TJ's POV
I'm at the counter, paying for our meals, when Cyrus's cell phone rings.
"Yeah?" he answers. "Oh, hey, Andi... What? ...Oh my gosh. ...Okay, we're leaving now."
I take my receipt from the cashier and spin around to see Cyrus looking panicked.
"What's wrong?" I question.
"Andi just told me that Jayda is attempting to give herself a tattoo."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
We bolt out of The Spoon, and I get ready to break every speed limit on our way home.
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Cyrus's POV
Amber stands up from the living room couch as TJ and I enter our house. I'm still a little disoriented from the drive. After going that fast, walking just feels incredibly slow.
"She's in her room," Amber informs us.
"And what about the tattoo?" I ask.
"I got to her before she could do it."
I breathe a sigh of relief. Okay, good. At least there was no permanent damage.
"Also," Amber continues, "you might wanna check on Wyatt after. He seems to think you're selling his kidney on Kijiji."
"Will do," TJ says. "Thanks for waiting here. You don't have to stay anymore."
Amber nods and comes over to put her shoes on. TJ and I head for the stairs, making our way up to our daughter's room where the door is open only a sliver. When I push it wider, I see Jayda lying on her bed with her headphones in, staring at the ceiling. She flicks her eyes to us as we enter but returns her focus to the ceiling immediately after, her frown unmovable.
TJ pulls her desk chair over to take a seat on that while I lower onto her bed by her feet. We both wait a minute for her to say something or react in any way, and for a while, there's silence, but eventually, she talks.
"I don't understand why you won't let me have a tattoo," she complains. "You wouldn't give me the money, so I found a way to do it myself. Isn't that being responsible?"
"Well, first off, you don't know how to do stick-and-poke tattoos," TJ says. "If you gave yourself one, it could get infected."
"That's not true," Jayda retorts, springing upright. "Angel showed me how in math class, and it turned out great."
Suddenly, I understand why she's hardly passing math.
"Honey, why do you want to get a tattoo?" I ask.
"Because it'd look cool."
She stops there, but I know she's not done. I can sense it.
She releases a breath. "Because... I don't know... Because I just feel like... Everything is changing. Boys are jerks, but girls still like them. Sometimes it all just feels really...really fast...and stupid." She wipes a tear that drips down her cheek as she continues. "And then Tay got a tattoo, and everybody loved it. And now I need to keep up, because if I don't, I'm old news, and then it's no wonder why Jeremy got tired of me."
"Jeremy is an idiot," I tell her. "I'm gonna let you in on a secret. All boys at that age are."
"But didn't you meet Dad around my age?"
I steal a glance with my husband as he chimes in, "Yeah, but I was kinda dumb back then too."
"You were?" Jayda responds. "Why? What did you do?"
He takes in a deep breath and says, "Well, I was mean, especially to your Aunt Buffy. She wanted to play basketball, and I tried to make her feel like she was worse than me."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't know who I was. I felt like I wasn't good enough, but I was good at basketball, and her being good too made me feel like—like I couldn't control anything in my life...like it was no wonder people didn't like me."
Jayda looks down at her hands, not bothering to clear away her tears anymore.
"I just want to feel important," she says, "like something about me is worthwhile enough that a boy would like me."
"There's plenty about you that many boys will love," I tell her.
"Thanks," she says, "but you know, coming from my dad, that doesn't mean much."
"I know," I reply, "but I can still say it."
She smiles a little and looks down again. After another moment, her tears have stopped, and she brings her attention back up to me and TJ.
"So if I can't get a tattoo, can I get something else?"
I look over at TJ, who asks, "What do you want instead?"
"Well, Lilah just got a second ear piercing, and it looks so good. I was thinking maybe just, like, a small stud?"
She waits with a hopeful eyes while TJ and I share another look, silently communicating our decision.
"Okay, fine," I agree. "But you don't need that in order to be liked."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
She grabs her phone and falls back on her bed, typing eagerly with a huge grin on her face. TJ just smiles at me, both of us amused by our daughter's excitement. If this piercing keeps her mind off a tattoo, then I guess it's a reasonable trade.
"Now, let's talk about Wyatt's kidney," TJ brings up.
That's when Wyatt's voice spins us toward the doorway as he shouts, "No! You can't take it!"
Then he goes running off to his room, bawling, leaving Jayda snickering on her bed.
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Buffy's POV
When Marty and I step into our home, Jonah and Walker are sitting on the couch together, watching TV. At first glance, everything looks normal, but then I notice that table is crooked, and the decorations on them have been shoved around. At the sight of us, Walker and Jonah shut off the electronic and come over to greet us.
"Hey," I say. "How was it?"
"Great," Jonah replies.
"Cara was in bed by 8:30?"
Jonah nods a little too fast. "Mmhmm."
"Alright, well, thanks for babysitting," I say.
My friends depart while Marty and walk into our house. Things have definitely been moved around. What on earth were they doing? Was there an earthquake that only hit my property? Then I find a little foam bullet in the kitchen sink and pick it up. When I turn around to show Marty, he's walking in carrying two of the Nerf guns that Brayden was working on.
"I found this in the sink," I say.
"And I found these under the bookshelf," Marty replies.
I look down at the guns, then at the bullet, and say, "I don't think Cara was in bed for 8:30."
"Definitely not," Marty agrees.
We both pause for a second, glancing between the toy guns and foam bullet.
"Best two out of three?" I challenge.
Marty grins and holds out a gun for me to take.
A/N: Here's episode 2. I'm really loving writing this. I have so many ideas, and I think you'll love the episodes I have planned out. I've got up to episode 7 planned, which I also think will be a good one. I'm gonna try to write them as often as I can, but of course, I'm still gonna focus on my other stories and keeping up with those as a priority. I love you all. Thank you so much for being interested in this. I'm really excited for it.