"Does your dad do this alot?," She asked as she sat across the table from Brayden in one of the local McDonald's.
He shook his head as he picked at his french fries, "No.."
"I was just wondering..he's a little scary when he's like this, huh?"
"Yea..he's no fun.."
She smiled, "No..not right now. He said he was sorry though, ok?"
"Ok.."
"What else should we do?"
Brayden took a bite of his burger, "Dunno..."
"Hmmm..okay...you think of something to go do and we'll go..okay? Anything at all..."
Brayden nodded, "Okay..I think of something."
Jordyn smiled, "Okay, you let me know."
After McDonald's, Jordyn took Brayden to a park so he could run around and play. He ran from the swingsets to the monkey bars to the slide, over and over again. Jordyn played with him a little bit before sitting on a wooden bench near the sandbox, where she could keep an eye on him. He had so much energy sometimes, he was like the Energizer bunny. 'Least he'll sleep good tonight..,' She thought as she watched him jump off the slide, run back around and slide back down.
After awhile, Brayden got bored with the playground and wandered over, his hands in his pockets and his head down.
Jordyn smiled, "Hey, what's wrong?"
He shrugged.
"Are you ready to go?"
He nodded, his head still down.
"What's wrong Brayden?"
"I want my old daddy back..."
She nodded in understanding and pulled him into her lap, "I know, sweetie...he's just having a down day...we all get like that sometimes. Sometimes you just don't want to do anything."
"But...daddy hasn't done that in a long while.."
"I know...how 'bout we go back home and we'll pop in a movie and see if we can't get him to come out of his room?"
"What movie?"
Jordyn put him on the ground and then knelt down and he climbed on her back. She hooked her arms around his legs securely and began to walk towards her car, "Well...you think of a movie...and we'll watch it."
"Lion King?"
"If that's what you wanna watch, then we'll watch it, ok?"
"Okay!"
Jordyn fixed up Brayden in the living room with his movie and made sure he was okay before heading upstairs to Nick's lair.
She knocked on the door but received no answer, so she took that as a sign to go in. She opened the door and found him sitting up in the center of his bed, still dressed in his pajamas, staring at the blank tv. His eyes shifted to her when he heard the door open, "Did you two go out?"
Jordyn closed the door behind her, "Yea..we went out to eat and then to a playground for a little bit..he's downstairs watchin' a movie.."
"He okay?"
"He misses his dad.."
He sighed, "I know....I'm sorry..."
"How about you get dressed or something and come down and watch the movie with us? I'm sure he'd really like that...and I could fix you something to eat...or something."
Nick shook his head, "I can't.."
Jordyn sighed and sat on the edge of his bed, not caring if he cared or not, "Nick...he knows something's wrong...he's worried about you."
"I just can't Jordyn! God! Can't you just get that through your head!!"
She jumped a little at the tone of his voice as he yelled, "You don't have to get loud..I'm right here, and I'm only trying to help."
"Yea, well, it's not working."
She rolled her eyes, "You're being a baby, you know that? You have got a son down there wondering if you're okay or not...apparently, you're not."
He watched, his gaze cold, as she stood to walk out, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going downstairs to watch your son."
"You're mad."
"I'm not mad Nick...I just don't want you yelling at me for just trying to help you."
The door closed firmly behind her and Nick crossed his arms in front of him.
Jordyn was searching around in the kitchen for Nick's phone book when Brayden wandered in, "Whatcha doing?"
"Looking for Brian's phone number, do you know where your dad would have it?"
"No. But I know it!"
"Would you be a big boy and dial it for me?"
"Yea!"
Brayden dialed the number and handed the receiver to Jordyn and then ran to the living room to watch the movie. It rang once, then twice. Then, finally someone picked up. She almost hoped it'd be LeighAnne, but no such luck.
"Hello?"
"Brian?"
"Yes, who is this?"
"This is Jordyn..umm, Nick's friend?"
She heard him sigh, and he didn't sound too happy to be hearing from her, "Yea, what do you want?"
Jordyn wanted so bad to go off on him, yell at him, anything, but she didn't, "I know you don't want to talk to me or whatever, and I know you think I'm just around Nick for the money, fame, whatever....But I need your help."
"What for?"
"Nick's in one of his depressed moods...Brayden called me earlier and I came over...but I can't get Nick to come out of his room or anything and he just yelled at me. I was wondering, since you've known him longer and stuff, if you knew how to get him to get out of this funk?"
"Well, considering he's in one of his infamous moods, maybe it's because of you Jordyn, ever think of that? He comes out of them when he wants to come out of them. Nothing any of us does helps him. He just ends up throwing a tantrum."
Jordyn shut her eyes tightly against the tears that had formed behind her eyelids, he could be such a jerk! "That's not very fair Brian, you've never even given me a chance."
"Why should I? And see my best friend get hurt again? I don't think so. I'll be over in twenty minutes. When I get there, you can leave."
"But I-"
"No, you're leaving when I get there. You don't need to be there. You're not in the 'family' Jordyn.," And with that, he hung up the phone.
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