Happenstance (13 page)

“Jared?” She asks and turns around.

“Does your bed squeak?” I grin mischievously and turn off the
light.

Chapter
Fourteen

November 2011

Victoria

Thanksgiving goes off without a hitch, I am so pleased
to see my family get along and form a bond with Jared and his mom. Abu convinces
us all to get together for a photo and she is able to get one decent shot of
all of us after Andres and Jared stop acting goofy and make funny poses. I
can’t wait to print
those
out. While
Carrie and I do the dishes, I take a peek outside and find Jared and Abu
talking quietly on the patio. I can’t hear a word they are saying, but I can
tell they are both deep in their discussion. I decide this is the best time to
ask about Jared’s father.

“I hope you’re having a great time Carrie, it is so nice to
finally meet you and get together.” I figure the best way to get started will
be with a positive statement.

“Oh I’ve had a wonderful time as well Victoria. You know, my son
is very fond of you, he talks about you all the time.” My insides turn into
mush at the thought of this man thinking of me. I smile at her and tell her I’m
falling in love with him.

“Yes,” she says nodding her head, “I can tell.” She smiles back.

Ok, now or never. Clearing my throat I say, “Carrie, what happened
between him and his father?” I can see the door shutting down in her eyes.
Crap.

“Sweetie, I’m sorry but you’ll just have to discuss that with
him.”

“He won’t. He won’t let me in,” I plead with her. “Please.”

She takes a deep breath and wipes her hands with a towel. Maybe I
shouldn’t have asked but I’m dying to know more about his past, about his life.
After a few seconds, she speaks up.

“He was nine years old; his father always loved the liquor and
wasn’t what I would call involved in his life but it got so much worse in the
last years.” She clears her throat and I refrain from staring at her. I
absently start drying the dishes. She continues, “When he lost his job, the
alcohol became a more frequent thing and before I knew it he was drinking his
days away. I tried to talk to him, asked him to seek help but he just went
further down the path. He’d have his beers and eat his dinner on the sofa. One
day he just up and left and never came home. I called every friend and relative
I knew for information. I even called hospitals, and then after two days, I
filed a missing person’s claim. They found him within a week in Texas, I spoke
to him briefly and he told me he had a new family and wasn’t coming back.” Her
eyes are clouded over with tears and I lean forward to hug her. “I’m sorry,” I
whisper.

She sniffles, “Oh, it’s not your fault . . . it was just hard at
first. How do you adjust from a family you are used to, to a single mom, you
know? Jared was devastated.”

I nod my head sympathetically and rub her arm. I might not be a
single mom, but I sure know what it’s like to be forced to adjust.

“What’s going on?” Jared asks behind us. We quickly move apart
and Carrie turns to grab
a napkin
acting like if she
still needs to dry her hands.

“Nothing,” I say. I hope my voice doesn’t give me away.
“Just having a talk with your mom.”

“Ma?
You ok?” Jared asks her.

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I be?” She looks him over and
barely bats an eye.

Wow. She’s good.

“We’re going to play a game of Uno, you ladies want in?”

We both agree and I walk over to him for a hug. No wonder he
wants nothing to do with his father. The guy is a total douchebag. How
do
you go from one family to the next in
a matter of a week? In his own way, Jared has learned to accept it and move on.
I grab his hand and let him lead me into the family room to finish off our
evening.

~

“There’s no way you’re wearing that babe,” he tells me
and crosses his arms.

I look down at my jeans and orange UM football shirt.
“Why not?”

He raises his eyebrow.
“Because we are going to
a University of Florida vs. Florida State game.
Nothing
to do with University of Miami.”

Of course he is wearing a Gator t-shirt that says:
“True Florida Fan. All Others Are Gator Bait.”

I shrug. “I know, but this is the only football shirt I have.”

“You don’t need to wear a football shirt just wear plain blue or
orange.”

Now I cross my arms.
“And why those colors?”

“Those are Gator colors,” he says simply. I tilt my head to the
side.

“Well Maggie is wearing Seminole colors.”

Jared scoffs. “So? Your boyfriend is a Gator and that’s what
you’re going to wear.”

I roll my eyes. “Whatever, I
guess
I can please you and wear blue.”

He narrows his eyes, but doesn’t say anything as I go back to my
room to change. I don’t really care about football to be honest, my UM shirt is
thanks to a game I went to a while back and of course, because I’m from Miami. I
only watch the games if there’s a party or someone invites me somewhere.
Which is what is happening tonight.

One of Maggie’s friends—Jeremy—is having a bar-b-q at his house
for the big football game and invited us. This is the first time that Maggie
and Jared will meet, plus we both get to meet some of Maggie’s other friends so
I’m excited. I text Maggie letting her know that we’re outside when we park in
front of a nice one story house with two car garage in a cookie cutter
neighborhood.

“V!” I hear someone squeal and wrap their arms around my neck as
I get stuff from the trunk. I feel a wet kiss on my cheek and I turn around
with a smile on my face.

“
Mags
!”
I hug
her and take a step back. I see two other girls and a guy walk behind her and
we make our introductions.

“This is Jared,” I say and in turn I meet Kristie, a pretty girl
with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a Gators shirt. Then there’s Melissa, a
petite brunette with big breasts wearing a low cut Seminole shirt and Jeremy, a
stocky blond with blue eyes also wearing a Seminole shirt. So basically we’re
three and three on who will root for whom. Jeremy shows us his new grill and
the boys immediately get the meat cooking while us girls start passing out
beers and sit down.

“Jared is very cute, V!” Maggie tells me. I smile at her and nod.

Melissa asks, “Yeah where did you find him?”

“He’s my dog’s vet,” I reply simply. They don’t need to know the
specifics.

“Oh he’s a doctor . . . interesting,” says Kristie glancing over
at him. Is it me or is she ogling him just a little bit too much? I frown and
Maggie interrupts my thoughts.

“Well Jeremy ain’t so bad either between you and me,” she
whispers so only I can hear and winks at me. I widen my eyes, Jeremy and
Maggie? I thought he was just a friend and he didn’t seem like her type, but
now that I think about it they do look kind of smitten with each other. I see
that although he’s talking to Jared he’s not so discreetly checking Maggie out.
I smile to myself and hope that he gives Maggie everything she deserves.

While the food is being served, so are the drinks and by game
time we are all slightly buzzing. We walk inside when the game starts and sit
divided based on who we are rooting for. Kristie, Jared, and I sit on one sofa
while Jeremy, Maggie, and Melissa sit on the other.

“You’re going
dowwwwwn
suckas
!” Jared yells pointing at Maggie and her Seminole
group.

“You wish! The
Noles
got this one
buddy!” Maggie counters.

Kristie leans closer to Jared and places her hand on his arm. “
Yeahhh
whatever, we’ll see what happens by the end of the
game!”

I glance over at Jared and our eyes meet for a split second
before he looks back to Maggie. “Don’t be a gator
hater,
you still have time to get on the right team you know.”

Jeremy intercepts and wraps his arms around Maggie, “Nah
brotha
, this one’s on my team. Get a girl for your own.”

“I’m definitely on your team,” I hear Kristie-the-skank
practically purr to Jared. What the fuck! The game has started and Jared is
looking straight ahead but this bitch is still ogling him.

“Jared, switch seats with me,” I whisper in his ear. He looks at
me and raises an eyebrow.

“Why?”

“Because . . .” I glance over at Kristie who is finally leaning
back on the sofa.

“Nah, I’m fine right here,” he tells me. I narrow my eyes at him.
He doesn’t look at me.

Maggie tries to hand me another beer but I refuse. Suddenly I am
sobered up and watching Kristie
like
a hawk. Jared
isn’t flirting but he isn’t putting her in her place either and I’m starting to
get irrigated with every one of her ridiculous laughs.

“Ha, did you see that guy’s face when he lost the ball,
looooserrrs
!” Kristie is giggling like a fool and running
her hand all over his arm. Everyone else is talking and laughing but all I hear
is Kristie.

“Wasn’t that funny Jared?” she asks him practically on his lap!

Jared smiles politely. “Yeah, it was awesome!”

By this point, Maggie has noticed and frowns when I catch her
eye. I tilt my head towards the kitchen to tell her to meet me there. We both
get up and I grab her as soon as we are out of earshot.

“What the fuck is up with your skanky friend, Kristie?” I hiss.

“Clearly, she’s interested. She’s starting to give him her ‘Fuck
Me’ eyes.”

“What!” I nearly yell, suddenly clenching my fists.

“
Shhh
! Calm down, it’s a
misunderstanding I’m sure,” Maggie tells me.

“Misunderstanding of what? I came here with him,” I tell her
exasperated.

“Yeah, and you also didn’t introduce him as your boyfriend. You
said he was your dog’s vet, so what does she know?”

“Well I’m going to squash this shit now,” I say as I walk back to
the living room.

The first thing I see is her leaning over seductively to grab him
a beer. Her fat ass (ok not so fat but right now that’s what I’m calling it) is
pointing at
my
boyfriend while she
hands
my
boyfriend his beer! She
turns around and bats her eyelashes but I grab the beer from her hand and tell
her, “I can give my boyfriend his beer thank you.”

Her eyes widen, “Your boyfriend?
Now
he’s your boyfriend?”

“What do you mean ‘now’?”

I can tell that everyone is on alert and watching us. I don’t
care,
I don’t glance at anyone else but her. Let it be clear
where I stand with Jared.

She scoffs at me. “You didn’t say he was your boyfriend earlier. Plus
you guys have barely touched each other. Next time, be a little bit more
specific. And how about act a little bit more like a couple than a brother and
sister?”

“Don’t worry so much about how we act as a couple and mind your
own business,” I tell her and hand over Jared’s beer. He’s smirking at me.
Actually smirking! The nerve!

“Move over Jared,” I snap. He bites his lip but does what I say.
We watch the rest of the first half quietly with me sitting between Kristie and
Jared and finally Kristie leaves at halftime. Good riddance. Once she leaves
I’m able to relax and enjoy the night but something that Kristie said nags at
me and I can’t wait for the game to be over.

I stay pretty quiet until we get to his house where I’ll be
spending the night. I stand in the middle of his bedroom and glance at him
waiting to see if he’ll acknowledge the argument or not. He doesn’t say
anything and starts getting undressed. I am getting more and more irritated and
I let out a deep breath. He turns around before reaching the bathroom and
sighs.

“What is it, Victoria?” he asks.

“Why weren’t you affectionate today?”

He is silent for a moment and leans against the door frame of the
bathroom before speaking. “What do you mean?”

I roll my eyes, “C’mon you know what I mean. You’re always
holding my hand or giving me little kisses and tonight you were distant.
Kristie had a point.”

“Really?” he asks and crosses his arms. “What about rolling your
eyes at the mention of
boyfriend
, or
not introducing me as your boyfriend to your friends, but just as ‘Jared’?
Kristie had a point there too. What about that you just wanted something casual,
remember
?” His eyes narrow and I
remember our conversation from this morning. Shit. He is right. Ugh, I hate
when other people are right.

I lower my eyes and look at the floor. “I didn’t like her
flirting with you,” I admit.

“Clearly.
And I don’t like you
downplaying our relationship. So if that’s what it was going to take to get you
to admit being mine I would have made you jealous a long time ago.”

I glance up at him and he says, “No one can resist this sexy
beast,
ya
know,” he smiles and I smile back and poke
him in the chest.

“Dork,” I say.

He wraps his arms around my waist, “You know it, smart ass . . .
so you missed my touches and quick kisses huh?”

I wrap my arms around his neck and shiver as he runs his hands down
my back under my shirt. “Yes,” I whisper.

He leans down and softly grazes his lips with my own. “Good,
let’s make up for lost time then.”

We stay in the shower till the water runs cold.

Chapter
Fifteen

December 2011

Victoria

With school preparing for the winter break, I am
extremely busy getting the kids’ holiday
show
in
effect, more meetings with parents and faculty to prepare for the new year. The
month of December is flying by and before I know it, I’m home and stoked to
have two weeks off to spend relaxing with my family. For Christmas, my
grandmother and brother are driving up and we are going to have a small meal
and open gifts on Christmas morning.