Thank you all for your patience. I wanted this last chapter to be the best it could be. I hope I pulled it off.
Huge thanks again to
Devir Ginator
for editing and story idea help. It was invaluable!
To
Jessica
: You've made me a better writer and a better person and I thank you for everything.
Tyler
, keep taking great care of our girl!
Many thanks as well to
NycReader
for the amazing comments and for your help.
Lastly, thank you to all you readers. Your comments, feedback and votes really made this series a joy to write!
New Girl in Town ends here but these characters will return in the future. They're too fun to leave alone for long.
****
"What are you doing?" Jessica confusingly whispers to Jake as Jamie looks over towards them.
"It looks like Jamie needs a ride." Jake replies.
"Jake?" Both Jamie and Jessica say at the same time.
"It's fine." Jake assures Jessica as he waves Jamie over.
"I guess you saw all that, huh?" Jamie asks as he kneels down to look into the passenger window.
"Kind of hard to miss." Jake answers him. "We didn't hear what started it but..."
"Just Patrick being Patrick," Jamie sighs. "I should be used to it by now but I'm just done with it, ya know?"
"I get that." Jake answers.
"Yeah, if anyone would, it'd be you." Jamie nods.
Jake makes a show of looking around the mostly empty parking lot
"Looks like you could use a ride home." He states.
"I can just call my dad, Jake. It's fine. I don't want to uh... upset anybody." He answers as he looks across Jake at the unhappy look on Jessica's face.
"Come on and hop in, Jamie." Jake insists. "You're on our way. It won't be a problem."
Jamie looks perplexed at the suggestion then glances over at Jessica whose frown has deepened.
"That's probably not a great idea, Jake." He states.
"Maybe not but we aren't going to leave you here so let me hop in the back." Jake states pulling the handle.
Jamie steps out of the way as Jake jumps out, pulls the seat up and hops into the back before either Jamie or Jessica can stop him.
"Jessica, is this okay with you?" He asks standing with the door ajar.
"Not really but Jake's insisting so hop in and let's get this over with," She answers him.
He nods and maneuvers his larger frame into the passenger seat of Jessica's car pulling the door closed with a slight thunk.
"Jess, just head out like we're going to your house," Jake instructs her as he tries to get comfortable in the small backseat. "Wow, there really is no backseat in this thing!"
"You're not just now figuring that out are you, Jake?" Jamie chuckles but stops when Jessica makes an aggravated noise with her nose.
"Thanks for this, Jessica," He says instead. "My dad would have had to leave work to come pick me up. It would take him an hour to get here."
"That would have sucked," She answers in a way that tells him that she would have been glad that it sucked.
He glances over his shoulder at Jake who is still moving around to try and get comfortable. Jake finally slides behind Jessica then stretches his legs out on the seat behind Jamie.
"You cool now, Jake?" Jamie asks.
"I'll never be that," Jake laughs. "I am a little more comfortable though."
"Well it was cool of you to put the team first and tell me about the Newport quarterback." Jamie states then looks at Jessica. "Jake told me that if I went for the ball on that last play, I could possibly win us the game."
"And you did win it for us," Jake chimes in.
"It wouldn't have been that close if Jake had been put in the game over Patrick," Jessica tells Jamie.
"No argument from me on that. Patrick was nothing but a whiny asshole at the practices that you missed, Jake." Jamie tells them. "He's been like that for awhile now honestly but it got worse when you weren't around. He really wanted to make sure that Yates wasn't going to play you this week."
"He's pathetic," Jessica comments as she drives the darkened streets.
"You can say that again." Jamie shares.
"What were you two arguing about?" Jake asks then taps Jessica's shoulder. "Take a left up ahead."
She nods and flips on her signal as she slows to make the turn.
"He was mad about that, mad about me talking to a recruiter from Florida State, mad that I told the guy that it was you that gave me the advice that won the game and not him," Jamie answers.
"Wait, you told a recruiter that Jake told you that?" Jessica asks surprised. "Why would you do that?"
"I'm kind of wondering the same, Jamie," Jake comments then tells Jessica to make another left turn.
"It's up here on the right." Jamie tells her pointing to a trailer park that sits just off the road. "I told the recruiter that because it was the truth and hell... I owe you, Jake."
"Not that I'm not glad to hear this, Jamie, but what exactly brought this change of heart on?" Jessica asks.
"My place is the one straight ahead," He tells her before answering her question. "A lot of little things started to add up. Patrick and I went to this party and I met this girl. We were hitting it off, you know? She's really cute and funny but Patrick got pissed because he was laughed at by the girl he was with and made me leave. I didn't even get a chance to get anything but her first name. Marie. Super cute name, right? Anyway, I walked away from Patrick after that but realized that I didn't have any friends left. Neither did he so we just drifted back to each other for lack of better options."
"He got laughed at, huh?" Jessica can't help but giggle.
Jamie laughs himself. "Yeah, he charmed his way into some girl's pants but when he was done even faster than his infamous two minutes, she laughed at him. He started complaining that you two were the reason for his problems and got even more pissed when I told him that instead of whining about it that he should have listened to what you told him and change his ways."
