What's The Name Of The Game

Kara and Pat weren’t in the living room when Tianna went back, so she figured they were in his room. She sighed and plopped down on the couch, trying to figure out what to do.

She could go home with Pat for Christmas, or she could stay right here.

If she went home, she knew she would just end up getting yelled at and blamed for stuff. Stuff that wasn’t even her fault. Stuff that she couldn’t change.

Staying in the apartment was looking real good.

Although she knew if Pat begged, and she knew he would, she would end up going home. She convinced herself that if anything, she needed to go to get the rest of her stuff.

Tianna wished she had a bedroom so she could just go be alone, but she had nowhere to go. So she settled for the couch, and dozed off. A few hours later, Kara was shaking her awake.

“You hungry?” She asked her. Tianna nodded and Kara smiled. “Pat went and got Chili’s, it’s in the kitchen.” Tianna got off the couch and stretched, and followed Kara. “Can you go get Jon?” Kara asked, turning around.

“Me? Why?”

“Uh…why not?” Kara asked, not knowing Tianna was wary around him.

“Never mind. I’ll go get him,” she conceded, turning around towards him room. She knocked on his door, but got nothing. She tried again, a little louder, but there was still no answer. Tianna turned the handle, and surprisingly found it unlocked. She peeked inside his room, and saw Jon asleep on his bed. He was just sprawled out on top, not covered with the blankets or anything.

Tianna felt herself blush at the fact he was only in basketball shorts, and she was thankful he was asleep and couldn’t see it. She stepped closer to the bed, and placed a soft hand on his shoulder.

“Jon,” she called softly, shaking him lightly. He groaned and turned over. “Jonathan,” she tried again.

“Huh? Yeah?” He said, leaning up groggily. She held in a laugh.

“Pat brought food home, if you’re hungry,” she informed him. He blinked away the sleep from his eyes and looked at her. Once he processed the information, he nodded. Tianna left, assuming he’d want to change clothes or something, and was surprised when he entered the kitchen right behind her.

He wasn’t going to put some clothes on or anything??Not that she minded.

Pat and Kara were seated at the table, and had places set up for Jon and Tianna as well. Right next to each other, of course. Jon noticed Patrick’s mischievous look, but once Pat saw Jon looking at him he wiped it off his face. Everyone sat down and began eating, and a comfortable silence fell over them.

“So, T-Bag. Have you decided what you’re doing for Christmas yet?” Pat inquired.

“Um, I was thinking I should just stay here,” she answered. Pat started pouting, so she hurried to explain herself. “I mean, Christmas in our family’s a pretty big deal ya know? So I think I should just wait until stuff dies down a little.”

“Yeah, but everyone else is going to want to see you. My parents and sisters are so excited,” Pat whined. Tianna’s shoulders slumped a bit, and Patrick knew he had won. “Pleaaase?” He added, for good measure.

“Fine,” she sighed, agreeing. Pat pumped his fist in the air happily, and Kara and Jon laughed at him. Tianna was the only one not happy, and Jon was the only one to notice.

“Kara, what are you doing for Christmas?” Patrick asked her. She just shrugged. “OH! You should come too!” Tianna finally perked up at this, and looked at her friend with a pleading look and her hands clasped together.

“I guess I could,” she chuckled. This time both Patrick and Tianna pumped their fists into the air, and Jon and Kara shared a ‘They are so weird’ look. “What about you, Jon?”

“Uh, well I’ll be going with you guys for the first night and then I’m off to Winnipeg,” he answered. Conversation flowed relatively smoothly after that, Tianna only speaking when she had to. Eventually they had all finished up, and decided to watch a movie. They all went into the living room, Jon plopping on the loveseat and Kara sitting on the couch. Pat stood by the entertainment system, studying his choices, while Tianna hung back in the doorframe between the living room and kitchen. She saw Pat studying the case of a scary movie, so she just stepped quietly back into the kitchen and sat at the table. She would have rather gone to bed, but she didn’t want to assume she was still welcome in Jon’s room.

“Where’s Tianna?” Kara asked, about ten minutes into the movie. Pat looked around and realized she was no where to be found. They both looked at Jon, but he was so into the film that he didn’t even hear them talking.

“Tazer,” Pat called.

“Hm?” Jon replied, not taking his eyes of the screen.

“Do you know?”

“Do I know what?” Jon responded, finally looking at Pat confused.

“Where Tianna is,” Patrick asserted. Jon glanced around the room. Huh, he hadn’t even noticed she wasn’t in here.

Jon shrugged, and turned back to the screen. Pat sighed and paused the movie with the remote, causing Jon to look at him quizzically again.

“Can you go get her?” Pat requested.

“Why me? Why is it always me?” Jon remarked. “And no, I will not go get her. She doesn’t like scary movies anyway.”

“Jon, it’s not like I’m asking you to perform brain surgery, alright? I’m just asking you to go get my cousin. If anything, just put her in your room, okay?”

Jon opened his mouth to argue with Pat, but Kara sent him a glare so fierce he got up just to get away from her. As soon as he walked away he heard Pat un-pause the movie, and Jon scowled the rest of the way to the kitchen.

He found Tianna inside, sitting at the kitchen table with a pen in hand. She was staring at a piece of paper, but when Jon came in she turned her attention to him.

“Hey,” she greeted softly.

“Hey. I came to bring you out there but if you’re busy…” he trailed off, motioning to the paper.

“Oh, no. I’m not busy. This is just, my list,” she replied. “But I don’t really want to watch a scary movie anyways.”

“Yeah, I told them that.” Jon sat down next to her, starting to feel guilty that she was in here all alone. “So, what’s your list for?”

“All the things I want to say to my mom,” she answered. Jon looked down at the paper and saw it was blank. He looked back up at her, and she looked away sheepishly. “It’s a work in progress,” she chuckled. “There’s just so much to say, and I don’t even know how to begin.” Jon nodded, but he really couldn’t help her there. “You don’t have to stay in here with me.”

“That’s okay. I don’t really like the movie they’re watching,” Jon lied. He fucking loved that movie. They sat in there a little longer, Tianna just staring at the blank piece of paper. “Just start listing things. Eventually it will all come to you,”

“It’s not that easy,” Tianna informed him. Jon didn’t see why it couldn’t be.

“Why not?”

“It’s just….not. You wouldn’t understand,” Tianna told him.

“Look, Tia, I don’t know what-” Jon stopped himself, realizing he had once again called her Tia. He glanced at her though. And she looked unaffected. Maybe she hadn’t heard him? “Um, I don’t know what to tell you,” he finished, trying to cover his tracks.

“Forget it,” Tianna sighed, crumpling up the paper and tossing it away. She walked out the door of the kitchen, before walking right back in. Jon looked at her quizzically. “The movie’s still on,” she mumbled. Jon couldn’t help but laugh slightly before getting up out of his chair.

“C’mon,” he said, grabbing her arm lightly and leading her out of the kitchen. They walked past Patrick and Kara in the living room on the way to Jon’s bedroom.

After they passed, Pat looked over at Kara and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. She laughed and shook her head.

Jon led her inside as he shut the door behind him. Tianna sat on the bed, and then laid backwards so her feet were still dangling off the end.

“Tired?” He asked.

“Yeah, if you can believe it,” Tianna remarked.

“Why wouldn’t I believe it?”

“Because I napped for like, half the day today,” she laughed.

“You did? Me too,” Jon said, walking over by her. “Where’d you sleep?”

“The couch,” Tianna answered. Jon looked at her sharply.

“I told you that you didn’t have to sleep on the couch!” He exclaimed with a smirk. She sat up with a start.

“Well, it’s just, after you told me to go, I went back to talk to Pat and Kara, but they weren’t there, and I didn’t want to come right back and bother you, so I went on the couch, and-”

“T,” Jon interrupted, chuckling a bit. She looked back up at him, glad he cut her off. She had a tendency to ramble when she was nervous. “Next time, just talk to me.”

“Okay,” she replied softly.

A while later, Tianna was lying in bed, unable to fall asleep after her shower. Jonathan was in the bathroom now, taking his own shower. He emerged a few moments later, and Tianna had to admit she liked what she saw. He was still only wearing basketball shorts, and little droplets of water were running down his chest. He shook his head and ruffled his own hair, and Tianna had to bite her lip to keep quiet.

He crawled into bed, and Tianna suddenly got very tense. It wasn’t like last night, when everything was lighthearted. They both just laid there, knowing the other was awake, but not knowing what to say. Eventually, they both fell into an uncomfortable sleep.