Behind the Shadows of Deception-Chapter 17
As hours passed they remained on the sofa in the living room. Mya was too tired to abandon her comfortable position while JC was content just being there. He didn’t even bother to ask her to shift her weight as his legs were becoming numb from her resting her head on them.
“I still can’t believe you wouldn’t let me see what you were reading.” She focused on the ceiling while talking to him.
“Mya, that was hours ago. What I can’t believe is that you’re still talking about it.”
“Because…I mean is it private or something? Is that why you were so keen on hiding it from me?” He had been staring at the back of her head until now. She turned, studying him with her brown eyes.
“I guess you can say it’s private.” Of course the content of the journal wasn’t what he wanted to hide from her. It was the fact that he had it in his possession.
“I can understand that. I like to write down my private thoughts too, just for me to vent, ya know?” JC only nodded. He didn’t want to say too much that would cause her to get suspicious.
“Do you do it often?”
“Do what often?” He had momentarily drifted off while his fingers wandered through her silken mane.
“Write in your journal.”
JC choked. What was he was he going to say to that? He wasn’t about to start lying to her now, not when he was already in enough trouble. “No, not hardly.”
“Me either, not since I misplaced it anyway. And instead of just buying another one I’m waiting for it to reappear one day.” She laughed lightly as if the thought was ridiculous.
“It’ll show up.”
Mya sat up, immediately abandoning her comfortable position to move to the opposite end of the couch. “Hmm, you really think so?”
“I know so.” He could say that matter-of-factly because once he was finished with it he would return it.
“Mmm…” Mya mumbled again. “I hope so. I mean I have a lot of things I want to say-write.”
“Well…” JC paused, sitting up against the back cushions of the couch and folding his arms across his chest. “You can talk to me if you want to, that is.”
Mya’s eyes widened in surprise before a disbelieving smirk had taken shape on her face. She nearly jumped out of her seat as she prepared her next words. “Oh my God! How hypocritical is that!”
JC shrugged. “What?”
“You wouldn’t let me read what the hell was in your journal, yet you want me to tell you my business?” Mya titled her head to the side expecting him to lie about it.
That did sound somewhat two-faced to him as well. Still, he found it unnecessary for her to verbalize “her business” because he had it all in written form. Sure, it wasn’t up-to-date; however, he would work with what he had.
“I don’t need you to tell me your business. I just thought-I mean if you needed to clear your mind.” If she told him anything at all, that would be one less thing to read in her journal.
“Mmm, is that right?” Mya smirked again, although it resembled a smile.
“Yes.” JC flashed a smile of his own. “Now come over here so we can watch a movie on your big screen TV.” JC reached to haul her to his side of the couch.
Mya pulled her arm away. “I told you I want my arm, don’t yank it like that.” She swatted him with a throw pillow. JC seized the pillow from her grasp ready to get a hit in until she screamed that her cell phone was ringing. He put the pillow aside letting her tend to her call.
“H-hello?” Mya faltered over the laughter in her voice that had died prior to answering the phone.
“Mya?” The unknown caller questioned.
“Yeah?” She hesitated pulling the cell phone away from her ear to glance at the caller id. Once she realized the name, she relaxed from her tense position and comfortably reclined against the armrest of the couch. “Oh hey Justin…”
“JC wasn’t answering his phone, is he there?” Justin asked to which Mya replied with a quick, “Yes.”
“Is he staring at you wondering why I called?”
Mya stole a brief glance at JC, who stared back at her curiously. “Yes, he is.” She laughed.
“What does he want?” JC spoke up.
“Tell him to mind his business.” Mya relayed Justin’s message to JC.
“Tell him to kiss my ass.” JC snapped, grabbing the remote from the coffee table, he began surfing the channels.
“Aww, he’s jealous.” Mya giggled while reaching over with one hand to rough up his hair a bit. JC pitifully pushed her hand away.
“Okay now he’s being mean to me too so tell me why you called.”
“You can’t tell JC.”
Mya rolled her eyes. “Why not?”
“Because you have to be discreet about it.”
She slapped her hand against her thigh. “Why though?” Justin was beginning to make her mad and JC noticed. He asked her what was wrong, but she waved him off.
“It’s a surprise for JC.”
“Okay.” Now they were getting somewhere. “What for?”
“His birthday.” Justin offered.
Mya chewed her lip confused. “Um…Justin wasn’t that in August?”
“So we’re running a little late, but it’s for a good reason.” He paused. “JC ever tell you about Heather?” Mya asked if he meant JC’s sister. “No, his ex-girlfriend Heather.”
“Oh no.” She sat up suddenly interested. JC had never spoken much about his dates. In fact, he had never spoken of them.
“Well, he was dating her up until his birthday. They broke up because she cheated on him. He was too down in the dumps to really celebrate his birthday. So since he’s finally gotten over that, we’re gonna celebrate now.”
“Y’all just want an excuse to party.” Mya joked while casting a sideways glance at JC. He turned away from the television the moment he felt her eyes on him.
Mya held his gaze for a second longer than she intended before focusing primarily on her conversation with Justin. She kept telling herself not to indulge his flirting any more than necessary because it would only plant other pointless ideas in his mind that she didn’t want to deal with right now. However, she only recognized his flirting-if him staring at her could be label as such-as harmless fun, holding no true meaning between friends.
“Okay so what do y’all need me to do?” She cushioned a throw pillow between her thighs, preparing herself for whatever he was about to offer.
“Well, for starters you could give my man a break. I mean it is his birthday weekend.”
Mya rolled her eyes heavenward. “Not really. What are you talking about?”
Justin sighed. Why’d he always find himself explaining things? First JC, now her. “Mya, the man likes you, maybe even more than that, and you won’t cut him some slack.”
Mya caught herself staring at the back of JC’s head again. He had never told her that he liked her, but he had obviously shared that bit of information with Justin and maybe even the others. She wondered what he was trying to prove by concealing it. Was he waiting for some sign of interest from her side? If that were case, he would be waiting until she worked on herself emotionally and mentally ahead of being able to handle his advances at least.
“And then he wrote a song-”
“That wasn’t for me. He just let me hear it.” Mya quickly interrupted.
“He told you that? Hmm…well, what about the kiss? You didn’t have to reject the dude.”
Mya gasped. “He told you that!” She retrieved the pillow from between her legs, swinging and aiming for JC. “You told him that!”
He ducked just in time for the pillow to swipe only the tip of his hair. “Told him what?”
“Never mind. Justin what else do you want?”
“Um let’s see…remember don’t tell JC about the party, but you somehow have to convince him to come, I’m sure that’ll be easy for you.” Justin smirked. “Oh and we were wondering if you could perform for him?”
“Sure whatever you want.” Mya simply replied. She received all other necessary information from him before hanging up.
“What did he want that you agreed to?”
Mya smiled secretly. “I was forbidden to tell you.”
“Come on what he is going to do if you tell me? Throw you over his knee?”
“He just might.” Mya teased.
JC frowned, imagining it. “Hey, hey, don’t say that Mya.”
“Why because your relationship counselor says you have the jones for me?”
Immediately, he clasped the remote and turned off the television. “Um, my what?”
“You know, your relationship counselor, Justin.” She ended with a smirk.
JC sighed, raking his fingers through his hair. “What did he tell you?”
“I told you what he said.” She seemed annoyed with him as she prepared to get up from the couch.
JC grasped her arm lightly this time. “What else though?”
Mya sucked her teeth as she made herself comfortable on the sofa. “Oh and that I rejected your kiss.”
“Mya, I didn’t say that you rejected my kiss. I said that you blew me off.”
“I didn’t blow you off.” She objected.
“Mya, you told me that you let the mood get the best of you that sounds like a rejection to me.”
Mya raised her brow in her surprise. “Oh thought you said I didn’t reject you.” She continued while he fumbled for a response, “And while we’re on the subject, you’re the one that said, it was just kiss.”
“Because you acted like you didn’t care Mya!” JC began to notice that their conversation had become more intense than intended. “And besides I didn’t want to pressure you since you seemed to be so dead set against a relationship.”
“I’m not dead set against it, I just-”
“Don’t form relationships with your friends, right?”
Mya’s eyes snapped in his direction. How in the hell did he know that? “What are you reading my mind?”
No, but close. Your journal, JC thought.
“Honestly, though I-wait, I know what you’re trying to do.” Mya sat up as if someone had just clued her in on a huge secret.
“What am I trying to do Mya?” He played the innocent card once again.
“You’re trying to trick me into telling you my business.”
That wasn’t how JC regarded this conversation. He did not intend to trick her into confessing anything. He would rather her tell him on her own how she felt about him, if she felt anything at all, and everything and anything else she could keep a secret.
“I don’t want to trick you. I mean if you want to blab your business to me, I’m not going to stop you.” JC flashed a smile, which Mya returned.
“Why do you have to be so damn sincere?”
“Why shouldn’t I be?” Mya had no answer for him. “You wouldn’t want someone that wasn’t sincere, now would you?” She told him no.
“While we’re discussing it, what type of men do you-”
“Oh no I know where this is heading.” Mya turned away and reached for the remote.
“What?”
“Oh for God sakes stop playing innocent. I’m on to you. You want to know my type of man to see if you fit the category. ”
“You got me so…”
“So what if you don’t fit the category?” He wouldn’t dare consider that as a possibility.
“What’s wrong with me? I know you think I’m cute, so it can’t be my looks.”
Mya rolled her eyes while shifting her position. “True it’s not your looks or your personality for that matter-well you can be a little jealous sometimes. And I’m not feeling the insomniac thing-”
“So what, you can be overly competitive.”
“This isn’t about me. You asked me about my type of guy and I’m telling you.”
“So I can’t respond?”
“Unless you don’t want me to finish?”
“Forget it. I’ll just call up my relationship counselor.” And he did just that. When Mya left him alone to go shower, he gave Justin a call.
“Justin speaking.”
“What the hell are you doing?” JC began.
“C? Hey man what’s up?”
“Why’d you call Mya?”
Justin ignored him. “Why didn’t you answer your phone when I called?”
“Justin!”
“What?” He laughed. “I had something to ask her and I’m not telling you what it is.”
“Okay whatever, but why’d you have to tell her everything we had talked about?”
“I didn’t tell her everything.” Justin protested.
“No you just told her that I liked her and that she rejected my kiss.”
“I did, didn’t I? Well, did y’all make some progress at least?” Justin inquired excitedly. He hoped his hard work didn’t end unsuccessfully.
“No we had a little argument and she thinks you’re my relationship counselor.”
Justin laughed. “Well, do you have anything to report to me? Did she say how she feels?”
“No.” JC mumbled defeated. “We didn’t get that far, she went to shower.”
“Okay then ask her when she gets out.”
JC began shaking his head. “I can’t do that she’s not going to listen. Mya can be stubborn when she wants to be.”
“Well, ask her anyway, you never know what she might say and report back to me on Monday because I have a lot on my plate this weekend.” Justin ended the call.
JC pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at the object as if it was foreign to him. Mya was right. Justin was indeed his relationship counselor.