Jenalyn: Disconnected (#5) [Complete]

Chapter 62: Evelyn

Sat. 2/14/09 • 5:09 P.M. PST

I couldn't be any less excited about tonight. Russell is coming over, and it's kind of a big deal or whatever because Jena never feels comfortable enough to invite him over while she has the baby.

Well I mean that, and it's Valentine's Day.

I've been pacing the length of my bedroom for the past 15 minutes, dreading his arrival and my imminent participation for the night.

I hate when this guy comes over.

He gives me weird vibes, though I haven't been able to put my finger on why. I just don't trust him. Not only do I have to deal with that, but I'm sure Jena is still on edge with me because of my constant pestering. I've been feinding quite a bit since Dane gave me a fix, and I need Jena to let me out of her damned house so I can find more! Needless to say, I have been unsuccessful.

She is such an old lady anymore!

A quick knock on my door reminds me that Jena has already made plans for our night, and I try not to grow too frustrated. I know she's trying to be nice, including me in on her Valentine's dinner with Russell and all, but... I just need to find something to clear my head.

That is not it.

"Ready?" Jena asks, pushing open my bedroom door with a smile on her face that only seems present anymore when this guy is around. She holds the baby, dressed up in a pink dress with a red bow, on her hip.

I nod my head, tossing my phone back on the bed as we head downstairs assumingly to open her front door.

"I can't believe you gave this guy the code to your security gates! You've only been friends for what? A month?" I can't help but comment as we trek down her stairs. "Aren't celebrities supposed to like... be cautious about these kinds of things?" I can't help the memory of Dane effortlessly making his way inside of her house from creeping into my mind.

Jena giggles and shrugs her shoulders, unable to see the annoyed expression on my face as she walks ahead of me through her large livingroom.

"I think we're a little more than friends, at this point!" she sings, practically skipping at this point.

Is she serious? I think to myself silently, though sighing loudly. I throw myself on her sofa and play with my fingernails to keep myself from snapping at her. How could she even think about relationships, knowing herself?

She couldn't even keep it together for the literal man of her freaking dreams!

I can feel myself getting more angry than I know the thoughts call for. I know I don't really give a damn about Jena's relationship status. I'm just irritable... irritable and overwhelmed.

"What, and he's a straight edge or something?" I look up from my fingernails to ask her. "Why can't we go out or something? Why do we always have to stay here? Let's go to a freaking party!"

"Really, Ev?" Jena immediately asks, her tone unimpressed. She bounces the baby up on her hip, signaling to her before turning back to me to narrow her eyes and shake her head. "What did you expect, coming out here? Parties all day and night? The point was to help eachother, Ev, not fucking party all the time! You know I have a baby, you know I have a reputation, and you know I have been trying to stay clean! Why are you constantly bickering about this?!"

I expected that reaction. Like I said, she has been pretty annoyed with me. I'm just hoping that it'll at least drive her to let me leave the freaking house alone everyone once in a while! Afterall, if I'm not here, how can I bother her?

"So let me go out then!" I exclaim in response, ignoring the eyeroll it provokes. "I can make my own friends! Do my own thing! Get out of your hair for a few hours a day!"

Jena ignores me completely. Without another word, she turns around to make the rest of her way toward the front door, pulling it open.

I could scream right now.

"Woah! Hello there!" I hear after a second, followed by an excited squeal from the baby. Jena laughs, and the front door clicking shit echoes throughout her tall ceilings. I don't even want to turn around, but curiosity always gets the best of me. "What's all this about?" she asks.

I turn around just as Russell pokes his head around the side of a stack of gifts and a giant pink teddy bear.

Disgusting.

I've always hated Valentine's Day, and this display is doing absolutely nothing to fight that. He balances three red boxes, a gift bag, and the teddy bear in his arms while Jena maneuvers around it all to plant a kiss on his cheek.

Yuck!

"I had to make a good impression on little miss...?" Russell responds after she pulls away. He shifts his balancing act to one arm, grabbing the bear by the neck to bop McKaiden's nose with it.

"-McKaiden!" Jena giggles, introducing the two before grabbing the gift bag with her free arm and leading Russell over to where I still sit in the livingroom. I swear the smile on her face is so big it might split her in two.

"McKaiden," Russ repeats, nodding his head as they both unload the gifts onto the coffee table. "She's definitely a cutie! Looks just like her mama!"

Jena rolls her eyes playfully before pausing to take a deep breath. "Okay, you know this is a big deal for me but..." she begins, a giggle still present in her voice despite the worry in her eyes. "You want to hold her?"

Russell looks shocked for a moment, but shrugs his shoulders with a laugh. "I mean, I don't have to if-" he starts to say, but Jena inturrupts, urging with baby into his arms.

"No, no!" She exclaims through her laughter. "I have to get this over with now! I suck at trusting people with her but I know she's okay with you! C'mon!"

The transfer is awkward, but eventually McKaiden sits in Russell's arms. McKaiden looks confused at first, sizing the scruffy man up and down before her wobbly head settles on the ball of hair topping his head. She immediately reaches up for it.

"Oh my gosh!" Jena exclaims, her face lighting up at the sight. She pats her pockets before holding her finger up to Russ and the baby. "I have to take a picture of you two! You guys match, with your little buns! Hold on a second, I think I left my phone in my office!"

Jena rushes off before anyone can say anything else, leaving me alone to watch Russ with the baby. I'm not sure if he's ever been around babies before, but the way he's awkwardly maneuvering McKaiden around makes me think this is a first time thing for him.

"She's a squirmy little thing, isn't she?" Russell asks after a moment, reminding me that I'm not actually invisible. It's easy to believe that I am once this guy comes around; Jena only speaks to me to boss me around, and Russell is too far up her ass to notice me.

He shifts the baby to his other hip, knocking something out of his jacket pocket in the process. It happens quick, but my eyes automatically settle on it once it plops to the floor, and I can't believe my eyes.

It's a small, white powder filled baggie!

I try not to let myself grow excited; It could be anything in there, right?

The way Russell scrambles to pick it up just as Jena's footsteps come into earshot blow that theory out of the water. This guy is holding! He's fucking holding, and Jena must not even know about it!

"Sorry about that! My office is a mess!" Jena smiles as she shuffles back into the room.

Russell has just shoved the baggie back into his pocket, shooting me a quick glance just in time to see me advert my glare.

I don't think he saw me, but I saw him.