Fall Here

Fall Here 25: Pushed Away (Justin & Sienna)

In the past few weeks, I have seen less and less of Sienna around.  She has been ignoring my phone calls and only giving me one word message responses.  Lately she hadn't been coming to the games, nor would she stay after shift; she would leave right after shift – usually out the back of the cafe.  His heart deflated.  All I could get out of Crystal or Stacey is that she is taking some time for herself.

The roar of the crowd mixed with the band and cheers from the cheerleaders filled the gymnasium.  I had kept an eye on the locker room and the entrance to see if she would show.  On a timeout, I spotted Josh and Rylee in the stands and he just shrugged his shoulders in response to my unspoken question. Cole came up to my side smacking my shoulder getting my attention to turn back to coach. After going over a new defensive scheme, we trotted back onto the court.

'Where is she?' I pondered.  As the game wore on, it was evident she wasn't coming. "DAMN IT JUSTIN! GET YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME" Coach Lorenzo shouted at me as I misread the zone defense and the other team scored.  As much as I tried to focus on the game, I couldn't, and it hurt the team.  Patterson University lost.

Coach Lorenzo zoomed past me in the locker room, summoning me to his office.  I walked in with my head down and  closed the door behind me.  "Whatever it is you have going on in your head, figure it out or you will be riding the bench next game." I nodded in understanding, I messed up.

"Yes, sir" I turned on my heal, leaving the office and went to finish changing. I sat on the bench for a while, mulling over how I could have let the non-presence of Sienna affect me so much.  It was getting frustrating that she was influencing my game.  I needed to get to the bottom of her absence.  I slung my athletic bag over my shoulder and left to try and connect the dots.

*Sienna POV*

In order to keep my sanity about me in this situation and to keep on track with my classes, I spoke with my cheer coach and Britney and turned in my uniform for this year.  The coach offered to let me audition again next year, Britney couldn't hide her pleasure of having me off the team.  Even though it seems like I'm giving into Cole, it was what I thought was best for my own sanity.

Cole had seemed to attached to Justin's hip.  I couldn't understand what he saw in the monster he now seemed buddy-buddy with.  I continued my shifts at the café on a very part time basis.  When Cole would come in, I would hide in the back and do the dishes, or leave out the back if it was end of shift.  Justin would call my phone and I couldn't bear to speak about why I was avoiding him.  He'd send text messages and I would respond usually with one worded answers.

I should have been at the game tonight, but I opted to stay in and work on my assignments. A knock on the door, brought me out of my thoughts as worked on a term paper.  I looked through the peep hole to see Justin standing there.  I reluctantly opened the door; he had a confused expression on his face. "Hi." I greeted a little tersely.

He pushed past me and made his way into the suite, without my permission. He stood there with his hands in his hoodie's pocket. He drew in a deep breath, "Why are you avoiding me?" he asked with a tone of completely hurt.

He caught me off guard, and it wasn't the time to get into my past.  I fought for the right words to say. "I don't know what to tell you, other than I can't tell you who to be friends with." I shrugged.  The words were as close to the truth as I would reveal and stung as they came out of my mouth.

Justin's eyes were big with shock and disgust, "How can you say that? We've been nothing but nice to you." He shot back.  I had looked away in frustration knowing he wasn't getting the meaning behind my statement and actions.

"I'm not talking about you, Josh or Rylee.  I'm talking about Cole." I defended, with the bitter taste in my mouth just saying his name. "Cole is – " I was trying to find as polite word to describe the asshole, but none came to mind.

Justin ran his hand through his hair frustrated still with my assumption about a guy, he assumed I didn't know.  "I'm going to stop you right there." He interrupted. "You are right, you don't get to tell me who to be friends with." Red flashed in his eyes as he was about to uncork, "You don't even know the guy. Try to be a little less judgmental about people you don't know." He huffed.

Anger started to flush across my face, "You have NO idea what you are talking about.  I'm trying to be a friend and warn you about Cole.  If you can't take my words at their value than we have nothing further to discuss." It broke my heart further to feel that I wasn't being listened to.  I had had enough of the conversation and pointed to the door. "See yourself out.  I can't do this with you anymore."  He stood frozen for a moment, since he wasn't leaving, I would, I stormed off and slammed my bedroom door, just as the front suite door opened.

I slid down my door and could hear what was going on the other side of the door. "What's going on?" Stacey asked.

"Nothing. See you around." Justin huffed and left.

Stacey footsteps were heard coming to my room "Si- "

"I just want to be alone. Please Stacey." I stated, wrapping my arms around my knees and crying into the crooks of my arm.  I felt like I was missing a piece of me now.

There was a knock on her to the main suite.  I heard Stacey open the door,

"I'm looking for Sienna Nichols." A male voice said seriously.

"SIENNA, you have someone at the door." She yelled through the foyer.

'Why can't I be left alone' I thought. I came out of my room, "Who..."

"You've been served." He commanded, handing me an envelope and walked back out in the building.

I closed the door and looked at the address on the envelope.  My  heartrate increased, my hands started to become clammy. I opened the top of the letter.  As I read it, my anxiety level made the walls feel like they were closing in.

Stacey was right by my side and noticed the terror in my frozen expression. "What is it Sienna?" I handed Stacey the paperwork.  She quickly glanced over it and then stood in front of me. "Look at me Sienna." Hearing my name shook me out of my immediate thought.  "I'm here for you." She guided me to the couch and sat down.

"Thanks Stacey" I picked up the letter again and read through it. "This is a subpoena to testify in Cole's trial." I took a deep breath, "Isn't it enough that I have to avoid him here, now they want me to retell the events of that night in front of him." Tears streamed down my face, "I don't want to see him"

"You won't be there alone.  I will be there with you." Stacey reassuringly placed a hand on my shoulder.  I leaned into her, "Also, look at it this way, this whole situation is almost done.  Maybe you'll be able to really heal."

I let another tear fall and just nodded in agreement. Stacey was right, it would all be over soon, but could I do what they wanted me to do without my anchor?