A B S T I N E N C E
F I V E
THERE wasn't a single peep for as long as Mabel could hear. One roommate on a trip with her own youth group and the other on a vacation with her family in Vancouver. Mabel sent them both a text, reminding them of how jealous she was of them but reminding them how much she loved the two of them and couldn't wait for them to come home to her.
Tuesday's were one of Mabel's day's off from work, so she decided to take advantage of the day and visit her mom. She throws on a pair of white jean shorts and a loose, black and pin striped white spaghetti strap tank top. Her slightly greasy hair ends up in pony tail a top her head, sunglasses covering her eyes, and flip flops to protect the bottom of her feet. Mabel's phone slides in the cup holder in her car and keys in ignition. She doesn't bother to text her mom, wanting the arrival to be a complete surprise, and she drives away from the apartment building.
The twenty minute drive ends in disappointment when her mom's Focus isn't parked the drive way. Double checking the absence of her mom, Mabel enters the house calling out to her mom only to have an echo as a response. She pouts slightly, saddened that she wasn't able to connect with her mom on one of the only days she has time. As a reminder, she texts her mom telling her that she loves her and to tell her when she gets home.
Now, with not a single thing planned and a free day, Mabel heads across the grass to the Dolans house like she was thirteen. Her knocks on the door are greeted by Lisa who was busy baking in the absence of all her children, yet she invites Mabel in anyway wanting company just as Mabel had.
"Cameron's out with her friends today and Ethan's at work. Grayson said he was meeting some girl, but I have no idea when he'll be back." Lisa explains, but Mabel retaliates that she'd love to bake cookies with Lisa, ignoring the way her heart shrunk the smallest bit at the mention of Grayson meeting a girl.
The duo gets to work immediately, starting with original chocolate chip and planning to hit peanut butter, sugar, and spritz. They both make a batch of the same recipe, each talking nonstop about anything that comes to mind. Lisa spoke about her sons, telling embarrassing stories that even Mabel didn't know and she was one of their best friends. Mabel was convinced that she had better abs then the twins combined by the time Lisa halted her never ending list of stories. Mabel could've even compete with how many stories Lisa had to tell, but Mabel didn't mind, she could listen all day to someone talk about their life experiences if they were willing to share.
"We all thought that you and Grayson would be together by now," Mabel's motions stop for a mere second, unknowing of this assumption till now. "You both had such big crushes on each other as kids. Your mom and I always hoped that you guys would end up together. Guess those were just kid crushes."
If only Lisa knew.
Their conversation came to a pause when the sound of the front door opening resonated through the house. Exactly who Mabel didn't want to see walks into the kitchen, his appearance grasping all of her attention. Clothes she had picked out for him in New York City draped his body and she had no other reaction than weak knees.
"Hey honey," Lisa chimes with her bubbly personality that never pops, "How'd your date go?"
"She stood me up." And with that, he slapped the bouquet of roses on the table and stomped his way out to the porch outside. Through the glass door, the women could see he had cracked open a beer, something he only did when upset.
Mabel's heart broke for him, no matter if she didn't want him on that date anyway. He deserved a nice girl, someone who takes care of him and loves him, not someone who stands him up without an explanation. She could feel his hurt, "I'll go talk to him."
She unties the apron from around her body and follows the same footsteps as the young boy, only a lot softer. He states that he doesn't want to deal with being reprimanded for drinking, it would be only one from usually six or seven that he would binge drink. Mabel didn't say a word, she simply picked her own beer from the cooler and drank from it no matter how much she hated the taste. Her face contorted a little tighter each time she took a drink, and Grayson watched her every step of the way. Mabel's face held a look of complete disgust as she looked toward one of her best friends and he finally laughed.
"Why are you drinking that?" He chuckled some more, "You hate beer."
"To make you feel better," She chugged the rest of the beverage, shivering after doing so and throwing the can as far away from her as she could. "Did it work?"
From the smile on Grayson's face, she knew it had. "Talk to me."
And so he did. From how he met the girl after she accidentally paid for his pizza. They kicked it off right away and he couldn't help but ask her on her a date. Scheduled to meet at the Italian at five for dinner, he went at four thirty and waited until six thirty, only to realize that she wasn't going to show up. He couldn't quite figure out why he couldn't get a girlfriend, that no matter how hard he tried and how much effort he put into someone; he wasn't ever enough.
Mabel didn't have an answer for his questions, nobody did, "Sometimes there aren't answers for things that happen to us."
"Tell me why you turned to God."
Mabel didn't deny him the pleasure. It began her freshman year of high school. She was taking geometry, a sophomore class, so half the class was older than her. She couldn't help the excitement, for high school was full of new opportunities, new friends, and new boys that she couldn't wait to meet. There was a boy, in said geometry class, that she instantly had a connection with. They began texting, then hanging out at each other's friends house. They were talking for almost five months, but never officially becoming a couple, until he decided he wanted to make her his.
However, after only a week he broke up with her, with nothing more as it didn't feel right. It broke Mabel's heart to think that she wasn't good enough for him, but she carried on wishing he'd come back. Two months later, her wishes came to life. He came back begging, pleading with her that he'd treat her right and he loved her so much that it broke him. She fell for it immediately, missing him so much that she occasionally cried for him.
A month later, he had her in sheets, having his way with her. It wasn't amazing, for she wasn't that naïve to think that her first time would be as extravagant as they portray it in the movies. She lost her virginity to that boy though, and it meant the world to her.
It meant nothing to him. Two days later he stopped talking to her, stopped communicating with her. Once again he wanted nothing to do with her. Until she had found someone new, then he was back crawling on his knees for her. It went on like that for months that she couldn't count on one hand. He'd have her in his sheets as many times as he wanted and she believed that would keep him at her side,
She couldn't have been more wrong. When his father passed away, he went straight back to the girl he was waiting for the entire he was with Mabel. He ran straight back to her without giving a second thought to how Mabel felt, and that broke Mabel. She never acted like it, she kept a straight face and a fuck you to the boy.
At her lowest point, her friend led her to Jesus when she needed him most. When she finally confessed that she was letting Jesus into her life, she felt whole. When people say that Jesus is the only one that can fill empty holes in someone's soul and is the only one that can fix someone, it's entirely the truth. Mabel could never find the words for how full, complete, and ready she was to live this amazing life that she'd walk with Jesus.
"I thought I'd never have an answer for why God allowed such a brutal thing to happen to a person who wasn't too bad," Mabel looks up to the sky, never once feeling any remorse or anger to the boy that shredded her, but rather smiled that God put her through such a journey so she could live an amazing life. "Until God told me I wasn't meant for that life, I was meant for a life with him."
Grayson could only look at the girl and realize how amazing she had become without him even realizing it.