Jaided

by Rose, Ashley

  Braize took her phone from her. “Here, let me.”

  Jaide gazed down the Yakima River, not really listening to Blaize talk with Chance, and felt a sense of relief that Maddy was at peace at last. She also felt helping Braize might have brought him closer. But did she really want that? She confessed to herself that she did not know the answer, but knowing it was bound to come sooner or later.

  Chapter 13

  Chance had advised the team of Maddy’s passing and everyone respectfully let Blaize go about the daily routine of school and soccer without burdening him with too many overly sympathetic expressions. One day became pretty much like the next, with Jaide and Blaize often squeezing in a mutual massage before soccer practice.

  Today she was at practice early, getting the crap kicked out of her by Chance and Alex. The drill was for Jaide, offensive player, to maneuver the ball past two defenders, Alex and Chance, with half the expanse of the soccer field to work with.

  She had tried multiple times to fake them out, but the other was always there. She felt bruised and battered from bouncing around between the two larger boys. Just as she figured she was about to get past the both of them, she landed flat on her back. What the hell?

  She looked over to see Alex was beside her on the ground.

  "Shit."

  "Did you just slide tackle me?" she asked.

  "You were about to beat us, I had to take desperate measures."

  She rolled over and groaned. "Jesus."

  Alex chuckled. "Sorry."

  She felt two big hands lifting her off the ground. She looked up, expecting Chance, but it wasn't.

  "Tremaine!" She threw her arms around him.

  "Hey, little sister!"

  She pulled back. "What are you doing here?"

  Tremaine shrugged. “Been trying to reach you, but you never answer your cell. Wanted to warn you we might be passing through Yakima. The team has a game downstate tomorrow, so we were on our way through. I convinced Coach to make a pit stop down the street to eat."

  "Cool! How long do you get to stay?"

  He shrugged and pointed to where Coach Thacker and a man she didn't recognize were talking energetically. "A few hours at most, however long they can exchange coaching stories. By the way, some of the guys you know from the team are here, too."

  "Yeah? Who?"

  "Well there's ..."

  "Ethan!" Jaide spotted a boy practicing with her team around midfield.

  She took off toward him at a sprint. "Ethan!"

  He turned to see her. "Jaide! Hey, what are you doing? What ... slow down!"

  "Up!"

  "No, no, Jaaaaaide." The boy backed away, but Jaide had almost reached him.

  "Do it!"

  "No, Jaide. Slow down. Shit." At the last moment, she jumped and pegged her arms onto his shoulders. His hands caught her waist and threw her straight up in the air, redirecting her momentum upwards so her feet cleared his head.

  She squealed while she was in the air and started laughing as soon as he caught her in his arms, cheerleader style.

  "Shit Jaide, you're going to give me heart attack. We haven't done that in months."

  "I know, I miss it! I love my giant cheerleader!"

  "I was a cheerleader in middle school. It’s been a long time."

  "Ethan Stewart!"

  Ethan flinched and set Jaide on her feet.

  "Did I just see you throw one of my most valuable players ten feet into the air?"

  Ethan turned to Coach Robinson guiltily. "Uh, yes sir."

  "I don't care if you're a star college soccer player. Don’t ever let me catch you doing that again. Jesus Christ." He trailed off with something that sounded like “crazy college kids.”

  Ethan hid a smirk and Jaide threw her arms around him again.

  "I can't believe you're here. It seems like it's been forever."

  "Yeah, it does. How’s this school treating you?"

  "Gooooood." She pulled away from him and looked him over. "What's this?" She felt his arms, biceps and triceps. "Increased muscle mass? Damn Ethan, you were big before. Now you're like a frickin’ linebacker or some shit. When did this happen?"

  "Oh you know, I had to bulk up to plow down those pesky midfielders."

  "Ha ha." She slapped him on the shoulder. "Well, you look great."

  "Handsome as ever?"

  "Yeah, something like that."

  Ethan threw his arm over her shoulders. "So you brother tells me that you got a boyfriend or some shit. What the hell is that about?"

  Jaide rolled her eyes. He had always had the best way with words. "I don't have a boyfriend. I have a male roommate."

  "Ahh, so you guys are like having sex, or what?"

  "Ethan! Don't beat around the bush or anything."

  "I won't."

  "No, we are not having sex, if that's any of your business."

  "Good, Mason will be relieved."

  Jaide froze. "Mason? Mason is here?"

  "Well yeah, what? You think we're gonna visit and he's just gonna stay behind? Actually, he commutes to school at Ellensburg from Arlington. He was pumped to see you. I think he's right overrrr ... there!" He pointed across the field were a large light-haired boy was strolling toward them. "Look, I know you just want to jump his bones, but can you refrain until you guys get to your room or something? It kind grosses me out."

  "I'm not going to jump him."

  "Hey, I understand. You guys haven't seen each other in a while. I'm sure you guys are gonna have as much wild sex as you can fit into a few hours."

  "Oh, shut up. You're just jealous."

  "Baby, you couldn't handle me. I just never wanted to overwhelm you."

  She grinned and hugged him again, burying her face in his broad chest. "I misssssed you."

  He turned into an immediate softy. "I know, sweetheart. I missed you too."

  "You have to promise to visit whenever you can."

  "Well duh, why would I ever skip a chance to see my favorite girl?"

  She smiled up at him. "You're the best."

  "Yep, I know. Hey buck up, your sex toy is here."

  She pushed away and feigned an annoyed look before turning to Mason.

  He was just as she remembered him: tall, built, blond hair and unbelievably dark eyes.

  "Hey honey, what's doin’?"

  As they embraced, Ethan made a gagging sound and walked away.

  Mason rubbed her back soothingly. "How are you?"

  "It's been different without you around. It’s harder than I expected."

  "But you're ok though, right? Your brother says you're doing good."

  "I am. It’s just different."

  Mason leaned down and kissed her on the lips. It quickly turned into more then she bargained for. It was just like she remembered - strong, assertive and confident.

  Jaide was caught up in the kiss but when thoughts of Blaize flickered in her mind, she immediately pulled away from Mason.

  At the same time, a soccer ball flew out of nowhere and hit Mason in the back of the head. "Seriously, guys!” Ethan shouted. “Save if for the room. Jesus, Mason, get your hand off her ass. You’re in the middle of a soccer field surrounded by her teammates, not to mention me, and you know I don't wanna see that shit." Ethan made a disgusted face and jogged to retrieve his soccer ball.

  Mason removed his hand but went in for another kiss. Jaide leaned away.

  "What's wrong? I mean ... I just assumed that you would wanna make up for lost time."

  "No, no, it's not that. You’re great, it's just ..."

  Mason released her like she was on fire. "Shit, do you have a boyfriend? I'm so sorry, Jaide. I don't want to get you in trouble or any ..."

  "No, that's not it. I mean, well it sort of is."

  "Tremaine didn't say anything about a boyfriend."

  "I don't have a boyfriend."

  "Then, what's the problem?"

  "Don't get me wrong, you’re great ... and I would totally love to, uh, catc
h up on lost time, but truth to tell, there's this guy."

  "A boyfriend?"

  "No, we're just friends."

  Mason got pissed fast. "Hold up. This guy is getting in your pants and he won't commit to a relationship?"

  Jaide snapped. "A little hypocritical, don't you think?"

  "Hey, our thing is different."

  "Was, was different. And me and Blaize are just messing around. We aren't having ... sex ... yet."

  "Oh, that's good. But wait, 'yet'? As in, you plan on it?"

  "I'm not planning on it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happens."

  "And why won't he commit to a relationship?"

  "We decided not to label it."

  "Whatever. I'm glad you guys haven't had sex yet. I want to talk to him."

  "What? I don't think so. You're not talking to him about having sex with me. You see, because this sex thing, it's between me and him. You are not in that equation. You have no business talking to him."

  "I'm pretty sure I know more about having sex with you than anyone else on this planet, sooo ... I'm talking to him. End. Is he on the team?" Mason looked around.

  "Yes."

  "Where is he?"

  "He had to get his hematoma drained. He’s probably done by now. He’s probably in our room."

  "Our room? He's your roommate?"

  Jaide turned to walk away. "I better get back to practice."

  Mason grabbed her hand and spun her back around. "I don't think so, girly."

  She rolled her eyes. "Yes, he is my roommate but no, you cannot talk to him."

  Mason laughed and looked down at her. "Oh? And how are you going to stop me?"

  She frowned. She just barely came up to his chin. "Good thing you stopped by. I almost forgot the thing I hated most about you. You have no regard for boundaries."

  Mason sighed. "Come on, sweetheart." He wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. "It'll be ok, just a little chat."

  "Why? Why do you need to have a chat with him?"

  "To make sure he's not a perv or weirdo. I'm just looking out for you."

  "I can tell you that he's not a perv or weirdo."

  "No offense, sweetheart, but you haven’t always made the best decisions when it comes to boys."

  "Whatever, I'm not happy with you."

  "Yeah, you'll get over it."

  "Yeah, probably."

  "Sweet! In time for a quickie in the storage closet?"

  She rolled her eyes. "Did you not just participate in our previous conversation? Remember? Roommate, guy named Blaize? Does ‘chat’ ring a bell?"

  "Oh yeah, shit."

  She looked up at him suspiciously. "Is that the only reason you came? Because you didn't know I was involved with someone else and you just wanted to have sex?"

  "I think you know the answer to that question. I was just kidding. Besides, it's not like I can't get amazing college sex any time I want."

  "True, but with me you don't have to worry about STDs or commitment."

  Mason put a hand over his heart and pretended to act hurt. "I resent that. I was very committed to you."

  "Committed to getting me in bed."

  "Psh, bed? Since when did we do it in a bed?"

  "We did it in Ethan's bed that one time."

  "You did not!" The unidentified voice came from behind them.

  They both whipped around to find Ethan. "Were you eavesdropping?"

  "You two did it in my bed!"

  Mason and Jaide just looked at each other innocently.

  Mason shrugged. "Uh, sorry. Your floor was really dirty and the couch wasn't very comfortable."

  Ethan rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you guys."

  Jaide smiled and positioned herself in between the two boys, wrapping her arm around both their waists while she led them off the field. The three couldn’t contain their laughter. Jaide thought, folly is folly.

  After practice, Ethan, Tremaine and Mason followed her to her room. Just as Jaide expected, Blaize had his shirt off and there was a large bandage on his back. He smiled when he saw her and moved to give her a kiss. "Hey! How was ... who's that?" The followers moved through the doorway.

  "Oh, well you know Tremaine. This is Ethan."

  The two boys nodded politely and shook hands.

  "And that's Mason."

  Blaize shook his hand also.

  "Just a couple of my brother's friends. They both play on the soccer team. Ethan's a defender and Mason is a forward like you."

  "Cool..." Blaize wasn't sure what to think. The boys all seemed to be scrutinizing him.

  "Um, they are just here for a couple hours. They have a game downstate tomorrow."

  Ethan stretched and flopped down onto Jaide's bed. "So you're the boy-toy huh? What happened to your back?"

  Blaize shrugged. "Nothing too serious, just a bruise."

  "He got slide-tackled last weekend,” explained Jaide, “and it strained a couple muscles. That gave him a nasty bruise. He had to get it drained. How'd that go anyways, Blaize?"

  "Good, I think. They had to make a bigger incision than they initially thought, so they had to pop a couple dissolvable stitches in there, but other than that it’s fine."

  Ethan fiddled with Jaide's alarm clock. "That's pretty cool. Hey Jaide, why is your bed so clean?"

  "Umm, I dunno?"

  "You never make your bed."

  "Soo?"

  "Your bed is made."

  "What are you getting at?"

  "You haven't slept in this bed for a couple days."

  "Right. And you can tell that, can you?"

  Ethan turned his head and inhaled deeply against her pillow. "Yep, two days."

  "If I didn't know you so well, I would say that is disgustingly creepy. Are you training to be a bloodhound or something?”

  "Anyways!" Mason looked at Blaize and nodded his head toward the doorway. "Blaize, right? Let's go for a walk."

  "Mason." Jaide snapped at him and gave him a furious glare.

  "What? I thought we talked about this already. Just a talk. Calm down."

  "We never agreed on anything."

  Blaize stepped toward the door. "It's ok, Jaide. I don't mind. Just let me grab a shirt."

  Jaide came up behind him as he pulled his shirt on and whispered in his ear so no one else could hear. "This is my brother's friend that I was telling you about."

  Blaize's positive expression faltered.

  Mason took a step toward them. "Something wrong, kid?"

  Blaize took a moment and seemed to spend that moment to readjust mentally. "Nope, let's go." He grabbed Jaide's chin and placed a kiss on her lips before walking out the door with Mason following behind.

  As they started down the hallway, Blaize did his best not to judge the guy that he didn't know since Jaide had said he was a good guy. "Soo? What did you want to talk about?"

  "Look kid, I don't ..."

  "Don't call me 'kid'."

  "What?"

  "I said, don’t call me 'kid'. I'm not a kid."

  Mason nodded approvingly. "Ok, Blaize. Jaide tells me you guys are getting into some sort of relationship."

  "Yeah, I'm not sure how it's any of your business."

  "Jaide is my business."

  "How's that?"

  "Look, whatever Jaide's told you is probably true and you can make of it whatever you want but the truth is, if it wasn't for me, Jaide wouldn't be here. She would still be back at her house, going into anxiety attacks every time a stranger gets within three feet of her. I am here to make sure you are not some creep weirdo trying to take advantage of her."

  Blaize kept his composure. "Ok well, I'm not a creep, so ..."

  "I can see that. But there is something else."

  Blaize waited.

  "I don't know how far this relationship of yours has gotten, but Jaide has told me that you guys haven't gotten into bed yet."

  "No, we haven’t, not in the way that you're talking about. But I still
don't see how this is any of your business."

  "Look, as I'm sure you know, Jaide has been ... traumatized, when it comes to that kind of stuff. She has a couple of wires crossed. I just want you to be prepared."

  "I don't know what you are trying to say exactly, but I'm not emotionally incompetent. I know how to handle her."

  "She seems to like you a lot,” Mason said, “so I'm sure you've been able to deal with her thus far. I just wanted to let you know, for her sake.”

  "I don't think I really like what you're saying about her. I don't consider it 'dealing' with her. I like being around her. Her complications make up who she is, and it’s a package deal. But ... I do see what you are trying do, and I can tell it just because you care about her."

  Mason nodded. "Good, then we're on the same page."

  "Yep. So are we done?"

  "There is one other thing."

  "Ok."

  "Earlier today, when I ran into Jaide the first time, I kissed her. I didn't know she was involved with you or anyone else, and she ended it almost right away and told me about her situation. I just wanted to let you know in case someone else saw it and took it the wrong way. I just hadn't seen in her or kept in contact with her, so I didn't know."

  Blaize shrugged. "Yeah, I mean, like I said, we aren't dating but we did imply that we weren't going to get involved with anyone else. Thanks for being up front about it and letting me know. No hard feelings."

  "Cool. Hey, do you have a phone?"

  Blaize dug his phone out of the pocket of his sweats and handed it over.

  Mason punched in his number and returned the phone to Blaize. "However awkward it might seem, feel free to call me if you have any questions about ... whatever."

  Blaize nodded and pocketed the phone. "Ok, yeah, thanks." Blaize had an odd feeling that they had just formed some type of weird friendship, or at least a pact.

  They had made a full circle back to the room. The door across the hall was open and Ethan and Tremaine were both in Chance's room, playing video games and messing around.

  Blaize walked into his own room with Mason following. Jaide had changed out of her practice gear and into a pair of gym shorts and a T-shirt.

  She looked at them both a little scornfully. "How was your 'man talk'?"

  Blaize hesitated before answering. She seemed to be on edge a little. "It was good? Right?" He looked at Mason for backup.