Justin
All I wanted to know was why my apartment ended up being the place that Kayla and Kat liked to hang around the most at. Kayla didn't live here. Kat was really busy at the junkyard working on cars. But it seemed like I was always tripping over those two. Kat would pick Kay up after ballet and they would end up here for a while until Kat took her home. Jhondie was spending most of her days in school and nights in the library. They weren't here to see her, and they ignored me most of the time.
Maybe it was the fridge. I would know Kat was here because she would be pawing through the fridge, digging things out. On the plus side, she actually did know how to cook and would make enough for four. Then Jhondie would come home at one in the morning, eat something that reheated nicely and then find a way to very sweetly thank me later for making it for her. I wasn't about to tell. Her or Kat for that matter. Kat would figure if I'm getting some for it, then the very least Jhondie could do was reciprocate on her. That was never going to happen, but Kat was an optimist.
I think Kayla wanted to be over here because Jhondie wasn't. When she was home, she had to deal with her mother. When she was here with Jhondie, she had to deal with the same problems. She didn't understand what was wrong and neither of them would tell her. It was sad because she wanted to do something, anything that would make the dreariness go away, but I didn't think it was my place to tell and both mother and sister thought they were keeping her out of it. They didn't understand that she was in there no matter what.
But Kayla needed some place to hang out that wasn't morbidly depressing and Kat, I think, just liked being under foot. And, even though Jhondie would have killed me if she found out, occasionally I would send them out to do something for Eyes Only. Nothing serious, most of the time it was dropping off something to Nikki or picking up something from an informant, but those two practically had their own theme song as they scampered to Kat's car to have some wild adventure in the name of Eyes Only. Wild adventure. They had no idea how wild working for the boss could be, and I had no intention of teaching them otherwise.
That wasn't the only reason they liked hanging around my place. I wasn't as morbid as Jhondie. Not that she was as depressed as she had been last spring when the trouble with Bryn and Kayla was going on, but she was unhappy with the situation and that leaked through in some ways. I was doing better because Dad and I had talked about the situation, just him and I. I hadn't planned it, but it was Family Dinner Night and Brit had made dinner all by herself that night. She begged me to come over, and I had to acquiesce.
Jhondie was in the library as usual that night, which I thought was a good thing, despite Brittany's disappointment. It was better that I deal with Dad the first time by myself. I had developed much better listening skills than Jhondie and could deal with situations much more calmly. If I still wanted to smack him for doing something so stupid, I could easily see Jhondie giving in to the urge.
Dinner was somewhat restrained to say the least. Lucky for me Brit had plenty to chatter about so there wasn't an awkward silence and even Bryan talked. I had a feeling they knew something was up, but they were still young enough that they didn't care what the problems were, they just wanted them gone.
The twins cleaned up after dinner, leaving Dad and me alone on the back patio. That's when the awkward silence descended. Dad and I had always talked so easily and this coldness was unfamiliar. Finally I broke the silence. Not because I couldn't stand it anymore, but because the little interrogator that was always running around in my head couldn't stand it anymore and had to get some questions answered.
"Why her?" I finally asked. "All the women in this city and you decide to focus on her. Dad, that's not right to take advantage of someone like that. I know how naïve that sounds, but it doesn't make it less true."
Dad's eyebrows rose. "Take advantage of her?" he said with an amused smile. "She seduced me, thank you."
The look I gave him clearly said I didn't believe a word of it. He let out a little laugh. "She knew what it was like to have a kid in the hospital," he finally said. I was confused for a second, and then remember the whole Katherine-Jhondie-leukemia thing. "Those first couple of days, I thought I was watching you die, and she knew exactly what it was like. When you can share something like that with someone, you get closer to them. One night, we had gone out to get some things for you and well, we ended up a lot closer than we had ever been before. Nothing serious happened, but enough. A few nights later we met up again and talked about it and decided that it would never happen again, it would add too much complication to our lives. And that was when she jumped me."
"For some reason I just can't see her acting like that," I responded.
Dad smirked. "Where do you think Jhondie gets that hot-blooded temper from?"
I could feel my face get hot. "Okay, let's not even...Are you in love with her?" Real smooth way of trying to get it out of him. Why could I handle hardened criminals but not my father?
Dad paused. "If you're asking me if I'm going to marry her, the answer is no. Before anything happened, she talked about men she was dating, and the problem was that she didn't want complicated relationships, but she didn't want casual bed partners either. Both of us feel we don't want to bring another parent in the house while we still have kids at home."
"That's not what I asked."
Dad hated to be cornered. But I wasn't going to give in on this. I had a right to know. It was several minutes before he answered. "She's my very dear friend, so of course I love her. But I can't say I'm in love with her."
I had to take that at face value. I could see that he cared about her. And I had to say I felt better about it, but I was still not right with it. As long as they kept it under wraps I thought I could deal with it. Jhondie, however, was a whole other story. She was pissed. And with Jhondie, she didn't forgive easily. The fact she hadn't gone for blood spoke about how much she had matured from when we had first met. Dad tried to talk to her one time when he was over, but he got a very clear warning to stay out of her face. Luckily, Dad can take a hint. He retracted the olive branch quickly and had not tried to re-extend it.
In some ways I wished it had been Jhondie and her mother that had made up because then I wouldn't constantly have two little visitors running around my apartment. And forget about locking the door. One Saturday morning I had gotten up early and walked out and they were there, sleeping on the couch with several DVD's in front of them, and one that had spun back to the menu on the TV. Kayla knew the alarm code and Kat's mechanical experience led her to being able to pick a lock easily. Kay had known Jhondie was at a study group and would be there all night at least. I gave up and gave Kayla a key and made sure I was decently dressed when I walked out of my bedroom in the morning. Kat had said I didn't need to bother with that, but I especially wasn't parading around in just boxers in front of her.
Things came to a head one day when I had been in my office most of the day, working on some of my own stories and two for Eyes Only. Jhondie had been the best partner she could have been, but I could not express how great it was to have Nikki. If Jhondie had been inclined towards journalism, then maybe she would have been utterly perfect, but she followed my direction on things. She would track down all information on something I had started, but she wasn't out actively seeking new injustices to be corrected. Nikki was with a vengeance. Even the boss had said the quantity and quality of the stuff coming from LA had improved. I couldn't vouch for quality, but he was right on the other.
I still double-checked everything that was going to the boss and got it sent out to him. Nikki didn't have any of the direct addresses yet. She had grumbled that Jhondie had them, but there were a few differences between her and Jhondie. If Nikki didn't know where something was, she could never tell. Jhondie, I don't think anyone could make her tell. She had received training that Nikki and I could never hope to equal.
I finally finished up a few details and sent the packet off to Eyes Only. There were some corrupt police that were going to be squirming when the next hack came out. As much as the government denounced the hacks and screamed that they were all blatant lies, it was interesting how many times a person would have "family emergencies" or "medical problems" requiring them to resign after a hack. The truth was getting out there. And although it might get me killed one day, it was being listened to.
I stretched in my seat and wondered if I would be able to kick the two girls in my living room out for the night. Jhondie was supposed to be home by eight and I was looking forward to having a quiet evening with my fiancée. Kat would pout that she couldn't be part of the quiet night, but Kayla would make gagging sounds and yell at Kat that she's not allowed to have those thoughts about her sister. Had we been through this a time or two before?
When I limped into the living room, they were sprawled in front of the TV with an open box of pizza and Kat had a ton of paint chips and fabric swatches in front of her. Oh, boy. I was not getting out of this easily. I had asked Kat to fix my car. She had brooded for a few days and then declined, informing me, "You are a rich boy. There is no need for a rich hottie to be driving that piece of crap around. So just smile, hand over a big wad of cash, and you will thank me later."
At the time I thought it was a really good way to get her out of my hair for a few days. I had no idea she would be pestering me even more wanting to know answers to questions about displacement and horsepower and turbo charging over super charging. I finally did what I think she had been angling for all this time. I handed her a wad of cash and told her that I only wanted to pick out the color.
I actually got to see the car once while they were working on it. Scott had put aside a couple of other projects for this. It was fitting, although he didn't know it. I had been the one quietly been sending a lot of business their way since the spring. It kept them out of the drug scene and I had to admit, they were really good at what they did. I knew a lot of the wealthy people in LA now and most of them were always in need of a good mechanic that wouldn't ask questions about why those bullet holes got there or even think about reporting it to the police.
The car was being based off of the body of a 2004 Jaguar SR. Beautiful car in its day, but it had been through some rough times. Kat and Scott were restoring it completely and Kat was adding some new modifications to it. She had grinned at me and said when I saw the finished product I would be all up for that romp around the junkyard in gratitude. I doubted that, but I had to admit that it was going to be a major upgrade over my old Ford.
So here she was in my living room with the samples for paint color and the interior fabric. She had been after me for about a week to do this, but I had been putting it off. I left decorating to Jhondie. But Kat was determined to get me to do this and I think the pizza was there as a bribe to make me sit down on the couch. I sighed. Might as well get this over with.
"If I pick the paint color, can I have the rest of the night child-free?" I asked as I settled myself on the couch."
Kayla made a face. "I don't see any children in here, do you Kat?"
Kat grinned. "Since I'm not into kids, then I guess not." I groaned. I was not going to win. Kat smirked. "If you would have picked out the colors last week like I asked, then I would be painting today and spending all next week doing the interior."
I rolled my eyes and started looking at the samples she brought. For some reason a bright color didn't seem right, and the dark green one screamed "still in the closet". No blue. Do not even consider blue with me. Don't ask why, just accept it. Gray? Looked like it was dirty all the time. Silver was too flashy, black too dull. And then I caught an awesome color that practically jumped out. It was black, but had this silver undertone that seemed to make the car have a subdued glitter. The gold one similar looked like something a pimp-car would be painted in, but this was sharp. Kat was pleased. With the silver and chrome accents, it would look very sharp indeed. For the interior I ended up going with black and gray leather with some silver thread accents. There. Done. Not too painful either. I looked up and that's when I noticed Kay had quietly taken my crutches and put them in the kitchen.
She sat down and beamed a sweet smile at Kat who hurriedly gathered up her paint samples and plopped down in the chair across from me. "You were right," she laughed. "This was easy."
I eyed them both. "What are you two up to?"
"Jhondie tells you everything," Kayla said with subtle emphasis. "So you have to know what's bugging her. She won't tell me, Mom won't tell me, but someone is going to tell me what's wrong. All I can think is she's pregnant, but Mom wouldn't be that pissed over that."
"She's not pregnant," I replied. "There are just some things going on that they need to deal with."
Kay shook her head. "Same line that Jhondie and Mom have been giving out. But you know details and you can't exactly get away."
I patted the couch. "This is comfortable to sit here for a long time."
Kat grinned impishly. "If you don't want to talk about that, it's fine. I got lots of other things to talk about. You should see this new chick Rach has been dating lately. Oh my God. I tell you, if I wasn't with Scott, I would be dragging her into the nearest bedroom and..."
"Kat!" Kay half-yelled. Her nose was wrinkled in disgust. "You're making me sick over here."
Kat waved her hand. "Then go get us some drinks because I know Justin would love to hear all the details while you're in there. I saw a couple bottles of Hard Lemonade in the fridge. All three of us could kick back and have a drink while he gets the inside scoop."
I looked at Kayla. "Before you even think about that, keep in mind what happened the last time Jhondie saw you drunk." Kay paled slightly. I turned my attention to Kat. "You're not going to get anywhere with that. I can tune you out for hours. I've had plenty of practice lately."
Kat didn't lose her smirk. "Fine. Let's hit another topic of conversation then, 'cause I'm in a talkative mood. So when did Jhondie get her tattoo?"
I blinked. "Her what?"
"That barcode," Kat replied. "Pretty sweet deal. Not my style though. I would add a little something to it to spice it up."
I shot a glance at Kayla, but she was just as shocked as I was. She sure as hell hadn't mentioned the barcode to Kat. "She...she doesn't show that to people," I finally managed to stumble out. "When, ah, how did you see it?"
She shrugged. "A while back. You know, she's so down on mine, but I bet once upon a time, she had her wild side to get tattooed. This is why I still hold the hope for us because at some point, she was up for more than saving the world and making A's in school."
"Kat," I said unsteadily, "The worst thing you could do would be to bring this up to Jhondie."
Her expression was so innocent I could have slapped her. "I wouldn't have to if there was something else to talk about like why her and their mom are acting like such jerks."
Kay's expression was a mix of shock and respect. I totally understood. Kat had managed to casually get me right in a corner. Very, very few people could pull that off. She just thought that I was sensitive over the barcode because it represented some wild point in Jhondie's life. She had no idea how accurate she was.
I blew out a breath. "I am not going into details," I said. "But Jhondie is not happy with some choices her mother has made and they are both dealing with it. And for now, the best way for them to deal with it is to live apart. I don't think they are going to be like this forever, but it's best for now."
I could tell from Kay's face that she was still confused and hurt. She didn't understand how this could be best for anyone. I didn't blame her there. Jhondie was a parent-figure in her life, and she had lost that. It had to hurt. Kat though, there was something in her eyes that said she had a pretty good guess as to what the bad choice was. Not the specifics, but she was smart and with a little thought, would figure it out. The scary thing is that I trusted her to keep it to herself when she did. She had enough life experience to know what would be bad for a young girl to hear and what wouldn't.
Kat let things go at that and I was glad she dropped the issue with the barcode. I was going to have to warn Jhondie Kat had seen it. That wasn't going to be pleasant. Kat had seen Jhondie do things. Not much, but Kat was far more intelligent then most people would suspect. If she ever heard things...she was smart enough to put it together. But that was something to deal with in the future.
For now, we had to deal with our lives as they were. And Jhondie did need to stop avoiding one thing in her life and deal with it. I wasn't sure how or what I could do, but I was going to have to figure it out quick. I had racked my brain trying to think of something, anything, but nothing was coming.
The funny thing is, the answers to a lot of prayers came with a single phone call.
All I wanted to know was why my apartment ended up being the place that Kayla and Kat liked to hang around the most at. Kayla didn't live here. Kat was really busy at the junkyard working on cars. But it seemed like I was always tripping over those two. Kat would pick Kay up after ballet and they would end up here for a while until Kat took her home. Jhondie was spending most of her days in school and nights in the library. They weren't here to see her, and they ignored me most of the time.
Maybe it was the fridge. I would know Kat was here because she would be pawing through the fridge, digging things out. On the plus side, she actually did know how to cook and would make enough for four. Then Jhondie would come home at one in the morning, eat something that reheated nicely and then find a way to very sweetly thank me later for making it for her. I wasn't about to tell. Her or Kat for that matter. Kat would figure if I'm getting some for it, then the very least Jhondie could do was reciprocate on her. That was never going to happen, but Kat was an optimist.
I think Kayla wanted to be over here because Jhondie wasn't. When she was home, she had to deal with her mother. When she was here with Jhondie, she had to deal with the same problems. She didn't understand what was wrong and neither of them would tell her. It was sad because she wanted to do something, anything that would make the dreariness go away, but I didn't think it was my place to tell and both mother and sister thought they were keeping her out of it. They didn't understand that she was in there no matter what.
But Kayla needed some place to hang out that wasn't morbidly depressing and Kat, I think, just liked being under foot. And, even though Jhondie would have killed me if she found out, occasionally I would send them out to do something for Eyes Only. Nothing serious, most of the time it was dropping off something to Nikki or picking up something from an informant, but those two practically had their own theme song as they scampered to Kat's car to have some wild adventure in the name of Eyes Only. Wild adventure. They had no idea how wild working for the boss could be, and I had no intention of teaching them otherwise.
That wasn't the only reason they liked hanging around my place. I wasn't as morbid as Jhondie. Not that she was as depressed as she had been last spring when the trouble with Bryn and Kayla was going on, but she was unhappy with the situation and that leaked through in some ways. I was doing better because Dad and I had talked about the situation, just him and I. I hadn't planned it, but it was Family Dinner Night and Brit had made dinner all by herself that night. She begged me to come over, and I had to acquiesce.
Jhondie was in the library as usual that night, which I thought was a good thing, despite Brittany's disappointment. It was better that I deal with Dad the first time by myself. I had developed much better listening skills than Jhondie and could deal with situations much more calmly. If I still wanted to smack him for doing something so stupid, I could easily see Jhondie giving in to the urge.
Dinner was somewhat restrained to say the least. Lucky for me Brit had plenty to chatter about so there wasn't an awkward silence and even Bryan talked. I had a feeling they knew something was up, but they were still young enough that they didn't care what the problems were, they just wanted them gone.
The twins cleaned up after dinner, leaving Dad and me alone on the back patio. That's when the awkward silence descended. Dad and I had always talked so easily and this coldness was unfamiliar. Finally I broke the silence. Not because I couldn't stand it anymore, but because the little interrogator that was always running around in my head couldn't stand it anymore and had to get some questions answered.
"Why her?" I finally asked. "All the women in this city and you decide to focus on her. Dad, that's not right to take advantage of someone like that. I know how naïve that sounds, but it doesn't make it less true."
Dad's eyebrows rose. "Take advantage of her?" he said with an amused smile. "She seduced me, thank you."
The look I gave him clearly said I didn't believe a word of it. He let out a little laugh. "She knew what it was like to have a kid in the hospital," he finally said. I was confused for a second, and then remember the whole Katherine-Jhondie-leukemia thing. "Those first couple of days, I thought I was watching you die, and she knew exactly what it was like. When you can share something like that with someone, you get closer to them. One night, we had gone out to get some things for you and well, we ended up a lot closer than we had ever been before. Nothing serious happened, but enough. A few nights later we met up again and talked about it and decided that it would never happen again, it would add too much complication to our lives. And that was when she jumped me."
"For some reason I just can't see her acting like that," I responded.
Dad smirked. "Where do you think Jhondie gets that hot-blooded temper from?"
I could feel my face get hot. "Okay, let's not even...Are you in love with her?" Real smooth way of trying to get it out of him. Why could I handle hardened criminals but not my father?
Dad paused. "If you're asking me if I'm going to marry her, the answer is no. Before anything happened, she talked about men she was dating, and the problem was that she didn't want complicated relationships, but she didn't want casual bed partners either. Both of us feel we don't want to bring another parent in the house while we still have kids at home."
"That's not what I asked."
Dad hated to be cornered. But I wasn't going to give in on this. I had a right to know. It was several minutes before he answered. "She's my very dear friend, so of course I love her. But I can't say I'm in love with her."
I had to take that at face value. I could see that he cared about her. And I had to say I felt better about it, but I was still not right with it. As long as they kept it under wraps I thought I could deal with it. Jhondie, however, was a whole other story. She was pissed. And with Jhondie, she didn't forgive easily. The fact she hadn't gone for blood spoke about how much she had matured from when we had first met. Dad tried to talk to her one time when he was over, but he got a very clear warning to stay out of her face. Luckily, Dad can take a hint. He retracted the olive branch quickly and had not tried to re-extend it.
In some ways I wished it had been Jhondie and her mother that had made up because then I wouldn't constantly have two little visitors running around my apartment. And forget about locking the door. One Saturday morning I had gotten up early and walked out and they were there, sleeping on the couch with several DVD's in front of them, and one that had spun back to the menu on the TV. Kayla knew the alarm code and Kat's mechanical experience led her to being able to pick a lock easily. Kay had known Jhondie was at a study group and would be there all night at least. I gave up and gave Kayla a key and made sure I was decently dressed when I walked out of my bedroom in the morning. Kat had said I didn't need to bother with that, but I especially wasn't parading around in just boxers in front of her.
Things came to a head one day when I had been in my office most of the day, working on some of my own stories and two for Eyes Only. Jhondie had been the best partner she could have been, but I could not express how great it was to have Nikki. If Jhondie had been inclined towards journalism, then maybe she would have been utterly perfect, but she followed my direction on things. She would track down all information on something I had started, but she wasn't out actively seeking new injustices to be corrected. Nikki was with a vengeance. Even the boss had said the quantity and quality of the stuff coming from LA had improved. I couldn't vouch for quality, but he was right on the other.
I still double-checked everything that was going to the boss and got it sent out to him. Nikki didn't have any of the direct addresses yet. She had grumbled that Jhondie had them, but there were a few differences between her and Jhondie. If Nikki didn't know where something was, she could never tell. Jhondie, I don't think anyone could make her tell. She had received training that Nikki and I could never hope to equal.
I finally finished up a few details and sent the packet off to Eyes Only. There were some corrupt police that were going to be squirming when the next hack came out. As much as the government denounced the hacks and screamed that they were all blatant lies, it was interesting how many times a person would have "family emergencies" or "medical problems" requiring them to resign after a hack. The truth was getting out there. And although it might get me killed one day, it was being listened to.
I stretched in my seat and wondered if I would be able to kick the two girls in my living room out for the night. Jhondie was supposed to be home by eight and I was looking forward to having a quiet evening with my fiancée. Kat would pout that she couldn't be part of the quiet night, but Kayla would make gagging sounds and yell at Kat that she's not allowed to have those thoughts about her sister. Had we been through this a time or two before?
When I limped into the living room, they were sprawled in front of the TV with an open box of pizza and Kat had a ton of paint chips and fabric swatches in front of her. Oh, boy. I was not getting out of this easily. I had asked Kat to fix my car. She had brooded for a few days and then declined, informing me, "You are a rich boy. There is no need for a rich hottie to be driving that piece of crap around. So just smile, hand over a big wad of cash, and you will thank me later."
At the time I thought it was a really good way to get her out of my hair for a few days. I had no idea she would be pestering me even more wanting to know answers to questions about displacement and horsepower and turbo charging over super charging. I finally did what I think she had been angling for all this time. I handed her a wad of cash and told her that I only wanted to pick out the color.
I actually got to see the car once while they were working on it. Scott had put aside a couple of other projects for this. It was fitting, although he didn't know it. I had been the one quietly been sending a lot of business their way since the spring. It kept them out of the drug scene and I had to admit, they were really good at what they did. I knew a lot of the wealthy people in LA now and most of them were always in need of a good mechanic that wouldn't ask questions about why those bullet holes got there or even think about reporting it to the police.
The car was being based off of the body of a 2004 Jaguar SR. Beautiful car in its day, but it had been through some rough times. Kat and Scott were restoring it completely and Kat was adding some new modifications to it. She had grinned at me and said when I saw the finished product I would be all up for that romp around the junkyard in gratitude. I doubted that, but I had to admit that it was going to be a major upgrade over my old Ford.
So here she was in my living room with the samples for paint color and the interior fabric. She had been after me for about a week to do this, but I had been putting it off. I left decorating to Jhondie. But Kat was determined to get me to do this and I think the pizza was there as a bribe to make me sit down on the couch. I sighed. Might as well get this over with.
"If I pick the paint color, can I have the rest of the night child-free?" I asked as I settled myself on the couch."
Kayla made a face. "I don't see any children in here, do you Kat?"
Kat grinned. "Since I'm not into kids, then I guess not." I groaned. I was not going to win. Kat smirked. "If you would have picked out the colors last week like I asked, then I would be painting today and spending all next week doing the interior."
I rolled my eyes and started looking at the samples she brought. For some reason a bright color didn't seem right, and the dark green one screamed "still in the closet". No blue. Do not even consider blue with me. Don't ask why, just accept it. Gray? Looked like it was dirty all the time. Silver was too flashy, black too dull. And then I caught an awesome color that practically jumped out. It was black, but had this silver undertone that seemed to make the car have a subdued glitter. The gold one similar looked like something a pimp-car would be painted in, but this was sharp. Kat was pleased. With the silver and chrome accents, it would look very sharp indeed. For the interior I ended up going with black and gray leather with some silver thread accents. There. Done. Not too painful either. I looked up and that's when I noticed Kay had quietly taken my crutches and put them in the kitchen.
She sat down and beamed a sweet smile at Kat who hurriedly gathered up her paint samples and plopped down in the chair across from me. "You were right," she laughed. "This was easy."
I eyed them both. "What are you two up to?"
"Jhondie tells you everything," Kayla said with subtle emphasis. "So you have to know what's bugging her. She won't tell me, Mom won't tell me, but someone is going to tell me what's wrong. All I can think is she's pregnant, but Mom wouldn't be that pissed over that."
"She's not pregnant," I replied. "There are just some things going on that they need to deal with."
Kay shook her head. "Same line that Jhondie and Mom have been giving out. But you know details and you can't exactly get away."
I patted the couch. "This is comfortable to sit here for a long time."
Kat grinned impishly. "If you don't want to talk about that, it's fine. I got lots of other things to talk about. You should see this new chick Rach has been dating lately. Oh my God. I tell you, if I wasn't with Scott, I would be dragging her into the nearest bedroom and..."
"Kat!" Kay half-yelled. Her nose was wrinkled in disgust. "You're making me sick over here."
Kat waved her hand. "Then go get us some drinks because I know Justin would love to hear all the details while you're in there. I saw a couple bottles of Hard Lemonade in the fridge. All three of us could kick back and have a drink while he gets the inside scoop."
I looked at Kayla. "Before you even think about that, keep in mind what happened the last time Jhondie saw you drunk." Kay paled slightly. I turned my attention to Kat. "You're not going to get anywhere with that. I can tune you out for hours. I've had plenty of practice lately."
Kat didn't lose her smirk. "Fine. Let's hit another topic of conversation then, 'cause I'm in a talkative mood. So when did Jhondie get her tattoo?"
I blinked. "Her what?"
"That barcode," Kat replied. "Pretty sweet deal. Not my style though. I would add a little something to it to spice it up."
I shot a glance at Kayla, but she was just as shocked as I was. She sure as hell hadn't mentioned the barcode to Kat. "She...she doesn't show that to people," I finally managed to stumble out. "When, ah, how did you see it?"
She shrugged. "A while back. You know, she's so down on mine, but I bet once upon a time, she had her wild side to get tattooed. This is why I still hold the hope for us because at some point, she was up for more than saving the world and making A's in school."
"Kat," I said unsteadily, "The worst thing you could do would be to bring this up to Jhondie."
Her expression was so innocent I could have slapped her. "I wouldn't have to if there was something else to talk about like why her and their mom are acting like such jerks."
Kay's expression was a mix of shock and respect. I totally understood. Kat had managed to casually get me right in a corner. Very, very few people could pull that off. She just thought that I was sensitive over the barcode because it represented some wild point in Jhondie's life. She had no idea how accurate she was.
I blew out a breath. "I am not going into details," I said. "But Jhondie is not happy with some choices her mother has made and they are both dealing with it. And for now, the best way for them to deal with it is to live apart. I don't think they are going to be like this forever, but it's best for now."
I could tell from Kay's face that she was still confused and hurt. She didn't understand how this could be best for anyone. I didn't blame her there. Jhondie was a parent-figure in her life, and she had lost that. It had to hurt. Kat though, there was something in her eyes that said she had a pretty good guess as to what the bad choice was. Not the specifics, but she was smart and with a little thought, would figure it out. The scary thing is that I trusted her to keep it to herself when she did. She had enough life experience to know what would be bad for a young girl to hear and what wouldn't.
Kat let things go at that and I was glad she dropped the issue with the barcode. I was going to have to warn Jhondie Kat had seen it. That wasn't going to be pleasant. Kat had seen Jhondie do things. Not much, but Kat was far more intelligent then most people would suspect. If she ever heard things...she was smart enough to put it together. But that was something to deal with in the future.
For now, we had to deal with our lives as they were. And Jhondie did need to stop avoiding one thing in her life and deal with it. I wasn't sure how or what I could do, but I was going to have to figure it out quick. I had racked my brain trying to think of something, anything, but nothing was coming.
The funny thing is, the answers to a lot of prayers came with a single phone call.