The Other Side of Tomorrow

“I do love ice cream. Give it here.”

Meredith hands the bag to me and I dig in as the two of them pile on the bed. I hand them each a plastic spoon that Meredith has in the bag so we can share.

“What happened?” Meredith asks.

Tears well in my eyes for the thousandth time but I dam them back so I can fill her in on everything that happened.

“Wow,” she says, sucking strawberry ice cream from the spoon.

“That’s tough. But I mean … he has a right to be angry, don’t you think?”

“Of course,” I scoff. “I’m not saying that me keeping it a secret was a good thing, but I think he could’ve tried to listen to where I was coming from. I’ve been dealing with this since I was fourteen and it hasn’t exactly been easy.”

“All I’m saying is Jasper’s a good guy. He needs to wrap his head around this. Give him time. I’m sure he’ll come groveling.”

I shake my head, lip quivering. “You didn’t see his face.”

“I’m sure he was shocked, Willa. Can you honestly blame the guy?”

“I don’t want to talk about this right now.”

“Oh, come on.” She rolls her eyes. “Stop feeling sorry for yourself. You have your life back and he lost his brother. I’m sure he feels super conflicted at the moment, so chill the fuck out. I can’t deal with you being a Negative Nancy.”

I glare at her. “Whose side are you on here?”

She huffs out a breath. “Neither of yours. I think you’re both idiots.”

“Well, gee thanks.”

I eat a spoonful of ice cream and not even it makes me feel better.

That’s got to be a first.

“I think we should put a movie on,” Harlow suggests.

“Good idea,” I mumble, thinking a distraction would be best before I smother my best friend with a pillow.

Harlow runs downstairs and comes up with a stack of movies.

“Which one?” she asks me.

“You pick. I don’t care.”

She purses her lips but doesn’t press me further.

She puts the movie on and the three of us move to the beanbags strewn about my room.

I put the ice cream away, knowing I’ll get sick if I eat any more.

Somehow the movie does seem to distract me. When it’s over, Harlow puts on another one. I feel better having them here, but I know soon my thoughts will go racing back to what a disaster yesterday was and that look of disbelief, sadness, and anger in Jasper’s eyes.

The next day I don’t feel much better than I did the day before. But I have to go to work, which means I have to see Jasper, and I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. I want to make him understand, but I also don’t know if I can handle the cold shoulder from him.

I head in the back and then through to the counter.

I stop when one of the baristas that normally works a later shift is there and Jasper is not.

“Where’s Jasper?” I blurt before I can stop myself.