#jacob.sage2

[jacobklee]

— SETTING: spring extravaganza ; april 11th, by the sweet spot food truck — AVAILABILITY: closed starter for SAGE FRANKLIN | ( @sagefranklin )

"... apparently, Mei has set me up with a friend of hers." He shared with Sage as he stepped closer up in line for the Sweet Spot, holding onto Maggie and adjusting her on his hips. "I don't know how I feel about that. Do you think it feels somewhat desperate?" He wasn't desperate, was he? Jacob furrowed his brows, debating on his own questioning as he watched people play around with the pets up for adoption near Barks and Recreation. He should have brought Nabi along, he was sure his beagle would have had fun now that the weather was nicer. "How are things going with you and a certain doctor we know and love?"

[jacobklee]

"Yeah, I figured it hadn't..." Still, he kept a small smile on his lips as he retorted Sage's comment about Giada and her. He couldn't judge her for running back into familiar territory even if he tried. He'd done that so many times in the past with Genevieve, that it would be really hypocritical of him if he did it to his best friend. "Hey Mags, do you want to try one of the games?" He asked the curly-haired toddler, wondering if actual distraction would keep her eyes and ears away from the adult conversation, especially after Sage pointed out at her own daughter. "Let's go. Samchon and mommy are going to look for a nice game for you so they can talk." He bounced her up in his arms to get her all excited, then he threw his arm over Sage's shoulders, pulling her in to plant a kiss on the crown of her head. "Have you two talked after that, though?" / @sagefranklin

She felt like an idiot for even talking about Giada like this. They were divorced and because of something incredibly life altering at that. Gia had walked out on her. And yet, there she was, talking about her moment with the woman with her entire chest (and maybe a little bit of her heart too). It was Jacob though. If she could be honest with anyone without feeling like she as being judged, it was him, right? Apparently not. Sage couldn't help the huff of amusement that fell from her mouth at the words ms. kitty. "It didn't exactly happen like that, just so you know," She offered with an eye roll, knowing what the man was implying, but not able to tease him with the things that did happen considering Maggie was in his arms. "It'd be a lot easier if she were," the older blonde pointed out. Maybe she wouldn't have made the choice she did, maybe she wouldn't have hurt Yasemin in the process. "At the kayak race on Monday. She, uh, fell into the water and I helped her out with a pair of dry clothes."

@jacobklee

[jacobklee]

Jacob couldn't help but roll his eyes at the woman's interjection and attempt to joke when he asked about Gia. Of course he knew how the duo had eaten each other's faces off, but what he didn't understand was how the two had allowed themselves to get to that point. "Right. Things just happened." He made a face at the blonde, furrowing his brows at her. "I mean, obviously you've accidentally fell face flat on ms. kitten, yeah?" He asked obviously not believing his friend's retell of that story, while at the same time having to measure his words so that even a toddler as smart as Maggie wouldn't really understand what was going on there. Jacob, however, was in no place to judge the blonde... he just wanted to understand the implications that had led her to go straight back to Gia's arms, since they seemed to have burned their bridges to the ground.

See, not hating being around Gia was exactly what he feared. The tempting arms of comfort, of well-known waters tended to be too inviting for people to resist, especially the ones who had already lost so much. Jacob understood that. That was the reason why he kept going back to Genevieve, despite the woman twisting and turning up his insides and messing with his head the way she did. "It's not stupid." Jake replied with a simple shake of his head. "You two were married once. She's not some random woman who walked into your bar." Yet, he was cautious as he continued speaking. "And have you two spoken ever since?" / @sagefranklin

She couldn't help but grin at her best friend's antics with Maggie, the toddler herself giggling even more at them. Her day never failed to be brightened by the other, even when it felt like the world was crashing down all around her. It was like some weird seesaw for them. He helped her feel better, she helped him feel better, and so on for over thirty years of their lives. Sage wasn't sure what she'd do without him. "Okay, okay, fine," She finally declared, lifting her hands up in a way that showed she'd been caught. "Wouldn't want the fun police to arrest me anyway." A soft chuckle of amusement fell from her lips, fading almost just as quickly when he started questioning her about Giada and suddenly, Sage wished she'd never said anything at all. Maybe the fun police could arrest her and lock her away so she'd never have to. "I only found out... maybe two weeks ago?" Her brow furrowed as she tried to remember just how long it'd been since Gia showed up in front of the home they used to share.

"Do you really want to know what happened there?" The older blonde questioned, her furrow raising just slightly in amusement. Even his correction hadn't helped his question sound any better. "She, uh, came into the bar... I don't think she even knew I owned it. Things just... happened. I didn't mean for them to happen." A groan fell from her lips, remembering the fallout afterward; the fact that she couldn't explain what had happened but knew that she wouldn't have gone back in time to change it was enough of a reason for her to be honest with Yasemin. "But I didn't hate it. Being with her was like... I don't know, almost like finding something I didn't even realize I lost? Is that stupid? I mean, we're divorced and she left and there was... kind of someone else."

@jacobklee

[jacobklee]

You know... she was right. While Jacob had not spent that much time around Atlas or any of the members of the Williams family, it didn't take an expert to see that Maggie's genes were mostly Sage's. Maybe her personality was similar to her father's? Again, that he wouldn't know. "Hey, hands off my niece!" Again, he teased, helping Maggie swat her mother's hand away from her rosy cheeks. "I got you baby girl, samchon got you." Jacob smiled at the little girl, kissing the top of her head, and then looking over his shoulder when the blonde girl mentioned a horsie, so of course, Jake motioned his head towards the petting zoo, hoping Maggie would be distracted enough with the animals while the adults talked. "Wait... Gia? Why am I only now hearing about this?" He furrowed his brows while looking at his friend. "You? You slept with Gia?" Jacob blinked a few times, as if it would help him ensure he'd heard it right. "Shi—woah, Sage... that's... how, though?" And as soon as the question left his lips, Jacob rolled his eyes at himself. "You understood what I meant. I meant why? What happened there?" / @sagefranklin

Sage smiled triumphantly, even if deep inside she knew that the other was still stewing about whether or not he'd find someone to love. She wasn't really one to speak, not after how her epic love had ended; childless and a mess full of grief and regret and so much anger. "You'll get there, I promise. There's no timeline on something like this." Maybe she was talking to him or, just maybe, she was giving herself some advice. Though she wasn't sure any amount of advice would help with the situation she managed to get herself into. "Please, have you looked at her? There's no one else she could've gotten those adorable looks from." Sage teasingly reached forward to gently squeeze Maggie's cheek, her nose crinkling as she made a silly face toward the other. The toddler laughed and swatted her hand away almost immediately. It was clear to almost everyone who she came from and no doubt it was definitely from the elder Franklin. Outside of the curls Maggie may have inherited from her father's side, everything else was straight off of the production line at Franklin Inc. "I thought I did," fell out of her mouth before she could stop it, ending with a roll of her eyes and the smallest huff of air. "Then, uh... Gia showed up back in town." Showed up. Pissed her off. Then they somehow managed to get to the banging portion of that, successfully derailing anything she'd even dreamed of building with Yasemin. "I kind of slept with her... in the back alley of the bar."

@jacobklee

[jacobklee]

Jacob thought about saying something on how he'd been clearly terrible at finding love on his own, but, since Sage was being nice enough to give him a pep talk, maybe he should be a good boy, shut up and just accept her words. Or maybe... accept his fate. Worst case scenario, he would be left with yet another failed attempt to finding love... and he would go home and whine to the blonde that he would die an old hag or something. Become a spinster of some kind, like he had joked about when he was drunk. "Ugh, fine." He drew in a breath, sighing in defeat as he knew Sage was right. He knew he was just scared of yet another failure, especially after Genevieve and Dilan. When Maggie copied her mother, Jacob winced, letting out groans as if the toddler was actually strong enough to make his chest hurt from the pokes. "I don't know what you're talking about. There is clearly no way that this little bug came out of you." He teased, then leaning in to plant a kiss on her cheek to try and make it up for his joke. "No, but honestly, Sage... what's holding you back? Don't you want to find someone?" Because there was also that... some people didn't want to be with others—and that was okay. / @sagefranklin

She'd known Jacob long enough to be able to tell him something straight, even if the man seemed unsure about it. "But you are finding love on your own. I mean, sure, someone introduces you, but you're the one putting yourself out there, offering to build that love with another person. The one who introduced you isn't doing that for you." Her best friend had always been handsome and charming and she never failed to absolutely adore him — it boggled her mind that he thought he even needed any help with finding love. "Mei can't force two of her friends to fall in love. That's all you." Sage reached forward and poked him in the chest for emphasis, Maggie giggling and tapping her tiny finger against his chest to copy her mom. "Okay, no one can force you except Maggie, but she's actually pretty good at picking out amazing people, so." Her shoulders lifted in a shrug and her cheeks flushed with his next words. She couldn't help the short laugh of irony that fell softly from her lips. "Listen, I said I haven't gone on any dates, not that I haven't... eaten people's faces." Her expression scrunched at the ridiculousness of Jacob's words. Then, she motioned to the toddler in his arms. "Clearly that's happened."

@jacobklee

[jacobklee]

"No..." Jacob furrowed his brows while rubbing the back of his neck, as if trying to make sense in what he was talking, or maybe, trying to find sense in his words and thoughts. It wasn't always that he did think straight. "Uh... I don't know? It might give people the wrong idea that I can't find love on my own?" Was his reasoning good? Besides, Jacob's last serious relationships had crashed and burned so how much did he really know about finding love on his own? Shaking his head, he let out a sigh, before picking up Maggie. "Do you think samchon should let someone pick his girlfriend for him?" He asked the two-year-old, and he was dead sure she didn't really understand what Jacob was asking, but the curly-haired toddler did nod, which caused Jake to chuckle. "Alright. It's settled, then. Princess Mags has chosen." He told Sage. "Yeah, why is that, though? I mean... you're a hot piece of a-s-s, so why don't you go out and eat other people's faces?" / @sagefranklin

"You think it feels desperate to be introduced to someone you could possibly end up liking through a mutual friends?" Sage asked curiously with a laugh, making a face in Maggie's direction as though to indicate that it seemed like her Uncle Sammy was losing it just a little bit. "I think that's the best way to meet someone, honestly. If Mei vouches for them and they're one of her friends, it's probably an indicator that they're a good person, right?" She supposed her dating advice could only go so far, considering the mess she was in. "I'm not sure I should be giving dating advice considering the last actual date I had was almost two decades ago."

@jacobklee