Endure

T W O

Jenny's hand stayed wrapped tightly around my fingers as we stepped up to the line at the ice cream counter. Her focus was captivated by the many colorful ice creams on display, while mine was on my phone.

"Save your time, girlie."

I turned around to see Jade smiling knowingly at me.

"And your phone battery," she added playfully, nodding at my phone in my hand.

"Oh, I'm not--" I quickly put my phone away. I should've never checked in the first place. I just told myself I wouldn't, but I couldn't help myself. "I wasn't--"

"--checking to see if a certain someone has returned your calls?" she finished, cocking an eyebrow.

I let out a sigh. She knew me far too well. "Do you know if he's okay?" I chewed on my lip.

She gave me a firm nod. "He's fine. We just picked him up."

"Picked him up? From where?"

She sighed, rolling her eyes with a wave of her hand. "You don't wanna know. But I do know that if he saw you today, he'd be slamming his head against that wall over there." She nodded at the wall.

I laughed softly. "Jade!"

"Don't act like it's not true." She raised an eyebrow at me. "Girl, look at you!!"

I laughed again, shaking my head before looking at her. "Fine, thank you. You look amazing too! You're glowing!!"

"Thank you. I try," she replied playfully with a wink. "The glow is the only thing I'll miss about being pregnant. After this, I'm going to need whatever you're using because your makeup looks perfect! Seriously, like, your eyeliner is sharp enough to slit his throat."

I almost choked before quickly placing my hands over the small toddler's ears as she stayed close to me. "Jenny, you didn't hear anything, okay?"

"Wowwww!!!" Jenny exclaimed, keeping her eyes on the ice cream, clearly oblivious to our conversation . . . fortunately. Her fingers stayed tightly wrapped around mine.

I looked at Jade in disbelief. "Jade, I know I dumped him but I don't want him dead!!" I let out a laugh.

Jade threw her head back as she continued laughing and I couldn't help but join her.

"But if it does slit his throat, it's Sera's fault," I quietly added with a giggle. "She did my eyeliner, not me."

Jade burst out into even more laughter and I joined her.

"Sera would do that. Ugh, love her." Jade wiped her eyes as our laughter died down. "Oh my. That compliment turned very violent very quickly. Sorry, Jenny."

Fortunately, Jenny's attention seemed to be completely and utterly captivated by the ice cream and only the ice cream display, as it managed to keep her and Bennie entertained for this long. 

"You'll get your ice cream soon, kiddos!" Jade assured them as the line moved and we stepped closer to the ice cream display. "Good thing he's not here tonight. I guess we'll spare him." She turned to me with a shrug.

"Is it a good thing?" I countered, raising an eyebrow and we both looked at each other before bursting out into more laughter.

"Oh, dear," she sighed, attempting to calm her laughter. "I did not think I would be laughing this much about him today. Poor guy. He's been through more than enough today and yet we're still making jokes about him."

"Brandon doesn't seem to have any problem with it." I turned to Brandon with a smile, who had been listening quietly to our conversation by Jade's side.