E I G H T

"a mad house"

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Jake's POV

IT TOOK HIM ONE SECOND. One single second to realize what Sarah meant. They had not even sat at the table when her mother was already throwing a million of questions to Jake and her, questions that wouldn't make Jake uncomfortable if the woman didn't use that tone, or if Anthony wasn't looking at him like he was some outcast weirdo. Maybe he looked like one, but it made it clear that Sarah's parents were, like she'd said, close-minded people. 

"Tell me, Jake, what is your job?" asked Elisa, looking at Jake from bottom to top. She had pronounced his name with certain sickened air. 

Jake opened his mouth to answer, but Sarah clerad her throat. "Why do we  not start introducing yourself, mother? Or even making Jake feel home? That would be a better idea," she put her hand on Jake's shoulder, like he had done outside, and he looked at her hand with a warm smile. "You can leave your coat there," Sarah pointed to a rack.

"I think Lewis was better," her father whispered. As much as it hurt Jake he pretended not to have heard it, he had his back to them as he hung his coat on the rack.

"Dad!" Sarah hissed. 

"Let's just start eating," Elisa said tiredly. She lead Jake and Sarah to the dinner room, quite a big place in comparison to Jake mother's dinner room. Two people sat at the table, a man and a woman, that, judging by the way they were talking and touching each other, were a couple. The woman looked somewhat like Sarah, Jake supposed that it was her sister, and the man had brown hair and hazel eyes, dressing in a suit. 

If Jake remembered well, the names of the couple were Hanna and Billy.

"They are Harper and Ben," Sarah said. So, apparently Jake did not remember well. "Harper, Ben, he is Jake."

Harper smirked at Jake, the first smile he'd received since he'd gotten there, but Ben seemed to be like Sarah's parents, and only stared at Jake. Harper elbowed him and he finally shook Jake's hand too. 

Ignoring the awkward silence, Jake pulled a chair for Sarah and he sat next to her. Sarah's parents were at each end of the table, both judging Jake with their eyes, he could tell that every time they exchanged looks it was because he had done something they didn't like, even if he was only blinking. But he didn't care, he knew Sarah needed support. 

They started eating, uncomfortable, the only one that looked midly happy was Ben. It appeared that he was enjoying the way Sarah's parents behaved towards Jake. 

"So, now that we are here at the table, may we ask, what is your job, Jacob?" Elisa asked Jake, who was startled by the mention of his name. 

"I'm a cop," he responded.

"I am," Anthony corrected him. He looked at Sarah. "Did you actually bring someone that uses contractions here?"

"Do not be so exaggerated," Sarah replicated, but Jake noticed that she herself surely didn't want to use contractions, since she spoke like she was carefully choosing the words. 

Elisa rolled her eyes and sighed, faking a smile at Jake. "So you are a cop. Interesting. Sarah, did we not tell you we hated cops?"

"I became one," Sarah said firmly, though she looked incredulous, and so was Jake.

"Yes, but we do not have a choice with you, we do have a choice with him," Elisa pointed at Jake with her fork, and he frowned. 

"We are not dating," Sarah replied, it was clear she was getting mad. Jake gulped. Well, that escalated fast. "Why do you always have to criticize literally everything I do?"

Anthony snorted. "We have talked about this before. If you were more like Harper maybe we would not have to correct—not criticize—everything you do."

Jake glanced sideways at Sarah to see that she was clenching her jaw, and looked horrified how nobody at the table did something about what Anthony had just said. Not even Harper, the nicest of them, she lowered her head as if she was afraid to argue to her father. And Ben, on the other hand still had a smile on his face, like he was watching just a reality show and found it amusing. 

As he got mad as well, Jake was about to say something, but... Sarah did first. Yelling. Oh boy.

"You know what, dad? You can say whatever you want, I don't care anymore," she stood up from the table, Jake couldn't avoid smiling briefly for he saw the surprise on Sarah's parents' expressions. "I've never felt like a part of this family, and you keep reminding that I'm not. That's right, I'm using contractions! So what! You are ridiculous!"

"Sarah, breath please, there is no need to get mad," Elisa started, but Sarah cut her. 

"No, mom, you don't get it!"

"You are acting like you are sixteen, Sarah Moore," Anthony said roughly, slamming his hands against the table. Sarah opened her mouth to argue, but he continued shouting. "You want to know why Harper is better than you? Here is the reason: because she actually fits! She has never done anything wrong, but all you can make are mistakes!"

Again that. Jake zooned out for a second only to hear those words coming from Sarah's mouth in his dream. "Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes. That's all you can do." And Jake was afraid he was about to make another one. Something inside him clicked as Sarah turned around to leave, he could almost feel the heat she had gained from pure anger. 

Jake clicked his tongue. "Are you happy now?" he told Anthony, who looked outraged.

"You do not have the right to talk to me that way, cop!"

"Oh, I've seen enough of that," he stood up, not to make a point but he wanted to check that Sarah was alright. Nevertheless, just like it had happened with Oliver, Jake heard Ben's chuckles behind him, and scoffed, closing his eyes in anger. "Something funny?" he said through gritted teeth.

"Who do you think you are?" Ben shrugged. Harper looked at him with warning in her eyes, but he ignored her. "What? Cops must be 'badass' all the time? Please, it's pathetic."

"I don't think I'm anyone, but neither are you," Jake said with a calmed voice, and smiled. "Now, if you excuse me, I have to go check up on Sarah."

He smirked as he turned around and didn't hear any reply coming from the seated at the table. Jake wandered around the house a little until he perceived Sarah's sobs coming from a room. He knocked on the door timidly. 

"Sarah?" he asked. "Are you there?" 

Since he got no response after a few seconds, Jake opened and found his friend on the floor of what looked like her childhood bedroom, hugging her legs and wipping her face. It broken him seeing her that way crying. She shook her head.

"I'm sorry I dragged you into this," she mumbled, and Jake sat next to her on the floor. 

"No, it's okay," Jake said in a soft tone, he was kind of mad because of what had happened back at the dinning room, but he tried to show himself calmed in front of her. "Um... did you hear anything?"

"Yes, but it was nice of you," said Sarah with the hint of a smile.

Jake wipped her cheek, and swallowed. "I don't know why I yelled. Your parents must be mad. What if I'm the reason that they never invite you again?"

Sarah shook her head. "No, don't worry about that. I don't think they were going to invite me again anyways," she and Jake giggled, but she still didn't seem happy. "I don't get why they would rather for me to date some jerk like Ben Harris than date someone like you."

"Aww," Jake squealed, and Sarah grinned, though she was not looking at him. He stood up and offered his hand to Sarah. "Let's go back to the table. It's gonna be fine."

"Peralta..." Sarah tilted her head.

"Moore..." Jake repeated her movement, and she rolled her eyes, taking his hand reluctantly. He helped her getting up from the floor and smirked. "They are just exaggerated. Look," he unbuttoned his shirt and buttoned it again, but he did it wrong on purpose. He then ruffled Sarah's and his hair, and made a funny face. "Oh, look at that," he said with a silly voice, "it's so lackadaisical."

Sarah let out a laughter. "What is that even?"

"If I understood by context of the time Holt used that word, it means 'informal'," Jake giggled. 

They went back to the dinner room and were received by four disgusted looks, maybe because of the way they looked after Jake messed with his and Sarah's outfits. Well, Harper wasn't exactly looking at them, she seemed too dependent to even do that. But they didn't know that the dinner was going to take a big turn soon.

Sarah's POV

As she and Jake sat back on the table, Elisa was stuttering an apologize, but Sarah's father didn't have a friendly expression, he only crossed his arms and pierced Jake with his eyes. Sarah felt bad because she had brought Jake there, though, after all, it had been him who had wanted to come. She would thank him later, he was being the best friend in the world. 

"I still think you should have brought Lewis," Anthony snapped. If his eyes were bullets, they would've killed Jake. "Speaking of him, why did you break up?"

Elisa gasped. "Do not ask that!" she hissed. Sarah felt the urge to roll her eyes and answer 'none of your business', but she did not want to be rude.

"He wasn't a good boyfriend," Sarah shrugged. She had not been rude but she did use a contraction, and got the effect she wanted on her father, for she saw that he clenched his jaw and sighed. "Maybe he paid more attention to his comics than to me."

"Yes, that is exactly why you should get someone like Ben," Elisa pointed out. Sarah lifted her eyebrows, it was like her parents were blind and could not actually see how much of an idiot Ben Harris was. "Less problems would be caused." Of course her mother had apologized for Anthony's insults, but it had clearly been only to fawn all over Harper and Ben.

"Maybe next time you can bring someone better," Anthony continued. Honestly, had they learnt nothing? Sarah looked at Jake, who darkened his expression but didn't say anything, though she could say that anger was starting to grow inside him. She gulped.

"But I am dating someone..." There were several factors that caused her to snap the following that she said. Maybe it was Ben's pretentious smile, or Harper's dull face, or Jake's clenched fists, maybe her father's challenging look or the way her mother had acted, but all of this caused her to suddenly lie. 

"Really, who is it? Who are you dating?"

"I'm dating Jake."

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