"Ugh, I can't take this anymore!" Jade yells before dropping her utensils.
The three of us stop eating and just stare at her.
"Jade-"
"Look, guys, I'm really sorry I lied to you about dad but I just didn't know how to tell you. I just didn't want our family to fall apart and since Jess had already witnessed dad cheating before, I figured he would know what to do." She explains.
My mom and Julie remain quiet while I give Jade a small nod.
She's been beating herself up ever since that night.
I feel bad leaving her home alone with them so I usually bring her to practice with me so she isn't bored.
I'm honestly shocked that Julie hasn't forgiven her yet, she's usually the type to forgive and forget but not this time.
"Julie, you know Jade would never purposely hurt you." I try to reason.
"Jesse, don't try to defend what your sister did." My mom says.
"Mom, how long are you gonna be mad?" I groan.
My mom has been locked in her bedroom for the past week and has been drowning in alcohol.
This is the first time she's come down.
"For as long as I want to." She scoffs.
"You're acting childish," I mutter.
"I walked in on your father with his dick in some other woman and you expect me to act like the world is all cupcakes and butterflies?"
Oh my-
"Jade, Julie go upstairs. Now." I say.
Luckily they don't argue, they just silently get up and go upstairs.
"Mom, I'm so sorry about what dad did but you can't stay mad at us forever."
And she takes another swig of her drink.
I roll my eyes before reaching over and taking her drink from her.
"You know, I can't even remember the last time your father told me he loved me." She drunkenly blurts.
"And he's an idiot for that."
"I loved him so fucking much and he just decides to throw that away for a girl HALF HIS AGE!"
"He's a fucking idiot."
I know I'm a guy but I'm gonna have to agree with the girls when they say "men are stupid".
I walk over to the fridge and fill up a glass with ice-cold water and hand it to her.
"Mom, I think the worst thing for you to do right now is to drink your feelings away. Right now you need to keep your head held high, sign the divorce papers, and slowly move on."
"I know I know but after being married for 23 years, can you blame me?"
"No, but now that a week has gone by, I think it's time to get your act together. Starting with forgiving Jade."
"I know."
"I'll go get her," I say before heading up to Jade's room.
When I walk in, she's got her face buried in a math textbook.
"Mom wants to talk to you."
"Is she gonna yell at me?"
"No, don't worry. I talked to her."
She sighs before getting up and walking downstairs.
Alright, talking to mom, check.
Now I have one other Ramirez to convince.
I make my way to the room next door and knock on the door.
"Come in." I hear her quiet voice reply.
"Hey..."
"Hi."
This totally isn't awkward.
"How are you doing?"
"Pretty great especially since the whole school knows that my dad cheated on my mom with my best friend's stepmom." She mutters.
Oh shit, that means Asher and Alyssa know.
"I'm sorry Jules."
"It's not your fault...it's Jade's."
"It's not Jade's fault."
"She's a liar."
"She lied to protect you."
"I don't need protection."
"Jules, you can't blame her."
"And why is that?"
"Because you get super emotional about literally everything..."
"I DO NOT!"
"Uh yeah, you do." I laugh.
"When have I gotten emotional for no reason?"
"You literally bursted out crying when mom refused to buy a box of Girl Scout cookies."
"SHE WAS SO CUTE AND LITTLE-"
"And you're an emotional wreck."
"Fuck off Jess."
"You're just mad cause it's true."
"Okay so maybe I'm a bit emotional but it still doesn't mean that you guys had to lie to me."
"You're right, and I'm sorry but please forgive Jade. You know how annoyed she gets when people are mad at her."
Speaking of Jade, we both freeze when we hear her and my mom walking upstairs.
The door opens and they both take a seat on Julie's bed.
My mom looks better now, much soberer than before.
"Julie, I think you have something to say to Jade." I start.
"Jade, I'm sorry for getting mad at you for not telling me about dad's affair. I should've known you were just trying to protect me."
"I'm sorry for not telling you and for betraying your trust."
The four of us just sat there awkwardly before my sisters suddenly burst out laughing.
My sisters start talking about random girl things, almost as if they weren't in a fight 2 minutes ago.
My mom and I decided to just let them catch up before we walked out and headed back downstairs.
As I helped her clear the table, I couldn't help but notice a manila envelope on the table.
"You can look through it if you want." my mom says from behind me.
I didn't hesitate, I quickly opened the envelope and gasped when I saw what was in it.
"You signed the divorce papers?"
"I know it may not seem like I listen to you guys, but I do."
"I'm proud of you mom."
"So am I." She laughs.
My mom may have her moments, but she always ends up doing the right thing.
"Thank you for being here for us Jess." My mom says before pulling me in for a hug.
"Of course." I laugh.
"Alright, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to order a shit ton of green juice to try and detox all the alcohol and regret from my body." She says before walking upstairs.
I feel my phone vibrate and find a text from Lili.
Babe! SOS!
WHAT'S WRONG?
Asher and I need help planning Lina's birthday party!
Babe, how many times have I told you not to use "SOS" for non-emergency things.
This is an emergency though! Ash, Cam, Madison, and I were stuck at Party City for the past 3 hours.
Cameron?
They've been getting really close ever since they went ice skating.
Okay...so what do you need me to do?
Can you come over and help us plan?
Uh yeah, I guess.
Oh, and bring the twins. Alyssa is here too!
Okay, be there in a sec.
Okay, love you!
Love you too.
I quickly head back up to Julie's room and ask my sisters if they want to come.
They agree and we head over to Lili's.
"Watch out!" Is the first thing we hear when I open the front door.
My sisters and I quickly move out of the way when a large deflating balloon begins flying in our direction.
"It looks like a party supply store threw up in here," Jade murmurs as soon as we make it into the living room.
Asher and Cameron are blowing up balloons.
Madison is in the middle of ordering a cake.
And Lili and Alyssa are putting up streamers.
"Need any help?" Jules asks.
Cameron doesn't say anything, just hands her a bag of balloons.
"Alright..." Jade and Julie take the bag and start blowing up the balloons.
"Isn't Lina's birthday tomorrow?" I ask.
"Yeah."
"And you guys are doing this now?"
"Yep."
"Won't the balloons deflate?"
"We don't have time to do this tomorrow!" Lili yells.
Alright...so someone's stressed.
I walk over to her and wrap my arms around her.
"Baby, calm down."
"How can I calm down when I just found out that one of my best friend's birthdays is tomorrow and her stupid boyfriend decided to throw her a party last minute." She scoffs before glaring at Asher.
"How many times do I have to say that I'm sorry!"
"Take your sorry and shove it up your ass!"
Have I ever mentioned how hot Lili looks when she's pissed?
No?
Well, now you know.
"What do you need me to do?" I ask her.
"Can you text all of our closest friends about the party? Please."
"Sure."
"Has anyone heard from Ari?" Madison asks.
"Nope, but I did see her walk out of a classroom with a bunch of papers after baseball practice," Cameron says.
"I still can't believe her and Xander broke up," Alyssa says.
"What! They were my favs!" Julie gasps.
"Wow, thanks." Lili laughs.
"Well, obviously you guys are too but-"
"Just stop Jules." Jade laughs.
We all continue talking about Lina's party before we hear Lili groan.
"Ugh! this is too high." She groans.
Before I could get up and help, Cameron beat me to it.
"Here, I'll help."
"I just need help reaching it." She says.
"So you need me to lift you?"
"I mean we don't have a ladder so yeah."
He quickly reaches down and lifts her.
HIS FACE IS LITERALLY LEVELED WITH HER BOOBS.
"Alright, I got it!" She yells before he gently places her down.
"Thanks." She smiles up at him.
"No problem." He smiles back.
I feel my fists clench as jealousy takes over.
What the fuck does he think he's doing?
If he thinks he can try and take Lili from me, he's fucking wrong.
"Hey Cam, can I talk to you?" I ask calmly.
Both Lili and Cam look at me before he nods.
"Uh yeah sure."
We walk outside and take a seat on the porch swing.
"What's up-" I cut him off.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
"Excuse me?"
"I can see you flirting with my girlfriend."
"I'm not flirting with your girlfriend." He laughs.
"Then what the fuck do you call that?!" I yell while gesturing to the living room.
"Uh, I was just trying to help her."
"Your face was in between her boobs!"
"Dude, that's just because I carried her. I didn't mean for my face to be leveled with her tits."
"Alright, so what about all the times you purposely disrupted us any time we were about to uh...have sex."
"Okay, to be fair, I did do that on purpose but how would you feel if you hear your ex-girlfriend moaning some other guy's name?"
"I wouldn't feel bad if I was the one who cheated on her."
"Okay...true but not all of us are as mature as you."
"Cameron, are you still in love with Lili?"
"No."
"I don't believe you."
"Look, the truth is I was trying to take Lili from you-"
"I KNEW IT!"
"But! I stopped after I realized how much Lili loves you. I mean she never stops talking about you. It actually gets kinda annoying. Plus, we talked a couple of weeks ago and we decided to be just friends." He explains.
"I don't know man...you have a reputation."
"I had a reputation. I haven't slept with anyone since Hawaii."
"No way."
"It's true. I uh- I have a girlfriend."
Wait what?
"Okay okay, I believe you but you don't need to lie about having a girlfriend." I laugh.
"I'm not lying man. Hana and I are dating."
"Hana? You mean the girl from Hawaii?"
"Yeah, we've been texting and FaceTiming non-stop ever since I came home. She's coming here next week to visit."
Well shit, I knew they were "having fun" in Hawaii but I didn't think they would continue their relationship.
"Oh shit, well congrats man."
"Thanks." He laughs awkwardly.
Well, now I feel bad.
"Shit man, I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions."
"It's fine bro, I don't blame you. I would also be intimidated if an attractive, rich, sexy-"
"Okay, I get it."
"Smart, talented, funny-"
"Okay Cam, I get it."
"Oh right, sorry. So, are we cool?" He asks while reaching out a hand.
"We're cool." I laugh before pulling him in for a bro-hug.
"You're brave man, I could never do long distance."
"Well, you're gonna have to."
"What do you mean?"
"Lili didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
"Lili got into design school...in Paris."
I'm sorry...WHAT?!
"What did you just say?"
"Uh yeah, she found out yesterday."
"She didn't tell me."
"Oh shit, well uh do me a favor and don't bring up my name when you guys talk about it."
"I won't, don't worry."
I can't believe Lili didn't tell me.
"She was probably waiting to tell you at the right time."
"Yeah...probably."
"Alright, I'm gonna head back in. Do you want me to send Lili out?" He asks as he walks over to the front door.
"No uh, can you tell her I had to leave...band practice."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah."
"Okay..." He says as he walks in.
I quickly make my way to my car, text my sisters to go home when they're done helping Lili and make my way to Jonah's house.
My phone starts buzzing and my car announces that it's a call from Lili.
I declined the call.
Lili's moving to Paris.
I didn't even know she applied to schools in Europe.
I just always assumed we would live together after high school.
What the fuck are we gonna do now?
-----------Author's Note-----------
Uh oh...
This book is no longer cute couples and trips to Hawaii...reality has hit y'all.
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!
-Pradabagg
Word Count: 2050