I woke up the next day to the sunlight pouring through my half opened curtains. I had completely passed out wearing the same dress from the night before. It was the first time I woke up feeling genuinely refreshed, like I was able to sleep comfortably and partly pretend my life was back to normal.
I crawled off my bed and straightened out the sheets. I'm surprised I actually slept on top of the comforter, I must have been exhausted. I breathed in deeply once before going to my closet to change into a pair of sweats and a black sweater. I knew it was still a bit cold out.
It felt odd, walking out of my bedroom without feeling Wycks grip tight on my upper arm. Almost like what I was seeing was a mirage as I stepped through the hall and into my living room. I could smell breakfast and the aroma brought me into the dining room where my mom and dad were eating.
"How'd you sleep, Ava?" My mom greeted me while my dad couldn't speak with pancake down his throat.
"How- uh, I slept really hard." I laughed awkwardly before sitting down and pulling a plate toward me. It felt weird to leave out the details of my visitor last night.
"Georgia called me this morning, she and Marie wanted to get lunch, see how your trip was." She spoke though bites. Georgia was my friend Marie's mom, she wanted Marie to go on the trip with me but they couldn't afford it, I was sad to be going alone at the time but now I'm glad Marie wasn't there so I didn't have to tell her about Wyck, or would it be better if she did come? She would've known something was wrong immediately and reported it right away. Did I want that to happen?
"Oh, okay. I haven't looked at my phone since last night." It hit me then, what if Wyck texted me? He said to respond immediately and the last thing I needed was to piss him off. I leapt up from the table and tried to excuse my jumpy behavior. "I should... see if she texted me." I shook my head at my terrible ability to lie and rushed off to my bedroom without another word.
My phone was laying on my bed, I grabbed it quickly and looked at the screen. A few messages from friends who knew I was back cluttered the screen, I guess I was a little dramatic about not having any friends, I just didn't have many people I felt close too.
There was a text from my cousin, Jason. He lived down the street from here and was a few years older. About the same age I assumed Wyck was, about 22-23. Not much older than me, being I'm 19.
No messages from Wyck though. I breathed a bit of relief and a bit of worry, did he get hurt last night? Should I ask if he's okay?
I swiped to respond to Jason. He was asking if I was back in town, I didn't have any siblings so he played a sort of older brother role in my life. He was very clever, partied a lot and was always worried about me.
'I'm back!'
I responded shortly before turning around and walking back to the kitchen with my nose stuck in my phone. I l slowly responded to the few messages I had gotten as I sat back down.
"So you'll be ready to go by 1:00?"
"Hm?" I looked up to my mom.
"To get lunch?"
"Oh right. Yeah I just need to shower and get ready." I felt my phone vibrate in my hand as I responded to my mother.
I assumed it was Marie responding to my text about what she was wearing to lunch, but when I looked at the screen my heart jumped a little in my chest.
Wycks name popped up with text beneath it.
'You're pretty popular today, huh?'
The moment of excitement and the feeling of joy knowing he was okay plummeted into a sickly sort of feeling. The message was a blunt reminder he saw everything, I felt almost embarrassed and exposed, it was frustrating and invasive. The feeling was hard to describe and in that moment it made me angry.
At that same time Marie did text me back, saying she was wearing nothing special since it was cold out today, followed by a question on what I planned to wear.
In a moment of rebellion I opened my phone and decided to ignore Wycks message and opened the text thread between Marie and I. I'm sure he'd be pissed off I "didn't respond to him immediately." And it felt like the proper revenge of invading my privacy.
A text banner popped up from Wyck again,
'So, what are you wearing to lunch?'
I audibly scoffed at the message, knowing he was watching my phone screen as we spoke, what did he have two phones in his hands? One mirroring mine and his own to harass me with?
I began to text Marie back,
'Black. To match how I feel about being back in LA.'
I tried to show Wyck he was putting me in a bad mood through the text to Marie, while also pushing the narrative that I was having a good time in Seattle.
Two vibrations came from my phone at once,
Marie
'Haha, I wish I went!! :( we could have run off into the city and never come back to this cesspool town.'
Wyck
'?'
'If you're so sad about being home I can easily take you back on the road ;)'
A second passed and another message popped up,
Wyck
'Aye, you're not running off with anyone but me. Who's Marie?'
My eyes rolled, I opened his messages and began to respond.
'No, I don't want to leave. I just want her to think I was actually in Seattle. She's my friend.'
He responded almost instantly.
'Good girl.'
It made my skin crawl when he called me that, but it was just as hot as it was disturbing.
"Ava, go get ready." My moms voice pulled me away from my phone, I hadn't even noticed both my parents had gotten up from the table.
"Oh, yeah." I stood and cleaned up after myself. Over the next hour or so I took a shower and got ready. I did my makeup and changed into a black skirt with black tights to keep me warm. I tucked a dark colored sweater into the front of my skirt finally before throwing on the boots I always wore.
I grabbed my small backpack and went into the living room where my mom was waiting. We were meeting Marie and her mom at a small coffee shop in the middle of our town. It was about ten minutes from my house, most things were. Once we arrived I greeted Marie with a tight excited hug, it was refreshing to see her, a part of me didn't know if I ever would again. Walking into the cafe I felt the same sensation; like I didn't belong there. I was meant to be somewhere else, in the back of a van or in a grave. But here I was sitting at a small table with three people I'd known for years who were bombarding me with questions about my week stay in Seattle, which were difficult to answer since I was actually there for less than a day.
"It was really great yeah, I mean I think I would have had more fun if Marie was there since I'd have someone I knew well. But I'm glad I went." I lied through my teeth, even though a small part of me was guiltily glad I met Wyck, I still wish I had never gotten myself into this situation.
"It didn't seem like you wished I was there, you only texted me once the whole week." Marie jabbed and I felt guilty. It's not like it was my fault, I wasn't able to respond. I felt angry towards Wyck that I had to lie about this so much. But I didn't want anyone to know about him, so I continued to make things up.
"Yeah I'm sorry, I just didn't want to be so all over my phone that I wouldn't truly experience the city, you know?" I sounded like a 45 year old man. "Um, are you taking any spring classes?" I changed the subject.
"God no, if there's a perfect excuse to have a longer winter break then I'm taking it. I'll start in the summer like everyone who went to Seattle did."
"Marie, the students that went on the Seattle trip got credits for it, you're just pushing your grad date back." Her mom, Georgia advised.
"That's fine. More time to go to spring parties." Marie laughed. She was definitely the extroverted one of the two of us. She was pretty with glowey freckled skin and light brown wavy hair. Marie was taller than me, she had the model physique. She was the type to wear sundresses and pour you a cup of tea in a flower covered meadow. I was the type to ask you a riddle under a bridge.
Marie described me as a forest fairy, I was dainty and cute. I'm pretty sure I'm just a scrawny troll. But I'll take her compliments.
I groaned in response to college parties, I got lost in the crowd every time I tried to attend.
"Oh go on Ava, maybe you'll meet a boy there and show Oliver what he missed out on." My mom joked.
"Wow I have the cool mom." I was sarcastic. It was ironic, if she knew about the guy I had met, she'd pass out.
We all laughed at the table for a moment, "Wait! What happened with Oliver?" Marie practically screamed. She'd known about my crush since the beginning of the semester.
I shook my head and laughed, "Oh my god. I forgot to tell you." I was glad the conversation was on something I could be truthful about, Oliver being an asshole.
Then suddenly I felt a tight grip on my wrist that was resting on the table. Marie's fingers squeezed me as a ghostly look took over her face. "Oh my god, he just walked in!" She whispered.
My head snapped to the door to see the red head was standing beside an older man, his dad I presumed. My heart stopped.
"Go talk to him." Marie shoved me.
"What? You don't even know what happened." I argued.
"Come on kill him with kindness." My mom betrayed me.
"I can't. No way." I glued myself to the seat. Not only did I not want to speak to him, I was actually now allowed to talk to Oliver. But how could I explain that?
Marie continued to shove at me until I accidentally made eye contact with Oliver. I cringed wishing he didn't know I was here.
If I don't talk to him my mom and friends wouldn't understand why it's such a big deal, if I do Wyck will be pissed. Was it easier to lie to them or to deal with him?
Before I knew it Oliver was walking over to the table and I realized I may not have a choice. I jumped up, not wanting to talk to him in front of everyone, he could mention the fact that I was MIA throughout the entire trip. My lies began to suffocate me.
As I walked quickly to meet him in the middle of the cafe I hoped deeply that Wyck wouldn't find out, that I could explain myself if he did and that he wouldn't take me away from my home for not listening to his rules.