"Do you think it would be ok if I used the shower?" Jess asked, standing in the small hallway and tapping her fingers together nervously as she looked between Jason and Brock. Cerberus lifted his head when she spoke and hopped down from the couch, trotting over to lean his head into her thigh with a gentle wag of his tail. She whispered affections to him softly while scratching his ears, drinking in the calm that the feeling of fur under her fingers gave her.
Like the previous morning she'd woken up late and found Trent and Scott gone, but unlike yesterday, she didn't dread facing them. Last night she slept better than she had in weeks. She'd woken up once to Scott shaking her shoulder gently and telling her she'd been dreaming and crying in her sleep, but she didn't remember the dream and went back to sleep before he'd ever left the room.
She'd just finished eating and couldn't shake the desire to feel clean.
"No, Jess. We expect you to sit in your own filth while you're here." Brock answered with light teasing. He had his arms crossed over his chest and was half curled up against the back of the couch with his eyes closed.
Jason laughed as he walked from the kitchen with a beer. "You don't have to ask, Jess. Just go use it. Metal won't care. Did he show you where the towels were?"
"I don't think so."
Detouring, Jason hooked past her toward the bathroom. "Shouldn't be too hard to find. He's pretty organized. Yup! Here. This cupboard. Do you have shampoo?"
"Yeah, Pauline and Naima made sure I have some. Thanks."
Pulling two thick towels from the cupboard, Jason handed them to her with a kind smile. "There you go. All set."
The temptation to spend forever in the shower was nearly impossible to resist, but Jess managed it. She didn't want to still be in there when Scott got back. He was out running again and she remembered that he'd gone straight for the shower when he came back last time.
When she was finished, she cleaned every inch of hair from the tub just like she used to be trained to do when she lived with Ellen and Harold. Harold used to hate it when there was long hair in the drain or in the shower and even though the two men could never be comparable, Jess got the sense that Scott kept his home very tidy and organized.
Speaking of being organized.
Jess looked at her backpack after getting dressed and sighed a little. There was no way she wanted to do this right now, but she knew she'd put it off too long…and that was even before she ended up in the hospital.
She needed to look at her bank account, pay her rent, make sure her phone bill was covered, check school emails and make sure the new University she was headed to in less than two weeks had everything they needed from her. Then there was making sure she could afford the new materials she would needed, check if her student financial aid was green lit, apply for bursaries through the new network, and her car insurance was probably due too. She could never remember if it was the beginning or end of the month. And then this morning Zoe had texted her to reminder that the internet bill and utilities were due and she needed to send her portion of the money for that.
Damn, being an adult was exhausting and expensive. Still, there wasn't much else to do right now except watch TV with Jason and she really did need to get this stuff squared away.
Grabbing her computer and the wireless earbuds, Jess headed out to the living room and took a spot near Jason. He side eyed the computer but didn't say anything.
Second guessing if she was being rude or not, Jess faltered and said quietly, "I-I just gotta take care of some stuff…is that ok if I do that out here?"
Jason shook his head and gave a baffled and huffed laugh, "Yeah, Jess. Again, you don't have to ask, kid. You're fine. Do what you need to."
"Right." Jess nodded, mentally kicking herself and turning on her computer.
Connecting the earbuds and then to the internet, Jess set to work. First she selected a playlist that would help her focus and block out the world around her. The music was probably just a tad too loud in her ears, but the moment Numb Little Bug started playing, she remembered how much she needed to 'feel' her music and there was no turning it down, just for now.
Then she picked the least intimidating task which was checking the new emails from the University. There was nothing too pressing and she took ten minutes to flick through them before getting distracted and moving on to the online access for her course materials. None of the courses were actually open yet but she wanted to be familiar with where to find everything.
After entertaining herself with that, she forced herself to go into her bank account and see the damage.
By now she'd completely forgotten she was even with people, off in her own little world. Her playlist had switched over to Mr. Blue Sky from Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and all her favorites from Thomas Bergersen. She was tapping her toes together and making her fingers dance on the keys in time to the music, drawing hope from the sound pounding in her ears.
She never had turned it down. Hence, there were side looks when she finally got into her account and said in her outside voice that was absolutely louder than she thought it was, "Well shit…oh, boy. Ok, nope. It's fine. This is fine. We're good. It'll be fine. It's always fine."
"You good?" Jason asked, raising a brow at her with a worried crease.
Jess never heard him. Instead she started bopping her head slightly to the next song on her list and let her fingers start worrying away at the edges of her hairline while she stared at the numbers.
Right. Ok.
Credit card was worse than she expected it to be. It was all the damn gas money that got burned up in her truckie. The thing just chugged gas. Then there was the phone bill which came out automatically, so that didn't help anything. Somehow she'd used more data so it was about thirty dollars more than it normally was. And then it turned out she was late paying the credit card off again, so there was that fee accumulation on top of that.
Shit. Why couldn't she be more organized?!
Now she had to ration out enough to send utilities and internet to Zoe so they could pay those bills, then there was rent and the insurance still needed to go out, plus-
Fuck, she hadn't even paid for her books yet and course materials and her funds wouldn't be in till near the end of the first week of school so there would be no working ahead.
Somehow she had to make what was in her account spread out over everything. She was probably going to have to dip into the small savings she had. That wasn't ideal. That was for emergencies, and what if she needed to suddenly go to the hospital again!?
The feeling of her earbud being tugged out of her ear dragged Jess out of her private world of stress and she jumped a little when Jason said, "Earth to Jess! You ok there?"
"Sorry! I forgot how loud I put these!" Jess hurried to turn the sound down, flushing when she realized both Brock and Jason could probably have heard every song pretty clearly.
"You're gonna go deaf early if you keep that up." Jason commented in a universal dad voice that made Jess relax just a little with self-conscious gratitude at the concern. "You better not still run with those in that loud."
"Um…of course not!" Jess said a little too fast as she looked back at her screen. Thankfully Jason let the blatant lie go with a shake of his head.
"You seem agitated."
"Life just got a little more expensive this month than I thought." The second the honest words left her mouth, Jess panicked because there was this horrible thought that surfaced. What if they tried to help pay for stuff again?! She couldn't let them do that! Not again! This wasn't their problem. Maybe she was starting to accept that they somehow wanted her in their lives, but that didn't mean her money problems were their problem! "It's ok though. I'm fine. Just gotta move some stuff around."
Jason hummed, rubbing the side of his slight scruff and studied her.
"Is that going to cover everything?"
"Yup." Jess added, 'for now' in her head so that it didn't come across as another lie.
"Jess," Jason warned without true malice, but still enough sternness to encourage the truth.
"It'll cover everything."
"Yeah? For how long." There was a certain tone there now and Jason had folded his arms.
Damn it.
Jess winced and shrunk down on the couch a little, mumbling, "Hopefully long enough for my school funds to come in?"
"Has anyone with life experience ever looked through your finances with you before?" Jason asked with a little more gentleness than he had seconds ago.
Flushing darker, Jess shook her head and said, "Naima offered to, but I haven't gotten to taking her up on it yet…I've been meaning to though."
"I think we better make that happen then because it's either her or one of us."
"I vote for Naima," Brock said from the other couch, rubbing Cerberus's ears with his eyes still closed. "She's walked me through mine a few times now and is much nicer than Metal or Trent."
"Yeah, I'm in favor of that too." Jason said, "After Alana died she went through mine with me too and brainstormed some ideas of where to make a few more ends meet."
Something in Jess's brain clicked into place the fact that both grown men had just admitted to needing financial advice at one time or another, and the humiliation lifted slightly.
"Maybe I should then," Jess murmured, chewing her lip as she started moving money around and watched her account drop at an alarming rate. Looked like she wasn't buying anything unnecessary for a while again and she was going to have to avoid driving her truckie for a bit. If she didn't split a Netflix and Disney account with Pauline, she would have considered canceling both of those just to save a few dollars more.
"She's off on Friday. I'm sure she'd be happy to sit down with you then."
Nodding, Jess closed down the banking and went hunting through the University website instead for the applications for scholarships and bursaries, feeling hollow and a little desperate now. She really didn't want to have to pick up another job on top of studies. Managing both never really did her any favors academically.
"Jess," Jason handed her back the earbud he still had in his palm and offered a small, understanding smile. "It'll be ok. You're not on your own. We'll help you figure it out and you'll still be standing on your own two feet."
Swallowing a sudden lump in her throat, Jess drew a deeper breath and nodded again.
She went to work filling out forms and trying to think of ways to say why she deserved to be given money. For the most part she could just use what she'd used previous years, but some of it needed tweaking a bit.
The sound of the door brought relief this time instead of a startle because that deal Jess made with herself was that she had to work on this until someone came in the door.
She looked up when Scott cruised through and waved with a shy smile.
Amusement crinkled around his eyes and he said, "You're awake, finally."
"I had a lot of sleep to catch up on!" Jess told him, latching onto the teasing and using it to make herself feel a little better about everything. "Besides, mornings are the worst."
"That's only because you stay up too late." Scott said as he disappeared into the bathroom and the water turned on seconds later.
Grumbling quietly, Jess looked at Jason and admitted, "That's probably true, but I do my best thinking between the hours of 11pm and 2am."
Brock cleared his throat, "I'm sorry, 11pm and 2am? Or is it 2am and 4am?"
"Hey! Ok, it's not often that I stay up till 4am!" Jess protested.
"I counted at least eight times while we were on deployment that Metal was growling about you being up to all hours of the morning." Brock insisted, "Trent and I had a running bet each day to see if he'd start up about it again when we asked how you were."
Jess narrowed her eyes and said skeptically, "I feel like that's an exaggeration."
"Oh, it's not." Jason assured her with another chuckle. "The whole thing really pissed him off, actually. It was hilarious."
Still not convinced, Jess peered at them both, "No, I really feel like he had better things to do with his time than gripe about my sleeping habits."
"Metal likes being annoyed about something," Brock told her. "You gave him a good outlet and we all thank you for it. Kept him from being irritated with us and wanting to spar all the time."
"You're welcome? I think?" Jess still didn't know if she believed them. That being said, the first time Scott called her, after his radio silence for a month, he started off by scolding her about going to bed too late. Maybe it wasn't so unbelievable.
Jason snorted and said, "You really do need to get a handle on your sleep schedule though. You'll function better."
Making a face, Jess answered a little brashly, "I need to get a handle on all kinds of things. Sleep isn't the highest on my list."
"Oh? And what else do you need to get a handle on?" Jason turned to her with a look that said, 'caught ya.' and Jess resisted the urge to facepalm because she walked right into that one.
"Just…all kinds of stuff." Jess shrugged innocently. "You know, I'm always working to better myself. Nothing major."
"I stopped trying to do that a long time ago." Brock said sleepily as he closed his eyes again. "Cerberus told me I'm perfect the way I am."
"That's probably why you don't have a girlfriend, Brock." Scott said, already done in the shower and dressed.
That had to be record time. Jess was impressed.
"I don't see you entertaining any ladies either there, big guy." Brock shot back mildly, not at all bothered by the rib.
"How do you know?" Scott asked as he went into the kitchen. "There are all kinds of things that I do in my off time that none of you know about."
"Everyone knows you're too scary, that's why Sonny doesn't take you out with him as a wingman."
"Maybe I just don't go for the kinds of girls Sonny does." Scott dragged out the big blender and started tossing items in it.
"Oh yeah?" Jason looked over his shoulder with a grin. "Do enlighten us! What sort of girl do you go for? Or better yet, what kind of girl goes for someone as warm and fuzzy as you are?"
Jess tried to stop her eyes from going big at the direction this conversation was taking and she quietly popped her earbud back in the other ear, cranking up the music again.
She didn't want to know. Wherever this was going, she just plain didn't wanna know. It was bad enough the one time she'd been present for Sonny going on about his 'lady friends' and the harmless ribbing between guys that rose out of it. All that… stuff …still just made her uncomfortable and her lack of experience (which she wasn't the least bit upset about) didn't help anything. Heaven help her if they ever found out just how little experience she had.
Jess didn't know if she could face that. Her worst fear was them giving her a hard time about it and telling her she was unrealistic for wanting to find someone willing to hold off on the physical until she felt secure enough in the relationship to do anything or telling her that she needed to just get over it and go with casualness just like everyone else did. Her friends had been trying for years to get her to even just dance with a rando at a club after finding out she wouldn't consider making out with one. She wasn't judging her friends because she didn't want to, it just wasn't something Jess could fathom wanting to do with a stranger.
Even with her boyfriend, Devin, at the end of high school she hadn't enjoyed the times he'd kissed her and when he got handsie she just wanted to smack him. Pressure to fit in and not upset their friend group kept her with him despite not liking when he touched her. In the end she realized how dumb she'd been because it turned out she hadn't really liked him that much after all and didn't regret for a second that she hadn't let him pressure her into sleeping with him.
He was such an asshole. She would never forgive him for-
Something ice cold touched the back of her neck.
"Shhitt agggh!" Jess's shoulders went up violently and she nearly tossed the laptop off her knees in an attempt to get away.
Tugging the earbuds out again, Jess looked up reproachfully at Scott, who was holding out a smoothie cup to her, smirking.
Her ears were greeted with laughter from Jason and Brock and Scott saying, "You're going to go deaf, pipsqueak. Turn them down."
Accepting the cup with an embarrassed little huff, Jess shrugged and said, "They weren't that loud."
"I could hear every word of the song from here." Brock laughed. "They were absolutely that loud."
"What was the song about," Jess challenged.
"Something about chasing the sky into the ocean and something wild calling you home." Brock answered. "Sounded like Lindsey Stirling actually."
Utterly floored, Jess stared at him. "You listen to Lindsey Stirling?"
Brock opened an eye and peered at her, "Should I not?"
"No! I mean, yes! She's great, I just didn't expect- You know what? Nevermind."
Her phone buzzed and she glanced at it by way of an out from this interaction. It was just another call from her mom sent to voicemail.
"How many does that make today?" Scott asked as he went back to the kitchen and poured the rest of the smoothie in a second cup for himself.
"Three," Jess sighed.
"I'll check them in a minute." Scott promised.
"Thank you."
"Uh huh." Scott grunted and said, "Brock, you still good to help me out in a few?"
"Yeah! I'm good, buddy. Whatever you need."
With her attention back on her computer, Jess missed the silent exchange going on around her when Scott came and took her phone. She also didn't pay much mind to Brock getting up and leaving out the back with Scott shortly after with Cerberus hot on his heels.
"How's that incision doing today?" Jason asked. "Trent mentioned it was sore and looking a little red?"
Jess slowed in her typing and bit her lip without looking up from the keys.
"Well…I don't know. I haven't looked."
"How does it feel?" Jason asked, not making a comment on her squeamishness.
The front door opened and closed as Jess said, "A little better, I think?""
"What's a little better?"
Trent was back. He had an uncanny ability to show up at the perfect moments.
"Incision." Jason supplied.
"Ah! Yes. We need to check that." Trent came to them and dropped a bag on the floor near the counter. "I would have this morning, but, sleeping beauty here wasn't awake."
"I was told last night, very persuasively I might add, that I needed to sleep." Jess said sweetly, enjoying the warm feeling his teasing gave her in her heart. Gosh it was amazing what a good sleep could do for her confidence. "I just followed orders!"
Trent laughed a little and held up his hands peaceably. "Fair enough. You got me there. Let's have a look, shall we? Yup, just move that andddd let's see…good! That's actually miles better today! We're gonna put more of Naima's miracle stuff on and see how it is tonight."
He headed for his bag and asked, "Do you want me to put it on, or would you like to?"
Making a soft rumbling noise in her chest, Jess slowly peeked down at the incision, pulling a face as she did so.
Once she was looking at it she couldn't look away. It still freaked her out, but he was right. It didn't look as angry today, which meant she wasn't nauseous…yet.
"Jess?" Trent watched her with a mix of concern and amusement as he retrieved what he needed. "Talk to me. How you doing, buddy?
"Well. I haven't passed out yet, so that's a positive and I don't feel gross looking at it!" Jess said in a slightly strained voice. "Are you sure it won't just- like…the stitches are on the inside, but they're for sure-"
Trent huffed a laugh and promised, "I swear, it is not going to split open on you."
Jason coughed a little and broke in with amusement that wasn't well hidden, "You…you're worried it's going to just…burst open?"
The second he said 'burst' Jess got a mental image of the movie Alien and she closed her eyes, fighting back a wave of bile. "Don't…don't say that word…please. Oh, god…you know, that movie…Alien?"
"Ohh." Jason fought back a laugh that was laced with regret and she felt him take the laptop from where it was balancing precariously on her legs. A hand patted her shoulder sympathetically. "Ok. We got one of those on our hands, huh Trent? My bad. No more descriptive language or imagery. Got it."
"Yeah," Trent's voice came from beside them now. "I think I better apply this for you, Jess. You're looking a little grey."
"Uh huh." Jess nodded tightly, still fighting the thought of her side bursting open. "I really thought I had it there for a second."
Finishing up and gently tugging the edge of her shirt back down over the cursed mark, Trent snickered, though not meanly.
"You did very well. Just gotta get out of your own head and trust logic, not your imagination."
"I didn't really help anything." Beside her Jason owned up to his hand in the current spinning of her head. "So, does this also mean you're not good with blood, kid?"
She let her eyes open again, getting the queasiness back under control. "Other people's blood I'm fine with but sometimes I'm not good with my own, and it's kinda random these days. One day I might be fine, and then the next I won't be…it's embarrassing."
Growing more serious, Jason's amusement from before dried up and he nodded. "Good to know. And don't be embarrassed. It's more common than you think."
Just like the night before, in the evening after Jason left, Scott's house filled up with the guys and a movie was selected. There seemed to be a Marvel Theme going on and Jess was happy with that.
The difference now was that each night, the more comfortable she got with them and the better she felt, the more they seemed to hit the beer. The only exceptions were Scott and Trent who Jess observed still kept it to a minimum of two drinks.
Jess didn't mind at all though. She was just content to have them around her and tried to hold onto the warmth because she knew this wasn't for forever. Before long she would be back at her own house and movie nights would be done.
She'd have to go back to the bickering.
Flicking through her phone, Jess half watched the movie as she answered her housemates with neutral and noncommittal replies to their complaints about the other members of the house. She hated playing peacemaker.
Slipping it onto the coffee table, Jess took a break from trying to talk Stacy out of dumping all of Zoe's dishes in her bed and settled a little more comfortably between Sonny and Scott.
She may or may not have purposely slipped next to the quiet, grumpy bear of a man. He had a good shoulder to lean against with her own and if she was honest, deep down she was hopeful for more strategic, comforting contact when she started to get tired. Again, none of this would last forever. She didn't have any true expectations of him to let her curl up like she had the other night, plus she swore she wouldn't ask and only would if he invited her, but she still hoped.
"Everything ok with the housemates?" Scott asked.
Unthinking, Jess let her head flop to the side so it was leaning against his arm and sighed, "They're a bunch of pissy girls who are tired of each other and rely on passive aggression to communicate. What more can I say?"
Scott grimaced at the idea of the girls being petty. "Sounds fun."
"I might have managed to convince Stacy that dumping all of Zoe's dirty dishes in her bed is not the grown up and appropriate way to deal with an issue."
Scott gave her a look. "You know it's not your job to mediate between them, right?"
"I know, but I still have to live with them and I hate it when they fight. It upsets the whole…I don't know. Everything. It upsets everything so I just need to fix it before it blows up."
Jess felt Scott shrug. "Maybe it needs to blow up."
Sonny instantly chimed in, "Blowing things up is absolutely the best way to get things done. Every time."
Clay perked up on the other couch, "What are we blowing up?"
"I think Jess's house." Trent said distractedly because out of everyone he was the most into the movie along with Brock.
"Wow!" Jess sat upright quickly, holding up her hands as if that would stop them in this hypothetical situation. "NO! We are not blowing up Ingrid!"
"Who the hell is Ingrid?" Sonny turned to her with a scrunched up face.
"My house!"
"You call the house Ingrid?"
"Yes! Try to keep up, Sonny!"
"So we're blowing up Ingrid?" Brock asked.
"NO!" Jess exclaimed, exasperated and having fun all at once.
"It really probably should be condemned." Scott muttered, sounding crusty except for the smirk twitching around his mouth.
Turning to him as if he'd insulted a best friend, Jess squawked, "What's wrong with Ingrid!?"
"She's falling apart for one thing." Trent said before laughing at Peter Parker chirping Bucky Barnes and Falcon.
"She's old! That's why we call her Ingrid! And don't hold that against her."
"She's also a security nightmare." Clay said with a cheeky smirk that told her he knew that would get the others all riled up.
Making a face, Jess went, "Pfftt, no she isn't!"
Every one of them turned in their seats to pointedly raise eyebrows at her and Jess faltered a little.
"No. She's not!" She tried to shake it off. "I mean like…she's not that bad…right?"
"Shall we count the ways, gentlemen?" Sonny asked.
"Let's start with the numerous windows left unlocked." Trent suggested.
"There's only one left unlocked!" Jess protested, "And that's so we can get in when we forget our keys- Oh. On second thought, nevermind. That's not helping me, is it?"
Sonny laughed, "Not in the least, Snow White!"
"And there is definitely more than one window unlocked." Trent told her confidently. "I'm willing to bet on it."
Jess considered taking the bet, but then dismissed it.
"I don't have enough money to lose that bet." She said, "Ok, but a few unlocked windows isn't-"
"It is an intruder's dream. Easy way in, pipsqueak." Scott interrupted her with that serious growl that made her hair stand on end.
"Then there's the little issue of not locking your doors." Sonny added.
"How the hell do you know we don't lock our doors enough?"
"You told us."
"Oh. Fair enough. But-"
"And she tries to deflect again!" Clay put on a commentator's voice. "What excuse will she have this time?"
"I was going to say that I lock the doors, it's just the rest of them that don't!"
"Uh huh." Scott gave her a look.
"What!? I do!"
"Ok." He crossed his arms and shifted so he could give her that intimidating, challenging stare of his. "So you lock the doors. What about closing drapes when it's dark so creeps can't see in those big old, unlocked windows?"
"Yeah! Of course I close the drapes!"
"On the ground floor?"
"Yes…ok, fine. No! It's not like our lives are that interesting or-"
Trent, Scott and Brock all exchanged a look and finally Trent said with a little less teasing, "Jess, take it from us. Close the drapes when it's dark. You can see a lot from the street when running past and I don't think you girls really want randos stopping to watch your impromptu dance parties."
Jess went a little quieter and chewed her lip, "You've seen our kitchen dance parties?"
"Twice, in passing." Trent confirmed.
"I have also seen a few dance parties when Cerb and I have run pasat. Oh, and there was one morning where the front door was just wide open."
"That was ages ago!" Jess exclaimed. "I don't think I even knew you guys when that happened!"
"It's happened more than once." Scott put in quietly. "In fact, I closed it last week after making sure everything was ok. Had to climb out one of those damn windows after locking it from the inside."
A chill rolled through Jess and she glanced at him almost nervously. "Last week?"
Scott shrugged, completely unapologetic. "Yeah, on Thursday morning. I drove past. Door was wide open. I had concerns. Slipped in, made sure nothing was out of sorts and I left again. You were home alone, sleeping, by the way. Whoever left last must not have closed it properly, let alone make sure it was locked."
"Huh." Jess started twisting her fingers in her lap and had the sense to finally be a little spooked. "Ok…maybe there are a few issues with our system at Ingrid."
Uncrossing his arms, Scott stretched out his arms across the back of the couch and said, "We aren't even done with the list yet, pipsqueak."
"What else is wrong with my house?" Jess asked, almost afraid to know.
"That toaster oven is going to start a fire. The house wiring is concerning as hell. There is mold growing in the basement. You absolutely have a rodent problem. The roof in the storage room is about the cave in, the front steps are a rotting death trap, and the back door would blow open in a stiff breeze, meaning I could kick it in without so much as nudging it with my foot. Do you really want me to go on?" Scott watched her the whole time he spoke, not pulling any punches, but still gauging how freaked out she was by the whole thing.
She splayed her hands and gave him a pained, half smile. "Well, I mean, I did know about most of those ones…but maybe I should talk to the girls about being a little better about keeping doors locked and stuff."
Scott muttered under his breath something that sounded like, "You better, or I'll do it myself and they won't like it."
Leaning back into the back of the couch, Jess tried to focus on the movie and not think about the fact that Scott had been able to enter her house last week without her knowledge, all because the door got left wide open by one of the girls. She was grateful it had been him and not someone else.
"Thanks for locking my door and making sure we were ok." Jess mumbled after a little while.
"Uh huh." Scott's monotone was all she got besides the arm behind her slipping off the back of the couch a little and subtly nudging her closer to him.
Not complaining and welcoming the contact, Jess shifted so she was pressed against his side a little more. The arm stayed across the back of the couch after that, but Jess felt better about the whole thing.
Ten minutes later, the screen of her phone lit up on the coffee table as a muted call came in.
Jess froze a moment before launching forward off the couch, snatching up the phone and making a beeline for her room without a word to the others.
The boys exchanged a confused and slightly concerned round of wordless communication.
"Jeremey?" Jess answered the call before she reached the door, worry and skepticism lining her tone. "What's wrong?"
She slipped into the room, closing the door behind her.
It wasn't a big house, so even with a door and distance it was easy for the boys to hear, no that Jess knew that.
"Um, yeah no, you don't just call out of the blue just to say, 'Hi', so something has to be going on. What do you mean you call all the time?!" Jess's voice carried incredulously. "It's been two years! Yes! Yes, it really has. No. Because sending me a random game on Steam last year doesn't count as actually talking to me. No, we never played it together. No, you played it a ton on your own but you never once asked me to join you."
"Who is Jeremey?" Sonny whispered.
"Her brother." Metal supplied, carefully keeping his opinions to himself.
"Why are you calling me." They could hear Jess pacing the small room now. "Yeah, no. I know that's total bullshit, Jer. Because you don't do things like this. Oh…yeah, right. Wouldn't that be nice. This isn't just a casual call. I can tell you want something so just spit it out, ok? I am not being paranoid! I know you're not mom, jeez! I never said that! I am not being defensive either! I picked up because you never call and I thought something was wrong!"
There was a brief silence before Jess said a little icily, "Fine. Fine. What do you want to talk about? Yeah, I'm still in school. Seriously? I've never been interested in astrophysics! No! Try Biology! Yeahhhhhh. Righhhhttt. Oh, ha, you're so not funny. Annnnd there it is…yeah, I knew it was something. Look. I cut ties, Jer. That literally means what it sounds like. I'm not calling her, I'm not talking to her, I'm not seeing her. Period. Because she's-
Jess broke off before speaking again, voice dripping with sarcasm. "Oh… oh that is just sooooo terrible. It must be just so inconvenient for you. Yeah. And it's interfering with your job? Well, news flash, it's interfered with my entire life for eight years, so get over it. No. I'm not calling her just to take the heat off you! You're smart, You figure it out. Oh come on…how bad can it be working for MIT…what do you mean you don't work for them anymore…freelancing? Doing what?!"
Jess paused again before saying. "Wow. Freelance cybersecurity for confidential clients that might take exception to your mother calling you during meetings. Do I even want to know what kind of clients you get? That doesn't sound sketchy at all! Legitimate, huh. Yeah, well, I don't really care anyway. No! I'm still not calling her! What is wrong with you?! Nope, I'm not fourteen anymore, you can't just bribe me with…"
There was another pause and Jess's tone changed to one that was almost considering whatever it was her brother was offering in exchange for calling her mother. "Ohhhhh….that's low and you know it…damn it Jeremey! Seriously? With the Ryzen 9 and the graphics card that-"
Metal looked about ready to get up, but he stayed where he was when Jess shifted back to sounding firm and determined.
"No. Nope. No, it's not going to work. I don't care how tempting it is. I'm not doing it! Figure something else out. No, it's not just one little phone call, let it go! Well, she already took me off the health insurance, so there's not much more she can do. I'm not dependant on her for-"
Jess went quiet for a while before saying quietly, "She can't do that. No, because- well, fine. There's other ways to get copies of those! Well I guess I'll just figure it out then! No, I really don't need your advice, Jer. I've been managing just fine without it since you left …"
The boys shifted uncomfortably, not knowing if they should try to talk to stop from eavesdropping or not.
Venom lined Jess's voice now with all the hurt betrayal she'd been bottling up for years. "Yeah, yeah I am still upset about that. Then why the hell would you promise to take me with you!? You just up and left! You didn't even say goodbye! Just like Cass! You looked me in the eye, and you promised to get me out and you never did, even when you could have, so yeah…still pretty pissed off! It doesn't matter that I got out on my own and how the hell would you know what it's like?! You weren't there! You don't know how bad they got after you left and you've still played their game enough to get cash handouts so don't pretend you've got free of them too. No, I am not exaggerating. Dear god, you sound like mom right now. Yes. I'm going there. Do you even hear yourself?! If you stopped for two seconds to think about someone other than yourself you might have asked why I cut ties. Nah. I'm not telling you now. I'm done. I'll talk to you in another two years, bro. Bye!"
Jess ended the call with an audible growl of frustration and then went quiet. No one had the heart to tease right now that she was learning from Metal how to express herself.
For a while the silence was only pierced by the sound of Captain America: Civil War.
Finally Sonny whispered. "So the brother seems like a dick too. Can we bury him next?"
"I think we should just focus on being better brothers than he is." Clay said quietly and Sonny wisely didn't try to tease him or poke at him. Being abandoned in crappy home life situations or by people you thought would take care of you was a sore spot for Clay and they all knew it.
"New rule!" Jess announced as she stalked back to them. "I'm not allowed to answer the phone if it's my family, like, at all! They are all assholes and I don't understand why they have to be like this!"
"Seems like a good call." Trent agreed.
"Do we get to enforce this rule?" Sonny asked a little too eagerly.
"Sure!" Jess agreed as she took her spot back and didn't even hesitate to tuck in against Metal's side. "I don't even care how you enforce it, just don't let me answer the damn phone."
As if on cue her phone buzzed and there was a new message from Pauline asking if she had a moment to chat.
Jess drew a long suffering sigh as she looked at it.
"Ask her if it can wait until tomorrow." Metal told her, not liking the stress that was rolling off the kid right now. They'd just gotten her more even keeled. She didn't need all this drama.
Taking his advice, Jess postponed talking to her best friend and then deflated next to him.
"You did good." Metal offered, peering down at her face and noting the worry in her eye even as she watched the movie.
"With what." She asked.
"Not letting him manipulate you. Thought I would have to bust your head a little for a moment there."
An unexpected smile slipped onto Jess's face and she swore softly, "The asshole tried to bribe me with this really awesome gaming computer. He's always known to just want buttons to push in order to get his own way."
"You stood up to him. That's what matters."
"He wasn't always a shit brother." Jess murmured. "He used to care, long time ago."
"Darling, you have seven other brothers…uncles, father figures," Sonny struggled to figure out how to describe them all as a whole and failed. "Whatever the hell you want to call us…the point is, the charming Bravo family cares deeply for your well being. Don't you be paying that dumb ass any mind. He doesn't deserve to have you in his life."
"Thanks, Sonny." Jess's troubled expression warmed with shy affection despite the heaviness in her next words. "It really is so amazing to have family like all of you. I don't think I could do this without…without it."
Metal found himself dropping his arm around her shoulders, encouraging her to relax. "We got you, pipsqueak."