Not So Hopeless Romance - Temporarily On Hold

Chapter Six-Dumbass...

    "Jess. Jess, wake up."

    "Come on, Jess. Not again."

    "Jessie, Daniel has to get up at some time or another."

    I was in between the realms of conscious and not, slowly being woken up to voices. But the one that did it, tipped the scale between the two, was when a feminine voice yelled pretty damn close to my ear.

    "Jessie, wake up before I do something you won't like." Ow. That hurt.

    I grimaced and opened my eyes only to have my vision clouded by a grey material. Somehow, after I had fallen asleep, my head had ended up on Dani's thigh. Either I did that myself, miraculously, or Dani had shifted me. I inhaled deeply before turning my head to see three people staring down at me. Dani, Casey and my Dad.

    "Oh, hey Dad." I smiled at him and lifted my hand to give him a small wave.

    "Hello my daughter. Have a good sleep?" He raised his eyebrows but smiled back.

    "Mmhmm, yeah. I did, wasn't planning on falling asleep though." I looked up at Daniel, his face above mine. Deep breaths. "I'm guessing this was your doing?" I referred to the fact that this was not how I fell asleep.

    He nodded his head. "You can hurt your neck the way you were, strain it."

    "Well, thanks. For that." I stared at him for a second, Case cleared her throat. I picked my head up off his lap, standing up, and I stretched.

    "Took us long enough to wake you." She smiled at me. "Deep sleep, guessing you were comfortable?"

    I nodded my head and looked away from her, not wanting her to tease me. Again. I make myself busy by grabbing my chips and pop off the table, going to the kitchen. "How was work, Dad?"

    "It was alright. No one mentioned anything about an out-of-town job, so that's good." My Dad was a construction worker so he wasn't always stationed in the same spot, having to go out of town for certain jobs. It had pretty much always been like that.

    Before Mom and Tristan left and then for a while after, while I was younger, he'd try his best to get the jobs that were closer. But as I got older and was able to stay alone without him worrying about me burning the house down while he was gone, so around ten or eleven, he started taking jobs farther out.

    I finally opened my Root Beer and it dawned on me how long I must have been out. Dad normally got home, when having closer jobs like this one, around seven, seven-thirty the latest. The digital clock on the stainless steel stove says that it's after eight. We got home at around three twenty. Damn, okay then. I put the chips back in the cupboard and sighed.

    "Yo Jess, I gotta go. Mom wants me back home to watch Jamie. Says she and my Dad are going out." Casey walked into the kitchen, looking down at her phone. Her fingers flew over the screen.

    "Yeah, okay. No problem, I'll see you tomorrow." I smiled at my Dad before following Case back into the living room. She slipped her laptop into the slot in her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

    Jamie is Casey's little sister. She was only five so Case ended up having to watch her a lot. Whether her parents were working or going out. They make her bring Jamie out with us every once and awhile. I don't mind, Jamie's cute, but Casey got annoyed by her easily. She never showed it though, she was actually really good with her. Her parents had Jamie just over a year after they had moved here, so I've known Jamie all her life.

    "I should get going too." Dani frowned  and muttered, "even if I don't want to."

    "You sure?" I asked. "You can stay the night again, you know my Dad doesn't mind."

    "Yeah, I know. But I have to check on Macy." Ever since his Mom had passed in grade three, he and his Dad hadn't really gotten along. At first, Mr.Anderson had tried his best to be the father his sons needed, but it eventually got to be too much so he gave into his depression and started drinking. Normally that meant fighting with Daniel, it had only been verbal from what Dani had told me.

    Dani ended up coming to my house to calm down or just because he didn't want to see his father like that. He always ended up going back. He always said it was just to check up on his younger brother Mac, but I knew it was for his Dad too. As much as Daniel resented his father for turning to the drinking, he understood what drove him to it.

    Mac is, like I had said, younger. While Dani had been eight when their Mom passed, Mac had only been a toddler, being around two and a half. Mac barely remembered her at all, only really knowing her and what she looks like from the stories Dani told him and the stash of photos Dani had snagged before their Dad could hide them in a trunk in their attic.

    Mac was a good kid, he really was. He was eleven now and had been getting into some trouble at school with certain kids. He had smarts, confidence and if you got to know him,  he was kind and would cheer you up, be there for you if he noticed you were off or down, but the kids at his school don't give him a chance. He had told Dani and me about it. Dani had told me he had had to talk to some kids the few times he picked him up from school because their Dad couldn't.

    Mac had ADHD so he was always energetic, but give him a book he'll be interested in or a game controller and he would be fine. Mac kind of took Tristan's place when it came to the video games. Every once and a while you could find the three of us playing on the console connected to the TV in my room. Casey would be on my bed working on her laptop, us three on the floor. Switching between the Xbox and the Playstation.

    "Okay, tell Mac I say 'hi' and that he should come over for a round or two of COD or Halo. It's been a while." I walked up to him and threw my arms around him, enveloping him in a hug. He did the same. I caught Casey's eye and she smirked, raising an eyebrow. I immediately unlatched my arms from around him and took a step back.

    "Yeah, sure. I'll tell him, see you tomorrow." He gave me a weak smile before bending at the waist to grab his bag. He went to the door to put his shoes on.

    "What, no 'see ya' to me?" Casey asked tauntingly.

    "Would you like me to say it to you, Casey?" He raised his eyebrows.

    "Well, I'm your cousin." She stated.

    "Your point?"

    "We're related, dumbass. Pretty sure it's a must for family."

    "Again, your point?"

    She walked over to him and punched his arm, he winced. "Let's go, dumbass. I'll drive you home and you can say it to me then."

    While they argued a lot and didn't really get along, they still cared about each other. They almost act like Tristan and I did, to be honest.

    Daniel glared at the door and clenched his jaw. Casey grabbed him by the arm, same place she punched, and dragged him out.

    I walked to the doorway and watched her pull him down the walkway and to her car. She practically shoved him in the passenger side. "I'll see you both tomorrow," I yelled.

    Casey waved while she walked around to the driver's side and started the car. Dani rolled down his window and smiled. "See you tomorrow, Jess."