Pause

by CJ Adler

  Benley rolls his eyes at me. “If you're trying to act like the Godfather, which you so are, you need a cat, not a dog.”

  I ignore him and whip out my cell phone from my pocket in a rather dramatic fashion before dialing a number.

  “Hello?” the person on the other end answers.

  “Hello, Son. Your father needs you,” I greet in my deep, Godfather voice.

  Max groans from the other end, catching on immediately. “What did you do?”

  I grin sheepishly, thankful that Max can't see me right now. “We've been taken into custody. Benley landed us up in mall jail for his attitude,” I explain just as

  Benley elbows me in the ribs for my lie. “Please sign us out and don't tell Bells about this.”

  “I have half a mind to sell you out seeing as you sold Benley and me out at the party, but seeing as Benley's my pal, I won't. I'm on my way but you so owe me for this,” Max says before hanging up.

  It's two hours later when Max finally rescues us. If Benley didn't have a soft spot for me, I'd be left behind because Max has no soul.

  ***

  With my new pup in my hands, I watch Ben and Max drive away. I stand outside Jay's house in the cool evening air for a little longer, admiring the stars.

  My furry bundle barks into the night sky, a little too jovial.

  The front door suddenly swings open, only to reveal Jay with a perplexed expression on his face at having heard the dog bark. He looks to me for an explanation, missing the fluffball in my hands. “What are you doing out here in the cold?” He questions in concern.

  Before I can answer, he's already dragging me inside.

  I flop onto the pink couch, feeling tired. My puppy jumps up with me and cuddles himself into the crook of my neck.

  It's then that Jay takes me in properly and finally notices the dog. “I promised myself I'd stop yelling at you,” he says quietly, sighing as he looks up to ceiling in frustration. He turns his gaze back onto me a few seconds later, his blue eyes blazing. “I'm not going to even ask why.”

  “Awesome!” I cheer, elated.

  Unfortunately, his anger issues get the best of him. “You know what? Screw it! Why, Aqueela? Why?!”

  I knew he wouldn't be able to restrain himself.

  “I was lonely,” I pout, resting my hand on the puppy's head.

  “You were lonely? You were lonely! That's what you're going with? I was gone for my day shift at the bar and I come back to a dog. I don't even know what to think with you anymore. You ask for space and I give it to you, but then you're lonely and buy a dog. I don't get you,” he responds back in rudeness.

  I don't reply.

  Amazingly enough, Jay sees right though me. He can tell that something is up. The storm in his eyes dies. He looks at me again and sighs as if thinking deeply about something. He knows that I hate speaking when I'm upset so, instead, he takes the puppy from my neck and gently places it on the couch pillow before he takes my hand into his hands and pulls me up to my feet.

  He's looking at with that look he always gives, the one filled with compassion, sympathy, and understanding. It's an intense look that I can’t handle, not when it's coming from him of all people.

  “Jay, please…” I falter in my words when he wraps his arms around my torso and brings me into a strong embrace.

  And that's it. That's all it takes for me to crumble.

  “Whatever this is about, I'm sorry,” he whispers comfortingly as he holds me in place and rests his chin atop my head.

  I nod into his shoulder, letting him know that I'm grateful. Mason's apology really did a number on me. It wasn't easy listening to everything. It was more difficult than I thought it would be. The best thing about Jay is that he just gets me and he doesn’t question my every action. He just knows and understands and makes my sadness go away.

  He pulls back when loud music begins blaring from his backyard. “You sure you going to be okay?”

  I nod, trying to convince the both of us.

  He breaks out into a smile as he picks up my puppy and cuddles him against his chest . “Well then , let's go see what the hell Oog is doing . I'd like to see his reaction when he sees that he's lost all of your attention to this little fella now.”

  “Like he'd care,” I murmur.

  “What's his name?” Jay asks, successfully taking my mind off everything, cheering me up.

  “I don't know yet,” I confess. “I wanted you to choose since I picked him out.” I'm glad Jay’s interested in keeping the puppy and not making me take him back like I thought he would.

  “Me?” he asks, puzzled.

  I nod. “That's if you let me keep him.”

  He groans in defeat. “As if I can send him back now after we've bonded.” He grins when the puppy licks him. “I'm thinking 'Slobber' since all he's doing in the five minutes that I've known him is lick and drool.”

  I pull my puppy out of his arms before they can bond further. “Come here, Slobber, my pure wolverine bred beauty.”

  Jay sends me a deadly look for taking the puppy away from him.

  I laugh in response. “Slobber is my wolf,” I clarify. “Not yours.”

  “Yeah…” Jay trails off with a condescending smirk, “but I bet I paid for him.”

  Dammit! He knows I took his credit card!

  I watch sadly as he takes Slobber back into his arms. “Which makes him mine,” he says in a tone of finality, teasing me.

  I change the subject. “You lost your temper back there, JJ,” I sing all too happily. “I won this round. Strike one! Jay and Aqueela tied in annoying each other as they go head-to-head for the final round of the challenge.”

  He sighs. “I'll give this one to you. I was quite mad back there,” he admits, honest.

  Suddenly, out of nowhere, my vision turns black and I begin to panic. “Jay!”

  I raise my tone, anxious. “I think I just lost the ability to see light! I think I just went blind, sightless—”

  “It's just a power outage, you idiot,” Jay explains and I let out a breath of relief, the house now flooded with darkness.

  My eyes slowly begin to adjust to the darkness until I'm able to make out Jay's stature in front of me. He walks to the back window of the house and peers out at Oog's brightly lit tree house—he's clearly having a party and didn't bother to invite us.

  Jay gestures to the long cable wires connected to his electricity box. “The little rat is stealing all my electricity! I'm going up there,” he informs me, keeping me updated on his impending doom.

  I wipe away a fake tear from my eye. “Nice knowing you, Jay. Rest in peace. So long! Sayonara! You won't be missed. Please leave all of your personal belongings to me. See you on the other side, actually, probably not, seeing as you're evil and I'm angelic. I can do no wrong. Goodbye, dear arch nemesis.” I wave at him as I place a hand over my heart, feigning loss.

  “I'm still alive, stupid,” he points out before opening the back door and

  walking out into the cool evening breeze, straight in the direction of the tree house.

  “For now.”

  Chapter 41

  You Heard Me

  Jay and I stand out in the cold evening air, watching the tree house flashing with colorful lights, the music blaring loud for the entire neighborhood to hear. It's clear that there is no way Jay and I will be able to sleep tonight. Slobber, on the other hand, is sleeping soundlessly on Jay's bed. The little rascal sniffed out Jay's scent and took a liking to his bed, which obviously led to Jay rubbing it in my face.

  “He wasn't kidding about the house party then?” Jay asks aloud. “I knew it was a mistake letting him stay here.”

  “Yeah, I mean can you believe he never invited us to his party?” I pout, stomping my foot like an unhappy child.

  “You still on about that? This is my property and he didn’t even ask for my permission. Screw not being invited.” He frowns for a moment. “Stuff that, I'm going up there right now.”

  “I
wouldn’t if I were you. This morning he practically shoved me out of his stupid tree house,” I warn him, my words falling on deaf ears as Jay climbs up the ladder and barges in, banging the door to the tree house open.

  I watch from the bottom, intrigued, waiting to see if he'll pull it off. There's some arguing and some crashing sounds until Jay is finally kicked out and the door is slammed shut in his face. He mutters angrily as he climbs down the ladder and approaches me with a sheepish look. “I hate Gland,” he grumbles and I giggle.

  I see his face and decide to reassure him. “Don't take it personally. Obviously, this little get-together Oog has is—”

  “There are at least fifty people crammed inside there. No little get-together in sight,” he interrupts, correcting my misconceptions of 'little'.

  I cross my arms stubbornly. “How is Oog so popular?”

  “Who cares?” He shrugs as a mischievous grin crosses his lips. “Out of ten, how good are you at breaking and entering?”

  My specialty!

  I tap my chin in mock thought before answering him, “Five-hundred and sixty-four.”

  “Hey, Jay? Aqueela? Do you guys maybe have glasses we can borrow for drinks up here? Oog broke all of his.”

  Jay and I turn around simultaneously to see that it's Boss Man talking to us.

  “He broke them again!” Jay mutters at the same time I shout, “Boss Man got invited before we did!”

  “It's Greg, Aqueela,” Boss Man reminds me but I'm not hearing it, not now.

  “Oog has the audacity to ask for glasses when he won't even let us into his party?” I ask, astounded by his nerve. He only has this tree house because of me.

  “Don't shoot the messenger.” Boss Man holds his hands up in surrender before returning back up the ladder and into the tree house.

  I turn to Jay with a scowl. “Your boss gets invited before us? What is this? I thought Oog loved us.” I stomp my foot in aggravation. “It must be you. I can do no wrong in his eyes or anyone's eyes for that matter.”

  Jay scoffs. “Yeah right.”

  I ignore him and take out my cell phone, dialing Max. He answers after a few rings. “Yellow!”

  I open my mouth to greet him but stop short when I hear all the background noise coming from his side of the line. “Where are you right now?” I can vaguely hear music playing and I match it to the music I hear playing up in Oog's tree house. “Are you at a party, Max?” I prod further, putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

  His breathing suddenly quickens from his side as if panicked. “Look,

  Aqueela, I got to go. Talk later, yeah?” he says before hanging up.

  I frown, dialing him again to find that he has switched off his phone. He's up there at Oog's party! That son of a—

  “So, I'm assuming all our friends are probably up there then?” Jay asks more than states, cutting me off from my thoughts.

  “Nuh-duh,” I answer just as Boss Man steps out again, climbing down the ladder to get extra glasses from Jay's house without Jay's permission.

  Oog has a terrible habit of breaking things. Jay's had to buy new cutlery several times this month.

  I begin to grin as an idea comes to mind. “Gregory!” I call over to him.

  He raises an eyebrow before cautiously treading over to us. “Did you just call me 'Gregory'?” he asks, confused. “And not Boss Man?”

  I nod at him, my gaze falling onto his shirt. I frown and open my mouth to speak when Jay suddenly does:

  “Greg, what the hell are you wearing?”

  Greg follows our movement as he glances down to his shirt. It's a picture of Jay and me. There's a big circle around our faces with a red cross going directly through our faces.

  He meets our gaze with a sheepish grin. “Yeah…uh…” He falters mid- sentence.

  Under the circle, the word '#Anti-Jayeela' is inscribed.

  I take a daring step forward as I glare at him. “Tell us, Gregory…” I whisper in an intimidating voice, “what exactly is going on up there? Mhmm?” I say, grabbing ahold of the collar of his shirt, threatening him as I bring him nearer to me.

  He holds his hands up in surrender as I release him, backing away. “Okay.” He breathes out in exasperation. “Oog is hosting an 'Anti-Jayeela' Club, but you two do not wanna go up there…trust me.”

  Jay frowns. “I'm not following.”

  Greg sighs. “Listen, the password to get in is 'Jayeela sucky suck suck', but you never heard it from me.” He tries to escape but Jay's quick to stop him.

  “What the hell is going on?” Jay mutters before dragging Greg and me after him, locking a protesting Greg up in the house while we work on getting inside the tree house.

  Jay doesn't wait for me as he begins ascending the ladder again. I assume he's got a plan so I climb up after him.

  Gland opens the door when Jay knocks. “Password?” Gland asks despite seeing that it's us.

  “Jayeela sucky suck suck,” I answer confidently.

  Gland glances from Jay and I as if suspicious. “You two look awfully familiar?”

  “They do, don't they?”

  I turn to see a second bouncer beside Gland and it just so happens to be Bells. They're both dressed in black with fierce looks on their faces, taking their job as bouncers way too seriously.

  “Is this really necessary? You both know it's us. This is childish. Just let us in!” Jay exclaims, exasperated, as Bells and Gland continue to keep up their façade.

  “I can assure you, neither of you knows us. We're just here to enjoy the 'Anti-Jayeela' Club is all,” I lie while Jay rolls his eyes at us, choosing not to humor

  Gland and Bells any further in their simpleton antics.

  “If you say so, Eela,” Gland responds, opening the door for us. “I mean…person whom I do not know,” he corrects himself quickly, allowing us entrance as he and Bells step aside.

  “This is stupid,” Jay comments from beside me, but I'm not listening to him anymore. Instead, I'm staring at all these people at this party. They're all wearing the same shirt that Greg is wearing. Jay notices too. “Why does it feel like we just stepped into an occult? One that's based solely on destroying us?”

  I spin around on the spot, my eyes taking in all the familiar faces. They’re all having a blast. Most are playing games. My eyes land on the dartboard to see that in the center of the dartboard is a picture of me. Suddenly, a dart hits my face on the dartboard and I can’t help but gasp aloud. Who would play this twisted game?

  “Aww yeah! Nailed it!” a voice shouts above the music, ecstatic that he hit my face with the dart.

  I should have known.

  My eyes fall on Benley as he smirks proudly at his achievement to the girl beside him, no doubt trying to impress her.

  I don't think I’ve ever been so confused in my life. What the hell is going on here?

  “Aqueela,” Jay calls, nodding at a group of people playing 'would you rather'.

  It's then that I see Blubber and Simo within the 'would you rather' group.

  Blubber takes his turn. “Simo, would you rather eat Jay or Aqueela or kill both?” Simo doesn’t even have to think about it before answering. “Simo love Sprinkle. Simo kill Jay off one-shot.”

  I stifle my laughter when I see Jay's face.

  “It's not funny,” Jay mutters.

  I tug on his arm and pull him toward the pool table. All the balls have pictures of us on. I watch in horror as someone sinks the ball with Jay’s face on. The guy turns around, a boastful grin on his face as he runs a hand through his short, blonde hair. “You ladies check that? I sunk the hard-head,” Xavier says, winking at the girls surrounding the pool table.

  Upon seeing him, Jay loses it. “That's it, I'm gonna kill him,” he says through clenched teeth before taking a bold step forward, his hate for Xavier evident.

  I'm quick to yank him back by his hand. “Not yet. Don't blow our cover just yet.”

  “What cover? We're not disguised. They're all bound to
notice us eventually,” he grumbles, having a valid point.

  I gesture to FeeBee and Jam playing pin the tail on the Aqueela's face. They're also supporting this 'Anti-Jayeela' campaign. Even Dylan and Bex are here, playing spin the bottle on Jay's face. Melinda, Mason, and Laiken are playing twister on our faces. Emma and Landon are gulping down 'Jayeela' shots.

  It's when my eyes land on Max Mills that I go berserk. I mean, Max, really? Max is supposed to be on my side. I expected more from him. He's supposed to be loyal until death do he part from me.

  He's eating cookies with my face on! He's also downing a 'Jayeela' shot from a small glass with the same logo that's on his shirt. My eyes find a name tag around his neck. The idiot works here, as in he's in on all of this with Oog?

  That's the last straw!

  I march straight up to Max with a scowl and whack the shot he'd been about to drink right out of his hand. The drink goes spilling everywhere.

  Max, frightened, looks up to finally meet our gazes. He offers us a scared yet sheepish smile as he greets us. “Well, hey there guys. Last place I was expecting to see you two.”

  “Has everyone forgotten that this is my property? This—” Jay motions to the tree house as a whole, “—is literally my backyard.”

  “No need to brag.” Max scoffs at Jay's audacity.

  I don't even bother to wait to talk to him. I stalk off to gather Benley, Simo, and Blubber. I pull Blubber by the ear and he complains the entire way back to Max and Jay.

  I narrow my eyes at Ben before hitting him upside the head. “I expected more from you.” I turn to Simo and Bubber and clap hands for them, earnest. “I can't say the same for you two. Well done, I expected less from the both of you.”

  I thought Benley and I had bonded from our last adventure together, which was today. I guess he's still angry that I got us taken into custody — can't blame the guy.

  Benley shrugs, his expression morphing into an innocent one. “I like parties. Never miss them.”

  I glower at him and Max. “You two are supposed to be above this.”

  Benley, clearly ashamed, averts his eyes. “I am,” he mumbles and places his hands deep in his pockets, seemingly shy as he rocks back and forth on the heels of his shoes, “sometimes.”