The Girl is Mine • MJ Fanfic • COMPLETED

Thirty-One: Awkward Feeling

"What's up, Lauren? Merry Christmas!" Jam replied cheerfully.

"Um, Merry Christmas." I replied. He smiled at me, and I still had mine plastered on my face, as we looked at each other. Things quickly became silent. "Shit, Jam, I'm sorry, would you like to come in?" I asked him politely.

"Uh, yeah, sure. If that's alright with you," he responded.

"Of course," I said as I stepped to the side. Since it was cold outside, I felt bad having him just standing out there. Once he was inside, I closed the door and turned the locks. He waited until I was done, allowing me to walk in front of him.

"It's been a while," he spoke breaking the silence. I would be lying if I said things were anything short of awkward right now.

"Yeah," I replied, giving him a brief nod.

"How you been?" He asked.

"I've been great," I said cheerfully as we reached the den. "What about you?" I asked him being polite. I looked at him as I took a seat on the couch, pulling one of my legs on the sofa. "You know you can sit down," I added as I chuckled, noticing he was just gonna stand there.

I didn't really want to make small talk, I just wanted him to get to the point. But I felt like I would be coming off as rude, so I decided to just be nice. All I wanted to do was go upstairs and call Michael and pick up where we left off. Speaking of Michael, I'm sure he's probably wondering what's taking me so long.

"I've been really good. And thanks, but I'm fine," he said referring to sitting down. "I don't wanna take up too much of your time, I just wanted to bring your dad his Christmas gift," he explained.

"Aw that's sweet, Jam. I'm sure he's gonna love that," I told him as I smiled small. "He's not here right now, though. Everybody went out, and they won't be back until midnight," I added. "But you can leave it here, and I'll let him know it's from you," I suggested.

"No, it's fine. I'll just bring it back Wednesday night. We're watching the Knicks play the Bulls," he said.

"Okay, cool," I replied as I nodded.

Things quickly became silent and it wasn't comfortable. At least not for me. At first, I really did consider a friendship with Jam, but being that this is really my first time seeing him since then, I don't feel the same. Maybe it'll just be best for us to be cordial and just speak and talk every now and then in passing.

It's not like I didn't expect to see him again, he and my dad still talked and watched the games together. As I stated before, I have no problem with that. That's their business. But tonight, I realized there's really no reason for us to have an actual friendship.

"I would ask if you're still in a relationship, but I already know the answer, seeing that you're on the cover of damn near every magazine. Not to mention the footage of him bringing you on stage is constantly being played." he joked breaking the silence.

"Yep," I chuckled as I playfully rolled my eyes at the thought of the annoying media frenzy.

"You're famous now," he said as he smirked.

"I wouldn't say famous," I replied as I shook my head. "I never would've imagined this being my life." I added, laughing lightly.

"It didn't have to be," he mumbled.

"What was that?" I asked furrowing my eyebrows together, pretending I didn't hear what he said.

"Nothing," he responded trying to laugh it off.

"Well, I was actually on my way up to bed before you came, so," I spoke up, deciding it was time to wrap this up.

I immediately stood up and he followed suit as he nodded his head remaining silent. There was nothing left for us to talk about. And judging by that little comment he made, the last thing I needed was to go down that road with him. This made me feel even better about my decision not to go further as friends.