She nodded and then looked at me. “Later you are going to fill me in.” I just nodded my head knowing that as soon as she went to bed, I was getting the fuck out of there. I stayed in Julia’s room, knowing that Dylan would give me the night to calm down before coming to find me. At 3:00 a.m., Julia and I snuck out of the room to the waiting car that got me to the airport for the 6:00 a.m. flight out to Las Vegas and then to Dallas. I’ve been flying for the past ten hours, and I can’t wait to get home.
The buzz of the carousel makes me look around as it starts moving and the bags start to come out. I look around and see that I’m not the only one with sunglasses but I just did come off the flight from Vegas, so ... My bags come out one after another, and when I walk out, the humid air hits me right away as I grab a cab. Only when I walk into my house do I take the phone out of my pocket and send Julia a text.
Me: I’m home.
The phone rings right away, and I know that she was probably on pins and needles all day. “Hello.” I wheel my bags to the staircase, and I think about carrying them upstairs, but I know I don’t have the energy for any of that. Instead, I walk to the kitchen and grab a water bottle.
“Jesus,” Julia says. “That was the longest day of my life.”
“How is everything?” I ask, but what I’m really asking is how is Dylan. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is his shocked face as I poured out my whole heart to him. I was so selfish to do that to him, and for the rest of my life, I have to live with it. He was probably disgusted with the thought of me being in love with him. I swallow down the lump that forms again and take a sip of the cool water as my lower lip trembles.
“Well, shit hit the fan this morning when Dylan found out you left,” she shares, whispering and then I hear a door close. “Alex, I think you should hear him out.”
“Fuck no,” I say, walking up the stairs. The whole house feels stale from being closed up. “What did you tell my parents?”
“I told them you got an emergency call about the arena and had to rush back and take care of it or the camp wouldn’t be able to start.” I nod my head at the excuse that we came up with as we sat in her bed waiting for the time for me to leave. “Wilson knows I’m bullshitting and came to privately tell me that I was bullshitting and that we were going to have words. He said that if there was an emergency, he would have been called.” I close my eyes and press the bridge of my nose. “Then he just wanted to know you were okay.”
“I’m so sorry.” My voice is almost in a whisper, feeling horrible that she had to clean up my mess. “I’ll call him tomorrow. I’m going to shower and slide into bed.”
“We leave tomorrow,” she says, and I know that, eventually, I’ll have to face Dylan. I’m just hoping that it’s in a long time from now, like at Christmas or even next year.
“Do you know where he’s going?” I ask, holding my breath.
“He’s flying back to Dallas,” Julia says. “My guess is he’ll stay with his parents since they are there for another week.”
“Okay,” I say softly. “Thank you, Julia. I owe you.”
“You bet your ass you owe me,” she confirms. “And trust me, I collect my shit.”
I laugh and hang up the phone. It rings again in my hand, and I look down to see it’s Dylan. I send it to voice mail. The phone is lighting up in my hand as I look down, seeing that I have over ninety-nine-plus text messages. I power down the phone, putting it on the side table and walking to my bathroom. I don’t bother turning on the lights as I undress and let the hot water cascade all around me. Every time I close my eyes, all I can picture is Dylan and the shock on his face. The way he just looked at me, the pain is almost too much to bear. When I get out of the shower, I slide into bed and am thankful that sleep comes before I have a chance to think about it.
The next day when my eyes open, they feel over a hundred pounds. My body feels like it’s been run over by a Mack truck. I slide out of bed and head to the bathroom, where I get ready and try to put on makeup to make my eyes look normal. I slide on my tight blue jeans and grab my white sleeveless shirt with ruffles down the side of it. I opt for suede wedges instead of heels, knowing I’m probably going to be running around all day long.