Your Nickle Ain't Worth My Dime (A Sleeping with Sirens fan fiction)

Turn It Off

*Kellin's POV*

"Who was it?" I asked Mariah, glancing past the screen at her. 

"I'm sorry," she said, handing my phone over to me. "You said it would be Matty, so I thought that it was, but it wasn't and... I'm so sorry."

"What are you even talking about?" I asked her, sitting up and smiling. She didn't return my smile. She just looked nervous and pale. Her grey/blue eyes flicked down to my phone, then back up at me and she bit her lip. 

I unlocked my phone and my smile instantly fell from my face. It showed that the call had just been from Katelynne. Fuck. Why was she calling me? The only talking we really ever did was through our lawyers now. What did she say that has Mariah all worried? "I really am sorry," she said again.

"What did she say to you, Mya?" I asked. I moved forward on the chair and rested my elbows on my knees. 

"She said she wanted to talk to you about Copeland, saying that she wanted to know if you- if you wanted to work some custody stuff out. Then- then she said not to bother if you were too busy hanging out with random chicks..." She looked away from my eyes and started tapping her toes. She shook her hair in her face, like she didn't want me to look at her. This wasn't her fault.

"And by 'random chicks', she meant you... didn't she?" 

She nodded. "You told me this would happen, but she doesn't know anything about- about..." She paused, seeming to think about what she would say next. I still couldn't see her face to get any idea of what she was thinking, her blonde hair still in her face. "Us," she finished. 

Well, this sucked. I only had one or two hours left here, and my ex-wife had just decided to ruin it all. She was going to let me see Copeland, and I wouldn't let anything stand in my way. She is just as much my daughter as she is hers. Would she really just take her away from me. "Bitch," I mumbled.

"I said I'm sorry!" Mariah exclaimed, throwing her hands up. "No need for mean words!"

"No, it wasn't- nevermind. I'm really sorry about her." I got up, grabbed my jacket off the table, and walked out of the small cafe. I was holding my phone so tightly in my hand that I felt as if I would break it. I didn't want to go too far, though. Like I said, I only had a few hours left with them. I wanted to be there for some of it.

I walked around the side of the cafe, which was a little brick building that was painted gray, which seemed kind of pointless to me. If you're going to paint something, why not paint it a joyful color. Not a dull color, like gray. Anyways, I settled myself in a tiny alleyway, leaning against the bricks. I clicked the call button and waited for the answer. 

She was in for an earful.

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*Jeydon's POV*

Kellin walked out, looking pretty angry. I felt like I maybe should have been paying attention to what they had been talking about, but there had been a squirrel climbing a tree outside the window. How was I supposed to focus on anything else?

I looked over and saw Mariah with her head down, phone in her lap and thumbs rapidly texting. Damon probably. She's been texting and talking to him a lot lately. She never really tells me her problems anymore, and it seems like she doesn't talk to me as much anymore. It could just be that she is trying to avoid the whole topic of Kellin with me, for which I am actually pretty grateful.

I knew I probably should have went over to see if she was okay and been the great best friend that I was supposed to be, but that damn squirrel was up on the cable lines now. Go squirrel! Don't fall! Don't- ah! Oh, good. You're okay. Jump! JUMP! And he sticks the landing! Wooooooooh!

I pulled myself out of this squirrel olympics and looked back over at the girls again. Jamie seemed, somehow, unaffected by the happenings a few moments before. Maybe she was just too involved in editing this video. Either way, I knew I couldnt ask her what had happened. I got up and walked over to the table the Mariah was sat at. We took up like four tables here, yet they let us stay. I wondered why. 

"What happened?" I asked her, nudging her with my wrist. 

She looked up at me with big, blue, sad eyes. She felt guilty about something. Did I miss a fight between her and Kellin? "Katelynne called," she sighed. 

Now, everything made sense. Well, all except that guilty look in her eyes. How was this, in any way, her fault? I guess she always kind of felt guilty, though. I could fall off my bed and go to her house later, telling her about it, and she would instantly apologize like it was her fault or something. "What did she say?" I sat down next to her and saw her phone light up in her hand. She just set it down on the table and I felt myself wanting to smile. I held it in, of course. Now would not be the right time for that. There was just something about the fact that she really wanted to talk to me now that made me happy.

"Well, she wanted to work some custody stuff out, and..." She went on for a good minute telling me just how horrible she felt for all of this. She stopped, letting out a huff of air and shaking her head. "Never did I think that I would have the problem or ruining my boyfriend's chances of winning custody of his daughter against his ex-fricken-wife."

"I don't think any of us did," I agreed. It was kind of bizarre. 

Her phone lit up again, and it seemed that our little moment of talking and being as close as we once were was gone. She picked it up and started texting. It was nice while it lasted.

**

We got sick of waiting for Kellin to come back in, so we walked out and found him standing just around the corner. He was on the phone and Jamie held us back so she could pick up on at least half the conversation. 

"I need to see her, just like she needs a father, Katelynne," we heard him say. There was a long pause, and then, "What are you saying? That my own daughter won't miss me? That- No! You would have to tell her that you kicked me out! You couldn't lie to her about things like that!" There was another pause, and I could feel the tension reaching the three of us. "Just, please, let me see her. Can't we work something-?"

I heard something like crushing metal and a frusterated sigh, but I couldn't see him. The air just seemed to get heavier and heavier as the seconds ticked by. We held our breath, hoping that he couldn't hear us. All of that was interrupted by Mariah's phone chiming. Way to go, I thought. 

Kellin came around the corner in a matter of seconds, causing us all to straighten up. "We were just coming to look for you," Jamie spit out. It was clear that she did this a lot.

"I have like an hour before I have to leave, so what do you guys-?" Kellin began, but Mariah cut in.

"We actually have to leave in about 20 minutes," she said, and I could tell she felt really bad. Kellin obviously wanted a few hours with Mariah, but that just wasn't going to happen. Even I had to admit that I felt bad about having to leave.  

Kellin looked down at his shoes and stuffed his hands in his pocket. "Oh. Okay. I guess I will walk you to the truck then?" 

Mariah and Jamie nodded, Jamie seeming much more enthusiastic about it. He walked us to where we had parked, which seemed a lot farther than I had remembered. He scruffed Jamie's hair before she got in, and I then had to watch as he hugged and kissed Mariah goodbye. Ugh. I was way past done with all of this. I was over feeling bad about leaving, and kind of couldn't wait until we got home and he wasn't there anymore. 

She climbed into the passengers seat and buckled in before curling into a little ball in the seat and closing her eyes. I hadn't noticed how tired she had looked before. She had dark circles under her eyes and was super pale. 

My mom's voice played back in my head. "You need to eat in order to have energy," she had said several times during my childhood. Of course it had ended with, "Especially your vegetables, Jeydon." But the message was the same. What was I going to do about this girl?

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*A/N Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! I'm thinking of starting an All Time Low sci-fi fan fiction, so COMMENT if you would read it! Please VOTE, COMMENT, and KEEP READING. shanks(: xoxo