Jaybird

by M. A. Foster

  IF I HADN’T heard it myself, I’d never believe Chelsea could say those things behind my back.

  Over the Thanksgiving break, she was my best friend again. Fun and funny. To my face, she acts as if everything is great, but behind my back she’s talking shit to my girlfriend.

  I realize now this is exactly what Chelsea did with Reagan. Unfortunately for Reagan, she didn’t have the advantage of knowing the truth the way Jay does. Reagan’s knee-jerk reaction was to hurt me by cheating on me. But her plan backfired because she didn’t hurt me, she pissed me off. Jay’s knee-jerk reaction was to defend me and put Chelsea in her place. Those are the actions of someone who loves you.

  Standing outside waiting for the valet to bring up Jay’s Range Rover, Chelsea walks up with my mom at her side.

  Chelsea has tears streaming down her face and I fight back an eye roll.

  “What’s the matter, Chels?” I ask, feigning concern.

  “Ask your girlfriend,” my mom says, glaring at Jay. My mother thinks the sun rises and sets with Chelsea and it pisses me off. She’s been looking for a reason to go off on Jay and Chelsea just gave it to her.

  I keep my mouth shut because I want to see how this plays out. I want Chelsea to show me what a liar she really is.

  “Ask me what?” Jay says. “What’s wrong with Chelsea?” She shrugs. “I don’t think we have that kind of time.” She smirks and I hear Cole snicker under his breath. I have to look away to hide my smile. I love this girl and her sassy mouth. “You’re full of all kinds of drama, Chelsea,” Jay continues. “Funny how you weren’t crying ten minutes ago when you and your friends had Harper cornered in the bathroom.”

  “What?” Cole growls and turns to look at Harper. “Who was it, Harper?”

  Harper waves him off. “I’ll tell you later.”

  “Apparently, that Ashton girl was arguing with Harper in the bathroom,” my mom says. “Chelsea was there, but she wasn’t involved.”

  “Mom, Chelsea can speak for herself. Stop babying her. It’s annoying as fuck.”

  “Zach, don’t talk to me like that.”

  “Jay pushed me into the sink counter. I lost my balance and scraped my arm on the metal paper towel dispenser on the wall.”

  I look over at Harper. “Did she corner you?”

  “She was there, but she wasn’t the one who cornered me. It was Ashton and Hannah.”

  Jay looks over at me. “I swear I never laid a hand on her, Z.”

  “I know, Jay.”

  “She didn’t,” Harper adds.

  “She’s the one who tried to shove me. It’s not my fault she doesn’t know how to follow through.” Jay laughs.

  “Oh, you think you’re funny, smartass?” my mom seethes.

  And then… I watch in horror as my mom reaches out and shoves Jay.

  I love my mother. I do.

  And up to this point, she’s held her tongue, minded her business, and allowed me do what makes me happy.

  Up to this point, she’s acted like an adult.

  Until she shoved my girl.

  “Mom!” I yell at the same time my dad yells, “Liz!”

  Jay stumbles back, wide-eyed and shocked, into Bass’s chest before she fires back, lunging at my mom. I should’ve expected it because Jay doesn’t take anyone’s shit. And my mother is no exception.

  Someone gasps and I look over to see Eva and Alex standing on the other side of Harper. Alex with his arms locked around Eva’s waist and Eva struggling to break free.

  I reach for Jay, but luckily, Bass’s reflexes are quicker than mine. He wraps her up in a bear hug from behind, lifts her from the ground, and carries her away just as Emerson comes barreling through the crowd toward my mother.

  “Kick her ass, Em,” Eva shouts.

  “Elizabeth!” Emerson rushes past me and reaches for my mom, but Troy, one of Jay’s bodyguards, grabs hold of her. “Who the hell do you think you are?” she exclaims, her fists balled up at her sides and her whole body shaking with anger.

  “Someone needs to teach that daughter of yours some respect, Emerson,” my mom argues. “She attacked my goddaughter.”

  “Still overdramatic as always, Elizabeth.” Emerson rolls her eyes. “Respect isn’t taught—it’s given because it’s earned. My daughter is not a wild animal. She doesn’t attack people. You had no right to put your hands on her.”

  “Well, that explains a lot,” my mom argues back. “Your lack of parenting reflects in that little bitch.”

  At this point, I’m tempted to reach out and slap my mother. What in the hell is wrong with her?

  “Liz, shut the hell up!” Cam hollers, shoving his way past me to face off with my mom before he turns to my dad. “Take her embarrassing ass home.”

  My mom is wrong. And Chelsea….

  I’m fucking done with her.

  “You’re one to talk,” I add, glaring at my mother. “If anyone needs to learn some respect, it’s you.” I point.

  “Zach,” my dad warns lightly. I turn to look at him, silently asking him “What the hell?”

  With a slight shake of his head, he’s saying to let them have it out.

  “What’s going on?” I turn to see Rebecca and Chris, Chelsea’s parents, taking in the scene.

  “Oh, nothing much. Just typical Chelsea drama, as usual,” I say, gesturing to the queen of drama, herself.

  “It figures the troublemaker belongs to you two,” Emerson sneers and I can’t help but laugh.

  “Let’s go, Liz,” my dad says, taking her by the arm and guiding her toward the car.

  I look around and notice Jay, Cole, and Harper are gone. “Cam, can I get a ride with you?”

  “Zach,” Chelsea cries out, but I ignore her as I follow Cam to his car. “Zach,” Chelsea says again. I turn as I open the passenger side door of Cam’s truck and see she’s followed me to the parking lot. “Why are you mad at me?” she asks, like she can’t believe I would be mad at her. If she only knew.

  “Because you’re a liar, Chelsea, and I’m done with you,” I say before climbing into Cam’s truck and slamming the door. “Can we stop by the house so I can grab some clothes? If you don’t mind, I’ll crash at your place until we leave for New York.”

  “You have a room there for a reason, Zach. You don’t have to ask.”

  “HEY,” I SAY when I walk through the front door and see my dad sitting on the couch with his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. My mom is nowhere in sight. Probably locked herself in the bedroom. Perching on the arm of the chair opposite my dad, I ask, “What is wrong with her?”

  “She’s angry, Zach.”

  I scoff. “No shit. I can’t believe she put her hands on my girlfriend. Why does she hate Emerson so much, Dad? Tell me the truth. Did you screw Emerson behind Mom’s back or something?”

  “No,” he insists. “But she thinks I did.”

  “Don’t lie, Dad. Did you?”

  “No, Zach. Your mom, Emerson, Chris, and I were best friends. I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but Emerson and Chris dated all through high school. He wanted to marry her.” I raise my eyebrows. “I have always been in love with your mom. Emerson is the one who set us up because I was too chicken shit to ask her out myself.” My dad rakes his hand through his hair and leans back against the couch.

  “Then why does Mom think that?”

  He shakes his head. “I don’t know.” He does know. “I can’t believe all of that just happened.”

  “Chelsea was lying, you know? She didn’t know I was standing outside the bathroom when all of that went down. I heard everything she said. Jay never laid a hand on her.”

  “I believe it,” he admits. “That girl has always been a pain in the ass. She’s trouble just like her mother.”

  “What are we gonna do about Mom? She can’t keep acting like this. Those were some pretty harsh words she threw at Emerson. Jay is the center of Emerson’s world. She lost her husband and Jay is all she has left. Mom needs to th
ink about how her actions and her words are affecting us all. She needs to put herself in Emerson’s shoes for a minute and think about how she would feel if the roles were reversed. You need to set her straight, Dad.”

  I look him straight in the eyes so that he knows I mean it when I say, “I’ve already cut Chelsea out of my life. Mom’s next.”

  OPENING THE BACK door, I toss my suitcase in the backseat while Cam is still on the phone trying to calm Emerson down. I hate to say it, but I think Em could take my mom. A car pulls into the driveway beside me and a sobbing Chelsea gets out of the back.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Zach, please, I’m so sorry,” she cries. “Jayla was right. I’ve been a shitty friend.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t even know anymore. At first, it was because I was jealous of her.” She sniffs. “I knew she’d take you away from me.”

  “I wasn’t yours to take, Chelsea.”

  “You were my best friend.” She wipes at her tear-soaked face. “Last summer, while you were in St. Thomas, Reagan started asking about you. I never liked her—you know that—so, I told her you were on vacation with your family and your girlfriend. When you came back from St. Thomas, you were different. Happy, but different. And when you admitted that you loved her and I got so jealous, I couldn’t see straight. In a way, I was happy she hurt you because then she couldn’t take you away from me. But all it did was push you toward Reagan. When you went to California, I told Reagan you went to see Jayla. Everything spiraled out of control from there. She cheated. Things got awkward between us. And by the time I left for school, you and I were barely speaking. And just my luck…” She throws her hands out to her sides. “…I leave for college and she shows up. Ashton was going on about how Cole’s cousin Jayla was all anyone could talk about and how you got up in the middle of lunch and went chasing after her. It pissed me off that you would do that after what she did to you. I knew she was at Carter’s party that night after your first game. I saw her before you did and when I saw you looking for her, I ran up to you. I wanted to piss her off. I saw you watching her and Grayson.”

  “Jesus, Chelsea,” I say.

  “I know and I’m sorry.” She takes a deep breath. “That morning when we met for breakfast, I saw her come in. I knew she’d see us, so—”

  “That’s why you kissed me?” I ask, cutting her off.

  “Yes. Thanksgiving night at the movies, I saw her first, so I jumped on your back and screamed out your name to get her attention. And I did. Everything I’ve done was to hurt her.”

  “You don’t even know her.”

  “I didn’t need to know her to not like her. She hurt you and I wanted to hurt her back.”

  “Chelsea—”

  “—and tonight, in the bathroom, I told her that you use people. That you used me.”

  “I heard you.”

  “You did?”

  I nod. “Do you want to know why she hurt me? Because of you and Reagan.” I point. “You told Reagan about her. The night I came back from St. Thomas, Jay called me while I was asleep and Reagan answered. Reagan told Jay she was my girlfriend. For a whole year, I’d been wondering what I did wrong. And because of your and Reagan’s lie, I lost her for an entire year.”

  Chelsea shakes her head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. And I didn’t expect things to go as far as they did tonight. I know your mom doesn’t like her, but I didn’t realize she was just waiting for a reason to go after Jayla or push her. I certainly didn’t expect Jay to fight back. And, holy shit, I thought your mom was intimidating, but her mom is downright scary. Zach, I’m really sorry for everything.”

  “You owe everyone an apology, including my mom for lying to her.”

  “I know. I’m going inside to apologize to your parents and I promise I’ll apologize to Jayla, too. But, Zach, you should probably tell her the truth about prom night before she finds out from someone else.”

  “She already knows, Chelsea. She knows everything.”

  TODAY IS THE last day of school before winter break and I have an important midterm exam second period. I’ve been staying with Cam for the last week after what happened with my mom, but since my parents are out of town I’ve been staying at the house with Buddy.

  Grabbing what I need for my exams, I rush downstairs, yank open the front door, and almost run smack into a woman standing on the front porch. Her hand is raised in a fist as if she were just about to knock. She startles and takes a step back. “Oh, you scared me.”

  My eyebrows go up. “Sorry, I didn’t expect anyone to be standing on my porch at…” I look down at my watch. “…seven fifteen in the morning.

  “Hi,” a little voice says, and I look down into the face of an angel who looks about the same age as Willow. Shoulder-length, curly dark blonde hair, big blue eyes, long eyelashes, and the sweetest smile.

  “Her name is Zoe.” Zoe? Why does that sound familiar?

  “Did you at least see if Zoe was okay before you slammed the door in her face?” Isn’t that what Logan said to Mom the night of the Homecoming dance?

  Shiiiiiiit!

  Logan has a kid.

  And he didn’t tell me. What a dick!

  I pull my gaze from the little cherub back to the woman. “I’m Tina. I’m a friend of Zoe’s mom, Whitney. I’ve seen pictures of Logan before, so you must be Zach.”

  “Yeah,” I breathe out.

  “I’m sorry for showing up like this, but Logan ain’t returning my calls. Whitney got arrested last night for drug possession and petty theft. Thank goodness Zoe was with me when Whitney got popped. Whitney wants me to bail her out, but I can’t do it no more. I tried to get in touch with Whitney’s parents, but they ain’t takin’ my calls neither. They think I’m a bad influence on her.” She snorts. “Funny, since I’m not the one on drugs. Never touched drugs or alcohol in my entire life except for some champagne once on my wedding night. Whitney and I go way back. Best friends since middle school. She went off to college and I got married to my high school sweetheart.”

  She rakes her fingers through her greasy blonde hair. This woman has seen better days. Tina strikes me as one of those women who goes without to help care for others. And judging by her lack of hygiene, ratty sweatshirt and oversized sweatpants, she’s been going without for a long time. It’s heart-wrenching. “I tried to help Whitney, but you can’t help someone who don’t wanna be helped. Listen, Zoe’s a sweet kid, but I can’t take care of her and, truthfully, she deserves better. My husband Danny died over in Afghanistan two years ago. I’m raising four kids of my own, plus I’m helping out my little sister with her two.”

  And there you have it. Heart-wrenching.

  As if I’d ever turn away Logan’s little girl. My niece. “Does she have any bags or clothes? Does she have a car seat?” I have no clue what a toddler needs.

  She sighs in relief. “Yeah, I’ll grab her stuff from the car.” She squats down, curls her bony arm around Zoe, and points up at me. “Zoe, this is your Uncle Zach.”

  I squat down so that I’m close to eye level with Zoe. “Hey, Zoe.” I smile and hold out my hand like she’s a wild animal that might attack me.

  “Hi,” she says with a toothy smile and that little dimple in her chubby cheek appears. She’s the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen.

  Tina comes back carrying a car seat that’s almost as big as she is and a little pink suitcase. “Okay. Here’s her car seat and her bag. I put a list of her favorite foods in there. She doesn’t have any allergies that I’m aware of and I’ve been taking care of her for months. She really is a good kid, Zach. She never cries. I can only imagine what’s going on in that innocent little brain of hers.”

  “Thank you for taking care of my niece and for making sure she’s with her family. Can I get your number in case Logan has any questions?”

  “He’s got my number. I left it on his voicemail all ten times I called.”

  “He’s in New York,” I tell her. �
�He had exams today.”

  She winces. “Sorry, I didn’t know.”

  “It’s okay. You were just trying to do the right thing. You did do the right thing. My family appreciates it.” Reaching in my back pocket, I grab my wallet and pull out two hundred-dollar bills.

  Tina holds up her hands and backs away. “No. I don’t want your money, Zach.”

  I hold out the money. “It’s Christmas and you’ve got six little ones. Buy them a few extra gifts for under the tree.”

  She smiles sadly as she takes the money. “Actually, now I can get a tree,” she says in a shaky breath and that cuts me deep. I pull another two hundred dollars out of my wallet and hold it out. I don’t normally walk around with this much cash, but it’s easier to pay for things with cash at Christmastime.

  “Get some decorations, too.”

  She clears the emotion from her throat and reaches for the money. “Thank you.”

  “No, thank you, Tina.”

  “Up tack.” Huh? Zoe lifts her arms and bounces on the balls of her feet. “Up. Up tack.”

  “She’s saying ‘up, Zach,’” Tina informs me with a laugh. “I speak fluent toddler.”

  I lift her into my arms and ask, “Do you want to go for a ride, Zoe?”

  She points to Tina’s faded red… I’m not even sure what it is.

  “No, we’re going in my car.” I point to my Jeep then turn to Tina. “Hey, before you leave, do you think you can help me with the car seat?” I ask. “I have somewhere to be.”

  Tina smiles. “Sure.”

  “LOGAN, CALL ME as soon as you get this message. I have Zoe.” I punch in my personal code on the call box and the gate swings open. When I pull up in front of the house, I see Emerson standing in the doorway looking concerned.

  Turning in my seat, I say to Zoe, “I’m gonna get out and come around to get you.”

  Zoe responds with another toothy grin and kicks her legs in excitement.