"I'll pick you up, after school. Okay. Around 3:40. Is that okay?." Mark asks Jeff.
Jeff who was packing up a few belongings from the apartment, looks up at Mark. "Sure, that sounds good. Remember, I've got that court appearance, tomorrow morning. 10:40 AM." Jeff replies.
"I remember. I may be older then you are, but I still have a pretty darn good memory." Mark stats. Grabbing a box filled with some of Jeff's things.
Jeff looks up, a smaller box in his own hands. "I know. I didn't mean to say that you are forgetful. I just thought, with everything going on."
"I didn't forget, I remember. Your gonna stay home tomorrow so that I can take you. Okay." Mark shouts, forcefully.
Jeff looks at Mark wide-eyed. "What's wrong with you, this morning?." Jeff whispers.
Mark didn't hear, because he had already started his way out of the apartment so that he could take the boxes down to the Jeep.
Jeff gets up off his knees. He looks around the room. The room still showing signs of the accident. Jeff flops down on the bed. He places his hands underneath his chin. That sight is what Mark saw, when he arrived back into Jeff's bedroom.
"Are you okay?." Mark asks, kneeling down.
Jeff looks up, he stands up. "I'm fine. I think we should bring the t.v with us. Want do you wanna do with the food?."
Mark thinks about it some. "We can take the t.v. I can place it in your room. As long as you promise me, you won't stay up all night watching it. And as for the food. We can take that, if you want any of it. If not, then we can drop it off to a food shelter."
"Good idea, and I promise. I won't watch t.v. all night." Jeff smiles.
Mark hits both of his open palms. "Alright, well I'm gonna need your help then, getting this t.v. to the Jeep. You think you can handle it?."
Jeff shows his muscles. "Does it look like I can."
Mark smiles and nods. He wanted to be nice to the kid after-all. But the kid barely had any muscles.
It was early morning, Wednesday. Around 6:20 AM. Mark had to drop Jeff off to school once they were done packing things up for Mark to take back to his house, since that's where Jeff was now gonna be staying.
Mark kept keeping a close eye on his watch, so that he made sure that Jeff didn't make it to school late. That they had enough time.
Jeff struggled to lift the small television. But luckily they, with most of Mark's strength were able to make it down the stairs to the entrance of the apartment building. Jeff was losing grip though, his hands being sweaty. He drops it. Causing Mark to stubble backwards, his back hitting the wall.
"Damn." He curses. All the while still having a hold of the t.v.
"..Mark, I'm sorry. Are you okay. Set the t.v. down." Jeff replies, running to Mark. His arms outstretched.
Mark places the t.v. down at his feet. "It's alright. I'm good." Mark whispers, kneeling down, his back leaning on the wall.
"I really am sorry, I just couldn't hold onto it. It slipped. I am really sorry." Jeff whispers. Looking at Mark worrisome.
Mark stands up. "It's alright. I told you. Let's just try this again. Do you think you can hold into it a little bit more?. At-least until we can get to the Jeep."
Jeff nods.
By the time they got everything packed into the Jeep, including the television set. Mark drops Jeff off to his school.
"I''ll pick you up at 3:40. Got it. Be sure to bring your homework and everything that you'll need to do it with you." Mark says
Jeff nods "Sure. I'll see you later. Okay." Jeff wanted to kiss him but being that he was in-front of his school, kids and parents around, he had to settle for a quick hug.
Jeff walks up to the entrance, the double doors. He looks back at Mark, waves and then proceeds to enter the school building.
He walks down the hallway corridor. All the kids rushing in and around him, the huzzle and buzzle of another school day. Jeff hated it.
He walks up to his locker. Number 34. He grabs his lock, getting ready to dial in the combination when Heather walks up to him. Slamming her hip, right into Jeff's. "Ouch!. Damn girl. Why don't you watch, where your going." Jeff curses.
"Hey, Jeffrey. I was wondering if you were going to show up today. You've been missing alot of school days recently."
"I have not, I haven't missed any recently. You just wanna bother me." He bitterly replies.
"And your just mad, because your all alone in this world. I heard what happened to your brother. Being shipped off to a mental hospital."
Jeff looks at her. "How the hell, do you know about that?."
"My sister, she works there. She heard about it, asked if I knew a Hardy in school. I guess she was thinking it was you." She laughs.
Jeff rolls his eyes. "I've gotta get to class. Will you excuse me, please." He whispers. She steps in-front of him.
"You know, it really should have been you. I offered myself to you, and you turned me down. In-front of everyone. You have to be crazy to do that, to me." She replies. Grabbing her lipstick and smearing some on.
Jeff stammers for a reply back. "Move out the way." He tries to side-step her, but she was quicker then him.
Jeff was getting angry. "Move bitch!."
Heather stands there shocked. "What did you just call me. Pysco."
Jeff bites his lip. "I just wanna get to my class, Heather." He whispers.
She slaps him and then begins crying. Of course, much like Jeff's life. A teacher happened to walk by during that time. He stops when he notices a hysterical Heather sobbing uncontrollable.
"What's wrong." He whispers, grabbing her gently by her shoulders.
"He hit me!. And called me a b****." She says, while still crying.
Jeff made a mental note to never make a inspiring actress or actor mad at him ever again. They could cause alot of trouble for you.
"Mr. Hardy. Come with me now."
"But I'm gonna miss my first class."
"Don't worry about that, I'll take care of it for you. You have plenty more things to worry about then that."
The teacher grabs Jeff roughly, pulling on his arm to follow or be dragged. Jeff looked back at Heather smiling satisfied.
Jeff cursed her in his head, over and over again.
He missed his first class because of that and got dentition.
"Great." Jeff speaks out-loud. Sitting in the desk in the front row. His desk was the only one that had a body in it. I guess there wasn't many other kids being framed on doing things that they didn't do.
The teacher coughs. "Your not supposed to be speaking. Hardy. Please be quite. Your in this mess, because you is your punishment."
Jeff rolls his eyes. I guess, I just get my homework done.
Mark had been waiting for Jeff to come out and meet him, for at-least ten minutes now. His last class had to be over with by now. There was plenty of kids coming out meeting their parents, the school buses were loading up and leaving. So where is Jeffrey.
Mark groans as he gets out of the Jeep. He walks up to the school's reception desk.
"Yes, I was here to pick up Jeffrey Hardy. And he still hasn't showed up."
"Was he aware that you would be picking him up?." The lady asks.
"Yes, he was. I've been out there waiting. For at-least 11 minutes."
"I'll see if he's still here." She types something in the computer, she looks at Mark. "It seems that he's in detention, Sir. You'll have to wait for him to get through."
"Detention. What for?." He asks.
"..It seems he hit another class-mate, a girl."
Mark thanks her as he takes a seat down on the bench, that was in-front of the principal's office.
When Jeff arrives to the front of the school. The teacher following him out alongside him. Mark gets up. Visibly upset.
"Mark. You didn't wait for me this entire time, did you?."
The teacher grabs Jeff's arm lightly. "You know this man?." He asks to Jeff.
Jeff nods, looks at the teacher, then back to Mark. "Yeah, I'm staying with him. He's a close friend."
The teacher walks up to Mark. Extends his hand. "Jeff got into some trouble. I think you may need to talk to him about it later, once you've gotten him home." He suggest.
Mark nods with a fake smile. "I surely will do that, Sir." He wanted to say, thanks for wasting a whole day but he had to be respectful.
When Jeff and Mark got outside, to the Jeep. Mark let him know how he felt.
"What the hell, did you do. Huh.. He said you hit a a girl. That better not be true?."
"It's not!." He defends. "She totally lied to the teacher. Fake crying and everything. It was that girl, I told you about. The one who didn't take me not liking her very good. Heather." Jeff explains.
Mark gets in the Jeep. "You know, today was my birthday." Mark confesses. "I was hoping I could celebrate it, with you."
" I'm sorry I ruined your birthday. I didn't know but today's not over with." Jeff whispers, looking down. Feeling like he was gonna tear up.
Mark grabs Jeff's chin gently. Jeff allows him to lift his face up some. So that they were looking at each-other, eye to eye.
"You didn't mean it, I know. And your right. We can still celebrate it. How about we go to Baskin' robbins. Pick up a cake." Mark responds.
Jeff smiles "I'd like that alot. If you will like it. I want you to be happy on your birthday Mark. So your twenty-nine years old now?." Jeff asks.
Mark looks down. "Don't remind me." He laughs.
Mark looks up, starts the engine and pulls out the parking lot. "Did you tell the teacher's that I won't be coming into school tomorrow?." Jeff asks. "Yeah, I did. I told you, I'm not that old to be forgetting things." Mark replies.
"What cake do you like?." Jeff asks curiously, his favorite was strawberry.
"I like Vanilla but my personal favorite is Strawberry with cream cheese frosting. Would you mind that kind?." Mark asks, wanting to know that he wouldn't be the only one eating it. He wanted to get something that they both would like.
"I love Strawberry cake, it's my favorite too." Jeff excitedly responds. Making a mental note that he and Mark shared something in common.
"Good, we're get that then."
They get to the shop, Jeff looks through one of the cake displays, while Mark orders in a small cake. The lady said that they usually didn't make the cake-orders the same day, but that it being Mark's birthday and it was a small order, that she would make a acceptation.
Mark thanked her, and asked if she could add two scoops of ice-cream aswell. Mark called Jeff over.
"You want a ice-cream while we're here?." Mark asks.
"I sure would." He thinks about it for a second. "Do you have any peanut butter cup flavored ice-cream?." Jeff asks the young lady.
She smiles at him sweetly. "We do have one of those." She responds.
"I'll take one of those. Thank you."
"Is he your son?." She asks. Mark smiles while Jeff walks away back to the cake display, blushing.
"I'd like a regular vanilla cone, please." Mark replies.
The lady makes the ice-creams and hands them over. "Here you go, I'll get to making your order. It should be done in two hours. I hope that it's okay. Your be celebrating your birthday rather late. I'm sorry."
"It'll be fine, thank you. Here's my number. Please call me when it's ready to be picked up."
"Have a nice day." Jeff replies as he and Mark head out the store. Jeff beginning to eat his peanut butter cup ice-cream. "Pretty good." He whispers. Mark looks over at him. "You like it?." Mark asks. Jeff nods.
"So why did you just get a vanilla ice-cream, out of all the flavors they have." Jeff asks, standing outside, waiting to cross the street.
"..That's just what I wanted. You got a problem with that. It's my birthday after-all." Mark replies, pulling on Jeff's jacket playfully, to let him know that he was just joking.
"Let's take a seat over there, them benches. You see em?." Mark asks, pointing at the rest area, acrossed from the road.
"Sure do." Jeff replies, still trying to finish off the ice-cream.
They make their way to the benches, and takes a seat down on one that didn't have no-one near-by.
"It sure is a pretty day today." Mark whispers, looking up at the clear blue September sky. It would be getting dark soon though, it being a little after five. Jeff glances up too. "Yeah, I'm sorry. I caused your birthday to have to be spent at the school." Jeff whispers.
"It's not your fault. You didn't know it was my birthday."
"..I bet you wish your parents were here, your little brother?." Jeff replies.
Mark looks at Jeff. Square in the eye. "Yeah, I do. But I've got you."
Jeff smiles "Thanks, I'm glad I could be here too, Mark. I really am."
"When's your birthday, Jeff?." Mark asks.
"Oh, it's in Jan, 17th. I'll be seventeen. Almost as old as you huh?." He jokes.
"Yeah...almost. " Mark laughs.
Jeff stands up and reaches out his hand to Mark. "You done with that, I can throw it away for you?."
Mark shakes his head "Nah. I'm still trying to eat it all."
Jeff shrugs his shoulders as he goes to throw away his empty ice-cream container.
"So I was wondering, it being your birthday. If we could go to the store." Jeff asks.
"What for?." "The birthday boy needs birthday presents, don't he?." Jeff asks, smiling ear to ear. "..I guess your right. Come on. We can walk to one. It's down the road. I could use the exercise anyways."
"Yeah, with your old age." Jeff teases.
Mark swats at him. "Knock off the old jokes. "
"Sorry." Jeff whispers, with his head low.
Mark places his arm around Jeff. "It's alright. "
Jeff makes his way down the card aisle. He say several cards that looked good, but were far too expensive for what little money he had saved up. Luckily, he had his money on him, and not left at home. I mean Mark's house. Jeff thinks.
"Hey, I'm gonna be over there, okay. I don't wanna spoil the surprise." Mark replies as he walks over to the grill stand in the front of the shopping center.
Jeff smiles as he goes back to examining the cards. He couldn't find the right one. Not until he gets ready to give up, does he notice a card hidden in the back of the rack. It had a motorcycle and a dog on it, riding it, and the dog had his tongue sticking out, and it appeared to be blowing in the wind. Jeff smiled and thought that Mark would like it so he grabs it, checks to see how much it was. 3.20. I can afford that he thinks. He goes out to see where Mark was. Pointing at him that he was going to go pay.
Once done paying, Jeff had the card in a bag. Mark meets up with him a few steps away from the entrance.
"You ready or do you need to get something else?." Mark asks.
"No, I think I got what I needed." Jeff replies.
Mark hears his phone ringing. He answers it. "Hello."
"About time, I got ahold of you. This is Paul. I'm sure you remember me, don't you."
Mark rolls his eyes. "Just go ahead to the baskin' robbins, I'll be there in a minute." Mark says to Jeff.
"You sure?." Jeff whispers. "Yes. It'll be fine. Go on." Mark hollers. Walking away from him.
Jeff looks back to Mark but then waves him off, he starts heading down the block.
Mark started walking a few feet behind him, all the while talking on the phone. Jeff could tell he was mad at who-ever was calling. He seemed to be yelling, but Jeff was too far away to hear what was being said. He just knew that mark didn't like to talk to this particular person.
"Paul, I've avoided you for a reason. I don't want anything to do with you, anymore. Do you understand that." Mark yells in the phone's receiver.
Jeff sits on the bench, waiting for Mark. Mark makes it back to where Jeff sat about five minutes later. "Sorry about that, no-one bothered you, did they?." Jeff shakes his head. "No."
"Let's go ahead, and see about the cake?. Huh." Mark whispers.
"Sure." Jeff replies and he stands up.
"We're here to see if our order is done."
"I just got it out the oven, if you can wait twenty or so minutes, I'll have it ready. It needs to sit in the fridge to get the icing to harden on the cake." She explains. "That's why we usually don't have an order ready, until the next day."
"That's fine." Mark replies as he takes a seat down on one of the tables, inside the shop.
Jeff takes a seat down next to him. "Are you bored?." Mark asks. "No, I was just thinking."
"Thinking about what?." Mark asks. "Your, well your brother, and parents." "Why?." Mark replies.
"I just find it sad, that their not here to celebrate your birthday with you." Jeff whispers.
"They are here, Jeffrey. Just like your dad will be when you celebrate yours in a few months." Mark smiles.
Jeff looks up, and smiles too. "You really believe that.". "Yeah, I really do." Mark reassures.
Jeff's questioning about his family, made Mark think about them aswell. Not like he hadn't thought of them on and off today anyways, but he wasn't thinking of them, in that moment, until Jeff brought them up. Again.
Jeff and Mark make it home, luckily before the icing on the cake wanted to melt. It helped that it was now night-time and it was cold out. But it meant that they had to suffer, with no heat on in the car. Jeff was complaining quite a bit by the time they finally made it the house.
"Here, I got you a birthday card." Jeff says as he hands the white envelope to Mark.
Mark opens it and see's the image of the dog on the motorcycle. "Thanks, I really like it."
Jeff looks down, blushing. "I hoped that you would."
Mark goes to open the cake-box, deciding to not put candles on the cake, he just cuts two slices. One for himself and one for Jeff. And places the rest of it in the fridge to continue to set. "Well, dig in before the cake turns to ice-cream." Mark replies.
Jeff sits down, grabs a fork and takes a bite. "Did you notice the inscription on the cake?." Jeff asks.
"I sure did, you do that?." Mark asks. Jeff nods and smiles. "It was while you were feeding the dogs. I bought some of that cake paint-things while we were at the store earlier."
"Well, thank you." Mark replies.
"So next month, it'll be Oct. Do you plan to celebrate Halloween?." Mark asks.
Jeff swallows and then responds. "Of course, do you?. I guess you don't get many trick-or-treaters being so far out here, deserted like."
"No, I've never got any. But I can watch you get all dressed up, and stuff. In-less your too old to dress up?." Mark asks.
"No, I dress up. Last year, I was a skeleton." He replies. "A skeleton, huh?." Mark replies. Jeff nods.
Jeff looks down, then back to Mark. Mark was staring into the living room.
"What's the matter, Mark?." Jeff asks.
"Nothing." Mark looks to Jeff. Jeff grabs a little bit of cake. He tosses it gently at Mark. It lands right on Mark's nose.
"Hey, what are you doing?." Mark shouts. Jeff smiles "You said that nothing was the matter, but there is something the matter." Jeff replies. "Oh, yeah. What is that. Other-then you throwing food." "Your not having enough fun on your birthday." Jeff whispers, grabbing a handful of his piece of cake. Throwing it directly into Mark's face.
Mark shakes his head. "Alright, you wanna start something, we can start something. You'll gonna regret it though." He warns as he grabs his slice of cake. He throws it but Jeff moved out the way. Only some icing landed on him. Mark watches Jeff. Jeff tries to make it to the fridge. "Oh, no you ain't. Jeff." Mark laughs as he gets in the way of Jeff. Mark makes it to the fridge before Jeff could, he reaches in and grabs the box, he throws it on the kitchen table. "Get ready." Mark says as he grabs two handfuls of cake.
Jeff laughs "Alright, Mark. Don't throw em. I think you've had enough fun now." He begs with his hands up.
Mark shakes his head. Smiling. "I don't think so." Mark throws, and Jeff tries to dodge the slices. By the end of it. Mark had Jeff pinned to the kitchen floor, cake all over each other. But both were smiling and laughing whole-heartily.
"I think that was the best birthday, I've ever celebrated." Mark whispers, worn out and exhausted.
"You smell like cake." Was Jeff's only tired responds. Mark laughs. "Well, so do you. We're both gonna need to get a shower."
"Together?."
"Nice try. Jeffrey. Why don't you get one first, since you've seen more battle then me." mark replies as he sits up.
"Yeah. Happy birthday, Mark."
TBC
Sorry for how long, it's taken me to update. I really hope that all of you like this new chapter. Thanks always for the reviews.
IsidorAngst: Matt's girlfriend had been trying to get ahold of him, but Matt wouldn't ever return her phone-calls so she eventually gave up.
Centon4eva: Thanks for the reviews, I'll will try to get sex up sometime. But I'm still wanting to do it when Jeff turns seventeen. So maybe four or five more chapters and then it'll happen. :)
Infection13: Thank you for the reviews. Yes, I'm glad Matt told Jeff too. And I'll write the court appearance in the next chapter.
CannibalHolocaust: Thank you for the reviews, I wrote a short thing in this chapter about him being in school. I hope you like it. :)