Late updates, I know. :/ Sorry. :(
~
We ate at IHOP for dinner.
Mom was being unfair again and said we could eat tomorrow, but she said earlier we'd have IHOP for lunch.
And what did we have for lunch?
Subway.
So I whined for the whole car trip until she finally said yes.
So here I am, eating a glorious stack of pancakes.
After dinner, I took the night shift, driving while Mom slept soundly at the back.
My phone rings and I pick it up.
"Hello?"
"Hey, babe."
Eli.
"Hey, Elias. What's up?" I say, with a sad smile on my face.
"Not much," he says, exhaling sharply. "I miss you."
"Thanks, same here," I say.
I knew this was kind of dangerous since I was driving, so I put my phone on loudspeaker.
"When are you coming back?" he asks me quietly.
"I don't know," I say simply. "Maybe until the end of summer."
"The end of summer?" Eli asks again.
"I guess. It'll be fun," I chuckle softly. I didn't want to wake Mom up.
"Without me?" he exclaims, which earns a laugh from me.
"It'll be a challenge," I say, correcting myself.
"I should've been there, though," he mutters.
"Sorry," I reply.
A few minutes pass until he speaks up.
"Summer, about our fight..."
"I don't want to talk about it," I say quickly.
"No, I just wanted to say I'm sorry," he says sheepishly. "It was entirely my fault."
"Stop, I don't want to talk about it," I say harshly.
"Please, just hear me out, Sum," he says in a pleading voice.
What couldn't he understand?
I don't want to talk about what happened.
It's that simple.
"If I liked you, I should've had told you instead of making you wait."
There.
He just crossed the line.
He knew all along about what he did, and he didn't even try to do anything about it.
That's just bullshit.
"I need to go," I whisper.
"Wait, Summer, I-"
I cut him off by pressing the end call button but after a few seconds, he calls me again.
Ang again and again and again.
He knew he was hurting me, and he didn't even try to stop himself. All he cared about was his own happiness.
I park Mom's car in the driveway, thanking God for our safe arrival.
I carry our suitcases and place them gently on the pavement, careful not to wake Mom.
"Mmmmm," Mom yawns.
So much for not waking her up.
"Are we there yet?" she groans, ruffling her hair slightly as she tries to get through the tangles.
"Yes, we're here," I say, sighing heavily as I place her suitcase on the ground. "Now get your fat ass out here and help me bring these in."
I run to the front door, dragging my suitcase behind me.
I can't believe I get to see Dad today!
It's been months since I last saw him.
"Dad? We're here!" I yell as I open the front door.
It took me a second to realize that he might be asleep because it's like, 3 in the morning.
Just then, the lights switch on.
"Shut the fuck up," a young man said groggily as he walked down the stairs.
He wasn't wearing anything but a pair of boxers.
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in Dad's house?" I yell accusingly.
"Oh, so you're Robert's daughter?" he says, smiling at me warmly. "I thought you would be like, maybe 8 or something."
"What are you doing here? And why are you half naked?" I say through gritted teeth.
"I'm Shaniqua," he says, flashing me a big smile. "And my breasts don't like to hide."
"Haha, very funny," I sat, crossing my arms over my chest.
He grabs a box of Cheerios from the cupboard and helps himself.
"I'm Jeremy, My dad and your dad are close friends since college," he explains with his mouth full. "My dad's out of town, so Rob's letting me stay here for a couple of days."
"If your dad and my dad were so close why haven't we met?" I ask suspiciously.
"Probably because they knew you'd fall in love with me the second we met?" he chuckles lightly.
Oh, great. Another cocky guy. Just what I needed.
"I'm kidding. Don't worry, I'll be home by tomorrow," he says simply.
I let out a frustrated groan and cursed under my breath.
Mom carries her suitcase upstairs and sleeps in one of the guestrooms.
I decide to stay up for the night. I slept in the car when Mom was driving, anyways.
I lay on the couch flat on my stomach with a blanket draped over my body.
"Move," Jeremy orders.
I was so surprised, I practically jumped.
"Did I scare you?" he snickers.
"What are you doing here?" I groan. "I'm gonna watch TV."
"I wanna watch, too."
I let out a loud sigh and sit up.
I flipped through the channels until I finally saw one that was playing reruns of Suburgatory.
At least it was better than the sports channel.
"Summer, right?" he says quietly.
He sounded almost innocent.
"Yeah."
"I'm sorry if I didn't leave a good first impression," he says softly. "I'm not really a morning person."
He seems okay. Just a little too exposed for my liking,
I admit, I wasn't a morning person either. Well, sometimes I was, but whatever.
"Okay," I say.
"If you don't like me, I won't bug you anymore, promise," he says quickly.
"You're not exactly bugging me," I chuckle softly.
"Yes, I am," he insists.
"Now you are," I smile, bringing my legs up and sit cross-legged.
I see Parker Young, who plays Ryan Shay in Suburgatory, rubbing his but all over his car which made me laugh obnoxiously loud.
And apparently, Jeremy found it amusing too.
"So this is what you watch during your free time?" he says with a snicker.
I couldn't stop laughing as I watch Parker Young give his car a sexy dance while hosing off his body.
"Not really."
He opens his mouth to say something, then pauses.
"Why did you come here?" he finally asks.
Just when I started to think he was nice.
He probably noticed my expression, and suddenly shook his head furiously.
"No, I didn't mean it that way, I-"
"It's fine. Well, I just decided to come visit Dad, that's all."
"You can tell me, Summer. I promise I won't tell anyone," he says, giving me a cute smile as he ran his hand through his hair consciously.
He knows I'm lying?
"I swear, it's nothing," I say, shifting quite nervously.
"I know it's something."
This boy can read my fucking mind.
"Wait, are you like, Professor X or something?" I joke, trying to divert his attention to something else.
He raises an eyebrow and gives me a pointed look.
"First of all, mutants don't exist, as much as I want them to," he says, crossing his arms over his chest. "Second, I've always wanted to be a psychologist. I know that teenage girls want to spend their whole summer with their friendsand their boyfriends and stuff like that. Especially a pretty girl like you."
I give him a small smile.
"Well... I have this friend. His name's Eli," I say slowly, unsure of what to say next.
"A friend?" he smirks, giving me a pointed look.
"It's complicated," I say. "Well, we had a fight and all that shit. It's a really, really complicated story but to make things short... Every single day I've been with Eli is a living hell."
His face turns from confused to surprised.
"He beats you up? What a douche," Jeremy mutters, his eyes wide open. "I'd probably beat him up if I had the chance."
"No, no!" I say quickly. "I think I love him, but I don't know if he loves me back."
"You think you love him?" he asks again.
I look down nervously.
"I think," I repeat.
He looks directly into my eyes and says, "Sum, when you love someone truly, there wouldn't be a maybe."
I stare at his big brown eyes, completely baffled.
It was true.
He's true.
This thing I have for Eli wouldn't be love if it was a "maybe".
If I really loved him, I should be 100% sure that I do.
Otherwise, it isn't real.
"Good night, Summer," he whispers, standing up and rubbing my shoulder. "See you tomorrow for breakfast."
I lay down on the couch and make myself feel comfortable.
"Technically, it's later," I holler, and I hear him snicker in reply then his bedroom door shut.
As the show ends, I turn off the TV and walk up to my room.
I'm surprised to see my suitcase laid on my bed; I thought it was downstairs.
Jeremy must've put it here.
I look at the small 36" LED screen television mounted on the cream colored wall and my bed with a pink comforter with matching pink pillows.
It was as if I never even left.
I look at the small chandelier hanging from the ceiling, admiring how it sparkled in the dim light.
Sometimes, I marvel at how beautiful my room is here, while my room in New Jersey is so plain.
I'm not complaining though; I love my room back in NJ.
This is just a luxurious place I'd always love to visit, but would never get used to.
New Jersey was still home for me, and it always would be.
I rinse the make up off of my face and brushed my teeth, changed into my pajamas. then climbed onto my bed.
My huge king sized bed.
It was really hard to adapt to it, since my bed back at home was only twin-sized.
Let's face it, Dad's too fancy for me.
I mean, it's nice to have a rich lawyer for a father, but I'd rather have just any other normal father.
As much as I tried to sleep, I couldn't.
I check my phone to see a text from Eli.
call me when you get there.
Call him and wake him up? No, thanks.
It was already 3:41, and he sent the text an hour and a half ago.
I flip through the channels and see that there wasn't anything good on.
Wait, Disney Channel had good shows like, all the time.
So here I am now, watching Mr. Bean on Disney Channel.
And it was a rerun.
I think deeply about Eli and me.
If ever we would have a relationship in the latter future, would it work?
We would. Of course we would.
Well, hopefully, at least.