Jenalyn: Disconnected (#5) [Complete]

Chapter 79: Evelyn

Tues. 3/17/09 • 9:42 A.M. PST

Jena woke me up today demanding that I watch her kid for the next couple of days while she, once again, runs off into the sunset with Russell. I don't particularly want to watch the baby; I'm do for a re-up with Russell and don't feel like having the responsibility getting in the way of my dosing. I just can't particularly tell Jena that... 

I can't tell Jena shit. I'm a slave to her just like I am to my brother. If she says I have to watch the kid? I have to watch the damned kid.

What's the worst that can happen anyway? I've been around quite a few families where the parent or guardian of a baby was using, and the baby made it out alive... They just lay there. They lay there, eat, shit, cry, and sleep- all of which I am capable of taking care of, even while a little "high."

Plus, if it means Jena will be away again? I can't complain about it. The best times are the times she's away anymore. 

Everything is just easier that way. 

Jena and Russell both stand in her room neatly packing a few things into their suitcases while McKaiden sits in the middle of the bed trying to grab at everything they pack. 

I should have went back to my room to catch a few more minutes of shut eye before they leave, but I don't want Russell to conveniently "forget" that he still owes me.  

"Sheesh, you guys are coming back, right?" I yawn, leaning up against Jena's doorframe with my arms folded over my chest. They haven't paid me any mind other than to tell me to watch the kid, and I need to make sure Russell knows I'm waiting for something. "You're packing like you're spending more than two days away. So excessive." 

Neither of them bother to respond to me; I might as well be a ghost. Instead, they exchange quiet conversation between eachother until they both finish packing their cases and lower them to the floor. 

"Can you help Russ take these to my truck?" Jena finally decides to speak to me, lugging both suitcases over to the door where I stand. "I'm going to take McKaiden back to her room to change her. Just meet me there when you're done."

Perfect. 

I grab onto Jena's Dior and Rimowa suitcase, the same one she emptied in New York to lug my stuff out here to California, without hesitation or argument. Russ grabs his, shooting me an annoyed glare before we both make our way out of her room. 

"You trying to get slick?" I whisper as we carefully make our way down Jena's marble stairs with the suitcases. "Why didn't you meet up with me last night? You're lucky I didn't sell you out already. I have half a mind to-"

"Hayden was going through something!" He hisses, his brows furrowed. "Shut up, would you? Not everything is about you!" 

I hear Jena shuffling around upstairs as we make it to the door of her vestibule, so I don't even bother responding to the asshole to let him know he still could've found a way. I wait until we both drag the suitcases out and shut the door behind us before I open my mouth again, this time getting right down to the point. 

"Well, a deal is a deal. You still owe me," I tell him, shrugging my shoulders as we maneuver the luggage out the door and down the three stairs leading off the stoop. I quickly add on. "-Extra, if you're going to be gone so long." 

Russell chuckles, turning to me with his brows raises before he responds. "First off, it's two days," he says matter of factly. "And second off, I ain't giving you shit until we get back. You're going to be caring for a fucking baby, you junkie! What the hell do you need any drugs for?!"

This guy is fucking funny, I laugh as make it to Jena's truck, opening it and shoving the luggage in the back. He can't be serious; This is a joke, right? 

"Because I'm a fucking junkie!" I tell him, crossing my arms over my chest and furrowing my brows. "I'm a fucking junkie that can end this entire fairy tale you think you're living with Jena, remember?"

Russell slams the back of the truck shut, his jaw clenched as he turns to face me with his eyes lowered and brows flat. "That'd end your little fairy tale too, genius," he sneers. "You'd have to crawl right back to the dump you came from. Is that what you want? Just take care of the kid, Evelyn. She's trusting you! What kind of friend are you?" 

What a funny question to ask a girl who knows Jena better than this facade she holds up for her "Hayden" life. What kind of friend am I? 

What kind of friend is she?! 

She has taken so fucking much from me in pursuit of her own fucking happiness, if that's what you could even call it! I've lied for her, I've taken beatings for her, I've gotten other people killed just to protect her dirty fucking secrets, and keep her safe! 

And what do I get in return? 

I get to hide away like a dead fucking body in the depths of her massive house! I get used and then forgotten about until the next time she needs something! I get bullshit! 

I've always been force fed all of the bullshit! 

"I'm the kind of friend she will forgive eventually, just like she always has," I finally say, my words meant to make him think rather than to hold any truth. Jena has a hard time forgiving anybody except my brother when they cross her, but Russell doesn't know about that side of her yet. "We can't say the same about you, now can we? Go ahead, tell her about me... Let's test it."

The key is confidence, a trick right out of Jena's book from when she used to use it on Rob. 

Russell's eyes narrow at me again. I can see the millions of thoughts rushing through his head as he contemplates my response. I'm sure he doesn't want to believe me, but something tells me he does. 

"If anything happens to that baby-" he starts to say, only for me to cut him off. 

"The baby will be fine," I say matter of factly, crossing my arms over my chest and trying not to grow too excited knowing I got one over on him. "Everything will be fine."

'Wait until we get back,' my ass! 

Russell still glares at me for a few moments before he ultimately rolls his eyes and let's out a frustrated sigh. "Fine," he growls as he turns back toward the house and starts walking. He stops himself to turn back to me though, his eyes aflame with anger as he speaks. "But don't get twisted..." he huffs. "Once I find a way to get out of... all of this fucking bullshit? Once I have Hayden to myself? ... I'll make sure she never even fucking thinks of you again. I swear it."

Oooh, I'm so scared! I chuckle to myself though I only offer him a sarcastically enthusiastic thumbs up. 

I don't give a damn what this douche thinks he's going to do. She barely thinks of me now, and I live with her! 

Believe me, I'm not missing out on much.