“Mommy, when’s he coming?”
I wrapped myself in a towel and peaked my head out of the bedroom. Brady stood on the couch, leaning against the back so he could get a good view out the window. “Soon Monkey, be patient.”
“I want him to come now though so we can play before you go. I wanna go, how come I can’t go?”
“I told you darling, this isn’t for little boys. But we’ll do something extra special later.”
“With Justin?”
I nodded my head and walked back in my room, “Yes, with Justin.” I stood in front of the mirror trying to figure out what to do with my hair. Tonight is the big night with Paul McCartney’s concert and I want to look nice. I want to look great, not just nice. “I’m going to blow dry my hair, don’t you go answering that door, you tell me first.”
“I know Mommy, you always tell me that. I listen. I’m a good boy.”
“Are you sure?”
He giggled and jumped down off the couch before climbing right back on. “Mommy! Mommy!” I heard Brady scream after a few minutes, “He’s here! It’s him! He’s here!”
“Are you sure it’s him?” I asked, peaking my head out. Justin was leaning in front of the window making faces at Brady.
“Yeah Mommy, I’m positive. It’s him!”
I laughed at how excited Brady was, we just saw Justin yesterday. Brady tapped on the window, trying to communicate something with him but there’s no way anyone could have understood. Justin spotted me and waved. “Alright Monkey, let him in.”
“Justin! Justin!” Brady shouted after opening the door, “Hi Justin. Guess what? I had pizza. I like pizza. And you know what? Mommy said I can’t come but she said we’re gonna do something extra special.”
“Whoa man, slow down.” Justin laughed. Brady’s talking a mile a minute, “Hey Chloe,” Justin called out to me.
“Hey Justin,” I stuck my head out, “I’m almost ready.”
“Take you’re time, I’m early. I’m here for the kid.” I’m still a little weirded out by the situation, but the fact that Justin was so honest makes me feel a lot better. It’s just weird to me that he would be interested in me, and be so great with Brady. That’s never happened before. I need to get over it though, and start trusting more.
“Mommy! Mommy! Look what Justin did!” Brady came running into my room, showing off the tie that was around his neck, “Do you see? I got a tie. Justin said that we guys needa wear them sometimes when we go somewhere fancy.”
I smiled as I watched my son, he’s so happy and it’s great for him to have a man in his life telling him all about man things I can’t help him with. But it worries me that they’re getting so close so fast. “You look very handsome, Monkey.”
Brady giggled and ran back into the living room. I watched him jump on the couch next to Justin, “You was right! She said I was handsome.”
“I told you she would,” Justin laughed.
I laughed to myself as I went back to the mirror to put on some lip-gloss. This is kind of nerve racking, this whole Paul McCartney thing, again. After fixing my shoe and grabbing my purse I stood at the bedroom door, about to cry. Brady was standing in front of Justin who was sitting on the couch, watching carefully as Justin showed him how to tie a tie. Justin must have sensed me standing there. He looked over and gave me a half smile before turning his attention back to Brady and the tie, “Then you pull it down and, Tada you’re all done.”
“Tada! All done!” Brady giggled, noticing me for the first time, “Did you see it Mommy? Justin knows how to tie a tie!”
“I see, that’s pretty amazing. Come over here now and let’s get you into your pajamas while we’re waiting for Kelly.”
“You know what Justin?” Brady grabbed onto his hand and pulled him into the room with us, “Mommy said I needa get into my pajamas but I don’t gotta go to bed yet. And that when Kelly comes we can watch the movie we got and have popcorn and then I can go to bed.”
Justin smiled at me before answering, “That is very exciting. What movie did you get?”
“We got Like Mike. That’s my new favorite!”
I laughed at his response, “Babe, you didn’t even see it yet. Wait until you watch it before you call it your new favorite ok?”
“Oh. OK.”
We both laughed and Brady joined in, without any knowledge as to why he was laughing. “Kelly should be here any minute,” I told Justin, “And Brady is going to be so good. I don’t even have to remind him because he’s a good boy and knows, right Brady?”
“Mmhmm, yes sir!”
The front door opened and Kelly’s voice filled the apartment, “I’m sorry I’m a little late, I lost track of time. My stupid cat was attacking my feet and wouldn’t let me out of the apartment.” she stopped when she saw Justin follow Brady and I out of the room, “Oh. Hi.”
“Kelly this is Justin, Justin this is Kelly.”
Kelly looked a little nervous, shocked really. I thought I mentioned who he was, but I guess it’s possible I didn’t. Based on the look covering her face I would think I didn’t.
“Hey,” Justin smiled as he walked over to her, extending his hand, “Nice to meet you Kelly.”
“Yeah, nice to meet you,” she gave me a look and I shrugged. I didn’t realize she was a closet fan. Justin laughed, noticing the glances exchanged between the two of us.
“He’s all ready for bed. We bought a movie for you to watch and then he can go to sleep after the movie. Make sure he goes to his bed though, even if he falls asleep on the couch. There’s popcorn, but if he wants popcorn he needs to brush his teeth again before bed, right Brady?”
“Mmhmm.”
“Thanks Kel, you’re a lifesaver. But it’s a school night, so make sure he doesn’t stay up too late.”
She nodded her head, still completely phased out.
“OK,” I laughed, “Come on Brady, give me a kiss.”
He kissed me quickly and gave me a great hug before giggling again, “I’m gonna be so good, don’t even tell me to, I already know.”
“Later kid,” Justin smiled, bending over to get the hug Brady was giving him, “Like Mike is one of my favorite movies, you’ll like it.”
“Mine too!”
“Alright, we better go. Thanks again Kel.”
Kelly waved, before Justin spoke, “It was nice meeting you Kelly.” She didn’t respond, Justin just smiled, but I could tell he wanted to laugh or shake her to get her to wake up. And I’m supposed to trust this girl with my son? She’s gone and got all star struck.
Justin opened the door to his car for me before walking over to get in himself, “Is she your best friend?”
“Kelly?” he nodded his head, “No, well… I guess. I don’t really have a best friend, but I guess she’s the closest. I don’t really have many friends in general, why?”
“She just seemed surprised, like she didn’t know I was who I am.”
“Oh, well yeah she probably didn’t. “
Justin nodded his head and let a short chuckle escape, “You don’t have that click of girls that you tell everything to?”
I shook my head, “Should I?”
“No, I suppose it’s a good thing. Most girls have a group of chicks that they tell every single detail about everything to. Then it’s all tough because you got all these different views, and everyone’s got their own idea about the relationship even when it has nothing to do with them. But many girls really listen to what their friends think and their friends are just out to start shit in the first place.”
I laughed, “You seem to know a lot about clicky females.”
“I do,” he confessed with a laugh, “Too much.”
“Well, I’m not a clicky female so don’t worry. I don’t have a group of girlfriends I tell everything to. Do you?”
“A group of guy friends,” he corrected me with a smile, “I do.”
“So should I be worried about them starting shit?”
“Nah, guys are different. Besides, you already met Trace and you guys won him over so there’s nothing to worry about.”
I smiled; it’s good to know he likes Brady and I. I really do like Trace; he seems like a really genuine person. “Is he your best friend?”
Justin nodded his head, “Since we were in diapers.”
“That’s really adorable. That’s cool you’re still friends.”
“Yeah, we’re more like brothers. He’s part of my family. You don’t have any friends you’ve had since you were a kid?”
I shook my head; “I lost touch with my friends when we moved out here.”
“Why did you move out here?”
“I was pregnant.”
“So you had to move away?” he asked out of confusion, “From Riverside, right?”
“Yeah, how did you know that?”
“You told me. I listen, surprising, I know.”
“No,” I laughed as I played with my bracelet. These questions are not going to lead to answers I want to supply at the moment, especially when I’m ready to go see Paul McCartney live in concert.
“So, why did you move out here?”
“I was pregnant and there were issues with… the father,” I continued quickly so I would not have to go into detail about those issues, “And the girls. I was in high school, kids are cruel.”
“How so?”
He’s just full of questions tonight isn’t he? He was completely honest with me the other night; I supposed I could do the same. “I just got a reputation because I had sex with my boyfriend. Other people were having sex, it’s not like we were the only ones, but I got pregnant so everyone thought I was easy. The guys would just like touch me, and follow me into the bathroom, or call my house and leave messages if I wanted to come over and have sex. And the girls, they were way worse, like catty clicky mean girls. They were so mean. One girl told me that she felt really bad because everyone was spreading more rumors and calling me names so she got me a present. And I opened it up, thinking she was actually a nice person, and it was a pillow. She said it was because I’m on my back so much, I might as well be comfortable.” I paused for his reaction, but he seemed to be in shock that people actually act like that, outside of the movies. “Then when I woke up one day someone spray painted ‘Hoe-y’ on my house, they called me Hoe-y instead of Chloe. And my mom made me go to school because she said I couldn’t show them that it was bothering me. But I got in school and it was spray painted all over my locker. So I couldn’t handle it anymore, and I ran home. My mother saw how serious it was and there’s no way to get your reputation back after that so we moved out here to start over.”
“Wow. I’m really glad I was home schooled through high school,” Justin replied with a laugh.
“Seriously,” I laughed. I’m glad he was able to joke about it and now all apologetic. I hate when people apologize for things they had nothing to do with.
“And his father?”
I knew that was coming, “Not yet, ok?”
Justin nodded his head, “What about your father? Did you ever meet him?”
“No,” I shook my head, “I don’t know much about him, and mom didn’t talk about him. He left before I was born. He stuck around through the pregnancy then chickened out right before I was born.”
“People are so fucked up.”
I nodded my head, “Now that we’re getting into our family history. What about your father?”
“He’s a complete douchebag. He left when I was two and to this day he still thinks everything I do isn’t good enough. He thinks what I do takes no effort and it’s a joke.”
“What does he do?”
“Nothing. Good fucking question.”
“Do you still see him?”
He nodded his head, “Around Christmas, sometimes one more time during the year. My mother really wants us to have some sort of a relationship because she thinks I need him, so I mostly just do it for her.”
“I hope you don’t pay his bills.”
“Nah,” he laughed, “Surprisingly, he’s never asked me to.”
“That’s good. We should write a book, we’ve got some good stuff.”
“Oh yeah,” Justin nodded his head and smiled, “My mother’s amazing though, so it’s not all that bad. You take the good with the bad I suppose.”
“Yeah mine is too… or she was.”
He looked over at me and rested his hand on my leg to comfort me, “You really miss her, huh?” I nodded my head, “I can’t even imagine what it would be like.”
“Yeah, it sucks. And it doesn’t get easier either. Everyone says it does but it doesn’t. I miss her more and more every day.”
“It will get easier.”
“I don’t think so,” I answered softly as we pulled up to the valet, “Anyway, I’m sorry. This is not what we should be discussing on the way to Paul McCartney.”
