Same Mistakes

Chapter Fifteen

Justin smiled at me from across the table and I did my best to make it look I didn't notice. The table was four sided and though I sat right next to Dani who held Harper, Ryan sat to my left and Tessa sat next to Kylie on Dani's right leaving Justin to sit directly across from me. 

"Hey, Kylie. Didn't know you were bringing company." Hailey's voice was sweet, but had an underlying tone of annoyance. 

Kylie smiled, "I wanted Nadia to meet my stylist." Hailey nodded and continued to make small talk with Kylie. I did my best to focus on Jayce and not the lingering eyes on me from across the table. Dani talked to Tessa who I was thankful for right now for being so nice to Dani and Harper. 

Minutes went by before Justin spoke, "Who's this?" My head instantly flew to Dani then back to him, "My friend, Danielle. Well, Dani."

"Mhm. Hi Dani." Justin smiled with a nod and Dani gave him a small 'hi' in return. Justin continued his questioning this time towards me, "How's work been?"

I shrugged and tried to lessen the tension in my shoulders. Looking next to him, at Hailey, I could tell that she was listening to every word that was being exchanged between the two of us, but still trying to look like she was in deep conversation with Kylie. 

"Fine." That was all I said. Ryan laughed next to me and looked at Dani, "You work with Nadia, right?"

"Yep." When she spoke to Ryan her voice was much less hesitant and much more welcoming. Ryan nodded, "That's gotta suck. Nadia can be really fucking annoying."

I instinctively smacked Ryan's arm with the back of my hand, "Shut up, dick. I'm great to work with."

In my lap Jayce's head shot up, "Hey! Bad words." Jayce made a screw face and waited for me to apologize. I ran my hand over his soft hair, "I know sorry, baby. Mommy's bad sometimes."

Next to me Ryan laughed under his breathe and I shook my head, "Hey, you said a bad word too. I think you should say sorry too, right Jayce?" Jayce head nodded quickly and shot towards Ryan who silently glared at me. 

Sighing, he looked down at Jayce, "I'm sorry, buddy. Won't happen again." 

Satisfied Jayce looked down at my purse that held his Nintendo 3DS. I quickly pulled it out and handed it to him, setting him on the ground, "Why don't you and Harper take turns playing Mario?"

He nodded and sat behind my chair with Harper next to him. When I looked back up I momentarily made eye contact with Justin who looked like he was about to say something. Ryan leaned back in his chair and questioned him, "What you thinking about, Jay?"

"Nadia, don't the kid got a father figure in his life?" My head jerked at his words and I could tell by the way the two sat that Kylie and Tessa had both heard, but chose to ignore it.

"'Scuse me?" One of my eyebrows raised and a smirk crossed his face, "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that if he did you wouldn't have to take him everywhere with you?"

I sat silently, baffled. I didn't know where he'd gotten the idea that Jayce needed a father figure in order to not have to come places with me but it was anger inducing. Part of me knew that he did that as a blow at the father situation and it hurt.

Under the table, Dani's hand rested  on my forearm. I slowly made eye contact with Ryan, pleadingly. Ryan couldn't do much, but I wanted him to do something. I know he didn't like me all the time, but there was an mutual understanding of loyalty between us. He looked down before looking back up at me and flashing a look of understanding.

"Jay, why you always gotta be a dick? I mean, dang, Nadia is trying to be nice to you. I wasn't gonna tell you 'til later, but me and Nadia started dating a few days ago so just lay off. Cool?" My breathe hitched and I felt Dani's hand become stiff on my arm.

I didn't look away from Ryan, but I could see the shock on Justin's face out of the corner of my eye. Kylie, Hailey, and Tessa had now slowly stopped talking and it left a silence in the room. The door in the corner of the room opened and revealed a face I didn't know, "Kylie, Hailey, meetings starting."

Kylie and Hailey both stood and began to walked towards the women at the door. Hailey lingered back before speaking to Justin, "Babe, you coming?"

"Yeah." His voice was low as he stood and forcefully pushed in his chair, and followed the three girls.

Once they were out of eat shot Tessa leaned in towards Ryan, "What the hell, Ryan?"

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Well, hello there. Thanks for all of your patience, if you could do me a huge favor and leave me some comments about if you like where this is going that would be awesome. Because I'm not so sure? I feel like I'm losing you guys and I wanna know what you want, you know? lol anyway love you guys 💙