Chapter Eight- Failure's not flattering

Ricky stood in front of the house and took a deep breath. Now that they were both aware of each others existence, he wanted to get to know Janie more. For God's sake, she was his daughter after all, it was only fair. He reached out and rang the doorbell and fought the temptation to run away.

"Hi," a male voice said and Ricky looked down to see the boy from the diner that called him an asshole standing before him.

"Hey. I'm Ricky…is Janie here?" he asked and the boy glared at him.

"Who the fuck are you and what do you want with my sister?" he snapped and Ricky's eyes grew huge.

"Excuse me?"

"Ethan!!" Amy yelled as she grabbed him and moved him back. "I'm so sorry about…that," she trailed off when she saw who it was.

"Charming kid you got there Amy," he said rolling his eyes.

"Yeah well you're this older guy that suddenly is coming around looking for his sister, what is he supposed to think?" she shot back as she opened the door nonetheless.

"That I'm not a pedophile?" he joked as he walked by Ethan and the little boy just narrowed his eyes at him.

"So what do you want?" she asked finally as they made their way to the kitchen?"

He arched an eyebrow. "Oh you know, me and your husband are best buddies and we're going bowling today. Why do you think I'm here?"

"Does Jane know you're coming?"

He shook his head. "No. But I thought that we could at least get to know each other you know? She came and talked to me yesterday and since we both know…I mean it's only fair right?"

"Don't talk to me about fair Ricky," she warned as she got some coffee. "If the world was fair then you still wouldn't know about her. But…I guess you have a point. I don't need her to hate me because of you."

"Exactly."

"I wasn't asking you," she pointed out. "Janie!" she yelled and a minute later he heard a door thud and footsteps on the stairs.

"What? Oh…hi…" she said awkwardly as she saw who was in the kitchen with her mother.

"He," Amy said pointing at Ricky, "has something he wants to talk to you about."

"You can say my name you know," he rolled his eyes.

"Saying your name gives me a bad taste in my mouth," Amy snapped as she sat down that table.

"Hey Janie," he said ignoring Amy.

"Hi."

He looked around uncomfortably. He felt like he should take her out, like normal fathers do with their daughters, but then again he wasn't a normal father.

"Umm…so do you want to go out?" he asked feebly.

She shrugged. "Sure, why not?"

"Really?" he asked in a mixture of relief and surprise. That was too easy, wasn't she supposed to put up a fight and not want to go?

"Yeah," she said as she grabbed her purse that was sitting on the table. "Where are we going?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the car as Ricky drove around town. He had no idea what to say to his person, his own flesh and blood. And she certainly did not what to say to him, after appearing for the first time in her life after he missed most of it.

"So what do I call you?" she finally asked.

"What?"

"Well I mean I know that you're my real father and all that but I just met you, you know?"

"Oh, right. Well…I guess Ricky would work," he shrugged. "What do you call Ben?" he asked curiously.

"Dad," she deadpanned and he flushed as embarrassment swept over him. Of course she called him Dad, he was the only dad that she ever knew.

"So…do you have a boyfriend?" he attempted and she smiled.

"I guess you could call him that. I mean we haven't talked and made it official yet…but I guess so."

"You guess so?" he teased.

"Well we went out and we hold hands but it's not like we've kissed or anything," she opened up a little bit.

"What's his name?"

"Greg," she smiled.

"Well you seem to really like him. I hope he's good to you."

"Ricky, we've only been talking for like two weeks. Chill out," she rolled her eyes. "So what about you and Adrian?"

"What about her?" he asked sharply and Janie sat back against the seat.

"Sorry," she muttered. "You mentioned her the other day…"

He sighed. "Sorry. We…well I guess you could say we dated."

"So what happened?"

"Her and Grace became really good friends and then me and Grace started to like each other," he said simply.

"You went after her best friend? Dude, that is such a low blow!"

"Yeah… So now Adrian hates me but Grace is starting to talk to her again."

"So did Grace know about you and Mom?"

He nodded. "She did. Actually, the whole school knew about that. Grace was really supportive though and she tried to be there for your mother whenever Amy would let her."

"But didn't that make her look differently at you? No offense but if Greg suddenly told me that he had a kid somewhere with some chick, I'd leave him so fast," she commented as she twirled her hair around her finger.

"Grace was never like that. I'm not sure why honestly, but she never was. She always thought that I should have been able to take on more of a role in your life though."

Janie nodded. "So do you two have any kids? Do I have like brothers and sisters?"

"No, but cute kid you got for a brother," he rolled his eyes and she laughed.

"Yeah Ethan's got a mouth on him. He's great though."

"You guys get along?"

"He's like my best friend," she explained.

"Who are your best friends?"

She laughed. " Well Nadine thinks you're a dreamboat and Julie is usually more reserved about things. But I've known them since like first grade and we've always had each others backs."

"Dreamboat huh?" he snickered.

"Yeah but she also likes to tell me that Dad's hot," she rolled her eyes. She grew quiet for a minute. "So…what made you come back?"

"Come back?" he cocked his head and turned into a driveway.

"Well yeah, I mean you obviously moved away from here. So why did you come back? Nostalgia or something?" she asked as she followed him to the front door.

"That was more Grace than me," he admitted and she faltered for a second.

"Oh."

"What was more me?" Grace asked as she appeared in the living room, her face lighting up to see Janie sitting there. "Janie! Hi," she said as she wrapped the girl in a hug.

"Uh…hi," she said awkwardly.

"How are you?" she smiled at her.

"Fine I guess," she shrugged.

"I was telling her that you were the one that said we should move back," Ricky broke in.

"Well after you lost your job we had to go somewhere," she shrugged. "And why not go where we know everything?"

"I would have been happy anywhere as long as I was employed," Ricky joked.

Janie forced a smile on her face and nodded. "How did you lose your job?"

He sighed and grew quiet. "We," he said motioning towards him and Grace, "Got too close to a client of mine and because of that they fired me. Apparently it was something that was frowned upon."

"Too close?" she cocked her head.

"There was a girl that was being abused and I wanted to show her what a real family could feel like," Grace explained. "I invited her over for dinner and we would go out together…I adored that girl."

"Sooner or later people found out and here I am," he said spreading his arms.

Grace smiled at her husband and walked back into the kitchen and Janie looked at him.

"Did you ever…wonder about me?" she asked quietly.

His face grew somber. "Of course I did, but I had no idea where you were. Your mother, if you haven't noticed, hates me so she would never even let me see you when we were in high school together."

"Well maybe if you wanted to help her take care of me in the first place that wouldn't have happened," she shot back.

He sat back and looked at her. "Probably Janie."

She sighed. "I thought for a second that you came here because you knew about me. How stupid is that right?" she laughed bitterly and shook her head. "All I was to you was a mistake that happened at band camp right?"

"Jane," he said in a warning tone but she ignored it.

"Why did you even want to meet me? I was fine without you Ricky!" she hurled his name at him. "Did you grow a conscious or something?"

"So you wanna leave then?" he yelled back, gesturing to the door.

She stared at him. "Great Dad," she hissed at him as she got up and slammed the door shut and he sank back into the chair. He didn't mean to yell at her but she was sitting there hurling accusations at him!

"Honey?" Grace stuck her head back into the room. "What just happened?" she asked in a worried tone.

"My daughter hates me," he said in a tired tone.

"I'm sure she doesn't hate you," his wife comforted him. "She just doesn't know you."

"I don't think she wants to," he replied as he put an arm around her waist.

"Why hello," Greg smiled into the phone.

"Are you busy?"

He sat up when he heard the tears in her voice. "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know who else to call," she started.

"Janie, what's going on?" he asked again as he stood up and grabbed his keys. "Do you need me to come get you?"

She nodded and then realized that he couldn't see her. "Yeah," she whispered.

Ten minutes later a yellow car stopped in front of her and she opened the door and got in.

"What happened?" he immediately asked.

She shrugged. "Nothing. Ricky tried to hang out with me today and well…this is how it ended."

"Did he say something?"

"More like he didn't say something," she sighed. "I thought that he came back because he knew about me you know? That he wanted to see his child. Apparently it was his wife's decision to come back and he didn't even think about me at all."

"What do you mean didn't think about you at all?" he scrunched up his eyes.

"I asked him if he ever wondered about me and he said yes but didn't know where I was. I'm sorry but he could have more effort into looking for me. If I had a kid somewhere out there, I wouldn't rest until I found them."

"Not everyone's like that babe," he said quietly.

She rolled her eyes. "Why did he even come over today? God," she sighed.

"Do you wanna go home?"

She shook her head. "No. Mom knows I'm out with him and if I show up suddenly she'd think something was wrong and I don't want to have to listen to that crap you know?"

He nodded. "Ok, so where to?"

She shrugged. "I didn't get that far," she apologized.

He smiled at her. "Don't apologize for something you didn't do."

"Thank you again for doing this Greg. I didn't know who else to call and-"

"Hey, it's no problem," he reassured her. "I mean…you are kinda my girlfriend and all that aren't you?" he teased her and she grew red.

"God I'm sorry about the other day at lunch-"

"What?" he interrupted her, confused.

"When I grabbed your hand," she said slowly and he started laughing.

"You think that bothered me? Why would that bother me?"

She shrugged feeling self-conscious. "I don't know. I mean we never really…talked about what we were. If anything," she added quickly.

He paused as they stopped at red light and he tucked some stray hair behind his ear as he leaned over to her side.

"Wha-"

She couldn't get her sentence out as he gently pressed his lips to hers. "I forgot to do that the other night," he said quietly.

"It's alright," she said flustered as he kissed her again.

"The light," she breathed as she saw it turn green.

"So what? There's no behind me," he smirked. "By the way, you're cute when you're all red," he said as he pulled her hair gently and she moaned and put her face in her hands. "But seriously," he continued, "I never really thought about a title or some shit like that. I just figured that we went out, we both obviously liked it and I'm planning on doing it again soon. And as soon as I park this car, I'm probably going to maim you," he said as an afterthought and she burst out into laughter.

"Maim me?"

He nodded with a smirk. "I have to mark what's mine right?"

She glanced at him with a little smile playing on her lips. "Wait…so does that mean that I'm yours then?"

He sighed. "You, Janie Boykewich, ask entirely too many questions," he said as he parked the car in front of a house and leaned over and kissed her again, deeper this time.

"How's Janie doin?" Ricky asked the next morning in the parking lot.

"Didn't you just spend all of yesterday with her?" Ben rose an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure she didn't change overnight," he laughed.

"She didn't tell you?"

Ben stood up to full height, expecting the worst. "Tell me what?"

"She left after we got back to my house. We…kind of had a fight."

"What do you mean she left?" Ben crossed his arms.

"She didn't go home?" he asked and Ben shook his head.

"She came home at like six or seven. What time did she leave?"

Ricky shrugged. "I wasn't exactly looking at a clock."

"Whatever," he muttered as he turned to walk away.

"You're not even concerned about where she was?" Ricky asked in amazement.

Ben turned back around. "She's a big girl Ricky, she can handle herself. She wasn't out robbing places and we trust her. So…no. I'm not really worried about where she went. By the way, what was the fight about?"

"None of your business," he bristled.

"If it involves my daughter, then it is my business," Ben shot back.

Ricky narrowed his eyes and went for the cheap shot. "Last time I checked, she was my daughter, not yours," he smirked.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure I adopted when your ass ran out!" he yelled.

"Well it's not my fault you like my leftovers," Ricky replied after a minute with a superior tone in his voice.

"Boys!!" Adrian jumped in between the two men that were looking at each other like they wanted to cause physical damage to the other. "There is a time and place and right here, in front of everyone, isn't it!" she said as she pushed Ricky away from Ben.

"We'll finish this later," Ricky said as he walked away.

"Fantastic," Ben grumbled.

Adrian glared at him. "What is wrong with you?!" she slapped him upside the head.

"Ow!!" he ducked, rubbing where she smacked him. "What the hell was that for?!"

"Can you grow up? Why the hell are you two acting like teenagers and fighting? And let's face it, Ricky would kick your ass Benjamin because you, are not a fighter. Or a lover," she cut him off as he opened his mouth and then he shut it again.

"I need a new tagline for that," he mumbled and she rolled her eyes. "What am I supposed to do Adrian? This guy got into a fight with my daughter and then tells me I'm a bad father because I don't know where she went! And then…" he paused as he let anger recede a little bit, "He called Amy his leftovers," her said lowly and the woman next to him sighed.

"Well Ricky's not exactly smart when it comes to talking to people Ben. You are though, you're like the geekiest guy I know."

"Is that a compliment?" he looked at her.

"Take it how you want," she said as she waved a hand. "Janie is your daughter, not some girl that you both like in high school ok? Stop treating her like it," she snapped. "Be a man and be a father and stop getting into piss ass fights with Ricky Underwood."

"Adrian-"

"You are not that tough Ben," she said softer this time. "Unless something seriously wrong happened to her, we both know that you can't hurt him. Just give it up and leave it up to her. What are you so afraid of?"

He sighed and hung his head as they walked inside.

"Isn't that your dad?" Julie pointed to the two men yelling at each other in the parking lot.

"Oh my God," she muttered.

"Isn't that…Ricky and your dad?" Greg asked.

Great. Her father and this…guy were going to act like high school students and scream at each other in the middle of a parking lot. They were out to ruin her life.

"Looks like someone has more men in her life than she can handle," Nadine's voice came from behind them and Janie started.

"What?" she asked as she turned around.

She laughed. "Nothing. It was just a joke Janie, God," she said as she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah well you don't even know what's going on. So shut it."

"You're not the only with family issues you know," she said as he brushed past her. "You were just too wrapped up in yourself and your new boyfriend to ask about anyone else."

"Dina!" Julie admonished but Nadine kept walking away.

"What the fuck was that?!" Janie yelled and Julie shrugged.

"For the record, I've never felt that way."

"What drama could she possibly have? Her parents have been happily married forever!"

"Maybe they're getting a divorce?" Greg asked and Janie laughed.

"Her parents are straight out of 'The Brady Bunch', please."

"She's right. Her parents have like never fought and she's an only child. Maybe she's just jealous or whatever."

"Of what? The fact that two grown men are about to kill each other and they somehow both belong to me? She can take it," she said angrily as she started to walk away.

"Nadine, what is wrong with you?" Julie cornered her at her locker later that morning.

"What?"

"You totally spazzed this morning!"

She shrugged. "Well maybe if she wasn't so wrapped in her world then-"

"Don't give me that family drama crap Nadine. We all know that you live with the Brady's."

Her friend grew quiet. "She doesn't deserve him."

Julie's eyes grew wide. "I'm sorry, what?"

"She doesn't deserve him!" she repeated louder.

"Who?!"

"Santa Clause. Who do you think?" she glared at her friend.

"I really hope you're not talking about Ricky…"

"Greg!"

"Ok, what?"

"She thinks that she can dress like that for one day and just have this guy fall all over her. He'll find out what she's really about and leave her."

"Slow down here," Julie put up her hands. "Do you like him or something? Because it totally sounds like you do."

Nadine looked at the floor without saying anything.

"Are you serious?!" Julie squeaked out. "How could you like him!!?"

"Oh please! I liked him last year too when she was wrapped around Riley's finger. It just figures that she would get the guy. She gets everything," she muttered.

"You have to be kidding me Dina. You're the one that gets everything! You get all the guys, you get the good clothes, the spotlight, the humor…you get it all. We're just your little sidekicks," Julie said softly as she walked away.