Brownsville Tales, Jayden & Cade, 10

“Can we meet-up somewhere in the weekend, or what?”

“Ah,” Jayden replied with a smile in his voice. “Vee shall see!”

“See what? C'mon Jayden, I hate riddles and I'm not good at waiting.”

“Suck it up, I'm not telling you, but I've got a plan. Have you got anything on?”

“On? Yeah, of course I have. Oh – you mean anything planned for the weekend? No, I haven't.”

“Good then. Keep it that way and I'll surprise you.”

“Jayden! Why can't you tell me now?”

“Because I don't know if it's happening yet. Be patient, Little One.”

“Little One? Hah! I'm bigger than you.”

“Taller maybe, but that's all. Cade . . umm, I'm glad you're back.”

“Cool. Me too. Really glad. I've missed my best friend.”

“So have I – heaps. I've gotta go, Cade, Granddad's calling me.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow.”

“Not if I see you first! Bye, Friend.”

“”Bye, Jay. Sleep well.”

“No problems there, Mate – none whatsoever. 'Bye.”

He disconnected and Cade sat looking at the phone in his hand. What did he mean by that? Who knew?

He was delighted with his phone. He'd wanted one for years, but this was the first one he'd ever had. Just a little thing but he could reach-out and touch the world with it. With the touch of a couple of buttons, he could lie on his bed and talk to Jayden and he was miles away!

He was delighted with Jayden too. Well, mostly he was. Things were not quite the way he'd dreamed they'd be, but – Hey! He was home and back with his best mate and that was good.

He'd always loved Jayden, ever since he could remember, and he always would. But, he'd gone past that now – he was in love with him and that's way more than just loving him as a friend.

Jayden would never love him like that. That was not the way he was and there was nothing Cade could do about that. He'd just have to be happy with what he had, take what Jayden could give him and force himself to smile. If he cried, when he cried, he'd do it in the rain, like clowns do.

Next day, Wednesday, was much the same again at school. They spent what time they could together and even managed to sneak away from Kristal, for a while, at lunchtime. Cade said nothing, but he thought that Jayden would be with her more if he was as rapt as he said he was. However, he wasn't complaining. He'd take what he could get.

The afternoon was given over to sports. Cade played touch rugby, first time he'd done that in years. Jayden didn't play anything. He just sat and watched. Cade asked him why, he shrugged and said, “Can't be stuffed.”

Funny that the teachers let him get away with that.

Karen Fairhall saved a seat for him on the bus on the way home, so he sat with her again. That was good.

Even better was that she got off the bus at the Caldwell's house. Cade was surprised at that but she said she was coming to hang-out for a while. It was good having someone her own age as a nearly-neighbour. She'd get a ride home with her dad when he was going past after work.

“Seems like everyone up the Coast Road works in town, or near it.”

“Yeah, they do – those that work. There's no jobs out here, except for a couple of small farms.”

“Lance said, “There's jobs further up the road, at the hotel, the pub and cafes and stuff.”

“There is, plus a few DOC jobs. Funy thing though, most people who work out here live in town and commute from there.

So, the old McAllister house is now your house. Have you found the beach yet?”

“Of course!” Cade grinned. “We did that the first day. Come in and meet Mum and we'll have a drink and get something to eat.”

They trooped into the house and a strange lady was sitting, drinking coffee, across the table from their mother. ('So that's where the strange car came from.')

She looked around and smiled, “Hello, Cade. Don't you remember me?”

“I, umm . . Mrs. Curtis! Wow. You've dyed your hair. Great to see you again.”

“Good to see you too. You've grown so much! Straight and tall and a fine healthy-looking boy. And, Yes,” she touched her head, “I have dyed my hair. There was too much gray coming through. My dad says that gray hair is hereditary – you get it from your children. He should know, he's got plenty.”

“Does Jayden give you worries, Mrs. C?”

“More than you know. But, he always has and now his partner-in-crime has returned!”

“We weren't that bad, were we?”

“You were,” his mother said. “You were boys. Who's your friend?”

“Oh yeah. Karen Fairhall, this is our mum and Jayden's mum, Mrs. Curtis. Karen lives up at the 12 Mile. Shes going to hang with us and catch a ride home with her dad, later.”

“That's fine. Hello, Karen. There's leftover pizza in the fridge if anyone wants it.”

“We'll force ourselves.” Lance put the pizza in the microwave and Cade poured cokes.

“If the hordes have been released from school,” Mrs. Curtis stood up, “I'd better be going home. There shouldn't be, but ring me if there's any problems in the weekend.”

“Yes, of course,” Mrs. Caldwell followed her out to the car.

Jayden didn't come to school next day. Apparently he did that sometimes. No-one knew why and they weren't worried, except for Cade. They might be all used to it but he wasn't.

He tried ringing him but got no answer, so he left a message asking if he was okay. He would've liked to say more but didn't. It was not like he was his girlfriend or anything.

He tried ringing again when he got home and again in the evening after dinner, but still got no reply. He'd be worried by now if he didn't know that Jayden lived with a big family who loved him.

There was a thought! He went into the house and asked his mother if she had Mrs. Curtis' number?

“Yes, of course I do. What do you want it for?”

“I want to ask her about Jayden. He wasn't at school and hasn't answered his phone all day.”

“And so you're worried – about nothing, I'm sure. Okay, the number is in my phone. Put it back when you're done with it.”

“Thanks, Mum.”

Mrs. Curtis told him that Jayden was sleeping. There was nothing to worry about, he just gets tired sometimes and needs a rest - probably too many late nights!

“Are you sure he's okay, Mrs. C? I mean, it's not normal for a kid to sleep all day, is it?”

“It's, ah, it's nothing to worry about. I'll let Jayden fill you in when you see him.”

“Okay, I guess. Will he be at school tomorrow?”

“Probably. If he's not, he's going to the doctor and he wouldn't like that.”

“Right. Thanks Mrs. C. Tell him I said to get his butt back to school.”

“I'll do that, but I don't know how much notice he'll take. Goodbye, Cade. Thanks for ringing.”

“'Bye, Mrs. C.”

When he arrived at school next day, Cade's bus pulled in just before Jayden's one. He knew it was his bus beause he knew the kids getting off it, like Mella and Mike Storey, but Jayden wasn't among them.

Kristal was standing there looking too. Their eyes met and they both grimaced and shrugged; Jayden wasn't there again. Cade went inside, thinking that Kristal wasn't so bad really. He just wished that she'd get herself another boyfriend.

Jayden showed up in the second period and slid into the seat across the aisle from Cade who whispered, “Where've you been?”

“Missed the stupid bus. Granddad brought me in.”

“Jayden!” Mr. Erickson growled.

“Sir?” he replied innocently.

“Be quiet, Jayden. You can talk later, right now it's my turn.”

Shows how much he knew – they didn't get a turn to talk all day, worse luck. Fate was against them it seemed. It wasn't just Kristal; she wanted to talk to Jayden, but so did everyone else. He was surrounded by people all day long and Cade never got a chance to talk to him.

Jayden grinned and shrugged every time their eyes met, but that wasn't much help.

By lunchtime, Cade stopped trying and, when he wasn't playing touch, he sat and talked to some of the giggling girls who, it seemed, all wanted to know all about him. Karen was kind-of pushing them away, but that was only because she wanted to be with him.

If she thought that she was going to be his girl, she had another think coming. He didn't want to offend her though; he quite liked Karen as a friend, just not as a girlfriend. They'd have to sort that out sometime when they could talk privately. Maybe he could do that on the bus on the way home? That didn't happen either; but that was a good thing.

As usual, when he returned after taking a day or two off, far too many nosey-parkers wanted to know why Jayden had been away. Like he was going to tell them all of his private business? Not likely. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

It had never really worried him much, but that was before Cade came back. It was nice to have friends and all, but Cade was the only one he really wanted to talk to and he didn't get a chance all day long.

From what he could see, it wasn't worrying Cade much – he was busy and surrounded by people too, mostly girls of course. He'd known that this was going to happen, the gorgeous new-kid-in-town was in huge demand. Looked like he was loving it too.

It was most likely Karen Fairhall who was going to win out in the end. She had a huge advantage because she lived near him, up the Coast Road, and they travelled to and from school on the buses together.

She wasn't getting it all her own way though. There were lots of others who'd like to be the love of Cade's life. More than he knew. Jayden wasn't worried, he knew something that no-one else knew – he had a plan.

The long day finally came to an end. (Why is Friday always the longest day of the week?) The townies left for home and the country kids went out to wait for their buses and other rides.

Jayden was carrying an extra bag when he joined a group and he grinned widely when Cade greeted him with a question. “Jayden, aren't you getting on the wrong bus?”

“No, Bro. This is the one I want today. I'm coming out to your place.”

“You're coming out to ours? That's great! How long are you staying for?”

“Trying to get rid of me already? I'm not even there yet.”

“Yeah, nah,” Cade grinned widely. “Stay as long asd you like. For the whole weekend would be good.”

“Chur, Bro.” Jayden matched his grin.

They got on the bus and sat together. Karen didn't look too pleased about that. But – whatever.

She sat alone until they picked-up the primary school kids. Lance got on and flopped down next to her. “How come the prettiest girl on the bus is sitting here all alone?”

“Must be waiting for you,” she smiled.”Your big brother's busy today. He's down the back, sitting with Jayden Curtis.”

“Jayden?” Lance looked back and waved. “What's he doing on our bus? Sheesh, he's changed! I wouldn't have known him, but it is 5 years since I saw him, I was just a little kid.”

“Still are, aren't you?”

“Hey, not so much! You want to feel in my shorts and see how big I am?”

“Lance Caldwell – behave! No, I do not want to feel that.”

“You'll have to take my word for it then. But, it's huge and getting bigger by the minute!”

“Yeah, right. I can't believe that a kid not even in Highschool could be so cocky.”

“Cocky?” Lance grinned.

“Okay, not a good choice of words,” Karen laughed.

Down at the back, Cade was busy telling Jayden all about their new home and its surroundingsa, but he was also keeping half an eye on Karen and his brother. She'd got over her grumpy mood real quick. It looked like she was enjoying the company of Young Lothario.

That was a good thing, wasn't it? He didn't want to get really involved with Karen. It was never going to happen, but there was only one person he really wanted to be with like that. He turned his full attention back on Jayden.

They might never have any more than this weekend alone together, so he was going to make the most of it