Chapter 11: Old Enough (part 2)

Josi walked into the hotel room to see Rhoda and Annabelle sitting on the bed as Rhoda fixed the little girl's hair. "Hey ma!" Josi called out as she went over and sat down on the opposite bed. "I gotta talk to you about something," she said getting straight to the point.

"Yeah?" What's that?" Rhoda asked without taking her attention away from Annabelle's hair.

"Amelia and I have this game we wanna play," Josi started.

"Can I join?" Annabelle begged. Anytime she heard the words play and game, she knew that she wanted to be a part of it.

Josi just laughed. "I don't think so," she answered, "but I don't think you would like it much anyways."

Annabelle just lowered her head and silently pouted. "You don't know that," she she softly stated.

Josi gave Annabelle a sympathetic look before turning her attention back to her mother. "Anyways, we wanna see who can get the most numbers from guys and then pick the best one to go out with after the reception," Josi explained. "We would be going back to Amelia's place I think, and I only plan on being out til about three," she stated.

Rhoda sighed as she looked over to Josi. "You promise me that you will not be alone with this guy, ever. I also want you to stay in this hotel, be back here by three, no later and see me before you leave with him. You hear me?" Rhoda really didn't like the idea of Josi going out with some guy that she didn't know, but it was only for a few hours and they wouldn't be alone and they would be right in the same building.

"I promise," Josi stated.

"Good," Rhoda responded and then went back to Annabelle's hair.

"But I do have one more question," Josi stated.

"Yeah?" Rhoda flatly asked.

"Ya wanna join?" she offered.

Rhoda looked over to her as if she were crazy. "Ya really think I wanna go down there, make a fool of myself collecting numbers and then finding one that I like and blindly going out with him for a few hours?" she questioned.

Josi sighed as she leaned forward and rested her arms on her legs. "You don't have to go out and get the numbers, all you gotta do is find a guy that ya like and go out with him," Josi exlained.

Rhoda finished Annabelle's hair and turned to face Josi. "I know what you're trying to do here, and really it's a nice thought, but it just doesn't appeal to me. Believe it or not kid, when you reach a certain age those fun nights out just seem to lose excitement. I got you two to worry about, and I'm not that young anymore. If I go out with someone, I better have an actual chance with that person and they had better get along with you and your sister. I want somethin' serious, not just some stupid one night stand," Rhoda explained.

Josi looked down and shrugged. "All right," she said in defeat. Standing up, she smiled. "Maybe back at home," she said and then walked over to the mirror where she started checking to see if she had to redo her make up or anything.

Rhoda just watched her. Josi had mentioned dating to her before, but she never tried to get her to do something like this before. Wanting to talk to her alone, she looked down to Annabelle. "Say, Anna, why don't ya go over to Aunt Mary's room and see if she needs help watching Jessie, okay?" she suggested.

"All right," Annabelle agreed. She hopped off the bed and quickly made her way over to the door and left.

"Come here," Rhoda instructed as she patted the spot next to her.

Josi did as she said and sat down next to her. "What?" she asked. It was evident what was going to be talked about, but it was the only thing she could think to say.

"Come on kid, spill. All the sudden you're tryin' to get me to go out with a random guy I meet," she said.

"I know," Josi stated, trying to avoid the topic. Staring straight forward, she tried to think of a way to tell her why. The last thing she wanted to tell her was that she was afraid of leaving her alone. Mainly, she was afraid of her mom being alone because of her. "I'm going to be getting ready to graduate and go off to college," Josi cautiously started. Looking over to see how Rhoda was reacting, she could tell by the smirk on her face that she was catching onto to what she was about to say.

"And then it's just gonna be me and Anna," she attempted to finish Josi's thought.

Josi smiled. "Yeah. Then she's going to be getting closer to going out on her own," she continued.

"Considering that she's going to be starting the first grade next year, I think that we still have a little while before she moves out," Rhoda remarked.

"I just don't want to the be the reason you end up all alone when you could have been out there getting remarried and having someone there," Josi blurted out.

"I thought you were supposed to be smart," Rhoda remarked. Once she saw that she had captured the girl's interest, she continued, "first off, its not your fault. I decided not to go out looking for a new man because I would rather be with you. I did date a little here and there, but I decided that for some reason you were the better choice to spend a Saturday night with. Second, if your theory was true, that being married or having a boy friend would keep me from being lonely, then everything that happened between Joe and I would've never happened. He would still be here right now."

Josi sat there and thought about it. She was right, there was no way to guarantee that she would always have someone. It just felt better to know that there was at least a little hope though. To know that maybe the one she is with now might still be there when she left home. Deciding to let the subject go, she looked up and smiled. "So I guess I'm just going to have to stay home with you forever then huh?" she joked.

"I love you, but there's a limit," Rhoda teased.

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"You want to do what?" Mary asked in disbelief as she quickly wheeled around from the mirror to face her eldest daughter who was currently leaning casually against the wall.

"I would be with Josi and Amelia," Lisey offered in defense. "It's not like I'm doing this all by myself."

"Lisey, I think I would much rather you come back here with me afterwards," Mary stated.

Lisey sighed and crossed her arms. "Why?" she asked trying her hardest not to sound whiny.

Mary was about to answer her question but was distracted by a knock at the door. "Hold on," she said and then rushed to the door. "Hi Annabelle," she smiled as she greeted.

"Something wrong?" Annabelle inquired.

"No," Mary replied.

"Yes! I can't do what your sister and Amelia are!" Lisey called from the background.

"The game?" Annabelle asked as she leaned her head to the side to see Lisey.

"You know about this?" Mary asked.

"Yeah. Josi was asking ma about it," she replied.

Mary knew it was wrong to pry, but she wanted to know. "Did you hear what your mom had to say about this?" It wasn't just to know, she just wanted to know whether or not Josi was actually able to do this.

"She's allowed to, she just has to see ma before she goes, stay with Amelia and then be back by three," Annabelle explained. "I think some of the people here are a lot nicer than the ones back home, I hope she finds someone to bring back home with us."

Mary softly laughed at the last part of her statement. "Were you wanting to see Jessie or Cassie?" Mary asked.

Annabelle just nodded.

"They're both next door," Mary stated.

"Thank you," Annabelle said and then headed next door.

Mary closed the door behind her and leaned against it. Her smile faded as she turned her attention back to Lisey. "You want to know why you can't go," she said more to herself.

"Josi can go," Lisey offered.

"Now hold on, you don't know that yet. She can go if Amelia's able to go and we haven't heard anything about her yet," Mary explained.

"Can I go if she can go?" Lisey attempted once more.

"I'm sorry honey, no," Mary said. "You're only fourteen years old, you don't know these guys and that's way too late for you to be out anyways."

"Amelia's sixteen and Josi is seventeen. That's only a couple years older than me," Lisey argued.

Mary sighed as she pushed herself off the door and walked over to the bed to pick something out of her suitcase to wear. "At that age, a couple years is a lot."

Lisey gave up. It was no use anymore. Instead of fighting a losing battle, she plopped down on the bed and blankly stared down towards the ground.

"I'm sorry," Mary apologized once more.

"I just don't understand," Lisey started. "They are going to get to do whatever they want while we're here and I'm going to be locked up here in a hotel room."

Mary looked to her with sympathy. "Again, you'll realize this once you start high school, but a couple of years can make a huge difference. Another thing is, Josi and Amelia don't come from the same area you do. When you have kids that grow up in the rougher parts of New York or Los Angeles, it's probably hard to tell them that they can't go out when you're in a nicer area. I mean, you've been to where Aunt Rhoda lives and where Bess lives, yeah, they're not bad places, but you have got to know where you are going and whether or not you can trust the people that you are with," Mary explained.

Lisey just blankly stared at Mary. "I don't see how that has any relevance."

Mary sighed. "They're both better judges of character and know how to take care of themselves better because they have probably had to learn that a lot earlier than you had to," she responded.

"I guess that's why Josi told me not to join, no one thinks I can take care of myself," Lisey thought out loud.

Mary thought she was being a bit dramatic, but the last thing she needed right now was to get in an argument. "I know how it feels, I was your age once. Believe me, in a couple of years you will be able to do the things that Josi and Amelia are doing."

"It'll be a little late then," Lisey said.

"Come on Lisey, we got to get ready and head down to dinner. You can pout after that as much as you want," Mary said as she went back to finish getting ready.

Lisey rolled her eyes as she got up and started to get ready.