“I’m all packed.”
“Are you sure you want to leave?”
I nodded. “I can’t stay here, Jackson.”
He sighed and pulled me into a tight hug. After calling my dad, he told me that it was okay if I came home early and then I announced to everyone my decision to leave. That didn’t go too well, but everyone grew to accept it. Then, the plane ticket was ordered- I leave tomorrow.
“I’m really going to miss you.” He mumbled into my shoulder.
“I’m really going to miss you too, but I don’t leave until tomorrow.” I added. “Let’s just lazy around and watch movies all day.”
“We can’t.” He said sheepishly. “I invited everyone over for a final goodbye.”
My eyes widened. “But I’ll cry!”
He grinned innocently at me. “So will everybody else, it’s okay.”
I grumbled an angry thought as he laughed at my miserableness.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
True to his word, in an hour’s time, the house was cluttered with the people I’d grown to love over the past two months.
Jackson, Ryder, Andy, Elle, Isaac, Brendon, Jarrod, Tommy, but no Kale. It’s not like I was expecting him to come. He probably wants me to leave.
They were all sitting in the living room with gloomy looks on their faces, still begging me not to leave.
“I don’t see why you have to go.” Elle muttered.
“Guys, I was going to leave eventually, anyway.” I insisted. “I’m just speeding up the process a little.”
“But we’re going to miss you.” Andy whined.
“Listen, you have no idea how amazing this time has been for me. I met two of my idols, went shopping with frikkin’ Ryder West, I sang in front of a crowd of famous people, hell, I had a walk of shame in front of two of the most famous guys in Hollywood!”
“Three.” Jackson added.
“You don’t count.” I teased. “Anyway, how many people can say that? I’ll be fine, but I can’t get over this staying here and I don’t want to be in your way.”
“You are never in our way.” Ryder told me.
“Yeah, just because you cry doesn’t mean that you’re a burden.” Isaac added.
“But you’re coming back next summer, right?” Elle asked with a pleading look on her face.
I shrugged. “Maybe, I don’t know, honestly.”
“Don’t forget us, okay?” Brendon said, wrapping me in a tight hug.
I tried my best to smile. “I don’t think it’s possible to forget any of you. Because you’re all so weird.”
“You know it.” Jarrod grinned.
“I got you something.” Ryder said, standing up and moving over to me. He handed me a rolled up piece of paper and when I opened it, I couldn’t hold back a sincere laugh. It was a poster of him, shirtless, of course, with his signature at the bottom. If I had that two months ago, I would have fainted.
“I did too, but mine’s way better.” Tommy spoke, but his gift wasn’t so small- it was a beautiful guitar. It was hot pink with a dark blue neck and it also had his autograph in black Sharpie. Again, if I had that two months ago, I would have fainted.
“I love you guys.” I mumbled, feeling tears start to fall down my face. I didn’t want to leave all of these people, but I knew that I’d fall even deeper into some sick depression if I stayed here. I knew that I wouldn’t be okay if I didn’t leave. Even if that sounds stupid to anybody else, it makes sense to me.
After I hugged everybody, they all cleared out and I went back upstairs, it didn’t look empty even with all my stuff packed up. I kept most of the stuff I’d bought at the beginning of the summer hanging up in the closet and I left all of the decorations out because I didn’t have any room in my suitcases.
I laid down in bed and willed myself not to cry anymore. I started watching some movie on TV and jumped when there was a knock on my door at around eight.
“Come in.” I mumbled, assuming it was Ryder or somebody to try again to talk me out of leaving.
The door swung open but I wasn’t facing it, so I couldn’t see who came in.
“If you’re here to talk me into not leaving, can you just leave now?” I asked, not wanting to explain my stupid reasons for leaving again.
“Can we talk?” Those heart stopping words sent me into a panic. That was absolutely not Ryder.
I froze and didn’t turn to look at Kale. The first plan that popped into my head was to pretend that I was sleeping so I closed my eyes and started to snore heavily.
“I know you’re awake, Holly.” He mumbled, walking further into the room.
“Can’t you hear me snoring?” I asked incredulously. “I’m obviously sleeping.”
“Holly, I’m serious.” He said.
I sighed and sat up, taking the risk to actually turn around and face him. Wow, he looked gorgeous, even if he looked like crap, too.
“What can I do for you? Now that you’ve woken me up.” I asked as unfazed as I possibly could. But I knew he could read through it- he knew me better than anyone else.
“Ryder told me that you are leaving.” He said quietly.
“I am.” I croaked.
“Please don’t leave.” He blurted, looking at me with pleading blue eyes. God, I love his eyes. “Not because of me.”
“I can’t stay.” I told him, honestly. “I don’t really want to stay.”
“Please, Holly.” He nearly begged. “I messed up, really bad, I get it. I’ll make it up to you though, I promise.”
“As hard as it is to believe, you’re incredibly sexy smirk can’t fix every mess you make.” I told him dryly.
“I didn’t actually do anything with Kayla.” He said softly after a short silence.
“You think this is about Kayla?” I asked incredulously.
“Well, um, yes?” He asked, confused.
“Kale, I don’t give two shits about Kayla.” I snapped.
“Then what…” He trailed off, obviously confused.
I took a deep breath. “After I ended things with Shane, it took me almost a full year to build my confidence up again. To actually believe that I wasn’t all the things that he called me, it took so much time and effort. And I’ve been called a lot of names, but whore- whore is a new one and no matter how hard Shane hit me… Shane couldn’t even dream about throwing a punch that hurt as bad as you calling me a whore.”
“But I didn’t mean it.”
“Yes you did.” I said quickly, feeling tears piling up in my eyes. “At the time, you meant it.”
“We both know that it’s not true.” He said, a desperate look clouding his gorgeous features. “Okay, I didn’t know that you what you were doing, I just knew that you were lying and spending time with Ryder behind my back. What was I supposed to think, Holly?”
“I get how you could think that.” I told him honestly. “But what I don’t get is why you didn’t just ask me about it. I would have told you the truth and when I tried to tell you, you shut me out.”
“I figured that you would just try to cover it up with another lie.” He told me, almost sheepishly.
“Kale, please stop making me feel bad about this, okay? Of course, I just want to let everything go- we’ve both messed up and I get that. I’m sorry that I lied to you and you’ve made it clear that you’re sorry for what you’ve done. I want to forgive you but it’s not that simple. Before this, all I saw when I looked at you was perfection. The guy that I love. But now, all I see is the guy that called me a whore. I don’t know why, if it’s what happened with Shane or it’s just my ego, but I can’t overlook that right now.”
“I- I really can’t convince you to stay, can I?” He asked softly.
I shook my head and then grabbed an envelope and a box off of the dresser that I’d put there earlier when I was packing and shoved it into his chest. “No, but happy birthday.”
“What’s this?” He asked, grasping the two presents.
“Most of your present, it came in last week. It’s a signed baseball- signed by all of the Giants pitchers. In the envelope, there’s season passes for four people and plane tickets to San Francisco where, on August 24th, you’ll be having dinner with Ryan Vogelsong.”
“How do you even know who he is? How did you even get any of this stuff?” He asked, completely shocked.
“I did my research and I stalked the right people. The rest of the present was- well, it doesn’t matter anymore.”
“Why are you giving me all of this? I don’t deserve it.”
“I don’t want it. As for me, I’m going back to Minnesota, no matter what you say.”
“Please don’t.” He said. “I love you, and I meant it when I said that you mean more to me than anyone. I-I can fix this, just give me the chance.”
“Nothing you do can take back what you said.” I snapped, turning around so that I couldn’t see his face. “Just get out.” My voice was more hoarse then.
He opened his mouth to object, but quickly closed it again. “Goodbye, then.” He croaked.
I felt tears fall down my face as I heard him walk out the door and close it behind him. I gripped my bed with clenched fists as I sobbed and finally, I whispered. “Goodbye, Kale.”
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I'm sorry for not replying to all the comments. I absolutely love reading them and hearing your opinions, but I'm super busy right now. So hopefully I can go back and reply to them when I have time <3
The very last chapter will be up in maybe ten minutes <3
P.S. This song is SO perfect!