Part of You

Chapter Twelve

As I was walking out of school, my phone rang.

"Hello?" I said as I answered. I couldn't help but notice Jay staring at me like a creep, about fifteen feet away.

"Nikki, it's your father. Denise is giving birth, get down here now! Burkely Hospital!"

"Dad how am I supposed to -"

"Jeff!" I heard in the background.

"Take the bus? Gotta go!" With that, dad hung up. I sighed as I watched the sweaty football players walk to the bus stop. There's no way I'm riding the bus with them! I thought. I took a deep breath and walked towards Jay.

"Hi Jay. I know this is sorta inconvenient but my dad's fiance's giving birth and I need a ride so would you mind?"

"Sure." Sadly, Ken was at the doctor's today so I couldn't get a ride from him.

"Thanks."

"So Nikki..." Jay started as he began driving.

"Yeah?"

"I'm doing you a favor, you kinda owe me." Oh great, I know what's coming. "Why are you mad at me?"

"Jay, can we not talk about this right now?" Jay shook his head and kept driving. 

   I heard Jay's phone start ringing and glanced down.

Call from: Hayden<3

   Ugh, I couldn't help but hate the way they were all 'lovey dovey!'

"Uh, Nikki I hate to ask, but could you please answer that for me? It could be important. I was about to tell Jay it was just his stupid girlfriend when I realized he would be mad if he knew I looked.

"Sure..." I took his phone and pressed answer. "Hello?"

"Who is this?" Hayden yelled.

"It's Nikki," I replied as I grinned. I could have fun with this.

"Nikki? Why do you have my Jayden's phone?!"

   I looked at Jay who was focused on the road then continued with Hayden. "Because, he's not awake yet," I said, trying to get under her skin.

"Awake?! Nikki you're in his house? But you're there for Ken, right?"

"Ken? Him and his mom went on a short trip in Rio Dell for the week. It's only Jay in the house for now - well besides me, of course." I could see the look on Hayden's face now!

"What?!"

"Hold on. Yeah, there's breakfast on the kitchen table!" 

     I realized that we had stopped in front of the hospital and Jay was glaring at me. I had gotten too carried away! I had no idea what to say to Jay.

"Just...Just give me the phone," he said. I handed him the phone and got out the car. He put the phone to his ear and tried to work things out as I went in the hospital. "Baby just-I'm sorry," I heard as I left.

"Excuse me mam'," I said, approaching a nurses' desk.

"What?" she asked in a rude tone.

"Um, do you know where I can find Denise Gregory?" I asked as politely as possible.

"Ugh!" the nurse groaned as she flipped through some papers. "Hmm... Denise Gregory, room 204."

"Gee thanks," I replied and ran off to find them. When I got to the room, all I heard was a baby crying. Mom and dad stood nearby while dad took the baby from Denise's hands and talked to her. He looked up and noticed I was there.

"Nikki, you're here."

  I nodded my head and started walking towards them. "What's her name?" I asked quietly.

"Maxine," Denise replied.

"Nice!" Max said with a huge grin across his face. 

"Oh," I quietly responded. 'This isn't fair,' I thought. My mom deserves happiness. She was here, feeding me and buying me things while dad was off with his fiance I had no clue about! The one thing I had wanted from my father the most, was love.

"Let me just go get her cleaned up," the doctor said. He took Maxine in his hands and left.

"Honey, I'll start putting our stuff together. The plane leaves at seven," dad said.

"Hey dad?" I said as dad began placing items together.

"Yeah?"

"Can I talk to you? Outside?"

"Okay sweet pea." Dad followed me outside and closed the door. "What's up?"

"Dad...Something's been bothering me. I want to know the truth right now." Dad got a serious look on his face as he waited. "Is it that you don't love me? Or were you just to lazy to call or come visit? And why did I not know about Denise? How long have you even been together?"

"Woah woah woah, calm down," dad started.

"No dad, I'm not gonna calm down," I cut him off. "I deserve the truth and I want it now, and if you're not gonna tell me, then you can just stay out of my life."

   Dad stayed silent for a while, but finally started talking. "Nikki...A hard part of your mother and I's divorce was that I still loved her, but an even harder part was leaving my kids. The thing was, I knew you'd be better off with your mother - I wouldv'e been a horrible father without her. You guys would've turned into little monsters." I glared at dad as he spoke. "As to not calling, a while after the divorce, I found a great job - part owner of Frankooski Records. The job requires me to be there from seven to nine, six days a week. The few times that I did call, you were either at school, sleeping or out. At a point, I felt like I was being a burden."

"What about Denise?" I asked, angrily.

"Well, we met when I was on the Job. She wanted a record deal for her niece, and it's sort of a long process - she came in every week with her niece and we talked things over. Later on, we fell in love. I asked her to marry me six months after we met. I know I couldv'e let a message for you, telling you about our engagement, but I thought sending an invitation would be a nice surprise...I realize I was wrong...I'm sorry."

   Dad looked at me. I was looking down at my lap.

"I always thought that...that you and mom would one day re-marry...that's why I was really upset when all of a sudden I found out you were getting married," I admitted.

"Honey, I'm sorry," dad said, giving me a hug. "But when you're mom and I divorced, we knew it'd be forever - it just wasn't working out. I made a mistake with your mother and my kids. Maxine and Denise are my second chances."

   I smiled and looked at my father. "Sorry dad," I said, giving him a hug. "Sorry I've been acting this way."

"It's not your fault..."

             I'm glad this whole thing is cleared up between me and my father...Now I know he loves me. I'm also glad I have Ken! It had been almost two weeks since we started dating, and I think I'm actually falling for him. I know it was about getting back at Jay in the beginning, but I'm done with that - I was going to let Jay do whatever he wanted to. As long as I had my Ken, I'd be OK.