Poker Face

The rest of the week kind of went by in a blur and agonizingly slow at the same time.

Oxymoron right? I know.

It went by slowly because all I could think about was Kris and who he was with and what he was doing. It went by in a blur because the dreaded barbeque was fast approaching even though I tried numerous times to get out of it. Callie let me off the hook when I told her I’d be alone since Kris wasn't coming, but then her mom had called me and told me how excited she was to see me. I couldn’t say no after that. I hadn't seen her family in a while, and they had only recently moved closer to Callie and I.

I finally snapped to my senses about twenty minutes away from Callie’s house. I was in the backseat of Jordan’s truck. He was driving and Callie was sitting shotgun.

“What am I doing??” I suddenly exclaimed. Jordan looked at me in the rearview mirror and Callie turned in her seat. “Drive me back home, I can’t do this.”

“Jaime,” Callie said, rolling her eyes. “It’ll be fine, okay? We don’t even know if they’re coming for sure. And even if they are there, it will be fine.”

“Easy for you to say, you have Jordan and look gorgeous and everything. I’m the loser by myself. Jordan, turn this car around now,” I demanded. He nervously glanced at Callie, who told him to keep driving to her family’s house.

“Jaime, you look gorgeous too. I’m sure Jimmy will kick himself in the ass for letting you go,” Callie assured.

“Yeah, he’s so sorry. That’s why he cheated on me and left me and is married and-”

“Jaime!” Jordan interrupted. Callie and I both looked at him quizzically. “If you go in there with the mindset of being beneath them then they’ll sense it and play off that. But if you go in there, confident and head held high, they’ll have nothing to do but bite their tongues.” The rest of the car ride was fairly silent as I let Jordan’s words sink in.

He pulled up to our destination and I took a deep breath. I could do this. Yeah, I could. Fuck them, I can do this. Okay, deep breath. As soon as my feet hit the ground, I faltered.

Who was I kidding? I couldn’t do this. I was frozen to my spot and Jordan had to nudge me forward to the back yard. I followed Callie and Jordan, and I have to admit I hung back so I could peek around the corner to see if they were there. When I didn’t see them, I felt my whole body relax and I stepped confidently onto the patio. Callie’s family and friends all greeted us, and everything was going okay.

For like, two minutes.

I heard a sliding door open and a noise that made my blood run cold. It was a loud, screechy, banshee-esque laugh, one that belonged to a certain ex-friend of mine. I turned around slowly, as did Callie and Jordan, and it seemed like every thing was moving in slow motion. We all just stared at each other, everyone having the same expression: ‘What are you doing here’?

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Jordan cleared his throat.

“Hi, I’m Jordan,” he said, sticking his hand out for Jimmy. “Callie’s boyfriend.” Jimmy nodded and took his hand.

“I’m Jimmy. Callie’s brother. This is my wife, Vicky,” he replied, glancing at me. Vicky and Jordan shook hands, but that was the end of the pleasantries. The rest of us knew each other, unfortunately. By now, everyone else had kind of backed away, leaving us to our business.

“Babe, I’m gonna grab a beer. You want anything?” Jordan asked. Callie answered him quietly and he turned to me. “Jaim?”

“Uh…yeah. Beer sounds good,” I nodded. He walked away, leaving the four of us in an awkward silence.

“So…how’ve you two been?” Jimmy started.

“Shut the fuck up Jimmy,” Callie snapped. “What are you doing here?”

“What? I can’t come to see my own family?” He defended.

“You’ve never wanted to before,” she observed. “What’s your motive now?”

“I’ve always wanted to. You and Jaime are the ones who always make things so damn difficult,” he muttered.

“Excuse me?” I said, becoming angry. “You were the one who messed everything up! Did you really think you were the victim here?” Before he could answer, Jordan came back with the beers. Jimmy shut his mouth, and I could tell he was slightly intimidated by Jordan.

The next couple hours were some of the most insanely tense hours of my life. And snippy to boot. Every other comment from Vicky was some backhanded complement or catty analysis about my life.

Or lack thereof, apparently.

“Jaime, do you still have that silly little job at the bar?”

“Jaime, you’re positively glowing! Are you pregnant? It would explain the slight weight gain.”

“Jaime, where do you shop? It’s just, my sister’s going through a rough patch financially and I want her to be able to have some clothes. Maybe not fashionable, but effective none the less.”

Uh, fuck you bitch, I shop at nice places.

“Jaime, you’re still single right? Oh what am I saying of course you are! I’m sure there’s someone out there who would settle for a plain little thing like you.”

“Yeah, it’s funny, your husband used to be one of those guys until he settled for your easy ass,” I replied, sipping my beer. She looked at Jimmy to defend her, and he smirked deviously. I was all on my own, since Jordan had gotten up a couple seconds earlier to answer his cell phone and had taken Callie with him.

“So…you have a boyfriend then?” Jimmy asked with that same smirk. He knew I didn’t have one. And he was going to rub my face in it.

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” I stated. Callie sprinted back over to us with this shit-eating grin on her face but before I could question her about it Jimmy kept talking.

“It’s fine if you don’t…nothing to be embarrassed about. I’m a tough act to follow, I know,” he shrugged. I would have laughed if Kris had said it, because Kris jokes about cocky stuff like that all the time.

But Jimmy is completely serious.

“You’re right, Jim. You are one hell of an act to follow,” I said snippily, tapping my index finger on my bruise. It had faded a little, and I had makeup on, but it was still visible once you really looked at it. Jimmy and Vicky both paled a little bit and shifted nervously. “I have great taste in men, don’t I?” I mused at Vicky. She was looking at me all doe eyed, the stupid idiot that she was. “Don’t worry, he’s long gone.”

They just nodded absentmindedly and began talking in hushed tones to each other. Callie smirked and plopped down next to me. She jiggled her leg anxiously and kept biting her lip. I could tell she was fighting a smile.

“What?” She asked once she saw me watching her.

“Did you get into the sugar or what?”

“You’ll see,” She sang, darting her eyes around. I just shook my head at her evasiveness, and turned back toward Jimmy and Vicky. They were both looking behind me with furrowed brows and unsure expressions. It seemed like their gazes were following something or someone, and by the looks of it the thing they were watching was coming up right behind me.

I began to turn around to see who was there, barely able to get out the words "What is everyone looking-”

“Hey babe,” Kris said, pecking my lips and cutting me off. I stayed frozen, not believing what was happening. “You look beautiful. Sorry I’m late.” Jordan came over at winked at me.

“Uh…it’s fine?” I replied. Callie ‘subtly’ stepped on my foot at my lame reaction. Jimmy cleared his throat, causing everyone to look at him.

“Hi, I’m Kris, Jaime’s boyfriend,” he greeted, sticking out his hand. Jimmy gripped it and I could tell by their mini-stare down that they were both squeezing as hard as they could.

“Jimmy,” Callie’s brother finally grunted. He pulled his hand away and grabbed Vicky by the waist, pulling her over. “This is Vicky, my wife.”

“Oh, yeah, the broad you cheated on Jaime with,” Kris stated. My jaw dropped slightly and Callie bit her lip to stop from smiling. “Nice to meet you, I’m Kris,” he stuck out his hand again, but she didn’t take it. “Oookay.” He pulled his hand back and glanced at me, smirking.

God, I loved that smirk.

Kris pulled me close to him, causing scowls to form on Jimmy and Vicky’s faces.

“So…are you the guy who gave her that bruise?” Vicky asked snippily, trying to regain some of her nonexistent status. Kris grabbed my face lightly with his hand and ran his thumb over the bruise before placing a kiss on my temple.

“Nah, I’m the guy who helped put that guy in the hospital on his way to prison,” Kris answered, giving Jim a chilling look.

“Well Jaime did say she had great taste in men, so I was just wondering where you fit in,” Vicky said. “You seem like a lovely man though. I doubt she applied that sarcastic comment to you,” she drawled.

Was she hitting on my boyfriend Kris?

Callie shot me a look, like she knew what I was thinking and agreed with me.

“Actually, I haven’t been the best boyfriend,” Kris said, grabbing both my hands in his and making me face him. “Jaime and I have had our rough patches,” he continued, looking into my eyes. “And to be honest, a couple hours ago I wasn’t even going to come here. But I honestly can’t imagine my life without her, let alone a few days.”

He turned back toward the married couple, and Jimmy’s jaw was clenched.

“Oh,” Kris started again, smirking and turning toward me. “I brought some desserts. Help me grab them from my car?” I nodded and he grabbed my hand and led me away. When we got to his truck, he opened the backseat and grabbed a few bags.

“What are you doing here?” I asked as he handed me the bags. He leaned back in to the car and grabbed the other bags. He shut the door and then leaned his back against the truck.

“I was talking to Jordan earlier,” he said, looking at the ground. “And he made me realize…” He trailed off, kicking dirt around. “Look, I know I said we should cool it, but I don’t want to. The only reason I said it was because I wanted to just let us both take a breath, you know? It’s just, before the game when I told you all that stuff and you just stood there…”

“Kris, I’m sorry I didn’t give you an answer right away. I was going to tell you when you skated by but you refused to look at me,” I told him as we walked back to the backyard.

“I was upset,” he shrugged. “I thought you rejected me.” He stared at me for a moment before his features darkened. “Did you reject me?” I opened my mouth to speak but he interrupted me. “No wait, don’t answer that.” We set the bags down and approached everyone else, who was huddled around Jordan telling a story.

“Kris! Just in time!” Jordan called, pulling Kris into the circle. Callie and I stood to the side, watching Jordan talk animatedly. He would occasionally nudge Kris, who would just nod and smile.

After a few more moments Kris interrupted Jordan, causing everyone to look at him. “Okay, forget what I said. I need an answer,” he told me, changing his mind. He walked right over to me and grabbed my hands. “I know I haven’t given you a good reason to trust me but I love you, with everything I have. And I’m asking you to love me too. I swear, I’m going to live the rest of my life trying to prove to you that you made the right decision.”

He pulled a box out of his pocket and knelt down on one knee.

“Will you marry me?”

“Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh m-” Jordan wrapped one arm around Callie's waist from behind and put his other hand over her mouth. Once he was satisfied she'd be quiet, he laced their fingers together and rested his chin on her shoulder as they watched us.

Tears sprang to my eyes and I tried to brush them away, but Kris grabbed my hands, lacing his fingers with mine. He looked up at me and searched my eyes for an answer, but I couldn’t speak. I felt sick thinking he would get the wrong idea; that I was going to pull what I did the other day and not answer him.

Since I couldn’t form words, I settled for nodding. His face broke into a smile and he stood quickly, throwing his arms around me. He lifted me up and spun me around as Callie’s family and friends started cheering. After he set me down he pulled back and kissed me, brushing the tears from by cheeks with his thumbs. I smiled at him, and he kissed my forehead.

“I love you,” he murmured, putting his forehead to mine.

“I love you too,” I whispered. He leaned down and captured my lips again, and we both smiled into the kiss.