by Ally Hayes
Only just last week did Robert put it together and sheepishly had asked when Jackie was not around, “Is she seeing that Foster boy again?”
Of course, Patty had lost her nerve, thinking he would take out his anger on her as the messenger, so she simply answered with a half-truth. “It appears they are speaking again.”
Robert didn’t pursue the conversation any further then or since. Patty knew the proverbial can of worms was about to burst open again.
Not wanting to sound ignorant of her daughter’s life, Patty now found herself once again on the defensive end of a phone call with Ann.
“Jackie has been so busy and focused with school we haven’t had much time to discuss much else.”
“Well, that’s all about to change. I’ve been down this road with my girls—party time is approaching. Jackie and Matt are both all set with their schools, too. Home stretch; they’ve got nothing left to worry about.”
“Right,” Patty answered through clenched teeth. No worries for Ann.
“Speaking of parties, I had an idea. I thought we could do a combined graduation party for the kids. With their same birthdays and current dating status, I thought it just made sense and would be so much fun!”
“Oh, Ann, always the forward thinker.” Patty tried to sound cheerful. What could she say?
“I know, right? Well, I was making a preliminary list, and with all Matt’s friends and I don’t really know, but I assume Jackie’s got a bunch as well, and you probably have family and acquaintances? I just don’t know if we would have the room here for a really great party like they deserve. Sure, we do New Year’s Eve every year, but we pack them in and ...”
“Ann, we would be happy to have the party here.”
“Oh, you’re a doll. This is going to be great! Let’s get together next week to start planning.” Ann looked up at the clock for effect, even though Patty couldn’t see her. She wanted to hang up before Patty could change her mind. “Oh, look at the time. I’ve got to run. Call you soon.”
Patty stood in the foyer she had paced to while being railroaded. No denying that she and Robert were going to have to talk about Jackie and Matt now. She wasted the rest of a perfectly good working day trying to figure out how to talk to her husband and wondering if she would need the opener or if the can of worms would simply burst apart from its own combustion.
Chapter Twelve
Matt & Jackie
“So, what do you think he has planned?” Brianna called out from her perch on Jackie’s bed. She snuck in her sister’s dress for Jackie to wear in front of her parents and Matt’s for pictures. Patty gave Jackie cash to buy a new dress, but she spent it on a birthday gift for Matt and was hoping to fool her mom with the “new” dress Brianna was allegedly bringing her from the tailor. Jackie was already lying about going to the prom, so the dress deception was necessary.
“I’m not sure. After we take our fake pictures, we’re pretty much on our own.” Jackie’s voice resonated with excitement and nerves induced by the prospect of the upcoming event.
“I don’t suppose it will be a master suite again?” Brianna teased. As much as she was Jackie’s friend and supportive, her reservations about Matt were never far from the surface. Jackie had learned to ignore the subtleties over the years.
“No, I don’t suppose. I’m just glad we’re together for our birthdays. I don’t care what we do.” Jackie tried to show her friend she was truly happy.
“That reminds me, I almost forgot!” Brianna rummaged through her enormous bag and pulled out a small wrapped package. The bow was larger than the box; it appeared to be the size that would contain a bracelet. With the paper and bow discarded, a jewelry box was indeed discovered, but inside were various sizes and styles of condoms.
Jackie threw the box on her bed as if was on fire and shrieked.
“Calm down. I remember three years ago you told me you wanted to wait until you were eighteen. If there’s anything I know about you, it’s that you’re true to you word, so I thought I would take this worry off your hands so you can enjoy the big event. You deserve it! So, I gotta ask….did he wait, too?
“I need to get ready,” Jackie blurted out.
“Come on, Jac, I’m aiding and abetting here. Is it going to be a double initiation?”
Jackie walked into her spacious closet and answered from the sanctuary. “No.”
They smiled on cue, waved goodbye, and even made an appearance at Joey’s pre-party. Joey’s date, Theresa, was really sweet and told Jackie she would call her the next morning to fill her in on the details Patty might and Ann was sure to ask about the big night. With everyone else off at the school gym, they were finally alone.
Matt turned to Jackie in the passenger seat. “Well, we made it. Or almost, at least. You’re not actually going to hold out on me until tomorrow just to be technical, are you?”
Jackie laughed to serve as an answer, and she reassured Matt by leaning over the middle console of Ann’s car to kiss him on the cheek. Now if she could only reassure herself. Having decided that Matt didn’t need to know about last year’s mistake, she felt better but not relieved. Would he be able to tell? Probably not. Would she crack and confess? More likely.
“Ready?” Matt asked.
Her attention snapped back to the real moment, back from worst-case-scenario.
“That depends, where are we going?” She honestly had no idea. Matt had been very elusive. She thought it was because he wanted the element of surprise; actually, it was because he didn’t have a definite plan until forty-eight hours ago.
“Missy’s apartment,” Matt answered through his grin.
It hadn’t been easy, but he convinced his sister and her roommate to see a movie and have dinner as a birthday gift to him. Missy’s only stipulation was he promise to use protection and they clean up after themselves. She wasn’t naïve, and tonight she was his favorite sister.
Once inside the apartment, though, Jackie became nervous. How was this going to happen? She knew what was going to happen, just not how they were going to proceed. Thankfully, Matt had a plan. He put a CD into Melissa’s stereo and appeared to search for something specific. It was clear when he found it.
He stood and held out his arms. “Gotta have one dance. You know, to say we danced.”
“And, of course, no one is here to witness you actually dancing,” she teased.
“Ha, ha, come here.” All her tension melted as Jackie put her arms around Matt’s neck and their bodies naturally molded to one another. Swaying to Bryan Adams’ “Heaven,” everything seemed right, but she knew it wasn’t, and it was her fault that this was not truly the perfect evening they had both planned, and Matt still thought it was—clearly. As the song came to an end, she was hesitant to pull away and have him see her tears.
“It’s going to be okay. No, it’ll be perfect, I promise,” Matt whispered as he dried her tears with his thumb. The skin was rough, and it helped to clear her head.
“I love you,” she told him before picking up her evening bag and pulling out a gift-wrapped package.
“Let’s open it together. That seems fitting, right?” Matt suggested as he held out a similarly small, but less neatly wrapped package.
“One, two, three.” They both dropped their wrappings to the floor and immediately started laughing as they revealed their birthday gifts.
Hers was thin and delicate with a small emerald in the heart. His was silver and thicker, more masculine. They were both claddagh rings.
“Oh my God.”
“Wow. No way.”
“You must have known,” Jackie accused.
“I swear, I didn’t. Oh man, we’re never going to hear the end of this.”
“Well, I love it, thank you,” Jackie finally said, slipping hers on.
“Me too, and I love you, too.”
She knew he did, this time for certain. She also knew now she had to keep her secret to herself or risk losing him forever. She wrapped both arms around his
neck and drowned her thoughts in the comfort and familiarity of kissing the boy she had loved her whole life.
That night Matt kept his promises. First to Jackie, then Missy, and finally, as they were driving to her home at eleven forty-five, to Patty and Robert as well by getting her home by midnight.
Jackie had kept her promise to herself that she wouldn’t tell the truth that night. She felt terrible about it, realizing he’d have to find out sometime or it would kill her. The remaining question was would he want to kill her, too?
Walking her up to the door, Matt’s word stung.
“I hate to admit it, but you were right. It was worth the wait. I feel proud of both of us for sticking to it.” He kissed her and added, as she opened the front door, ready to dash upstairs, “I’ll call tomorrow for our actual birthday.”
“Okay,” she managed and produced a smile. With a spring in his step, Matt went back to the car; Jackie took a moment before quietly entering her house.
“Well, tell me all about it. Was it magical?” Patty was suddenly in her face and clearly not about to leave without some account of the supposed evening.
“Oh, Mom! You scared me. Yes, it was, and I’m just exhausted.” Reaching down to her uplifted foot, she removed a high heel for effect. In actuality, it had been off more than on. She manufactured a yawn to emphasize her point.
Patty hugged her. “Alright, but I want to hear all about it tomorrow morning—late morning.”
“Promise,” Jackie replied to play along, just to let it and her mother go.
“Happy Eighteenth, Jackie. Sweet dreams,” Patty called as her now grown-up daughter ascended the stairs to her room where she would ring in her birthday with abundant tears.
“I’ve made your favorite birthday breakfast. Please come down, Jackie!” Robert yelled.
Flopping from stomach to back, she knew she couldn’t disappoint her dad. There was no point in trying to reclaim sleep now anyway. She had been tossing and turning for the past eight hours. She gave her koala, Fossie, one last squeeze and swung her legs out of the tangled sheets.
Robert kissed her forehead as she entered the kitchen. “Happy Birthday, sweetie.”“Thanks, Dad.”
Jackie sat down to her annual strawberry crepes and hot chocolate. It wasn’t until he joined her across the table that he noticed her red, puffy eyes.
“Whoa, a little partying last night?” he asked, only half joking.
“Not what you think, Dad. I wore these dumb eyelash extensions, and I guess I had a reaction to the adhesive.” She rubbed her eyes instinctively. “They itch like crazy.”
“Oh, well, I guess I wouldn’t know about that. Put some cold compresses on and tell your mother when she gets back.”
“Mom’s out?”
“Just for the morning. Something about faux finish and an open house or some other such nonsense.”
Jackie let that one go instead of coming to Patty’s defense as she should have. It gave her a new outlook on the day. She would be spared fabricating the evening and would have time to corroborate the stories before facing her mother’s inquisition. She ate quietly and remembered to smile profusely at her father who seemed pleased at her reaction to the one meal he could and would make.
After they finished, father and daughter sat quietly, each waiting for the other to announce plans neither had. The ring of the phone cut the awkwardness.
Jackie jumped up. “Oh, I guess you know, birthday calls. Probably Aunt Linda.”
“Go ahead, get it, and I’ll clean up, be in my office.” She was already gone with the family’s new cordless phone in hand.
“Good morning, birthday girl!” It was Brianna, she knew it would be—no way Matt would be awake before ten o’clock.
“Well, certainly sounds like you had fun last night.” Jackie was surprised to hear her friend so chipper.
“Not as much fun as you, though. Or maybe not. You tell me.”
“Everything was wonderful. I just thought you would sound hungover.” Jackie reminded herself to keep the conversation about Brianna’s night so she wouldn’t be in danger of revealing her guilty conscious.
“Hell no, I’m still drunk. Just got home at six-thirty. We all wanted to come get you on our way to Denny’s, but we figured you might still be busy.” Brianna giggled until it became hiccups.
Oh no, did everyone know what they were up to last night?
“Who’s ‘we all’ anyway?” she dared ask.
Hiccup. “You know, everyone!”
“Terrific. So, tell me about your night, what did I miss?”
“Okay, so it was awesome. Sydney and Cheyenne had the same dress on and almost went full-on cat fight. Syd totally swears she described it at lunch and Chy copied her. So then, around nine-fifteen, oh no”—big hiccup-ish noise—“I gotta go...” Brianna was suddenly gone.
Not having time to hang up the phone, Jackie was able to hear the heaving and gagging from her end. Well, she’d have to call Sydney to get the rest, but first she had to call Joey’s girlfriend, Theresa, to get the details of the prom she allegedly attended.
When she heard the back door close, she knew her time was up. There was no use waiting for Patty to drag the details of the evening out of her, so she headed downstairs to initiate the conversation. It would seem more convincing, too, if she acted excited to tell her mother all about her night.
After forty-five minutes of contriving songs and food served, kings and queens crowned—she had that one fact-checked—Patty seemed satisfied and claimed that it all sounded like a fairy-tale event. Perfect.
Jackie tried to keep from blushing. “It was.”
“That’s good. I know sometimes those big events can be disappointing after getting so excited and anticipating it for so long,” Patty explained.
“I know what you mean,” slipped out of Jackie’s mouth.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing.” Jackie realized she had to change the subject quickly before another grill session ensued.
“So, what’s up for my big day?” she asked a bit too enthusiastically.
“Well, we have a dinner reservation at seven, but I left the afternoon free for you to rest, and seeing as you’ve already had your hair and nails done...”
“That’s fine, Mom. I could use a quiet afternoon.” With that she went back to her room and her guilt.
The claddagh ring sparkled from her nightstand. She wasn’t ready to show her mom yet, but she knew Patty would eventually ask if Matt had given her a birthday present. She might even be impressed.
Matt.
Why hadn’t he called yet?
***
“Eighteen, dude. Pretty sweet, huh?” Joey clapped Matt on the back as he handed him the basketball.
“Yeah, not too shabby being legal and everything.” Matt absently shot a perfect basket.
“Speaking of that, how was ‘everything?’”
“We will not be speaking of it, actually.” Matt had decided Joey already knew enough, more than enough.
“Uh oh, which one of you chickened out?”
“Nobody chickened out. I just don’t want to talk about Jackie that way now that we’ve uh, you know.” Matt had to turn away from Joey. This was awkward.
“Wow, man, you are so far gone this time. Remember you leave in like ten weeks for party central. You might want to loosen the reigns if you know what I mean.”
Matt did know. This was the thought that kept bubbling up and he fought to keep down. He told himself he would have to deal with it when the time came. Not now. Now was celebrating time.
Matt threw the ball at his friend a little harder than necessary. “Shut up with your parental bullshit, and let’s play twenty-one, Barone.”
***
After Jackie showered and had moved on to thinking about her birthday, the calls starting actually coming in as if on cue. That afternoon, aunts, grandparents, friends, and finally, Matt called.
“I was planning on coming over, but my parents
held me captive today.”
“Mine, too, don’t worry. Are they taking you out tonight?” Jackie asked, hoping.
“No, they knew Joe had something up his sleeve, so they brought in a huge lunch from Vinny D’s. I don’t think I’ll ever eat again.”
“I highly doubt it. You’ll probably need a snack after you hang up from the exertion of talking on the phone.” Jackie tried again. “What are you doing tonight?”
“I dunno. I’m at Joey’s mercy. Wish me luck. My mom said you guys are going somewhere downtown.”
“Yes, the Four Seasons.”
“Awesome, I’ll call you tomorrow. I love you, Jackie.”
She closed her eyes and smiled to herself. “I love you, too. Happy birthday.”
They both hung up feeling confident with having separate plans for their birthdays. It would be no big deal.
***
It was quiet, save for the exquisite sounds coming from the gleaming grand piano. The tuxedo-clad waiters spoke of specials in hushed tones and replied, “Very good,” to each request. Jackie felt like a princess, not merely because of the ambiance, but by the manner in which her parents were regarding her this evening, though quietly.
“Isn’t this so nice going with our grown-up daughter?” Patty whispered across the table to both Jackie and Robert, but only looked at Jackie.
“I cannot believe how time has flown.” Robert had been reciting this same line for the better part of a week.
“I know. Turning eighteen and graduating all at the same time is a lot for me to grasp as well.” She wondered if they could sense she had more stress than she voiced. Every time one of them mentioned grown up or the future, she felt nauseous.
