“Jayson, are trying to make me more upset or…?”
“Trystie, why would I ever want to make you more upset?” He smiled again, that big smile he had that made me want to smile. And I couldn’t help it, I did. “See now, that’s all I wanted.” he said as he brushed my lips with his thumb. All too soon his expression got very tight and intense. “You know, I was really worried about you.” He tightly traced the light scratched on my cheek and pushed me back to look at the marks around my throat. “I hate that she did this to you. That I wasn’t there to stop it.”
I pulled his hand from my face and wrapped both of mine around it. “Don’t do that, Jayson. None of this is your fault. Please don’t make it that way. And I don’t need a body guard. I can handle myself.”
“So I’ve noticed.” He relaxed slightly, but there was no removing the emotion set deep in his eyes.
I squeezed his hand and smiled , hoping to take away some of his self doubt. “I don’t know what I would do without you, Jayson. As crazy as you make me.”
“Thanks,” He smiled back at me as I watched a dark shadow drift away like mist from his eyes. “That is something I have waited my whole life to hear.”
Than we both laughed.
Chapter Nine
Tuesday had come and gone, and I hadn’t heard a word from Kamdyn. I started feeling this tightening in my stomach every time I thought about him. Something felt wrong. He hadn’t called and he didn’t stop by. I had even tried calling him, but I only got his voicemail. There was nothing I could do but wait, which was excruciating. So I sat in my room and did everything I could to keep myself busy. It hurt to think about him, knowing he wasn’t near me, that I couldn’t touch him. Thinking horrible things, my mind always going to the worst. I thought, maybe he went back to Samantha and they were together right now, laughing about me. Thinking that every time I called, he looked at his phone and would just hit the end button, purposely avoiding me. Maybe was having regrets about everything involving us.
Was there even an us?
Kimber could obviously read the depression on my face, but she linked it to being stuck at home with nothing to do. She decided Wednesday to take a half day from work and take me out to lunch, getting me some freedom the house. We didn’t go far, which was fine. We went far enough. She drove me to a neighboring town to my favorite Chinese food restaurant in the area. By far this was the best part of my week and we are still in the parking lot.
Kimber was more than pleased to see my face change into the first smile she had seen in days. This was my first time actually eating here. We usually just ordered out and brought it home to eat. When we walked in, the hostess showed us to our seats and gave us menus. I already knew what I was getting, the menu wasn’t necessary, but I looked at it anyways. When she came back with Chinese tea and water for the table, she took our orders. Like always, I ordered chicken and broccoli and Kimber ordered her General Tso’s chicken and an order of pork friend rice for us to share.
I was so excited about my lunch. True it was my favorite place to eat out here in the sticks of Connecticut, but I realized then that I had spent too much time in my room the last two days. When the highlight of your day is driving a few miles down the street, there is defiantly something wrong. This was what I needed, to get out of the house and spent time outside my four walls and around other people.
“So, you feel better now that you’re out of the house?”
“Much. Absolutely.” I answered as I stuffed my face with food.
“I couldn’t believe how quickly you got bored and stir crazy. But I guess that’s normal, coming from a place where there’s a million things to do right down the street, to having nothing but woods at every corner and the nearest place of amusement at least thirty minutes away.”
“You can say that again. I guess it wasn’t something I considered. I am not used to having nothing to do, or being stranded somewhere without an escape. Thank you for rescuing me.” I said in my best princess impression, throwing my nose in the air and batting my lashes.
Kimber burst out laughing, almost falling from her chair. It made me recognize how much I truly missed my parents. I had moments like this with them aften. I was always the one with the witty comment and they always rolled around on the ground laughing. I guess that would make this moment the first time I actually felt like myself since I left my home. And as happy as that made me, it also made me feel completely alone.
I pushed aside my pain and smiled up at Kimber. I appreciated her effort and found that I was starting to get, not only comfortable here in Connecticut, but also with the people in it, Justin and Kimber included.
The rest of lunch continued just that way. We talked about school, Florida, my parents, my old friends and my new ones. There was nothing left out, except Kamdyn. Somehow I wasn’t ready to let her in on our connection, not really sure if she would completely understand. I barely did and I was the one feeling it. Maybe it would give us a chance to have another girl’s lunch again sometime in the future.
Just as I was thinking about Kamdyn, a cool breeze swept into the room as the front door opened and who else but his ex-girlfriend, Samantha, walked in my restaurant. I turned my back to her, hoping she wouldn’t even glance in my direction. But just my luck, she turned and looked directly at me, like she knew exactly where I was seated. I could feel the insensity of her stare on the back of my neck, like little spiders crawling over my skin. I rolled my eyes and looked up at Kimber. ‘That’s her’ I mouthed and flipped my thumb over my shoulder.
Kimber strained her neck up to see around me, to the back of the restaurant. Kimber’s eyes suddenly widened, than she looked down. Tell me she’s not coming over here! I settled myself and twisted in my chair, plastering a big smile on my face.
“What do you want Samantha? Are you here for a matching set?”
“I wanted to make sure I got my point across.” she replied with a disturbing expression.
“I’m sorry. What point would that be, that you can’t take a hit or that you think you’re scary?” I heard Kimber stir in her seat across from me, but didn’t trust Samantha enough to chance a look at her.
“You know exactly what my point was. Stay the hell away from Kamdyn, bitch. Don’t make he give a repeat performance.” She flicker her hair back, away from her face in that cliché I-think-I’m-the-shit way and started heading for the door.
I turned to look at Kimber quickly, her expression blank. I gave her a conniving smile and stood up. “Hey Samantha? By the way, nice eye. You look impressive in purple.”
She froze midstep, but didn’t turn around this time. She stood there for a moment, then continued walking, disappearing out the restaurant door.
I sat back down when I knew she was gone. Thank god nothing violent happened here in the restaurant, but I was sorry Kimber needed to witness Samantha’s viciousness. “I’m sorry about that Kimber.”
She waved my apology away. “No, I’m glad I saw it. Now I understand what you’re going through. I am so glad that you aren’t letting her bully you around. I remember her type from school. Used to getting her way through intimidation, that’s probably why she isn’t happy about you. You won’t give her what she wants.”
“Damn right!” I retorted, and Kimber laughed again. My heart swelled at Kimber’s acceptance of me and knew things could only get better for us.
We left soon after that, taking all our leftovers with us. There was no way that this food could ever go to waste.
We were still joking and laughing as we walked out the front door into the parking lot, when someone came running down the sidewalk, barreling into me, sending my bag of leftovers careening down the sidewalk.
The person didn’t even bother to stop. He didn’t even look back. In fact, when I looked up, there was no one in sight at all. If I wasn’t sprawled out on the ground making my acquaintance with the cement, I would think I imagined it all.
Still cautiously looking around, I collected myself o
ff the ground as Kimber ran to get the car, but only after asking me a million times if I was okay or needed to go to the hospital. But I was fine, honestly, just shaken up, and I told her as much. While she walked across the lot to get the car, I zeroed in on my bag of leftovers, which had landed in a hard heap by the corner of the building. Keeping my eyes open and ready for anything, I walked over retrieved my beat up food. Thankfully, the left over box was sturdy and it was completely wasted.
When I stood up, I noticed someone leaning against the corner of the building opposite me. He was dressed from head to toe black with a black beanie pulled low over his eyes. He had long, dark hair that struck out all around the tight hat and obscured whatever vision was left around his eyes. I couldn’t see his eyes, but I knew they were on me. I could feel his penetrating gaze drifting over me like frost climbing a window pane. He made no move toward me. He wasn’t even close enough to touch me. But for some reason, it felt like his hands were all over me, learning even inch of my body.
As much as his gaze set me unease, I was unable to move. Frozen by his intensity. A shiver ran over my entire body and the mist cleared and from far away, I heard Kimber yelling my name. My body was suddenly back to normal, everything in working order again, I turned toward her and was confused momentarily by where I was standing. Why was I standing over here?
I watched as Kimber waved frantically for me to get in the car. She pointed up and I saw the sky was now a deep grey and I could tell any moment, the sky would open.
I weird sensation skirted across my skin and the haze cleared. There was someone here, dressed in black. Who was he?
Putting one finger up to tell Kimber I’ll be there in a minute, I turned around to… I don’t know what I would have done, because when I turned, no one was there. That was went to sky opened and it started to pour. I quickly drove for the car and jumped in. Thankfully, the heat was on and Kimber graciously handed me a small towel from the back seat. I wiped my self down and shook my head at the strangeness of the last five minutes.
“Everything all right?”
“Yeah, everything cool.”
“What took so long? Your food survive?”
I laughed hoping to lighten the mood slightly. I felt surrounded by something dark. “My precious leftovers are in one edible piece. I just thought… I saw someone.”
“Oh, Mr. Rude that ran you over?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Oh,” She sounded slightly confused. “Well, who than?”
I looked out the window, watching the winding river pass by in the mass of beautiful autumn scenery. You know and know that I was thinking about it, I was standing no more that ten feet away from that guy. But for some reason, all that registers about his appearance is…darkness. His whole image is a blur, like I was watching him through squinted eyes. “I don’t know.”
I kept watching out the window the whole ride home. The openness around the river started to thin and soon we were traveling up the curvy road, travel up a huge hill into the darkness of the thick surrounding woods. I became aware of the thinning out of houses as they started getting further and further apart the greater the distance became between us and the river. I closed my eyes to ignore it all. Even though I was sitting in this car with someone who I knew cared about me, whose whole purpose today was to make me happy. But, for the second time today, I felt utterly alone and now, swallowed by darkness.
To push away the shadows, once we got home, I dug into my leftovers. To Justin’s dismay, I ate whatever was left. He commented on my seeming to eat everything he wants before he can reach it and completed his rant by calling me a human garbage disposal. I stuck my tongue out and laughed telling him he needed up his game if he didn’t want to starve.
“Game on,” I heard echo through the hallway as I ran up to my room.
I was still in bed Thursday morning, when I heard a knock on the front door. Justin and Kimber had long gone to work, and everyone I knew was in school. So I decided to ignore it, whoever it was, wasn’t important enough for me to get out of bed. I rolled over and threw the covers over my head, blocking out all light and any noise that might still linger. I heard the knocking one last time, as the covers went up, then all was silent and I felt myself slipping back into sleep.
My bed unexpectedly moved, indenting like someone had lain down next to me. I could only hope I was dreaming someone was in my room. I heard shoes drop to the ground and the person situate themselves next to me, like they were going to make themselves comfortable. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think. Why would someone come here of all places. It’s in the middle of the woods. How did anyone even know I was here? Am I dreaming? Why on earth would I dream someone was sneaking into my room? Stubbornly, I still hadn’t opened my eyes when I felt an arm slink under the covers and wrap around my waist.
“Hey sleepyhead,” I heard him whisper. “You couldn’t even come down to open the door for me?”
My heart thundering, I threw the covers off, not caring what I was wearing or what I looked like. It was him. He was here! “Kamdyn!” I screamed and threw myself onto him. I surprised even myself.
“Whoa, I guess I should do this more often.” he said as he flung his arms around me.
When I finally could let go, I looked at him confused. “What are you doing here? Why aren’t you at school?”
“Do you want me go?” he inquired with a big smile on his face.
“Of course not. I just… I’ve been, well… Why haven’t I heard from you? I’ve been waiting for you.”
“All my life.” he whispered into my ear, brushing his lips against my cheek as he pulled away.
All I could do was smile. Now that he was here, everything felt right. I realized now that the feeling I had, while he was gone, was emptiness. I didn’t feel whole without him.
He brushed a chunk of hair from my face and examined me. His face hardened as he look at the scratches down my cheek. “Are you hurt?”
I shrugged. “Just a couple bumps and bruises. I’ll live.”
“But you shouldn’t have to deal with this. I’ll handle it, don’t worry.”
I was so tired of talking about this topic, so I was going to be like any teenager. I had the perfect solution, ignore it and hope it goes away on it’s own. “So, are you going to tell me what’s up?”
He gazed into my eyes for what seemed like an eternity, but said nothing. Finally, he grinned and I could see his emotion reflected in his eyes. “I couldn’t go another day without you.”
I smiled the biggest smile anyone could imagine, and just as soon as it appeared, it was gone.
“What’s wrong?”
“I tried calling you. I haven’t heard from you since Monday, outside school. I…”
He picked up his hand and put his long finger up against my lips. “Shh, I know. I’m so sorry. I should have… I should have at least called to make sure you were okay. I heard what happened, and I’m sorry she did that to you. Truthfully, I was a little nervous you would be mad at me for the fight. I would have loved to see the look on her face when you hit her though.” He smiled a quick smile. “Something happened after I saw you at school and I just needed time to think, to work things out on my own.” He stopped and took a deep breath and looked at me hard, his hands reached up to my face. “Nothing’s wrong at all, so don’t worry and I will tell you everything once I can.”
I could see a mass of emotions pass over his face as he spoke and I knew it was something big he was dealing with, but he just wasn’t ready to let it out. He needed time and if that’s what he needed from me then I could give him that. “Do you want me to, I don’t know, leave you alone until you have things figured out?” I gulped silently, seriously hoping that he wasn’t pushing me away already.
“No!”
I jumped at his loud tone and gave a nervous laugh. “Okay, I just thought…”
“No, I need you. Always. Don’t think that, please.”
“Well, when I didn’t hear from
you or anything I just thought…”
“Please don’t finish that sentence. Don’t ever let even the thought enter you mind again. It is physically painful being away from you, I couldn’t live without you.” He took my face in his hands and pulled me toward him, looking deep into my eyes. His eyes were pulsing with longing and fear and once again, I swear I saw them flash like a sparkling amethyst caught in the light.
“Kamdyn, I’m sorry. Thought erased.” I wiped a hand in front of my face as if I could really erase it. I hugged him tight again, squeezing my face into his chest, breathing in his wonderfully, intoxicating spicy scent. He smelled like the the wind through the woods. “So tell me what’s going on at school, what did I miss?”
“Nothing much. The school’s in an uproar from your fight. I am planning on going to Samantha’s this weekend. We are going to have a long talk. She will not touch you again.”
At his words, a sharp pain sliced through my stomach. A pain so strong I would have been doubled over in pain if it had lasted longer then a mere second. I knew it was irrational, but I couldn’t help my mind from wondering back to previous suspicion, that Kamdyn and Samantha are still together and this is just some cruel joke.
“I know what your thinking and you need to stop it. There is nothing left between us, Trystie. But I will not stand for her to do this to you. Look what she is making you think right now.”
“You know what I’m thinking. How exactly is that possible?”
“Come on, it really isn’t that hard to figure out. Plus, your facial expression gave it away.”
Hmmm, I don’t think I agree. Am I really that transparent? Either way, something to debate later.
“Kamdyn, I don’t think that’s necessary, and I’m sure she will find a way to turn it around at me saying you are back together.” I frowned at the thought. He grabbed my chin and pulled it up, looking into my eyes.
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