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chapter eight
That night, after Jessica and Alex went to dinner, it was clear to them that they should be together. So, they got together. The two of them went out every night. Except for when one of them had to work. Jessica had a job at a local restaurant, while also draining her savings account while going to the local college. So the days passed. But every day Jessica thought she was over Andy, the pain came back. But, she assured herself; it’s not as bad as it was. It’s getting better. Before she knew it, she had been gone a week, and not long after, it was a month. November was when she realized it. 15th, to be exact. She remembered her promise to herself: Ike’s birthday is later next month. I’ll send him a card. Jessie pulled herself away from the TV.
“Alex!!! I’m going to the store! See ya later!”
“Okay! Bye babe!” She rolled her eyes and grabbed her keys.
‡‡‡‡‡‡
She
found a card a Wal-Mart. On the front, it had a small dog with his finger to his
chin as if he was thinking very hard, and there was a thought bubble from his
head saying: Just how old are you now? The inside simply said: Happy
Birthday! Satisfied, she bought it and hurried out to her car. She sat in
the driver’s seat and fumbled in her purse for a pen. She found one at last,
and began to write.
Dear
Ikey,
Happy
Birthday! Hope everyone’s alright, I’m fine.
Love
always,
Jessie
Happy, she sealed it in the envelope and addressed it, putting no return address. She dropped it in a mailbox on her way out of the parking lot and drove home, feeling fine.
‡‡‡‡‡‡
November
17, 2008
Isaac sauntered out of his new apartment. He was happy to be living alone. It gave him so much freedom and independence! Not to mention quiet! Just as he was pulling his mail out of the small box assigned to him, Zac pulled up in his car.
“Hey Ike,” he said, slamming his door.
“Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”
“Nothin’. Zo’s havin’ a party and I can’t stand a bunch of little nine and ten year olds.” Isaac chuckled.
“Don’t blame ya one bit, bro. Come on up.” Zac followed Isaac up the stairs into his apartment. He grabbed an apple out of the kitchen and sat down on the couch, turning on the TV. He flipped channels and gnawed on his apple while Isaac looked through his mail.
“Junk, junk, junk. What’s this?” He pulled out a purple envelope.
“No return address. Looks like a birthday card.”
“Duh,” Zac said, “it is your birthday.”
“I know that.” He ripped through the shockingly purple envelope and pulled out the card. He read the front and quickly opened it to see whom it was from. Isaac’s eyes widened as he read.
“Oh my gosh,” he said.
“What?” Zac replied, reaching for the card. He read it and handed it back to Isaac.
“I shouldn’t have let her go,” he commented, taking a bite of his apple and handing the card back to Isaac. Isaac stared at Zac.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the night she left, she was in my room, and I woke up while she was still there and she left. I should have tried to stop her. I did, but not hard enough.” Isaac just stared at him.
“You mean you saw her right before she left, and you could have stopped her, but you didn’t?” Zac turned and looked at him.
“Yeah.”
“What kind of an idiot are you? Do you know where she went? Probably!”
“Whoa! Calm down! She’s eighteen. She’s not a kid anymore! It didn’t to feel right to say what I knew! It didn’t really matter! Like we would have found her! I’m almost positive she left the state! What use would searching and putting up posters have done! I’m sure she’s just fine! It says so! She said so herself!”
“You could have followed her or woken somebody up or something! Good God! You just let her up and leave?” Zac shook his head.
“Screw it. You wouldn’t understand.” He grabbed his keys and stormed out the door. Isaac watched his back for a moment, than flung the card across the room.
‡‡‡‡‡‡
In a furious rage, Zac drove and drove before he realized he was starving. He pulled into the parking lot of the local Applebee’s. He walked in and sat down. He ate, enough for him and another person. But after he finished, he just sat there. Before he realized it, it had been two and a half hours. A waitress came up to him and looked at him. She was about his age, with shiny black hair and glistening blue eyes.
“Excuse me,” she said, “Sir? We’re closing.”
“Huh? Oh, sorry. I’ll leave.” She looked at him.
“Are you okay? You seem a little upset.” He rubbed his forehead.
“Oh, I just had a bad day.”
“Well, do ya wanna tell me about it? I’m getting off.”
“Hell,” he said. “Why not?” he looked at her nametag, “Caitlin.” She smiled.
“C’mon. Let’s go.”
The two of them walked next door to a little coffee shop. He told her his story, about Jess and Andy and Ike. After Zac finished, he took a gulp of coffee and sighed.
“Wow,” Caitlin said. “You’ve been through a lot.”
“Yeah, well I’m used to it.”
“I guess so, Hanson,” she said, a smirk on her lips. He returned her smirk.
“So ya found me out, huh? It wasn’t that easy, was it?”
“Piece of cake.” They laughed.
“I gotta go,” Zac said.
“Me too,” she agreed. Zac paid and they walked outside.
“That was fun,” Zac said. Caitlin nodded.
“Wanna do it again?”
“Sure!” she said.
“Here, tomorrow, noon?”
“Great!”
“Well, bye.”
“Bye. See ya tomorrow.”
“Bye.” They got in their cars and went their separate ways.