On My Last Nerve (Jerrie)

Part Eight

"So...I hope that you're okay with this because it slipped my mind to ask you earlier," Karl announces in a loud voice to garner Jade's attention, the brunette's older brother striding into the room while simultaneously attempting to adjust the tie situated around his neck, "But I wanted to take Shireen out on a pre-holidays dinner date tonight since it's often difficult to find time for ourselves once the holidays begin. We figured that we could bypass hiring a babysitter considering the fact that you're staying here with us currently. I know that it's completely last minute, and that I shouldn't have sprung this on you just now, so feel free to say no if you've already made other plans for the night."

"I think that it's a little too late now for me to say no since you've already gone through all of the effort to dress up in such dapper attire," Jade teases while offering her brother a pointed look, "And you humor me by assuming that I would have actually made legitimate plans for tonight. All I've managed to do since I got here a few days ago is be a complete bum in various rooms of your house; I hadn't planned for tonight to be any different."

"Don't sound so self-deprecating," Karl chides, crossing the living room and lowering himself down onto the other end of the couch that Jade is already curled up on, "You've practically slaved over your various projects at school in addition to working your ass off this past semester. You deserve a few days with no obligations so that you can recuperate and regain some sanity."

"I guess having extended periods of free time has just become a foreign concept to me at this point, so it's only natural for me to feel guilty when I lay around doing nothing for hours on end," Jade rationalizes, the brunette momentarily diverting her attention to her lap so that she can dog-ear the page that she's currently on in her book, and then closing the object so that she can offer her brother her undivided attention.

"That's understandable," Karl concedes while leaning down to retie one of his shoes, "So can I count on you to take care of the kids tonight? Shireen and I won't be out too late, but you'll still have to monitor Amara and make sure that Karl gets into bed regardless of how difficult he's being. Leoni called Shireen earlier today and begged to spend the night at her friend's house, so it's only the two younger ones that you need to look after."

"Karl, you of all people know that I absolutely love being Auntie Jade," the brown-eyed girl reminds her brother, a fond smile reflexively forming on her lips as she thinks about her nieces and nephew, "I would drop everything without a moment's hesitation if those kids needed anything. I'd be more than happy to look after them tonight."

"I just wanted to get confirmation that you were one hundred percent okay with this since I practically forced these plans onto you," Karl explains, "Especially considering all of the attention that Amara requires since she's a newborn and all."

"Karl, like I said, it's no-" Jade begins in an exasperated tone, only to cut her sentence short as she's distracted by her phone buzzing on the couch next to her. Jade's eyes quickly scan over the new notification lighting up the screen, and she immediately finds herself raising her eyebrows in surprise after discerning that she has just received a text message from her roommate.

"Everything okay?" Karl wonders in a concerned tone, the man immediately registering the way Jade's facial features adopt a look that's a combination of equal parts shock and bewilderment.

"Yeah..." Jade answers in a somewhat distant tone of voice, the petite girl lost in thought as she stares at the small device and contemplates whether or not she should open the message immediately, "Just got a text from someone I had been waiting to hear from."

"I won't be offended if you wanna focus on that," Karl assures his sister while leaning back slightly to settle into a more comfortable position on the couch, "Now that I know you're down to watch the kids, I don't need to bother you for anything else. I'm just gonna chill and wait for Shireen to finish getting ready, and then her and I are gonna head out."