"Trust me dude, it wouldn't have..." For all the immediate sureness in Jake's voice, his face told a different story. He was staring at his hands mostly, picking at his nails to keep his eyes from ping ponging around the room. "This whole deal has been in the cards for me since... Birth, I guess."

Over the course of that sentence, Jake takes on a wistful tone. Keen eared listeners would pick up that the word birth seemed to be the trigger, sending Jake away from his usual jovial defenses and into something darker and more easily infiltrated.

If Jermaine was preparing to test that theory, Jake beats him to breaking the silence

"You ever think about how different we are, Jermaine?"