Struggles of a Single Father (Book 1 of the Struggle Puff Series)

Chapter 10

Edited – 2/20/2020

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It had been a few days since my date with Amy and now Jake and I were hanging out in her living room.

"You never told me if you could go to Ain's party, Jake." Amy mentioned, "Julia is already mad that I haven't finalized the guest list, so I need to know."

"Oh right. I can make it. I won't be leaving town until the eighteenth."

"What are you leaving town for?"

"Jake and his family always take a family trip from the start of Christmas break until the day after the New Year." I answered.

"Oh. That must be fun."

"It is. My parents are really chill on vacation so they're usual nagging is put off for two weeks."

"Must be nice." Amy grumbled. "Anyway. I'm glad you'll be able to come. Ain will be really happy."

"Is that even possible?"

Amy raised an eyebrow at him, "What?"

"I've seen that kid look happy one single time since I met him. And that was on Halloween."

"What are you talking about, dude? Ain was happy on..." I looked around and thought hard before a concerned look overtook my face, "You're right. It was Halloween."

"You're both idiots. Ain has been extremely happy recently. You're telling me you haven't noticed?"

"Newsflash, Amy. You can't see what is never there." Jake said with a raised eyebrow.

Amy chose to roll her eyes rather than argue with him.

"Back on the topic of the party." I changed the subject, "What should we wear?"

"Right. The dress code is black-tie."

"I'm sorry what?"

"I said that the dress code is black-tie. Why do you sound surprised?"

"Hmmm... I wonder why I sound surprised." I asked sarcastically, "Jake, do you think you could guess?"

"I can't be too sure, but I'm guessing it's because a child's birthday party has a super fancy dress code which tells us that this isn't some cute little party with a bouncy house and hotdogs."

"Would you both please shut up?"

Jake and I looked at each other with wide grins before dropping our game.

"No offense, but the idea of formal attire is kind of.... Uuuh..."

"Shitty? Boring? Suffocating? No fun at all?" Jake offered.

"Yeah. Everything that Jake said, but nicer."

"Don't hurt yourselves trying to spare my feelings. It's not like I'm planning his party. Julia hired a real party planner." She added air quotes to emphasize what Julia had said.

"What a bitch."

"Jake, you can't just call people that!" I said with wide eyes.

"Oh Carter. It's so kind of you to assume she's an actual person." Amy said with a fake smile

"Amy!" My eyes only grew wider at the way they were speaking.

"Carter," Amy laughed, "It really doesn't matter. Tilisia and Ain are in his room so they can't hear us. Besides, even Ain knows that Julia is the worst. He's just extremely respectful of her position as his mother."