Mystery Boy

"What took so long this morning?" I asked Jacky as the two of us sat on the stairs during lunch. The guys ranted about random things around us, each of them propped against the wall with their knees pulled up to their chests.

"I talked to my mum," Jacky said, making sure to put extra emphasis on the way he said 'mom'.

"Really?" I asked excitedly, "Doesn't she live in England?"

Jacky nodded his head. "West London," he said quietly, "She wants me to visit her."

"Are you going to?" I asked just as quietly, my excitement muted as I waited for his reply.

Jacky nodded his head simply, his voice draining away as if he'd said too much already.

"That's great," I said with a smile on my lips, "I bet she's great."

"She is," he replied, "Really out there. She wants to meet you." He hid his smile as my expression turned to one of shock.

"You talk about me?" I asked quickly, my blue eyes wide as I searched for his.

He nodded. "Yes," he stated, "She's my mom."

"She really wants to meet me?" I questioned, "Why?"

"You mean something to me," he said quietly, turning his face away from me.

I smiled. Never once had a boy liked me enough to tell his mother about me. Especially since she lived on the other side of the world. "I'd love to meet her," I said softly, my voice growing defeated, "But she's so far away."

Jacky turned to me with a grin on his gorgeous face. "She asked me to invite you out," he claimed, "She'll buy your ticket, too."

My eyes lit up at his words and I became excited. More excited than I had been in really long time. "Really?" I asked automatically, "She wants me to go to London with you?" I couldn't keep the large grin off of my lips. "That's amazing!"

Jacky was smiling too as we caught the attention of the guys around us.

Ronnie looked over to us. "What's going on over there?" he asked me, his eyes narrowed as we grinned ear to ear.

"Jacky's mom wants to meet me," I said simply, feeling younger than I had in a long while as I slipped my fingers in between Jacky's slender ones.

Ronnie chuckled. "She only lives in England."

I glared. "You're not funny," I stated, "She invited me to fly out with Jacky."

Ronnie's joking tone disappeared. "You two are going to London?" he inquired, turning his entire attention to us as the rest of the guys did, too.

Jacky shrugged his shoulders.

I did the same. "I want to," I spoke, "I just have to talk to my dad."

That's when Ronnie laughed and Jacky frowned. Ronnie shook his head and pushed his hair out of his face. "You really think Tom is going to let you jump on a plane with your boyfriend and fly across the world just so you can meet his mum?" Ronnie used his poor impression of Jacky's accent.

I glared at him, even though I knew there was a slim chance of it happening. My father had barely tolerated Jacky being in the house since we started dating. There would be no way in hell that he'd let me go any where with him, even to his own house. But I sat up a little straighter. "I'll just have to talk to him," I told the guys, "Once he understands that this is a once in a lifetime chance, maybe he'll change in his mind."

"That's a pretty huge 'maybe', Airea."

I glared at Ronnie once again. "Shut up. You're not helping."

Jacky and I stood up together as the bell rang for class. Jacky walked me to where I needed to me with his hand clasped in mine. We stood outside of the door. "I'll see you after school?" I asked softly, looking up into his breathtaking blue eyes.

He nodded his head.

"Okay," I murmured, a smile on my lips. "I'm going to ask my dad after school today."

Jacky sighed nervously. He knew that there wasn't a very big chance in getting my father's blessing, either.

"Don't worry," I assured, "He'll come around."

Jacky leaned down so that his lips were near my ear. "No," he murmured. He stood back up. "Your dad doesn't like me."

I shook my head. "Ina doesn't like you. My dad does likes you."

"Enough for a trip?"

I bit my lip and looked up to him. He nodded in recognition and kissed my lips as the final bell rang, warning the lingering students that they best be on their way to class. "You better go," I said as I pushed him away, "If you're late again you're going to get a detention."

Jacky shrugged his shoulders. It didn't matter to him. They all knew his name in Detention. He waved before he turned and headed off to his class. I watched for another moment as the slender, British boy walked away from me.

Class went slowly as I thought about how to approach the subject with my stubborn father. I knew that he wouldn't be the least bit understanding that I wanted to meet Jacky's mom or that she wanted to meet me. To Dad, there was no point. We were just two high school kids on a mission to make him and Ina miserable.

I drove Ronnie, Riley, and Jacky home after school. The siblings piled out of my car as quickly as they could, yelled their goodbyes, and then raced around the small fence that separated our yards near the end of my driveway, where I had to park since Avery had decided to park his car directly in the middle of the driveway.

Jacky motioned towards the little house in front of us, silently asking if he should come with me.

"No, it's okay," I said with a nervous look. "I'm just going to bring it up to him. I'll tell you what he says tomorrow."

Jacky nodded and moved forward to wrap his arms around my waist. "I'll be at Ronnie's," he said with a grin, "Take out."

I smiled. That must've been what the Radkes were arguing about. What restaurant they ate at this time. I nodded my head to Jacky and pressed my lips against his. I wasn't worried about my father seeing us since I knew he was picking Easton and Taite up from school. Only Avery's car sat in the driveway. I was surprised that Decklan and his friends had beaten me home today.

"I'll see you later," I said softly as I disconnected my lips from Jacky's, "I'll be over after dinner."

Jacky nodded his head. Once again I watched him walk around the fence and towards Ronnie's front door. I loved how Jacky was a permanent member of Ronnie's family. His father had pretty much adopted him as a fourth son, taking Ronnie's older brother's place since the moody 17 year old was rarely around the house anyways.

I walked up the grass to the front door and let myself in. Decklan and Avery were strewn out on the couch and the other on the floor.

"Hey," I greeted as Avery looked up from the floor as I entered.

He was about to reply when Decklan cut him off. "Don't acknowledge her," he said, "She's just another part of this fucked up teenage cliche that I've been thrown into."

I rolled my eyes at his teenage boy dramatics. "Oh shut up, Decklan," I growled, "You got yourself into this, I'm merely making it more interesting."

Decklan didn't look up as he muttered, "Sure, watching you make out with your boyfriend all the time is just thrilling."

"Yeah well," I shrugged, "At least I can attract a member of the opposite sex. The only time they come near you is to turn down your pathetic advances."

Avery looked between us as I made a jab at the fact that Decklan had been turned down merely a couple days before in front of almost a third of the school. Decklan, on the other hand, just lifted his middle finger in the air from the couch and kept his eyes concentrated on the television.

I laughed darkly before moving to the bedroom that I regrettably shared with my almost step-brother. I knew that would be changing soon. Since Ina had gotten pregnant again, her and dad had been pushing up the date for their wedding, giving up their "dream" of a summer wedding.

I was reading a book on my bed when the front door opened and I heard Ina greet her oldest son and his friend. She didn't bother to ask if I was home, since she'd seen my car in her spot in the driveway, since Avery had taken my own. She just asked if I was alone before I heard her traipse to the kitchen to get started on dinner, like the old-fashioned house wife she'd always seemed.

My father's reappearance was much louder. The two young boys came screaming into the house, already yelling about something as my dad shouted at them to be quiet before he said hello to the two teenage boys that had claimed the living room as their own.

My mind was far from the world in the book as I listened for the madness to calm down. I needed to let my dad relax before I bombarded him with the already doomed question. About fifteen minutes after he'd arrived there was a knock on my door. I suddenly became very engrossed in the book below my nose.

"Air?"

I looked up and smiled at my father. "Hey, Dad," I said as I sat up, "What's up?"

"Dinner's almost ready," he said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder, "Avery's eating over. I was just checking to make sure there weren't any other guests coming to dinner tonight."

I shook my head. "Nope," I said, "He's eating at Ronnie's. They're ordering out."

My dad chuckled and came a little farther into the room. "Is seems like that boy is never home."

I shrugged. "Can you blame him?"

"I guess not," Dad replied. "Well, dinner will be ready soon." He turned back to the door.

"Wait," I said, reaching my hand out towards him although I couldn't reach him from my spot on my bed.

He turned to look at me, slightly started. "What's up, Airea?"

"Uh," I muttered, wishing I would've thought over how I would start, "Jacky talked to his mom today," I said, "She lives in London."

Dad nodded his head, wondering where this was going. I could see question swimming in his identical blue eyes. "That's good. I remember when she visited a few years back. A nice lady, but completely scatter-brained. Nothing like Jacky."

I cringed, not knowing that he'd met her before and slightly worried of his opinion of her. "Well," I said, "Jacky's going to visit her in London next weekend."

Dad smiled slightly. "That's good," he said, "Jacky could use a few days away from his father."

"Yeah," I agreed, "I think so, too. But, um," I stuttered, "His mom wants to meet me and she offered to buy me a ticket to go with Jacky to London next weekend."

My dad's expression was one of pure shock. It took him over a minute to collect himself as the gears in his head started turning again. "What you're saying is, you want to fly across the world to meet your boyfriend's mother?"

I nodded slowly, worried because he hadn't already denied it.

"And she already invited you," he continued, "Without talking to me."

"Honestly, Dad," I said, "How was she supposed to get ahold of you without going through me and Jacky?"

"I don't know," Dad said calmly, "But I hope you don't think that you're actually going to be allowed to go on this little rendezvous with him."

My jaw dropped as his calm words met my ears. "What?" I questioned loudly, "Why not?"

Dad looked at me like I had lost my head. "Because you're 16, Airea. I will not have you on a trip, unsupervised, with your boyfriend. No matter how quiet and mature he seems compared to his mother."

"But Dad!" I shouted, "That's not fair!"

"Isn't it?" he asked, "I thought it was perfectly fair of me to say 'no'. I'm sure no practical parent would allow their child to go on a trip this large with someone they're dating."

"You're being completely condescending!" I claimed, jumping up from the bed, "I'm calling Mom!" I grabbed for my phone quickly and tried to dial the number, ignoring my dad as he claimed she had no say in the matter, although she was still my mother and had to have some legal right over decisions that had to do with me.

"Hang up, Airea," Dad demanded as my mom's phone went to voice mail, "You're not going, that's final."

I glared at him as I waited for the phone to beep, signaling that I could leave a message. When it did, I spoke, "Hey Mom, it's Air. I need to ask you something. Call me back as soon as you get this, it's important. Okay, I miss you. Bye."

I hung up the phone and looked to my dad, seeing the anger in his face. He pointed towards the door of my room. "Go," he said, "Ina's calling us for dinner."

I shrugged. "I'm not hungry."

Dad shook his head and grabbed my arm. "You're going to eat now because you are not running over to your little friend's house so you can scarf down their leftovers." He pulled me out of the room and into the kitchen, his fingers grasping my arm tightly as he yanked me to the wooden kitchen table in front of everyone.