Help Me

~Jimmy’s Point of View~
Four days later

It was about 2:00 p.m. and I’d been dialing her number and backspacing it for almost an hour and a half, debating on whether or not I should call her.
Ring ring
What if I were interrupting something important?
Ring ring
Maybe she just gave me her number out of sympathy.
Ring ring
Maybe she gave me the wrong number.
Ring ring
What if she didn’t want to talk to me?

“Hihi! My name is Evelyn!”
I let out a breath that I didn’t even realize I had been holding. Oh man!
“Hey Lyn-Lyn! It’s me, Jimmy,” I said. “What are you doing baby girl?”
”Eatin’ Jell-O,” she sang in a squeaky voice. “My mommy is making some more if you want some.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. It was hard to imagine this kid sick in anyway. She was always so fuckin’ happy!
“I’d love some Jell-O, but I gotta t-,”
“Okay,” Evelyn yelled, cutting me off. “I’ll tell mommy you’re coming to eat Jell-O. Byee!!!”
Aaaaaaaand she hung up. Well damn… Looks like I’m going to eat Jell-O…

With that, I got up from my bed and grabbed my car keys. The point of that phone call was to call Serenity and invite her over to Zacky’s house for the bar-b-que he’s having today, but I was beat by a four year old. I’m just lucky I got the address to her house before now. We’d already planned a date alone for this weekend. I offered to let Evelyn come along, but Serenity insisted that she stay home with her friends that night.

I was at my destination in no time, and nervous as fuck! I mean, it wasn’t like I was showing up unannounced, but still, maybe a little creepy? Oh, whatever! Fuck!

I walked up to the door and pushed the little button for the doorbell. Now we wait… As I stood there I looked around, studying the setting. Lots of little flowers planted everywhere, specks of purple, red, pink, yellow and white sprinkled over the bright green, lively grass. Vines of ivy flowed from the pots hanging from the pots sitting on the plant stands, a few of the twisting in and out around the metal fence that surrounded the house, small flowers sprouting from the stems. Just as I was about to look around further, the doorknob jiggled. Instead of opening immediately, it kept on jiggling. ‘The fuck?’

Finally, the door opened to reveal a tiny Evelyn clad in little shorts, in a tye-dye style with the colors of pink, blue and yellow, a sleeveless pink shirt, and a white head wrap with tiny little flowers scattered all over. Her feet were bare and she stood on her tippy toes, I guess from where she was trying to twist the doorknob. Just as I was about to greet her, she flung her tiny body at me and wrapped her arms around my thigh, her chin resting on my leg.

“Hiiiii Jimmyyyyy,” she said in a high pitched voice.
“Hey Lyn-Lyn,” I said back, stroking her little cheek with my finger. “Where’s your mommy?”
“She’s in the kitchen playing music,” Evelyn said, her beautiful hazel-green eyes growing wide. “You want some Jell-O?”
“Haha! Sure, baby,” I laughed. She was so damn cute. “Does your momma know I’m here?”
Evelyn wrapped her fingers around mine and pulled me in through the door. “Nope! But I’ll tell her right now.”
‘Oh dear God…’

Evelyn pulled me through the house, all the way to the back where the kitchen/dining room was. Once there, Evelyn stopped in front of me and put her hands behind her back, rocking back and forth from her toes to her heels. Bouncing in time to ‘Nobody’s Fool’ by Cinderella.
“Mommy,” she asked loudly I as I hooked my hands under her shoulders and picked her up quietly.
Serenity turned down the music on her little blue speaker thingy. “Yes, baby?”
“Jimmy called, and I invited him over for Jell-O.”
“Oh really,” she asked the child. I had to use everything I had in me to keep from laughing. “Did he tell you what time he was coming?”
“I’m already here,” I said, bursting out laughing. Aw, man, I couldn’t help it!
Serenity turned around quickly, a wide smile on her face. “Oh my gosh,” she laughed. “Uh, Evelyn! Baby, you need to tell me this stuff before people get here!”
“Sorry mommy,” she giggled.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I thought she would have told you.”
“No, it’s fine,” Serenity said, washing her hands of all the Jell-O mix. “I’m just glad it was you and not the crazy old lady from next door!”
“Mom! Jimmy wants Jell-O,” Evelyn pouted. I laughed again as her giggles filled the room.
“Oh hush child,” Serenity said. “You finished the last of the other pan, now Jimmy’s gotta wait.”
I set Evelyn on her feet and she pulled me to the table to sit with her, grabbing her little pink spoon full of a mixture of blue and green Jell-O.
“It’s okay,” she sang, shoving the spoon in my face. I opened my mouth, and she fed me the sweet gelatin. “He can have some of mine.”
Serenity laughed and pulled out her phone to take pictures of me being spoon fed by her daughter. I pulled back and rubbed my stomach.
“Oh man,” I said. “I could tooootally get used to this! One beautiful woman feeding me Jell-O, while the other beautiful one makes more for me to eat! It’s great!”
Evelyn turned in her chair to face her mom. “Can we keep him, momma?”

I burst out laughing again as Serenity snorted at Evie’s question.
Evelyn’s bottom lip stuck out in a little pout, her eyes went big and round in attempts to convince her mother into keeping me at their house.
“Aw mama,” Serenity cooed, coming to grab her daughter’s face gently. “Only if he wanted to stay. We can’t keep Jimmy here forever! He’s a very busy man!”
“Oh, okay,” Evelyn said, shoving another spoonful of Jell-O into my mouth.

I sat there with the girls, made small talk, and joked around for a good hour and a half when Evelyn decided she wanted to watch ‘Beauty and the Beast’, I spent the entire first half of the movie singing the songs with Lyn-Lyn while Serenity laughed at us (yeah, I know the songs. I love Disney princess movies. Don’t you fuckin’ judge me! Haha!), until Evelyn fell asleep. Serenity and sat there in a comfort able silence. Evelyn’s head in her mother’s lap along with my hand, her fingers held tightly onto mine, tightening around them every once in a while, perhaps in hopes that her little grip would keep me there. I looked over to Serenity, who was fighting her sleep, then looked back down to my hand that was still in her lap due to Lyn’s grip. I wasn’t complaining! I mean, not to be vulgar or anything, but damn! This woman had a figure worth touching! Ugh. I need to stop.

“She really likes you,” Serenity whispered.
I looked down to Evelyn’s sleeping body, and smiled. “I can see that,” I whispered back, hoping that my stupid lisp wasn’t too noticeable.
“Evelyn likes everyone,” she said quietly, running her finger tips down the side of Evelyn's face. “But I’ve never seen her grow so attached to a guy before. Women, oh always. But men? That’s a different story.”
“Why is that,” I asked her. My curiosity spiking.
Serenity smiled at her baby and sighed. “I remember when she first asked about her dad. She’ll be five in about a month so it’s been about two years already. She had just turned three, and she wanted to know why other kids had a man and a woman with them when they got medicine in their ‘elephants’. That’s what the nurses call the catheters…” Serenity wiped a tear that had fallen from her eye, but still smiled and chuckled a little before going on. “It was so awkward telling her, but I wasn’t going to lie to her. I told her that daddy wasn’t brave enough to raise a baby. That he was scared, and he didn’t love mommy anymore.”
I frowned. Who would be afraid of such a beautiful thing? “What did she tell you?”
Once again, Serenity laughed. “She said that he must have been very dumb,” she sighed, still stroking her daughter’s cheek. “She’s a silly girl, you know? She never fails to tell me not to give up. ‘I’ll find you a Prince Charming, momma!’ Just about every day she says it. It’s so funny. But she’s all I’ll ever need.”

I smiled at Serenity. So young and being left to brave one of the strongest storms life has to throw at a person alone, and still be able to smile through it…

“Hey,” I said, getting Serenity’s attention. “Uhm, my friend Zack. He’s having a thing at his house in like, two hours. I was wondering if you and Evelyn would like to come?”
Serenity smiled at me, and opened her mouth to answer, but just as she was about to say the words, Evelyn sat up quickly. Eyes wide, holding her breath. She clenched her fists and her face grew an unnerving white color.
“What’s wrong baby?” Serenity leaned forward to look at her daughter.
Evelyn turned to her and started to cry loudly, her hands going to her stomach.
“Does your tummy hurt?” Serenity’s voice filled with concern, tears welled up in her eyes. “Evie, I need you to tell me what’s wrong hun.”
Evelyn just nodded her head, crying harder. At this point, I had absolutely no idea what to do. My heart was breaking at the very sight of her tears, and seeing how Serenity just folded was only adding to it.

Evelyn doubled over and violently dry heaved, almost as warning us that she was about to let everything go.
“I’m so sorry Jimmy,” Serenity apologized. Picking Evelyn up. “I’ll call you some other time okay? I’m real sorry.”

She rushed out of the room with Evelyn. Her heart wrenching cries ringing in my ears.
Should I leave? Fuck!

I pulled my phone out from my pocket and dialed Matt’s number.
“Hello,” Valary answered the phone.
“Hey Val,” I said quickly. Going into the kitchen a grabbing a small towel and running it under the cold water. “I’m not going to be able to make it over tonight, I don’t think. I’m sorry.”
“Is everything okay Jim?” Damn this woman and her ability to see through everything!
“Uh, I- no, not really,” I sighed.
“What happened,” she asked quickly. “Do you need help with something?”
“Ugh, no.” I told. “Remember that girl we met at the concert? The one with the daughter?”
“The one you have a crush on?’ Oh, Goddamn it.
“Yes Val,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Anyway, well I was here at her house with them and her daughter just got really sick.” I made my way over to the bathroom, following Evelyn’s loud cries.
“Oh my God,” Val gasped. “Is that her crying?”
“Yeah that’s her,” I sighed. Serenity was rubbing Evelyn's back as she was bent over the toilet, sobbing violently.
“Okay then,” Valary said. ”Aw poor baby. Well, you take care of them Jim. Call if you guys need anything. Send me the address so I can send some food, okay?”
“Alright Val,” I said, crouching down next Lyn-Lyn, putting the cold towel on the back of her neck. I met Serenity’s tear filled eyes and stared right into them “I’ll call you later, okay.”

Evelyn grabbed tightly onto my hand and sat back onto Serenity’s lap, still sobbing. I frowned once again, and closed the lid of the toilet to flush down the contents.
“Jimmy,” Serenity said. “You really don’t have to stay. I can do this on my ow-,”
“But you don’t have to,” I said, cutting her off.

Serenity didn’t say a word back. She just sat there and stared at me. I looked down to Evelyn, whose head was lulling to the side, she was hiccupping and huge tears rolled down her cheeks. I wiped vomit off from under her bottom lip and rubbed her cheek with my finger. I stood up and washed my hands then picked her up gently.
“You done, baby doll?” Evelyn only nodded her head in response.
“I wanna go lay down,” she croaked. Her throat sore from the heaving and crying, I’m sure.
Serenity stood up and lead me to Lyn-Lyn’s room, where I put her down into her bed and we left her to sleep.

Serenity stood outside Evelyn’s bedroom door. Unable to move almost. Like she was waiting for something to happen. I watched carefully though, taking in everything I saw. She looked so damn frail, like she was hanging on by a thread. Worry was etched into her face like a mask, her hands were shaking. I tilted my head as she brought her arms up to hug herself, tears rolled slowly down her face. Reminding her only of her trials, washing away the sweet moments we just spent together.

“Serenity,” I asked. But she didn’t answer. She only closed her eyes.
“Serenity, love,” I said again, but still nothing.
I sighed, and grabbed her hand, and still I got no reaction. So I started walking towards what I assumed was her room, and pulled her to the bed. I climbed in and brought her next to me, wrapping my arms around her, and buried my nose into her hair.

“I’m here now,” I told her. “Everything is going to be okay. I’ll be right here.”

Notes

Another chapter coming soon!:)