I ran and ran until my legs could no longer carry me any further. I stopped and looked around, finding myself hoping to see someone chasing me, trying to catch me. Landon, perhaps. Suddenly realizing his explosion a few minutes ago, and ready to apologize. We could go back to the party together, and things could return to normal. We could be us.
His words still haunted me. ‘We’re done, Jenna! And so. Are. You!’ I cringed as they skirted across my memory. Fresh tears welled up in my eyes, and very seriously threatened to overflow. Blinking my eyes feverishly, determined to get my emotions in check. Just where the heck was I, anyway? Glancing around, I realized that I had ran just to the outside of Landon’s gated neighborhood. In my haste, I had left my purse at his house. Oh well, there wasn’t really anything to endearing in it anyhow. Just some lip gloss and mascara. Maybe an extra ponytail holder and some loose change. With all of the people that attended Landon’s parties on the regular, I knew better than to leave anything worth something lying around. It was bound to disappear.
I sat down on the edge of the curb and brought my knees up to my chest. Should I go back? How would he react if I did? Could I use the excuse that I just wanted to retrieve my purse? No, I couldn’t face him right now. Or anyone else, for that matter. I just wanted to be alone and sort through everything swimming around in my head.
I began the long, cold walk home with my head down. I had also left my sweater in Landon’s H3. Great. Now I was going to have a broken heart and pneumonia. My feet ached from walking barefoot on the cold, wet pavement. Add my shoes to the things forgotten at Landon’s. I had kicked those off before we had ever went upstairs. Good thing I wasn’t too fond of them, I thought dismally.
What seemed like days later, I finally reached the edge of my own lawn. My feet were caked with mud and grime, and I wanted nothing more than to take the hottest shower of my life, and collapse onto my bed.
Darla, my American pit-bull terrier that Mom had gotten me a few months ago for my birthday greeted me at the door.
“Hey, Darla,” I squeaked out, patting her head as she jumped up, landing her front feet on my leg. Making my way to the bathroom at the back of the small house, I turned the faucet on almost as hot as it would go. Turning around, Darla was sitting in the doorway, her head cocked to one side, eyeing me curiously.
“It’s been a hell of a day, sweet girl,” I said with a sigh as I pulled my wrinkled, sweat soaked dress off over my head. Stepping inside the shower, I let the hot water beat down onto my face swollen from crying. The steam seemed to curl and twist itself around me, covering me in a foggy blanket. Breathing in and out slowly, I was soon starting to feel better.
By the time I had finished in the shower, I had come to the conclusion that this was just some huge misunderstanding and I’d be able to talk to Landon sometime tomorrow to straighten everything out.
Yes, tomorrow. Everything would be better, I thought, as I slid underneath the covers, Darla curled up next to me, already sound asleep and snoring.
****
The next morning, I woke up singing a song from ‘Annie.’
“The sun’ll come out…tomorrow…Bet your bottom dollar…that tomorrow there’ll be sun! Just thinking about… tomorrow..clears away the cobwebs…and the sorrow…” I continued singing the parts that I could remember as Darla followed me anxiously to the front door so she could go outside and take care of business.
As I opened the door and watched her bound out into the yard, I glanced down and noticed a brown paper sack on our front stoop. Picking it up, I peered inside, and pulled out my sweater, purse, and shoes that I had left at Landon’s last night. That was sweet of him to drop them off, but I wondered why he didn’t just call or come inside.
“Probably had someone else drop them off for him,” I said to the items as I placed them back inside the bag and turned to go back into the house.
Sitting at the kitchen table, I dialed Landon’s number onto my cell phone’s keypad. Hitting ‘send,’ I waited patiently as the familiar ring back tone played in my ear. As the song made its way through the chorus, it abruptly came to an end and Landon’s voicemail picked up.
“This is Landon. Leave me a message and I’ll hit ya up later,” came the familiar recording in my ear.
“I, uh, Landon, I just wanted to talk about… stuff…call me back when you get this. Love you, bye,” I quickly hit ‘end’ on the screen and set the phone down on the table. He must still be asleep, I guessed. Hearing Darla’s yips at the front door, I got up to let her in.
Maybe Kelsey or Amber was up by now. Sitting back down at the table, I called Kelsey first, and then Amber, getting their voicemails each time. Assuming they were still comatose from last night’s party, I decided to head into my room and work on my history assignment from yesterday. Anything to kill the time since Mom was working.
A few hours later, I tried their numbers again. Instead of their ring back tones, the same message came through on each of their phones:
“Your call cannot be completed as dialed. Please hang up and try again.”
“That’s strange,” I said out loud. Darla’s ears picked up at the sound of my voice. I tried each of the three numbers again, but heard the same message each time. “Well, what the hell?” I asked, getting exasperated. Darla jumped up from her perch on the back of the couch and trotted over to see what was going on. “Stupid cell phones,” I said to her, and she barked and began wagging her tail in response.
“Hmm, maybe Sandler’s awake,” I said, scratching the top of Darla’s head. I punched in his number and waiting for a ring back tone. But no, I got the same message as when I’d called the other three. Tossing my phone onto the table, I gave up. Maybe it was something wrong with the service. Maybe there was a tower down or something. I was sure that someone would call soon.
Maybe Landon would stop by. No way was I making that hike again. My feet still ached from walking home the night before. I went to my room and laid on my bed, staring up at the dismal white ceiling. What was going on here? The question echoed in my mind a countless number of times before I drifted off into a restless sleep.
By the time I had woke up, Mom was home, and I could smell dinner cooking in the kitchen. Stumbling out of my room, I blinked at the change in light.
“Hey, Mom,” I greeted, giving her a kiss on her cheek.
“Hey, baby,” she said, looking over at with me with a smile. “You feeling alright?” she asked.
“Yeah. Just tired, I guess. What’s for dinner?”
“Oh, just some hamburger helper. Nothing fancy,” my mom’s tired eyes crinkled at the corners as she stirred the dinner on the stove.
“It smells good,” I replied, pouring some tea into a glass. I poured a second glass for my mom and set them both on the kitchen table.
“Well, I’m glad you’re home to eat. You hardly ever are anymore,” she said. I heard her rummaging in the counter, getting out a couple plates.
“Yeah…” I answered, trailing off. Should I tell her about last night?
“What’s wrong, angel? Did you and Landon have a fight?” she asked, placing a steaming plate of noodles and hamburger in front of me.
“Yeah. It was stupid, though,” I said, picking over my food and blowing it to cool it off.
“Well, he seems like a sweet enough boy. I’m sure you two will work it out,” she replied, patting the top of my forearm. I gave her what I was positive was the weakest smile ever, and we finished our dinner in silence.
Later on, the dishes were cleared away, and we were relaxing on the couch watching television. Darla was passed out on top of me, her body strung across the tops of my legs.
“Well, I better hit the sack. Another early, long day again tomorrow,” my mom announced, getting up from her seat in the old tattered recliner.
“Okay, goodnight, Mom,” I answered as she kissed the top of my forehead.
“And don’t worry about Landon, sweetie. I’m sure he’ll come around sooner or later,” she gave me a tired smile and turned around to go into her bedroom. Stretching out onto the couch, I stared at the television, not really seeing anything that was playing.
I hadn’t heard from anybody at all today. I felt so alone, so isolated.
As I drifted off to sleep once again, this time on the couch, thoughts of the party the night before crept into my mind.
The next morning, Sunday, I awoke before my mom left for work.
“Hey, do you mind if I use the car today?” I asked, sitting up on the couch, thoroughly disturbing Darla.
“Sure, honey. Just make sure to pick me up at six. I don’t want to be at that place any longer than I have to be,” my mom gave me a quick smile and then headed off to the bathroom to take a shower. Hurrying into my bedroom, I threw on some fresh clothes and ran a brush through my hair, tying it back with a black ponytail holder. Fifteen minutes later, my mom was ready for work, and we were headed out the door.
“See you later, Mom!” I called as I dropped her off at the back door of the nursing home where she worked in the housekeeping department.
“Bye, sweetie. Be careful,” she called, with a wave.
“I will,” I replied, rolling the window back up and watching her walk inside. I drove off and headed towards Landon’s house. Butterflies fluttered around in my belly the entire way.
“Name, please,” came the automated voice at the gates leading into Landon’s neighborhood.
“Jenna Matthews,” I answered, my voice shaky and unsure. There was a moment of silence before the automated voice returned.
“No access,” it said, and clicked off. What? Had I heard that right? I pressed the button again.
“Name, please,” came the same automated voice.
“Jenna Matthews,” I replied, anger lining the edges of my voice.
Another momentary silence, and then, “No access,” came from the speaker once more.
“Seriously?!” I screeched at the metal box. Throwing the car into reverse, I headed towards the other end of town to Kelsey’s house. Pulling up alongside her front lawn, I got out and walked quickly to the front door. Ringing the doorbell, I waited somewhat impatiently for an answer. After several silent minutes ticked by, I gave up and retreated back to Mom’s car.
“Guess I’ll try Amber,” I said, beginning to feel defeated again. Twenty minutes later, I was in front of her house. But this time when I rang the bell, her dad answered after a couple of minutes.
“Hi, Jenna,” he greeted me.
“Hey, is Amber home?” I asked, hopeful.
“I, uh, no, she isn’t,” he replied, looking somewhat uncomfortable.
“Um, okay, well… do you know where she’s at?” I asked.
“No, she left… earlier,” he said, looking more uncomfortable than ever.
“I see. Well, could you just let her know that I stopped by?”
“Yeah, sure. See ya, Jenna,” and with that, all but shut the door in my face.
The feeling of defeat was nearly overwhelming now, and I trudged back to the car sitting silently on the curb. Something was going on, I was sure of it.
I sat around, bored out of my mind and lonely as hell until it was time to go pick my mom up from work.
******Love it so far?? Hate it?? Check out the picture of Darla to the right ---->>>
FYI: that's really my dog in real life, and her name really is Darla. <3 ******