Life Isn't All Fun And Games

Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! My jaw dropped as I stared at the guys, both of them were looking at me. “Was that Hank?” Josh asked as he stepped closer to me.

“Yes, I…” I turned back to were Hank was. “I have to stop him!” I took off towards the door calling his name as I ran into the parking lot.

“What do you want?” He asked as I caught up to him at his car.

“I’m an idiot, I didn’t realize that,” I stopped. “Hank,” I reached out and placed my hand on his arm. “Why don’t you come back inside? We can talk about this, ok?”

Hank stared at me in disbelief before he threw his head back and laughed, “I think I’m through talking to you. All this time I thought you were impartial and the whole time you were…” he laughed again. “Well I don’t know what you were but you had me fooled.”

“Hank, come on it wasn’t like that.” He rolled his eyes and went to unlock his door. “No!” I grabbed his keys. “You are going to listen to me.”

“Anna, give me back my keys. I don’t want to have anything to do with you anymore.” He went to grab his keys back but I moved out of his way. “Come on,” he tried to get them again. “Anna!” He grabbed hold of me with one hand while his other hand went for his keys.

I didn’t have time to try to escape his hold, I heard running and I felt Hank being pulled away from me. “Get you hands off her now!” I looked up to see Josh angrier than I ever saw him before, he shoved Hank backwards. “Touch her again and I swear to God I’ll kill you.”

Hank glared at him, “I wouldn’t have touched her then but she wouldn’t give me back my keys so I could get the hell out of here.”

Josh turned to me and held out his hand. I stared at him and wished I had time to explain what was going on but I didn’t. “I can’t.” I told him as I backed way, “I can’t let him go.”

“Why the hell not?” Josh snapped.

“Well she can’t play with people’s lives if she lets me go.” Hank told him and then turned to me. “Don’t mess with me Anna, just give me my keys and forget you ever met me.”

I stared at Hank’s open hand before glancing at the guys, “I didn’t know Hank.”

He laughed, “The hell you didn’t! I could’ve known you had an ulterior motive when you invited me to come here tonight. How stupid am I that I didn’t see it?”

“Hank I swear I didn’t know until just before you walked out just now. Why would I? It’s not like I was looking for it!”

Hank didn’t say anything; he just stood there with this expression on his face that I couldn’t quite figure out.

“Hey guys, what’s going on here?” Nick had come up to us as Hank and I were talking, he was standing almost behind Jordan, leaning looking over his shoulder. “The party is inside you know.”

Hank’s head snapped in their direction. “There are two of them?” He gave me this shocked look.

I nodded and then sighed, “Hank this is Josh, my boyfriend. And my best friends Jordan and Nicky.” I pointed to each of them as I said their names.

He stood there looking back and forth behind the guys as I introduced them. When I said Jordan’s name Hank muttered, ‘son of a bitch’ as he leapt forward and knocked him to the ground. It all seemed like it was going in slow motion, Hank was kneeling over Jordan and he drew back his arm, delivering a blow right into his jaw.

“Nooooo!” I screamed and lunged forward to stop Hank from hitting Jordan again but Josh got there before me. He pulled Hank off Jordan with so little effort, I was impressed. If my best friend wasn’t lying on the ground, I probably would’ve stood there and admired Josh’s strength. “Jordy!” I feel to my knees at his side and reached for his face. “Are you ok?”

Jordan nodded slowly and glared over my shoulder at Hank, who was struggling to get free of Josh’s grip. “What the hell is your problem?”

“Let me go!” Hank tried to swing at Josh, “That bastard needs to die.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jordan struggled to his feet, brushing off any efforts from Nick or me to help him. “I don’t know who the hell you are buddy, but you need some serious help.” Hank gave me this look which made Jordan frown, “What’s going on? Who is he?”

“He’s Heather’s boyfriend,” I whispered.

“What?” Jordan grabbed hold up my shoulders and turned me to face him, “What did you just say?”

“She said I’m Heather’s boyfriend,” Hank told him.

Jordan’s hands on my arms tightened, “Heather?” I found I couldn’t look up at him, I knew what I would see in his eyes if I did. Heather was Jordan’s last girlfriend, and as far as he was concerned, she was the only one for him. He loved her more than he ever loved anyone else and she left him without so much as ‘goodbye’ almost two years ago. “My Heather?” His whispered voice broke as he said her name again.

“Yes,” I nodded, still unable to look up at him.

“You knew this and you invited him here?”

“No!” My head snapped up. “I didn’t know the Heather he mentioned was your ex Jordan, I swear I didn’t!”

“She’s in town.” His eyes lit up, “She is, right?”

Hank tried to kick as Jordan but Josh still had hold of him. “You’ll stay the hell away from her!”

“Try and stop me!” Jordan snapped at him.

“You think she wants to see you after what you did to her?” He laughed, “Whatever your plan was Anna, it has backfired, he’ll never get to see her. After the things he said, he doesn’t deserve to see her.”

“Hank, shut up! You have no idea what you are talking about. Whatever Heather told you about Jordan is completely wrong, he would never deny her.”

He smiled down at me, “So you would be the best friend that Heather told me about,” he sneered. “She did say you were always butting into things that you knew nothing about and were none of your business.”

I wanted to slap him, in fact I almost did. “If Jordan knew, then I would’ve known and Heather would never have left town. He wouldn’t have let her!”

“Oh he knew looks like he didn’t tell you everything after all.”

Jordan tried to get my attention, “What are you talking about? What did I know? Where is Heather?”

I turned to Jordan, “I swear I didn’t know.”

“What didn’t you didn’t you know? What is he talking about?”

“Jordy,” I shook my head. “I should’ve known, the moment I saw her I thought she looked so familiar, but I didn’t see it.”

“Saw who? Anna, I’m sure Heather hasn’t changed that much since she’s been gone.”

“No, Jordy. Not Heather, Jenna.”

Jordan’s expression told me that he didn’t know what I was talking about, he gripped my arms, “Come on babe you aren’t making any sense. Who the hell is Jenna and what does she have to do with Heather.”

“Jordy,” I put my hands on his waist and made him move backwards until he was leaning against the car behind him. “When Heather left town she was pregnant. Jenna is her daughter,” I put my hands on his chest and gazed into his eyes. “Your daughter.”

“That’s not funny,” he searched my eyes for some hint that I was kidding. “Anna, stop kidding around.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this point, so I did both. “I’m not kidding Jordy, I’ve seen her,” I touched his face. “She has your eyes and your mouth. Babe, you have a beautiful little girl.”

I could feel his jaw tremble in my hands; he was shocked and scared all at the same time. “She didn’t tell me.” I shook my head, “Anna why didn’t she tell me about the baby?”

“I don’t know.”

“Well this is fun and all but I’d like to go home.” Hank piped up.

Jordan pushed off the car and was standing in front of Hank before I could stop him. “Where is Heather?”

Hank glared at him and refused to say anything so I did. “She’s out of town with her parents and Jenna.”

“Where?” He asked me. I glanced at Hank, who was shaking his head. I didn’t know if I should say anything or not. “Anna you have to tell me, I have to talk to her. I have to see my daughter.” When he uttered those words, ‘my daughter’ he tumbled backwards as if he had been struck by something. “Oh my God, I have a daughter. I’m a father,” he looked around frantically until he spotted his brother. “I don’t know how to be a father, what if I screw it up? What if I’m like dad?”