Knocked Up

“This car is amazing.” Jake sighed slipping from third into fourth and then up to fifth gear as he merged onto the highway.

“Yeah it is now let’s stick to the speed limit please.” Kim snapped from next to him and Jake saw he was doing ten over, easing off the gas he internally grumbled this car was capable of so much more and he’d bet anything she drove at least ten over but this was her car and it was clearly taking a lot for her to let him drive it.

“But seriously this car is a beast, and manual it’s been to long since I got to drive stick.” Since he’d passed his driving test back home in Czech he figured.

“So let’s not crunch my gears lord knows I paid enough for the privilege of manually changing them rather than relying on some computer to it.” It had taken Jake most of the morning to convince Kim to let him drive her back to Buffalo, she’d been adamant she was going back today but after spending the whole of yesterday and half the night not able to keep even crackers down he wasn’t about to let her drive herself back. Instead he managed to get her to agree to staying whilst he went to practice then letting him drive her back before he’d fly back to Philly in the morning.

But since he’d got behind the wheel of her little Ford Fiesta she’d been down his throat about gear changes, cornering speeds, acceleration away from lights, dumping the clutch – since they’d left his drive way she’d been the definition of a back seat driver. The only good thing whilst she was too busy yelling at him for dumping the clutch and accelerating to harshly she wasn’t complaining she was going to be sick again. She’d hadn’t vomited since two in the morning and Claude had managed to keep Wayne at his for the night so there hadn’t been any awkward questions he wasn’t ready to answer but he was still worried about her, she’d barely slept and hadn’t been able to force herself to eat anything even turning away from a cup of tea.

“Why don’t you just try and get some sleep?” He suggested as politely as possible, but glancing to the left saw it hadn’t gone down that way she looked pissed.

“And leave you to destroy my car, I know it’s a bit shit – the styling is horrific and I don’t understand how it can be called a coupe its fucking huge but it is still my car, my first brand new car and you want me to sleep whilst I let you drive my car?”

He didn’t even try and explain himself instead just focused on the road ahead slipping into sixth gear and setting the cruise control as he hit I-479N and got settled in for the long boring drive ahead.

“We need music.” Kimmy stated leaning forward and turning the radio on, he hadn’t minded the lack of music in the city whilst he was listening to the Sat Nav but now they were on this road for the next four hours he music sounded great. “Fiesta sync Kimmy’s iPhone.”

“Syncing Kimmy iPhone…” the car stayed silent for a second before the sat nav lady declared the sync was successful and started playing the new Fall out boy album it wasn’t really his style but he could deal with it.

“sorry last song I was listening to do you have a preference, we have Fall Out Boy, All Time Low, Greenday, Avenged Sevenfold, Gun’s N Roses, Asking Alexandria, Halestrom , Bring Me The Horizon, Ed Sheeran, Korn, Motionless in White, Our Last Night…” He hadn’t heard of half of them but he knew who Ed Sheeran was and he was supposed to be really good and the girls loved him so why not say him it might even win him so points.

“Ed Sheeran.”

“You have no idea who the others are do you?"

“I know Avenged Sevenfold and Guns ‘n’ Roses.”

“Okay we need to broaden your music horizons into the world of British and American punk, rock and metal.” Kim told him and he just decided it was best to go with it.

He wasn’t the biggest fan of half the music she played but he did enjoy that every so often a song would come on that she couldn’t help but sing along with and at least when she was singing along with a song she wasn’t telling him how to drive her beloved car.

As the Sat Nav told them to take the next exit off and into Buffalo, Kim turned her music off and just let the radio settle on a music channel playing quietly in the background as he followed the Sat Nav’s instructions and tried to find his way around north Buffalo. He’d not seen much of Buffalo before just the arena, hotel and route to Niagara Falls. But as he weaved through the city taking in the sight he finally understood why Kim had such a tiny car, it was honestly perfect for fitting through the filled city streets.

“If you pull up to the left of the Volvo then Zac should fit on the right when he gets back from work.”
“What do Zac and Eli do?”

“Zac is an Engineer like me he works for Calspan to but is a tyre engineer and Eli is a junior doctor.” He remembered meeting Zac he was the one she’d gone to Montreal with when he and Claude had gone to Toronto to meet up with Wayne.

He followed Kim through the garage and into the house they were straight into the kitchen, “Gutter!” Kim shouted, before telling him to drop her bag wherever.

“Wow you look like shit.”

“Screw you Guterman.”

“Morning sickness caught up with you.”

“Yeah, whoever came up with the name morning sickness was either a guy or a lying bitch that deserves slapping… where’s Zac?”

“Still at work, he mentioned something about the Pirelli account… and then used words I don’t know I wasn’t paying that much attention… are you actually going to let Voracke in the house or just stand in his way and block him out of the converstation.”

“I am so sorry, Jake this is my housemate Doctor Eli Guterman, Eli this is Jake.”

“Its nice to meet you man.” Eli stated walking towards him holding has hand out.

“You too.” He replied shaking the guys hand, “So I am guessing you worked at camp with Zac and Kim?” He asked as Kim held up a glass whilst she stood next to the sink, he guessed she was asking if he wanted a glass of water too so he nodded.

“Yeah, but I was head of senior boys rather than a speciality, but I had to finish up my hours so I missed out on this year, Zac said you came to camp the last night with Giroux?”

“Yeah, G wanted to show me his summer hide out and introduce me to his best girl.” Kim smiled at him as she handed over his glass of water.

“Where’s mine?”

“Get your own fucking water, lazy!”

“This is the respect I get for letting her move into my house!”

“I pay rent.” Jake laughed slightly at Kim’s reasoning, he often made the same argument with Wayne he paid rent so he wasn’t Wayne’s personal butler. “I am going to show Jake to the guest room…”

“Zoldanator Jr is here and he has already claimed the guest bedroom, so you are Scorecek are just going to have to share your room.” Eli stated and Jake saw Kim look confused.

“It’s a school week.”

“I know.”

“So why the fuck in Ben here?”

“That’s roughly what Zac and I said when he showed up this morning.”

“Are you okay, staying in my room we can find a hotel or see if there is a flight tonight its up to you.”
“I am fine where ever.”

“We already booked your flight, so it doesn’t make sense to change that – you can have my bed and I’ll crash down here.”

“If anyone if crashing down here it should be me.”

“You’re a guest I am not making you sleep on the couch!”

“Your pregnant I am not letting you sleep on the couch.”

“I am like five minutes pregnant.”

“You spent the last thirty three hours throwing up Kim, I’ll be fine on the couch and I’ll get my flight back in the morning.”

“I am only giving up this argument because I am really tired right now… We’ll take all this upstairs and then come back down and I’ll make some dinner I am really hungry.” Hearing her admit she was hungry was so good. He followed her up the stairs and along to the last room on the left.

He didn’t know what he expected but her room defiantly wasn’t it, he knew she hadn’t been living here long she’d only been working as Calspan a month and so the fact her room was painted white really didn’t surprise him but what did was the time and effort she must have put into covering the wall behind her bed in standard 4x6 inch photo’s of her friends and family. The effect was amazing but Kim had struck him as impulsive and impatient not the kind of person that could take her time over something like this.

“They go in order kind of like a timeline of my favourite moments from my life.”

“No graduation?” Jake asked noticing there was no graduation pictures on the wall surely that would have been a huge moment for her.

“I am going home next month to graduate for some reason the university of Hertfordshire thinks its fine to graduate in a freezing cathedral in the middle of november… I was thinking that might be a good time to tell my friends and family back home.”

“Sounds good…” Jake heard her stomach grumble before turning and flashing her a smile, “Come on let’s get you two some food.”

“Us two?”

“You two.”

Notes