Neighbors

Chapter Eleven: Honesty

Jeremy knew I was ignoring him. It had gotten to the point where my voicemail box was filled with messages from him. The first few messages started off angry and hurt, and now the last couple were almost remorseful. He was begging me to answer his calls. Whatever I did - he would forgive me, as long as I answered the phone. I was too much of a coward to do that though. So I left my voicemail box fill up with his messages.

I was conflicted. Was it possible to be in love with two people so much? I never should have sucked Jeremy into this shitty life of mine. He knew I wasn't good for him. Why did he even bother with me? He should of known I would fuck this up.

I lied across my bed as my laptop chimed beside me. I glanced at the screen to see I was getting a Skype from Jeremy. I let it ring, slamming my laptop shut as soon as it finished.

It was wrong to run away from my issues. I knew that. I knew that I shouldn't be ignoring him. It was only dragging out the inevitable, but I couldn't look at him knowing that I did what I did. I couldn't hear his voice or look at those blue eyes of his. It would only make everything that much worse.

I knew I would have to face him one day. But today wouldn't be that day or any other day this week. Maybe even the whole summer. Ok - I'm exaggerating.

"Ryder," my mom's voice echoed through the hallway, causing me to pull my covers over my head. Her voice grew louder as she drew closer to my bedroom door. I could hear her groaning as soon as she reached the door.

"Stop being so lazy, Ryder," she huffed grabbing my covers and tossing them off of me. "You need to get out of bed sometime. Don't you have pools to clean?"

"No," I mumbled dryly from my pillow. Just as my mother was about to complain some more, my phone chimed. I glanced around my room for a moment, forgetting exactly where I had put it. I jumped out of bed as soon as I saw my mother pick it up from the ground.

"Mom, Don't - " I began but it was too late. She had already hit the answer button. I chewed on my lower lip, as soon as she said hello. I was praying it wasn't Jeremy. But I knew that would be a lost cause considering he had been calling on the hour for the past week.

"Yeah Ryder is here," my mom replied raising an eyebrow at me, before handing the phone over to me. My stomach twisted in knots as soon as I glanced at the screen to see Jeremy's name. Fuck.

"Hello," I muttered into the phone to silence. "Jeremy."

"No It's Ian," Ian's voice echoed through the phone. I glanced back at the screen. How in the hell did he have Jeremy's phone?

"What are you doing with Jeremy's - ?" I began but was cut off by Ian.

"Come over here now," he said before the phone disconnected. I groaned, rushing to my closet to throw anything on. I didn't bother running a comb through my hair. I was too anxious to figure out what was happening. Jeremy couldn't have possibly gone to Ian's house. I rushed out of the house in an instant.

I didn't even need to knock on the door, as it was wide open already. I walked inside, closing the door behind me.

"Ian," I called out as I walked through the house. I stopped almost immediately in the living room. Ian was standing a few feet away from Jeremy who was sitting on the couch. I could feel my stomach turning at the sight of him.

He glanced at me, his blue eyes flickering to the ground. He felt betrayed. It was obvious. No doubt it cost him a lot to get here. I ran my fingers across my chin as Ian sighed.

"Well, are you two going to talk or just sit here looking at each other?" he said breaking into the thick silence that had filled the room. I chewed on my lower lip as I walked closer to Jeremy.