Together Or Apart

25. Jake

I take a sip from my drink bottle and take a moment to catch my breath as I finished my set on the bench-press. Jake upped my weights today without even warning me. He only just told me that he added 5 more kilograms. No wonder my arms hurt extra bad today. 

After I place my drink bottle back beside the pram, I check on Sydney to see that she is still sleeping. She fell asleep in the car on the way here and it is both a blessing and a curse. The positive being that she had a horrible night sleep last night due to more teeth coming in. The negative being that this was two hours earlier than her 11am nap which means that she will be cranky this afternoon because her body will be out of routine. 

"Is she a deep sleeper?"

I shake my head. "Extremely. When she was a newborn and we were on tour, I brought headphones for her but she would have slept through the blaring concerts anyway. That's the good thing about bringing her to the gym while she sleeps. She can't hear this music."

Ironically people wear AirPods so they barely pay attention to the gym music anyway. If I was training alone then I would wear my AirPods, but then I wouldn't be able to hear Jake properly. 

"My niece was the same."

"What's her name?"

"Alaïa."

Before I can ask another question about his niece, a guy on the bench next to where we are, interrupts me by gagging. He sits up from the bench press and places his hands over his mouth and gags again. "Fuck, I regret having a big night last night. I had too many beers."

"That's why alcohol is so detrimental. Especially before you train the next morning." Jake says to the guy who is now laying back down and attempting to lift again. He shout just stop now and go home. He doesn't look good at all. 

"Not big on alcohol?" I ask Jake who is watching the guy and probably making an internal guess on how long before he has to get the yellow mop out to clean up this guys vomit. 

"I don't drink."

"Like not often or you don't drink at all?"

He sends me a small smile, almost as if to hide an enormous amount of pain that he is feeling inside of him. "I don't drink at all."

"You can say no, but can I ask why?"

Jake let's out a heavy sigh as his face slowly turns to the side. He stares longingly out the window before eventually turning back to look at me. "My father was an alcoholic."

Was.

"I seen your face drop. He's alive, but we no longer have contact."

"Jake, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too."

I expected him to stop there and then for me to quickly come up with a new conversation topic, but much to my surprise, Jake continues speaking and opens up to me more than I anticipated. 

"I come from a broken home. When I was eleven, my parents separated. My brother, sister and I lived with my dad. He was an alcoholic. From the morning, to the night, there was always copious amounts of alcohol consumed by him. When he was under the influence of alcohol, he often got abusive. My brother and I always ensured that our sister was never home alone with him. Whenever he made her his target, we made sure that he didn't lay a hand on her."

"You guys took the hit instead?"

He nods his head.

"Are you still in contact with your brother and sister?"

"My sister is my best friend. Madi still lives in the city with her Alaïa, but I love to go up and visit on weekends. I don't work of a Sunday for that reason."