ᴍʏ ᴍᴏᴍ ɪs ᴡʜᴏ? ✔︎

My Best Friend, My Defender

| Jack |

Today is the day! Cody's coming home! I haven't been this excited in a long time - I barely slept last night. It'd be a huge lie if I told you I wasn't counting down the days, hours, minutes - even the seconds, until my best friend gets back.

"You're so fidgety today. Why?" Kelley asks from her seat beside Hope, who was happily watching me pacing like a madman.

"Why? WHY?!" I ask my 'other mother',wearing a look of incredulity. "Oh. I don't know, Kelley, maybe because my best friend is coming home today, I've only been talking about it since the day she left!" Although I yell at her, I'm not angry, and they both know it when they laugh at my behavior. Thankfully, for my own mental state, their laughter is cut short by a knock on the door.

"I'll get it! I'll get it!" I squeal, jumping up and down where I stand before I run to the door. I throw it open, expecting it to be Cody, but it's not. "Oh, it's you." I close the door in her face, simply not in the mood to talk to her.

"Who was it?" Hope asks when she sees that I'm still Codyless.

"A door to door salesman."

"Selling what?" Kelly questions.

"Uh, selling bullshit I guess." Kelley looks at me, narrowing her eyes and gets up from the couch to open the door, much to my unvoiced disapproval.

"Hey Kristie!" I hear Kelley beam as she opens the door. "Ignore Jack, she's turned sour since Cody went to California with Alex."

"It's okay, really." Kristie starts as she makes eye contact with me. "It's Cody I wanted to talk to anyway."

"Why?" I ask her, not caring about formalities and subtly. Hope simply stands and leaves the room, while Kelley hesitates. Kelley is the one who often tells me that I'm too much like Hope for my own good, which would explain why she's worried about leaving me alone in the same room as the one person I have a serious issue with right now.

"It's okay, Kelley. Go." Kristie encourages her teammate, who sends me a stern look. I give her a quick nod, not because I agree to 'be nice', but because I want her out of the room, and now. She finally follows Hope to the kitchen and silence engulfs the room.

"Listen, Ja-"

"No." I cut her off, holding a hand up in the air, silencing her. "You don't get to tell my best friend that you like her but nothing can happen. You don't get to kiss her and leave, not to speak to her again until it's convenient for you and you sure as hell don't get to dump Rachel and show up here trying to win Cody over. Not on my damn watch." I practically growl out, finding it increasingly difficult to control my anger. "You don't get to play her, over and over again, she's got too much shit on her plate right now, I won't let you add more to it."

"What do you mean?" She asks me, and I chuckle dryly.

"That's what I mean, Kris. If you wanted anything to do with Cody, you wouldn't have left her out to dry, maybe then you'd know what's going on in her life." I hit out, and I watch as guilt seizes the Pro before me. "Did you even know she was in California?"

"I did, but not from her. She wouldn't answer my calls or texts." She tells me and I smile internally, happy that my friend wouldn't just roll over.

"Who told you?"

"Alex."

"Alex?"

"Yeah, you might be giving me some serious shade but that doesn't mean Alex is. Look, Jack, I get it. I really do. I hurt her. I know I don't deserve her but I thought that I was doing the right thing." She tries to explain but it only makes me laugh. "I'm serious, Jack. I caught feelings for her so fast that it scared me, her being so young scared me-"