"Where are you?" Jameson asks his voice filling up the interior of my car. I have him on speaker as I drive to Ryo's favourite coffee spot. I miss her, need an energy boost and I'm tired of being cooped up in my house. My mother is starting to look at me like I'm crazy. She's two minutes away from asking me what's wrong with me and I don't want that.
"I'm going to get coffee," I say and I can hear him judging me through the phone.
"At nine in the evening?" He says when the silence stretches.
"Yes, I need a boost." I say and he sighs. "What? Say it." I say as I pull into the parking lot of the coffee shop,
"Have a good time." He says and en
"Do you mind if I join you?" She asks looking at the chair and then at me."Not atall." I say and she sits down."I didn't peg you for the coffee before midnight kind" She says smiling at me and I shrug."I couldn'tsleep." I say and she raises her brows at me. "I know coffee is not really the answer but I had to get out of thehouse." I say and she looks at me concerned."Well, I'm glad you decided to come here. It's good to see you." She says surprising me.
The next MorningWhen I open my eyes in the morning I am overcome with a sense of calm. I haven't felt like this since my fight with Ryo. Last night didn't turn out the way I hoped for but I'm happy we got to talk. We don't have answers for how we're going to fix this whole mess but I'm glad that we're not fighting anymore.There is aknock at my doorand I stare at it for a moment wondering if I should get out of bed to go answer it. Do I want to know what's out there? Do I want to let the world ruin my moment of bliss?"Yes." I say choosing to not get out of bed but I can't ignore whoever is on the other side of the door."It's mom."
"I was thinking about our break up." She says turning her full body to look at me. "You said I ended things between us and that's not how I remember things going down." She says and I sigh.It's crazy that I'm the villain in every story that she remembers. Every time I heard her or any of her friends talk about our relationship I was the one that did her wrong. I'm the one who was dating multiple girls and flaunting them in her face. When in actuality..."How do you remember it?" I ask trying to hear how she remembers how this story goes. Of course, I've the highlights over the years but we've never talked about it."You met that girl with the long hair. The one you used to meet up with when your family went on vacation and then suddenly I wasn't good enough anymore."She says and I smile a little.
"I don't know who told you what but I didn't do anything with Simon" She says and I laugh because she has to be joking. I can't believe she's denying this."Simon toldme." I state plainly and she shakes her head no."Nohe didn't. You're just trying to get me to admit to something that didn't happen." She says smiling."Marlene you can't deny this. I spoke to Simon before he left and he told me everything." I say and she frowns."He said he had to confess the wrong he did before he had to leave." He wanted to be a good friend. I say snorting as I remember. "I know he didn't tell me for my
"I don't get how your cheating on me is my fault." She says her voice low."Howisyou breaking up with me my fault?" I ask and she groans. "You're the one that decided we were over. Why didn't you stay?" I ask looking at her. I wait for her to reply but she doesn't say anything."You were cold, mean and you never had time for me." She says after a long pause."I couldn't stop thinking about you and Simon. I couldn't be the same guy before you cheated on me."I say to her statement and she frowns. I wait for the words to filter through her mind. I want to make sure that she heard me. I want this to be our last conversation. I don't want to play this game with her anymore. I'm done, I want to be free o
When I walk into the house I find my mother standing in the middle of the kitchen. She has a coffee mug in her hands and she's staring in the direction of the garden. "Mom." I say to get her attention. She turns around to look at me and then she looks back in the same direction."She's gone." I say and I can see her sigh in relief."What did she want?" She asks looking back at me. I walk over to the kitchen table and take a seat. I feel so exhausted from the conversation I just had with Marlene that I don't trust my legs to hold me up this whole conversation."She wants to fix things." I say and my mother shakes her head at my statement. "You don't want me to?" I am even though I already know the answer."She's not good for you." My mother says simply and I agree with her. We're not good for each other."And besides don't you have a girlfriend?" She asks and I raise my brows in shock. How does she know that? No one in my family
Two days laterJameson sent me a very serious text, demanding that I come out with him or he's going to show up at my house and drag me with him. So here I am at some random breakfast place sitting across from him."I'm glad you showed up" He says smiling at me. That's his way of saying I've been a very shitty friend and he;'s not happy with my behaviour."Yeah." I say and that's my way of saying sorry."How are you?" He asks and I shrug. I look out of the window taking a second to think about it. How the hell am I? I feel terrible. I miss Ryo and I wish life didn't suck. But other than that I'm doing great."I'm..." I say and I see Ryo walk towards us. I close my eyes and then open them just to make sure she's not a figment of my imagination. "Is that?" I ask looking back at Jameson."Yes. I hope you don't mind." He says smiling at me."I don't mind. Why would I
"I'm glad we got to spend time together," I say to Ryo as I walk her back to her car in the arcade parking lot. She smiles sweetly looking up at the sky."Me too. I have to admit I was nervous about hanging out with everyone."' She says looking back at me."It felt a lot like when we first got stuck with each other for the English assignment." She says laughing."I was nervous too. I didn't know if we were cool like that anymore." I say and she wiggles her brows at me playfully."We're cool." She says linking her arm with mine. Her body moulds into mine and she sighs deeply."Are we cool enough to keep this outing going?" I ask risking it all. I don't want this day to end. I want to keep the laughter and joy going. And I miss spending time