As soon as Jen had that corkscrew idea, Megan was filled with a renewed sense of hope. Finally, she had a way to fix what she'd done. She could hardly stand to wait until after school, but she didn't want to get up in the middle of class and make an unnecessary scene. Instead, she satisfied herself with texting Karen.
Can I get a ride home after school? she asked.
The sooner she got home, the better. She wasn't about to wait for the bus, and there was absolutely no way she was going to track.
Sure. Meet out back after class, Karen wrote back.
K, Megan typed quickly before slipping her phone back in her pocket.
It seemed like forever before the bell finally rang. When it did, she sprang up from her seat and raced down the hall. She beat Karen out to the parking lot by three minutes.
"So what's up?" Karen asked as they headed towards her car in the back.
"I need to see Jake." Megan told her. Karen grinned.
"Is this the first time you've talked to him since he's been absent?"
"Yeah." Megan felt bad admitting that. And the reality was even worse than whatever Karen might have imagined.
"Well, I'm glad you're going to see him. Want me to take you straight there?"
"No, I need to go home first." Megan told her. She tried to remember where Jake even told everyone he lived.
"Sounds good." Karen pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road.
As they drove, all Megan could think about was the fact that she'd finally see Jake again. She found herself grinning at the thought. Until she did the math – today was Friday, which meant that Jake had been stuck there for four days. She just hoped he wasn't too mad to even speak to her.
"Karen?" Megan asked.
"Yeah?"
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure – what do you need?" Karen asked instantly, eyes never leaving the road.
"Can you not tell anyone about this?"
"What? That we're ditching practice so you can visit your sick boyfriend?" Karen grinned, staring straight ahead.
"Pretty much." Megan replied. "It's kind of embarrassing. Besides, Jen would kill me."
"Eh, she'd probably be ok." Karen shrugged. "But Stacey would make fun of you 'til the day you died."
"That too." Megan said.
"You really do like him, don't you?"
"Yeah." Megan told her. "I mean, he's a good friend."
"That's not what I mean and you know it." Karen told her matter-of-factly.
"I know." Megan sighed. "It's complicated."
"Yeah? Why's that?" Karen asked.
Megan struggled to come up with something other than because he's a genie.
"Look, if you like him, that's all that's important." Karen told her. "Well, that and if he likes you – he does like you, right?"
"I don't know..." Megan said slowly. It wasn't that she'd never thought about it; she did that plenty. But their relationship was based heavily on her being in charge of him.
"Well, have you ever asked him?"
"Not exactly..." Megan admitted.
"Well you should." Karen said firmly. "And let me know how it goes."
"Oh, ok."
Megan could just imagine how that conversation would go. Karen might not have seen the look on Megan's face, but she didn't miss the sarcasm. She laughed, but didn't pursue it.
"So why does Jen hate him so much anyways?" Karen asked, changing the subject. "I mean, he seems pretty good to me."
Megan hesitated. This was one thing she really didn't want to have to explain.
"Oh, come on." Karen rolled her eyes. "It's really obvious she doesn't like him."
"She doesn't mind him." Megan said. But she didn't even manage to convince herself with that line.
"It's not like I'm going to tell her what you say." Karen told her. Megan sighed.
"She thinks he's just messing with me." Megan said finally.
"Really?" Karen seemed surprised. "Why?"
"I don't know..." Megan mumbled, not sure what she should say.
"Well, for what it's worth, I think she's wrong." Karen shrugged.
"You do?" Now it was Megan's turn to be surprised.
"Well, yeah. I mean, don't you ever see the way he looks at you?"
"How's that?"
Despite everything that had happened, Megan always kind of suspected he looked at her like a potential mark.
"You make him happy."
Karen said it with such conviction Megan almost believed her. She wondered if she'd still make him happy after he finally got free.
As soon as Megan got through the door, she raced to the kitchen. She didn't know where her parents would keep a corkscrew, or if they even had one. But she did know they'd have a bottle of wine every now and then, so that meant that they had to have a way to open it, right? Besides, she'd been trying to open that stupid bottle for way too long. She'd tear apart the entire kitchen if she needed to. And if she couldn't find one, she didn't know what to do. She wondered suddenly if she could break a magic bottle. But would that hurt him if he was still inside? Probably better not to take the chance.
After searching every single drawer in the kitchen, she finally found one nestled under all the junk in the back of the spatula drawer. She snatched it up and ran to her room to see if this would finally work.
She jammed the tip into the cork and twisted it until she couldn't see a single spiral on the corkscrew. Then she pulled the two handles down to the sides of the bottle and closed her eyes in a silent prayer.
She pulled as hard as she could, begging silently for this to actually work. The cork seemed to give way just a little, and she opened her eyes, grinning happily to herself; she might have finally figured out a way to undo this after all. She pulled harder and the cork squeaked out just a little more. It was working! She pulled as hard as she could, closing her eyes.
After what was probably the longest minute of her life, the cork flew out of the bottle with a loud pop. Megan grinned ecstatically, dropping the corkscrew on the floor.
"Jake?" she asked hesitantly.
She was pretty sure he was still in there – after all, where could he go? But she hadn't talked to him in over four and a half days, and not seeing him for that long was making her kind of nervous.
No sooner had she said his name than she saw him appear before her – like he'd barely even waited for her to ask.
"Jake!" she said again, relief flooding through her.
Without thinking, she ran over to where he stood, wrapping her arms around him. She was just so glad he was back, she couldn't help it. She felt him stiffen when she touched him, like maybe he was going to pull away. But he didn't. Instead, he slowly returned the hug. Megan ignored the hesitation in him, trying not to think of exactly why he must be less than thrilled to see her.
When she finally pulled back, she was almost shocked to see what he was wearing – those blue pants and silver cuffs that she'd seen at the bus stop. It had been so long since she'd seen that outfit, she almost didn't think of him as the same person. For almost a month, he'd been a kid in her class – her almost-boyfriend. Now, he looked like the genie he really was.
He didn't say anything. Instead he just looked at her, a kind of defeated expression on his face. His shoulders were hunched a little and his eyes didn't have that brightness that she'd gotten so used to seeing.
"Are you ok?" she asked hesitantly.
"Always." he grinned, but it didn't reach his eyes. And Megan couldn't help but notice the definite hesitation to him.
Her heart sank. She knew it was because he'd been stuck in there so long. Why didn't she think of that wine opener thing sooner?
"I'm so sorry." she told him. She could only hope he knew just how much she really meant it.
"Sorry for what?" he asked, giving her that old formal bow. And here Megan didn't think she could feel any worse.
"Jake..." she started.
She wanted to tell him that she hadn't meant to hurt him, but she didn't know how. And hadn't she promised not to do any of those kinds of things? She always kind of assumed she was better than that.
Hearing her call him by name brought a small smile to his face. He might still be wary of her, but at least it was a start.
"I didn't mean to keep you there." she told him.
"I know." he said after a minute. "I heard you trying to open it."
"I think the cork's broken." she told him.
She glanced at the wine-opener, still firmly embedded in that old piece of cork. The metal tip hadn't penetrated all the way through like she'd originally thought, but the bottom was bulging out in the middle.
"I think it's fine." Jake told her quietly, glancing away.
"Really?"
It might not have a hole completely through it, but would less than a millimeter really matter for a genie? Surely he could break something that thin.
"If it makes a seal, that's all that matters." he said dully.
"Really?" she asked again, surprise overcoming her guilt.
Jake just nodded glumly.
"I'm really sorry." Megan repeated yet again.
"You didn't do anything wrong." he shrugged. Megan almost couldn't believe he'd actually said that.
"I thought you weren't allowed to lie to me."
"I'm not." He looked confused.
"So you really believe that?" she asked. How could he really think what she did was ok?
"What I believe isn't really relevant." he said neutrally.
"It is to me." Megan mumbled, her guilt turning to mild annoyance. She wondered if difficult was just his default position.
"Why?" he asked.
Megan whirled around, ready to snap at him for always being such a pain. But when she saw the bewildered look on his face she stopped short. Was it possible he was actually serious?
"Well, because we were doing really good there for a bit." she told him. Before Megan screwed it all up. "I was thinking maybe we were kind of friends by now."
Megan looked down at the floor, feeling kind of weird. She'd never had to point out that she was friends with someone before. Usually, it was just kind of obvious to both of them.
"Megan?" Jake asked slowly.
"Yeah?" she looked up. She was a little surprised to see he looked apologetic.
"Thank you." he told her. Then he added, "I'm sorry about that whole fake boyfriend thing...It wasn't my finest moment."
"No, it's not really a big deal." Megan mumbled, mortified all over again. "I overreacted."
"You were mad because your brother asked if we were going out?" Jake asked.
"Uh, yeah..." Megan mumbled. Suddenly, she felt like an even bigger jerk. This little reunion really wasn't going the way she'd envisioned at all. "I'm really sorry." she said again for what felt like the hundredth time that afternoon. She sighed, trying to figure out how to explain.
"It's just that I didn't realize how out of hand this was getting. I just wanted some part of my life to be the way it's supposed to be." Megan knew her explanation was weak, and why would he care anyway? But she felt like she owed it to him.
"I can understand that." he said finally. Megan peered at him closely, trying to see if he was ok with that, or just understood it.
"You're not mad?" Megan asked. If it was her, she was pretty sure she'd be furious.
He didn't answer. Instead, he gave that small shrug he had when he didn't want to say anything. She really wanted to ask, but it was hard to get up the nerve. Still, she knew she had to; not talking to him was the reason this whole problem even existed. Besides, she knew she'd deserve whatever he said anyway.
"Jake?" she asked slowly, almost dreading what he would say.
"No point in getting mad about it." he told her finally, giving a kind of resigned shrug. "Besides, you didn't really do it on purpose."
"Yeah..." Megan trailed off. She remembered what her parents said when Drew had asked why her boyfriend hadn't been at school during a rare family dinner last night. "Actually, my parents want to meet you."
"Really?" Jake asked. "Why?"
"Well, apparently you are my boyfriend, aren't you?"
Jake grinned, and he almost looked genuine doing it.
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