Chapter 10- For Real

Jay stood in front of his mirror and sighed. He looked around aimlessly for a minute before looking back at his reflection. Running his hand through his dark brown hair, he made an obscene gesture to the mirror and grabbed his school bag and headed for his car. Hand on the doorknob, the door flew open and he jumped back.

"Jay!"

Jay sighed inwardly and looked around before looking back at her. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked quietly.

"Going to bed…." She said making her way towards the room.

"No smoking this time Rae!" he called after her. Rachel Hogart. All the shit that she got herself into, her mother taught her before she ran off to British Columbia that made more money than she could ever imagine. Her only departing words were, "Jay be a good boy and pass the Jack." That was three years ago and now here he is with his older sister and still taking care of, what felt like, his mother. He loved her dearly and when she was sober, she was great. But more often than not she wasn't. And this wasn't the first time he was going out when she was coming in. A loud crash from the bedroom made him flinch but he swore silently and started to move towards the door. It was only a few minutes later that he got concerned. On a normal day, a loud crash was followed by a long string of loud profanity…but silence? Never. He dropped his bag and quickly made his way to her room and pushed open the door.

"Rae?" he called. Looking around, he finally found her on the floor. It looked as though she had tripped over the chest that was the foot of her bed. Because there she was on the floor, foot twisted awkwardly, strawberry blonde hair covering her unconscious face. From the past, and his past as well, he knew that he had to at least roll her over. He slowly made his way over to her and started to pick her up when she woke up.

"Jay?"

"What?"

"Where are we?"

"Rachel cut the shit ok? You know where we are. Stop coming home at 8 in the God damn morning!" he said as he dumped her in bed and stalked towards the door.

"I think I twisted my ankle," she said sounding pitiful.

"There's bandage in the cabinet. Wrap it up, put some ice on it and stay in bed. Maybe get a bucket for your hangover," he said as he shut her door forcefully.

Fuck. Now he was going to be late. He ran to his car and sped the fifteen minutes to school but just like promised, he was late. And being late meant getting a detention.

"I'm telling you it was family problems!" he argued with the secretary.

She just sized him up. "How nice. Today at 3. I assume you know where it is," she said as she wrote him a pass to class.

"I assume you're frigid as hell but hey fuck you too!" he muttered to himself as he started to class.

"Jay!"

"What Alex?" he snapped as he turned around. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with her right now. For the first time in his life, he just wanted to get to class and stay there.

"What the hell happened to you?" she asked in disbelief.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Fall into the Gap lately?" she asked sarcastically.

He sighed. He had forgotten his little plan today. If the kind of guy Emma wanted was the person that Craig or one of her other little nerdy buddies were fine, he could be that guy. As long as she acknowledged him.

"It's nothing ok?"

"This is soo not you," she said as she started to walk in a circle around him sizing him up.

"People change. Now move."

"Apparently just on the outside. Still same old dick on the inside," she smirked as she walked off, swaying her ass in front of him.

"Yeah and you're still a fucked up hag on both fronts," he called after her.

She stopped in mid step and turned back around and gave him the finger before stalking off in typical Alex style.

"Why the fuck did I do this?" he muttered to himself. There he was, standing in the middle of the hallway in a red t-shirt that quasi showed off what he had and a pair of old jeans that remarkably still fit. He looked just like any other kid at school…and for him that was strange in itself. He never changed for anyone, they could suck his dick for all he cared. So what the hell was he doing this for? For Emma? So he could be snubbed again? Fuck that. He was about to turn around and head back out and just skip school all together when the bell sounded and people started to flow out of their classrooms. He quickly made his way towards Emma's locker…it was now or never.


"I really think I like Rachel," Emma said thoughtfully.

"Rachel Michelle," Ellie answered as they rounded the corner.

"Rachel Michelle Nelson. Has a ring Em," Manny agreed nodding her head.

A slow smile started to show on her face. "I'm having a baby. And her name is Rachel….oh my God I'm going to have a daughter!" she said in excitement as Manny squealed with her. Ellie just made a face.

"You've been pregnant for like five months now…are you just realizing this?" she asked skeptically.

"No! It's just…now she has a name. And my two best friends named her," she said smiling at them.

"I don't do mushy by the way," Ellie put in as they came up the hallway to their lockers.

"Well anything is better than Jar Jar…I mean Darlene," Manny said starting to snicker again.

Emma nodded her head and then noticed that she was walking alone.

"Uh…guys?" she looked back at them.

"Who is that? And why is he standing at your locker?" Manny asked raising an eyebrow.

Ellie just smirked. After all the years that she had been around Jay already, she could tell it was him by the way his body leaned against the locker.

"Down girl. It's Jay."

"Pssh…whatever. Jay only wears black, remember?" Manny asked sarcastically.

"I'll prove it's him then," Ellie said as she stalked up to him with Emma and Manny trailing behind her.

"It is you know," Emma hissed.

"What? How do you know?" her best friend shot her a confused look.

"Look at him! Who else shoves his hands in his pockets and looks like he wants to die while still looking so damn good leaning against a locker?" she smiled.

Manny just stared at her and rolled her eyes. Emma had lost it. It was official.

"What do you want?" Ellie demanded.

"Lay off El. I'm here for Emma."

"Yeah that's great. Now again, what do you want?"

Emma laid a hand on her friends arm and pushed her aside gently.

"What?" she asked quietly.

"Can we talk?"

"Sure…talk."

"Alone smartass."

Emma raised an eyebrow. "Take it or leave it Hogart."

He just sighed. "What is wrong with you? You tell me you love me and then you pull this shit," he said getting agitated.

"My it seems familiar doesn't it…"Emma said as she cocked her head at him.

"Don't do that," he said quietly.

"Do what?"

"Act all pious. You're not. You're Emma and I'm Jay. We're going out. And we're going to have a kid together, which by the way is not going to be named Darlene. Over my dead body."

"How do you know…."

"I'm not stupid Emma," was all he would say.

"Fine. You want to be together…"

"I thought we were."

"Then act it," she said stalking off. Suddenly she turned around. "And what are you wearing?"

He shook his head annoyed. "Forget that. I thought…"

"You look good," she said simply looking at him.

He raised his blue eyes and stared into her brown ones and knew it was going to be ok. As cheesy as that sounds, he knew that whatever had happened between them was over. He caught up and grabbed her hand, leaving Ellie and Manny behind.

"So you like it huh?" he asked in her ear.

She stifled a laugh. "If you dressed like that last year….we might already have the kid by now," she said flirting.

"Oh really?" he asked laughing.

She shrugged looking innocent. He pulled on her hand to stop her and she looked at him confused. He brushed her blonde hair out of her eyes and just stared at her.

"What?"

Jay just shrugged. "Just looking."

"In the middle of the hallway?"

"No…doing this in the middle of the hallway," he said as he leaned in and kissed her square on the mouth taking her by surprise. She broke it off and smiled happily.

"I'm sorry Em…"

She put a hand over her mouth. "Don't. You'll ruin it."


"Rachel Michelle."

Jay just looked at her like she lost her mind. "Excuse me?"

"That's our daughters name."

He shook his head no.

"Why not? It's a nice name!"

"I'm not naming my child Rachel."

"Why not?" she asked defiantly.

He did the traditional Jay sigh and was about to tell her about his sister but decided against it. "Because."

"Because isn't an answer," she shot back.

He made a face. "Oh thanks mom," he retorted.

"Fine! What do you want to name her?"

"We're having a girl?" he asked pretending her didn't know.

She stopped then realizing that he had no idea. "Yes. We are."

"And I didn't know this why?"

She shrugged. "You weren't around."

"Emma I was-"

"Jay."

He just glared at her. Fine. He would shut up and take that, he deserved it anyways. "What about…Samantha?"

She looked at him in surprise. "Samantha?"

"Well…Sam. But yeah. And why are you looking at me like that?" he asked drawing back.

"I just never….expected you to say that. Anna Nicole, yes. Samantha, no."

"I'm not always a skeaze you know," he said in a 'duh' fashion.

"Well yeah but-"
"So do you like it or not?"

She bit her lip. "Samantha Michelle Nelson…"

"What!"

She looked up in surprise.

"Hello…my kid!" he cried.

"In case you haven't noticed….it's mine too!" she said pointing to her stomach.

"Why does it have to have your last name?" he whined.

"Because!"

"Because isn't an answer," he mimicked her from earlier as she shot him a dark glare.

"Samantha Michelle Nelson-Hogart….."

He cocked his head. He hand never thought of combining their names before… She looked at him for confirmation.

He smiled. "It's perfect."

She smiled back and looked down at the table and drew in a big deep breath preparing for the battle she was about to fight. "Why not Rachel?" she asked quietly.

"Because I'm not naming my daughter after my fucked up life," he answered simply.

"What?" she asked. He has lost her.

"My sister, her name is Rachel. And my mother taught her everything she knows…it seems like I'm still taking care of her instead of my sister. Who should be taking care of me…not that I need taking care of. Because I don't," he said firmly.

"Wasn't going to disagree. So what's she like? I mean I never knew you had-"

"You never asked," he cut her off looking at her. He wasn't mad, he was just stating the fact.

She nodded her head. "I know. But I am now."

"You really wanna know about my life and my sister?"

Emma just shrugged. "Well if she's going to be part of my life-"

"She's not."

"If she's going to be part of my life then yes I do," she continued as though Jay had never broken in. "I don't know anything about your home life. Yet you seem to know so much about mine."

He shrugged. "Not much there."

"Jay…"

"After I so graciously got kicked out of my own fucking place by my ex I had to move back into my old house. I didn't feel like fighting. Alex can pay the fucking rent and shit like that. See what I care. My dad covers the house so I don't have to worry about anything."

"Your dad?"

"He's not around. And you're not going to meet him so don't ask," he said getting up.

She looked up confused, "Where are we going?"

"You said you wanted to know more about my sister…."

"So?"

"Well let's go. She should still be in bed, if she's not then it's her own damn fault that her ankle will look like a grapefruit," he muttered.

She shot him a questioning look but he just brushed her off.

"Don't worry about it," he said as she got up and followed him to his car.