A Complicated Dance

Chapter 5

I'm not going to cry, I tell myself over and over and over again.

The second he walks out of the house with his suitcases though, I burst into tears.

I can see the pain in his eyes as he pulls me into a long hug.

"I know, Nova, I know." He whispers.

"D-Do you have to g-go?"

"I do." He whispers. "I want to stay, but my Aunt is sick, and I got accepted to the college down the street from her house."

I sniffle and pull away, and take a deep breath, forcing myself to suck it up.

"We'll keep in touch?" I ask.

He nods. "Yes."

"I'll miss you. call me when you land. Text me pictures of your hot English girls. Next time I see you, you could have an accent. If you do, I'll laugh till I pee."

He smiles and kisses my forehead. "Call me every day."

"I will." I say.

He gets in the car and I stand there until he's out of sight.

****

"Do you want to talk about it?" Ryan asks. He's the only one I'm letting in my room.

He asks me every time he comes in.

I nod slowly.

"He's um...a year older than me." I say quietly. He's twenty four now. For his twenty first birthday, I took him to a bar and he got so fucking drunk, it was hilarious." I say. "He's a clown, babe, you'd love him. When I started at Princeton, I was a totally different person. I was still that bitch that took Naomi's tuition away. I was at lunch and he was too busy checking out a girl to realize he was about to run into me. He spilled his juice all over me, and I...." I smile. "I slapped him."

Ryan smiles and sits down across from me on the window seat.

"Guess what he said." I whisper.

"What did he say?"

"Well he said, "See that?" he and pointed to the salt from his tray on my arm. I said, "Yeah." And he said. "That's you. Stop being salty. And Cold." And he pointed to the ice cream on my shirt. No matter how mad I was, I started laughing so hard. He was smiling, but he laughed so hard when I ran to the bathroom because I almost pissed myself, literally." Ryan chuckles and I smile at the memory. "We were partners with everything. He told me I was an idiot for breaking up with you. He still helped me through it. You guys would be the best of friends."

"What's his name?" he asks. "Like his full name."

"Ryan Alan Jackson, but I absolutely refused to call him Ryan so I came up with Aj. We bickered about it for a while, and then he gave up. He lived here for a long time, too."

It's morning. After I came upstairs, I went right to bed.

"Come on; come out of your room." Ryan says.

Sighing, I force myself onto my feet and drag myself downstairs.

"We're going out to dinner today." Mom says, hanging up with whoever she was on the phone with. "Is there a Teresa Café nearby?"

"Yes, down the street." I say.

"Well can we go there?" she asks.

"Sure." I shrug.

It's only ten in the morning.

"Let's watch movies." Dad suggests.

****

My hair is in a fishtail braid. I have a white beanie on, gray mittens a white scarf, a white long sleeve shirt, a green jacket over it, bow earrings, light blue skinny jeans, and combat boots. I walk into my mustang, the one from the lowest level.

Everyone follows me about three miles down the street and I pull into a parking spot.

It's in the negatives today, so when we walk inside, I shiver violently.

Everyone has been pretty fucking rude to me today. My family at least. They're all taking asshole pills.

"How many?" the waitress asks.

"Um...twelve."

"The only seating we have is for fourteen. Is that okay?"

"Sure."

We follow the lady to our table.

Ryan sits next to me. I'm at the end with the empty two spots next to me.

The waitress is quick to come.

"Hi, my name is Kelsey, what can I get you guys today?"

Everyone gets their drinks.

"Uh, Pepsi is fine." I say.

She walks away.

"Her name is Kelsey too." Ryan says, nudging me.

She comes back with multiple waiters to bring our drinks, and she puts a drink next to me.

I look at Ryan.

"She put a drink there for someone, but nobody is sitting here." I say.

"Maybe it's an extra." He shrugs.

I shrug too and Mom just gets a ton of pizza's for us.

My phone vibrates in my lap.

Josh: house is done!

Me: seriously?

Josh: yup! Call me when u can

Me: okay

"My house is done." I say, nudging Ryan.

"That's great!" he gasps.