Chapter 3

Jerk-Off

[Part Two]

Jacen Forman was a nervous wreck. Maybe not as twitchy or about to come unglued

at the seams like his father used to in these situations but he was a nervous wreck

just the same. He was captain of the back seat order brigade.

"Dad! Not the oldies station and absolutely no talk radio! Are you trying to

embarrass me?"

Mindy was not even in the car then.

"Jacen, are Paige and I still allowed to breathe?" Eric asked with his hands at nine

and three o'clock on the steering wheel.

Paige stroked his knee.

"Yes, of course. STOP HERE!"

"Mindy lives four houses down." Eric tried to reason

"I know, but I want us to walk to the car, maybe you can drive around the block for a

bit?"

"No."

"Fine." Jacen sighed as he exited the car.

"Paige, I'm going to slowly go insane," Eric put his fingers through his hair.

"Everything in Jacen's universe is Mindy. Mindy. Mindy."

"You were fourteen once, Eric. Don't you remember what it was like?"

"True, but I didn't like like Donna then. If Jacen could get married to Mindy right

now, he would. And I can tell you marriage was NOT on my mind when I was

fourteen."

Or fifteen, or sixteen…but seventeen was another story.

"In some cultures, never mind."

"Thanks, dear. My brain and heart can't take it."

"Here they come now."

Walking as slow as they could to make time last longer down the sidewalk were

Jacen and Mindy, not holding hands but standing close as if they were. He got

ahead of her when they neared the car so he could open up the door for her.

"Thank you, Jacen. Thank you for inviting me, Mr. Forman."

"You're welcome, Mindy. You can call me Eric you know."

"I know. Hi, Miss Allen."

"Hi, dear. I told you could call me Paige."

"I know. Mom likes me to be formal."

Eric noticed it took Jacen five half hearted tries to get his seat belt buckled as he

was too busy gazing into Mindy's eyes.

"Are we ready to go now?" Eric asked

"Yes!" Jacen replied in a you-are-embarrasing-me-Dad-infront-of-the-girl-I love-

voice

And through the rear view mirror Eric caught the eye roll his son gave him.

"five more years." He whispered to himself.

Paige put her hand on his knee. It was remarkably soothing.

Eric mindlessly stirred his soda with the straw swaying the ice cubes back and forth

in the plastic red frosted tumbler.

"Eric, Eric," Paige spoke

"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry, dear."

"Eric, I know this is difficult for you." She finished her small salad leaving only the

annoying purple cabbage bits behind that no one ate.

"I should go to the rest room."

"No. You just want to get up and spy on them. I hope it works out for Jacen and

Mindy, but even if your heart is right, as hard as it will be, Eric, you are going to

have let Jacen experience heartache."

"I know, Paige. I can't shield him from the world but I have experience in this and I

don't want him to have to go through what I did."

"You're a great Dad. But remember if it ever comes to the bad side, Mindy will also

be experiencing heartache. In situations like this it's always two-fold."

"That's all fine, honey, but Jacen is my son and if Mindy crushes his hopes and

dreams I really won't give a fuck about her feelings."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that." She straightened her posture in the orange vinyl

booth.

Eric reached for right her hand and kissed it tenderly, "You know I'm not mad at you,

darling. I'm just not going to be Switzerland and I won't give a rats ass about her

point of view."

Paige smiled. "I'll say it again, you're a great Dad."

"Thank you."

Their handholding was interrupted when the waitress came by to put their tray of

pizza on the table.

"Do you need anything else?" the young twentysomething waitress asked the sight

of a middle-aged couple in-love fest making her sick to her stomach.

"No, we're good thanks." Eric said

"I think we offended the waitress with our handholding." Paige whispered just in case

she was still in earshot.

"Well, that's just too god damn bad, m'lady. Maybe we should go under the table

later and really make her toss her cookies."

Paige laughed. "I love your sense of humor, Eric."

He smiled. "You better blow on your pizza. It's hot."

All she could do was raise a cautious yet sultry eyebrow at her fiancée.

9:45PM

It was a quiet evening at the Forman's. Paige was sitting on the sofa working on her

heart motif cross-stitch while Eric was content letting Paige stretch out her legs on

him. He was supposed to be watching TV, but it was long since on MUTE. She

spoke when he stopped massaging her feet.

"Are you okay, Eric?" Paige tried to stifle a yawn.

"Yeah, I'm just sulking. He better be home at ten."

All Eric did after he and Paige finished their pizza was go all the way to the other

section of the restaurant to ask if they were ready to go home. Jacen put on the

you're-embarrassing-me-again-in-public-Dad act on and he shooed Eric away

saying that he was going to walk Mindy home and then spend some time with the

unintentional or not (it didn't matter) future heartbreaker before coming home. Jacen

was not allowed to go on unchaperoned dates but he got around Eric's rule with the

"walking Mindy home." And hanging at her house where her parents would be. Crafty

kid.

"He will. Are you still angry that he shooed you away?"

"Yeah, a little. They didn't even finish their pizzas. He was looking into her eyes like

she was Christ or something and I was the 'big bad Dad' ready to destroy their good

time."

"You just have to patient."

"I just don't like it and I'm not gonna."

Eric turned his head to see that Paige had fallen asleep. He gently got up and put

her legs on the sofa and covered her with a blanket. He quietly took her cross-stitch

pattern out of her hands and placed it on the end table before giving her a kiss on

the forehead.

"You're finally home." Eric looked at his watch when Jacen came in through the front

door.

"It's nine fifty five."

"I know, son," Eric whispered, "Paige is asleep."

Jacen walked to the kitchen and Eric followed.

"So, how was your night?"

"Mindy had it set up for Tony to be at her house when we came back from the pizza

place and wasn't going to take no for an answer and she made us make up!" Jacen

poured himself a lemon lime soda into his specialty made navy blue and gold 'Jacen'

mug with a generic solar system motif on it that Eric ordered for him for one of his

stocking stuffers from a Christmas long gone.

"You and Tony are made up then?"

"I guess so. He did apologize for giving me a black eye, but he said terrible things

about Jackie!"

Eric didn't know how to tell his son what he was about to tell him but he figured it

would be all right as long as he was honest about the situation.

"Son, Paige and I talked about this and we decide not to invite Jackie to our

wedding."

"What?!"

"Don't raise your voice, Paige is sleeping in the living room."

"Dad! That's insane . Jackie is your best friend. She's always there for us. She's my

godmother."

Paige's eyes snapped open on the word 'mother' as she clutched the pillow.

"Jacen, I know you two are close, but---"

"No, buts! Just because she posed nude in a magazine that you have stacks of

under your bed, in your closet, and probably on your floppy disks. That's called being

a hypocrite . I thought you were better than that, Dad."

"For your information she said bad things about Paige and I on the phone and hung

up on us. So, what would you do?"

"Forgive her, Dad. She did something, although irrational and stupid to get

attention."

"Well life isn't as easy as that, Jacen."

"Spoken like a conformed adult."

"Someday you are going to be an adult and you will find that it is not so easy."

"Another parental line. I'm your best man! Don't I get a say over who is or is not

invited at the wedding?"

"Think what you want. Not in this case. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too, but not for the same reasons that you are."

He took his mug and went to the safe confines of his own room.

Eric almost jumped onto the ceiling when he felt two hands go on his shoulders as

he waited for the tea kettle to boil.

"It's only me." Paige said kissing his neck.

"Did we wake you?" Eric asked

She bit her lip, "No. Not really. Do you think Jacen would like the cross stitch once I

finish it and get it framed?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"It's hearts though, you don't think that's too girly?"

"No."

"I think I'll sew his initials in the hearts. What's wrong, Eric? Did you two have an

argument?"

"Yeah…No…Kind-of." He turned off the stove he didn't feel like drinking a cup of tea

anymore.

"You have to give him space regarding Mindy."

"No, we weren't talking about her. Well in the beginning we were. She forced Jacen

and Tony to make up."

"That's good, Eric."

"Yes it is. Then it escalated into a disagreement about Jackie and her being at the

wedding."

"Would you like me talk to him, honey? Maybe, it'll help with a woman's voice?"

"No. He's only in his room daydreaming about his pseudo girlfriend. He's just going

to have to get used to how the world works."

Paige wrapped her arms around Eric's waist.

"You are beyond tense."

"Love me tonight."

"I'll do one better."

"What's that?"

"I'll love you every night."

"You got yourself a deal," he picked her up with a renewed sense of strength and

determination, "I love you, Paige."

She kissed him full on the lips as he carried her to their bedroom.

"I love you too, Eric."

11:45

God damn them and their squeaky bed. That was just disgusting and extremely

unpleasant.

Jacen quietly walked to the living room and picked up the telephone. He hoped that

she would pick up and ignore the name Forman, Eric on the caller ID.

He got her machine.

"Jackie, please listen. It's me, Jacen. I want you at the wedding. Please say you'll-

--"

The background disco musak stopped and all Jacen heard were a bunch of clicks

on the other end.

"H-hi, Jacen." It sounded like she had been drinking.

"You'll come to the wedding won't you? I want you there. You're my godmother."

"I know. I love you, Jacen. You're such a good boy."

"How are you feeling?"

"You are the first and only person to have asked me that since my pictorial was

published."

"So, how are you feeling?"

"I could be better, kiddo."

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Will you come to the wedding? Please? For me."

She smiled through her silent internal tears, "Okay."

"I have to go now. I'll email you the information. Take care, Jackie."

"I will," she let the words hang, she wanted to say more but the once talkative about

useless subjects Jackie could not find the words for something so important, "And

you do the same."

Jacen hung up the phone and quickly ran to the family computer to type up an email

to Jackie. She was always there for their family and at the moment he thought his

father was dense for not realizing it.

You don't throw people away over one mistake and the aftermath following it. Which

made him smile out of the corners of his mouth; he finally realized why Mindy did

what she did regarding him and Tony.

You don't throw people away over one mistake and the aftermath following it.

Eric needed to know that regarding Jackie.

You don't throw important relationships away.

Jacen was his father's best man and like it or not he was going to have a say

regarding Jackie's attendance. Whether Eric and Paige liked it or not Jackie was

going to be there.

The best man has spoken.