Don't You Go and Carry On With Your Life

Jack

I walked out of the elevator and on to the floor of my new job. I was nervous because this was my first day, after training, and I was afraid of messing something up. Everyone seemed pretty nice so far so that kind of relaxed me.

I went to Mr. Ruiz, my manager's, office and knocked on the door. It was open so he looked up from his desk and smiled.

"Jack hi, you're early." He said.

"Yeah I didn't know if there would be a lot of traffic getting here so I wanted to be safe." I explained and he nodded.

"I understand. Let me finish this really quickly and then I'll show you to your desk." He finished writing what he was before I knocked on his door then he stood up. "Okay follow me." He told me.

I walked through the cubicles trying to keep up with him and finally he stopped in front of one with my name on the outside of it. I smiled looking at my own small desk area.

"This is your cubicle right here." He told me. "You're going to do everything just like you learned in training. You'll type the files placed on your basket up into our database. I'll be in my office all day so feel free to come ask me questions, but you're free to watch movies or listen to music as you work. I only care that it's accurate and finished on time." He explained and I nodded.

"Okay, thank you Mr. Ruiz." I told him.

"No problem!"

He walked off and I sat down in my seat and turned my computer on. Maybe I was worrying for nothing, this seemed like a pretty simple job. It was a good thing I brought my iPad to work with me because I could watch Netflix while I worked. I opened my first file to see what kind of data I would need to fill in and then I went to Stranger Things on Netflix. Before I could press play I heard someone talking behind me.

"Hmm?" I hummed so he could repeat what he said. I turned around to see a skinny guy with dark brown hair.

"I said I love that show! It's so addictive." He chuckled.

"Oh yeah my sister loves it so I thought I would give it a try." I said.

"Tell me when you finish it so you can tell me what you think. I'm Brendon and I'm right here next to you." He said nicely.

"Nice to meet you Brendon. I'm Jack." I introduced myself.

"Oh you're the new guy." Another guy joined as he walked by. He was about as tall as Brendon and he had shaggy red hair.

"Yeah today is my first day." I chuckled.

"Cool, I'm Alan."

"Jack." I said as I shook his hand.

"We should let you get to work, but come get us if you need help with anything. Like I said I'm right here next to you and Alan and next to me." Brendon said.

"Thank you! Oh is there a certain time we take lunch?" I asked.

"We can go whenever we want as long as our lunch ends thirty minutes before the end of our shift. We usually go at around one if you wanna join us." Alan offered.

"Yeah I should be hungry around that time." I chuckled.

"Cool we'll see you then."

"Okay thanks again." I told them.

Once I was alone at my desk again I pressed play on my show and began typing in the first file.

**************

I felt a tap on my shoulder hours later and I looked up to see Brendon and Alan standing behind me. I put my iPad on pause and took my headphones off.

"We're gonna go eat lunch now. You coming with?" Brendon asked.

"Okay, yeah. I didn't even notice it was one already." I said as I gathered my things. Time went by really fast, I felt like I was barely working.

I followed Alan and Brendon to the break room. There was only one person in there when we walked in. He was a short guy with black glasses and a cute smile. He said hi to us when we walked in.

"Hey Pat. This is Jack, today's his first day. And Jack this is our friend Patrick." Brendon introduced us.

"Hi!" Patrick and I told each other and shook hands.

I went to the fridge to pull out the Subway sandwich I bought for lunch. I sat down at their table and waited for them all to heat up their food.

"So Jack tell us about yourself." Alan said as he sat down.

"What do you want to know?" I chuckled.

"Anything! You're the new guy so we want to know as much about you as possible." He said.

"Oh um well I'm thirty-eight." I said.

"Really? You don't look that old." Patrick said and I thanked him. People forget that thirty year olds aren't like old people.

"How old are you guys?" I asked.

"I'm twenty-six." Brendon answered.

"Twenty-five." Alan said.

"Twenty-six." Patrick answered last.

"I guess I am the old guy." I joked and they laughed.

"Do you have any kids?" Brendon asked.

"Yeah I have two, Kellin and Kylie."

"Awww how old?" He asked.

"Kellin is sixteen and Kylie is two." I told them.

"I can't imagine having a sixteen year old." Alan said Patrick agreed.

"Do any of you have kids?" I asked and they all said no. "It's not that bad, well it kind of is now that he's getting to that rebellious phase. But usually he's no problem. Kylie, my two year old, is in the 'why' phase so every time you tell her something she asks 'why.' It's a little annoying" I chuckled.

"That's adorable!" Patrick exclaimed. "Are you married?" He asked the question that I was hoping wouldn't come up. This was first time I was being asked this after Alex and my divorce. It almost felt embarrassing to have to answer it, but lying or deflecting would have embarrassed me more.

"I um used to be." I answered some what quietly.

"That sounds recent." Alan said.

"Yeah it was only been about two weeks."

"What happened?" Alan pressed.

"Hey, come on he probably doesn't want to talk about it." Patrick said, saving me. He could probably see the conflicting look on my face.

"Did she cheat on you?" Brendon continued. He didn't sound nosey as much as concerned for me.

Without thinking I quickly corrected him, "He." I said. They all looked at me in shock. Not because I was gay, but because I basically confirmed that I was cheated on. "Okay yes I was cheated on by my husband. Um well ex-husband."

"Did you know the guy he cheated on you with?!" Alan asked.

"How did you find out?? Did you catch them??" Patrick asked, now being sucked into the curiosity.

"It was a girl. And I barely knew her. She was his assistant in his office. And no I didn’t catch them. I answered his phone when she called and heard her call him babe and say some other stuff."

"I'm so sorry, Jack. That must have been really hard for you?" Brendon said.

"It was…well still is, but I think I'll be okay." Actually talking about it with other people, who aren't my family, felt pretty good. I haven't had friends since I stopped working and became a stay at home parent.

"Have you heard the Beyoncé album Lemonade?" Alan asked me.

"No I was planning on listening to it, but I haven't had time yet. Why?"

"Your situation sounds like her and Jay-z's. Like your husband cheated on you with some other bitch and you might be going through all the stages of like anger and depression and stuff that she explains in her songs. You should really go listen to it!" He explained excitedly.

"Okay, I'll try to do it when I get home." I laughed.

"It was a good album." Patrick agreed.

"Oh Pat, are we still going out this weekend? I wanted to know if I should make plans with anybody else." Alan asked him.

"Yeah I'm still up for it if you two are." Patrick said.

"Jack you should come with us. Ever few weekends we go out to this gay bar called Sandbox. It's so much fun! And you might even find a rebound guy." Brendon said, making me laugh.

"It's way too early for me to be thinking about trying to date someone else." I said as I thought about how quickly Alex got with Tay after our divorce. "Plus I'm not really a bar and going out kind of guy."

"But it'll be so fun. I think you should step out of your comfort zone." Alan added.

"Eh I'm not too sure about that. How about I go with you guys some other time?" I suggested, hoping they would drop it.

"Fine, but we're going to hold you to that." Brendon joked.

*************

"Daaaaddy!!" Kylie exclaimed when she heard me walk through the door. I chuckled at how happy she was to see me and picked her up.

"Hi Kyls! Did you miss me?" I asked her.

"Mhmm." She hummed.

"I missed you too." I kissed her on the cheek and sat her down. "Hi Kellin." I said.

"Hey." He mumbled. He was barely talking to me after our talk we had last week.

I sat down on the couch and we sat in an awkward silence. I didn't mind it for now, I was pretty tired after a day of actually working.

"I finished all of my homework, can I go hang out with Vic?" Kellin asked after a while.

"Your promised Kylie that you would watch Cinderella with her today." I reminded him. He went to hang out with Vic yesterday and Kylie cried as he was leaving so he promised to spend today with her.

"I just said that so she would stop crying. Can I go?" He said.

"Sure Kellin." I sighed. "Be home by nine."

"Okay." He grabbed his keys off of the coffee table. Kylie watched him as he began to walk towards the front door.

"No go Kelly!!" She yelled angrily after him.

"I'm sorry, Kyls I have to go." He told her and she began to whine. "I'll be back later before you go to bed." He told her.

Kylie crossed her arms and pouted. She stomped away from Kellin and came back to me. I picked her up and Kellin sighed and went out of the door.

"Come on, I'll watch Cinderella with you." I picked her up and carried her to my room. "I don't know what's going on with Kellin. I think he's trying to stay away from home as much as he can. I knew I should have trusted that article I read about kids dealing with divorce." I said to myself.

I sat Kylie on my bed and grabbed the Cinderella DVD. I put the movie on and laid down in my bed next to Kylie after I pressed play. My phone began to ring just as the movie started playing. I saw it was Kellin's school calling again.

"I swear to god." I grumbled to myself and answered it.

"Hello, this is Dulaney High School’s automatic service telling you that you son or daughter was not in class today. If your child missed school because of a doctor’s appointment or family emergency please contact us during regular office hours and report this to the secretary. Thank you and have a great day." The recorded message said.

I stared down at my phone as the call ended. Anger filled me as I thought about Kellin skipping school. I quickly called his phone and I was sent straight to voicemail.

"Kellin call me as soon as you hear this message." I said after the beep. I tried not to sound too angry so he wouldn't avoid calling me back, but he was probably going to do that anyways.

I laid down and tried to calm my nerves before I became too frustrated. I couldn't believe he actually skipped school. I ended up falling asleep before Cinderella met her fairy godmother.

I woke up hours later when I heard our alarm chirp because the front door opened. I looked at my alarm clock to see it was a little passed midnight. I got up and walked to the foyer to see Kellin finish slowly trying to make his way to the stairs. He didn't see me standing in the foyer until I turned on the light.

"Ah! Daddy, w-hat are you doing?" He slurred.

"It's three hours after your curfew and a-are you drunk??" I questioned.

"No don't be silly." He laughed. "How would I even get alcohol?" He said, still slurring. I could smell the alcohol radiating off of his body. I could also see dark bruises on his neck, he was covered in hickeys. I knew they had come from Vic; just friends my ass.

"You're lying." I stated.

"You're paranoid. I'm fine." He tried to walk off to his room and stumbled.

"Give me your phone, Kellin. You're grounded." I demanded and he scoffed.

"Why am I grounded?"

"Well first off you're drunk, secondly it looks like a mosquito attacked your neck, and thirdly you skipped school today. So give me your damn phone and go to your room." I scolded him.

He rolled his eyes and handed me his phone. Then he made his way up the stairs tightly gripping the rail. I glared as I watched him go. At first I was concerned about now being too hard on Kellin. Now I realized that was exactly what I need to do, especially since Alex wasn't here to do it anymore.

Notes

Here's a filler chapter to introduce Jack's new friends, and to show how hard Kellin is taking the divorce.

*Sorry I wasn't able to upload this yesterday! Now that the holidays are over I'll be able to upload on time (Until Christmas lol).