Chapter 8 - Comfort

Chapter Eight: Comfort

It was between classes as Trixie looked for the next book she needed from her locker. She jumped in surprised when she closed it, she had not noticed Alex standing behind her door. “Hey,” she smiled politely at him.

“Hey,” he replied breathlessly. “I was just wondering, got anything planned for this weekend?”

“Yeah, I kind of do,” she told him, as she was scheduled to start prenatal care. “Why?”

“It's just,” he began nervously, “we've been kind of seeing a lot of each other lately and I enjoy your company,” he explained. “Plus, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I like you, a lot.” Trixie's dark cheek redden a little as she realized where the conversation was heading. “So I was hoping we could make this thing between us official,” he ended with a smile, but when he realized that Trixie wasn't smiling back at him it faded.

“Alex,” she said softly. “I'm sorry, I can't date you.”

"Oh." Alex gave her a hurt expression. “Why?” he asked. “Because I was pretty sure that you liked me too.”

“I do like you,” she confirmed. “It's just that," she pause, "Jake.”

“What does Jake have to do with us?” Alex was confused to hear the other boy's name brought up.

“Have you really never noticed that he's not fond of you?” Trixie asked. Alex first looked at her in disbelief, but then his expression soften as he remembered the way Jake had been treating him when it came to Trixie.

Jake, in Alex's opinion, was very much a loner. No matter how many time Alex offered, Jake refused, time and time again, to get involved in any of the after school activities their school had to offer. When they had group projects, Alex noticed how Jake would quickly do his part and then turn it over to the group leader so he wouldn't have to be bothered.

Even when Alex had worked with him, Jake seemed very anxious to be done, even though they had plenty of time. Alex also noticed how the only person he ever seem to hang out with willingly was Trixie. And then something clicked inside of Alex's head and he sighed in understanding. Jake was threatened by him. He thought that Alex was trying to take his only friend.

“Rethink us, Trixie,” Alex began. “Know that I would never come in between what you and Jake have,” he spoke the true. “I know he's your friend.”

“Yeah, he is, but. . . he's more than that,” Trixie confessed as she found she could no longer look at Alex.

Alex frowned. “That's not what you said when I asked you before.”

“I know what I told you.” Trixie slowly looked up. “It's just that Jake and I have a lot of history,” she tried to explain. “Our friendship is very tangled and very complicated,” she admitted. “I can't get into details, but the two of us have gone through a lot and recently something else has come up. And I'm sorry, but unfortunately it doesn't leave room for anyone else.”

“Tangled?” Alex repeated. “It almost sounds like you're trapped within it.” Trixie looked at him oddly. “Tell me, Trixie, what kind of friend would not allow you to experience things outside of them?”

Trixie's hand went to her stomach, fisting the material of her shirt. “One of the best I've ever had,” she whispered sadly. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I have class.” She went to turn away.

“Trixie, wait,” Alex called after her and she turned back to him. “I'll admit, I don't understand you and Jake. I haven't had a friend since I was three years old like you two,” he told her. “But please don't count me out. Not yet,” he asked of her. “And if you ever find the time, and you just need someone to talk to. . . you have my number, okay?”

Trixie looked at him a moment, she then gave him a small smile before she stepped into him. “You know what, Alex? You're very sweet. You kind of remind me of someone I used to know.” She then placed a hand on his chest. “I'll make the time for a call here and there,” she promised.

Alex returned her smile, placing his hand on top of hers. “I'm going to hold you to that Ms. Carter,” he said sweetly, causing her to slightly blush again as he looked into her eyes. Suddenly they both heard someone clearing their throat. Alex's head jerked up and Trixie quickly turned around to find Jake leaning on his locker.

“Shouldn't you be heading to class?” he asked, his face impassive, as he regarded Trixie.

“Yeah,” she replied as she pulled away from Alex before heading down the hall.

Jake then turned his attention to Alex. “You know, I've been very nice to you, but on the reals, homeboy, you need to back off my girl, Trixie.” Jake pushed himself off the locker. “She's taken,” he made clear.

Alex brow furrowed. He was tired of being treated like shoot when all he ever tried to do was be Jake's friend. “Taken? No, that's your own little self-delusion,” he began. “She's never indicated that the two of you have been anything other than friends,” he lied.

“Exactly, I'm her friend and you're nothing more than the dude who can't take a hint. Besides, when I said she was taken,” Jake smiled. “I never said by me.” Alex's features soften at the words as he wondered what Jake meant by them, but he never had a chance to ask as the bell finally rung and each made their way to their own class.



“I quit,” Jake told his grandfather softly as he arrived at the store that day.

Lao Shi looked utterly confused as Jake had made the announcement completly out of the blue. “Quit what?” he asked seriously. “If you mean your duties as the American Dragon, Haley is still not-”

“No, not that,” Jake shook his head. “I'm not quitting being the American Dragon,” he corrected the other man. “Just working here at the shop, which was only a front anyway,” he pointed out.

“But your training,” Lao Shi made a point of his own.

“I've been training my @$$ off for fives years, gramps,” Jake said calmly. “I know everything I need to know about being a dragon,” he then took a deep breath, “I don't need you anymore.”

Lao Shi looked sadden by his grandson's words. “If this is about the other night, and what I may have implied. I meant no disrespect against Trixie,” he apologized.

“It's not about that,” Jake told him, which was only half the truth as he sat down on a stool in front of the counter. “Trixie and the baby have to be priority in my life now.” Lao Shi frowned. “That doesn't mean I'll neglect my other duties, but when it comes to my-” he paused “-to my family, it has to go on the back burner.”

“That is not what being the American Dragon is about, Jake,” Lao Shi tried to warn him.

“Really?” Jaked questioned. “Then tell me. . . how's grandma?” Lao Shi looked a little taken back as Jake waited for an answer. “Exactly,” Jake said after a moment of silence.

“Jake,” Lao Shi began slowly. “You are only seventeen-”

“A seventeen year old who has had more responsibility than any grown damn man!” Jake stated heatedly. “I am not a child anymore!”

“Yes, you are!” Lao Shi yelled back. “You showed that to be when you got that sweet little girl in trouble!”

“Oh, so now she's a 'sweet little girl'?” Jake stood up angrily, knocking over his stool by accident as he did so. “When the other night you practically called her a whore to my face?”

“Do not put words in my mouth,” Loa Shi ordered. “You are the one making this more difficult than it should be. If you had only settled for a nice dragon girl-”

“I don't want a dragon girl!” Jake made clear. “I don't want to be with anyone else who is going to hurt me!” he let slip his true fear.

Lao Shi looked at him curiously. “What do you mean by that, young one?” he asked carefully.

“Nothing,” Jake spat as he turned his back on his grandfather, cursing himself as he did so. He then grip the counter tightly as he took long and deep breaths to try to calm himself. “Just forget what I said.”

Lao Shi continued to stare at the back of his grandson. “Jake, my boy, tell me,” he began after a few moments. “Do you love Trixie?” he asked.

Jake turned his torso and looked at his grandfather in disbelief. “Of course I do,” he told him. “She's my best friend, I do anything for her,” he said honestly.

“That is not what I asked,” the older man said to him. “I do not mean the love one friend has for another. I mean, do you love her in a way a man is suppose to love a woman?”

Jake frowned as he thought over the question. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“Why do you avoid the question?” Lao Shi looked at him oddly. “Trust me, Jake, no matter how honorable you think you are being by marrying Trixie, if your heart is with someone else, your marriage is already doomed to fail,” he told him sadly. “I know how strongly you felt about Rose-”

“I don't want to talk about Rose,” Jake interrupted his grandfather quietly. “She isn't a part of my life anymore. She hasn't show her face in a year and I wouldn't care less if I ever saw her again,” Jake made clear. “So if you really want an answer, than yes, I love Trixie and once we're married no woman will come before her.”

Lao Shi sighed. “You were always a horrible liar, Jake,” his grandfather told him. Jake scoffed softly as he shook his head and bent over to pick up the fallen stool.

Of course Jake loved Trixie, no one ever had to question that, but he wasn't in love with her. Jake knew, very well, that her heart already belonged to Spud. And he was convinced, no matter what happened in their lives, that fact was never going to change, and he was honestly all right with that. Besides, in Jake's experience, love complicated things. If he hadn't loved Rose, she would have never been in a position to betray him. Love had blinded him and because of it he lost someone very important to him.

But Jake trusted Trixie, he always had, his heart was safe with her because he knew she would never ask for it. Besides, he had made Spud a promise to watch over her, and though he knew marriage wasn't what he meant, he knew Spud would understand once he learned about the child he had unknowingly left behind. Jake also knew, that though his marriage to Trixie would only be for name sake, that he would never step outside of it, which meant children of his own weren't in his future. But again, that was all right, it wasn't as if he were an only child, the Loung Dragon Bloodline would not die with him.

“You know what? I'm finished with this. I only came to tell you I won't be here after school anymore. I found a real job, one that actually pays,” he informed him.

“There is a lot more to raising a family than the money you bring in, Jake,” Lao Shi spoke. “A child needs support and love and so does that child's mother.”

Jake looked agitated. “What are you saying? That I can't provide that?”

“You'll try, Jake, I know you will, but you are still young and the balance between being a father and Protector of the magical world is difficult to maintain,” Lao Shi advised.

“So that's a no, huh?” Jake then shook his head and grabbed his book bag off the floor. “I'm out, gramps,” he said before walking towards the door, where he grabbed his skateboard and jumped on it outside before he began rolling down the sidewalk, going in the opposite direction of his home.

Jake thought a leisurely session of skateboarding would take his mind off of the argument he had just had with his grandfather, but it didn't and before long he found himself outside of Trixie's apartment. He knocked on the door and was surprised not to see Trixie, but her mother, who did not look too pleased to see him. “Uhhh, is Trixie home?” he asked a bit nervously.

“Yes, she is. She's in her room,” Mrs. Carter told him, but made no attempt to move.

Jake slightly gestured up the stairs. “Can I see her?” he asked.

“Only if you can talk some sense into her,” Mrs. Carter replied. “Maybe she'll listen to you. Tell her, if she wants to do right by this child, she'll give it to a family who can take care of it.”

“I've already tired,” Jake said sincerely. “But she's already made up her mind. I won't fight her on it.”

Mrs. Carter's expression soften as she heard Jake's response before she nodded her head and allowed Jake into her home. Jake went up the stairs, skipping two at time. When he came to Trixie's room the door was closed and so he gently knocked on it. “Go away!” she yelled from the other side.

“Trix.” Jake leaned onto the door as he placed his hand on the door knob. “It's me.”

He then heard some shuffling sounds before she came to unlock her door. She had gotten out of her school clothes in opt for a My Little Pony t-shirt, that looked as if it had seen better days, and a pair of dark green shorts. Her hair was put up into a messy ponytail, which told Jake she had been laying down. “You look like shoot,” were her first words to him.

“Take a look in the mirror,” he countered.

She gave him a small smile before she gestured for him to come in, closing the door behind them. Trixie then climbed back into bed, underneath the sheets before Jake climbed in behind her as he laid on top of them. Trixie then felt Jake's arm snake around her waist before she felt his forehead press against her back, where he simply took a deep breath. Trixie then took her hand and laced her fingers with his.

Trixie had been fighting with her mother since the moment she walked in through the door. Her mother telling or rather yelling at her that she was just a baby herself, that she was ruining her and Jake's life. Trixie, of course, didn't want to hear it, but that didn't stop her mother. Then, through some miracle, the yelling stopped and Trixie retreated to her room, where she just collapse into her bed. Then Jake came to her door, his tired expression looking as if he had just escape the pits of hell himself.

At that point, there was no need for many words, each seeing what the other needed. And so as Trixie felt Jake's hold on her become just a little bit tighter, she found within him the same thing she knew he found within her. . . comfort.

To Be Continued. . .

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