He paused for a second. “Living together? And… You told her no?” He was shocked.
“No, not exactly…”
“Well obviously you didn’t say yes, so there’s only one other answer, bro. Ty, what’s your deal? She’s awesome. Can I have her as a roommate, then? She’d be rad! How ‘bout you move out, and she can stay here with me my senior year?”
I laughed, knowing he was completely serious, but before I could answer, Jayden popped her head out of the kitchen and asked if I had a box.
“You have that much stuff to bring?” I asked, looking into the kitchen. I glanced at the counter and saw several dishes that she had pulled out from the fridge.
“Kind of.”
“Maybe we should just host the barbecue here next year, since you make most of the food.”
“That would be a lot easier,” she agreed.
When she’d returned to the kitchen and Jesse and I were alone again, he quietly said, “What’s holding you back, man? You guys belong together, it’s so obvious.”
“Well yeah, we both feel that way too. But I guess I feel like there’s a time and place for everything, and I just want to make sure I do everything right. I love and respect her too much to shortchange her. She deserves better.”
He gave me a smile that I wasn’t quite sure how to read, but he did say, “You know, I can’t believe you and Aaron got along as much as you did.” He chuckled and added, “You’re a good guy, Ty,” and patted me on the back. “Jayden is lucky to have you.”
Chapter Twenty-One
We made it to Matt and Stacie’s at two o’clock. Jesse followed us there since he had plans with his family and would be leaving by three-thirty. He fit in pretty well with Josh and Silvia, and they spent a lot of time talking to each other. I was really disappointed to see Chris there, and he seemed just as annoyed to see me. He was standing with Shawn by the grill and I hoped he was just going to ignore me. Cali came around two-thirty and the three girls—Jayden, Cali, and Stacie—got pretty loud on the other end of the yard.
“Those three are trouble together,” Matt said to me, shaking his head. We were sitting in a pair of chairs on the back patio, observing the scene. “They attract guys like nothing I’ve ever seen. I think it’s because they’re all so different. Cali and Stacie are loud, so they’re heard before they’re even seen. Then there’s Jayden, whose looks could signal a guy a mile away. But she’s totally not what you’d expect. Guys think she’s hot and automatically try their luck on her, and girls despise her because their boyfriends all stare at her.”
He took a drink of his beer and then motioned to the group again.
“Stacie has a big mouth and could probably out-swear a trucker. She’s cute as can be, but man, don’t piss her off. The same goes for Jayden, too. She’s probably the nicest girl I know, but she can hold her own if a guy really pisses her off. I heard about that putz she decked after the game. That’s Jayden for ya. It’s hilarious because she looks so innocent. But trust me…that guy wasn’t the first. And she hits hard; I should know,” he grinned. “And then there’s Cali… Cali’s just crazy. Sometimes you can’t even joke about a crazy idea around her because she’ll actually make it happen.”
I laughed at that comment. Jayden had said the same thing.
“You and Jay pretty serious, though?” he asked me.
I didn’t know her friends entirely well, but Jayden seemed to really trust Matt. It was weird that he was kind of a cross between Jack and Aaron. And out of all of Jayden’s male friends, he’d been the most accommodating to me.
“Uh, yeah, we are,” I decided to answer.
“I’ve never seen her so…enamored,” he smiled. “She’s not one to date just anyone. She likes to stick to being just friends—it’s safer to her. But I think you two make a good couple.” He took another swig of his beer. “I know Chris can be an ass. Don’t hold it against him, though. He’s a good guy, he just… Ah, I shouldn’t talk about it.”
“I already know how he feels about her. It’s pretty obvious.”
Matt looked at me for a second and nodded his head. “But maybe it’s not as simple as it seems. I’ve known Chris since high school. I actually became friends with him because he was friends with Jayden,” he admitted with a smile. “But Jayden…she was just a really cool chick. Even in high school, when we were seniors and she was just a sophomore, she was probably the coolest girl I knew. We all liked to feel tough and pretend to be her boyfriend, just to ward guys off. Sometimes it caused a lot of problems,” he chuckled, “and Jay just got mad at us. She’s pretty special to us all, but Chris…he’s known her the longest. It’s just…complicated.”
“Well, whatever his feelings are for her, I’m sure I could understand. But I don’t appreciate how he makes her feel sometimes. He shouldn’t make her feel so bad.”
“I agree, man. And we’ve all told him that. He realizes it. He’s just so overprotective of her, wanting to make sure guys treat her right, you know? He knows he can be a jerk. Just give him some time. He really is a good guy. He’d do anything for any one of us.”
I believed that to be true, but I didn’t have a response. It was just as well since Jayden came over to sit with us when Cali was finished with her nails.
“How festive am I, huh?” She held out her hands for me to see. Her fingernails were red and each one had a blue and white star on it.
“Very nice,” I replied.
“Red?” Matt asked with surprise. “I’m shocked.”
“Well, it seems to be the color of the day,” she smiled.
“You don’t like red?” I asked her.
“Oh, I love red. I just…don’t ever wear it. At least not much of it.”
I thought about that for a second and realized it was true. “How come?”
“Attracts too much attention,” Matt snickered mockingly.
“Well, if I wanted attention I would just tattoo myself up like you,” she retorted back. “Do you and Shawn have some sort of contest going on? When’d you get that one?” she asked, pulling down the collar of his shirt.
He smiled down at the top of his chest. “About a month ago. And I’m not all ‘tattooed-up,’ ” he protested. “If I was I’d look like Rick Armstrong. You seen him lately?”
“Ugh! Yes. How could anyone tattoo their face? It’s so ugly.”
“Well, Rick’s a pretty ugly guy. I think it was an improvement.”
“Matt!”
“Hey,” he shrugged, “I call ‘em how I see ‘em. Besides, this is my third and final one. I don’t plan on getting any more.”
“Wait a minute,” I suddenly said to Jayden. “Red attracts too much attention? Is that why you didn’t want the red Mustang?”
She wouldn’t answer me, but the look on her face said it all.
“You’re afraid of attracting too much attention in a red car?” I chuckled.
“It’s not funny!” she laughed, smacking me on the chest.
“Yeah, it kind of is,” I admitted.
“Why?”
“Because you attract attention no matter what.”
We spent another two hours at Matt and Stacie’s. I actually had a lot of fun, and I learned quite a bit about Jayden from being around her friends. They all spoke pretty highly of her, but you could also tell they had been friends for years by the amount of teasing and storytelling that took place.
As I observed each of them, I tried making my own assessment of Jayden’s friends and how they were with her.
In my opinion, I felt that Matt was more like a brother to her. He treated her well but threw in an occasional joke once in a while that was pretty harmless. He seemed to regard her with the utmost respect, and I could tell he was pretty protective of her but in a very subtle way. I could also picture him beating the crap out of any guy that looked at her wrong, and if I didn’t know him, his looks could be pretty intimidating. He was about six-one, with dark eyes and short black hair, and he just had that look that to
ld people he wasn’t to be messed with. He did have a few tattoos, one on each arm and the new one on the upper left side of his chest, and he also had an eyebrow pierced. Jayden once told me she thought he was pretty cute, but she would never admit that to him.
Shawn was very…quirky. I didn’t know if it was because I already knew he was a musician, but he literally looked the part. His brown hair was always messy, and he wore old jeans and odd t-shirts. He also had a couple of tattoos on his upper arm, but I wasn’t sure if he had any others. To me he seemed like the kid that would tease a girl nonstop in school if he liked her—because teasing kept him from having to be serious about his feelings. But on the other hand, he was sometimes very honest and spoke his mind. And he wrote great music. I guess he could be sincere when he wanted to be.
Shawn gave Jayden a hard time about a lot of things, but he’d also say some pretty nice stuff as well. At first I wasn’t really sure why he teased Jayden so much. She was so witty and facetious that everyone ended up laughing at Shawn’s expense. Then I realized he really loved the attention and practically begged to be the butt of every joke. Although Shawn had asked her out a few times, they pretty much stuck to being friends over the years. Jayden was too comfortable with just being friends. Plus Shawn was so goofy she never really felt he was boyfriend material. Besides his musical talent, Jayden admitted that she was attracted to him because he was the first guy she ever met that had green eyes.
Stacie was loud, like Matt said, but she was really nice. She was a year older than Jayden and Cali, but she actually seemed to look up to the two of them. Her hair went to her shoulders and it was a mixture of bleach-blonde, brown, and pink. It made me think of Neapolitan ice cream. She had her nose pierced with a tiny diamond stud, and the only tattoo I saw was a small one on her ankle. I believed that she probably could out-swear a trucker, but I had never actually heard her spit out much profanity. I concluded that she was a little more cautious with her language when she was around Jayden, or maybe just other people in general. But no matter how tough Stacie was on the outside, she really was a sweet girl. Jayden loved her to pieces, and even though they were so different, they were really close.
Chris and Matt were really good friends, and it was sort of hard to believe. Even just their upbringing was about as opposite as you could get. In fact, Matt’s family was probably just as dysfunctional as mine. He even called himself trailer trash. But Chris was very clean cut; no piercings, no tattoos, and I didn’t think he drank much—if he did at all. Although I had seen him in khakis and a button-up shirt only once—which is how I would have guessed him to dress all the time—he actually dressed a little more sporty-casual, kind of like me. He had dark brown hair and eyes like Cali, but whereas Cali seemed fairly short, Chris was the same height as me. I knew he liked to play basketball, but his main interest was wakeboarding, which is why he was out on the boat most of the summer.
In a million years I would have never guessed that Chris was interning to become a doctor. Out of all of Jayden’s friends we probably saw him the least because he was so busy with school, but I wasn’t going to complain about that. And I don’t need to get into how he treated Jayden because it’s probably pretty obvious, but from what I’ve heard, everyone always thought he was her doting boyfriend.
The odd thing was that I could actually see myself being friends with a guy like Chris. When I thought about it, I realized we actually had a lot in common. He really did seem like a great guy around his other friends, just as Matt said, and I guess I did sort of feel left out because he didn’t like me. I wanted to be friends with him, but I also felt that he would never be willing to come to that point. I wasn’t sure if that would ever change.
My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed Shawn had an acoustic guitar in his hands and he was playing a very familiar song.
“See, this is my version—” he played a part of the song and it sounded pretty powerful “—and here’s Jayden—” he played the same part a bit timid, forcing it to sound more delicate.
“Oh, right!” Matt said, throwing an empty soda can at him. “You can’t even play every note, that’s why you just slam ‘em all together! At least Jay has some talent to add to it. Take that guitar away from him,” he told Jayden, “and show him how to do it right.”
“Yeah Jayden, show me how to do it right,” Shawn mimicked. He handed her the guitar with a smirk, but I could tell he already knew how well she could play it.
“Why should I give you a free lesson?” she asked him with a smile.
Everyone laughed, but Shawn just shrugged his shoulders.
She put her fingers to the strings and played the exact same measures of the song, but it actually sounded like a complete mixture of the two styles that Shawn had played. It had the fierceness of “his” style, but the smoothness and intricacy of “hers.”
It brought a loud response from everyone.
“Oh, man!” Josh yelled at his brother. “You have been outplayed!”
“I don’t even know how you do shows without her,” Matt added. “You actually get paid when she doesn’t play with you?”
Shawn laughed and said, “No, not as much.” He winked at Jayden and she tried to hand him the guitar. “No,” he motioned, “you’ve earned the honor of playing something for us.”
“Thanks, but no thanks,” she smiled.
“Oh, come on, Jay,” Chris spoke up. “Play us some 80’s hair band music, acoustic-style. You know Cali’s too shy to ask.”
Cali laughed out loud. “Did my brother call me shy?”
“Matt, do you still have that old, beat up Taylor?” Jayden asked him.
“I do. You want it?”
“Yes,” she smiled.
Matt got up to retrieve the requested guitar while Jayden handed Shawn his.
“Are we dueling, or duet-ing?” he smiled.
“You never win a duel,” Josh told him.
“Of course he does,” Jayden said. “Especially when he chooses songs that I haven’t played for a while.”
“No, he usually gets out of it by claiming he’s too drunk,” Matt added, handing Jayden a very worn-looking guitar. “It needs tuned. My nephew was here the other day.”
She worked on it for a minute while Shawn was playing another song. “Hey Jay, remember this?” He played out a few more measures and she smiled.
“Is that your version, or Craig’s?”
He scoffed. “Mine, of course. Why would I play his?”
“I was joking,” she rolled her eyes. “You think I’d forget being in the middle of you two, fighting over every note?”
Shawn laughed. “True. You and uh… You two walked out on us at least a dozen times.”
There was an awkward silence for a few seconds, and everyone seemed to be staring at him.
“What?” he finally asked.
“You can’t even say her name,” Matt told him.
Shawn shook his head in denial. “I can too. I was just…” He shrugged.
“Say whose name?” I murmured to Jayden.
Shawn looked like he wanted to prevent Jayden from saying anything, but she turned to me with a smile and said, “Camryn.”
I recognized the name, and then slowly nodded my head. She was one of Jayden’s friends that visited her in the hospital.
“Is that a name we’re not supposed to bring up?” I asked.
Shawn waved his hand. “They’re just being dramatic.”
“Dramatic?” Matt asked with disbelief. “You pine over a girl for three years, spend countless hours playing music with her, can’t even get the nerve to ask her out, turn red at the mention of her name, and we’re being dramatic?”
“Whatever!” Shawn protested. “And I did go out with her, so I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about the fact that you’ve never gotten over her, half your songs are about her, and you still can’t tell her how you really feel about her! No, you have to wait until she’s finall
y dating someone else, and then you want to get all sappy for her.”
“Ah, leave him alone,” Jayden said to Matt. “I don’t even want to get into your relationship issues.”
“Yeah,” Stacie added, punching Matt in the arm.
“Ow. All I’m saying is that he should just be honest.”
“And what is that gonna do?” Shawn asked. “I tell her how much I care about her, she laughs in my face and continues to date what’s-his-face.”
“Kyle,” Cali interjected.
Shawn gave her a look that said he very well knew the guy’s name.
“Sorry,” she mumbled.
“Anyway,” he continued. “She’s happy with him. I’m not gonna mess with that.”
“You’re being a coward,” Matt replied, folding his arms across his chest.
“Just stay out of it. I’m happy dating other people,” Shawn shrugged casually. “And…I’m gonna have a busy music career one of these days and don’t wanna be tied down.”
He continued with the song to signify that the topic of Camryn was closed, but I could tell that his friends didn’t agree with him. However, the conversation did cease, and the music took over instead. He began playing another part of the song and Jayden joined in.
“Oh, whoops, wrong part,” she laughed, and began it again.
They played through the song for a few seconds until Cali said, “Sing it or I will.”
“Oh, hell no!” Shawn laughed, and he began to sing a song before Cali could.
“That’s not even how it goes!” Cali objected.
“I don’t care,” he replied. “I’m gonna sing until I remember it, just so you can’t make our ears bleed.” He continued to babble random words until she threw a chip at him. Then he laughed and said, “Come on, Jay, help me out.”
“I don’t remember it either,” she admitted.
Cali started to obnoxiously sing a line to the song and several people cringed. But after Shawn made a face at her to let her know how awful she was, he remembered the words. Jayden listened for a moment until she recalled them also, and the two played and sang it together.
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