Mystery Boy

Jacky walked me to the house, standing so close to me that our shoulders bumped the whole way back. I talked for a little while and he was silent, causing me to have to look to his face to read his expressions, although he was a closed book.

When we got to the house Easton was in the driveway still, trying to practice a trick that I didn't know the name of. When we walked up he turned to smile at us, showing off his white teeth as he grinned.

I didn't see much of Ina in either of their boys, so I assumed they'd gotten their olive complexions and chestnut colored hair from their father, who I didn't even know the name of. Jacky dropped me off at the front door and kissed my cheek softly, telling me he had to run home for a little bit.

I didn't ask why, but I could see something in his eyes that told me not to let him go. I just grabbed his hand and pulled him back to me when he turned to walk away from me. He looked at me with question bubbling in his orbs, so I shrugged and stood on the tips of my toes so that I could kiss his lips.

He was shy as he kissed me back. I could feel his nervousness as I touched his face and then pulled back, looking up at him and smiling lightly. "Tomorrow at eight?" I asked, referring to the time he'd be meeting me here to head to school.

"Yeah," Jacky whispered back, glancing over his shoulder down the street.

I nodded. "Okay," I said, "See you in the morning."

Jacky smiled and nodded his head. He kissed my cheek and then hurried down the street, waving goodbye to Easton as he went.

"Bye Jacky!" Easton yelled out, waving.

I chuckled and jumped off of the step. I walked over to Easton who stood behind my car with his board in his hand as he kicked a twig off the pavement. "Scratch my car and you're dead," I said as I grew closer.

He looked up to me with wide eyes. "What?" he questioned, terrified as he took two large steps away from the car.

I busted in laughter as I shook my head. "I'm just kidding," I joked, rolling my eyes playfully as he sighed audibly. "But seriously, don't scratch it," I replied, looking over the car for any noticeable damage. I grinned when it was just as nice as the first day I bought it.

Easton nodded quickly when I looked back to him. "I won't," he stated, "I promise."

I reached over and grabbed a handful of his shirt at his shoulder and pulled him over to me gently. I ruffled his hair as the two of us headed into the house. He scowled at me as he fixed his dark hair.

"Want to watch a movie?" I questioned, knowing that he didn't get to watch many, seeing as there was only one television in the entire house.

He grinned and nodded eagerly. "Can I pick it out?" he questioned as I held the front door open for him.

"Pick out what, East?" Taite questioned as he came barreling out of the kitchen, probably happy that his big brother was back in the house, seeing as he wasn't allowed to play outside in the front with out an adult.

"A movie," Easton told him with a grin as the 11 year old dropped his skateboard by the front door and kicked his shoes off by the coffee table.

Taite looked over to the television that was showing the news that either Dad or Ina had turned on earlier. Decklan was sprawled out on the couch with a magazine, ignoring all of us as he focused on it. I rolled my eyes and turned to Taite who was looking crestfallen.

"We're going to watch it on my laptop," I told him, watching as his face brightened. "Do you want to watch it with us?"

Taite grinned and then stopped, pretending to think about it. "What movie?" he questioned, although I knew it didn't matter.

I shrugged and nodded towards my bedroom where my stack of DVDs sat at the end of my bed, piled up since I had no where to put them. I glanced to the TV in the living room and saw that they too had a DVD player. "Easton is picking it out," I told Taite, "You can help if you want."

Easton rolled his eyes but ran off down the hallway, calling for his younger brother to follow him. I chuckled but didn't go after them, knowing they'd be in mine and Decklan's room, knocking over the large stack of movies as they tried to pull one out. Instead I headed past my room and down towards the one that Dad and Ina shared.

I knocked on the door and pushed it open when Dad called for me to come in. This room was larger than all the other ones. A big bed sat in the middle with red sheets and pillows. There were pictures of the boys on the dresser and a lamp that looked a little dated for my dad's taste.

Dad sat in a chair to the left of the door and surprisingly Ina wasn't in the bedroom, causing me to frown. "Where's Ina?" I questioned, watching as Dad tried to hide his shock.

"She ran to the store," Dad said, "Why?"

"How'd she get out of the drive? I was parked behind her."

Dad shrugged, "I moved your car."

"Oh," I murmured, "When is she going to be back?"

Dad furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and stood up from the chair, setting his book down on the edge before walking closer to me where I stood perched in the doorway. "What's up?" he asked, "Why do you suddenly need to talk to Ina?"

I sighed and bounced on the balls of my feet, not wanting to talk to him about this and be grounded before I could even get a word out to Ina. I crossed my arms over my chest and looked my father in the eye, deciding to man up and be honest.

"She was rude to Jacky," I told him, biting down on the inside of my cheek.

Dad shook his head. "No she wasn't, everything was perfectly fine today."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not what Jacky told me," I retorted, my eyes hardening as he continued to deny it.

"Airea, just go to your room. I don't need you causing more trouble and stressing out your mom, she doesn't need this right now."

I stared at him blankly, wondering if he knew what he had just said or if it had slipped out by accident from years of practice with the boys. That pushed my thoughts back to the time he called my own mother the wrong name, about a year ago. We were out for dinner at a fancy restaurant with my father's lawyer friends and we were waiting for our meals to be served when Mom stood up and excused herself to the bathroom politely.

That was when my father called out to her with the wrong name, asking her to have the waiter come over, but calling her "E-na", and then correcting himself quickly before she actually noticed, seeing as she had basically already walked out of hearing range.

Dad looked at me though as I sat next to his partner's son, Alec, who was a year older and kept sending me snooty looks while I conversed with his father, Payton about school and my friends, and various other things.

Dad's eye met mine and he looked away real quickly before he could see the recognition in mine. That I had heard him. At the time I didn't think too much of it, brushing it off as someone he worked with, seeing as he spent more time at work that at home, it wouldn't have surprised me back then if he started calling me his assistant's name by accident, permanently.

"She's not my mom," I growled before turning away from my father and hurrying off, angry that he didn't even notice that he'd called her that.

"Airea, can we watch this one?" Taite questioned as he held up the case to Cars.

Easton jumped up from the pile and shook his head quickly, "I want to watch this one!"

I sighed as Taite pouted, pushing the case towards me. "Easton got to pick out the movie first," I said as I opened my laptop and diverted my gaze from Taite's protruding bottom lip. "We can watch that one after," I promised as I stuck Easton's choice into the computer.

Taite set the case on the floor and crawled up onto the bed next to me, Easton on my other side. "Promise?" Taite questioned, glancing back at the cartoon movie about cars.

I nodded. "I promise."