Apprehension

by K. D Clark

  She laughed. “Really?”

  Alyssa shoved the pajamas into her arms and shooed her away. “Go get changed.”

  “Yea we’ll get everything ready,” Wendy said.

  Sabrina looked around her living room. There was a large couch and a love seat, enough space for them all to sleep. She had already pulled up Netflix on the flat screen..

  “Get what ready?” she asked.

  Wendy rolled her eyes. “Just go change.”

  She went up to her room to put on the PJs, and when she came back out the living room had been completely transformed. Snacks lined the coffee table, including candy, ice cream, chips, and everything else they could possible want. The big L-shaped couch was now piled with blankets and pillows. The blinds had been opened enough so the moonlight shined in. Alyssa sat cross-legged on the couch with the remote in her hand flipping through Netflix movies.

  “What do you guys think, scary or funny?” she asked.

  “Let’s start with scary and then we can watch funny afterwards to forget about the scary one,” Sabrina suggested, sitting on the couch next to Wendy. She wasn’t a big fan of scary movies but with Wendy and Alyssa next to her she figured she would be fine.

  Alyssa snapped her finger. “Good idea!”

  The scary movie didn’t scare Sabrina at all. And from the amount of complaining Wendy was doing she didn’t think it was scaring her much either.

  “This is so cliché, the blonde going down to the creepy basement where everyone was just murdered.” Wendy shook her head and dumped a handful of Sour Patch Kids into her mouth.

  “Well she didn’t know everyone was murdered down there,” Alyssa pointed out.

  “Doesn’t matter, if all your friends disappear, don’t go looking in the scariest part of the house for them. Just leave.”

  The movie ended and as the credits rolled no one made a move to turn it off—they were all squished on the couch together piled high with blankets and candy.

  “Well that was terrible,” Alyssa mumbled.

  Wendy’s phone vibrated and her cheeks turned red as she looked at the message.

  “Ooooo who is that?” Sabrina asked

  Wendy looked up from her phone with a small grin on her face. “Chad.”

  Alyssa whistled.

  “Are you two together?” Sabrina asked. She had been wondering since the party last week, and what better time to bring it up than at a sleepover.

  Wendy fired off a quick message then put her phone down. “Not really. We’ve hooked up…a lot and I like Chad but nothing’s official. I don’t know if he still messes around with other girls and I don’t want to know. At the end of the day he’s going out of state for school and I’m staying here for community college. No point in getting too attached.”

  “You don’t think you guys could do the long-distance thing?” she asked

  Wendy shook her head. “I don’t even know if Chad is really even into me like that to talk about long distance and plus he’s going to be surrounded by beautiful girls at college.”

  “Stop it,” Alyssa said. “You’re way prettier than any of the whores he’s going to be seeing at college.”

  Wendy laughed and reached to the coffee table to grab a Twizzler.

  “Maybe. What about you Sabrina? What’s going on with you and Jayce?” she asked, obviously trying to shift the attention away from her and Chad.

  “Uh, what do you mean?”

  Wendy and Alyssa shared a look.

  “What? Do you two know something I don’t?”

  Alyssa cleared her throat and shifted on the couch so she was sitting cross-legged.

  “No, but I mean come on, he drives you to and from school every day. Everyone knows he asked his buddies to look after you. And it just so happens the week that you start school he tells Alison to beat it.”

  Sabrina shrugged. “He’s just looking out for me. We were good friends as kids—he’s doing the right thing.”

  “Do you like him?” Wendy asked.

  It didn’t take long for Sabrina to know her answer. She couldn’t deny that Jayce was extremely attractive—his toned body, chiseled jaw and brown eyes would make any girl’s heart melt. And he had a big heart although she doubted many people got to see that side of him.

  “Yea I guess I do. But it doesn’t matter, he doesn’t like me like that and there is no point in getting attached when he might go off to college or move across state next year like Chad.”

  Alyssa scuffed. “Jayce is not going off to college.”

  Wendy shot her a glare.

  Sabrina looked back and forth between the two of them. “Am I missing something?”

  Neither of them said a word.

  “Ok, really come on, guys. What?”

  “Haven’t you noticed Jayce is a little…tied up in some stuff?” Wendy asked.

  Sabrina wrapped the covers closer around her body. “Like what?”

  Alyssa cleared her throat. “I’m sure Jayce will tell you when he wants to but there’s some rumors that have been going around about Jayce for a while. He’s…caught up in some bad stuff.”

  “Caught up in what?” He smoked and looked like the typical bad boy, but it was Jayce. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.

  “Let him tell you. It’s just rumors anyways,” Alyssa said, trying to wave it off. “Let’s start the next movie.” She jumped up from the couch and grabbed the remote.

  The topic of Jayce didn’t come up again but it didn’t leave Sabrina’s mind. She was more curious than ever to find out what was going on. They ended up watching a movie that was actually pretty funny before falling asleep on the couch in a sugar coma. She woke up to the sudden increase in sunlight shining through the open front door as her mom walked in dressed in scrubs.

  “Whoa, now this is a sleepover,” her mom whispered stepping over the blankets and pillows that had been kicked off the couch in the middle of the night and making her way to the bathroom to shower and change.

  Sabrina rubbed a hand over her face and checked her phone. It was 7 am and Wendy and Allyssa were snoring on either side of her. She nudged Wendy with her toe.

  “Hmmmm.” Wendy mumbled eyes still closed.

  “Don’t you have work?” she asked. Wendy worked more than any of the other waitresses at the diner.

  “Oh shit.” She sat straight up and started searching around the couch for her phone, in turn waking up Alyssa. She found it under a pillow and checked the time and put a hand over her chest.

  “Oh thank God. I thought I was late. Alyssa, wake up.”

  Alyssa flipped her the bird, already awake and annoyed.

  Wendy and Alyssa gathered up their stuff before leaving so Wendy could go home and get ready for work. Sabrina started cleaning the living room up, throwing away candy wrappers and folding up the blankets. She was almost done when her mom came out of the bathroom dressed in pajama pants and a T-shirt.

  “Oh I missed them. I wanted to meet your new friends.”

  Sabrina smiled. “I’m sure you will get the chance to another time.”

  She had a feeling there would be more sleepovers to come.

  “What are your plans for today?” her mom asked, making her way into the kitchen and opening the fridge to find some food.

  Sabrina shoved the blanket in the nearby closet and closed the door. She followed after her mom into the kitchen. “I don’t know. I’m off work today,” she said. She was still tired from the night before and planned to finish sleeping in her bed.

  “Well, just let me know if you’re going anywhere. I’m going to bed after I eat.”

  “I will. I’m going to go back to sleep for now.”

  “Alright, night.”

  “Goodnight,” she said, making her way back up to her bedroom.

  As soon as her head hit the pillow she fell asleep instantly.

  *****

  When Sabrina woke up, the sun was going down. She couldn’t believe she’d slept for so long. She stretched and checked her
phone. No text or calls from Wendy or Alyssa, and her mom would have already left for work. She threw on some yoga pants and an oversized sweater and walked downstairs. Her stomach was growling, probably from the lack of actual food she’d eaten in the last 24 hours. She decided to make a grilled cheese and sit in the living room.

  She found a note on the coffee table from her mom letting Sabrina know she had left for work already. She was excited to have a quiet night at home and give herself a chance to recharge. If only she had woken up earlier to go to the bookstore. It was six o’clock and she spend the next hour catching up on one of her TV shows. After it had finished she decided to be productive and clean her bedroom. It was a mess of clothes that laid on the floor, textbooks and homework scattered on her desk. One by one, she started picking up the clothes—most of it was outfits she’d worn to the diner and had been too tired after work to do anything but strip them off and throw them onto the floor. The rest of the night consisted of her finishing laundry and hanging around in sweatpants. She pulled out a book from her bookshelf that she had already read a half-dozen times and curled up on the couch to read. Time seemed to fly by and when she looked at the clock she realized it was almost 2am. She got up from the couch and stretched, getting ready to go upstairs and call it a night when she heard a light knock on the front door. It was so quiet that if she hadn’t been in the living room she would have missed it. She peeked out of the peep hole but couldn’t see anything but darkness. She flipped on the porch light and looked again, seeing Jayce standing a few inches from the door. She flipped the light back off, opened the door, and stepped onto the porch, closing the door behind her.

  “Hey, what are you doing here?” she asked.

  He was dressed in jeans, a plain white T-shirt and his signature leather jacket. She could barely make out his face in the dark but she could see just enough to notice his eyes were slightly red.

  “Are you drunk?” she asked.

  He smiled. “Drunk? No. Buzzed? Yes.”

  She laughed. “So why’d you come here? It looks like you were having a good time.”

  “I worry about you,” he said.

  She raised an eyebrow. “You worry about me?”

  Sabrina thought about what Wendy and Alyssa had said the night before. Maybe Sabrina should be the one worrying about Jayce.

  “Why would you worry about me?” She wrapped her arms around her waist. She should have grabbed a jacket before she stepped outside. Jayce noticed and slipped his leather jacket off and handed it to her.

  “Girls are mean at that school.” He was grabbing at straws and she could tell.

  She slipped the jacket on—it was heavier than she’d thought.

  “They aren’t that bad. Especially since I told them we’re not together.”

  He nodded and took a step closer to her, crowding her space. He smelled woodsy and slightly like beer.

  “You don’t want to be together?” he asked.

  The question caught her off guard. She wasn’t expecting him to ask her that. The thought in the back of her head was that Alyssa and Wendy were right. But would she want to be with Jayce? There was so many secrets surrounding him.

  “I…uh…”

  He smiled. “I should get going. I’ll see you Monday.”

  With those words, he made his way down the porch steps and into his dad’s house. She was confused by the whole conversation. Why couldn’t he just come out and say it if he liked her? She wrapped his jacket around her and headed back inside.

  *****

  On Sunday she had an early shift at the diner. It was busy and Wendy wasn’t there to talk to. She came to realize she loved the Sunday crowd. It was mostly older couples that had lived in the neighborhood for years and families stopping in on their way home from church. After getting off work, she made the short walk to the bookstore she had been looking at online. It was on the same street as the diner in an identical looking building. There was a large bay window with a bench covered in books. The door chimed as she walked inside and a girl that looked a little bit older then Sabrina popped her head up from behind the counter.

  “Oh hi. Welcome to Turn The Page.” The girl smiled at Sabrina, and she smiled back.

  “Hi, I’m just looking.”

  The girl nodded. “Go ahead. Let me know if you need any help.”

  The floors of the bookstore were wooden and old. They creaked as she walked through the aisles. She loved the old book smell that filled her nose. It wasn’t like a Barnes and Nobles where everything was crisp and nice. This was truly a bookstore that she could tell someone had taken years to build. Most of the books were used and discounted, some were organized by category but others were just thrown askew. She had an instant feeling of warmness and decided this was somewhere she could spend hours in. She picked out a few fantasy novels and used her recently cashed paycheck to buy them at the register. The girl rang them up and started to bag everything.

  “Your total will be $28.50.”

  Sabrina handed the girl the money, and the girl handed her the bag of books. When she got home she finished up some homework and started one of her new books before passing out in bed.

  *****

  Monday was there before she knew it and she woke up in a panic. Sun was seeping through the curtains and it was too sunny outside for her to possibly be on time. She searched the bed for her phone and when she found it there was a text from Jayce.

  Are you coming?

  She sent a quick text back.

  Yes, can you wait for me? Woke up late.

  She didn’t wait for his response, instead rushed out of bed and into the bathroom. She took a quick shower, not bothering to wash her hair, instead just throwing it up in a bun. She came out of the bathroom and was looking around for something to wear when her phone beeped with a text from Jayce.

  Waiting outside.

  She breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t have to walk. After pulling on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, she slung her book bag over her shoulder and started to head for the door before she thought better of it and grabbed the closest jacket she saw. She made a mental note to buy a coat. She ran down the stairs and out of the door. Jayce was in his dad’s driveway leaning against the car.

  “I’m sorry, I must have overslept,” she gushed, rushing across her yard.

  Jayce smiled, a rare sight, showing his bright white teeth but didn’t say anything.

  “What?” she asked, looking around her to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.

  He shook his head. “Nothing. Come on let’s go.”

  She got into the Camaro, and Jayce took off towards the school. When they pulled into the parking lot, there wasn’t anyone outside like usual which meant the first class must have already started. She rushed from the parking lot to her first class, leaving Jayce behind since he didn’t seem to be in a hurry. Then, she opened the door to her class and tried to slowly sneak in. All eyes turned to her. She watched as one girl nudged another with her elbow and nodded in Sabrina’s direction. The teacher was too busy struggling with the projector to notice her. Sabrina walked to the last open seat in the back and sat down. Everyone's eyes turned to her. She assumed it was because she was late but as the day went on she kept catching people staring at her. It was just like the first week of school again. She was anticipating seeing Wendy at lunch so that she could find out what was going on and why everyone was staring at her. Wendy would know if there were any rumors about her floating around. Each class was the same. She kept catching people staring at her and she swore everyone was whispering about her but maybe she was just getting paranoid. When she got to lunch and sat down next to Wendy she didn’t waste any time trying to get information.

  “What is going on?” she demanded.

  Wendy took a second to finish chewing the forkful of salad she had just popped into her mouth. “What do you mean?”

  “Since I got here this morning people are staring at me everywhere I look.”

  W
endy raised an eyebrow and concentrated back on her food. “You really don’t know?”

  She threw her hands in the air. “Obviously!”

  Wendy sighed. She placed her fork down on her tray and crossed her arms on top of the table. “Sabrina, you’re wearing his jacket.”

  She looked down at the jacket she had grabbed this morning without even thinking. “What about it?” she asked.

  “What about what?” asked Alyssa as she set her tray down next to Sabrina’s. Alyssa’s hair was pulled up in a messy bun and her white T-shirt was covered in paint.

  Wendy pointed to Sabrina. “She doesn’t understand why people are staring at her today.”

  Alyssa smirked and sat down. “Well you are wearing Jayce’s jacket. Which means you guys had to be in a situation where he had to give you his jacket…”

  “But we’re not together, I told Alison that.”

  Wendy nodded. “We know that but for everyone else it looks a little suspicious.”

  She sighed. “I wish everyone would not make a big deal out of it. It was cold the other night. That’s all.”

  Wendy put her hand up. “Wait, wait, wait. The other night?”

  “Yea what happened the other night?” asked Alyssa.

  “Saturday night he came by after some party.”

  “And then he gave you his jacket?” Wendy asked

  Sabrina shrugged. “Yea I was in my PJs and it was cold. It was like 2am.”

  “Jayce comes by your house at 2am, while you were in your PJ’s and gave you his jacket, and you still don’t believe he is into you?” Alyssa asked.

  She waved her off. “Just forget about it. I’ll take it off when I go back by my locker.”

  “Might as well keep it on. Everyone has already seen it,” Wendy said.

  She sighed. She could only imagine the rumors that were swirling around.

  “Hey can you take my shift on Saturday morning?” Wendy asked.

  “Sure. You have plans?”

  “I’m taking the ACT. I don’t even understand why I need to. I’m going to community college anyways and they accept anybody. Have you taken it yet?” she asked.

  Sabrina shook her head.

  “Are you going to?”

  Sabrina didn’t have any plans to take the test. Why would she take a ACT test if she wasn’t even sure if she was going to college.