My Wish for You

by Destiny Webb

  Wiping my face with the back of my hand, I sniffed again and closed my eyes. “Yeah, maybe,” I mumbled. “I hope so.”

  At that point, I didn’t know whether I was dreaming or not. Everything got fuzzy from there. I remember crying for a while and Sarah and Brian comforting me. Then Brian carried me to my bed, where Sarah sat with me and consoled me. And some point after that, I drifted off into a bliss-like darkness.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Someone’s phone vibrated loudly from across the room.

  “What time is it?” I groaned.

  “Eight,” Sarah grumbled.

  “Who freaking calls at eight o’clock in the morning?”

  I pulled my pillow over my head to block out the sound and the blinding light.

  “It seems that Sean intends to pay you a visit?”

  “Ugggghhhhh,” I pouted under the pillow.

  Knock. Knock.

  “I’ll assume damage control; you assume the sleeping position. And don’t forget the snore,” she added as she got up to answer the door. Snoring fakely, I assumed my sleeping stance as she opened the door.

  Apparently, whenever I was drunk, or hung-over, I snored. We all knew this because, since I didn’t believe them one bit, Brian and Sarah thought it would be funny to record me while snoring and show it to everyone, proving their point. I never snored normally, but something about alcohol….

  “Hey.”

  “What’s up?” Sarah asked slightly groggily.

  “Is Sam up?”

  “Does she look up?”

  There was a pause in which I assumed they both looked over at me.

  “No…I guess not.” Another, shorter pause. “Was she okay last night?”

  “Seriously Sean?” she asked disbelievingly. “What do you think?” She paused for him to think. “After she finished puking her guts out, she cried until she fell asleep.”

  I cringed mentally.

  “She did?”

  “Yes. She did.” A phone beeped. “Do you want to explain that to me?”

  “Uhh…explain what?”

  “Explain what the hell happened last night from the time you left this house to when you brought her home trashed.”

  “That was not my fault,” he defended.

  “You may not have handed her the vodka, but you sure were the reason behind the drinking.”

  Silence.

  “Well, I don’t really know. I wasn’t at the party or anything. So, I don’t know what her deal is.”

  “Oh please. You may be able to fool other people, like Sam, but Sean, you’re not pulling the wool over my eyes. So, you better start talking and you better start talking fast, or else I’ll make sure you don’t get a chance to explain yourself to Sam.”

  There was a lengthy hesitation.

  “Well?”

  “Sam and I were…talking. And I got a text from Jonny telling me that Tasha was at the store.”

  In that moment, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear what came next. Dread filled me and I wanted to run, but I was stuck. What else could I do? “Wake up” and have to talk to Sean? I thought not.

  “I tried to tell Tasha it was over. She didn’t want to hear me. Finally, she got that I wasn’t kidding around and asked if we could go talk somewhere that wasn’t a public grocery store. We drove around for a while then stopped and talked….”

  His voiced sounded strange as he trailed off. I heard a phone beep again.

  “And?” Sarah pressured him.

  “And we fought. But in the end I told her that I was done. For good.”

  My heart quickened its pace. But Sarah had other plans for my heart.

  “What else happened?” I grew worried again.

  “What do you mean?”

  Silence.

  “You know what I mean,” she implied.

  More silence. And my heart, followed by my stomach, dropped.

  “I thought so. Listen to me Sean, and listen well. You better not break her heart. She may act all tough about you, but she’s got it bad, whether she wants to admit it or not.”

  I really didn’t.

  “So, don’t screw her around. You understand?”

  Quiet.

  “Do you understand me, Sean? ‘Cause if you don’t, I’ll do my best to ruin any attempts that you make with her,” she threatened.

  “Yeah,” he said softly. “I understand.”

  A phone beeped again.

  “Who is trying to get ahold of you so persistently?” she asked, irritated.

  There was another long pause while Sean hesitated again. I knew his answer before he replied.

  “Tasha,” he said finally, sounding ashamed.

  “Well, maybe you should go take it. It seems to be important.”

  “It’s really not,” Sean disagreed. “She’s just trying to change my mind.”

  “Still. I have things I need to do.”

  “Oh, okay then. Later.”

  “Don’t forget what I said Sean,” Sarah reminded him.

  “Yeah,” he muttered.

  Once I heard the door click, I lifted the pillow off my eyes and looked up at Sarah. She stared back at me.

  “Well. That could have gone way worse,” she said semi-cheerfully.

  “Oh yeah,” I muttered sarcastically, throwing my pillow at her. “I could have been awake…oh wait—I was. And I heard the entire conversation.”

  “Oh, quit being so over dramatic, Samantha, and go back to sleep. We’ll talk later.” She threw my pillow back at my face.

  “But—” I started to argue.

  “No. I’m up. And I’m going to take a shower. So, shut it and go back to sleep.”

  I pouted as she ignored my protests and went into the bathroom. Listening to the water run, I grumpily rolled over and pulled my blanket over my head until I fell back asleep.

  ***

  It was still ridiculously bright when I woke up three hours later. I rolled over to my stomach and looked around. Sarah had already come and gone. Clean was what she left behind, her bed made, everything straightened. I glanced over to my bedside table and there was a glass of water and some aspirin.

  Gratefully, I picked up the aspirin and popped them into my mouth, chugging down the glass of water after it. Head throbbing, I eased myself out of bed slowly. My stomach gurgled and I realized I was starving. I got up and made my way down to the kitchen.

  Passing the door to Brian and Sean’s room, I could hear Sean’s voice through the door. Not even bothering to stop, I ignored it and kept moving towards the kitchen and some food. Once in the kitchen though, I had trouble deciding on what I wanted to eat.

  I riffled through the fridge and the cabinets, but nothing sounded remotely appetizing. I didn’t want fruit. I didn’t want eggs. I didn’t want pancakes. Finally, I decided on a package of Pop Tarts and some frosted flakes.

  Surprisingly, it was amazingly delicious. It seriously hit the spot. I scarfed it down until all that was left was crumbs, washed the dishes, then returned them to their rightful spots. My head was still aching, but it wasn’t as bad since the aspirin had kicked in, and the food helped a bit.

  Feeling slightly better and more awake, I made my way back upstairs to take a shower and get ready. I headed down the hallway and straight into the hornet’s nest.

  “No Tasha. I don’t want to fucking talk to you. Get it through your head and Leave. Me. Alone.”

  He hung up and looked up at me defensively before he realized it was me.

  “Hey,” he said, sounding more relaxed.

  “Hi,” I replied, walking past him briskly.

  “Sammy, please, just talk to me.” He put his hand on my arm before I tugged it away.

  “No Sean. I don’t want to talk. Not now. But apparently someone does,” I snapped, referring to Tasha.

  “Then when?” he asked, ignoring my jibe.

  “I don’t know,” I bluntly answered.

  “Then why, Sam?” he persisted.

  “Be
cause Sean. I am so pissed at you right now, it’s not even funny. I spent all night getting sick and crying. I. Am. Exhausted.” I walked out of his reach to my door, opening it. Of course he had followed me, so his face was still basically two inches from mine. “And to top it off, I’m hung over and my head feels like it’s going to freaking explode just thinking about you. So, no. I don’t want to talk.”

  I shut the door in his face.

  “Sam. Sammy. Come on. Open this door and talk to me, please.” He knocked hard, causing my head to ache. “I’m sorry.”

  He sounded genuine, but at that point, I didn’t care. I was still too hurt.

  “Whatever Sean.”

  He smacked the door.

  “Dammit Samantha, quit being so unforgiving!”

  Shocked and offended, I went to go open the door to give him a piece of my mind, but he was gone. I heard a door slam and I headed back to my window to see Sean storming across the campfire area.

  “Whatever,” I muttered to myself before heading to my shower.

  ***

  As I ran down the stairs after my shower, the smell of fresh cookies washed over me. I rounded the corner into the kitchen. Mrs. W was baking homemade cookies…a lot of cookies. They weren’t the cookies from a bag kind of cookies. These were real, homemade cookies.

  “Hey, Mrs. W. What’s with all of the cookies?” I asked as I picked one up and took a bite.

  “Well, when you find yourself surrounded by growing teenagers, cookies go quickly,” she laughed.

  “Want some help?”

  “That’d be great, Sam.” She scooted over and gave me some room to work. We worked in silence for a while, rolling balls of dough peacefully. My thoughts drifted to last night at the store, the way he’d walked away with her so easily…the way he’d walked away from me. Probably just like the way they did that first night they were together. I took a deep breath and smacked the new dough.

  “Hm. Would this bad mood have anything to do with my son?”

  I looked up, innocently shocked.

  “What are you talking about?”

  She smiled and turned the dough over.

  “Well, usually you two are running around all day doing things. And today, he’s gone off somewhere in a tiff and you’re here, beating the dough to death.”

  I forgot how much more observant she was than my own mother. Since she and my mom were best friends, she was like my second mom. I sighed and squished the dough again.

  “Yeah, I guess it does. We went to the store last night and ran into Tasha.” I paused and looked at her. “Well, you know they ‘took a break.’ So, we were sitting in the car talking about us. Better yet, what ‘us’ could mean, and then, Jonathon came with Tasha following.” I altered the story slightly. She didn’t need to know all the gory details. “So, they chatted. And, she asked him to go with her. He gave his keys to Jonathon and left.”

  I took a deep breath. I hadn’t realized that I had been rushing out the words without breathing.

  “I guess it just hurts, that’s all,” I continued. “I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s driving me insane.” I looked down and went back to shaping cookies.

  “Don’t worry. One day he’ll realize that you’re one thousand times better than she is.

  I looked up in disbelief. Did I hear her correctly? She looked like she hadn’t even said anything. She was molding the dough with her fingers as if it was a piece of clay being shaped into a masterpiece.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Sean and I avoided each other for the rest of the day…or rather, Sarah and I headed to Cara’s to get away from the drama. After Sarah got back from hanging out with some guy she met at a party, I convinced her to go with me, and we were sitting behind Cara’s cabin listening to music and tanning. We had been back there long enough for my skin to look golden bronze when my phone rang. I glanced down at it while Sarah and Cara were discussing the upcoming summer trends.

  Sam, would you please just talk to me? This is ridiculous.

  “Why can’t he just get it? He thinks that I’m upset for some stupid reason, when in all reality, it was him being dumb that got me upset!” I interrupted.

  “That’s because he’s a boy, and boys don’t understand anything because they are dumb.”

  “Here, here!” Sarah agreed, raising her glass. Cara and I raised our glasses and clinked them to hers.

  “So, are you gonna reply?” Cara asked, taking a drink.

  “Yeaah,” I muttered, concentrating on my phone.

  “What are you going to say?” Sarah inquired hesitantly.

  “‘No, I won’t. Quit bugging me.’” I hit send and turned off my phone

  They both laughed at me and Cara went to go take another sip. Finding her glass empty, she stood to go fill up her glass inside.

  “Anyone else want some more?”

  Sarah shook her glass slightly.

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Sam?”

  “Nah, I’m good.”

  I picked up a rock and tossed it across the fire pit as Cara headed inside.

  “Stupid boys.” I grumbled under my breath.

  “Yeah…I feel you.” Sarah sighed and I could tell from her tone that something was wrong.

  “Oh man. What happened?”

  “I basically dumped Daniel today.”

  “What?! Why?”

  “Why what?” Cara asked, handing Sarah her glass and looking at me.

  “She dumped Daniel.”

  “That cute boy from the boat party?”

  “The very same,” I confirmed.

  “But why? He was so cute.”

  “I don’t know.”

  We both looked at her expectantly.

  “All he wanted to do was fool around…like, all he wanted to do. And man, one can only take so much before she has to say enough. It was like every second of every moment we were together, he wanted to get into my pants.”

  “That’s the thing though. All boys are like that.”

  “Oh really? And is Chad like that Cara?”

  She smiled a goofy grin that was so Cara.

  “No,” she giggled. “He’s a decent, well-mannered boy.”

  “Who happens to be a good kisser,” I added.

  “Well…yes,” she admitted.

  We all laughed. Closing my eyes, I thought about Sean and everything that happened last night. Maybe I was blowing things out of proportion, but still, he’d said it himself…it was hard for him to let her go. Maybe I should just let him go. It ached my heart to even contemplate it, but maybe the right thing to do was to just let him be with Tasha. I shouldn’t push him to make a decision that he was not ready to make, a decision he could very well regret.

  But then again, maybe he just needed something to show him that I was the right choice. His mom even thought I was better for him.

  A motor pulled up a short distance away and my heart started. It almost sounded like Sean’s truck. Startled, I sat up and looked over to where it was coming from. Disappointed, I discovered that it was just Alisha pulling up in Cara’s Jeep. I sat back and pouted slightly.

  “Okay,” she called out, slamming the door. “If it wasn’t official before, it is now. Tasha McKnight is the biggest, most annoying you-know-what on the face of the earth!”

  I tensed up as Alisha plopped down next to Cara.

  “What happened?” Cara asked.

  “So, I’m hanging out with Brian, right? And he’s trying to help Sean. And she will not stop calling his stupid phone. It’s to the point of like psycho, ridiculous stalking. So, I answer the phone to tell her to quit trippin’ and to leave him alone, and she flips out on me. She’s cussing me out and calling me horrible things.

  “So, I just hang up on her and take the battery out of Sean’s phone. What does she do? She starts calling Brian!”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “So, he tries to tell her that he doesn’t know what’s going on and she won’t leave him alone. Finally,
I took the phone from him and told her if she didn’t stop calling my boyfriend she would deeply regret it.”

  She huffed out a sigh and I smiled. That was the most that I had ever heard Alisha say in one sitting. Ever. And it was really cute how protective and jealous she got over my brother. It made me like her even more.

  “So did she stop?” Cara pressed.

  “Yeah,” she answered, retreating back to her normal self. She grabbed Cara’s drink and tilted her head back before glancing skeptically at Cara. “Ice tea? Really?”

  Cara laughed.

  “Well, we figured we didn’t need to do any drinking today.” She looked pointedly towards me.

  “Har har. Like you haven’t had any drunken mishaps.”

  “Too true,” agreed Sarah.

  “So,” I started, turning to Alisha. “What’s Brian helping Sean with?”

  I had hoped to pull off a nonchalant tone, but I guess I didn’t, because Cara and Sarah raised their eyebrows at me.

  “Oh Sean’s just trying to figure out how to make up for ditching you.” She paused in realization of what she just said. “Oops. I didn’t just say that.”

  “Really now?” Sarah asked, intrigued.

  Not saying anything, I sat back and listened.

  “Yeah, but I’m not saying anymore. I was sworn to secrecy!” She crossed her arms in protest.

  “Fine, fine,” Sarah conceded, knowing that she wouldn’t leak out any more details. She was the greatest secret keeper. Sarah and Cara were gossiping away about Tasha and her past drama schemes when Alisha got up and sat next to me.

  “You know,” she said quietly. “I think that he’s really done with her.”

  “What?” I asked, taken aback.

  “Tasha. I think that he’s really done being with her. Over her.”

  “Yeah….”

  “I’m just sayin’.” And with that she picked up a magazine and started flipping through it.

  I considered what she’d said, and what she said about him trying to make it up to me. I took it all in and tried to figure out some kind of resolution. And in my contemplation of it all, I realized that I wasn’t so angry anymore.

  Suddenly, I had a crazy desire to call him and talk about what happened, and to let him know that I forgave him. I leaned forward and grabbed my phone off the log.