The Middle - Volume Two ✔️

Chapter 55

Jamie

A few days of studying and slaving away in the exam hall at college later, and I am very excited. Because... my dad's coming home!

Jay and I are on our way to the airport to pick him up right now, and I cannot wait until he sees my new car. He's gonna lose his shit. He'll shout at Jay, and he'll shout at me for crashing my car in the first place, and he'll insist that we drive straight to the palace so that he can pay Walter back for the car. Jay will tell him that Walter and Denise aren't home from their latest vacation quite yet, my dad will calm down and insist that he'll be having words with Walter about it at Christmas dinner, and then everything will be fine.

And that's pretty much exactly what happens during the ride back to town. I'm driving, dad's riding shot gun, and Jay is in the back.

"So, what else has been going on these past few weeks?" Dad asks casually, "You know, besides you wrecking your old car and almost killing yourself in the process, and you guys turning down not only one but two offers from recording companies, and you guys headlining the NBU Snow Ball?"

Jay doesn't say anything right away, and I wrack my brains trying to think of anything significant I haven't told my dad about yet. Ooh! There is one thing.

"Patrick took a girl on a date last week." I say proudly.

"Shut the fuck up!" Dad exclaims.

"Jame, that's hardly the most interesting news update you could have given Mike just now. And Patrick said himself it was no big deal." Jay points out drily from the back seat. Right. He knows I haven't told my dad about Noah. 

"Okay." I start, a little nervously. I'm glad Jay's here. It would be so awkward if it was just dad and me. 

"Remember that guy you met, Noah?" I ask tentatively, keeping my eyes fixed firmly on the road ahead of me. 

"Yeah, the boy you ran off from Marley's with?" 

Awkward. Awkward! 

"Yeah, him." I go on. "Well, I've sort of started, um... dating him?" 

Upwards inflexion on the end of that sentence, because I just don't feel comfortable using the word dating to describe what me and Noah are doing. But, what else could I call it? Spending time together and having regular sex, between sitting our final exams. Somehow, I have a feeling my dad would not appreciate me saying that. 

"I'm not surprised." Dad says, and I turn my head to look at him a couple times before concentrating on the road again. He's smiling at me. Is he... happy about this? 

"I wasn't either." Jay pipes up from the back. "And honestly, Mike, I cannot get a read on this guy. I have a gut feeling though. I think Jamie deserves better." 

"Excuse me!?" I blurt out angrily before my dad has a chance to respond to what Jay just said. 

"It's true, Jame." I see him shrugging his shoulders in my rear view mirror. "He should never have been so indecisive with you before. He knew what he wanted, and there was nothing stopping him from trying to get it. But, it's taken him all this time. And you said yourself, you guys aren't actually dating. You're seeing each other or whatever. I don't know, something about it just feels off." 

"Don't you dare talk to me about not going after what you want!" I fire back at him, "You had how many years to try and get with Erin?! And you didn't do a god damn thing!"  

"Yeah, and look how that turned out." Jay replies quietly. 

Again, awkward. 

"Come on now, you two. You haven't talked to each other like that since you were toddlers." My dad steps in. "What's more important; stupid college drama about boyfriends and girlfriends, or Jamie Squared?"