"Hey, Julie, it's me again. You haven't been answering my messages and you haven't been sitting with us at lunch. I--uh--listen, okay, I know Max's words hurt you. I'm not as stupid as you think I am. It's just that sometimes he doesn't think about the things he says. He doesn't think about how his words can impact someone. You have to give him another chance, okay? He's sweet and he's funny. You have to cut him some slack. He was raised in a family just like yours. You know how that can be. He's exactly like Adam. He didn't mean anything that he said. Please, Julie. I'm sorry. He's sorry. Talk to me. Please. Call me back. Bye."
I listen to Brielle's voicemails over and over again. She says the same things in every single one. I have to give Max a chance. I have to forgive him for what he said. He wasn't thinking when he said those hurtful things. I'm sure he wasn't.
I haven't spoken to her in weeks. I haven't spoken to many people in weeks. It's nearing the end of the semester and everything is piling on my back. Essays, homework, presentations, planning the play for next year, Eve being nervous about being accepted to colleges, and Violet trying to convince Mom to let her go to New York. Everything is crazy. I haven't exactly had the time to forgive Max for being homophobic every chance he gets. It's not even on my to-do-list yet.
I'm tired of wondering what she sees in him. It's time I act. It's time I try to woo her, maybe even talk about that night. Me ignoring her and listening to her voicemails is getting me nowhere. Me standing around and watching as she wastes her time with Max isn't getting me anywhere. Nothing I do is getting me anywhere.
It feels like I'm trying to get to my destination without even starting the car. I feel like I'm wasting my time hoping she'll see that I'm standing right in front of her, when clearly, she needs glasses to see me.
I get off my hammock and walk to Eve's room. She's busy typing away on her computer. I'm sure she hasn't even noticed that somebody is in her room.
"Eve...?" I murmur, and she hums, "You're the realistic one and you've promised to give me advice. I need you to give me advice now, and I need you to tell me your honest opinion." I demand, my voice cracking on nearly every vowel.
She turns around in her chair and her eyes are curious. "Okay..." She trails off. I nod and sigh.
"Okay... So. You know about what's happened with Brielle and me. You know how she is dating Max and she's trying to make it work with him... Max said something rather insulting to me a couple weeks ago, and I've... Well, I sort of started ignoring them. I was exhausted, and I was tired of trying to get her to love me when she was clearly trying to get Max to love her and the baby.
Now, well she's... She's been calling me practically nonstop, so I think that this is the perfect time for me to go over there and lay it all on the table. I need to let her know how I really feel. I'm tired of fighting for a girl who has already been won. I need to know how she really feels." I ramble on and on and seems like forever before I get my point across.
I wait for Eve to give me an answer. I don't even know what the correct answer is or what answer I'm even looking for. I guess I just need... Advice. I need someone older and wiser to guide me to do what I need to do.
"Julie, you want my opinion?" She asks, and I nod, "Because you might not like what you're going to hear." She says. I pause for a moment. I hadn't considered that. I hadn't considered that there might not be a happy ending to my and Brielle's story.
"Yes, I want your opinion. I'm lost, Eve. I really don't know where to go from here." I whisper and sit down on her bed.
She nods and relaxes into her seat. "I think you're beating yourself up over a girl who has moved on. I think that night at the party was when you missed your chance, and now things are happening for this girl that she has no way of stopping. At the beginning, you both might've been interested in each other, but now she has other things going on. She's having a baby and she's trying to make things work with her baby's father. I genuinely don't think she's ready for her once-upon-a-time crush to come in and make things more difficult for her." She sighs, and I nod along,
CITEȘTI
Deviation (Book #2 of the Taylor Series)
Ficțiune adolescenți"It's almost as if sleep and I were married for sixteen years, and I caught them having an affair with my sister." Julie Esther Nicholson, one of the younger sisters of Eve Nicholson, has returned for her story. With the chips of her old life up in...
