The Tandem

“Not fair! You cheated!”, I yelled from my side of the table. Family game night get violent in the Williams household. Jay laughed with a shit eating grin stuck on his face. He just bought yet another property in Monopoly and is ready to cream the rest of us. I suck at it, so he wins every time.
“Jay, stop antagonizing your sister!”, Dad shouted from the kitchen, which made us all laugh. Alex and Rosie sat making out on the couch, I’m not really used to that yet. One of my former teammates dating and making out with my sister is just, ew. I’ve now survived two days of ‘family time’.
Several Skype calls with Tuukka have helped a lot, thank god for that kid. Last night, we stayed up wicked late just talking and, I don’t know, I miss him already. I guess when you see someone everyday for a few months, you start missing them when you’re away.
The thing I’m truly dreading is the stupid trip to Montréal I’m being forced to take. Honestly, I’m a little scared and worried about whether he’ll try to make a move on me and I really don’t want to go alone. Also, I don’t exactly want to be rattled for the beginning of the season, including the preseason. Coach said that he wants me to play in preseason to be sure that I’m in regular season condition.
“This is why we shouldn’t let him be the banker, he’s always loaning himself money and shit”, I crossed my arms and pouted. I hate losing, even to an idiot like Jay. Idiot.
“Kids, dinner! Jocelyn, put the Monopoly away please. Rosie, go wash your mouth and Tanya, get down here!”, Mom yelled from the kitchen. The thuds on the floorboards signalled Jay escaping before he has to do anything regarding dinner. I sighed and cleaned up the Monopoly set and put it with all the other board games under the TV.
We all sat down as the table and started to dig in. Mom made chicken pot pie and it was delicious. She also made corn on the cob and asparagus. Just absolutely delicious. Per Williams tradition, we started to go around the table and say our favorite and worst parts of the day. But once we get around to Marty’s spot, there’s silence.
“I thought I told one of you to go get Marty in!”, Mom glared at the four of us. She didn’t ask me, I’m in the clear. “Jay, go get him.”
Jay groaned and slowly got up from the table, inching out the back door. It slammed shut behind him and the table was silent. Whenever Marty was late for dinner, it usually meant that he was doing something real sketchy in his ‘house’. They both came through the doors a few minutes later, all red faced and Marty didn’t even have shoes on. Everyone jumped as the door slammed behind them.
“This fucktard had a prostitute in there!”, Jay yelled angrily and Marty glared at him. Mom sighed and excused herself to disappear into the kitchen. From how Dad was rubbing his temples, this is gonna be ugly.
“Marty, I thought we talked about this. No drugs and no girls. Are those rules that hard to follow?”, Dad said quiet, but firm. Dad was never a yeller and Mom hated fights, which made for a pretty peaceful household most times.
“If I want to get some ass, I fuckin’ will! And if you have a problem with me and all my girls, why don’t you yell at Jocelyn about all the fucking guys she’s dated! I bet she’s fucked half of them!”, Marty spit venom in the form of words at me. First off, Marty and I were never close. He always hated me and Jay because we were the ‘perfect’ children and our parents always seemed to adore us more. Second, him and Rosie used to try to gang up on us, me in particular. Rosie and Tanya don’t get along, they would only speak to each other at these family reunions if they had to. Rosie has always been jealous of her. She was always the special little scientist that Mom and Dad adored, and they really did adore her.
“What the fuck are you talking about? Do you ever hear the shit that is coming out of your mouth!”, I yelled back. He can yell at me all he wants, but there is no way in hell that I won’t let him hear my thoughts on it.
“I hear what he’s saying loud and clear. You are a fucking whore.”, Rosie grinned smugly from her seat as Alex stared angrily at her.
“You know what Rosie, you don’t get to fucking say that. You’re the only who has a new boyfriend every week!”, Jay defended me from his seat. I thanked him silently for trying to stand up for me.
“Joce, why don’t you get your whore ass up and go cry to your fucking boyfriend. No? He doesn’t give a shit about you just like all the other ones.”, Marty chirped and smiled. I pushed my seat back from the table and stormed upstairs. I just need to get out of here. I grabbed a random jacket, pair of shoes and ran as fast as I could downstairs.
“Yeah that’s right, go run away and cry because you’re a weak ass bitch!”, Marty yelled after me. I grabbed car keys and took off down the street in the minivan. I’m pretty sure Jay beat Marty to a pulp as soon as I left.
My head is spinning as I try to navigate the winding streets of my neighborhood. Marty is a really asshole. I hate being related to him. I hate him. I hate him. I hate him. The new mantra powers me to drive through my tears.
I finally pull up to the park and I get out and lay down on the hood of the car. I stay there, staring into the silence, for a while before I heard running footsteps and a voice that chilled me.
“Another late night outing, Jocelyn?”, the deep voice made me freeze. That voice scares me more than anything. He slowly walks up to the car where I stayed unmoving in fear.
“Don’t you remember me?”, he smiles.
Yes I remember him, as the asshole who ruined my life in high school and made me so scared that I refused to leave the house. Damon. What an ass. So basically in high school, I had a huge crush on him and so did my best friend at the time, Trina. Him and I dated for a year, we were THE couple at school. We were perfect for each other, and every single girl was jealous of me. They all adored his light blonde hair and bright blue eyes. They all criticized him for dating such a boring girl with boring brown hair and boring brown eyes. He dumped me after a year and started dating Trina right away. It killed me on the inside. The insults and harassment started as soon as they started dating. The worst part is that they didn’t just go after me, they went after my friends and family. You can hit me, call me names, and terrorize me. But you never get to do anything to my family and friends.
“Fuck. You.”, I said coldly and slid back into my car, locking all the doors immediately. He stood outside my window for a moment before continuing on his run. I rev the engine and pull out of the parking lot, swerving a lot because my hands cannot stop shaking.
It’s not just my hands, my entire body is shaking uncontrollably. If I drive now, I’ll probably wreck the car.
Jay. I need Jay. My hands fumbling for my phone in the passenger seat. Slowly, I punch in his number and pray for him to answer. Sitting in a car in a dark parking lot late at night is not something I should be doing.
“Joce?”, Jay answers panicked. “Are you okay? You’ve been gone for hours.”
Shit. I didn’t realize how long I’d been sitting, shaking after the encounter with Damon.
“Yeah, I’m okay.”, my voice betrays me and cracks. “I’m fine. I need you to come pick me up.”
He sighs into the phone. “Okay, where are you?”
“I’m in the parking lot next to the park. I uh saw Damon, I’m shaking so hard that I can’t drive.”, I push my hair back from my face and wipe under my eyes. I’m crying, I didn’t even noticed.
“Shit. You saw Damon? Fuck okay I’m bringing Tanya and we’ll pick you up, we’ll be there in ten minutes Joce.”, he said, ending the call there. I sighed in relief.
A few minutes later, I heard tires roll over gravel and pull up next to my car. The doors open and Jay appears next to my window a few seconds later. Hesitantly, he knocked on the window, asking me to let him in. I obliged and was engulfed in a huge hug. He held me tightly until I slowly relaxed and took deep breaths.
“Scoot over, we’re staying somewhere else tonight.”, Jay said and I slid into the passenger seat. He started the engine again and pulled out of the parking lot right behind Tanya as I leaned back in the seat. He grabbed his phone out of his pocket and called Tanya, I heard her frantic voice through the phone. Tanya takes after Mom in the ‘not being able to handle conflict’ category. She just freaks out. Jay is very quiet just like Dad.
“We’re going to go fly out tonight to Anaheim and we’ll stay at my place tonight. I just can’t fucking deal with this family drama for one more night!”, he punched the steering wheel at the last part.
“But wait, what about our clothes and stuff?”, I asked, I need my phone really bad. I need Tuukka.
“Don’t worry, Tanya is going home and packing up our stuff. She’ll meet us at the airport in twenty or so. What I need you to do is call the airport, tell them who we are, and get us a flight to Anaheim tonight.”, he ordered. I nodded and dialed the number for the airport. We’re the only family from our town that is very successful so they know who we are. Not to brag or anything, but we’re pretty rich due to Tanya’s, Jay’s and my paychecks.
After a very frustrating conversation with a clerk that just started the job two days ago, frustration was partially due to my rattled nerves, we finally were placed on the last flight to Anaheim. Which is taking off in about half an hour, oops.
We pulled up to the airport with fifteen minutes to spare. Tanya meets up with us a minute or two later with all of our bags in tow. She gave us quick hugs and kisses and left us with the promise that she’ll fix everything at home. Jay and I rushed through security in record time, probably because it’s about 10 at night, and just made it on our flight. Just barely.
Literally falling asleep on our feet, we stumbled down the aisle and collapsed in the last row of seats. I nabbed the last two tickets on the last flight that night. We ended up right behind a mom with a crying baby, but we are too tired to care. Jay leaned his head all the way back and started snoring quietly. I yawned and put my head on his shoulder, falling asleep almost immediately.

Notes

Hi guys,
Sorry it's been forever since I last wrote, but I have a few new chapters to post! Hope you like them!