by Tonya Clark
“You are home early,” I sign, after a few moments of both of us just standing there staring at each other.
He only nods his head.
“Jacob, we need to talk and clear a few things up.”
Again, he only nods with agreement. It seems like I’m going to be the one doing all the talking, which is fine, he needs to know what I have to say.
“Let’s start with the school issue. I called the principal yesterday and told him you would be back on Monday. I think it’s time to start getting back to life.”
Jacob stares down at the coke can he is drinking out of. After a minute, he sets it down on the counter and then finally looks back up at me.
“I’m not sure what exactly a regular life is anymore, but I will go back on Monday.”
A little shocked, all I can do is stare at him in surprise. He has gone from a very angry, almost childlike temper tantrum earlier today to my seventeen-year-old, mature brother. What happened in between to change him that fast?
“Jacob, we are going to have to adjust to a new life, both of us. Mom and Dad are gone, we will have some changes, which brings me to the next thing. I don’t know why you thought I would leave you here alone and go back to Texas, but I never even thought that. In a couple weeks, I will have to go to Texas and go through the final inspection on the track home down there but afterwards, I’m packing everything and coming home here. I have already looked into selling my house there, it’s on the market already.”
“What about the business down there in Texas, how are you going to run that from here?”
“I can do most of the work from here, paperwork wise. I may have to make a trip down there every once in a while, but Steve will actually run the projects.”
“Tyler’s dad told me today that I needed to talk to you.”
So that’s what changed in the last couple of hours. It pisses me off a little that Jacob will listen to Mr. Colter but wouldn’t give me a chance to talk to him. I instantly cool my temper, at least someone was able to get through to him, now maybe we can start fixing things from this point on.
Jacob looks down at my bare feet, “I saw Ms. Edwards’ car outside.”
It isn’t a question. I just nod, now we need to figure out this problem. Get everything out in the open and start fresh.
“I’m not sure how I feel about you sleeping with my teacher.”
I understand his feelings, if I am honest with myself I’m not sure how I feel about sleeping with his teacher. Obviously, not for the same reasons as his, but all the same.
“I’m not just sleeping with her, I think I’m starting to like her more than that,” I confess to him.
As he stares at me, you can see him thinking about it.
“Just don’t push it on me.”
Push it on him? I haven’t pushed anything on him, especially Jayden and me. I’m not going to tiptoe around him, though, he needs to know she is going to be around.
“Look, first off you need to apologize for the things you have said to and about her. You were completely out of line to attack her like that. Second, I’m not going to push you to like the situation, but I am letting you know now that I’m not ending anything with her. She will be around, and you need to get used to it.”
He doesn’t say anything else, he just nods. Pushing off the counter, I walk over to him. “Jacob, you’re my little brother, I will always be here for you, even when we grow old and have lives of our own.”
For the first time in a long time, Jacob smiles. “When we grow old? You are already old.”
“Not too old to kick your butt still.” Laughing, I hug him. This is my brother, I’m glad to have him back
“You could try, old man, you could try,” he signs, as he walks past me and out of the kitchen.
Quietly opening my bedroom door, I find Jayden fully dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Everything all right?” she asks.
Walking over to her, I grab her hand and pull her up onto her feet, claiming her lips.
“I’ll take that as everything went well,” she answers her own question, a little breathless.
“I guess Mr. Colter had a little talk with him and convinced him to finally talk and listen to me.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“At first it pissed me off. After thinking about it for a minute, I realized as long as it got us talking, why do I care if it took someone else to get through to him as long as someone finally did?”
“So, everything is good now?” Her eyebrow rises up in question.
She isn’t talking about between Jacob and me, she is talking about how Jacob feels about her being here with me.
“I’m sure we will have some bumps here and there, I’m not expecting everything to go perfect, but I think it will definitely be better between us now.”
She doesn’t say anything. She just looks up like she is waiting for me to continue. She wants to know about how he feels about us.
“He knows he owes you an apology.”
“Cameron, don’t force him on that. I understand his reaction.”
“Jayden, for one he was raised better than how he treated you. Second, he had no right to say the things he did. He should be respectful, and he was anything but that.”
“A lot has happened, Cameron. He was going through an anger stage.”
“Jayden, don’t make excuses for him being rude. He needs to apologize.”
She wants to continue arguing with me, I can see it in her eyes, but what he did there was no good reason to excuse. He should never have said what he did, regardless of how he felt about the two of us being together.
“So, he’s all right with this?” She gestures with her hand between the two of us.
“What are we saying this is?” I mimic her gesture between the two of us. “Jayden, you are the one who said you don’t do the relationship thing.”
Shrugging, she looks down. “I’ve never done the relationship thing, Cameron.”
Well that is a surprise to hear. “Was that a choice of yours?”
I have a hard time believing she has never been in a solid relationship due to no interest. I have a feeling it has to be a choice she has made, but why? I watch as she sits down on the edge of the bed, her hands between her thighs, eyes looking down.
“It’s a long story, but I’ll give you the short version.” She looks up at me, “I thought my parents had a perfect marriage. A couple completely in love. One day I came home from school to my mom bawling in the kitchen. She had been completely in love with my father. My father, however, was sleeping with others. I watched my mom almost completely fall apart from a broken heart. I never wanted to feel that broken. I decided as long as I didn’t let anyone in, then they couldn’t break me when they decided they wanted out.”
“You haven’t been in a relationship because you think whoever you decide to be in a relationship with will cheat on you?” I don’t even try to hide my surprise. Jayden seems like too strong of a person to allow someone to break her.
“Cameron, I watched my mom hurt and go through hell because of how much she loved my father and he didn’t return the same love to her. She tried to act strong around me, but at night I would hear her crying, alone in her room. I would sit outside her door and listen to her. My dad did that to her.”
“Jayden, not everyone cheats. How is your mom now?”
“Great! She is remarried to a great guy that she met here in Washington. I grew up in Tennessee, but once everything happened, Mom and I moved here. My mom has family here.”
“So, your mom remarried and is happy. That should prove to you that there is love in a relationship. Not everyone is like your dad.”
She doesn’t say anymore. She just sits there playing with her nails. Kneeling down, I grab her hand. She looks me in the eyes, I see the fear and it tears at my chest. This strong woman is showing fear, showing me her weakness.
&
nbsp; “What is this we have going on here, Jayden?”
“Cameron, earlier today before you sent me the text, I was sitting at home, thinking about you. I was having very mixed feelings. I haven’t stopped thinking about you since we met. From the moment I walked into Mr. Lennerd’s office, you have had an effect on me. Then you basically told me to step away. No one has affected me the way you have, and honestly it scares the hell out of me.”
“Jayden, I can’t tell you what the future will hold. I have definitely learned that life can change in a second. One thing I can say is I’ll never cheat. One woman at a time is all I want or can handle.”
Laughing, she smacks me on the arm. “We aren’t that bad. Trust me, you guys aren’t as easy as you think you are. You said yourself you don’t really do the relationship thing either. Why has that changed?”
“Because a few weeks ago, this fireball fell into an office I was at for a meeting and I haven’t been able to think straight since.”
I wait as she searches my face. She is thinking, you can see the wheels turning behind her eyes. She leans forward, I think she is going to kiss me but she stops close enough that I can feel her lips against mine when she speaks. “All right, let’s try this relationship thing.”
I gave her a light kiss. “I’m not going to promise I’ll be easy to deal with, I’m kind of cranky.”
“Kind of cranky?! That’s putting it nicely.”
Moving quickly, I stand back up but push her back so that she is laying on the bed, leaning over her. “Does this seem cranky to you?”
She laughs, pushing against my chest. “As much as I’d like to see this cranky side, I’m starving, for food. Some cranky guy has been playing with my head, which has played with my appetite.”
Pushing up off the bed, I grab her hand to pull her up to her feet in front of me. “Come on then, let me feed you.”
As we come down the stairs, I find Jacob sitting on the couch. He looks up as we hit the bottom of the stairs.
“We are going to go grab something to eat, do you want to join us?” I sign.
I watch as he looks behind me and Jayden. “Ms. Edwards, I’m sorry for what I said to you the other day,” he signs.
“It’s alright, Jacob, I understand,” I hear her say behind me.
She is letting him off too easy I think, but I’m not going to push it tonight. He apologized, I am going to be happy about that.
“So, did you want to go?” I sign once again.
I watch as he looks between Jayden and myself, then shakes his head no. “I had pizza at Tyler’s before I came home.”
“All right, I’ll be home later then. If you need anything, text me.”
He nods and then looks back down at his phone.
When I look back at Jayden, I see the concern in her eyes. She doesn’t miss the looks from Jacob, which they are hard to miss. He did apologize but his face speaks of his concerns and disapproval of the two of us. He is going to have to get used to it.
“Jayden, he will be fine, don’t worry.” I grab her hand and lead her out of the house.
****
I was expecting some issues from Jacob Monday morning but there were none. He was up and ready in plenty of time. He almost seemed happy to be going back to school.
An hour after school starts, my phone goes off with a text from him. Maybe he isn’t ready to go back to school? I let go of the breath I am holding when I read it and all he wants is for me to come down to the school and sign forms for track that the coach needs. He is putting himself back into sports, this has to be a good thing.
I have no idea what Mr. Colter said to my brother, but it completely turned him around. Not only are there no more issues with going back to school, he is going back to sports as well. I need to call Mr. Colter and tell him thank you.
Walking down the hallway of the school, I look into each class as I pass wondering which room is Jayden’s. I almost asked the coach before I left, but then thought better of it. I don’t want to cause problems for Jayden.
I have just passed a row of rooms and am getting ready to go out the door, when I hear Jayden’s voice behind me.
“Cameron.”
I turn to see her standing in the doorway of one of the rooms. “Hey, I was just wondering which one of these rooms you might be in.” I make my way back over to her.
She points up above the door, it reads Room 12. “This would be mine. I saw you pass by, is everything all right with Jacob?”
She is always concerned about him, even after he has been a jerk to her. He doesn’t deserve her worry after the way he treated her.
“Yeah, everything is good. He wants to get back on the track team, I had to sign some papers.”
The lights flash through the hallway and before you know it, all the kids are piling into the hall all heading in different directions. I watch as she says goodbye to the kids from her class and when she looks up at me, I notice her looking past me to something or someone behind me. When I look over my shoulder, I see another teacher around Jayden’s age standing at the last door of the hallway.
Jayden speaking brings my attention back around to her. “Are you by any chance interested in maybe going on a double date? I would like for you to meet Charliee. She has just started dating one of the firefighters who helped with the rescue.”
Jayden had mentioned before that her friend was there that night of the bombing as well.
“I don’t know, Jayden. I’m pretty busy with both tracks getting ready to be finished here real soon, time isn’t something I have a lot of extra right now.”
I try to keep eye contact with her but can’t and she is seeing right through my crap, I can see it in her eyes.
“Cameron, what’s going on?”
“Jayden, I really don’t want to talk about this now or here.”
“What’s the problem? If we are going to do this, you should meet one of the most important people in my life.”
“Jayden, what part of I don’t want to discuss this right now was I not clear on?” I know the tone in my voice is harsh, and I shouldn’t be talking this way, but she isn’t letting up.
“Is it because she was involved that night?”
“Jayden, enough!” I hiss at her, trying to keep my temper at bay. I need to leave before I say something I am going to regret. I don’t wait to give her a chance to say anything else, I turn and walk away from her. Jayden is pissed and honestly, I can’t blame her, but I don’t want to talk about this in the middle of a hallway in the school with people all around. Right now, I need air.
Chapter 16
Jayden
Cameron just walked away from me, what the hell? He isn’t even willing to talk to me about this. I know I’m new at this relationship thing, I haven’t had a lot of experience with them at all, but I’m pretty sure if the guy you’re seeing won’t meet your best friends, that can’t be a good thing.
I watch until the door closes behind him and Charliee starts walking up to me. How am I supposed to explain this to her? I can see the questions in her eyes as she nears me. This is going to be fun.
“Are you ready for lunch?”
No twenty questions, really? What happened to my best friend? I know she’s curious, it’s written all over her face. However, I’m not going to push my luck, I let the conversation go for now.
“Yeah, let me go and grab my lunch.”
I’m not hungry, thanks to Cameron.
“So, when are you going to tell me who the guy was?” Charliee finally asks the question I have been waiting for her to ask.
I can’t keep this from her any longer. We are best friends, we tell each other everything. I followed her into shower to get the story about her and Travis.
I take a deep breath. “That was Cameron Tovaren.”
Charliee’s eyes get large. “How is he related?”
“Cameron is their oldest son. He moved back to take care of Jacob.”
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br /> “You guys seemed to be arguing.”
It isn’t a question, Charliee is great at reading situations. I just nod my head.
“What were you two arguing about?”
“It was nothing really.”
She studies me for a moment, she knows I’m holding something from her.
“Were you guys arguing over Jacob?” she asks, when I don’t say anything.
Oh, how I wish that was what it was about. That would be easier than telling her he didn’t want to meet her.
“How close have you two become?”
Again, words aren’t needed, she is reading all of the answers from my face.
“How long, Jayden?”
“We met about two weeks after the bombing. Jacob had taken a few weeks off from school. They didn’t want him to fall behind. I told Cameron I would tutor Jacob while he was out. I ended up going to the house to tutor him. After a couple of times, Cameron asked me out for drinks. He said he needed someone to talk to, so I accepted. He’s a great guy, we have a lot of chemistry. Things are great as long as I don’t interfere or say anything about Jacob.”
“So, you guys were arguing about Jacob?”
Right now, I wish I could say yes. “Today surprisingly wasn’t about Jacob.”
I take a deep breath, I can’t keep all of this from her any longer.
“Charliee, the other day when we were getting our toes done, you mentioned double dating. I asked Cameron about getting together with you and Travis. That would be what we were arguing about. It’s you!”
“Wait, what?” You can see the shock all over her face, I know she wasn’t expecting that answer.
I hold up my hands before she can say anything. “Let me explain.”
“Please do,” she signs only.
Charliee usually talks when she signs, but when she is mad or frustrated, she only signs. I think she messes up words more during those times so she just reverts to what she doesn’t have to think about.
