"I'm bored." Megan announced. "Let's do something."
"Like what?" Jake asked. At least he'd stopped being surprised that she would ask him to do things.
"I don't know...movies?" she asked finally. "Food maybe?"
Megan had been a little worried about suggesting a movie to Jake ever since they started pretend-dating. She didn't want him to get the feeling that she might secretly be ok with it. But Megan really liked sci-fi movies, and she didn't feel like asking any of her friends about this particular one.
"I could eat." Jake nodded. "And then maybe the movie after. What food were you thinking of?"
"I don't know...There's a really good Thai place, but it's on the other side of town." Megan sighed to herself. "Why is everything so far away?"
How was it possible that she could really be a junior without a car? She thought about wishing for one, but it wasn't worth it. She didn't know how to drive, and she wasn't sure she wanted to waste her final wish on something that stupid anyway. Surely there was a better way.
"I should have wished for a boyfriend with a car." Megan mumbled to herself. Jake heard her and actually laughed. Megan thought it was the first time she'd ever heard him give a genuine laugh like that.
"To exclude me?" he asked, still grinning.
"I didn't even think about that." Megan admitted. "Would it have worked?"
Jake shrugged, and Megan thought about how she should have listed a bunch of traits he didn't have that any boyfriend of hers would need. Why hadn't she thought of that earlier? Maybe it would have actually worked. But before Megan could get too carried away with the thought, Jake ruined it for her.
"No, I'd have gotten around that." he told her.
"Really? How? You don't have a car." She would know about something like that.
"I would have."
"Really?" She didn't even bother to hide her surprise – he knew her well enough by now that there really wasn't a point in it anyway.
"Of course."
"So can you drive?"
"Actually, I can."
"So you can drive, you just don't?"
"Well, I don't have a car." he shrugged, grinning in that obnoxious way he'd perfected.
"Oh, I hate you."
Jake laughed again, and Megan hated to admit it, but the sound made her stop being quite so annoyed.
"So you want to drive us over to the restaurant?" she asked.
"Sure."
He took her by the hand and dragged her down the stairs and out the front door, like it was the kind of thing he did all the time. Megan felt butterflies in her stomach for a second, but she quickly dismissed it. It was nothing – just surprise. She let him lead her to the driveway. He waved his hand, and suddenly there was a bright red Corvette in front of her house.
"You can't drive that car." Megan said instantly.
"Why not?" he asked. He looked kind of crushed.
"Because nobody who goes to high school has a car like that."
"I go to high school." he pointed out, as of somehow that would help.
"Nobody normal who goes to high school." she corrected herself. "Can't you make it like a Honda or something?"
Jake scoffed.
"Why don't I just make it a Rabbit then?" he scowled.
"Why don't you?" she retorted.
"Really?"
"No." she sighed. She didn't want to be seen in one of those either.
Jake snickered, knowing exactly what she was thinking.
"Just tone it down a bit, ok?"
"Fine." he waved his hand again and the car changed to a Maserati.
"Better?" he asked. Megan couldn't tell if he was being serious or not.
"Not really." she told him flatly. It was just as flashy as the last one, and Megan was still kind of hoping Jake wouldn't draw the attention of everyone in the entire city. But he didn't seem bothered by it in the least.
"You worry too much – when do you ever get to be in a car like this?" he asked, sliding into the driver's seat. Megan warily got in on the passenger's side.
"You can really drive this?" Megan asked. She suddenly had visions of crashing into a tree and being taken to the hospital.
"If you let me." he said seriously.
"You know how, right? I mean, you actually have the skill?"
"Yes." he said.
Megan stared at him for a minute, trying to decide. He was really good at hiding it, but she could tell he was getting frustrated. Still, she studied his face, looking for any trace that he could be lying – or in his case exaggerating. Finally she decided that just maybe, he was telling the truth this time.
"Fine." she mumbled. "But you better not kill us."
"Don't worry." he grinned as he put the car in reverse.
Megan might have been nervous about letting Jake drive, but really, she shouldn't have been. Actually, he was pretty good. She watched him speed up and change gears like he'd been doing it for years. Megan hated to admit it, but she was pretty sure he was even better than Ben.
She watched him, fascinated. It was the first time she'd gotten to really look at him without him staring back at her. And now that he was sitting here, in normal clothes, driving her around and focusing on something that wasn't designed to make her mad, he looked just like any other boy in her class. Megan had to admit, it was pretty nice. If she had to have a fake boyfriend, she could do a lot worse.
"Everything alright?" Jake asked, looking over at her for a second.
"Yeah, fine." Megan said a little too quickly.
"You've just been staring at me since we left your house."
"Oh...sorry." Maybe she hadn't been as subtle as she thought.
"So is something wrong?"
"I was just watching you drive." Megan shrugged awkwardly. "Where'd you learn anyway? Or did you learn? Do you just know these kinds of things?"
It occurred to Megan that she didn't know all that much about how all this worked with him. This might be a good time to find out. Jake gave a short laugh before answering.
"No, I don't just know anything – I have to learn it all too. I just tend to get a lot of on-the-job training."
Jake didn't say anything else for a while, and Megan contented herself just watching him.
"Will you teach me sometime?" she asked. "Please?"
Jake grinned, looking way too amused for Megan's liking.
"What?" she asked. "If you don't want to, that's fine. I'll just ask Ben."
"It's not that." Jake told her. "It's just that you're the first person who's ever actually said please to me before."
"That's cause I'm so wonderful." she told him. But really, she was thinking about what he said.
She knew why no one ever said please to him, but she still wasn't sure that was fair. He might have been just a genie, but he was still a person. Megan decided then and there that she was going to make sure she treated him like any other person she knew. And now that she'd made the decision, the first thing she was going to do was enjoy an almost-date with a cute guy from her school.70Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9JeNktsMA
