Beautiful Mistake

xxxvii

Can I personally thank all of you for FOUR THOUSAND READS?! That means the world to me, it means so much to me. Oh my goodness, 4k. Okay, with that, here is Chapter 37!

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My phone buzzes on my nightstand and I pick it up to see who's texting me. The screen lights up again along with another buzz. Hailey's name is in bold black letters just above the text saying 'You have a new message.'

I unlock my phone and open the messages.

NEW MESSAGE: Hey. Hope u didn't forget about the group. The first meeting is this Friday at 6 o'clock.

NEW MESSAGE: Oh I almost forgot to mention. Bring snacks! Cookies or something. This is just a meet the ppl in the group partaaay.

Instead of texting her back, I decide to call.

"Hey Caroline!" Her cheery voice is a pretty nice thing to hear, apart from the monotone everyone's been speaking around me at school.

"Hey Hailey, I don't think Collin and I will be able to make it to the first meeting." I fumble with the blanket that lays under me.

"Awh, why not?"

"We're uh, we're going to a funeral?" My voice cracks without my permission and I look up to stop any tears from falling.

Hailey's cheery attitude is replaced with a pitiful one, "Oh, oh okay. I'll push the meeting to Sunday? Is that okay?" Way to go Caroline, the one person who would've treated you normal is going to do that thing that people who don't know what to do, do.

"No, don't move the meeting because we won't be there. We'll come to the next one and meet everyone then."

"Fine, but text me anytime, alright?"

"Hailey, don't start doing that. Don't do the tilt the head, rub my arm, tell me you're here for me thing. Please."

"Yeah, of course. I'll see you at the second meeting." She says and I respond with a goodbye. I hang up and set my phone down.

"Who was that?" Collin opens my already cracked door and sits down on the edge of my bed. He's wearing his thermal shirt and shorts like an idiot. The temperatures outside have been dropping since thanksgiving.

"Hailey. The meeting is supposed to be this Friday but you know, the funeral is on Friday so we'll have to ditch out on her."

He nods and then puts his hand on my thigh. "Wanna have a quickie before I take off to the match?" I gasp and punch his shoulder, "I love it when you play rough." He crawls up onto the bed and traps me under him. Both of his hands rest on opposite sides of my head and I nearly give in to his antics.

"You better leave." I say breathlessly, "Or you won't at all."

"I can skip out on soccer." Collin replies, a smirk playing on his lips.

"No, you go. I think you're starting to get that dad look to ya. You know, the dad that gets bigger and bigger every time you see him." Saying that, Collin flinches and recedes from my bed.

"I'm going to go play soccer and then workout for like 20 hours straight." I laugh and he hops off my bed. Collin says, "I'll see you later Care," and leaves the room. After a few minutes I sit up and slide off the cushions I call my temple.

I go into the bathroom and look at my reflection. Without thinking, I walk back into my room, grab my phone and snap a picture of my stomach. My insane stomach I should say. I text the picture to my mom and say, 'I think I need to lose weight.'

As I wait for her response I make my way downstairs and find my dad in the kitchen with his bags packed and ready to go.

"You're leaving?" I ask, watching as my Dad stands up from his seat.

"Yeah baby girl. I was hoping to leave before you woke up from your nap. My own selfish reasons of course," he says, giving me a hug, "Goodbye Caroline," he whispers and then gets down on his knees, "This is a goodbye from Papa, I'll be back the day you guys arrive." My dad hugs my stomach lightly and then stands up again.

"I love you." I say, grabbing him for another hug.

"I love you too." He says before picking up his luggage and bringing it to the front door.

I open the refrigerator and take out a root beer with a pre-made sandwich from the Walmart deli. The sticky label keeps it closed and I tear it apart.

The sandwich is wet and cold but I take a bite anyway. The bread dissipates in my mouth and my stomach begins to churn. I spit it back into the packaging and throw away the entire sandwich. I crack open my soda and take a few gulps to get the taste of fake-sandwich out of my mouth.

Through all that, I hear a car honk outside. I shuffle over to the opening and peek around the corner to see my dad running his luggage through the cold.

I am distracted by the house phone ringing, which it rarely does. I pick it up off the receiver and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hi, is this the Folsen residence?" A male voice comes through the phone and I can't place to the voice to a face.

"Yes, how can I help you?" I ask, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Great, this is Tessa Darron's Uncle. I'm calling to confirm your RSVP?" Right, I forgot to.

"Yeah, this is Caroline, I'm bringing a plus one." I say, resting my elbows on the counter.

"Okay, and what's the name of the plus one?"

"Collin Bronze."

"Alright, thank you. Also, you have request from my sister that you speak at Tessa's wake along with Warren." He sounds like a robot reading off a paper. Like the emotion has been sucked out of his voice.

"Of course. Tell Mrs. Darren I'll speak."

"I will, I'll see you Friday."

"Okay, bye-bye." I hang up the phone and put it back where it was. I take a deep breath to try and keep from crying. I'm too tired to cry, or do anything.

I sit down in the living room and turn on the tv. I turn the volume up to drown out any of my thoughts and watch Friends. A classic that I used to watch all the time as a kid.