Traces of Delilah

Eleven

"Little bits!"

"Hey, daddy!" I practically yelled into the phone. 

Andrew watched me with an amused grin on his face. "Little bits?" He mouthed, mocking my dad's nickname. 

I swatted his hand away and scrunched my face at him. His eyes glistened with laughter as he stuffed his face into the pillow beneath his head. His chest rose and fell as the laughter threatened to get louder. I rolled my eyes. His bare chest had been on full display from our recent activities while his bed sheet covered the important parts of his lower-half.

I could feel Skylar's words mocking me now. I told you so, she screamed when I told her about our little agreement. Seriously, she wouldn't allow me to leave until I told her where I was going. Though, she was betting on more to come out of this than I was.

The last time we hooked up, we were in the cabin. This time, we were in his apartment. It was the perfect size for one person, and comfy and pleasing to look at. Not to mention it was the same structure as Thomas' apartment, that I saw in Delilah's memory.

It turned out Andrew and Thomas lived in the same building complex, just a few floors apart from each other. It shouldn't have surprised me, but I couldn't help but think back to how I couldn't figure out how much Delilah might've interacted with Andrew. There were still no signs of strong or important interactions between them.

This casual dating thing was going better than I expected. Sometimes it was going too well. I had to remind myself this was all just casual. We enjoyed each other's company but it couldn't go deeper than that stage. If I got too caught up in getting to know him, it'd make things harder, when I had to make the decision to walk away or stay. We were not going to be exclusive. Hookups and hangouts. That was the deal.

I hugged my knees to my chest, tucking the sheet around me.

"Chastity, are you still there?"

"Yeah, sorry dad. I got distracted for a second. I'm listening," I assured him.

"Have you talked to your mother at all since you've been there?" he asked the question I'd been dreading. Well, now I felt shitty. . .

My eyes zeroed in on Andrew's frame standing beside the bed. I hadn't felt the bed move or realized he slipped on his briefs already. I was sure he could hear my dad loud and clear on the other line.

"I'm going to take your silence as a no."

"I-I mean, it crossed my mind!" I started to defend myself, but my lies were slipping through. "I forgot honestly."

"I know you don't really like doing it . . . but you should give her a call. Just check up on her. Make sure she knows you're okay, okay?" His voice lowered.

My heart twisted. Even after all she'd done to him, he still looked out for her. She was my mother after all. Though, she had done him wrong, she didn't do me wrong. So, I had no reason to resent her, other than the fact that she put me in an awkward position all my life.

It was quiet for a few seconds before I sighed. "Okay."

"Is everything okay? That sounded like a tiring conversation," was Andrew's first comment when I was off the phone.

"Tell me about it," I groaned and fell back against the bed. "Everything's fine. I'm just going to call her later and get it over with," I said more to myself than him.

My mother hadn't once called me since I got here. How long had I been here for? Two weeks already? I wasn't sure but I knew it's been a while. If she was worried, she could have called me herself. Instead, she was waiting on me to call her. Did she think I'd be vile with her if she bothered calling? Because that wasn't the case at all. It was just awkward. That was it.