Jacob’s mouth opened and closed. A hundred terrifying possibilities ran through Felix’s head.
Finally, Jacob straightened. He smoothed his hair down and cleared his throat in that specific way he did before he knew he was about to encounter his parents.
“See you at dinner,” Jacob said.
CHAPTER 20
“You’re making the right decision,” Jacob’s mother said happily.
Jacob nodded. Then when he remembered they weren’t FaceTiming, he said, “Uh-huh.”
“Uh-huh,” his mother intoned mockingly. “What are you, a gorilla?”
“Sorry,” Jacob said, automatically. “I meant yes. Thank you.”
Jacob’s father spoke up again. “Hand us to the kid again.”
Jacob held back a sigh. Then he passed the phone over the coffee table to David, who took it with a polite nod.
“This is David,” David said into the phone, as he had already done when Jacob handed him over earlier.
Jacob sat back against the living room couch, cringing. He thought he could make it through this whole lease-signing without giving into his parents, but sure enough, he caved. All this talk about New Jacob, but here he was: twenty years old, freshly finished his second year of college, and he couldn’t say no to his parents when they asked to speak to his new roommate-slash-landlord.
At least David didn’t seem particularly put out by it. He said all the right things, even making his mother laugh a few times before David held the phone out over the coffee table again.
“They’d like to talk to you,” he said.
Jacob held back a remark about that being obvious and took the phone back. “Guys, I have to let you go.”
“He seems wonderful,” his mother gushed. “You picked perfectly, Jakey.”
“Best fit we could hope for,” his father said.
“Yeah, he’s great.” Jacob smiled rigidly at David, who nodded back politely. “Okay, bye, guys. Love you.”
“Love you,” they chorused.
Jacob hung up and put his phone away, then dropped his head into his hands. “I’m so sorry about that. They wouldn’t shut up about it. Mom threatened to fly over from Pennsylvania.”
“She’s welcome to visit,” said David mildly. “I would prefer if she didn’t stay here for more than a week, though.”
“Aweek,” Jacob blurted, laughing nervously. “Whoa, no, you don’t have to worry about that. She won’t come. I won’t let her.”
“Alright,” David said in that same measured tone. He gestured at the coffee table, where the lease was sitting. “So, now that that’s over with, how do you feel about signing the lease?”
“Great,” Jacob blurted. “Thank you, again. You didn’t have to put up with that.”
“I didn’t mind,” David said as Jacob flipped through the lease. He smiled again, and this time it was oddly soft. “It’s nice to talk to parents who have such obvious love for their son.”
Jacob said nothing, his eyes glued to the lease. He read everything through before he signed it. Even terms and conditions when he signed up to a website. It drove Felix crazy.
“Although,” David continued. “I can imagine it would be a bit stifling.”
Jacob let out a laugh that, in retrospect, sounded too much like a scream. “They’rechokingme,” he admitted, grinning despite himself. “Who the hell needs their parents to talk to their new landlord? Maybe some people, but not me! I didn’tfucking ask! But do they care? No! I don’t want them to pry into every little bit of my life, but do they care?No! It’s like they want to cultivate me into this perfect version of their son, but that versionsucks! Ihatethat version! That version is a quiet, cowardly little fuck who’s so repressed he can’t even admit to himself?—”
He cut himself off, shocked. He’d never said anything like that out loud before. Not to anyone but Felix, anyway.
“Sorry,” he said. “Too much information.”
