Distance

by Andrea Heltsley

  It was a muggy day out and it didn’t do anything to kill the mood I was in. Ever since Gina showed up, I ran through all sorts of scenarios in my head. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Mason was just like all the other guys I’d met.

  The only good thing about it was that we were less than ten days away from leaving for California. I couldn’t wait to get to school and have a fresh start. I was so over this town and the drama.

  I hurried home to change out of my work clothes and into something more appropriate. I traded the khaki pants for a pair of jean shorts and my polo shirt for a blue tank top. As soon as I was dressed, I put on my flip-flops.

  Elena was expecting me at three-thirty and I didn’t want to deal with her wrath if I was late. Mom wasn’t home, so I could avoid her at least for now. Locking up the door behind me and settling inside Polly, I started the engine and took a calming breath. I needed to get a grip on my emotions. Right now, I was an open book.

  What was going to be an exciting conversation with Elena was now turning into a dreaded one. How was I going to tell her that I found the perfect guy only to find out he was an illusion the next day. All I could do was keep my distance from Mason until we left for school the following weekend, regardless of whether it was true or not.

  As usual, the drive was too short and I reluctantly shut off the car. I was not looking forward to my night with Elena anymore. Maybe she would understand.

  I leaned in to knock on the front door and it was flung open at the same time. Caught off balance, my body fell forward and I accidentally tackled Elena. We landed with a thud in a tangle of arms and legs.

  “It’s good to see you too, Lexi May,” she joked.

  “I’m sorry, you just caught me at a bad time,” I replied back, laughing.

  We disentangled ourselves and I helped Elena up. Once we straightened ourselves out, I followed her into her bedroom. She had already begun packing. Seeing all the boxes made everything set in. It was real; we were going to California soon.

  My mind began to wander as nostalgia set in. It didn’t feel like that long ago when we had our first sleepover. It was freshmen year and we scared ourselves playing with an Ouija board and playing bloody Mary in the bathroom. That was one night I don’t think either of us slept.

  Elena brought me back to the here and now, touching my shoulder. “Hey, where did you go just now? I swear you looked like an actress on The Walking Dead.”

  I cracked a smile, but answered her honestly. “I can’t believe we are moving. There are a lot of memories here. It’s going to be a big change, that’s all. Seeing you packing just made it sink in.”

  “Yeah, it’s going to be different, but we’ll make new memories. There will be a whole lot to look forward to. YOU need to get to packing. We leave in a little over a week and you haven’t even started, have you?”

  “Cut me some slack, I’ve been busy. I promise to start packing tomorrow. Is that okay with you?” I asked sarcastically.

  Slipping off our shoes, we sat on her bed and I shimmied into my spot, getting comfortable. She eyed me wearily, probably waiting for me to spill about last night. I wasn’t looking forward to rehashing everything, especially with Gina in the picture.

  Elena grew serious and approached the topic I was avoiding. “What’s going on, Lexi May? You look like someone stole your favorite toy. Does this have to do with your date yesterday?”

  Just the mention of my date caused me to burst into tears. The anger had simmered to sadness. My perfect date was marred by a girl I never wanted to exist, his girlfriend. I was breaking over a guy I hardly knew but was perfect in my mind nonetheless.

  Once the tears started flowing, I couldn’t get them to stop and all I could do was mumble through my sobbing. I hoped I didn’t look as pitiful as I felt. I felt absolutely wrecked.

  “I’m sorry, sweetie, but you’re going to have to calm down. All I got out of that was Mason and kiss. What happened? I’ll kill him if he hurt you.”

  My continual sobs stunted any more conversation, but she embraced me until I was able to eventually calm down. Wiping away the last of my tears, I took a deep breath and prepared to broach the topic I was painfully dealing with.

  “I was so wrong, Elena. He’s just like every other sleazy guy. I’m mad at myself for falling for it. I should have just stayed away from guys all together like I had planned. Now I feel like someone sucked the air out of me and my heart is throbbing.”

  “Hold up, what did he do?”

  “He has a girlfriend. This whole time, he was just trying to seduce me for fun. I’m no better than Christy!”

  Elena’s features scrunched up as she absorbed the situation. “There’s no way he has a girlfriend. Tate would have told me. I don’t know what happened but you aren’t anything like Christy, for starters. Jameson is a jackass and he didn’t deserve you anyways. Mason wouldn’t do that, he’s a decent guy.”

  My anger flared at her defense of him. “I see, so you’re taking his side. It’s too bad you weren’t there to witness the same thing I did. She’s a blonde bombshell with a bad attitude. I unfortunately met her and she wasn’t happy about me ‘pursuing’ Mason,” I said with air quotes for emphasis.

  “If it’s true, I’ll make him wish he’d never met us. No one messes with you and gets away with it. I still think he deserves the chance to tell you whether it’s true or not.”

  Her protectiveness made me feel slightly better. I held back the tears and proceeded to tell her all about our date. By the time I was done, Elena was frowning.

  “What’s up?” I asked wearily.

  “So, funny thing happened.” She wouldn’t look me in the eyes and kept fiddling with the rings on her fingers. This couldn’t be a good sign.

  “You did something. Please tell me it’s not bad. I can’t handle bad.”

  When she finally did look up, she gave me puppy dog eyes and was silently pleading with me. I steeled myself for what would come next.

  “I sort of made plans this weekend for us. We’re going to Sanibel Island and staying in my parents’ friend’s beach house. I thought we could use one last weekend of fun before we left for school.”

  “Okay…” I drew out. I wasn’t getting the punch line. “It sounds like a great idea, especially with me wanting to get away from Mason for the remainder of our summer.”

  I finally took a deep breath, letting the stress out along with it. Leaning back on the bed’s headboard, I looked over at Elena, who still looked guilty as hell.

  “Spit it out already,” I encouraged.

  “I’ve been spending a lot of time with Tate lately. He’s really great. I wanted to spend some more time with him before we broke things off. I kind of, sort of, invited them to go with us.”

  My eyebrows shot up and my eyes searched hers. It had to be some sort of joke. “That’s a good one, Elena. Now, when are we leaving and getting away from my problems?”

  “That’s what I was trying to tell you. They are coming with us. It’s too late to cancel. They’ll be here at ten in the morning to pick us up.”

  She was serious. Holy crap, she was serious. “No, no, no, I don’t think so. I’ll just stay here. My mom probably wants me to spend time with her anyways.”

  “It’s too bad; I already got the okay from her. I wanted to make sure you wouldn’t have to lie to her about the guys and just I cleared you to go myself. You will be ready and we will be there to pick you up at ten sharp. Don’t be late.”

  I sighed in resignation. Elena always got her way. She would play dirty if she had to, but I wasn’t getting out of this excursion no matter what.

  “I’ll try to be civil, but no promises. I’m surprised he can go, you know, since he has a girlfriend and all.”

  “Seriously, calm down, Lexi May. Don’t sweat it quite yet. Talk to him and find out what’s going on. Maybe it’s not what you think.”

  “What, he’s not having sex with some hot, blonde, Barbie doll?” I snorted.
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  “I’m just saying that he deserves the chance to defend himself or at least come clean. You need that closure before we leave anyways or you’ll always wonder ‘what if?’”

  “Fine, but I’m bringing my Kindle so I can get some reading in. It will be a great way to avoid him.”

  Elena sighed. “If that’s what it takes to get you to come then so be it. Now let’s order some pizza and watch the new movie with all those hot guys in it. It’s on Pay-Per-View.”

  Tired after my emotional tirade, I untucked the covers, pulled them back, and crawled into the soft cocoon. I was quiet as Elena ordered our favorite pizza and got the movie going. My mind was a million miles away but it snapped back to reality when I felt Elena crawl into her side of the bed, ready to spend the evening relaxing.

  Looking around at the boxes, I still hadn’t let it sink in that we were leaving. I wouldn’t admit to anyone how much I was going to miss my mom. She had been my anchor for so long, it would be weird to have to rely on myself for once. I could take care of myself, but knowing she was there for me was different.

  It was just me and Elena from here on out. I would have to have faith in her and I planned to start this weekend. She wouldn’t put me in a bad situation. There had to be some sort of explanation for Mason’s actions. Otherwise, how could he kiss me like he did? It was bliss, and saddened me at the loss of something I barely got to have a glimpse of.

  My mind wandered through most of the movie, but I did occasionally snap to attention when the guys had less clothing on than normal. By the time I was full of pizza and the movie ended, it was time to go home and pack.

  Ugh, I wasn’t looking forward to this trip.

  I didn’t want to think about things on the way home. I turned the volume up on The Pretty Reckless to drown out my thoughts. The music was the perfect match to my mood, dark and brooding.

  In the short drive home, I managed to obliterate all thoughts and felt mildly better. It wasn’t until I opened the front door and saw Mom sitting there that I struggled to maintain composure. The only problem was that I wasn’t ready to let her know just how much of a fool Mason had made me out to be.

  I forced a smile and took off my shoes as my feet padded into the kitchen for something to drink. “I’m getting a glass of tea; do you want anything, Mom?”

  “No thanks, honey. How was your day?”

  I winced at her inquiry. Hopefully she would buy the lie since she couldn’t read my face from here. “It was just a normal day. I went to work and then spent time watching a movie with Elena.”

  Opening the refrigerator was a terrible idea. Apparently the bottle of red wine on top was a little too close to the edge. When I opened the door gravity happened, and the bottle fell. It hit my foot with such force, I yelped. Then the moment it hit the hard floor, glass shattered everywhere.

  I watched helplessly as the wine bottle exploded and rouge liquid escaped its confines. It splashed up onto my clothes, staining them. The kitchen and I were a complete and utter mess.

  Once the shock started to wear off, I realized that the wine was mixing with blood. My feet and ankles were cut from the shards of glass. I was too busy concentrating on the pain of the bottle smashing into my foot to realize that I was cut.

  “Mom, I need help, stat!”

  Quickly, she entered the kitchen to see what was so urgent. When she saw the situation, her eyes widened and she stood there, frozen.

  “Mom, stop standing there and help me! I can’t move until the glass is cleaned up. I don’t want to risk getting cut any worse than I already am.”

  “I’m sorry, baby. Let me get it cleaned up so I can take a look at your foot.”

  I watched for several minutes while she cleaned up the mess settled around my feet. The liquid was seeping through my toes and I couldn’t tell if it was from the alcohol or the blood. All I could think was how gross it was as I stood there, waiting. Only I could manage to achieve such a ridiculous feat.

  Once the mess was cleaned up enough to get me through, I carefully limped my way to the bathroom, trying not to put any pressure on my injured foot.

  Mom situated me on the toilet seat and lifted my leg up onto the tub so she could take a better look. After assessing the damage, she sighed and looked up at me.

  “You got lucky, Lexi. Your foot has quite a few cuts on it and will not look very pretty for little while. The good news is that you won’t need stitches and nothing seems broken.”

  “It’s a good thing you’re a nurse. I hate hospitals and really didn’t fancy a visit there tonight.”

  “I recommend we wrap your foot up for a few days to keep it from becoming infected. Don’t put a lot of pressure on it either because it’s going to be very sore for a while.”

  At first I frowned at the implications. I couldn’t do much on the beach all wrapped up like that. Then realization hit me and my frown turned upside down. I could get out of going. This was the perfect opportunity to bail on the weekend at the beach.

  Playing on my mom’s sympathy, I broached the subject. “This is such a shame. It means I won’t be able to make it to the beach this weekend.”

  “As much as I would like you to spend your last weekend home with me, you can’t. Elena would never forgive you if you let her go by herself. Just go and take it easy. It’s not the end of the world. You can still get around town and do other activities besides the beach, Lexi.”

  Well, so much for that idea. At least this might get me out of spending any time on the beach with Mason. It was going to be hard enough to face him as it was after learning about Gina. I didn’t want to be put in any position that could be remotely romantic with him.

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re right as always. Now fix me up so I can go pack before I settle down for the night,” I teased.

  She nodded and methodically went about wrapping my foot and cleaning my cuts with antibacterial cleansers. Once she was done, Mom gently put my foot down on the floor and helped me stand up. I was a little shaky on my feet, but soon got my footing.

  “Thanks for taking care of me. I love you, Mom,” I replied, feeling sentimental at the moment.

  It was the right thing to say, because she beamed before telling me she loved me too.

  I LIMPED DOWN the hall, careful to keep the brunt of the weight off my injured foot. Just as I shut the door, I remembered leaving my bag in the living room. It took me a pretty please and a holler to Mom before I had it in my hands again.

  My phone was going off, so I knew someone wanted to talk to me. With a deep breath I prepared myself for a message from Mason. I wanted to cut all ties and just avoid him, but now that I had to spend the weekend with him, I couldn’t really do that. It was too fresh of a wound to confront him just yet.

  It was just as I suspected, there were several texts from him. Before I could change my mind, I ignored them and went down to a text from a number I didn’t recognize.

  We need to talk- Christy

  This was just what I needed tonight on top of everything else. I didn’t want to deal with her or Mason. It was bad enough that I met Gina today.

  No, I don’t think we do.

  I’m not giving you a choice. I’ll be there in five.

  This couldn’t be happening. What the heck did she want with me? I had no desire to talk to her after the images had been seared into my retinas from graduation day. I was about to go tell my mom to get rid of her, but it was too late.

  “Honey, a friend of yours is here. I’m sending her on back.”

  Her voice was sickly sweet as she conversed with my mom. It made me want to puke. This was going to be a talk I would rather avoid. I still held animosity toward her even if I no longer wanted Jameson. He or she wasn’t worth my time.

  Then, in the blink of an eye, Christy was standing in my doorway. I didn’t want my mom to overhear our conversation, so I ushered her in and shut the door.

  I turned to her, hand on my hip, waiting for her to say something.

  S
he got right to the point. “I think you know why I’m here, Lexi.”

  Confused, my brows furrowed. “I’m not sure what the hell is going on, but I have no clue why you’re here. I don’t want anything to do with you after what happened.”

  “Stay away from Jameson; he’s mine.”

  Geez, this was the second conversation that I’ve had today like this. What was up with these women and their insecurity? Was she completely mental now? Was this what Jameson had reduced her to?

  “I have absolutely no interest in that scumbag ever again. Trust me when I say he’s all yours. You two are perfect for each other.”

  “Don’t play coy with me. You have been with Jameson and I don’t want you taking him away from me. It would be insulting and I happen to love him.”

  I snorted derisively. “You actually have a heart? That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all day. Also, stop calling me. I’m tired of getting your stupid mouth breathing on the phone. It’s annoying.”

  She glared at me, but didn’t deny it. At least that was one mystery solved. All I had to do now was get rid of her. “I DON’T want Jameson. I’ve made myself clear, so get the hell out of my house.”

  It was easy to open the door and drag her through my living room, even limping from my injured foot. I then deposited her on my front porch and slammed the door behind her. I had lost my patience with her, with the day, and with being pushed around by snotty women.

  Wisely, my mom didn’t question the outburst and I stalked back to my room to pack.

  The morning started out normal enough, even if I was dreading the trip. I was actually looking forward to the beach, just not the company. No matter how many times my situation filtered through my mind, I couldn’t seem to come to terms with it.

  With a sigh, I shut my phone alarm off and resolved to get a nice hot shower. I slept okay last night, but not awesome. Maybe the shower would refresh me so I could be prepared to face what would come today.

  What I hadn’t counted on was the jolt of white-hot pain that shot through my foot as I pressed it on the ground. Somewhere in my sleep-hazed mind, I had forgotten all about last night’s mishap. With a growl of frustration, I readjusted my weight and hopped to the bathroom.