So I know this is soon but chapter 11 flew off my finger tips. Thanks for all the reviews! I'm so happy it's getting more too, BEG75!! HaHa...So I hope you like it. I'm a tab bit nervous adding the movie in...so let me know what ya think!
I sat in Jerry's extra room and looked out the window. Everyone was meeting at his house for the gathering after Evelyn's funeral. I didn't go. I couldn't. Jerry and Camille didn't push me either. I had been staying with them since that night and they knew first hand how I had been. The police had gotten there not even five minutes later. And then not even a day later they called it a gang robbery gone out of hand. I didn't believe them. I saw what had done. They called me lucky. Lucky? I watched two innocent people die in front of me and I was lucky? I wasn't sure how that one worked.
Now I was sitting up in Jerry's extra bedroom and looking out the window. I could tell it was cold. Everyone that walked by was breathing out small clouds. I saw the familiar car drive up and park on the corner but couldn't stay long enough to watch who got out.
"Emilie?" Camille asked opening the door. I turned around and smiled at her.
"Hey. I'll be down in a minute." I told her before she could ask.
"Take your time." she smiled and walked back out. I sighed and walked over to the window again. I saw the car was empty and I let the curtain fall back. I walked over to the door and walked out to go see Jerry.
"Diddle." he greeted when I walked downstairs. I smiled and moved into his open arms. He hugged me and kissed my head before I pulled away.
"It's a nice gathering." I said softly trying to strike up a conversation. He smiled and put his hands in his pockets.
"It"ll be okay. He's probably just as nervous as you." he told me. I nodded and walked over to the backdoor. I saw the girls outside and smiled.
"Hey girls." I greeted and kneeled down next to them. They smiled up at me and played with the dolls.
"Hey, Emilie." Daniela smiled. "Are all these people sad?" she asked. Amelia set her doll down to listen to me.
"Yes, they're sad about losing Miss. Evelyn." I told them. Daniela bit her lip and looked away.
"Are they all family?" she asked. I laughed softly.
"No, friends and family." I told her.
"Are you sad?" Amelia asked.
"Emilie!" Camille called. I looked behind me and saw her waving for me to come over. I held up one finger and looked back at Amelia.
"Yes, honey. I'm sad. But in more ways than one." I told her sadly. They nodded and I stood up. I walked over to the door and didn't see Camille. I walked inside and she wasn't there either so I walked into the kitchen to fix me a drink. I walked back out and saw her and Jerry talking and looking out the window.
"Jerry, I thought you said he wasn't coming?" she asked Jerry. I was him sigh and look over at her.
"No, I said I didn't know if eh was coming or not. I haven't seen or talked to him in forever. And you know how hard it is to keep track of Bobby." he told her. She gave him a sideways glance and he sighed again. "Don't give me that look, Camille. I'm way done with that life." he promised.
I knew what he was talking about. Camille had gone on and on about Bobby coming back. They didn't know but I had talked to him regularly. I knew he was coming. But Camille, swore that if he came back he'd jump into Bobby-mode and go all crazy- Her words, not mine. She thought that Bobby would do something stupid and drag Jerry in. He kept telling her that bobby just wanted to come home, pay his respects and see family. But Camille being Camille, didn't believe that. I wasn't sure if I did either though.
"Camille, you needed me?" I asked trying to stop the impending argument between the two. They turned around and Camille gave him one last glance and walked over to me.
"I just wanted to make sure you were okay." she said sweetly. I nodded and looked around.
"So good so far." I told her. She patted my cheek and smiled. I waited until she walked away to walk over to the window. I felt my chest tighten when I saw him outside. I reached for the door but walked away instead. I wasn't ready just yet.
I couldn't believe it when Jerry called me. I thought he was pulling some kinda sick joke that I would eventually kill him for. But he wasn't. Ma was dead and I was heading back to Detroit on the first flight I could. I was even more shocked when Bobby showed up at the airport as my ride. We only had enough time to go straight to the funeral and that was horrible. We all had our chances to speak and mine turned into a mess. I just couldn't hold it in anymore. What was worse was that Emilie wasn't there. Jerry told me that she had a good excuse but I didn't see what that could be. I asked what happened but he just told me to ask her. Yeah, right.
"Hey. You alright?" Bobby asked walking up behind me on the street. We had just pulled up to Jerry's house and I was a wreck.
"Yeah." I mumbled.
"You sure?" he asked throwing an arm on my shoulders. I inhaled on my cigarette and nodded again. "Ya know I love ya, man." he said. "Come on, let's go see Jerry."
I turned around and saw Jerry outside talking to a group of old ladies and Bobby slowly walking up. I looked up to the second floor and saw a glimpse of someone leaving. My chested got heavy and I took a deep breath. Was I ready for this?
"My mom, she used to talk about ya'll all the time, about how ya'll used to cut up at work." Jerry said to the ladies. I laughed inside. He was always the one to suck up. "She told me everything." he smiled. I stood next to Bobby and waited for the ladies to go inside. When they did we walked up to Jerry.
"How ya doing, baby?!" Jerry smiled hugging Bobby.
"Cool." Bobby laughed. "Nice house, ma. Now bad at all." Bobby said looking at the house.
"What's up kiddo? Come on, man. Give me a hug, man." Jerry laughed pulling me into a hug. I smiled and gave him a hug. He pulled away and looked over at Bobby.
"Now, leave my house alone." he warned. Bobby smiled and looked at him.
"What? You say that like I have trouble with them." Bobby laughed. I leaned on the house and smiled.
"Do you remember when I built that tree house and you burned that shit down?" Jerry asked laughing.
"Come on, ma." Bobby laughed.
"Boy, I wanted to kick your ass." Jerry finished. Bobby tapped the side of the house and smiled.
"Don't worry, your house is brink. I ain't gonna burn it down." he promised.
"Well, now yeah." Jerry smiled. We laughed and walked to the front door. Before we walked in he stopped me. "Oh yeah, yeah no smoking in my house. Put that out. Sorry." he told me. Patting the smoke outta my jacket after I threw the cigarette away.
I shook my head and followed them inside. I looked around and sighed. Jerry had made something of himself, maybe I could do this one day. Maybe I could have all this one day. A nice house, a wife and kids.
I laughed after that thought. Like I'd ever have a semi-normal life. Before I could get that I had to learn how to keep my mouth shut and stop being stupid. I felt a hand come over my shoulder and turned around.
"Let's go see the girls." Bobby said pushing my to the back door. I nodded and started walking over to the door. I opened the door and saw the girls playing in the yard with a tiny dog. We walked over and kneeled in front of them.
"Hey there. You must be Daniela." Bobby said looking at the oldest girl. "Look how big you guys are. And you must be Amelia." he said to the tiny dog the smaller girl was holding. I smirked as he petted the dog. "Nice dress, Amelia."
"I'm Amelia." the smaller girl shouted happily.
"I know. You guys probably don't remember us but I'm your Uncle Bobby and this is Cracker Jack." he told the girls. I sighed and looked over at him.
"Man, don't teach them that." I told him. He huffed and looked back at the girls.
"You're not my uncles. You're white." Daniela said looking at us funny.
"Grandma Evie's white." Amelia spoke up. I smirked and looked at Bobby.
"Yeah. See we're a different kinda uncle. Your grandma, she adopted me and Uncle Jack, like she did your daddy." he explained. They nodded and Amelia pointed to someone behind us.
"You're a policeman." she shouted. Me and Bobby stood up and looked behind us. I saw Green and some other guy walking up.
"That's right, and you're all under arrest, so don't nobody move." Green joked and the girls ran off giggling. "Hey, where ya'll going?" he laughed watching them run off.
"What about me, Green? You gonna arrest me?" Bobby asked taking his tough guy stance. I shoved my hands in my jacket and looked around.
"All depends, Bobby. You keeping straight?" Green asked. Bobby shrugged and tilted his head from side to side.
"Straight-ish." he answered and I smirked.
"How ay doing man?" Green made us for a greeting. Bobby nodded and shook his hand. "Good to see ya." He looked over at me and smiled. "Jack." he nodded.
"Green." I replied. He walked towards me and extended his arm.
"Sorry about your mom, brother. Give me some love." he said. I gave him a quick hug and put my hands back in my jacket.
"Thanks for coming, Green. Mom would have been happy you made it." Bobby thanked him trying to make nice.
"Shit, your mom would've been happy you made it back for her funeral." Green joked. Bobby got serious and stared at him.
"I didn't come back for no funeral." He told Green roughly. The man next to Green snorted and glared at us.
"Thanks for the offer, but we got it under control." he said snottily. Bobby laughed and nodded his head.
"Yeah. Ya know, I can tell by the looks of thing when I drove in. The place looks completely different. Detroit's finest cleaned it up, huh?" Bobby said sarcastically.
"Yeah, be easy, Bobby. We got theses punks. Kid playing basketball across the street witnessed two gang bangers running in there, shooting the place up." Green told us confidently. Bobby laughed again and shook his head.
"Come on, Green. I used to make a good living around here because cops like you guys couldn't find tits in a strip joint." he told them as I laughed. "So why don't you come inside, have some coffee and some doughnuts and then take you boy and get the fuck out of here, okay?" he asked earning another glare from the white guy next to Green.
I walked off after Bobby ended his insult war with Green and his sidekick. I needed some air. Just get away from all the people and have some time to myself. I really didn't want my return to Detroit to be like this. I wanted to make a nice entrance and maybe talk to Emilie. But I didn't see that anytime soon. I walked to the very back of the house and behind the shed and saw a tiny brunette girl trying to light a cigarette. I smirked and pulled my pack out.
"Need a light?" I asked. I watched her stiffen and slowly turn around. My breath caught when I saw her. It was Emilie.
Now, there were a lot of things running through my head to say to her. One, why are you smoking? Two, why did you dye your hair? Three, was simply a hello. But before I could say anything she took the lighter from my hand and lit up.
"Thanks." she thanked me softly trying to avoid my gaze. "Go ahead and ask me." she said after a minute.
"Uh where do you want me to start? Cause I gotta lot of questions." I said light heartedly. She smiled a little.
"I dyed it about three months ago. I started smoking after you left." she told me and went to take a drag when she pulled it away. "And hello to you too." she finished. I smirked and for a moment thought this would go easy.
"It looks good." I said pointing to her hair. "The brown, goes with her color." She gave me a funny look and smiled.
"What exactly were you doing in LA? Being a rock star or beautician?" she joked. I laughed and shook my head.
"Got jokes, huh?" I muttered. "Smoking is bad." I told her. She flicked the cigarette out my hand and smiled.
"If that's not the pot calling the kettle black." she stated. I pouted for a minute and lit up another.
"It's not if the kettle is silver." I told her. She looked confused for a minute and smiled to the ground.
"So how have you been?" I asked. She licked her lips and smiled.
"Okay." she said softly. I nodded and looked at the sky.
"School?" I asked. She laughed and threw her cigarette away.
"It's good. Weird being in college after being home schooled. But I like it." she told me. I nodded and sat down. I looked up at her and patted the patch of gras next to me.
"You still talking to Paisley?" I asked as she sat down.
"Yeah. She lives just above me." she said. I looked at her and she smiled. "You didn't know?" she asked.
"Know what?" I asked.
"I moved out." she said simply. I nodded and played with my jeans.
"When?" I asked.
"Not too long after you left. Got my own place close to the school. My tuition pays for it." she explained. I nodded and sighed.
"Seems like you did good for yourself." I stated.
"What you think I'd be helpless?" she asked defensively.
"No, I just didn't think you'd move out that quick. Or by yourself, that's all." I said quickly but it was too late.
"Well, I did. And I'm fine. You leaving wasn't the breaking point in my life." she said nastily. I huffed and felt the anger and attitude rise in me.
"Yeah, sure. That's why you've held this grudge over me." I snapped. She stood up and dusted herself off while I did the same.
"Ya know what? You almost had me fooled. Get over yourself. I don't need you nor did I need you. I didn't hold the grudge. You did!" she yelled. I glared at her.
"You wanted me to have fun and be happy. What happened?" I yelled back. She crossed her arms.
"Nothing! I just thought that maybe being happy was without that whore you took with you." she screamed. It hit hard but it was right. Guilt. Yes, it hit me. The guys were right. It was my stupidity in letting Lydia tag along that knocked all the dominos over.
"Jack, I wanted and still want you to be happy. But you shouldn't have blind sided me like that. I looked and felt like an idiot." she cried quietly.
"I know." I whispered. She wiped her face and glared at me. "I'm sorry."
"Well, it's a little too late for sorry." she said trying to stop the tears form falling. "I've cried and I've waited for you to do anything and all I got was nothing."
"I'm sorry. I'm an ass, ok?" I offered. She huffed and glared at me.
"You're more than an ass. And I'm more than done with this." she said and walked off.
It's too late to say you're sorry
You've been gone from here too long
I hope you found what you were missing
Cause I don't miss you here at all
And it's too bad that I'm not crying for you baby,
I'm saving my breath
I'm saving my tears
I'm saving my life for something
Better than these years
I've lost too much time
Crying over you
Don't look so surprised that I've
Got better things to do
Who's crying now?
There's so many nights I wasted
I was waiting for your call
Did you think I'd wait forever?
I guess you don't know me at all
And I told you if you left you would regret it
Thinking I would take you back, but you don't get it
There's something you should know
I finally let you go
It had to end somehow
Tell me who's crying now
I walked off from Jack and made my way back into the gathering. I was trying to make my way upstairs to get away from everyone but at the very last few feet I was caught. Luckily, I didn't mind you caught me though.
"Diddle!" Bobby yelled and wrapped his arms around my waist. I smiled and turned around to hug him.
"Bobby." I greeted. He pulled away and frowned.
"Your hair..." he stared.
"Is brown." I smiled. "I know."
"Why?" he asked looking at my head. I laughed and pushed him away slightly.
"Because I wanted a change." I told him simply. He looked and me and nodded.
"Ya look good either way." he said. He looked around and then back at me. "Ya seen Jackie yet?" he asked.
"Yeah, just left." I said casually.
"So how'd it go?" he asked.
"Like the last time. He said something stupid, I got pissed and started crying. And I walked off." I told him swallowing the lump in my throat.
"You two gotta get over this. You're both silently blaming yourselves and neither will admit it." he told me firmly. "And now that he is, you're milking it. Stop."
"What do you know!? You've been gone. So keep your nose outta my business." I snapped. He glared at me and I sighed. "Sorry." I mumbled.
"It's alright. We're all stressed. This wasn't the situation for you two to talk. But next time it will be so be nice, please." he pleaded. I nodded and wrapped my arms around his chest.
"I'm tired." I whined. He chuckled and rubbed my back.
"Stay at Ma's with us." he ordered more than asked. I nodded and pulled away.
"Just let me get my bags from upstairs and I'll be ready." I told him and ran upstairs. I opened the spare room and grabbed my overnight bag that I had packed. I threw it over my shoulder and walked back downstairs. I saw Jerry grabbing his keys and smiled.
"Thought you'd be more comfortable riding with me rather Jack." he smiled. I nodded and walked over to his car. I gave one small glance at Jack, who was looking at me. I gave him a sad smile and he nodded. This just wasn't the time to talk for us. Too much was going on. We drove to Evelyn's house in silence and hesitated getting out.
"Nice to be home." Bobby said getting out the car. I looked up at the house and sighed.
"So, shit, Bobby, what've you been up to?' Jack asked as we walked toward the front porch.
"I'm a freaking college professor, Jack. What do you think I've been up to?" he asked Jack. We laughed and made our way up the stairs.
"I doubt that." Jack mumbled and I smirked.
"Same old Bobby." Jerry said shaking his head. Bobby turned to me and winked, then looked at Jack.
"What about you? Ya still sucking a little cock left and right, or what?" he asked. I muffled my laugh with a cough and Jack glared at him.
"Fucker." he mumbled as we walked onto the porch. Bobby went to stick his key in when a voice spoke up in the corner.
"Ya'll ain't right leaving me out here in the cold like this." angel said roughly from the corner. Bobby laughed and walked over.
"Yo, little brother! You asshole! You ought to be ashamed." he yelled grabbing Angel's hand and smiling.
"I missed my plane." Angel smiled embracing his brothers one at a time.
"Get over here. You missed out mother's funeral too, jarhead." Bobby said hugging him. "What's up?"
"What's up with you?" he smiled back. Jerry walked up and hugged him.
"What's up, boy?" Jerry smiled.
"It's all good man." Angel replied smiling at Jack walking up.
"You shaved off the Afro, huh?" Jack laughed. Angel smiled and opened his arms.
"Jack. Haven't seen you in forever." he laughed hugging Jack. Jack pulled back and smiled.
"Yeah, I know." Jack smiled and looked at Angel's face closely. Did you get your teeth whitened?" he asked. We all laughed and angel smacked his arm.
"Man, shut up, Jackie-pooh." Angel laughed. I stood in the back during all the hugs and exchanges but I smiled when I saw Angel looking at me over Jack's shoulder. I started to walk over when he came to me. He wrapped his arms around me and I lost it. I laughed through my tears as he held me tight and rubbed my back.
"Hey, Diddle." he whispered. I pulled back and smiled.
"You're home." I laughed. He patted my head and pulled me to his side.
"Yeah, I made it. Told you I would." he winked. Bobby finally opened the door and we walked into the foyer. We all got silent as we looked around. Jerry walked into the living room and Angel rubbed my arm and spoke up.
"Are ya'll hungry?" Angel asked walking into the kitchen. Bobby shook his head and pointed upstairs.
"No, I'm gonna get some sleep. Jack, you take your old room, all right? Angel, take yours. Diddle, you get yours and I'll take Ma's room." he said and walked upstairs. I nodded and looked over at Jack who was looking back at me. I nodded toward the stairs and he followed. I went to my room and he went to his. I dropped my stuff off and walked to his room. He left it open for me and I walked in.
"I'm sorry about earlier." I apologized sitting on the edge of his bed as he grabbed his guitar. He nodded and strummed the strings. He stopped to get the stuff out to roll a cigarette.
"It's alright. I seem to have a bad time with words as of late." he told me. I bit my lip and nodded. I heard footsteps and saw Bobby appear a few minutes later.
"You been crying in here, ya little fairy? Diddle don't wanna see that." he teased sitting on the floor.
"Leave it alone, man." Jack mumbled rolling his cigarette. I smirked and leaned back against the wall.
"Still making a lot of racket on that freaking thing?" Bobby asked. Jack smirked and looked over at me.
"Yeah, still making a lot of racket." he smiled. "Too weird in Ma's room?" he asked.
"Oh man. Way too weird. It's crazy. I mean, everything's exactly the same. She didn't change nothing in the house." Bobby sighed rubbing his face.
"She didn't want to. Thought it would make you stay a while when ya'll came back." I told them. They nodded and I looked over at Jack.
"Look at ya'll." Jerry said appearing at the doorway. We all looked over and Bobby spoke up.
"What?" he asked.
"Nothing." Jerry smiled shaking his head. "Just happy to see ya, man. Happy to see my brothers, that's all."
"I'm happy to see you too, Jerry." Bobby told him and pointed his thumb over his shoulder at me. "But don't leave Diddle out." he reminded him. I smiled and tapped his head with my foot.
"I'm not. I guess I'll be stopping by the grocery store and grab a turkey or something." he said slowly and looked at me. I felt tears fill my eyes but hid them when Jack gave me a worried look. "Have a Thanksgiving dinner. Let's at least act like we're a real family. Mom would like that." he finished trying to save me from any questioning. We all nodded and saw Angel appear all dressed up behind Jerry.
"Where are you going?" I asked staring at him. He rubbed his head and sighed.
"It's a little heavy in here. I'm gonna just go outside and get some fresh air." he said nervously. We all burst out laughing and looked at him.
"You're full of shit, man. You can smell that ass from down the street, huh?" Bobby asked him laughing. I couldn't stop laughing and covered my mouth to muffle them.
"What are you talking about?" Angel asked Bobby then looked at me. "It's not funny, Emilie." he warned.
"What do you mean, what? Come on, what, man. You know exactly what we're talking about with La Vida Loca." Bobby yelled. Jerry covered a laugh and Jack nearly choked on his smoke.
"Ain't nobody going to get no La Vida Loca nothing." Angel declared glaring at all of us. I shook my head and smirked at him.
"She's got a boyfriend." I informed him. He glared at me for joining in again but I smiled.
"She got a boyfriend. She's got a hard dick in her right now. She's screaming someone else's name, and the last thing she's doing is thinking about your black ass." Bobby yelled laughing. I doubled over onto Jack's bed laughing. He was laughing too, at me and the situation at hand.
"Leave it alone, man. I can't believe ya'll coming at me with this crazy junk, man." Angel grumbled and looked at me. "Especially you, Diddle."
"She's nothing but trouble." Bobby sang.
"I'm standing here now telling ya'll both right now, I'm not going to see that girl, and I'm not!" Angel declared and stalked off. We all let our laughs wear off and fell into a comfortable silence.
"Well, I'm heading out." Jerry said finally. "Em, you wanna come back with me, go home or stay here?" he asked me. I sighed and looked up at him.
"I'll stay here." I told him. He nodded and said his goodbyes before leaving. Bobby left a few minutes later leaving me and Jack alone again. I breathed in and out and tried to not look at him.
"Maybe we should wait." he said. "Ya know, wait to talk. About us and stuff." he added. I nodded and leaned up.
"Yeah. Now's not a good time. Too much stress already." I agreed.
"We'll talk in a few days." he nodded.
"Ya think we can be civil 'till then?" I asked. He looked over at me and shrugged.
"I wanna be. Even if we did talk, I wanna be civil. I don't like fighting with you, Em." he said softly. I nodded and walked over to his door.
"Me neither but sometimes all you can do is yell and get it all out at once. It's bound to happen so why not get it out at once?" I said and opened his door. I looked back at him one more time.
"Night, Em." he whispered.
"G'night, Jack." I whispered back and walked out his room.
I walked over to my room and opened my door. I sighed and flopped down on my bed. I stared at the ceiling and let the real tears fall for the first time that day. I closed my eyes but opened them the instant I saw Evelyn and Samir's bodies. I let out a small sob and covered my mouth. I knew it was going to be a long healing process. I also knew I needed Jack for this but I wasn't sure when I would let that happen.