Goodbye Yellow Brick Road ✔︎

20 | Are You Happy Now?

|photo by Tim Mossholder from Pexels|

My descent to the sand is ungainly but Chase doesn't notice. He's watching the party now.

"Okay, I'm ready," I say, but I'm not and Megan knows it. I can tell by her sigh, all air this time, no vibrating lips.

"Glenn showed up at my door tonight. He took my sister out to a movie."

Nope. Definitely wasn't ready for that. I breathe in through my nose and breathe out a curse.

"I know," she says. "It's a message, right?"

"What, that he's sorry he didn't go out with her the first time?"

"The first time he didn't know I was her little sister. Did he even know we were friends?"

"I doubt it," I say.

"I'll never, ever forget the look on his face when you walked into that room."

Me neither. I was fourteen. Glenn was sixteen. We were right smack in the middle of our temporary separation. He showed up at Megan's front door to pick up Jenny and her mom made him come inside to meet their dad. I was in Megan's bedroom at the time, but I recognized Glenn's voice. When I walked into the family room his whole body jolted—kind of like someone hit him with a two-by-four. I was pissed at him, but also a little worried that he was going to pass out.

He didn't. His eyes dropped to the floor and he said, "I'm sorry, Jenny, Mr. and Mrs. Montes. I just remembered I have to..." He pointed to the door. "I uh, have to go." He turned and walked out, and Jenny never heard from him again.

Until now.

"This isn't real," Megan says. "He doesn't give a crap about my sister and she's an idiot for giving him another chance."

"It's a calculated move." Like Paige inviting me to dinner with her and Conner. "But I just...I can't believe...Jenny?"

"I know," Megan says. 

"Things will never be the same." 

"No, but maybe different won't be so bad. You know, like my mom says, sometimes you just have to go forward."

Megan's dad had an affair two years ago. We all hated him for a while but we all got over it—well, everyone but Megan. Her parents still sleep in separate rooms but Megan says lately, she's been waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of them giggling.

I don't know if I can forgive Glenn for this. Not this time.

A soft touch on my shoulder reminds me where I am, who I'm with. I mouth, "I'm sorry."

Chase shakes his head and sits beside me. Our shadows are almost touching the shoreline and the waves have picked up momentum.

"Megan, I have to go."

"Okay." 

I know that tone. And I'm dying to know what it is she's not saying, but I can't ask. "I'll call you tomorrow," I say.

"Or later tonight if you need to."

"Obviously," I agree and she ends the call.

Chase leans closer, so his shoulder touches mine. "You okay?" he asks.

I don't know. I don't feel much of anything.

Well, yeah. There is something: disbelief. I can't believe Glenn would do this to me.

Someone from the party wolf-whistles and then there's a crowd of laughter. "Our walk didn't take us far," Chase says, laying his empty bottle beside mine. "Do you want to go back?"