Back to Square One

“What’s up man?” I smiled nervously at him.

“Don’t you what’s up me, you’re still mad at me,” he told me matter of factly.

“What are you talking about?” I asked innocently.

“Stop the bullshit Jerome. What the hell are you doing here?” he asked, his arms crossed.

“Can’t I sit in a park for no reason at all other than trying to clear my mind?” I frowned.

“Not with two ice cream cups and in a park full of kids,” he told me, not needing to explain why the kids part had anything to do with the whole situation.

“Jay!” I heard Deanna screech from behind me, making me spin around so quick, looking if she was in any trouble. When I was sure she wasn’t, I let out a sigh of relief but it was replaced with dread.

“Yes D?” I asked as I crouched down to her height, aware of the hard glare that Gabriel was giving me.

“Home now,” she smiled at me. I nodded and stood up, facing Gabriel who had an unexplainable expression on his face.

“You and I are gonna have a talk later. Hazelyn’s over there, so get you’re a-,” he paused and looked at the child. “Your butt home as soon as possible and clear this whole thing before I spill details to her,” he growled at me and stomped off.

“Who was that Uncle Jay?” Deanna asked me.

I smiled lightly at the girl. “A friend D,” I said and lead her back to the car.



“Explain,” Gabriel told me once the door closed. He waited me to get home and dragged me off by the collar towards my room.

“Okay,” I sighed and began to tell him my story. The whole damn thing. His mouth hung open, and his eyes were wide open. By the end, he was shaking his head as if he didn’t want to believe the whole thing.

“How do I know you’re not lying?” he asked.

“Gab. Seriously. Would I lie about something like this? You know I would never lie about something like this,” I told him seriously.

He shook his head at me. “I’m sorry man. I really didn’t know. I shouldn’t have let her leave,” he said to me.

“You know, I hated you since you tried to harm her and I was so fucking pissed off that she would run away and take you with her,” I told him honestly. “But when I couldn’t take care of her, you did. Thank you.”

He shook his head at me. “That’s nothing man. It was my fault. I let her leave without hearing your explanation. Does she know now? You should tell her now,” he said getting up, and walking to the door.

“NO!” I shouted as I darted to the door and blocked him from leaving.

“Why the hell not?!”

“It’s not the right time.”

“When the fuck is the right time, Dolciani?! When she gets fucking married to somebody else?” he asked. “She’s fucking in love with you and neither of you see that. She finds out about this, and she’ll flip. Then she’ll come running back into your arms, ripping your clothes off and freaking rape you and take you to Las Vegas so you guys could get hitched,” he said to me.

I laughed at his reaction. “As much as I would enjoy that,” I smirked, and turned serious again. “I can’t. This just isn’t the right time. I’ll figure it out and I’ll tell her. I want her to figure it out. I’m done trying to get her back. It’s her turn to get me back,” I said to him.

He shook his head at me. “Bro, she loves you and everything but if you don’t tell her the truth, she won’t know that there’s something worth fighting for,” he said.

I opened my mouth to speak, but got cut off by a loud bang behind me, making me jump.

“We’re leaving now! Going to dinner!” Tristan shouted from the other side of the door.

“We’ll be down there in a bit!” I shouted. I stepped away from the door and closer to Gabriel. “Nobody knows about this, kay?” I cleared up. He rolled his eyes and nodded at me.

“I give you two weeks bro. By the end of that two weeks, I’m telling her.”

“Why do you wanna tell her so bad?” I huffed.

He shook his head at me and raised an eyebrow. “Figure it out Mr. Oblivious,” he said patting my shoulder and walking out my door.

We went to dinner with Hazelyn, Luke, Gabriel and Savannah in my car, Tristan and Stephanie in another, Chelsea, Caleb, Scotty and Jack in another car group and Nate and Sandra with Kyle and Samantha.

Hazelyn practically ignored me, causing some tension in the group but everyone did their best to put it aside and have fun. Despite it though, we did have fun making fun of the guys and talking about the past.

“Hey, we’re not the only ones going to X-games guys,” Luke smiled and darted a smile toward Hazelyn who looked down, blushing.

“Yeah! I mean, I guess she has motivation now, right?” Gabriel winked, getting a glare from Hazelyn.

Our food came and our conversations died down to people next to us. I was seated next to Tristan and Jack, on the other side of the table from Hazelyn that was sitting next to Gabriel.

“Are you guys fighting?” Tristan asked me.

I shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

“You keep on looking at her, but you’re not talking to her,” Jack added.

I just shrugged yet again. They both rolled their eyes at me and got up to watch the others play air hockey that was a few feet away from us. They do this every time we go to a restaurant with an air hockey table. Whoever wins pays for the other one’s dessert.

It was Jack against Scotty who Scotty won 4 on 3. Then next was Caleb and Tristan who Caleb won 4 on 3 as well. They were then followed by Gabriel and Samantha, who Samantha won with a 4 on 2, and after them were Kyle and Stephanie, who Kyle won 4 on 0. Nate went against Chelsea and Savannah went against Luke.

They all got their desserts, peacefully eating it until Luke spoke up. “There’s 14 of us, there’s only 6 desserts. Why?”

“Who didn’t play?” Kyle asked.

“Hazelyn and Ryan,” Gabriel mumbled with his mouth stuffed with 1,500 calories and diabetes.

All eyes darted towards us. “We’re fine,” I spoke up.

“No! All of us have to play!” Jack pouted.

“No, really. We’re fine. We don’t feel like dessert,” Hazelyn spoke.

“Please? For us?” Jack pouted.

I looked at her, who had her eyes closed and frowned, getting up from her seat and walked over to the air hockey table.

I looked at her and hesitantly got up, slowly walking towards her.

“Hurry the fuck up and we can get this shit over with,” she hissed at me, making me flinch.

I glared at her and started the game. I let her win and didn’t even try to play the game.

“There, easy,” she huffed and started walking off. “Get your fat asses up, we’re leaving,” she demanded as she walked out of the restaurant.

“What’s up her ass?” Nate mumbled.

We all got into our cars, and had Tristan drive out first, Kyle followed after him, since I asked him to drive. We were halfway home when Tristan took a familiar exit, and lead us towards a familiar route.

“Why are we going to the old house?” I asked as we turned into the street.

Kyle just shrugged at me. We pulled up to the front of the house, and everyone from the other car got out, and Stephanie opened the door.

“I’m showing Hazelyn what I’ve done with her room,” Stephanie told me.

“What?” I asked totally confused.

“She’s staying here tonight,” she explained to me, as I walked into the house with my sister, her husband, and my ex.

“Alone?” I asked raising an eyebrow at Hazelyn.

“Nope,” Tristan popped the ‘p’.

“What? With who?” Hazelyn spoke up, totally confused. “Did you guys get like a dog or something?” she asked suspiciously.

Tristan and Stephanie laughed and shook their heads. “Honey, if you’re calling my brother a dog, then yes.”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Hazelyn snapped.

“You guys are brats. Get along!” Tristan shouted before the two darted out the door and slammed it shut before we could process what was happening.

“What. The. Actual Fuck,” Hazelyn mumbled.

I groaned and walked towards the door and tried to pull it open but it wouldn’t budge.

“Sorry bro! We have it padlocked back here!” I heard Nate shout. I cracked the window open and peaked out. “The back’s closed too, and so are the windows,” he smiled at me with a ring full of keys.

Hazelyn popped up beside me with a menacing look in her eyes. “Open the damn door Nathan!” she shouted, making me cringe away from her. “Tristan! Stephanie!”

Tristan just laughed and pulled Stephanie closer to him. “No can do baby sis,” he grinned.

“Kyle!” she yelled. “Luke! Scotty! Jack! Gabriel!” she screeched. “What if there’s a fire?!” she asked.

“Kyle and Samantha are staying out here,” Tristan said as they rearranged car groups and Kyle just looked at me with goofy smiles

“And don’t you dare,” Nate warned before he got into his car group and they too drove away.

“Fuck it. Bye,” she huffed and walked upstairs, leaving me downstairs.