Joneses – 15.2 The Boy is Mine

Author’s Note: For those who care about continuity in this story, chapters 1, 2, and 3 actually all take place on the same day (Sunday). Chronologically, the first chapter should really come after the third, but I wanted to open with it. Carry on! 😁

Ever since Breanne Pancakes laid claim to Kaiden Pruett, Phoenix made it her mission to ensure Breanne was heavily mistaken. She liked Kaiden. Always had. If he ever asked her out, she’d probably keel over and die. She had to be with him. Not just because she liked him, but because Breanne did too.

Sunday afternoon, Phoenix left her father’s apartment early to hang out with friends. She’d actually been doing that a lot lately. She invited a select few to see a movie of her choosing because she knew Kaiden probably wouldn’t want to hang out with her alone. At least not yet. At first, she had a bunch of boys on the list and needed to balance it. But, she didn’t know many girls who weren’t interested in Kaiden that she didn’t mind hanging with. Actually, there weren’t that many kids at school she liked in general. In the end, she decided it didn’t matter who came as long as Kaiden showed because, afterall, all her attention would be on him anyway. She invited Elsa Bjergensen because they randomly met the other day and she seemed desperate for some cool friends. There was also Lucas Munch who was creepy as all get out, but she knew he would come just to see her. Finally, there was Nicolas Broussard. He was a nice guy and very good looking. If for some reason things didn’t work out with Kaiden, he’d definitely be the one she went for next.

As fate would have it, things didn’t go as planned. She was so excited about hanging out with Kaiden, she forgot to relieve herself before leaving home and arrived to the theater with a very full bladder. She wanted to walk in with everyone, claim her seat next to Kaiden, and then pee, but her body told her otherwise. Naturally, when she came back, some jerk was in her seat.

She considered asking the douche bag to slid over one, but she came up with a new plan. Phoenix’s original plan was to watch a scary movie so she could pretend to be afraid and Kaiden would comfort her. That was still the plan. She decided to stand in Kaiden’s peripheral vision the entire movie. Maybe if he saw her trembling or heard her scream, he would come to her rescue.

The plan didn’t work. The dork sitting on the other side of him was really loud and distracting throughout the whole movie, and Kaiden never once looked at her. At one point, Nicolas walked by and completely stole her attention. For a split second, she forgot what her plan was. He was so beautiful.

To make matters even worse, the other members of the group didn’t cooperate. First, Elsa joined her in the aisle.

“So, like, why are we standing? There’s, like, a million seats in here.”

Then, Lucas thought she might need assistance. “Hey, Phoenix. Are you scared? I could hold you and–”

“Don’t touch me!”

“You’re so pretty, Phoenix. We should–”

“Nope!”

Needless to say, she left there a bit discourage and a lot annoyed.

“Hey, mom.”

“Oh! Hi! I wasn’t expecting you back so soon.”

She plopped on the couch. “Yeah…neither was I.”

“You sound so glum! What is it?”

She checked her phone, hoping for a text or missed call from Kaiden. “Ugh! Why are boys so stupid??”

Mary laughed. “Oh, my darling, you have no idea.”

Mary’s phone rang instead which totally made Phoenix feel worse. Even if it wasn’t a crush on the other line, her mother still got more social action than she did.

“That was my boss. I hate to leave you, but I’ll be back shortly. Will you be all right?”

Phoenix rolled her eyes. “I’m not five, mom!”

“Ok! Ok! I’ll be back soon. Eat without me if you’d like.”

Ernest was sorry to bother her on such short notice, but the mayor called him shortly before calling Mary. He and his wife were out of town, so Ernest was unable to do what the mayor needed. Apparently, some big wig moved into town, and the mayor wanted to get him on his side. Feng was his name. He told him someone from his office would meet with him and called Ernest to make it happen. Mary was happy to speak with the man and answer all his questions.

It was a very productive meeting, Mary was happy to report. She left Mr. Feng feeling positively that he would support No Sim Left Behind. With pep in her step and a smile on her face, she turned on her heels to return home to her troubled child. She was so happy, she began to hum. But, her song and her bouncy step came to an abrupt end when a blast from the past stood in her way.