Why we run

Calm-ish before the storm

I kick the gravel around my feet.

"I despised how you got along with Amarion. You both matched in ways I never understood. If the three of us went out, people would think you and him were together. I envied your chemistry, and I was hard on you because jealousy clouded my judgment. I should've listened to you instead of the numerous times I blew you off."

Stella shakes her head, "you were right to have treated me the way you did. I didn't want you to have him. I didn't think I could handle it if you guys got married. I don't know what I was thinking. But I was the one who came onto him. Not the other way around."

"He chose the wrong Jackson," I whisper.

I know that she heard me.

Silence chokes at us.

"No, he didn't."

I lock eyes with my sister, "I spent almost a decade of my life with a man I didn't love. He didn't love me either. We were basically just friends who lived, worked out and kissed each other. We were comfortable, and it was a waste of time."

"He said-"

I stop her right there, "He said the three words after I stepped out of your car stranded. He was trying to get me back for no reason-"

Stella literally jumps forward and puts her hand over my mouth.

"Just listen okay?" She says, and I nod slowly.

She takes a breath, "you love Joey?"

I nod. She retracts her hand from my face.

"Would you have met Joey if you didn't leave Amarion?"

"Probably not."

"So he chose right. If you weren't with him, you wouldn't have met the guy you love. Simple as that."

"Fine, you win." I don't think I can go back and forth any longer.

Stella has a triumphant smile on her face, "So when are you and Joey getting married?"

I look at her like she's crazy. That question came out of nowhere.

"Why are you asking me? Ask the man in question."

She rolls her eyes, "like Izzy! I need to be an aunt before I get old!"

"You are one year younger than me! And the day I decide I want a child is a day the earth stops spinning. Do you see these? You think I want to give these up?" I untuck my shirt, revealing my very well earned six-pack.

She gasps at me, "you don't want kids?"

I'm terrified of kids. Why would I want one? Imagine the excessive crying. I shake my head.

"Wait till your boyfriend, who wants a soccer team, finds out!" She laughs at me.

"If I choose to marry him, I don't know where he is getting ten kids from, but they ain't coming from me."

Joey is a child.

Joey with children is like the most adorable thing ever until it's thirty minutes in, and he goes along with their crazy stunts.

Kids are not supposed to be strapped by a belt to a chair with wheels to be flung down the hall!

"You want me to have a child? Why don't you get yourself a man and have your own child?"

"About that-"

My phone starts to ring, "Hold that thought."

"Izzy speaking?" I say.