The rest of the week went remarkably similar to the first few days. Jo got hardly any sleep waiting up for her drunken step-mother and Patrick grew restless with his mom gone most of the time. Jo had blown up on Cyrene when she found out she was locking Patrick in his room during the day and letting him out when she knew Jo would be home. Jo quickly realized that Ricky was being malnourished as well. The stress weighed heavily on her shoulders.
On Friday, she was called down to the office during lunch. The occupants of the lunch table shot her puzzled looks, but Jo, just as confused, shrugged and headed for the office.
"Your mother called, Ms. Josephine," the greying receptionist said when Jo opened the office door. "You're being excused for the rest of the day. Your mother says to come straight home immediately."
"She's not my mother," Jo grumbled. The portly woman shot Jo a glare and shoved a clipboard under her nose. Jo hastily signed her name under the "sign out" column and rushed back to the cafeteria.
"What's up, Jo?" Addie asked when Jo reappeared. Jo shook her head, silently begging them not to ask. She gathered her tray up and threw the contents away. She went back to the table to pick up her backpack. She slung the strap over her shoulder just as Frankie stood up.
"What's wrong, Jo? You look furious." In front of her, Addie nodded and gestured for Tina to agree as well. Tina studied Jo's face.
"What is it?" she inquired.
Jo sighed and realized she couldn't leave her friends in the dark. She pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut and explained, "My mother pulled me out of school for God knows what reason. I can only imagine what she wants." Jo watched five faces contort into similar looks of confusion. It was the first time Jo had spoken of her home life and she had made it sound awful. Jo sighed deeply.
"I gotta go," Jo said curtly. She walked out of the cafeteria, leaving her friends behind in varying states of concern.
***
Jo scowled as she parked her car on the curb. The car spluttered for a moment and Jo was concerned it would break down right there. However, nothing happened except the shutting off of the car. Jo grumbled all the way to the door, resisting the urge to kick the sleek Camaro and unfamiliar Dodge Challenger that was currently invading her parking spot. Jo was amazed she knew cars by appearance but nothing else about them.
Jo banged into the house and glanced in the kitchen as she breezed by. She scowled at the familiar man sitting on a stool.
Derek stood up and made as though to greet Jo. His eyes were bloodshot again and he struggled to stand still. Jo didn't bother to greet the druggie and she moved on to find Ricky.
She jiggled the door to Ricky's room, pleased to find it unlocked. She peeked in and saw him passed out on the floor with a few trucks scattered around him and Rabbie clutched in his arms. Jo smiled at the little boy and quietly shut the door, not wanting to awaken him.
Jo found Cyrene in her room, located at the far end of the house, through the living room. Cyrene had her back to Jo and was holding two dresses, one in each hand. One was a slim red dress that looked like it would barely cover her ass and the second was a just as short, deep purple one. She was holding them against her body, one at a time, gauging in the mirror which would flatter her figure better. Jo rolled her eyes.
"What the hell did you call me out of school for, Cyrene?" Jo greeted her. Cyrene didn't bother to turn around, instead looking at her in the mirror.
"Which looks better? Purple or red?"
"Neither. Go in a nun's habit," Jo suggested. Cyrene screwed up her face.
"What's that?"
"Never mind. Answer my question," Jo demanded. She crossed her arms in front of her body and leaned her shoulder against the door frame. Cyrene pursed her lips together and sighed, finally tossing the purple fabric on the ground behind her, adding to the already mountainous pile. She set the red dress down gently on a dresser and slipped the white tank top she was wearing over her head. She then slid her teeny tiny shorts down her long legs before slipping the dress up her body. The fabric molded to Cyrene's body like a second skin. Jo frowned at the unfairness of having a gorgeous step-mother.
"Zip me up, Josie," she beckoned. Jo grimaced but moved forward to zip up the rather long silver zipper. She decided she'd rather do the job than let the wastoid in the kitchen do it and have the opportunity to ogle her backside.
"Now will you answer my freaking question?" Jo asked as she zipped up the zipper more harshly than she had intended to.
"Easy, Josie!" Cyrene yelped as the dress hiked up her body, revealing her black lace thong. She pulled down the fabric, ignoring Jo's growl. "Don't call me Josie."
"I called you out because Derek is taking me to a nice restaurant before we go clubbing. I'm staying at his house tonight, so don't bother waiting up to kick him out and ruin our fun like always." It was then Jo noticed the overnight bag on Cyrene's bed. There were a few outfits stuffed into the little bag.
"How long do you plan to stay there?" Jo prodded, pulling out something that looked like role playing lingerie with two fingers. She hastily shoved the costume back in the bag and looked accusingly at her step-mother.
"All weekend, if you must know," Cyrene said from the bathroom. She was applying a layer of makeup to her face while she spoke. Jo stomped over to her step-mother and crossed her arms.
"You plan to leave Ricky and I here, alone, all weekend with no food, no money, no anything, while you go and get wasted with that - that good for nothing druggie?" Jo maligned. Cyrene's face remained the same as she carefully added mascara and eyeliner.
"Derek is a very nice guy. Don't rag on him. Also I'm leaving you twenty bucks for food. You'll be fine!" Cyrene tried to assure Jo. Jo rolled her eyes.
"Great, I can buy one whole pizza."
"Don't exaggerate. It's not very flattering."
Jo huffed and stalked out of the room. She found her purse in the hallway where she had dropped it and was relieved to pull out another twenty. Jo grimaced as she realized she would need a job soon if that was the way Cyrene would continue to care for them. Maybe she could work at Cosmo's.
"Here, kid," Derek said from behind her. Jo spun around only to have a five dollar bill shoved into her face. The smell of alcohol and burning leaves suddenly invaded her nostrils. Derek leaned in so close the stench made Jo's nose hairs curl. "Knock yourself out."
Jo grabbed the bill without a word and ducked passed him. She really didn't want to have to spend a minute longer alone with him than necessary.
Cyrene chose that moment to make and appearance. She strut into the hallway on six inch, blood red heels. Her lips were now the same red color as her dress and Jo turned to see Derek was practically drooling.
"I'll be back by Sunday night, Josie! Maybe Monday morning!" she called as they exited the house. The door clicked shut, leaving Jo in stunned silence. She heard an unfamiliar car start up with a low hum. Jo was thankful they took the Challenger to his house. Jo wanted her damn parking space back.
Glancing at her old slide phone, Jo sighed as the clock ticked to one. She was on her own until at least Ricky woke up. Jo wondered if she could invite one of her friends over. It's not like Cyrene would know, much less care.
Jo settled into the sofa and flipped through the television channels. Judge Judy was on, railing some black guy for supposedly running from the scene of a car accident that left a poor four year old girl with a neck brace. Jo settled in and slowly her eyes drifted shut.
***
"JoJo!" someone called. Jo groaned.
"Go 'way," she mumbled.
"JoJo!" The voice was more insistent. Someone tugged at her shirt sleeve, knocking her hand out from under her head. Her head fell, causing Jo to jolt awake.
"What? I'm up!"
"JoJo!" Jo looked down to see Ricky struggling to climb up the couch. Jo yawned deeply and reached down to pick up the little guy.
"Hey, Ricky. How was your nap?" she asked him. Ricky yawned in response, making Jo yawn again. He settled into her lap and snuggled into her chest, clutching fistfuls of her plain black tee. Jo found her little blue phone on the coffee table in front of her. The television was on a commercial for something Jo couldn't care less about so she shut it off. Her phone's clock read 4:16 PM. She also had three text messages and two missed calls. All of the notifications were from Addie and Frankie.
Addie: Jo, what's going on?
Frankie: JOOOOOO WATS HAPPENING OVER THERE?????
Addie: Jo, please answer me!
Jo smiled at her friends' concern. She sent identical messages assuring them everything was fine and asking if they wanted to have girl's night at her place. Frankie answered immediately.
Frankie: id love to!!! wen can we com over and can we stay the night???
Jo chuckled at the excessive use of punctuation and misspelled words.
Jo: you can come over whenever you want
She sent the same text to Addie when it came in, adding that yes, Tina was invited, too. She quickly got a text from Tina .
Tina: I am so coming over to your house. You owe us an explanation girl
Jo: cant wait. and ill tell you guys when you get here :)
Jo sent out three identical texts saying the girls could stay as long as they wanted and her address. As an after thought, she added to bring some money for food and bring snacks. She set her phone aside, happy to have the company of three girls for the weekend.
When the doorbell rang, Jo was playing with Ricky on the floor. Ricky jumped up and ran for the door, followed closely by Jo. Jo opened the door to see Addie grinning at her. She held up a family sized bag of Lay's chips which Jo gratefully accepted. After she had scrounged the house for food, she had discovered a box of Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese, the jar of peanut butter, and -hopefully- a different egg.
Before Addie could even walk in the door, Frankie was dropped off by a silver car. She waved into the front window and bounded up to Jo's door.
"Hey, Jo! I'm so glad you invited us over!" she squealed. Addie nodded excessively and Jo rolled her eyes, stepping aside to let the girls in. Jo took the offered bag of Twizzlers and the cheese balls from Frankie and carried them, along with Addie's chips, into the kitchen. "Come on in, y'all," she called over her shoulder.
"Oh. My. Gosh! Who is this little cutie?" Jo heard Frankie squeal again. Jo watched as Frankie came running into the kitchen carrying a bewildered Ricky on her hip, closely followed by a cooing Addie.
"JoJo!" he cried. His eyes filled with tears and he reached for Jo. He started to blubber, causing Frankie to look at him in alarm.
"What did I do? I'm sorry!"
"Don't worry about it." Jo grabbed the crying Ricky and urged him to quiet down. "I think you just scared him," Jo reassured Frankie. Frankie nodded but watched longingly as Ricky buried his face into Jo's neck.
"Guys, this is Patrick. I call him Ricky."
At the sound of his name being called by the two new girls, he looked up curiously.
"Icky," he said timidly. Addie and Frankie immediately gushed over him.
"Ricky, this is Frankie. Can you say Frankie?" After a little prodding, he finally managed to say "Kee". Frankie almost passed out from joy.
"This is Addie. Can you say Addie, Ricky?" He could say "Dee" much easier than he could say "Kee" but Addie was thrilled all the same. Not long after that, Tina arrived. Tina wasn't as thrilled to see Ricky as the other girls but Ricky took an instant liking to her. He kept shouting "Ya!" over and over when Tina told him her name.
The girls were seated in the living room, Ricky playing timidly with Frankie who was coaxing him with a toy truck. They were munching on potato chips and the three kinds of Doritos Tina had brought. Jo had felt like weeping when she saw the bags she knew she would inevitably steal.
"So," Tina finally addressed the elephant in the room, "Why did your mom call you out of school? Speaking of which, where is she?" Frankie left Ricky alone and sat in the arm chair that matched the sofa. Jo sat on one end of the sofa while Tina occupied the other, stretching her legs out on the rest of the pink fabric.
Jo sighed and watched Ricky play with his trucks. She had been debating on what she was going to tell them when they eventually asked.
"My mom, Cyrene, is at work all weekend. She works late hours. So on weekends, she just stays there."
"Reen!" Ricky shouted, startling the girls. Jo nodded. "That's right, Ricky. Cyrene is gone all weekend."
Ricky looked down at his trucks for a moment before standing up and stumbling over to Jo. He crawled into her lap and snuggled into her chest. "JoJo," he said softly.
"No, Jo isn't going to leave you, sweetheart. I'd never leave my little man," Jo assured him. She gave him a tight hug before looking up at three puzzled faces.
"Cyrene works a lot. She's not here very often and Ricky misses her. I end up taking care of him most of the time."
Addie and Tina nodded while Frankie mumbled something about cute babies and negligent mommies. The rest of the night went smoothly. The girls decided on Chinese and so Tina gathered their money and called the Chinese restaurant.
"Fifteen minutes," she informed them. Frankie giggled. "It's always fifteen minutes! You could order the entire menu and they'd say fifteen minutes."
Later that night, around three am, the girls were spread around the house. Jo was in her room with Addie while Frankie and Tina made themselves comfortable in the living room. Jo blinked up at the ceiling, startled to hear Addie's voice.
"Jo?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry about your mom."
Jo hesitated. She simply said, "Me, too," before wishing Addie a good night.
Jo couldn't remember her mom very well. All she remembered was long brown hair and a whiff of flowery perfume. Her father had told her stories of her mother, but more often avoided the topic. Jo's birth mother had died when she was a little older than Ricky was now. Jo had lived happily with her father for twelve years before John Hall had met Cyrene Thompson. They had know each other for hardly six months before they tied the knot. They had gotten married on October 20th, the day of Jo's sixteenth birthday. John Hall was so in love with his twenty years younger bride, that he completely forgot his only daughter's birthday. Ricky was born seven months later. John and Cyrene were married for about a year and a half before the accident. Jo realized with a jolt that her birthday was in three days, along with John and Cyrene's anniversary.
Happy eighteenth, Josie, she sulked to herself.
*~*~*~*~*
So there's a little background information about the father, John Hall. Isn't Ricky honestly the cutest kid in the world? He makes me so happy.
Please, I'd love to hear from you. Comment and maybe vote, too. Every little bit is appreciated!
Always,
L