Wrong House

26: Oaklynn

        As he goes to turn to leave, he stops mid-step, "I, uh, got these for you." He tells me, handing me a bouquet of pink roses. "I hope you like these. I couldn't find sunflowers, and I figured these were the best next things." I take the roses from him, a small smile playing on my lips. "I better get going. There's a man back there glaring at me."

        I let out a breathy laugh, "Thank you." I tell him, and he nods. I turn back to see the manager glaring at us, "You better go. I'm already in deep shit with him." He laughs, and starts walking away.

        The moment Holland walks out of the door, the mean manager walks up to the counter, "You are on your last strike. One more, and you're going to be jobless. This isn't a place for you to handle personal business." Before I get a chance to answer, he's walking back to the office. And the moment he has walked away, I have decided that I am not going to be showing up here again for work.

        By the time my shift is over, I am more exhausted than I have been in the longest time. When I walk out of the cafe, Ivy is sitting in her van with the windows down, and music blaring. With nothing better to do, I start running towards her car, and throw myself in through her window. The moment my ass is in the passenger seat, she barks out a laugh. "Girl, the door works. You know that right?" I give her a nod, and my own laugh breaks out.

        "I know that. I'm just in a good mood. Holland came in, gave me roses, asked me to meet up after the game tomorrow, and I've decided that I'm no longer going to work here. One of the managers told me that I'll be working tomorrow, and then told me that I am on strike three because Holland showed up." I explain, and she gasps.

        Ivy gets to know all about the drama that happens, and she finds it entertaining. "Good for you for deciding not to deal with that girl. That means we can- wait. Holland showed up? And you agreed to talk to him? And you're ditching me after the game to talk to him?" She finally got the part I was waiting for her to get.

        I give her a smile, and her eyes roll. "Yes I did. All of you have been pushing for me to talk to him. So when he came in today asking to talk, I agreed. If I'm being honest, I miss him. Everyone knows that I miss him." It's not like I try to hide that I miss him, I try not to mope around, but it's hard not too when I'm up late and my mind drifts to the past few months where Holland and I would stay up late, talking and watching trash late night shows. "We both knew that if he asked me to talk, I would. Just like we both know if he asks me to forgive him, I will."

        She's silent for a moment, and then sighs. "I know. Everyone knows. Just like we all know he isn't going to just ask for forgiveness. Why are you two such a good couple? Why can't one of you do something wrong, and that be the end of it? You two are setting my bar way too damn high."

        Sadly, Ivy isn't the first person to tell me that. When we went out to some charity thing one of Ivy's friends was throwing, she told me that Holland and I should have our own book. That there's no way we aren't destined to be together. I laughed because the story would be 'the girl who has anger issues and no dad, and the star hockey player.' It's a total cliche. Everyone's heard that story, and it's nothing new. Maybe if our story was 'the boy with anger issues and no dad, and the girl is a star hockey player,' I'd be all for us having a book.

        "Don't do that," Ivy breaks my thoughts, "Don't downplay your relationship. It's a damn good story and you know it. It's going to be the story our whole group tells our kids. You and Holland are going to be the ones that our kids look up too." She tells me, and I get a sad smile.

        We don't even know how long we'll be together. We don't know if I'm going to forgive him, or if he's going to want to make up. We don't know what will happen years from now, and I guess that's the point. We don't know what will happen, so we have to make the best of it now. "Maybe we are. Maybe we aren't. We'll see what happens after tomorrow." She nods, and puts her car in drive. "I just noticed we've been sitting here the whole time." I say with a laugh, and she follows.