Jody wasn't naive. Even if the others weren't totally awful at being discreet, she would've been able to discern what was going on right under her nose due to the simple fact that everyone was cooped up at home instead of enjoying the second week of their summer holidays outside. As usual, their attempts at distracting her were feeble and almost pitiable but she humoured them nonetheless, keeping to her room for the better part of the morning. She had plenty to keep her occupied anyway; both of her brothers had sent her birthday cards, her friends had all Snapped her birthday wishes, and Brandon had sent her a short but sweet birthday text. She sat on her bed, texting Rick about her passport which still hadn't arrived yet when there was a knock on the door.
"I'm decent!" she called, continuing to text her former housemate.
Rick reckoned that her passport would get to her within a few days because it wasn't supposed to take longer than three weeks but she worried; she'd applied as a care kid whereas he'd got his like a normal kid before being put in care. She guessed he was right in telling her to be patient, but they both knew that she was rubbish at waiting.
After a few seconds, the door swung open to reveal Tyler hanging around in the doorway. "You know they're expecting you to be surprised?" he asked knowingly. "You should probably at least pretend to be."
"Where's the fun in that?" she countered, raising an eyebrow. Realising that he wouldn't come in unless she gave him the express permission to do so, she wordlessly beckoned him over. "Was that what you were doing when we threw you a party for your thirteenth?"
"Kinda," he admitted, sitting down on the chair in front of her desk even though she'd clearly gestured to her bed. "Couldn't spoil the fun, could I?"
"Suppose not," she said, remembering how Mo had got together with his one-week girlfriend during that party. She wondered how he was doing these days, and if he'd managed to find a girlfriend who believed in aliens like his first so obviously hadn't. "Luke sent me a card. I'm surprised he managed to do it without his girlfriend finding out."
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. "He still hasn't told her?"
"Nope," she answered, pressing her lips together. "You know, I really want to believe that he wants a good relationship with me but his other relationship seems to be way more important to him." She wrinkled her nose in displeasure. "I mean, shouldn't blood come before that other stuff?"
He shrugged. "I don't know... would you pick him over B—err, that other stuff?"
She decided to ignore his obvious slip-up; he always went out of his way to avoid speaking her boyfriend's name, as if it was a curse or something. "If he was the old Luke, then yeah, I would."
But he wasn't the old Luke, was he? He was a stranger who bore her brother's name and face but dressed, talked, and behaved entirely like someone else. Was that just what happened when a person went off to uni? Did three years of being a grown-up change someone to the point of no return? Would she and Tyler come out of uni in six years, accustomed to dressing sensibly (boringly) twenty-four seven and speaking in high vocab? She couldn't imagine it.
"Are you okay?"
She snapped out of her grim thoughts. Oh, why was she depressing herself? It was her birthday, not Luke's. However, in spite of everything, she just couldn't help herself. It hadn't escaped her notice that Luke had appeared to be normal that time he'd visited Ashdene Ridge shortly after their mother's funeral, meaning his drastic change had happened between then and the last time she'd seen him. It seemed all too easy to point the finger at Millie as the reason behind his change but Luke had told her himself that he'd started dating said woman at the beginning of his third year of uni, not a few months ago. Whatever the reason was, it had to be a good one; he tended to stick to one way of doing everything, being as reluctant to change as she was. At least, the Luke she knew had been.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she hastily replied, subtly (she hoped) avoiding Tyler's gaze.
She couldn't lie to him, of course, but after getting him involved in the Gray debacle, she wasn't up for him either approving of or dissuading her from the stupid plan brewing in her mind. The former would only spur her on in the belief that she was doing the right thing and the latter would perhaps prevent her from ever becoming close to her brother again. To be frank, she should've known better by now than to go out looking for answers which would only cause her pain but, as always, it was her heart versus her head and it looked like the heart was going to win out by a mile.
.:. QK .:.
Funnily enough, Jody hadn't had to pretend to be surprised upon entering the lounge; she'd been genuinely stunned by both the amount of effort the others had put into throwing a karaoke party for her and the fact that some of her school friends were present. Knowing that he'd had a big hand in arranging the party, she'd smiled up at Tyler who'd entered the lounge behind her before going over to her mates and greeting them. For an entire glorious hour, the party had run smoothly with everyone in attendance being forced to sing at least once by someone or the other, including Ryan who looked like he wasn't plotting someone's downfall for once in his life. Jody herself had been dragged over to the karaoke stand twice but had accepted her fate with little resistance out of respect for the people who'd worked hard to make this party happen.
As Mike subjected both household members and guests alike to his tone-deaf singing, Jody stood off to the side with her friends, listening to them discuss what they'd done for the summer holidays so far as well as what was yet to come. For the sake of being good-natured, she tried not to ignore the dull ache in her stomach when they talked about holidays abroad and such but failed miserably when her turn to share her holiday plans came round.
"Only Mike and May-Li know, I guess," she lied, the barely hampered jealousy she felt at her friends' normal lives threatening to bubble to the surface. "As for personal plans, it's not like my brother's going to take me anywhere or even come down for a visit."
She didn't talk to her friends about her personal life very often because they, through no fault of their own, would have a hard time understanding what it was like for her not to see her blood family at home every single day. However, the Luke and Millie problem was one aspect she had informed them of, simply because she'd thought they'd have some sort of advice to offer her. Unfortunately, they hadn't been much help, telling her that she couldn't exactly force Luke to fess up to Millie.
"I heard this in a Bollywood movie once: 'a son is a son till wife but a daughter is a daughter till life'," Aliyah said unhelpfully, continuing the discouraging rhetoric.
"Shouldn't it be till death... or for life?" Beth asked, having missed the whole point.
Aliyah shrugged at her before looking to Jody. "I know that he's your brother, not your son, but the same sort of thing might apply. I mean, my uncle says that his daughter-in-law controls his son to the point where he won't even visit if she doesn't give the go-ahead."
"She doesn't know about me, though," Jody stated with a frown. Millie not knowing about her almost sounded like a good thing now. "She already controls him so much that she probably wouldn't even let him text me without looking over his shoulder if she did."
"How do you know that, though?" April questioned curiously. Jody shot her a look; she'd already told her exactly how before the summer holidays had commenced. "I mean, you're only going off the fact that your social worker hasn't told you anything. How do you know that your brother hasn't already told her and that she isn't stopping him from seeing you right now?"
"He isn't like that!" Jody answered automatically, her tone tinged with irritation. Upon seeing the shocked look on April's face, she sighed and shook her head. "Sorry. I just"—she sighed again—"he's no coward. He stood up to ou—a bully for me when I was small. He wouldn't just sit there and let his girlfriend tell him not to talk to me."
Her confidence wavered as soon as she was done speaking, though, and she had to excuse herself, practically running over to the table which held what was left of her birthday cake. She picked up a glass of cola and downed it all in one go, and as she set the glass back down, she noticed that there was a new painting up on the wall opposite the table.
For all her virtues, Floss was an eager artist but perhaps not the best one. If Jody hadn't known that she and Tyler were the subjects of the painting, she wouldn't have been able to guess that it was supposed to be them. Even her own 'yeti' drawing of Tyler had been more accurate in depicting him; the bridegroom in the painting had black curls as opposed to brown. The bride, on the other hand, had the right hair colour but appeared to be too tall in relation to the groom and looked way too doll-faced
"Like it?" Floss inquired, joining Jody at the table. "I came second in the competition, but only because the winner was a total teacher's pet."
Jody laughed under her breath. "Seriously, Floss?" she asked lightly, more amused than annoyed. "I expected it to be way bigger."
"I didn't see you offering to buy me a bigger canvas," Floss retorted, reminding Jody that they all had to save up to be able to buy things required for their hobbies. She winced apologetically.
"Jody!" a familiar shrill voice shrieked, making said girl spin around as an ecstatic Candi-Rose ran up to her. Before she could even ask what was wrong, Candi-Rose blurted it out: "Brandon's here!"
.:. QK .:.
She would've been lying if she'd said that she wasn't happy seeing Brandon waiting around in the lobby for her but his presence at Ashdene Ridge simply wasn't worth the trouble. Him and Tyler being in the same building let alone room was enough to make her anxious, and as she placed the basket of fifteen cupcakes he'd brought her on the kitchen counter, she couldn't help but recall the stony expression she'd noticed on Tyler's face when Candi-Rose had announced Brandon's arrival. His utter dislike of Brandon rattled her; how were they supposed to remain 'best friends forever' if he couldn't stand her boyfriend?
As soon as she walked back into the lounge through the rear door, she was bombarded by questions from her friends who'd never once seen her boyfriend prior to today. Now that they had a face to attribute to the name, they were clearly interested in her love life in a way they'd never been before. To be honest, she'd never expected them to meet him and had only told them about him to put a stop to the school rumours about her and Tyler. She wondered what that said about their relationship.
"Yes, that's him: Brandon," she muttered, her eyes darting between Brandon and Tyler as the former chatted with Ryan of all people whereas the latter hung out with Alex by the pool table. Oh, hell no. There was no way she was going to let Ryan Reeves plant seeds of doubt in her boyfriend's head.
"Brandon!" she called, whizzing past her friends and reluctantly grabbing his hand. Sending a warning glare Ryan's way, she pulled Brandon away from him and took him out into the lobby; there was simply no space or privacy in the lounge. "Thanks for the cupcakes." She immediately let go of his hand, sitting down on the sofa in the lobby. "Fifteen for my age, yeah?"
"Yeah," he agreed, joining her on the sofa. If he was offended by her abruptly letting go of his hand, he didn't let it show. "I was going to get you something else but then I thought you wouldn't like it."
If it was make-up or jewellery, then he'd been right. She was negligent with the jewellery she owned to the point that her ear piercings were closing up, and she was inclined to let nature take its course. She'd never wanted the piercings in the first place; in order to solidify her girly-girl image, Denise had forced her to get them when she'd briefly gone back to live with her.
"Chocolate's my favourite," she simply told him, deciding to cut the sob-story crap he didn't need or want to hear.
"It looks like a cool party," he commented, "I did karaoke for my fourteenth birthday."
They continued to engage in small talk until silence fell between the two of them. Well, relative silence anyway: Chloe and Candi-Rose could be heard singing a duet from inside the lounge. Jody pressed her tongue against the right side of her cheek, wondering if talking about boxing would be quite appropriate. Due to the two of them mostly seeing each other at the gym, she'd never really been forced to face the fact that they had very little to talk about other than their one common interest.
Were all relationships like this? Or did theirs just need more work?
"Jody!" Charlie called, her voice wafting into the lobby. "We want another song from you!"
Any other day, three song requests would've pissed her off but today, it was her salvation. She smiled nervously at Brandon, not quite confident about singing in front of him, but she rose to her feet nonetheless. It was better than facing the deafening silence of her relationship.
.:. QK .:.
Later that day, long after the party was over and everyone was off doing their own thing, Jody lazed about in her bed, reading her birthday messages once more. They ranged from heartwarming to generic but she appreciated them all; even the generic ones were from people who cared enough to drop her a text in the first place. She smiled as she scrolled down to the very first message she'd received as soon as the clock had struck twelve, reading it yet another time.
Happy birthday, Cody x
*Jody ;)
She giggled, reaching over and grabbing the birthday cards on her bedside. The first was from Kingsley and doubled up as a request for money, as per usual; the second was from Luke, meaning he was still her only family member to remember all of her birthdays so far; the third was from Tyler, of course; and the fourth was a joint venture from the entire household. Having noticed something a little odd about it earlier, she opened the one from Luke and read the personal message again. It wasn't a particularly long one—not that it had to be—but it looked like it'd been written hastily which made her wonder if April was right after all. Was it possible that Luke had told Millie about her but now had to be even more secretive about contacting her because the controlling bitch didn't want him seeing her? But why would she do that? What threat was a fifteen-year-old little sister? It wasn't as if she was going to try and break them up, no matter how much she actually wanted to.
There was only one way to find out if April's suspicions were correct and, unfortunately, it was a risky one. It was the same stupid plan that'd been forming in her mind prior to the party and if it hadn't been for April, perhaps she wouldn't have gone through with it, but there was no turning back now. Exiting the message thread between herself and Tyler, she went to her contacts list and pressed on Luke's name. Clamping down on her nerves, she quickly typed up a message and hit send before she could lose her resolve.
Thnx 4 the card. x
The wait for a response was an agonising one. There was every chance that Luke would hate her for this and never speak to her again but it was worth it; she would rather not have a brother at all than continue to wonder when he'd tell Millie about her as if he was a married man and she was the other woman, waiting for him to divorce his wife. It was a somewhat inappropriate analogy given that she was his sister but it was exactly what she felt like. Well, either that or the secret love child, but she was already occupying that real-life role for Gray.
A beep drew her out of her thoughts, and her heart skipped a beat.
Who is this?
She bit her lip. There was no point in regretting; she'd already started and now she had to finish. This was either Luke or Millie texting her back; she'd either mildly alarmed her brother or she'd ruined her relationship with him forever.
Jody.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews!
Charlie—I never thought of it like that but it's actually very likely that the Florida invitation was a test, especially if Brandon did pick up on the more-than-friends feelings between Jody and Tyler. Good theory on why there's no father listed on Jody's birth certificate. I think it's still a while yet before I either confirm or disprove your theory but hang in there! I wonder if Tyler picked up on Jody's jealousy and how he felt about it, considering that she's still with Brandon? As for Luke, who knows when or even if he'll sort his problems out to get back to Jody?
yourfire—I think that at this point, Tyler just doesn't want things between him and Jody to deteriorate even more and that's why he didn't get outwardly upset when Jody finally told him about the supermarket run-in with Gray. He's pretty much known that Jody's been hiding something about her father from him ever since he found out she was looking for him and confronted her about it before they egged Gray's house. As for your question about ID, cinemas in the UK are legally required to ask for ID for 15 and 18 (and maybe 12?) rated films if they suspect that the person trying to buy a ticket is too young. I'm pretty sure it's got to be photo ID and since 15-year-olds don't have driving licenses, it's either a passport or a PASS accredited card. PASS cards cost £30 so people don't really bother with those because they've (usually) already got a passport. Yeah, Jody really does come off as the bad one in her relationship with Brandon which really makes you feel sorry for him but, hey, he's still young. Since he seems like such a nice guy, I'm sure he'll find someone worth the wait and better suited to him than Jody ever was. Aww, thanks again for the kind words!