Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2007 05:50:20 +0000 From: Chris Salter Subject: How I Met Jake: Chapter 40 If you're under the legal age, homosexuality offends or it's against the law in your area, leave now. Disclaimer: I don't know Jake Gyllenhaal, nor do I claim to know his sexuality or private life. This work is entirely fiction. Chapter 40: Back to a reasonable form of health, Chris had reluctantly managed to pull himself into work for yet another tiring and exhausting shift. As the days wore on in the new lab, Chris grew more and more irritable about being in such horrible surroundings. As he'd been absent from work for a few days, he felt like he was beginning to lag behind in his work. He even had to pass off part of his caseload to another minor investigator. Zoning out in his office for a few minutes before lunch, Chris rested his head on the desk until a knock on the door aroused his attention. Keeping his head on the desk, he hollered, "Enter at your own risk!" Slowly the door opened and a shy voice piped up, "Bad day?" Chris smiled and lifted his head up, "Michael, come in." Smiling shyly, Michael trotted his way into the office and took a seat on the ugly brown chair. "What's wrong?" "I'm sick of it all." Chris groaned. "You know, even if they opened the new lab tomorrow, I'm not sure I'd go back." Michael continued to smile, "I know how you feel." Sinking his head back onto the desk, Chris continued to sigh, "I just don't need the stress combined with the fucking commute." "Are you going to quit?" Michael asked, entirely disappointed in the fact he will no longer be able to visit Chris. Chris shrugged, "I don't know, I need to think about it." Raising his head, Chris looked Michael in the eye, "Jake wants to move to New York, I'm sure I could find some kind of job there, hide away in some lab or something." "You'd go back to research or something?" Michael asked again. Shrugging again, Chris explained, "I don't know. This job was slightly more interesting, but I don't know, I suppose I could always work for some evil corporate pharmaceutical entity or something...." Suddenly there was another knock on the door. Chuckling to himself as he saw Chris sink his head back onto the desk, Michael stood up and made his way to the door. Pulling the door open, he allowed the visitor to announce themselves to Chris. "I'm on lunch break, I'll be there later!" Chris exclaimed while talking into the desk. "Well, I guess you don't want this then." Jake commented as he held up the brown paper bag. Immediately jumping up, Chris bounced over the desk and quickly pulled Jake inside. Hugging him tightly he whispered, "Thank you baby!" Still being held by Chris, Jake blushed as the unknown stranger stared at them. "Hi, I'm Jake." "I know who you are." Michael replied with a silly smile. "I'm Michael by the way, nice to meet you." Chris blushed along with Jake, "Sorry, I'm being rude again. I'm just so happy to see you." "What's wrong baby?" Jake asked as he continued to hold Chris. "He wants to quit." Michael replied on behalf of Chris. "I think he's cranky..." Jake smiled and kissed Chris on the cheek, "Is that what it is?" "Mmmmhrmmm....." Chris groaned. "I'm overloaded with work; it's fucking getting to me." "Well, maybe this will cheer you up." Jake commented as he shook the bag. "Lots of healthy food, like burgers and fries." Looking over at Michael, he smiled, "There's more than enough for you if you want to join us." Michael blushed and looked at his shoes, "I don't want to be a third wheel." "Stay." Chris demanded. "We usually have a little picnic on the floor." Letting go of Jake Chris excused himself, "I'll go get something to drink." He then headed out the door towards the vending machine, leaving Jake and Michael alone. "So," Michael whispered. "You're Jake Gyllenhaal." Jake smiled and sat down on the floor, leaning his back against the wall, "The one and only." Michael gushed, "Wow." "What?" Jake asked as he tried to sum Michael up. He was expecting Michael to start gushing about his celebrity status any minute now. Breaking Jakes train of thought Michael continued, "You're just one lucky guy to have Chris, that's all." Jake beamed with pride and lightly knocked his head against the wall. "Yeah. He worries me at times, especially when he's like this." "I think he's just confused." Michael defended. Changing the subject, he smiled, "I like your house by the way." "I like it, but it's not home." Jake replied with a smile as Chris entered the room. "Sorry guys!" Chris apologized, "I was avoiding people." Taking his seat on the floor next to Jake, Chris dispersed the drinks. Reaching into the bag, Jake pulled out a burger and tossed it over to Michael before grabbing one for Chris and himself. "Oh Mom and Dad are in town tonight, will you come out with us?" Jake asked. Chris gasped, he couldn't wait to meet both of his parents, however, letting out a deep sigh, he lowered his head. "I can't, I have to work." "That sucks!" Michael screamed. Jake sighed and pulled Chris closer to his body, "It's okay, I'll take Reese I guess. You can't help it." "I'm really sorry Jake." Chris pleaded. **** ********* ****************************************************** "Fuck it all!" Chris yelped as he quickly locked the doors to his car. He'd been caught up at work but he'd managed to change and get to the party only an hour late. Running quickly along the road, the finally found the right address. It was absolutely freezing. Pulling his jacket closer to his body, he wished he was wearing something a little warmer than a grey coat with his Prada sweater. Stepping up towards the two men standing outside the door, he was stopped immediately. "I'm sorry, you can't go in unless you're on the guest list." One of the men mentioned abruptly. Chris blushed, "Sorry, I should be on there. The name's Salter." Flipping through his palm pilot, one of the doormen searched through the list of names before looking back up at Chris, "Sorry, you're not on the list." "What?" Chris asked, confused why he wasn't on the list. He was sure this was the right address; it was the only place along the street that appeared to be having a party. "You're name's not on the list sir, I can't let you in." The doorman replied forcefully. "Fuck." Chris muttered to himself. "Jake was supposed to put me on the list." Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he quickly found Jakes number and waited for the call to connect. After a short interval, it finally picked up. "Jake why-" "Hey it's Jake, I can't return your call right now, leave me a message!" "I'm sorry, you can't come inside." The doorman repeated. Chris slunk his head. He didn't know why Jake wasn't answering his phone calls. Trying four more times, Chris sighed and finally gave up. Trying to hold back the tears of embarrassment and hurt, he excused himself and slowly walked back towards his car. "What the hell did I do wrong now?" He muttered to himself as he unlocked the doors and jumped inside. He was only an hour late, could Jake be that annoyed at him for being a little late? **** *************** ************************************************** Padding his pockets, Jake groaned. He must have left his phone back at the apartment. He'd been waiting by the bar at the party for over an hour for his man to arrive. The party was private, but still full of some fairly important Hollywood figures. Nothing brought him warmer thoughts than the fact that he'd soon be at an A-list party with his boyfriend close to him. "He come yet?" The bartender asked as he walked back over to Jake. "Huh?" Jake asked, slightly out of it. His attention was focused on the main entrance. The bartender poured Jake another shot of vodka, "Your friend. You've been hovering around here for a long time." Jake sighed, "I guess he's just late." Taking the shot of vodka, he downed it in one go. "I left my damn phone at home too." ******* ***************************** *********************************** Chris was completely annoyed by the time he pulled up in front of Sarah's apartment. Switching the engine off, he immediately jumped out and locked the doors. Stomping up towards her door, he knocked relatively loudly. "Who the hell is it?" Came a female voice from the other side of the door. "It's me!" Chris yelled. Immediately the door swung open, revealing Sarah dressed in a pair of pink pajamas. Looking Chris up and down, she ushered him inside, "What's wrong?" Chris stormed into the living room and sat down, "I think I was just blown off by Jake." "What?" Sarah asked, taking a seat next to Chris. "He invited me to some big Hollywood party, but they wouldn't let me inside. My name wasn't on the list." Chris continued, "Then I tried calling him, but it just went straight to his voicemail." "I'm not sure what to say?" Sarah responded. She was partly asleep and was only barely following the conversation. Chris shrugged, "Maybe, I guess he got scared of introducing me to other people. There were going to be some important people there tonight." Sarah hugged Chris and rested her head on his shoulder, "I bet it's not what you think." "He's ashamed of me, that's it." Chris replied curtly. He could understand why Jake would be scared of introducing him to others, but the least he could have done was to tell him. There was no need to leave him feeling humiliated in front of a group of strangers. Realizing Sarah was beginning to fall asleep again, Chris shook her awake, "I think I will let you go back to bed." "Huh?" Sarah responded sleepily. "Oh, well don't do anything stupid." Chris stood up and made his way to the door, "I think I'm going to drive around for a bit. I will call you tomorrow." "Drive safe." Closing the door behind him, Chris made his way back to his car. He blushed when he noticed the half-assed parking job he'd done. The front wheel was up on the sidewalk and the back of the car was partly out in the street. Unlocking the doors, he jumped inside and started the engine again. Pulling out of the parking spot, he pulled into the street and accelerated quickly towards the intersection. Waiting in line, Chris gradually inched his way forward before making a turn into the next street. Again, quickly accelerating, Chris made his way onto the freeway and headed north. Not caring where he ended up, he kept driving for several hours. Eventually ending up in Santa Barbara, he pulled up in a parking lot beachside and switched the engine off. Stepping out of the car, he locked the doors, walked along the beach before collapsing on the sand, and stared out into the moonlit ocean. The breeze was quite strong and cold, but he didn't care. He was too upset with himself and Jake. Lately he'd been treating Jake like shit, but it wasn't through lack of caring. "I fucking love you." Chris muttered as he pulled out his wallet and stared at the photograph of Jake in the moonlight. The way he felt like he had been treating Jake lately was making him feel absolutely sick. There was nothing he wanted more, than to have attended the event with his parents, and he felt incredibly guilty for being stuck doing work instead. Through it all, Jake maintained his same level of love and care. Jake seemed to understand the plight Chris was in, and was more than accommodating. Tonight however, Chris felt like the earlier events of the week had finally pushed Jake over the edge. Pulling his jacket closed, Chris shivered from the cool breeze and allowed a few tears to drip from his eyes into the sand. --41 soon- Well, I hope you liked that interesting development. It's getting a bit emotional! Anyway, love hearing from you guys, I'm available on the group as well as email, so drop me a line on chezmoi_ou_cheztoi@msn.com Thanks for reading! Chris