|| INCARCERATE || CENTRAL CEE ||

BIRTHDAY

The party finally started and guest started to arrive. Cade and I were saying hi to everyone and enjoying the vibe. "Here you go." Jacob reaches from behind me and hands me a drink. "Thank you." I turn around and kiss him on the cheek. I takes steps towards the back yard and see my mom with a checkboard in her hand. Stuff like this is her favorite thing to do, she likes to be in charge and likes to plan things. Honestly, the party also looks amazing. Everyone looked like they were having a good time, they were all on the dance floor and Maddie was even preforming on stage.

"Hey Jade! Great party!" My friend Jen says. "Hey! I didn't think you would make it." I give her a hug. "Of course I would! I love the Jolie twins." She squeezes me. As we separate she looks at Cade and Maddie who are on stage singing together. She blinks quickly and looks down in a face of disappointment. Cade and Jen dated for 5 years and recently broke up 7 months ago. They were madly in love until Jen left him for some doctor that didn't really last long with her. You know what they say... 'you lose them the same way you got them'.

"How are you holding up?" I put my hand on her shoulder. "I'm fine." She says almost forced. "Jen... are you sure?" I ask. "Do you think he hates me?" She utters in the most soft and worried tone. "Cade doesn't hate you Jen... he is just trying to move on." I explain. "Onto your best friend?" She points at Maddie. I look over and see Maddie, it looked like she was singing directly to Cade. "Cade and Maddie? Nah they are just friends." I laugh. "Hmm weird... he used to look at me like that." She takes a sip of her drink. "No they wouldn't do that to me." I shake my head. She just nods slowly.

    "Hey baby your mom is looking for you." Jacob wraps his arms around me. "Jen, this is Jacob my boyfriend." I introduce them. They shake hands and smile. "Nice to meet you." Jacob says. "You as well." Jen adds. "Alright, I am going to go talk to my mother." I escape from underneath Jacobs arms leaving him to talk to Jen. I head to the gift table where she was counting all the gift bags. 

    "Hey mom! You wanted to see me?" I smile at her. She quickly pulls me into a hug which catches me off guard. "I'm sorry for making you leave like that." She sways me back and forth. "It's alright mom, you were doing what you thought was best." I nod my head. "No, I shouldn't have said anything, you are your own woman. You know what you are doing." She pulls away from me and shakes her head. "Well thank you for apologizing mom, I appreciate it." I smile. "I am just glad you are back with Jacob, he might not show it but he means well." She had an unsure tone in her voice. "Mom, if its for the fame you know you can tell me." I laugh. She nods without saying anything. 

    In that moment her eyes focused on something completely different, her lips slightly fell apart. I looked back and saw exactly what she was looking at. Cench walked in with his crew, we made immediate eye contact as if we could spot each other from miles away. My heart started to beat so fast and I found it difficult to catch up with my breath. "You better make sure Jacob doesn't spot that man anywhere here." My mom speaks. "Shit." I utter before walking back to Jacob. 

    "H-hey baby! What are ya'll talking about?" I smile putting his arm around my shoulder. "Jen was talking about how hard it is to be a therapist." He pulls me closer to him. "Oh really?" I say looking around for where Cench was at. Jen started to speak but I couldn't get my mind to concentrate on what she was saying. I just kept staring at Cench making sure he didn't get close to us. 

    As Jen was finishing up her story, I saw Cench staring at me and heading directly towards me. I start to panic on the inside and I hold my breath. "Are you alright?" Jacob whispers in my ear. "Uhm, Y-yeah." I stutter. "Baby? You sure?" He looks down at me. Cench was inching closer to me. "I think it's time for a song, don't you?" I say grabbing his hand and heading to the stage. "Babe that was a little rude." He chuckles. "Sorry I just want to sing." I shrug. "Alright." He laughs and shakes his head.