong. 

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” 

A little sigh escaped me without my permission. Anytime he said he was “fine,” it usually meant the opposite. 

“Thanks for driving.” His voice broke into my thoughts once more. 

“Of course. I like driving.” I tried to keep my tone light. The look on his face when he realized my car was a manual this morning was a bit heartbreaking. Jake was so capable that it was easy to forget that some things were a struggle for him with one arm. And I was always walking myself into these conversations without thinking about it first. 

I really needed to get out of my head. Today wasn’t the day for a funky mood. Searching around for a distraction, I settled on the first thing that crossed my mind. “You said your brother is going to be there, right?” 

Jake nodded wordlessly.

“He’s going to be upset you’re coming home?” I’d been mulling the question over for a few days but Jake hadn’t hinted at having a bad relationship with any of his family before. At least, not that I could recall. Then again, they hadn’t come up that often. 

“He won’t be upset about us being there.” Jake snorted. “He’s just upset about life. Because he’s an angsty 17 year old and the baby of the family.”

I couldn’t hide my smile at his take on sibling dynamics. Lillian and Adriana were 16 and 14, respectively. Much as I missed them, the hormones and drama were overwhelming to experience first hand. 

”His name is Josh?” 

Jake finally gave a genuine grin. ”Yes, his name is Josh.”

“And your older sister is Liz?” 

“Yeah, but she won’t be there this weekend.” 

“And your parents named you all with nicknames on purpose?” I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that all three of them didn’t have full names. Thankfully, Jake thought this was hilarious. 

“Yeah.” Jake shrugged. “For our first names, at least.” His face flushed before he could turn away. 

“Now I’m curious.” I laughed when that made his cheeks burn brighter. 

“Never gonna happen,” he responded stubbornly. “What about your sisters? What are they like?” 

He was about as subtle as a bull in a china shop, but I let him change the subject. 

“Well, Lillian is an artist. She’s… whimsical. A bit of a dreamer. She spends all her free time doing art. Literally anything artistic. Which is great. Keeps her out of trouble. Adriana...” I laughed and then sighed. “Well, last time I called my mom I found out she had shaved her head and won’t respond unless you call her ‘Andy.’ Which is fine, but she’s also skipping class, smoking, and just generally getting into trouble. She’s always been hard-headed, but this is a little much, even for her.” 

I realized I had been rambling so I shut up and stole a glance at Jake. He was staring back with an almost soft look on his face. He usually looked so tense or worried that it was nice to see him relax the further we got away from the campus. Which, of course, only raised more questions in my head. Why didn’t he just transfer? School was clearly a horrible place for him.

“You gotta love siblings.” Jake let out a small laugh. “They drive you crazy but you miss them when you’re gone, anyway.” 

Nerves pulled my stomach into knots all of a sudden. I rolled my shoulders, not really knowing how to ask my next question without being weird. “Is there anything I should know before we get to your parents house?” 

Jake turned, letting his head fall back to rest against the window. He stared at me for a solid minute before answering. “I dunno. I mean, I guess my family is pretty chill. My mom is a kindergarten teacher, though, so if she treats you like you’re five, don’t take it personally. My dad probably won’t be there much. He works a lot.”

It wasn’t quite the answer I was looking for, but it was better than nothing. We chatted for a bit, but I wasn’t entirely surprised when Jake ended up falling asleep again. From what I could tell, he only slept a few hours a night after doing homework. Then he’d crash for most of a day on the weekend to recharge. 

Trying to stay focused on the road, I checked on Jake every couple minutes. The worry lines that were usually etched into his face faded while he slept, the corner of his mouth pulled into a peaceful smile. 

A sense of calm settled over me as we continued toward our destination. Spending time with Jake was quickly becoming my favorite thing to do.