As soon as I knocked on Kerry's door, it burst wide open. But instead of Kerry greeting me, I looked down to see her two daughters, Segi and Sumaya, with big grins on their faces.
"Sarah!" They squealed with loud gasps. My eyes widened as I dropped my bag and let them fall into my arms. I was only a bit taller than Segi, the eldest, because of my height, so I only bent my knees slightly.
Stroking their hair with my fingers one at a time, I chuckled and kissed their foreheads in hello. Kerry told me so much about them and their adoption. They came from Ethiopia and were the best things that happened to her. They FaceTimed Kerry one time during rehearsals and I had the chance to talk to them. They were the sweetest girls ever and I was probably more excited to see them than they were to see me.
When we broke apart, they dragged me right inside. As I took a few steps into her apartment, I was met with a smiling Kerry. But before I could speak, I was immediately pulled into a loving hug. Out of reflex, I started to laugh as I brought my arms around her neck.
She whispered, "I'm happy you came to me," as she held me tighter, not that I was planning on letting her go anytime soon. She used one of her hands to rub my back soothingly as she rocked us, telling me how worried she was when I called. She could tell I wasn't okay and needed a safe place to go to just by the tone of my voice.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know where else to go."
"No, it's perfectly fine, the girls and I were ecstatic when we heard you wanted to come. You can honestly move in if you'd like," she laughed as I stuffed my head into her neck. I giggled softly and gave her one more quick squeeze. I snuck in a low thank you, meaning it with everything I had.
"Where's Joey?" I asked, remembering her husband. I hadn't met Joey, but Kerry did tell me amazing things about him. I was happy she had someone like him, Kerry deserved the world.
I threw my bag over my shoulder as I followed Kerry around. "Joey is out of town to visit family, so it's gonna be a girls night," She explained with excitement in her voice. The girls, beside me, cheered ecstatically.
Kerry brought me into their guest room, opening her arms to present the space. "Make yourself comfortable. Me casa es tu casa," She spoke with a chuckle as I entered the room and looked around. The room was huge for a guest bedroom, it felt like a hotel.
"When you get into your pajamas, come to the living room. It's movie night," Sumaya exclaimed, tugging on my arm to get my attention. I glanced down at her and smirked.
"I'll be as quick as possible," I assured her, bending down to be at the same eye level. "Promise." She nodded rapidly, before they all walked out. I closed the door behind them and sighed loudly, flopping onto the bed. I covered my eyes with my arm, enjoying the few moments of quiet alone time. It was the time I needed to think.
I loved being at Kerry's house and I couldn't thank her enough for letting me stay the night, but I shouldn't of been there. I should've been at my apartment, not trying to avoid the problem.
I uncovered my eyes as I sat up to dig into my bag. I was quick with packing because the last thing I wanted was to bump into Katie, alone.
As I took out my phone, I noticed I had a handful of messages from Alex. I thought I'd read them, but I promised myself I'd try to enjoy the rest of my night. All that stuff could wait until later. And I was with Kerry and her girls, I didn't need to be upset.
When I was dressed in my pajamas, I headed to the living room to find Kerry and Sumaya cuddled on the couch with a blanket wrapped around them, and Segi spread across the carpet with a popcorn bowl. They all smiled in unison at my appearance.
Segi patted the floor next to her and cheered, "You made it!" I walked over and sat down next to her, resting my back against Kerry's legs.
"The girls chose Frozen," she explained as I tilted my head up to look at her.
"Oh awesome! Frozen is one of my favorite movies."
"Mine too!" Segi gasped.
"No way," I turned to her. She nodded with a little bounce. "Now we're automatically best friends. It's an unspoken rule," I clapped, which made the girls laugh. Segi leaned in close and rested her head on my shoulder.
Kerry started the movie, and the dimly lit room became brighter as the tv lit up. "Are you a big fan of Olaf?" I heard Segi whisper to me. Her head was on my shoulder, so I couldn't look at her.
"Oh definitely. He's one of my favorite characters," I chuckled, wrapping my arm around her.
"Have you seen the musical, Sarah?" Kerry asked from above me.
"Yeah, blondie and I loved it," I explained, turning around and looking up at her. Kerry's eyebrows furrowed at the mention of Katie, knowing exactly who I was talking about. I was sure Kerry and Leslie hated Katie almost as much as I did.
"Who's blondie?" Segi asked of our curiosity, lifting her head up from my shoulder to look at me. I only smirked, leaning closer to her face.
"She's the wicked witch of the west." I felt Kerry kick my back, making my eyes shut in laughter. I mean, it was true.
For the rest of the night, we ate the pizza Kerry ordered, shared a whole bowl of popcorn, and enjoyed multiple Disney movies after watching Frozen. It was a very needed fun night for me. I enjoyed hanging out with them and almost forgot everything that happened earlier.
~It's Showtime~
"She what?!" Kerry gasped, covering her mouth. I nodded slowly as I picked at my nails. Her eyes widened as she stared at me, not knowing what else to say.
After the girls started getting tired, Kerry brought them to bed. She invited me into her room so we could talk. We both sat on her bed—our backs against the headboard—and gossiped about a handful of things. Finally, she asked if it was okay if I told her about what happened at the restaurant.
As if it were a flashback, I told Kerry the entire story. Repeating Katie's words made me cringe. And how Alex remained silent, without attempting to reassure me or even take my side. That irritated me greatly, and he wasn't getting away with that either. He was simply adding to his list of explanations.
"Yeah, I just had to leave. I couldn't stay there," I explained, as I shrugged and sighed softly. "I'm so lost with what to do." I toyed with strands of my hair, twisting them between my fingers.
"Sarah, none of this is your fault, so don't stress about it more than you need to," Kerry soothed me, rubbing my leg covered by checker patterned pajama pants.
"I can't keep avoiding them forever, but I also can't trust myself with what I'd say if I run into them again."
"Well, you'll need to speak to them eventually, so it's just the question of how do you want to approach this?"
I was thinking too hard about the situation, but I couldn't blame myself. I wasn't getting any context and my two best friends were still acting suspicious about that day. They couldn't even be honest with me about what they did. It's so obvious something happened.
"I don't know," I rolled my eyes. "I could try talking to Alex alone again, I guess. I mean, I tried today, but Katie ended up already being at his apartment," I laughed.
"I still can't believe she was there," Kerry slapped her hand on her forehead. "That must've been so awkward."
"What if they're still together now? Who knows? They're probably hanging out, not even feeling guilty about this," I blurted out, throwing my hands up. Kerry abruptly reached out to grasp them and locked her gaze with me.
"Sarah, calm down. I know Alex, you know Alex, he's not with Katie. We can even go to his house right now and prove she's not there," Kerry chuckled.
"I know, I'm sorry, but—"
"Let me finish," she shook her head. "I don't think you understand, but I'm just going to tell you that Alex really likes you. You may not see it yet, but no one can convince me otherwise that Mr. Loverboy doesn't have it hard for you," she explained. "He's gotten to the point of moving mountains for you."
I scrunched my face in confusion. "No way."
"Yes way, Sarah," she nodded. I looked away in thought. I mean, I just assumed Alex was comfortable around me like I was with him. I've accepted that he was really attractive, especially in his Beetlejuice costume—good god.
Uh, anyways.
I maybe have a little crush on him. But I didn't see it the other way around.
If he really liked me, he wouldn't have done what he did with Katie. And also acted that way at the restaurant. He must have been perplexed with his feelings, and if that was his way of working things out, I didn't want to be a part of it.
"He doesn't like me the way you think, okay? He wouldn't have put us in this situation if he did," I added. Kerry sighed, shaking her head.
"He made a mistake, Sarah. He wouldn't deliberately ruin his chances of having you by doing whatever he did with Katie," she explained. Then what the hell was he doing? "Honestly, I haven't even met the girl, but just from the way Alex seemed so worried about you the other day, I know that Katie is not the one he wants. You are," She finished. I hesitantly nodded, leaving my reactions at that.
I was still so confused and I didn't want to get my hopes up right now.
"Thank you, Kerry," I said, pulling her into a quick hug. She whispered a 'no problem'. "Wait, now that I think about it—" I started as I went to grab my phone that was laying untouched on my lap. When I picked it up and turned it around, Alex's messages flooded the screen.
"What's wrong?" Kerry asked, noticing my uneasy expression.
"Alex was texting me earlier and I hadn't checked to see what he said. I wanted to distract myself and enjoy the movies," I explained as she nodded. "I don't know if I should look now," I told her, honestly.
Kerry only shrugged. "I'm sure he's gonna suggest that you guys talk about the whole situation, but I don't know how you'll feel about it. So, it's up to you if you'll be willing to listen to what he has to say," she said. I wanted to know everything. Even if it changed how I felt about the both of them, the suspense was killing me.
I unlocked my phone and went to Alex and I'd messages.
Betelgeuse
Betelgeuse: Sarah, where are you?
"Maybe if you had followed her instead of sitting there you would have known," Kerry scoffed as she read over my shoulder. I glanced at her and smirked amusingly. "What? I'm just saying."
"Never mind," I chuckled, continuing to read his messages.
Betelgeuse: Sarah, please
answer me. I need to check
on you
Betelgeuse: I'm sorry for not
saying anything. I don't know
why I didn't. I was being stupid.
Just please talk to me
Betelgeuse: I promise I'm not
with Katie. I yelled at her and
then we argued for a while,
that's why I couldn't
catch up to follow you
Kerry and I gasped at the same time as we read his last message. He actually yelled at Katie? Shocker.
"What did you do to him?" Kerry laughed.
I furrowed my eyebrows at her. "What do you mean?"
"I never thought Alex could actually yell at someone. He's such a nice guy. I would have paid to see that."
"Yeah, that actually makes me feel better," I smiled at her.
"Sarah, I think Alex may have some things to tell you," she addressed, crossing her arms. I waved her comment off and focused back down on my phone.
Too many thoughts were running through my head. I wasn't sure if Kerry was right or not. Would he really do something like that for me? The big question that kept circling around was if he actually liked me. I must've been oblivious to all the signs. All his small gestures that constantly gave me butterflies just seemed friendly. I don't think he thought about them.
I glanced back at Kerry who had a permanent wide smirk on her face. She kept moving her eyes back and forth between me and my phone.
Betelgeuse: If you could at
least let me know if you're
safe, that would be nice
Betelgeuse: And that you're
somewhere that's warm and
you have access to food and
a bed. That's all you have to
confirm. Please.
I hovered my fingers over the keyboard, figuring out what to type. I didn't want to appear mad at him, even though I definitely was. But I also didn't want to give off that I forgave him.
"You can tell him you're with me," Kerry shrugged. "That's probably where he'd want you to be if you weren't at home."
"You sure? You think he's gonna come here?"
"I doubt it. He knows you want some time alone and won't bother you."
"That's true."
"But he's gonna try to stop you during rehearsals. He's not going to let you avoid him."
"Yeah, but at least Katie won't be there. That's the good part," I rolled my eyes, before typing.
Lydia Deetz: I'm okay.
I'm at Kerry's
Not a minute later—it was like he was watching his phone—he replied back.
Betelgeuse: Oh okay, good.
I'm sorry about everything.
I'll give you time
Lydia Deetz: Thank you, Alex.
I'll see you at rehearsals
Betelgeuse: You're welcome,
whatever you need. I miss you,
shortcake
Kerry loudly squealed with excitement while clapping. I flinched in shock, then giggled and put my phone down. I sighed loudly, running my fingers through my hair.
"Awe, I'm so proud of you, Sarah," Kerry praised me.
"For what? I didn't do anything," I laughed.
"You did exactly what you were supposed to do." She left it at that, before getting up to walk to the bathroom. "I'll be right back. Put something on Netflix." I nodded and grabbed the remote to flip through a bunch of shows and movies.
When Kerry came back, we laid in her bed and watched a couple episodes of Shameless, but we weren't actually paying attention because we were cracking jokes and just laughing over random things.
"It's so great to have a Kerry Butler in my life," I joked.
"I know right," she smirked. "But seriously, Sarah, don't worry so much. Katie shouldn't ruin who you are at all. You are a bigger and better person than she is. Alex, Rob, Leslie, and the whole Beetlejuice cast would agree. You have so many people who care about you and are important to them. Remember that okay?"
"Ok, thank you, Kerry," I nodded. We both laughed together and continued watching TV until we dozed off to sleep.
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