Hi everyone, my name is Jen or Jenny or Jennifer I guess too, though my Mom is the only one who calls me that. And my Dad sometimes, but mostly just my Mom.
Mom and Dad have been divorced for more than a few years. I remember a lot of it, I was 14 at the time, so just a handful of years ago really. Dad cheated on Mom, but there was more to it than that. I feel like there always is, but I wasn't really made aware of the specifics, but I remember the two of them fighting a lot even before Dad cheated.
Mom got custody of me, which I didn't have a problem with, she was and still is my best friend. In a lot of ways I'd say we are the same person. We love the same movies, both of us are more than a little introverted, it's not unusual for a Saturday night at the house to just be her and I on the couch reading. We're currently working through The Wheel of Time right now. She started reading like a year ago, but somehow I got ahead of her.
Anyways, Dad gets me for one week a month. It usually works out to be the first week, but sometimes it changes, depending on his schedule and stuff. He's usually really busy. Dad is a mechanic, he owns his own shop. He could hire more help, that way he wouldn't be so busy, but he refuses. It's literally just him, my Uncle Dave, and my cousin Clara. Dad can be kinda slow to trust which is I guess why it's only family that works there, it seems silly to me, but Dad has a really good reputation in our town so if the shoe fits, I guess.
We live just outside of Chicago. Maybe a 45 minute drive to the city, with cooperative traffic, I tell people outside of Chicago that I'm from the city, it's a little easier than saying "Fox River Grove, Illinois. Just saying Chicago gives everyone a clear image, everyone knows Chicago. Though unfortunately the follow up question I always get is either "How safe is it there?' or "How's the crime?" and it's like, get real. There's crime in every metropolitan area in every US State, don't be an idiot, and you'll be fine. Mind your own business, don't go down alleys, don't drive past the same group of people twice. (That's usually the sign of a drive by).
I'm still in High School, though not for too much longer. I'm one of those old seniors. Not a super senior, don't misunderstand, just had an awkward birthday. September 7th so I would be too young for my parents to put me in school with the class a year above me, but slightly too old to be in the graduating class I'm in. I've been 18 for, functionally, the whole school year. It made Thanksgiving and Spring break a little naughty I guess. Bumping into your English teacher at a bar in Cabo was a little spicy, but she didn't rat me or Em out so it was all good.
Oh my God, Em! I forgot to mention my best friend, and first real girlfriend Emily. She and I have been friends since forever. I'm literally only like 12 minutes older than her, so our Dad's got to know each other at the hospital way back when, and the rest is history. Emily's Dad actually used to work at my Dad's shop for years, before my parents got divorced. Yeah, officially according to Emily's Mom the Palma family was fully on my Mom's side during the divorce, so Em's Dad had to leave his old job behind. Kinda sucks for both of them, Mr. Palma and Dad were almost as close as me and Em.
I think I mentioned that Emily and I dated briefly, and that's true, though I don't know if dating is accurate. We fucked more than a few times, but that was kind of the extent of it. We pulled back after a while, cause while I loved it, I don't know if Emily did. I think she was just experimenting with women for a while. It hurt for a little bit at the time, but the hole was filled pretty soon thereafter.
Every friend group has a smart one and a dumb one right? Not really, but Em and I are a perfect storm. I'm smart, she's a different kind of smart, to put it nicely. I've got grades for days, Emily... not so much, but Emily is much more extroverted than I am, which I guess evens things out. Much as I make fun of her, Emily has schooled me on things on more than one occasion.
So here I am walking out of school when my phone buzzes. A text message.
I'll try to be humble but the truth is that I am an attractive woman. I'm not tall, only 5'2'', I work out often, and I'm not shy with how I dress. I look good, I know I look good, I work hard to look good, and I want people to know about it. All this to say, my phone buzzing is constant. Even before I was 18 I'd get maybe 20 dms a day, probably more, so I've turned off all notifications except for texts and phone calls, and even then only from Mom, Dad, Em and Evan, who is Emily's brother. He doesn't text me though, but I've known him since he was a baby so, if he wanted to talk to me he could. I'm basically another sister to him.
Back to what I was saying though, the text is from my Dad:
"I could use a hand today, if you're available."
Vague and non exact as always, but it's my Dad. He's kind of terrible at texting.
I respond:
"Sure but I'm gonna need a ride."
He texts back:
"In the back of the parking lot as usual. Trying to beat the after school rush, so come quickly."
I send back a simple "bet" then immediately search for Emily. She was right next to me a minute ago, and now she's disappeared. I do a half hearted search for her. Worst comes to worst I can just text her, and it'll be fine, but I find her. She's off by the door we just came from talking to Evan.
Evan's four years younger than us, he's still a little kid really. I jog over to her.
"Hey Jenny." Evan says the "hey" loudly, then trails off with my name. It's an awkward time for him, puberty and all, so weirdness like this is normal with him, especially lately. I sort of ruffle his hair a little bit. His friends laugh at that, but I don't really care.
"Emily, can you cover for me tonight if Mom calls your house?" I ask.
So yeah, Dad has Wednesdays off work so it's pretty normal for him to pick me up from school. We go back to his place, and I tell my Mom I'm at Emily's. Emily then hijacks the home phone just in case Mom calls them to make sure I'm there. I don't know, sometimes I feel bad lying to Mom, but it's only like 4 more hours that I see Dad, during Mom's time, so I always remind myself it's fair. She gets me three weeks, he sees me one week. I think an extra few hours once a week is fine.
Anyways, Emily responds to me.
"Heck yeah. Always got you girly."
"Thanks, I'll text you." I say.
Evan waves, and I run to the parking lot to find Dad.
He's easy to spot usually, Dad drives a motorcycle. A crotch rocket Honda from a few years ago. He bought it new, he's really proud of it, and it's neat I guess, but really effin' scary truth be told. It's not really for me, but Dad swears by it. Cheaper to drive, which is objectively true, but not so much if you get into an accident. Dad's a good driver, but sometimes I wish he'd pick me up with his Durango, which he owns but only uses to pick up groceries.
I see him after a minute, and give him a hug. He takes off his helmet and gives it to me. I put it on, and the two of us mount the bike and off we go.
Dad's not a big talker really. Which is fine with me, cause neither am I. I'm more vocal (if you can use that word) when I'm texting. I don't know, I guess I think a lot, but don't always feel the need to say a lot. Dad's the same way, so him not saying anything before we leave is normal. Once we're home though Dad can sometimes be really chatty, depending on his mood and the day I guess. I don't know.
Dad lives pretty close to my High School, so the drive is short, and mostly through 30 mph roads, but even still, I can feel myself suffocating Dad a little bit, holding on to him during the drive. I squeeze pretty tight.
About 5 or so minutes later, we're outside Dad's new place. It's a one bedroom apartment. It's decent, and I know Dad could afford better, but Dad can sometimes be a little cheap. Or sorry, he lives a "frugal life" as he says. I don't know. Dad has money, not a ton, but certainly enough to live a little more ostentatiously than this, but whatever.
Dad locks up the garage, and I run ahead to his apartment. My phone buzzes again, this time a text from Mom:
"Hey sweetie just wanted to see if you were gonna be home for dinner tonight?"
I send back:
"No, I don't think so. Emily and I are pretty swamped with finals coming soon."
Mom sends:
"Ok. Well don't work too hard. We want a good college but I'll be proud no matter what!"
I sort of roll my eyes and reply:
Yeah yeah. Thanks Mom. I gotta get back to it.
I hit her with a quick "I love you" before I stash my phone away, and I feel another buzz as I assume she responds in kind, but at this point I'm at Dad's front door. It's locked, and he didn't give me the key so I turn around and head back to him. We meet half way and he holds the key with an annoying smirk. I yank it out of his hands and run back to the door, opening it, running inside and locking him out behind me.