Same Time

twenty-three.

j a i m e e

+

"I'm going to ask your pink-haired friend if she wants to fuck."

Shayden starts coughing, startled by Tory's blunt statement. "Tell me you're fucking joking."

"Stop cussing." I hiss. Starr stirs in my arms, giggling as Shayden almost dies from coughing.

"Hey, I made her laugh." Shayden grins, reaching out to squeeze my niece's cheek. She giggles again, but swots his hand away.

"You're so funny." Tory deadpans, "Now tell me whether she prefers punk or smart casual so I can pick my outfit for our date."

"I thought you were gay." I state questionably, recalling how Shayden made a comment about Tory, and I quote, having his tongue down some guys throat.

"No, I'm sexually fluid." He states as if it's the most obvious thing in the world, rolling his eyes. "Keep up, mamita. It took the dumbass two seconds to realize."

I quickly sent him a glare, and he grunts so I assume Shayden kicked him too. "What?"

"No swearing in front of the kid. I just said that."

Starr lets out another little giggle, tugging on my shirt to get my attention.

"Auntie Jai, what does dumbass mean?"

All color drains from my face as I made a small, mental reminder to never let my niece near Tory ever again. Remi would kill me if he ever heard her cuss and I couldn't deal with that, even though at least 99.9% of my brother's vocabulary consisted of foul terms.

"It's a bad word, okay Sweetie? We don't speak like that." Smothering out her hair, I plant a quick kiss on her forehead.

"You're a dick," Shayden mutters at Tory, but unfortunately Starr manages to catch that as well.

"What does dick mean?"

My jaw locks and I swear I'm going to beat both of them once Starr's back home. I send them both the usual 'I'm going to kill you' glare.

"It means Shayden's an idiot." I reply before I have the self restraint to stop myself.

"He's missing many brain cells, Princess." Tory butts in, smiling enthusiastically at her.

"Tory, at least I have more than one. I swear your one and only brain cell just jumps around in there doing fuc-" He cuts himself off with a wince as I kick him, "- doing nothing at all."

"Uncle Shayden," Starr smiles happily, holding her arms out to him expectantly.

He picks her up, looking at me first to check it was okay, before placing her on his lap and wrapping his arms around her waist so she doesn't fall.

"So anyway," My eyebrows furrow as I turn my attention back to Tory. "You and Libbie...Since when?"

"She's hot and I want to bon-"

"I'm going to physically hurt you." I warn, cutting him off before he scars my niece for life. "You're unbelievable. She's five."

"She'll hear it all eventually." He shrugs and Shayden's hand shoots out to grab my arm, stopping me from standing up.

My fists just clench, ignoring the way Shayden's warm fingers start to rub circles onto my wrist. "Tory, please don't make me commit a homicide."

"Watch me take your head clean off your shoulders later you absolute sl-" I stop, biting my tongue in order to stop the array of insults that were threatening to come out my mouth.