Page 26 of Tandem

“Rosalie, seriously? AJ, as intheAJ who drives the purple lowrider, wears the half-skull mask, and looks like he could lift a car, AJ?” Jayden groaned out. I blushed a bit, thinking about his big, strong hands again.

“Y-yeah.” I peered back up at Jayden. He was seething.

“Dammit, sis, he is not the kinda guy you want to get involved with. AJ has a new girl in his bed weekly. He is involved with some shady shit, that’s why I didn’t want you around him at that car meet, but of fucking course, he had to go after you when I stepped in. Fuck!”

I was confused by Jayden’s reaction. AJ has been nothing but awesome to me, and when I went to his place, nothing made me think he had girls over all the time. Honestly, the fact Jayden was judging him when he did so many questionable things was annoying.

“Okay, well, first of all, AJ has been nothing but nice to me. And you’re one to talk about shady stuff because you do so many shady things, Jayden. Like the girl you were with the other day who is clearly like, what, twenty-three or older? Mom would be thrilled to know you're with a girl much older than you. I’m really kinda into him, and I’m not going to just not see him because you tell me to. I’m nineteen now, and I can make my own decisions on who I date.” If we were going to play ‘let’s judge each other’s dating history’ I was so going to win. I glared back at him and he held my stare for a minute before sighing and rubbing his eyes.

Jayden stood up and grabbed my arms, turning me to look at him. “Rosalie, just like my girl, AJ is in his twenties, too, so don’tthink that has anything to do with it. The big thing is, he runs with a pretty hard crowd, some really bad people sometimes, and I don’t want you to get hurt or worse. You might annoy the shit out of me, but I still love you.” I looked at Jayden in his eyes and knew he meant that, but I just couldn’t say no to seeing AJ. Not after tonight.

“Look, I appreciate that, Jay, I really do. But you gotta trust that I’m not being stupid, I’ll take care of myself just fine. I’ll ask Dad about moving out, okay? But you need to drop the AJ thing, okay?” I nodded my head, trying to make him understand. I didn’t want anyone else to know about AJ and me yet, not when I had just had the best night ever. I wanted to keep it to myself just a little longer.

Jayden was still staring at me, and I swear his pupils dilated a bit. “Fine. Ask him in the morning, and you missed one.” Jayden tapped the back side of my neck and I blushed. “I gotta go. But, Rosalie, be fucking careful.”

I gave him a hug, which he actually let me do. “I will, Jayden. Thanks.” With that, Jayden walked out of my room. By the sound of his car starting up, he left, and I was tucking myself into bed. Exhaustion finally hit my body, and I fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, I made dang sure that even the darker hickey marks were well covered with either clothes or makeup before heading upstairs for breakfast. Jayden’s door remained cracked as I passed by. He obviously didn’t come home last night. I just shook my head, and he was worried about me?

I found Mom finishing making some breakfast and Dad sitting at the table, flipping through a car magazine as he drank his coffee. I poured myself a cup after giving Mom a kiss on the cheek and joined him. “So, anything new and exciting in there, Dad?” I asked as I took a sip.

Dad glanced over and showed me a page. “A new concept car is coming out, and you know I’m going to send them a message to go and test it.” I read through the page and instantly got excited just by a few lines—a new hypercar was being built in Dubai.

“You have to! That would be so cool, Dad.” He nodded in agreement and returned to reading as Mom brought over some food for us and began eating her own. I took a few bites and started the conversation I promised I would have. “Sooo… Dad. Mom. I wanted to talk to you guys about something.” Both of them glanced at each other before looking over at me.

“So, umm. Here’s the thing. I'm nineteen now, and I’m out of school, Plus, I work full-time. I was wondering… Would you guys help me move out into a place of my own?” There was a long pause as they stared at each other, so I took my chance and started talking way too fast. “You see, I just think you guys always said we should be independent and responsible for our actions, and moving out would be a really good way to show you guys that. I already talked to Jayden, and he said if it makes you guys feel better about me moving out, he would move out too, and we can get a place together or apartments next door to each other so I’m not all alone, and he can make sure everything is okay. Please say yes, I really, REALLY want this.” I sat there, took a deep breath, and sipped a bit of my coffee.

Dad cleared his throat and then looked back uncomfortably at Mom. “Rosalie, honey, I understand what you’re getting at. However, you don’t have to move out to prove anything to us.We know you’re responsible and do a good job.” He glanced back at Mom again for confirmation, and she nodded at me.

“Your father’s right, Rosalie. You don’t have to feel like you need to move out of the house just because you’re nineteen. You can take some time, and stay here as long as you want. There is no rush just because you decided not to go to college. The same with Jayden.”

This was harder than I thought. Not because it wasn’t not really my idea to want to move in the first place, but because Dad actually looks so dang sad now. Almost like he might cry.Stay strong, Rosalie, I told myself before glancing down at my feet and continuing. “I know that. But I want to try living on my own. I think it’ll be a good experience for me. And I can always come back if it doesn’t work out, right?” I flicked my gaze between them. Dad gave Mom a sad, pleading look, and then he stood up. “I have to go to the customs. I have a client who’s expecting me,” he said.

I checked the clock, puzzled. “But, Dad, we don’t open for another two hours? Who’s coming before we open? Do I need to come in too?”

Dad quickly shook his head. “I have a few luxury clients who don’t want to be caught out during the day, so you just come in at the normal time.” I watched him and Mom exchange one more glance, and he kissed her before pulling on his jacket and walking out the door.

I kept my eyes on him as he left, and my heart ached a bit. I felt like I was letting him down, big time. I didn’t think that asking to move out would feel as bad as this. I sighed, and Mom stood up and walked over to me, placing her delicate hand on my shoulder.

“Rosalie, I’m all for you and your brother exploring adult life. Learning how much work it is to take care of a household is a good thing. I just don’t think your father is ready for his littlegirl to not be so little anymore. You’ll have to cut him a bit of a break. If moving out is something you really want to do, I can find a good starter apartment or house to rent. Then you just have to give your dad a little time to come to terms with that idea, alright?” Despite us never being super close, Mom always had the best way of putting things into perspective when it came to Dad.

I smiled sadly at her. “I don’t want to move far… I still want to be close and come over and see you guys all of the time. I just think Jayden and I would have fun doing this since we aren’t moving out to college.”

My mom nodded in understanding as she started to clear the table of the breakfast dishes. “I understand, Rosalie. I’ll look for a few options when I get to work today.”

“Thanks, Mom. I love you. Dad, too. So don’t think me wanting to move out means I don’t!” I gave my mom a hug at the kitchen sink, and she kissed my cheek.

“I know, Rosalie. Now, you better get your things together. Could you drive my Tesla today? And if you could get it a car wash on your way to the customs, that would be so helpful.” Every once in a while, Mom would still ask me to take one of her cars to work so it could get a car wash when she was working a particularly busy week. She looked a little tired, so this must have been one of those weeks.

I headed upstairs to finish getting ready, and grabbed my backpack. I left the house in Mom’s Tesla. While taking it through the car wash on the way to the customs like she asked, I texted Jayden.

Rosalie

Hey, I think Mom is on board and she’s going to send me places to look at today.

Jayden

(two thumbs-up emojis)

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