Everything (35 page)

“You didn’t come out to eat, go to school, anything?”

“No.”

“I see,” was all he said at first.

“You know, Dacey, while the no eating thing is a little concerning, in your case it is understandable. Remember the double mourning thing?”

“I feel like I let my sister down those four days,” I confided.

“Maybe you did. Maybe you needed to in order to come out of this stronger.”

I chuckled. “That sounds like something my mom would have said.”

“Your mom sounds like she was a wise woman.”

“It’s only been a month and a half, you know. It doesn’t feel that long,” I said sadly.”

“You’ll always miss them and what they meant to you.”

“You think I’ll miss him like that?” I didn’t have to say whom I was referring to. He just knew.

“Maybe. You loved him a great deal, but I think his love was tied with your parents’ death, and one day you will come to see that although it hurt to lose him, he wasn’t the right one for you.”

I contemplated this for a minute. I hoped that time came soon because every time I thought his name, my heart and stomach did this drop-in-my-feet thing. Logically, I knew he wasn’t the right one for me—he was a jerk, and I could do much better—but my heart was overexaggerating that it would never love again.

I found that Justin was really easy to talk to. He was a total stranger by all standards, and yet I told him all about Trevor and me, what it felt like seeing him and Kelly together, and why I had basically gone all “girl, interrupted” the last four days. He listened and offered his advice, and it was...nice.

“So you’re going to be in Orlando tomorrow, huh? We should meet up for lunch if you have time.”

I paused. Was this a date? Was he asking me on a date? I wasn’t ready for that. I mean, I literally just got out of a relationship. He was great, and I could see us being friends, but I didn’t think it was going to go any further than that.

His hand touched my knee lightly, bringing me out of my inner rant.

“Relax, it’s just lunch, and I meant everyone. I was under the impression you were going to be with your family?”

I sighed, “Yes, I’m sorry. I’m being silly.” I shook my head. Why would he want to date me anyway? It was obvious I was broken and would be dancing naked in the rain at any second, at least that’s what the town thought because I had Opal’s genes and Opal was crazy.

“You’re not being silly. If things were different and I had met you, say, giving you a speeding ticket and not by calling about your parents and you didn’t just get dumped by your douchebag of a boyfriend, I would definitely pursue you. But as it is, our lives are the road less traveled, and not that nice green grassy one. And me and you shall just be friends,” he said sadly.

I didn’t know what I was more shocked by, the fact that he just referenced one of Mom’s favorite poems or that he referenced he was interested in me or could be if our lives, my life, were different. Not knowing what to say to that, I said the first thing that came to mind and also the dumbest. “I got a C on that poem once.”

“It’s one of my favorite poems. It’s by Robert Fr—”

“Frost, I know. My mom likes, loved him, too.”

“I concur with my earlier statement about your mom. She was a wise woman.” He smiled, showing off that dimple.

I smiled, then, glancing at the clock behind his head, said, “Wow, is that really the time?” I balked. We had been talking for nearly four hours! Why hadn’t anyone come in and interrupted us by now?

“Wow, I had no idea of the time and given that you have not eaten anything in the past four days but two cups of Jell-O, I think you need to eat. Do I have to stand guard and watch you eat a sandwich?” He smiled, although I had a sneaking suspicion it was a threat.

“No, not when I have Kill Bill 1 and Kill Bill 2 in there to do it for you.”

He stood to leave. “Good, so lunch tomorrow then.”

“Yes, if we have time. I’m not sure how long her appointment is going to be.”

“The card I gave you has my cellphone number on it, so just call me when you get into town, and then we can go from there.”

I walked him to the door. “Sounds good. And thanks for the talk and the listening and just kinda being here today. I didn’t mean to keep you. I think I wasted your day off.”

“You didn’t waste it,” he said as he turned to leave.

I closed the door to find both Aria and Tina staring at me expectantly, with goofy-ass grins on their faces.

“Well?” Tina asked.

“Well what?” I asked, irritated, because I knew what her little matchmaking brain had tried to do.

“He likes you. Plus, he is almost Adam Rodriguez hot, except he’s not Latin.”

I focused my attention on Aria. “And you...you went along with this?”

“I just didn’t want you to go back in the cave!” she explained innocently. I couldn’t stay mad at her. Tina could be very persuasive, and Aria was vulnerable when it came to me.

“Whatever, we are friends. I have way too much going on, and besides, I need to fix me first before I can be with someone. Trevor really fucked with my head. I can’t just bounce back from that like this.” I snapped my fingers.

“No, but you know the best way to get over a guy is to get under a new one, especially a new one who is way hotter and sexier than the lump ever was,” Tina said.

Justin was hot, but no, I couldn’t go there with him, or anyone, for that matter. I had sat there with him for four hours and not once did my thoughts go to anything lustrous. I just wasn’t into it. “Look, Tina, I know you want me to jump right back on the horse, literally, but I’m not going to for now. Just deal with it. I love you for trying to help, and to prove it, let me make you some brownies.”

“Ohh, brownies, now you’re talking! That’s my weakness. Fudge?” she asked.

“Double fudge,” I said, hiding a devilish grin.

Chapter 17

In the end, I let her have only one piece of brownie-lax and told her the pan fell on the floor, then I threw the rest in the garbage. Aria caught on early and refused to go near it, giggling the entire time. I didn’t want her to feel the entire wrath of what I went through, remembering back to what seemed like a lifetime ago when everyone I loved was safe and in my grasp. Remembering that had wiped the smirk off my face watching Tina lick the chocolate off her fingers.

Aria and Tina had watched me while I ate half a sandwich and gulped down some milk. They tried to make me eat more, but when I told them that I had to be eased back into eating or I would throw up, they relented.

“Hum, I’m not cleaning that up,” Tina said, turning up her nose at the thought.
 

In truth, I could have eaten the whole ham and cheese, but just forcing down the half was a feat. It felt like chewing cardboard and then cement in my stomach, but looking at Aria’s hopeful face as I chewed had made me swallow and take another bite and another. After dinner, I decided it was time to face the wrath of Aunt Opal and call her since I hadn’t spoken to her in four days. I had totally abandoned my Opal shifts without so much as a warning and left poor Mr. Eugene to step up, which I assume he did, as she was fine.

She picked up on the second ring. “Hello?”

“It’s me, Auntie.” I steeled myself for her berating.

“Chile?” she asked in disbelief.

“Yeah.”

“How’s that soul doin’?”

For Aunt Opal to be the town crazy, she was incredibly perceptive. I was an idiot to think I could fool her.

“It’s...still wounded, Auntie,” I admitted. I saw no point in lying to her.

“I know, chile. I know.” She sounded sad.

“I’m sorry, Auntie. I let you down. I abandoned my responsibility to you.” I had a shameful feeling forming in the pit of my stomach.

“Pshh, chile, hush. You know your ol’ aunt was fine. ’Sides, Eugene been visiting every day.”

“Yeah, but he shouldn’t have had to, Auntie. I like helping you out—it makes me feel like I have a purpose. Like I’m needed.” Funny I had never made that revelation until now, but now that I had said it, I realized how true it was.

“You’re gonna always be needed. That lil’ chile ova there is gone always need you. She gonna always need your help with somethin’. I’m not gonna be around foreva.”

It was something that I, especially now, didn’t want to think about. “I know, Auntie. I won’t be like that again, I promise.”

“Are you promising me or yourself?”

That was the question, wasn’t it? No matter how much I told Aria and Tina or even Opal that I wouldn’t go back to my cave, if I didn’t truly mean it to myself, then it was all shit, wasn’t it? “To myself,” I said with resolve.

“That’s my girl.”

I told her that Aria and I would be there early to pick her up for her appointment.

“Eugene is goin’ too, you know.”

“Oh, that’s right. So I can drive if he wants?” I offered.

“Oh, he likes to play driving Miss Daisy with me. You two can just ride with us.”

“Okay, we will be there early then.”
 

“Don’t be late. I don’t like late people.”

“So you won’t like me if I’m late?” I tested.

“Nope,” she said, not missing a beat.

I laughed. I missed Opal. I told her I wouldn’t be late and hung up. I wasn’t tired, and since Tina had disappeared, probably feeling the effects of the brownie, and Aria was off somewhere on the phone, I decided to get my book bag and see if I could catch up on my assignments that Aria had gotten from school for me. Since I had last seen my book bag in my car, I looked for my car keys. I couldn’t find them and went to find my purse in the cave. Picking it up, I noticed a stink coming from it and, opening it, I gagged as I was hit with the full stink of seven rotted pudding cups that I had taken from Opal’s fridge five days ago.

“Ugh, that reeks.” How could I have not smelled that the entire time I was in here? Holding the purse at arm’s length, I went back to the kitchen and out the back door to the big trash can. I took out my wallet and a few other things, then dumped the entire purse into the trash can. There was no coming back from that.

Going back inside, I went to Aria’s room, remembering that she was the last one with my car keys. I opened the bedroom door without knocking because I never knocked—this used to be my room too—and was shocked speechless to find Riley sitting on my old bed and Aria on hers across from him.

“What. The. Hell?” Okay, maybe I wasn’t shocked speechless, but I was pretty dumbfounded.

Riley, looking shocked himself, hopped up to his feet and held his hands up in a defensive motion as Aria scrambled off her bed and stood in between the two of us as if to protect him from me.
 

Had this happened two months ago...Oh, who am I kidding? This would have
never
happened two months ago! What was she thinking?

“It’s not what you think. We were just talking, I swear,” Aria pleaded.

Given the fact I had been catatonic the past four days, I had deduced a lot of things, one of which was that Riley had it bad for my sister, like follow-her-around-like-a-puppy-dog bad, and had it been any other guy up here with her, I would have kicked him square in the balls and kicked him out. But this was Riley, and I knew for a fact that they were just talking because Riley was that type of guy. Still, I wasn’t going to let Aria off the hook so easily. “Riley,” I began.

“I’m already gone,” he wisely said and gave Aria a look that said he hated to leave but this was better dealt with between sisters.

Once we were alone, I rounded on her. “Really? A boy in your room? How cliché is that of you?”

“You had a boy in your room,” she shot back.

“I’m also twenty-two and wasn’t living at home at the time.”

“Besides, it’s just Ri-Ri and we were just talking, and things at home are different now.”

“I know things at home are different now, but the rules are still the same until you’re my age, and in case you haven’t noticed, Riley is head over heels in love with you, so ‘just Ri-Ri’ or any boy in your room is off limits. Come on, A, that’s a given.”

She stared at me as if I had just told her that her favorite pop star was going to be performing live at our house. “Ri-Ri likes me? As in
likes
me likes me?”

I rolled my eyes. She was so oblivious when someone liked her. It was that whole natural charm thing, I guess. “It’s painfully obvious, has been for a while now. I just didn’t want to admit that one of my friends likes my little sister,” I said. But if I had to be honest with myself, I was glad it was Riley. I knew he was a good guy. “But that’s beside the point. Why was he in your room?
How
was he in your room?”

I hadn’t heard the doorbell ring. I had gotten pretty good at tuning things out these past few days. An atomic bomb could go off and I wouldn’t hear it, but I was certain I didn’t hear the door.

Aria looked at me sheepishly and hesitated. “Welllll...” she drew out.

“Spill it.”

“He’s sort of been coming here every night to keep me company, and I told him you had sort of ‘woken up’ tonight and not to come by, but he came just to make sure I was okay. I met him at the front door and snuck him upstairs while you were in Mom and Dad’s room.” She looked at the carpet.

“What do you mean he’s been coming here every night?”

“Well, he was with me at Spinner’s that night, and he saw you when Officer Parks brought you home, and he called to check on you the next day, and when I told him you wouldn’t talk to me or eat anything, he came over, and it kind of became a nightly thing. I thought he was being nice, but now I know it was something more.”

“Oh, god. Did Riley see—”

“No! Don’t be goofy. I didn’t let anyone in the room. I just told him you didn’t want to see anyone. Do you even remember me saying that Riley was here?”

In truth, I didn’t. “No.”
 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have snuck him in here tonight, but he just wanted to make sure I or we were okay and that you were eating and just to talk. He said he was used to coming by every night and it was weird for him not to. It won’t happen again, I swear.”

I studied her and put myself in her shoes for a minute. My parents just died and my sister, who is the only person in the world I have left to depend on, goes batshit crazy and shuts the world out and I have no one to talk to. I’m scared and have no idea how to help her, yeah. “Aria, it’s okay, I’m not mad, just shocked. I understand why you needed someone to talk to. I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you, but I made a promise to myself and I’m going to keep it. I’m not saying that I’m 100 percent—I’m still hurting—but I’m not going back to that place again. I won’t leave you like that again. I promise.”