Love Me Like You Do (Love Me Book 1)

by Jaime Russell

  “Oh.” It’s the only thing that I can say. We get to the house and see that Sarah is gone. Max unloads the truck and darts upstairs. He comes back down looking what I’d say is a little dressed up for beers with a guy friend, but I don’t have time to find out more as he kisses me on the head and leaves. I put the food away and ordered a pizza, before going upstairs to grab my computer. I figured that I have dailies to do on my game so I might as well get started now. I get so lost in the game that it’s almost one-thirty a.m. before I realize I’ve heard nothing from Cash, Sarah or Max. Feeling depressed, I shut down my computer and go to bed.

  The next morning, I wake up to my alarm and drag myself to the shower. I don’t know why, but I’m feeling so down about the things that are going on in my life. I can’t talk to Sarah because she isn’t around much lately. Max has a secret. I decide to call Rob to talk. He always seems to know how to make me feel better. I do know that I missed Cash. It’s been over twelve hours since we last spoke and that isn’t normal for us. Did I get my hopes up? Did he find out what I looked like? I shut off the shower and peer at myself in the mirror. My eyes are puffy and red. I wrap the towel around me and head to my room. The house feels empty without Max or Sarah around. I put on my black and pink sweat pants and a matching tank top and climb back into bed. I don’t want to deal with life right now. I play with my necklace as I think about what I need to do now. I need to get out of my head; I’m probably over thinking all of this. I close my eyes, and asleep again. When I wake up, I send a quick text to Rob about getting some dinner. I open my door and head downstairs to make me something to eat. As I’m heating up my pizza from last night, the front door opens. I don’t want to deal with my roommates right now; settling myself on the couch, I ignore Sarah, who’s staring at me from the living room doorway.

  “You walked right past me,” Sarah says with her hands on her hips.

  “I have plans, and need to change for them.” I tell her as I attempt to go upstairs, I’ve lost my appetite.

  “Plans with who? I thought that we could go over our trip.”

  “Oh is it Friday night? Oh no, it’s Saturday. I don’t have to tell you who I have plans with or what I’m doing.” I lash out at her.

  “Why are you such a bitch?”

  “Sarah, you made it a point to make sure that I didn’t have any plans last night so we could go over the trip. I sat here all fucking night waiting for you and Max to come home. I finally called it a night at one-thirty a.m. I’m entitled to be a bitch because I’m tired of being the one to stay home, and the only one who rearranges her plans, only to be stood up. Since you asked me, who were you with last night?” I put my hands on my hips.

  “Like you, I don’t need to tell you. I don’t know what’s going on with you, but this is not the Abby that I know and love.”

  “The Abby you know, and love is getting tired of being walked over and expected to always to do as I’m told. You were the one who set up the meeting last night for the five of us.”

  Sarah looks away with a guilty look on her face. “You guys met up last night.”

  “I don’t know what,” Sarah stammers.

  “Do me a favor and leave me alone.”

  “I don’t understand why you’re mad,” Sarah says, flabbergasted.

  “Oh, my God!” I yell, throwing my hands up in the air. “You don’t understand. Who all is going on this trip? You, Max, Aaron, Rob and ME! I wasn’t even included in the dinner to go over the damn trip. I’m sorry that I’m the goddamn fucking fifth wheel. I will just stay home so you four don’t have to worry about making sure the fat, single girl is okay.”

  “What is going on in here? We can hear you clear outside.” Rob asks as he comes in with Max.

  “Abby knows that the four of us had dinner without her to discuss the trip,” Sarah explains looking at the guys.

  “You,” I say as I point to Rob. “I cried and poured my heart out to you about sitting at home last night and not one word from you that you were out with them discussing the trip.”

  “I’m sorry, I should have said something, but you were so heartbroken that I didn’t want to add to it.”

  “If you want me to go on this trip, get me my room. I don’t want to be the third wheel in any of this. Oh and Rob, I’m not feeling up to going to dinner now, so why don’t you four go out again.”

  I turn and flee up the stairs crying. I can hear Max running after me, so I hurry to my room to lock it before he catches up to me.

  “Abby, come out or let me in,” Max pleads.

  “No! Just leave me alone.”

  “You are twenty -five years old, stop acting like a baby.”

  I whip open the door. “I’m not acting like a baby. I’m acting like someone who has been hurt by the people who mean the most to me. I was lied to, cut out, and left alone all fucking night. Can you answer why I was left out?”

  “I can’t honestly say why and I’m sorry that you were left out.”

  “The minute you knew that you were planning or discussing the trip, I should have gotten a call or text to be a part of it.”

  “We messed up, how do I fix it?” Max asks, begging for forgiveness with his eyes.

  “Just give me some time without you guys. I need to be by myself.” I whisper in between the sobs.

  “I don’t like it.”

  “I don’t care right now. You’re my brother,” I make sure to pronounce my, so he gets the point about how he hurt me the most. “And you excluded me,” I say in a quiet voice, “You promised that you would always have my back, and you didn’t.”

  Max puts his head down and mumbled something about leaving me alone. He stood at his bedroom door which is right next to my room. He is staring at me, “I love you, squirt. We screwed up but don’t hold it against us for too long.” He goes into his room and slams the door. I flopped down on my bed and let the tears overtake me.

  CASH

  “Whoever is banging on my door is fired,” I bark as I open the door to my office.

  “You look like hell. Why didn’t you wait for me to bring you here?” Shawn is standing there with a coffee in his hand for me. I take it gratefully.

  “Nic was pretty pissed with me, and I didn’t want to make it worse.” I wince as I sit down in my chair.

  “You forgot these at the police station, and I figured that you could use them.” He throws the pain medication that I got at the ER at me, and I curse loudly when I move to catch it. “Oh shit, man! It would have landed in your lap.” He flops down on the couch. “Nic is pretty pissed at Jason but disappointed in you.”

  “I’m disappointed in myself. Do you know how much my share is?” I take my pain medication and pray that it kicks in soon.

  “No I don’t know, but I can text her to find out.”

  “Thanks, man but I’ll probably give her twenty thousand for the damage and what not. I feel terrible.”

  “You need to get yourself in check and not let alcohol be the answer.”

  “I’m not an alcoholic. I went to the bottle, and I shouldn’t have done it. I haven’t even listened to my voicemails from Abby, Sally, or Jenny. I just can’t deal with it.”

  “Heads up, Jenny is on the warpath.”

  “I don’t want to deal with either one of them right now. I need to go shower and get ready for my work day. Keep the coffee on, I’m going to need it.” I always keep some clothes here for nights that I have to stay late at the hotel, and I need to change and freshen up. My body aches as a constant reminder of yesterday. I stare at myself in the mirror, and groan at the sight of the bruising and swollen shut left eye. I have a meeting this morning, and my appearance would not impress them. I quickly shower and head back to my office.

  “It’s nice to see you’re alive.” Jenny is sitting at my desk waiting for me. She’s staring at the pain pills that are laying on my desk. “Rough night?” She gasps as I step closer, and she notices my bruised face.

  “Could you please leave my off
ice?” I growl at her as I keep my eyes on my desk.

  “I don’t think so. I was worried about you until Shawn told me what happened.”

  “I had a bad night. I needed to blow off some steam and ended up in a bar fight. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to prepare for the meeting.”

  “You were in a car accident last night. That’s what you’ll tell them because your face looks like shit.” I say nothing in response even though I’m grateful for her suggestion. “After the meeting, I’m heading home.” Jenny gets up and leaves without another word. I pick up my phone to listen to the voicemails. Sally and Jenny’s are the same. “Come back to the restaurant. I’m sorry. Let’s talk about this.” Abby’s voicemails are sad and distant. I delete the messages and check the time, I don’t know what she has planned for today; I’m trying to remember what she’d said that she was doing.

  Thankfully, the meeting is rescheduled, allowing me to leave the office. I print all the documents I need to work at home and make a list of things that Jenny needs to do. I make my way into the kitchen to talk to Shawn and find Sally standing there.

  “I heard about your bar fight.”

  I shrug.

  “Cash, are you going to treat me like this? I’m only looking out for you.”

  “No, you were looking out for my bank account and then on top of that you insult me and my intelligence. I’m going home to relax and recover. I’ll do some work and then game the rest of the weekend. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “Grow up, Cash.” Sally leaves the kitchen in a huff, and I see Shawn out of the corner of my eye as he shakes his head at me.

  “You really should get that attitude in check, dude. It’s like you’re a different person.”

  “Can you do me a favor? I can’t drive yet, but my car is still at the bar. Do you think that you could drive it back to my place?”

  “Yeah I can do that for you. I just need the keys.” I toss them to him and beeline for the front of the building where my taxi is waiting for me.

  Once home, I fire up the computer in my office. I call Abby, but it goes straight to voicemail. I decide to send her a text message and just hope that she answers me back soon. I feel bad for ignoring her last night, but I don’t want her to see that side of me. If I’d told her what my sister said, she probably would have stopped talking to me.

  It isn’t long before the pills make me sleepy and I need to take a break for a nap. Sleep finds me quickly, and I have no idea what time it is when I awake, but I notice it’s dark outside. Getting out of bed is difficult, but when I finally manage it, I drag myself into the kitchen to get something to drink.

  “Well look who decided to join the living.” I jump and grimace in pain. “Sally, go home.” I look at the clock and am shocked to see it’s almost ten at night.

  “I wanted to apologize for what I said last night.”

  “Apology accepted. Let me live my life. I love you, big sis, but I need to make my mistakes, and learn from them.”

  “I agree, but I guess I just want to protect you, so you don’t get your heart broken. How about I take you out to a late dinner?”

  “I would like that, but no.” I dismiss her and step into my office. My phone is flashing indicating I have a message waiting.

  “Oh, good I got your voicemail. Hey, Cash, it’s Abby. I’m taking some from the game and all other electronics. It’s been a rough day, and I want to let you know that you won’t be able to reach me. So yeah, bye.”

  “Everything okay?” Sally asks from the doorway of my office.

  “I don’t think so. Abby just left me a voice mail. She won’t be online and pretty much told me that I can’t talk to her. She sounds so sad. I’m going to worry all weekend.”

  “Is this something she regularly does ?”

  “No it isn’t so something must have happened. She’ll tell me when she’s ready for me to know.” I see the look of concern in her eyes, so I agree to do dinner. “Let’s eat.” I hope that she’s trying to make amends for the fight in the pizza place.

  We decide to eat at Denny’s since it’s the one of the few places open at ten p.m. in my neighborhood. While reviewing the menu, I keep checking the phone; willing it to ring, I need to hear Abby’s voice and know that she’s okay.

  “You’re worried aren’t you?”

  I look up from my menu. “Yeah I am. In a year and a half, this is the first time we’ve gone more than three hours without talking.”

  “I think you should try to call her now.”

  She doesn’t have to tell me twice. I grab my phone and dial her number. It rings three times before she picks up. “Hello?” She sounds like I woke her up.

  “I was worried and wanted to check on you.”

  “Cash?”

  I smile at her saying my name. “That’s my name. Are you okay?”

  “Where were you last night? I called you.” Her voice is small, sad.

  “I’m sorry about that. I was in jail. I got into a bar fight. I had a bad day, got drunk, and made a mistake. I tried to take out a former Navy Seal.”

  “Jail? When you have a bad day, you usually call me.”

  “I know but last night was just too much, and I needed to get drunk. Why is my Abby girl so sad?”

  “Where are you? I hear people talking.”

  “Oh, I’m out with my sister. We had an argument last night, which is how I ended up so drunk. She’s buying me dinner to make up for it.”

  “Tell Sally I say hello. Can you call me later? I don’t want to talk about it while you’re out with your sister.”

  “Abby says hello.” I hold my hand over the phone as I relay her greeting to Sally. “I’ll call you when I get home.”

  “I’m glad that you didn’t listen to me when I told that I was taking the time away from the world.” Abby remarks and hangs up the phone before I can say anything back to her. I let out a sigh of relief.

  “Is she okay?” Sally asks me as she puts her menu down.

  “I don’t think so, but I’m going to call her when I get home.” I sigh in relief, happy I heard her voice.

  “I’m sorry for what I said, just hearing your side of the conversation and your reaction to what she was saying, I see now that you do like her.”

  “I do, and I’m hoping after the first of the year, I can do something about it.” Sally’s eyes show me that she has more to say on this subject, but she keeps her mouth shut. We share a nice meal and reconnect. She drops me off after we finish and I’m happy to be home; it’s been quite a hectic few days. Shawn sends me a text that he wants me to get on the game as he’s ready to play. I fire up the computer and sit down to call Abby back.

  “Hey. How was dinner?”

  “It was good. It was nice to have her apologizing and begging me to forgive her.” I say with a laugh. “What has you so sad?”

  “I was feeling left out. Sarah, Max, Rob and Aaron all had dinner together last night. They were planning and discussing the trip we’re taking over Christmas break. I was under the assumption that after I had gone grocery shopping, we had plans to discuss the details, but they all bailed on me.”

  “Abby, that’s horrible. Are you still going to go?”

  “I’m deciding on that. Can we please talk about something else? Are you getting online to play?” she asks me as I hear the sound of papers shuffling.

  “Yes. Shawn is off tonight and has no plans, so he wants to play. I thought that I’d see if you wanted to play with us before I need to take my pills and crash.”

  “Ugh, my laptop is downstairs. Let me get it.” I hear her moving around. “Want to tell me about the argument with your sister?”

  “It was the same old thing, the discussion of my gaming and not being a real adult.” I hate lying to her, but I can’t tell her that it was because my sister is trying to get me to stop liking her. “She’s always trying to tell me what I can and cannot do.”

  “That’s funny, I get that a lot from Sarah and Max. Han
g on a second. Rob, go home. I’m not talking to you right now. I asked that you four give me some time.” I hear rustling. She must have been trying to grab her laptop and not drop the phone. “Sorry about that but I couldn’t grab everything, and I had to put you down. Rob was waiting here to talk to me. I don’t want to talk to him yet.”

  “I’m sorry. When do you leave for your trip? I don’t think you told me that you’re going away.”

  “We leave December 23rd and come back on January 2nd. I don’t even know where we’re going. All I know is it’s someplace warm, and I won’t need a passport.”

  “I want you to do me a favor. Keep calling me while you are on vacation especially if things get bad.”

  “I will I promise. I do know what I want to do right now, though.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Kill some pixels!”

  ABBY

  The day before Thanksgiving arrives and I’ve managed to avoid everyone since our falling out. I know I’m being childish, but it hurt when they excluded me. It’s my trip too, we leave in a month, and I have no idea what the details are. Max and Sarah are in the kitchen on their phones. Since there’s no school, I decide to start dinner prep. Sarah smiles when I join them.

  “Morning,” I say, trying to be cheerful even though I’m still not feeling it.

  “You’re talking to us?” Max’s tone is flat.

  “I’m trying to be nice, but I’m still hurt.” I glare at him from across the room.

  “I’m sorry for not calling you when we were discussing it,” Sarah says as she stands to embrace me.

  “Why didn’t you? I still don’t understand why you deliberately left me out of it. I sound like a broken record, but I’m confused.”

  Max jumps in, answering for Sarah. “I can’t answer that question. It started out with just Rob and I going out to dinner to discuss his work with the firm. He called while we were at the store. I wanted him to get the job, so I was giving him some insight. Aaron showed up because we were taking so long.” Max makes me a cup of coffee as he explains. “Sarah arrived with a couple of friends, and we just all got to talking about the trip.”