She startles when she sees me, an audible gasp exits her mouth.

She smiles awkwardly at me, “Good morning, Mikayla. I was just going to bring you some food and a change of clothes. I’m not sure what your size is, but I think you would fit in my sweats.” She won’t look at me.

She walks into Jake’s room and fingers the dress from last night, it’s sitting on the back of Jake’s desk chair. I sit on the bed and wait.

“This must be incredibly hard for you,” she says, trying to hold back the tears. She moves to stand in front of me, leaning on the dresser. She clears her throat, I notice she doesn’t have an accent. “Sweetheart, I need you to understand that I’m not asking you this because, well, because we don’t want you staying here. You stay here as long as you need to, we’ve already told Jake that. I’m asking because it’s an important step in the process, I guess. Is there anyone you should be calling? Aunts, Uncles? Cousins? Grandparents? Anyone like that?”

They had a lot of acquaintances but not really any family. People cared about them but it wasn’t like anyone would care for me. The only person would be my Aunt Lisa. She wasn’t really my Aunt. Both my parents were only children and my grandparents are dead.

“Um, just one, my Aunt Lisa, she umm, she’s not my real aunt. She’s my mom’s best friend from high school. My parents were only children and I don’t have any living grandparents. It’s um… it’s just me”

“Oh, sweetheart,” she coos, coming to sit next to me on the bed and holding my hand.

“Umm, where’s Jake?” I ask her, looking at the floor, uncomfortable and awkward.

“He’s downstairs having a meeting with his agent, he won’t be too much longer.”

“Agent?”

“Yeah, for baseball? He didn’t tell you?” She looks at me curiously, I don’t move. “Sounds like Jake.” She shakes her head. “Yeah, baseball, he’s kind of a big deal.”

I don’t say anything.

“How long have you and Jake been dating?”

“Oh, we’re not.” I look up at her, she cocks an eyebrow at me. “It’s a long story,” I say.

“Okay, sweetheart.” She pats my hand. “I’ll leave you to make that phone call then.”

She leaves the tray in the room and walks out the door.

***

“Aunt Lisa?” I say, the second the phone connects.

“Oh, honey. Tracey rang me last night. I’m at the airport catching a flight out to you right now. Just sit tight, Kayla, I’ll be there soon. I’ll take care of everything okay? I promise.”

“Okay.” I say quietly into the phone, looking up at the ceiling, wide eyed, trying to stop the tears from falling.

There’s a soft knock and Jake pokes his head through the door. I motion for him to come in and he sits at the edge of his bed and waits till I’m done.

“I’ll call you when I land and find a hotel to stay in and a rental. I’ll let you know if I need to go to the hotel first but I’ll try to be there as soon as I can, okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Do I go to James’ house or Megan’s?”

I can see Jake tense from the corner of my eye, he must be able to hear the conversation.

“Um, neither, I’ll give you the address when you call.”

“Okay, honey.”

“Umm, Aunt Lisa?”

“Yeah, hun?”

I turn so my back is to Jake, I don’t want him to see my humiliation. “Do you think you could go past a store on your way here? I um, I kind of have no underwear.”

“What, like none?”

“No, we umm, we had prom last night. I only had the dress on. Like, only the dress.” I’m beet red. “Um, I need bras, and panties.” I basically whisper the last word.

“No problem, hun. Same size as the ones I sent you for christmas?”

“mmhmm”

“Okay honey, no problem, and Kayla?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m so sorry, honey.”

“Me too.”

We hang up.

I sit next to Jake on his bed. I’m still wearing his clothes. I subconsciously cross my arms and cover my breasts, so he can’t see my nipples through his thin white shirt, although he probably already has.

He clears his throat. “So your aunt’s coming?”

“Not my real Aunt, just my mom’s best friend. She already found out from someone else, I guess she was already on her way here.”

He nods his head.

“So…” I say, trying to find my voice. “Your mom tells me you’re kind of a big deal. Baseball, I mean.”

He blushes shyly and looks away. “My mom has a big mouth.”

Silence.

“Thank you, Jake.”

“You’re Welcome, Mikayla.”

Chapter 10

*Jake*

Mikayla’s ‘Aunt’ Lisa is on her way over here, I guess they need to discuss funerals and things. I’m just glad she’ll have someone around that she’s known for more than two days. I see her phone going off constantly and she ignores it every time, I bet it’s James.

I had to practically kick my agent out of the house this morning. He wouldn’t take no for an answer, then he saw the swelling and bruises forming on the knuckles of my ‘pitching’ hand and lost his shit.