BFF over BF?

Chapter 9

Jay

“Hi dad”.

“ Hi son, how's the trip?”.

“It’s good. I made some friends,” I say with a monotone voice.

“You okay?,” he asks with a concern I'd never heard in his voice before.

“Yeah, I’m doing great,” I say with the sarcastic voice that only Sophie would recognize. “If you say so,” he says, sounding unconvinced.

“Your mom and I have been really worried about you,” he says, the concern deepening.

“You guys don’t need to worry about me, I’m doing A-ok,” I say with false happiness.

“Son, please talk to someone,” he says with a serious voice.

“Don’t sh-,” he begins to say, “I will,” I interrupt, hanging up.

I jump onto the bed.

“Ping!”. I pick up my phone, and there’s a text from Xander, “Hi”.

“Wher-“ I start typing, before erasing it, instead typing, “What are you doing?”.

“Are you home?,” I add.

I wait….and wait……and wait, until finally, those three beautiful typing dots appear…..until they disappear, and they aren’t so beautiful anymore.

“Agh,” I yell into my pillow, kicking and punching the bed, like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum after not having gotten their way.

“Ping!”.

“Oh!, I say in excitement, perking up.

Written across the notification screen isn’t a text from Xander, or anyone else I’d want a text from, but instead from my dad.

I throw my phone on my bed in frustration and stomp out of my room.

I rinse my face, and take a deep breath, exhaling heavily.

I free fall on my bed, burying my face in my pillow. “Ugh, why won’t he just text back,” I groan in my pillow.

“Ping!”........And this time it’s Sophie. “Hey, how's your trip going, hope you're having fun,” she texts.

“Yeah, It’s nice, I made some friends,” I send.

She immediately texts back, “That’s Great!”.

The moment I throw my phone down on the bed “-Ping!”.

“Finally, I’ve been…ugh. It’s dad again,” I say as I check my phone. “I need to stop getting my hopes up,” I say tossing my phone farther.

As my phone hits the bed, it’s starts ringing. I lunge at my phone and it flies off the bed (most likely fearing for its life). I roll onto the floor with a loud thud and snatch my phone off the ground.

Calling me is Xander. “Finally,” I say in relief, clearing my throat, then answering the FaceTime.

“Yeah, I’m home, just chilling, what about you?,” he asks.

“Yeah, same honestly I’m chilling to the point of boredom,” I say, yawning. “I was just about to watch a show,” I add (which I know you know clearly isn’t true).

“You can share your screen and we can watch together,” he says, “Do you know what you wanna watch?”.

“Nope. You can pick”.

He says the name of some movie, I have no clue what it is, so I ask, “What do you watch it on?”.

“Oh I have that app,” I say, sharing my screen and pulling up the movie.

At some point in the middle of the movie, he turns off his camera. Two of the characters kiss and the camera shows the face of some guy who was apparently watching. The guy looks completely heartbroken and empty.

“You okay?,” Xander asks, turning on his camera.

“Why do you ask?,” I say. As something drips onto my arm he says, “you’re crying man,” with a soft voice.

“Are you okay?,” he asks with a worried voice and caring expression.

“Yeah,” I say, I sharing my screen and texting my mom.

“JAY,” she yells, “can you come help me”.

“Coming mom,” I half yell back.

“I gotta go,” I say.

“Bye,” he says. I hang up and wipe my eyes. I let out a loud huff and run to my mom.

“Thanks for the help, mom,” I say, hugging her.

“You’re my son,” she says. “ If you need me, I’ll be there”.

"I love you, mom".

*Jays moms pov*

“Ping”.

I look at my phone and on the Lock Screen is a text from Jay, it says, “Can you ask me to come help you?! Please ?”.

“JAY, can you come help me,” I yell.

Jay has been acting weird lately. First he was perfectly fine. Then he’s bawling on the floor, something he’s never done. Then he’s “fine” again and happy. He’s clearly not fine though. We can call it a mothers intuition. I’m really worried about him, he’s really not good at dealing with his feeling.

“I love you too,” I say, hugging him back.

“I’m home!,” my mom says, closing the door. She hangs up her coat and comes towards us. “I’ll make dinner,” she says. “No, I’ll get it,” I say with a sigh.

I grab the ingredients and make some soup. While I cook, I just think about Jay and how I wish my husband were here. He couldn’t get out of work and would only be able to take off Christmas Day, and a few days after.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Dinner’s ready,” I say, placing a hot pad on the table and grabbing some kitchen mitts, grabbing the pot and placing it down.

I grab everyone’s bowls, filling them with soup.

When dinner’s over, Jay says, “I’m gonna go walk around the block.

“Okay!,” I say.

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“Ring!, Ring!, Ring!,” I pick up my phone and it says Jay's name on the screen.

“Jay?”.

“Help me mom”.