Letting Love In-Ch41

Chapter 41:

He was already awake and gone when I woke up. My body felt heavy and I had a headache. I rolled over to see the door was halfway open. I didn’t hear the TV on at all, or the shower, or him making noise downstairs; but it is a big house for two people. I got up and slowly walked to the bathroom. When I looked in the mirror I saw that my eyes were puffy, my hair was a mess, and I had bags under my already puffy eyes. I rinsed off my face and decided I should go downstairs. “It’s now or never right?” I said to my reflection. I prepared myself while I went down the stairs in the front leading me right into the kitchen. I looked around and he was nowhere. I looked over at the sink and saw some dishes inside. Then I looked on the table and saw that there was a note.

Gone for a run. Breakfast is in the microwave. Just please take the foil off before you reheat it. –Sidney

My heart sank. “How could he just leave?” I thought. “Didn’t he want to fix things?” I thought it over while opening up the microwave and seeing pancakes a few pieces of bacon and a scrambled egg on a plate. “He probably wanted to give me time to think” I said to myself. I heated it up [yes I took the foil off] and sat down in the living room to eat. I turned on the big screen TV and started to watch Regis and Kelly, which always made me laugh. After two good interview sessions with Reese Witherspoon, I heard the garage door open, and I got nervous.
I could hear his iPod when he walked into the corridor. My back was to him but I could feel his eyes on me like daggers when he walked into the corridor. I could picture him looking like a deer in the middle of a road before its death to a speeding car. I ignored him at first and then turned around to see him. His head was in the fridge and just as he pulled it out I whipped my gaze back around to the TV. He kicked his shoes off and came to sit down on the couch on the other side of the room. We were silent for a while. You could cut the tension in the room with a knife. I realized he wasn’t going to speak, so I did.

“Tell me the story” I said, not looking at him, but keeping my gaze focused on the TV. “From the beginning” I added. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him lean forward and rub his hands on his thighs. I shut off the TV but kept my focus on the black screen. He took a deep breath and started to talk.

“Her name is Allie. She moved here in 9th grade. She was in my algebra class and my English class. We didn’t really talk much for the first year she was here. But we knew who each other was. Then one night she was at a party that I was. It was a big party for upperclassmen, and since I was friends with a lot of them they invited me. I didn’t really like drinking, so I didn’t. Then I saw her being yelled at by some guy. I don’t think he was from our school, but anyway I went over to him and told him to back off. She was crying really bad and I asked her what was wrong. She didn’t say anything she just hugged me. And then she asked me if I would leave with her and I told her sure. We just walked around town for the night and then I brought her home. Then after that night we would hang out at each other’s houses or go out somewhere. I knew she really liked me, but I didn’t really like her as a girlfriend. We had … well you know… a number of times between then party and the beginning of grade 11.” I turned towards him now, but I wouldn’t look at him. “Then I started to kind of like her and one night she told me she loved me and I panicked and said that I loved her too.” I felt like I was hit with a rock, I couldn’t picture him with her, it didn’t fit.

“After that I kind of grew into liking her as a little more than a friend. But I kind of just wanted to be friends… with… um… benefits. I didn’t tell her that, but one day she overheard me talking with a couple of my guy friends. She was standing right behind me when I said something about me not liking her the same way she liked me. Then I turned around and she started screaming at me. I felt like such an ass. I tried calling her, emailing her, one time I went to her house but her dad told me to leave the second I rang the bell. I just let it go. Then one day about two months later, I went up to the gazebo just to sit and think and she was there. She didn’t have anywhere to run to so she just sat there. I tried to talk to her but she turned into some freak-bitch. She yelled at me, telling me how I broke her heart and how much of an asshole pig I was. Then she went on about how I ruined her life or something. I could understand where she was coming from, but I was 16, I really don’t think I ruined her life. She had carved our initials into one of the floorboards of the gazebo and when she saw it she found a rock and scribbled it out. That was the last time I talked to her about the situation. And I saw it yesterday while we were there and I freaked out because I didn’t want her to come and try to talk to me. Or do anything that has to do with me.

“Then I started talking to another girl. I don’t remember her name. But that doesn’t matter. Anyway… It was just a casual thing. But this time I actually liked her. I wasn’t in it just for… well the benefits. When Allie saw me talking to her one day in the hallway at school she came over and asked me if we were still on for the night, but we hadn’t had any plans. I mean I hadn’t talked to her in months. I looked at her and saw just bitch in her eyes. She tried to break me up with every girl I talked to. Even if we were just friends, she would tell them I talked bad about them or said dirty things about them. It really pissed me off. Jessa ignored me for the rest of high school and then every girl started to look at me like I was a player creep. Allie told everyone what I had done and she even manipulated some of my guy friends against me. It was horrible. She sent me a box one day of our senior year. It had a few of my clothes in it. When I took them out I found a note. It said something like ‘too bad you had to be a selfish ass’. But over the years she became friends with my mom. Apparently my mom helped her with something so she would call every once in a while. I hadn’t told my mom what had happened, but Allie told her and my mom was furious with me. My mom had told her what day I was leaving for Pittsburgh, and she came over. I was in the house alone, my family was in the car, and she came in the room. She told me if I ever had a girlfriend she would tell them how much of an ass I was. I told her it had happened a year ago, to let it go, but she wouldn’t.” He finished with a sigh. I finally looked up at him and his eyes were glassy. “Why was she here last night” I asked, in a voice that was barely audible.

“She was trying to ruin things between us. Like she did in high school. My mom had told her I had gotten a girlfriend and a new house, so I guess she just wanted to show up. Last night she said she wanted to meet the ‘dumb bitch’ that had believed all my lies. Then she went on and said she still loved me and all this crap. Then I started to get angry. It’s like she won’t leave me alone. I told her to get out of my life, I never wanted to see her again, I told her to let it go and move on. We were in high school, it shouldn’t matter. Then I told her about how in love with you I was. And that one day we are going to get married.” He paused and my heart sank a little. “She said a lot of bad things how I must lie to you and stuff. Then you opened the door and she decided to do what she does best and make us fight. I pushed her off of me and told her to never talk to me again. I told her to leave my family alone and that she was crazy to think I could ever love her like I love you.” I looked up at him now. He was leaning towards me, hurt in his eyes.
“What were you holding when you were at your house last night? Did that have to do with her?” I asked, my gaze locked with his. “No actually. It was something for you. I’ll be right back” he said and stood up and walked out of the room. I sank down in my chair with a sigh. He pulled a dick move, with a girl that happened to be a psycho bitch. I knew it wasn’t really his fault; I was starting to forgive him. I smoothed out my pants when he entered the room. Instead of sitting on the couch, this time he crouched down in front of me. “I was planning to give this to you last night. But don’t think I’m just using this to get out of what happened.” he said. He took out a small box and I opened it. There were two keys in it. I held up a plain silver key. “House key. Your house key” he said. I smiled. The other was a set of car keys. “Yours” he said. “You don’t have an Audi” I said to him. “I know” he said, “But you do.” He stood up and walked towards the garage. I was still sitting there, dumbfounded. “Well are you coming or what?” he said. I put the box down and took out the car keys. He opened the door and we walked down a small breezeway where the washer and dryer were, then the door at the end was opened and I saw an Audi Q7 SUV sitting there with a silver bow on the hood.

**

My jaw dropped. “Happy early birthday” he said. I didn’t say anything at first; I stood 2 feet away from it admiring the shine of the fresh black paint. “You can touch it you know” he whispered in my ear. I reached forward and opened the driver’s door. I sat in the seat and looked at Sidney. He was standing next to the door with a smug smile. He was content; he hoped this would heal some of the wound. “When? Who? What?” I asked running my hand along the leather steering wheel. “About 2 weeks ago the family got together and decided we would get you this for your 18th. It mostly your parents and uncle, but I picked it out” he said proudly and admired the way I stared at him. “How am I going to get this home?” I asked. “Well I figured whenever you want to leave I’ll come with you and we can take a little road trip. We drive from here to Connecticut, then stay overnight somewhere. Then we go back down to Pittsburgh” he said. It sounded like fun to me. I nodded. “Want to take it for a test drive?” he asked. I nodded and he opened the garage door. I started the car and he was still standing in the garage. I rolled down the window. “Get in the car. I have no idea where I’m going” I said.