Fighting

Chapter three

I was so happy to see that familiar baby blue house with the manicured garden. I needed comfort, and it seemed like this was the only place I was going to get it.

Once we pulled up, James shut off the car and looked at me. "Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pressure you." he said. "You're not pressuring me into anything. I just, I just didn't expect that. I'm sorry James, but I don't feel the same way." There, it's out in the open. He knows that I don't love him yet. "I didn't expect you to. I know that it's difficult since Scott."

God, hearing him say Scott's name made me cringe. It's so hard to be with someone that genuinely loves you and yet, you're still in love with someone that left you for no reason. Why was I even in love with Scott? He never seemed to care about me anyways. He cheated on me multiple times, and I caught him each time. It was happening when I was with him and I chose to ignore it. Why would I have done such a thing? Oh, that's right. I'm an idiot that's in love with a thoughtless jerk.

I hadn't realized that James was still staring at me waiting for me to make a move to get out of the car. I opened my door and stepped out. As I got a foot on the ground, the door flew open and I saw my sister standing there with the biggest grin on her face.

"I was wondering when you two lovebirds were coming back!"

"Well, we're back alright." James said. I couldn't help but notice the disappointment in his voice, and I knew why he had that tone. I felt so bad, but now I was finally back at Elaine's and I can get all of this off my chest.

"I made your favorite for dinner, Jenny!" My sister could tell something was bothering me. My favorite thing for dinner has always been chicken and dumplings with homemade biscuits.

"Really? Thanks!" I said as a smile spread across my face.

What I couldn't understand was, how did she know? I hadn't exactly been a dead give away, had I? I sure hope not, because if she could tell, then so could James. I couldn't stand hurting him anymore than I already had today.

We all sat down to dinner, and just at that moment, Elaine's husband came home from work. I introduced James to him, and vice versa. They seemed to hit it off right away and were so engrossed in a conversation about farming equipment, I knew this was my chance to tell my sister I needed to talk to her later.

After I made it clear that her and I needed to talk, all she had to say was "me, you, popcorn, and 'How I Met Your Mother.'" These were things we bonded over whenever one of us had a problem. We both liked our popcorn the same way. Not with butter, but with cinnamon, sugar, and a light drizzling of chocolate syrup. We always had to sneak our own in when we went to movies. Our mother would just look at us with a grin and shake her head.

After the boys went to sleep, we both met up in the kitchen to begin making our delicious popcorn treat. Once we had that under control, we cued up Netflix and began watching old episodes of 'How I Met Your Mother.' We forgot the reason we were doing this until we got through our first episode. Once the credits started, she looked at me with pleading eyes and asked me what was wrong. I broke down when I began to answer. I told her everything in hopes she could make sense of this mess of a life I have. I laid my head on her lap and sobbed into the blanket. I couldn't hold it back anymore. I needed help.