Jamie, meet Dylan. Dylan, meet Jamie

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Jake startled me as he stood by my bathroom door and I almost dropped the hairdyer upon seeing him.

        "Jake, what's up?" I asked him as I turned down my blowdryer. His face was pale and his nose was red. This was not the usual Jake.

        "I don't know, I don't want to listen," he said blankly as he closed the bathroom door. I cocked my brow at him and left the bathroom to see what was going on in the living room downstairs. My mouth went dry as I watched my parents engage in a full-on argument.  I had never seen them this enfuriated; Mom's voice was louder than my dad's, her eyes were redder than her nose as she kept both crying and yelling at my father who also yelled back but pause every now and then to listen to what Mom had to say.

        "Shame on you!" Mom yelled at him. Dad could only mutter under his breath, rub his neck, and look out the window.

        "This was thirteen years ago, Pamela. Thirteen! You think I'm still in love with her? I'm a changed man! A changed man! This is not me anymore!" he yelled back.

        "You cheated on your wife with your best friend's wife. How do you even expect me to forgive you? Or are you going to tell me to forget? Because right now there's living proof right next door, right there!" Mom screamed. 

        My mouth went dry. Mom knew about the affair. It was real. Dylan probably explained through an anonymous letter he'd given her as soon as he'd walked in our house. He plotted everything.

        "I know that!" Dad spat out. "I don't expect you to forgive me but just remember this was more than a decade ago. I don't care about Karen anymore, Pamela. I don't even want to be a father to some kid I didn't know all her life," he said. Mom turned away from him and rubbed her temple.

        "What do you want to do?" Dad asked softly. Mom shook her head as she put a hand in front of my father.

        "Don't come near me, Peter. I am so tired of you," she said. She walked past him and ran up another flight of stairs to her room. Dad was left alone in the living room as he cursed loudly and punched the armrest of the couch before collapsing on it. He held his face in his hands and let out a deep breath.

        "I'm gonna give you some space. The kids don't need to hear any more of this," Dad said. What was he gonna do? 

        He grabbed his blazer and stormed out of the house, loudly slamming the door shut after him to indicate that he had left.

        "Where's Dad going?" I heard Jake say. I hadn't noticed he was under me almost he entire time.

        "I don't know," I said. I caught him wipe a tear away from me. I put my arm around his shoulder and squeezed him towards me.

        "He's coming back, right?" Jake asked. I nodded.

         "He has to, yeah."

        "Can I sleep in your room tonight?" Jake asked. I had always forgotten that he was still a kid. I shouldn't have let him listen to any of this.

        "Of course," I told him as I gave him a smile, which he didn't return. Who was I kidding? 

        "I'm tired," Jake said. I nodded. "So am I."

        "Do you like Dad?" Jake told me as he slid under my covers.

        I shrugged. "He's my dad."

        "That doesn't answer anything," Jake said. "I hate what he did to Mom," he said with a solemn tone. 

        "But you don't hate him. Love the sinner hate the sin, huh?" I asked him as I pulled out the sleeping bag from my closed. Jake didn't reply. He got up from my bed and took the sleeping bag from me.

        "I'm the one who should sleep on the floor, dummy," he said. I forgot how to be normal. I feigned a smile.

        "Yeah, I forgot."

        "So you're not playing tomorrow, huh?" Jake asked. I shook my head as I slid under my covers. 

        "That sucks. I really wanted you to play. Everyone's counting on Dylan now." 

        "Yeah. Everyone's counting on Dylan," I agreed. Well Dylan did want the spotlight. I did want my scholarship and I lost it. I was definitely going to lose it to Dylan, no doubt about that.

        "Jamie?" Jake asked me again.

        "What?" I said as I looked up at the ceiling.

        "Does Dad have another kid we don't know about?" Jake asked. This was going to be tough.

        "Yeah," I told him. Jake paused.

        "It's Meredith, isn't it?" Jake said. I cringed and did not reply. Poor Jake.

        Jake sighed. "I'm gonna be sick."