Opposites

3.4

I sat in silence in my room for a long time waiting for Jake to come home with Mary. After a few hours, I got tired of watching tv and became more anxious for the both of them to come home. I called Jake, but ended up with his voicemail. I didn't bother to leave one. I stood up from my bed and pulled the curtains back to peer out of my window. The car was still gone. I bit down hard on my lip and drew blood from ripping off too much dead skin. I ran my hands through my hair as I paced back and forth. My phone began to ring, but Jake's ringtone didn't sound. I answered without seeing who the default ringtone came from.

"Hello?" I answered a bit too eagerly.

"Hey, how is everything going?" Justin asked. I immediately felt relief from the sound of his voice.

"Jake and I talked, and that went really well, but he left a few hours ago to get Mary from her parent's house and they haven't gotten back yet. Jake hasn't answered his phone either." My voice cracked. I was riddled with frustration as I chomped down on my fingernails.

"Listen, it's going to be okay. This is normal. They're a young couple who are having a baby, they're prone to all this." Justin tried to assure.

"Justin, these things have never worked out well in my family." I sat down onto my bed and pulled the covers up to my chin.

"Jake and Mary aren't your parents. They're going to be okay." He kept a calm voice.

"How do you know?" I blinked to try and retract the tears beginning to spill.

"I don't. No one can, but you have to believe that it will be. Things always turn out better that way. You just gotta believe in the both of them." Justin explained.

"Can you please be here? I," I thought for a moment on how to phrase myself before deciding to say what I really wanted to. "I...I need you."

"I'm already on my way. Do you want me to pick anything up for you?" I smiled to myself at his words.

"Ice cream would be nice," I laughed lightly.

"See you in a few," With that, he hung up the phone.

Justin showed up about ten minutes later with a tub of Häagen-Dazs coffee ice cream.

"Hey, Cali." Justin said as I opened the door. He walked to the kitchen and set the tub of ice cream down.

I walked over to him and wrapped my arms around his back. He stopped, probably in a small state of shock, and undid my arms from around him. He turned to face me and leaned down to hug me tight to him. I breathed him in and sighed. He kissed my cheek before pulling away.

"I know how much they mean to you. Either way, you'll know what's going on soon, and that should at least put you a little more at ease."

"You know what their fight was about?" I smiled down at the ground.

"What?" Justin took my hands in his.

"Emilia came over to talk to them and give them some money. She mentioned that we were, in a way, 'crazy' about each other." I didn't meet Justin's gaze.

"How'd that start a fight between them?" He pulled his hands away from mine.

"After Emilia left, Jake said that he didn't need another accidental pregnancy in the heat of the argument." I met his eyes.

"Oh," He turned to the ice cream sitting on the table and took the lid off of it.

I pulled open the drawer next to me, and took out a couple of spoons. I handed one to Justin.

"Sometimes, he seems to forget I'm an adult now, and I can take care of myself. I mean, we all say the wrong things sometimes. I just hope Mary can understand that he didn't mean it." I rubbed the back of my neck.

"Maybe he's just scared that he doesn't have to take care of you anymore. All parents get scared like that eventually." He dug his spoon into the dessert.

"Do you really think so?" I asked as I dug my spoon into the ice cream too.

"My dad seems to be going through the same thing." He shrugged.

"How is it that you always know what to say? How are you so understanding all of the time?" I turned to him, putting my spoon on the table.

He finished swallowing his bite of ice cream before responding. "You've been here for me too, Cali."

"Come on, it's okay to accept a compliment." I teased.

"Thank you," He smiled and stared down at my lips.

"Are you going to to kiss me now?" I giggled.

"Actually, I was staring at the ice cream dried up on the corner of your lip." He licked the pad of his thumb and wiped it away.

I laughed, "Mood killer."

"Wait, was I supposed to kiss you?" He laughed.

"I mean, it felt like you should've." I laughed with him.

"Next time I'll get it." Justin popped another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

My phone buzzed from across the room. We both looked over in its direction. I looked at Justin, silently asking if I should answer it. He nodded. I walked over to the couch and grabbed my phone. Jake's ID appeared on the screen.

"Hello?" I answered the phone.

"Cali," My brother spoke timidly. My stomach dropped to my toes.

"Jake, what's going on?" Justin walked over to me. He draped an arm over my shoulder.

"We talked...about everything. I told her that I was going to love her and my child with everything I got." He sounded dismayed.

"And?" I burrowed my face into Justin's chest.

"She went to an appointment without me. We're having a boy." His tone hadn't lifted.

"I'm so happy for you guys." I tried to sound optimistic.

"She's staying with her parents for the week, and we're gonna meet at the end of the week to talk about where we go from there."

"That's good, right?" I asked.

"I don't know." Jake answered.

"When are you going to be home?"

"Maybe in a couple of hours. I'm going to stop at Emilia's and just hang there for a bit."

"Jake..."

"I'll be fine." He hung up the phone.

"What's going on?" Justin asked. I sat down onto the couch.

"Mary's staying at her parent's for the week. They're having a boy and Jake's at Emilia's." I let out a sarcastic

smile. He sat down next to me.

"They'll be okay." He looked down at the floor.

"I hope so."