by Amy Sparling
Okay, that was mean. Kennedy recoils. “Fine,” she says. “I’ll leave.”
Pigs must be flying right now, because she actually does leave. She turns on her heel and stalks off and I watch her go back inside the hotel before I turn back around to watch for Ella’s car. Good. Maybe she finally realized that the world doesn’t revolve around her, no matter how much she acts like it does.
I wait another fifteen minutes, wondering what Ella’s definition of soon means. I try calling her, but it goes to voicemail. I send out another text, and then call again, but she still doesn’t answer.
Blackwell isn’t that far away and my traffic app says the roads from there to here are perfectly clear.
I wonder what’s taking her so long?
Chapter 19
White hot rage fills my veins. I try to take deep breaths, but it doesn’t help at all. My mind is a combination of crazy thoughts, most of them pissed off and some of them are just wondering if somehow this was all a mistake. Like if Kennedy magically photoshopped those photos of my boyfriend and it’s just all one of her tricks to mess with me. But none of that makes sense because she and I apologized to each other at the end of school last year and we haven’t talked since. Why would she want to start crap now?
“Are you hungry?” I ask Aunt Donna after I pull back onto the road, my desire to look at my cell phone completely squashed after seeing April’s messages. “I’m hungry. Let’s stop somewhere.”
“How are you hungry? We had breakfast not that long ago,” my aunt Donna says. She gives me a weird look, which is saying something because she’s been giving me weird looks all morning. This one is different. It’s like she thinks I’ve lost my mind.
I shrug and take the next exit, pulling over at the first restaurant I find. It’s a Dairy Queen. “I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”
“We can’t leave Roscoe in the car,” Aunt Donna says.
I frown. It’s not like I forgot about the stinky fur ball in my back seat. And I’m not even hungry. But I just need to do something. I have no desire to get to the hotel now, even though it’s only five short miles away. As long as I stay away from Ethan, I don’t have to face the fact that he’s with Kennedy. Or he was with her. Or whatever that stupid Snapchat story was about.
“Let’s get ice cream then,” I say, flashing a smile to my aunt. “I’ll get some fresh water for Roscoe too.”
I get out of my car and head inside the nearly empty restaurant. I order two vanilla cones for me and my aunt and a cup of plain water without ice for the dog.
There’s an outdoor seating area with picnic tables and umbrellas to shade from the sun, and my aunt is waiting there with Roscoe when I return. Roscoe is grateful for the water and he laps it up while I pet his stinky head.
Aunt Donna licks her ice cream cone and stares at me, but she doesn’t say anything. Maybe she thinks I’ve become weirder than she is with my earlier outburst and sudden desire for food when we’re not hungry.
I call my mom.
“Ella?” She sounds a little concerned. “Are you at the hotel yet? I just talked to Mrs. Poe and she said Ethan arrived but you haven’t yet.”
“Almost,” I say. “We stopped for some food. But actually I was calling to see if you could find another hotel we could stay at. Can you get online and check?”
“Why don’t you want to stay with Ethan?” Mom asks. Then she sighs. “Oh, right. Donna. Honey, the Poes will understand. You don’t need to worry about bringing her along. They’ll make room for her.”
“You didn’t tell Mrs. Poe that she was coming when you talked to her?” I ask, keeping my voice down so my aunt doesn’t overhear.
Mom sighs again. “No… I didn’t really think about it.”
“Right… sure. You’re just as awkward as I am.”
“No I’m not!” Mom snaps. “It’ll be fine. You don’t need to find another hotel room just because of Donna. She’ll be fine.”
That’s not the reason I want another hotel room. But I can’t tell my mom that. I am a little worried about showing up with my aunt and a dog in tow, but right now I’m more concerned with seeing Ethan. If Kennedy’s pictures are real, then he slept with her last night. Is he back together with her or something?
No.
My heart aches and pounds and feels weak all at the same time. I have couple new texts from Ethan, but I’ve ignored them. I can’t face him right now.
“Please, Mom.” I grip the phone tightly. “Please find us a new hotel. We need one that allows dogs.”
“Dogs?”
“Yeah, Aunt Donna has a dog with her.”
“I’m pretty sure they can’t refuse pets when it’s an emergency situation,” Mom says.
“I need a new hotel,” I say back.
“I’m looking.” I guess she really is looking because I can hear the faint clicking of her keyboard in the background. “All the hotels around there are fully booked.”
“What about somewhere further way? I can keep driving north. I have gas.”
“There’s nothing even remotely available, Ella. You just need to suck it up and bring Aunt Donna with you. It’ll be fine, I promise. You know the Poes are nice people. They’ll be fine with it.”
“Okay, whatever,” I say. Aunt Donna had said she didn’t mind sleeping outside. Hell, maybe I’ll sleep outside with her. I don’t want to see Ethan. I don’t want to know the truth.
“Thanks for the ice cream,” Aunt Donna says when I get off the phone with my mom. Half of my ice cream has melted down my fingers but she’s finished with hers. “That was really sweet of you,” she says.
I offer her the best smile I can manage right now and then I take a bite of my ice cream. I don’t really want to sleep outside. I want a clean bed in a room with air conditioning and an indoor bathroom that has hot running water. I want to lay down and sleep for days to make up for the last two nights of misery.
What happens if I show up at the hotel and Ethan tells me it’s over? What if he says he’s getting back with Kennedy because I’m going off to college and our relationship was doomed anyway?
My heart wouldn’t be able to take it.
But then I realize something. The Poes love me. And they hate Kennedy. If Ethan is planning on leaving me for her, then his parents will be pissed. They’ll totally side with me instead of their own son. I would bet my life on it.
I think back to Kennedy’s awful snapchat photos and realize that they already have their own hotel room. Maybe they won’t be at the Poe’s hotel at all. Maybe I can get that hot shower and clean bed after all.
It’ll be a perfect place to cry my eyes out of Ethan really is leaving me.
I guess I’ll never know unless I suck it up like a big girl and go find out. I look at my aunt. “You ready to go?”
We get back on the road and we’re at the hotel in no time. My hands are shaking as I park. I can see Ethan’s truck across the lot, and I know he’s here. How am I supposed to survive this?
A rough hand grabs my arm. I turn to see Aunt Donna standing next to me, her lips pressed into a soft smile. “Roscoe and I will be fine on our own,” she says.
I shake my head. “No. You’re coming with me. The Poes will be fine with it. I promise.”
She looks a little hesitant, but finally she smiles back.
“Ella!”
I freeze. Ethan jogs toward me, a brilliant smile lighting up his handsome face. “I’m so glad you’re here!”
He crushes into me, wrapping his arms around me as his cinnamon scent fills my lungs. Ethan holds me hard and rocks back and forth. “I missed you so much.”
All that anger in my heart dissipates instantaneously. This is the Ethan I know. My Ethan. Of course he missed me. I must have imagined the whole thing. Maybe I only hallucinated Kennedy’s Snapchat after all. I mean, if he was leaving me for her, why would he be hugging me right now?
He pulls back and then kisses me on the forehead. I smile up at him, feeling my heart go warm again
.
“Ethan…” I say, glancing back at Aunt Donna. “I um, well, I have someone with me. This is my aunt Donna. She was stranded. Is it okay if she stays with us?”
“Of course,” Ethan says, smiling at her. He knows about her history of living in the halfway house but he doesn’t shy away from reaching forward and shaking her hand. “There’s plenty of room. We don’t have an extra bedroom but there’s a couch bed.”
“Thank you so much,” Aunt Donna says. Then she looks at me, and I can tell what she’s thinking.
“Oh um…” I say, biting my lip. “There’s also a dog.”
As if on cue, Roscoe stops smelling a nearby bush and walks up to us, his tail wagging.
Ethan laughs. “No problem. There’s a back door around the corner … we’ll sneak him in.”
Aunt Donna beams. Ethan winks at her and then takes my hand. We walk around the side of the hotel and he uses his key card to open the door. We enter into a narrow hallway and then get into an elevator and no one is around to see our furry contraband. Despite being huge, Roscoe is well behaved, and he walks right next to Aunt Donna without a leash.
My heart is pounding but my hand feels so great in Ethan’s. I can’t believe I was so freaked out earlier. Everything is fine.
“Here we are,” Ethan says, stopping in front of a door. “Um, Ella, there’s something we should talk about.”
“Can I get a shower first?” I ask. “I’m dying for a shower.”
“Uh…” he scratches the back of his head. “Yeah, of course.”
The door swings open without any of us touching it, Dakota stands on the other side. “I heard ya’ll talking,” she says. “Glad you made it. Ooh! Doggie!” Dakota ducks down and beckons to Roscoe who happily jumps into her arms. Aunt Donna follows him into the hotel room and I take one step forward, but Ethan grabs my arm.
“Hey, I actually need to talk to you now,” he says.
But it’s too late. The sudden look of horror in his eyes tells me that whatever he wanted to say is now too little too late.
I follow his gaze and see her standing there. She’s beautiful as always, wearing her signature bitchy smirk.
Kennedy Price.
In my boyfriend’s hotel room.
Chapter 20
Kennedy flutters her fingers toward Ella. “Hi there,” she says in a voice that’s not exactly friendly.
“Ella,” I say, trying to get her to look at me instead of my ex. We’re still standing in the open doorway of the hotel room, and Ella takes a step back into the hall.
Her jaw is set, but the temporary shock on her face has melted away. “Ella,” I say again, reaching for her. “Let me explain.”
She pulls her arm away. “Don’t talk to me,” she hisses. An anger I haven’t seen in her eyes before flashes at me just before she turns on her heel and walks down the hallway.
“Well, that’s awkward,” I hear her aunt say. Dakota is still playing with the dog and I don’t know where my parents are, but I’m grateful they haven’t witnessed this.
I look at Kennedy. “What the hell did you do?”
Her eyebrows shoot up in innocence. “Me? I just said hello.”
I grit my teeth. “You did something. Ella wouldn’t be that pissed if you hadn’t done something. What was it?”
She shrugs, tilting her head to the side. “I’m just standing here, Ethan. I didn’t do anything.”
“You must have given her a look or something.” I point at her accusingly. I don’t know what she could have possibly done in just two short seconds before Ella bolted, but she had to have done something. I knew Ella would have been surprised to see Kennedy, but it’s not like her to leave like that. I had it all planned out. I was going to explain everything and it was going to be fine. I even imagined Ella and I spending time alone at the pool tonight, trash talking Kennedy together.
Kennedy snorts in this satisfied way and takes a seat on the couch. “I don’t know how you deal with so much drama.”
“Please,” Dakota says under her breath. “The only drama here is you.”
I flash my sister a grateful smile as I pace the length of the short living room. I’m not sure if I should go after Ella or not. Maybe she needs time to cool off and think.
The door to my parent’s room opens and the last thing I need right now is to try to pretend that everything is okay in front of my parents.
“Oh hello,” my mom says, her gaze going to Donna.
Shit. I forgot about that.
“Mom, this is Ella’s Aunt Donna. Is it okay of she stays with us?”
“Of course,” Mom says, her smile softening as she walks over and shakes Donna’s hand. “Ella’s family is my family, as far as I’m concerned. It’s so nice to meet you.”
“Hi there,” Dad says, waving at her. He kneels down to the floor. “And who do we have here?”
Roscoe lumbers into my dad, nearly knocking him over. “I take it he’s with you?” Dad asks Donna.
She nods. “If it’s too much trouble, I don’t mind—”
Dad waves her words away with his hand. “It’s not a problem at all. We love dogs.”
“So… where is Ella?” Mom says, giving me a look that makes me feel guilty. It’s like she knows if Ella isn’t here it’s all because of something I did wrong.
“She went for a walk,” I say.
“She stormed out of here,” Kennedy says even though no one asked for her damn input. She studies her nails as if it’s no big deal at all. “She took one look at me and left. I guess she can’t be civil in an emergency situation.”
My jaw clenches. There’s so many things I want to tell her but I hold back because my parents are in the room. That is so like Kennedy to take none of the responsibility of Ella’s being upset. It’s all one hundred percent her fault.
And maybe some of my fault too, I think as guilt tugs at me. I should have warned her before she arrived.
As if Aunt Donna is reading my mind, I can feel her staring at me. I look up and meet her gaze. “You should go after her,” she says.
I nod once, my throat too dry to speak. No one questions me as I leave the hotel room alone.
I jog down the hall toward the elevator that I’d seen Ella walking to. Downstairs, I don’t see her in the lobby and I guess it was wishful thinking that I would. I go outside and her car is still there. I breathe a little easier knowing she hasn’t completely left.
Ella is somewhere, probably waiting on me to come talk to her. I check my phone, but of course she hasn’t sent any messages. I turn back around and wander through the hotel’s pool area, weight room, and library. She’s not here.
I step back outside and look around, trying to picture what Ella would do if she were standing here herself. Across the street is a shopping center. I follow my instincts and jog over there. There’s a movie theater, a few restaurants, a book shop, and some random stores.
I walk along the sidewalk, glancing into the windows of each store as I pass, hoping I’ll glimpse her in one of them. I make it all the way down to the end and don’t see her at all. That leaves only one place.
I turn around and stare up at the largest building in the parking lot. There are people coming and going. Kids holding their mother’s hand. Couples on a date. Older people enjoying their retirement. Everywhere I look I see the citizens of De Sota just living their lives.
They don’t have to worry about the hurricane that’s currently ravaging the coast. They’re not scrambling to get their families somewhere safer because they’re already safe right where they are. It’s so surreal to be standing here, intruding on another town’s everyday life when my own life has gone to hell. I’m currently sharing a hotel room with my family, my ex, and a strange lady with a huge dog. I’ve spent the last two days stuck in traffic and combating with no cell phone signal. Yet everyone here is just fine. Their lives aren’t interrupted at all.
I walk toward the movie theater, finally realizing where Ella would have gone
when she left the hotel. Everything in her life has been turned upside down as well.
She probably just wanted something normal.
Chapter 21
It’s so weird to me that people are happily going to see the movies in one part of the state when other people have been displaced and are losing their homes in another part. I guess that’s just how life works though. Somewhere there’s a war and chaos and destruction, and somewhere else a millionaire is enjoying a shopping spree at Tiffany’s.
I try to blend in with these people. I buy a ticket for some stupid kid movie because it’ll be lighthearted, and that’s exactly what I need right now. My boyfriend is with his ex, after all.
I keep replaying the last few minutes in my head. Ethan was waiting for me at the hotel and he seemed happy to see me, and then suddenly Kennedy was there. Why did he even let me upstairs if she was there? Why didn’t he text me saying it’s over so we could have avoided this whole mess?
It doesn’t make any sense.
And now my aunt is stuck with the Poes and I’ll have to go back there eventually because she doesn’t have a phone or a car of her own. I can’t just call her up and say meet me at my car because we’re gonna bail. Nope. Of course it couldn’t have been that easy.
I get a small popcorn just for something to do with my hands and I take a seat in the back of the theater. I’m not hungry but I eat anyway. I guess I think that if I pretend to be a normal person seeing a movie, then I’ll actually feel like it.
Tears linger in the back of my eyes, and I know it’ll only take a few seconds, one weak moment, and they’ll spring forth, wetting my face and ruining my day.
I grit my teeth. I eat a piece of popcorn. I will not cry.
I’m starting to think that college will be the best thing ever. It’s just the distraction I need from my old life. Ethan is now Kennedy’s, not mine. My home is no longer my home because it was destroyed, and my old life no longer matters. I’ll move to Dallas and I’ll start over.