Afternoon Run

twenty-one; ❝the plan❞

The next day, I find myself in Jesenia's comfortable living room. After facing a freezing stare from her parents, we decided that it would be better for us to play silent games. Except, JEsenia decides to break the ice.

"You're such a liar!" Jesenia yells at me suddenly.

"But I—"

"Don't! I don't believe anything you say!"

"What's going on?" Jesenia's mom shouts when she comes into the living room. Her dad and Jade follow closely behind her, clearly confused about what's happening.

"She's lying to me! She threatened Jade, and now she has the guts to say it was Jade!"

Jade nearly stumbles onto the floor in surprise, which causes her parents to stare at her questioningly. I think she's barely fully taking in what exactly she's done.

"Well, Adelina, tell the truth!" Jesenia screams.

"Calm down," her mom tells her, but she sends me a glare, saying, "Adelina, just accept that you can't lie your way out of this one."

I can't lie, the audacity of this woman to accuse me of such a crime is lowering my positive perception of her. Nothing and no one, are ever what they seeem.

"I'm not—"

"Damn right you're lying!" Jesenia yells once again.

Her dad doesn't have any idea as to what they should all do next. He heads over to his wife, and softly whispers something into her ear that I can't even bother to hear. Jade is easily upset, and I know it's because the mess she's caused has become much bigger than she had previously planned for.

Yet, she still hasn't confessed to anything, which means that our plan is currently failing.

   I send a certain look to Jesenia, and she seems to get the obvious message, then yelling, "you know what? I can't trust you anymore! We're done!"

Jade instantly covers her mouth with her hand, and screams, "STOP!"

Jesenia and I shoot each other a knowing smile, satisfied that our plan has so far worked. Jesenia's parents look at their first daughter in confusion, and ask her to speak up.

"I admit it! I told Adelina not to say anything!"

"Jade!?" Her mom remarks, shocked at the actual truth.

She looks back and forth at me and her picture perfect daughter, and seems to be wondering what's going on. One thing I know is that I expect to be delivered a long apology from her about her rude behavior from me.

A small part of me does understand her reaction though. If I were given the option of believing my own flesh and blood versus a person I just met, I know what option I would choose. It's the same path she took, but I do assume it's full of regret for today.

"I'm sorry! Don't break up with her, J! She kept the secret, and I'm sorry."

Jesenia begins laughing, and says, "finally, you admit it."

"Excuse me?"

She can't even believe what we're saying.

"You wouldn't admit the truth so we put on this little skit to get you to admit it! It worked," Jesenia proudly tells her.

  Jade seems angry at first, but her features soften as she says, "well played. I shouldn't have lied and mom, dad, I'm sorry that I got married without you knowing. It just felt so right and I didn't want all of the judgement."

Her dad sighs, and says, "we want you to be happy. And Adelina, we are so sorry for thinking that you lied."

Her dad genuinely means it, but a part of me wonders if Jesenia's mom thinks that Jade is protecting me in some way. Her ignorance continues in different layers, and I find it difficult to comprehend.

"It's okay—" I start to tell them.

"No, actually it's not okay," Jesenia loudly says. "You accused my girlfriend of being a liar! This isn't the first time that Jade has lied but each time, you both fall for it!"

They're both uncomfortable, and seem shocked by my girlfriend's sudden outburst. I don't have the courage to say anything like that out loud, especially not to her own parents.

"It's okay. They just don't know me that well and maybe that's my fault— I haven't tried to spend much time with your family," I decide to say.

"This isn't your fault," she carefully assures me.

"Jesenia's right," her mom comments. "We should have tried to reach out to you. So, I'm proposing a meal together, all of us every Friday from now on."

That seems like a real change, and I'm thankful for it. She seems genuine now, and it's likely because she's barely coming to terms with the complexities of her family.

"I can do that," I say, and Jesenia nods her head, then laying her head against my shoulder.

"Fine," Jade says. "I'll try. I just have a lot of—"

"Not work again," Jesenia groans.

"I'm going to cut my hours so that I can spend more time with all of you. I miss our family, and I also want you all to get to know Liam better."

Jesenia tenses up beside me, and it's obvious that she doesn't want to talk to that man. I know that it's an unbearable spot, but I hope that change is capable of happening there.

Her mom simply ignores Jade's last few words, and declares, "this meeting is done!"

"It never started. . . ?" Jade asks, trailing off into awkward silence.

Her parents leave Jesenia exits the room, leaving us alone for once.

"What's so bad about Liam?" I decide to ask Jesenia.

We haven't spoke much about him. I've only heard a few details here and there, and I fill in the rest of the blank memories for myself. This time, I can't hold myself back from requesting more information.

"He's broken up with Jade and gotten back together with her like 5 times already, and he gets Jade into things she shouldn't."

"Things like. . .?"

"She once went to jail because of him! It was for trespassing and it was for a short time but nonetheless, she went to jail because of him."

I almost point out to her that she chose to commit the crime too, but instead "wow" is all I say to her.

I don't know how best to respond to that kind of information. It just seems so complicated, and I don't think that my basic words will do anything to make it better.

"I know. Let's go up to my bedroom and watch a movie or something."

"I get to choose though!" I tell her because I'll admit, my girlfriend is amazing but her taste in good movies is lacking.

Jesenia laughs and leads me up the stairs, telling me, "I expect to see the best movie ever then!"

We watch a cheesy movie together and that night, I sleep beside her on her bed, cuddling her.

We end up watching a random cheesy movie together, and that night we sleep besides each other on her warm bed. Our dark midnight is full of cuddling and loving, more than anything we could ever have wished for.