Falling For Seconds

Chapter Thirteen

There were empty, collapsed boxes scattered all over the floor. I was sitting cross-legged in front of a book shelf, trying to make sense of what I was going to leave and what I was going to take with me. I hadn't realized, until I started packing, what was really mine and what little I truly had. A couple novels were lying on the hard wood floor, an inch of dust covering them.
The silence of the apartment was eery, almost like it too knew something big was about to happen. The walls whispered my secrets. If they could talk I'd be in much deeper waters than I was currently in. If the furniture had arms, it could help me organize this mess.
But no one else could clean out this apartment. I was the only one that knew fully what I wanted to keep and what memories I wanted to leave. Picture frames held stories of a life that seemed so foreign.
  I picked up a silver frame sitting one shelf above the books I was shuffling through and examined the two smiling faces staring at me.
  The girl on the left had a bright red sunburn across her cheeks and nose. Her fiery hair was wet and tangled, falling over her eyes and sticking to her neck and shoulders. She had finished her ACT the week before. She held no care in the world.
The girl on the right was beautiful. Her dark skin glowed in the bright sun bouncing off the lake behind her. Her smile could make even the darkest of people feel like there was hope. Her dark hair was pulled into a high bun as a few curls made their escape by her ears.
   The two couldn't have been more different. Jenny was set on a path for an Ivy League school. Her grade had always been stellar, unlike mine which had only looked great on the surface. She hadn't needed tutors, she had genius traits. She knew what she wanted and she wen after it with her whole heart. We had been as thick as thieves up until she received her acceptance letter to Princeton. Then, she hid herself away for almost the entirety of her senior year.
  The picture was taken at my parents lake house, the summer before senior year. It was the second to last time I ever saw her before she went into hiding. I wasn't even been able to say goodbye before she left after graduation. PI set the frame back in its place. My mother can keep that memory.
Dale had been kind enough to let me use the leftover boxes from last night's shipment. As I looked around, there seemed to be too many boxes and too few belongings.
I had yet to actually find a place to live, but knowing how big this city was it shouldn't be that hard. I felt like if I spent about an hour on the internet and around thirty minutes on the phone, I'd find an apartment complex with an opening.
I still hadn't had time to process all the ingredients that made up Friday night's family dinner. Seeing Lydia for the first time since elementary school caused a wide grin to tug at my lips, but the inquisitive conversation between my mother and Levi turned my grin into a scowl.
That was not to mention the short time frame my father had given me to evacuate from my current surroundings. I had until Wednesday and it was already Monday morning. I had spent all of The weekend at work and in a trance.
  I was grateful for the small crowd that congregated in the little bookstore for most of the afternoon. I was too busy making coffee, frappuccinos and hot chocolate to depress myself with the reality of my decisions.
  Dale's grand idea for a weekend book sale had paid off in more ways than one. He got his sales up and his shelves cleared while I got a decent distraction. When I did trudge back home from two twelve hour shifts, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep almost as quickly as my head hit the pillow.
  Now, I had no excuses or distraction to keep my mind from analyzing every word and gesture from Friday night's debacle. The look on Levi's face when my mom disclosed the dark secrets of his mom's past. My dads condescending tone as he addressed Lydia and I. No stone was to be left unturned.
  A box was sitting on the dining room table half full and I'd already completed ninety percent of the house. I sat the lonely novels daintily on top of three other forgotten hardbacks, all owning the same amount of dust. The next, and the last, mission was the bedroom.
  I had yet to touch the pile of outfits that resembled the life I was burning...figuratively. I shuddered, thinking about the different events my mother drug me to. She would come home the day before with bags of new clothes bought specifically for the upcoming occasions.
  I was hoisted into cardigans and slacks, knee length skirts and pantyhose. It had truly been a sight to behold. What if Levi could've met me then? The grandmother attire would have been all he saw me in other than my school uniform.
   Would I have recognized him? My mother knew his because of their involvement at the same college. Would that mean his mother's parents were as well off as mine? I shook my head, he didn't seem like he was sitting on a trust fund.
  Why drive a Toyota as old as his if he had thousands in the bank? But there was that watch he wore. He claimed it was a gift, but what friend had almost 10 grand to drop on someone? I didn't know the ins and outs of dealing drugs, but there couldn't be that much money to be made. Could there?
  So, maybe his mom went to the university through scholarships. But, if she was using scholarships, she wouldn't have had money to put her kids in private schools. In that case, Levi wouldn't have known me back then, I thought as I envisioned Levi in a Carnegie Prep uniform. My face twisted, he wouldn't have worn it well.
  A sudden loud, buzzing sound caused me to jump. I hadn't regained my peace with being home alone. Even the washer and dryer's alarm would send me into a mock heart attack.
  My phone sat on the counter in the kitchen ringing and vibrating every few seconds. Quickly my fingers slide the unlock button as I answer.
  "Hey Hadley, it's Dale. I was wondering...uh, if you weren't busy, maybe coming in today for a couple hours?"
  The old man's voice came through the other end. Maybe he can give you some clarity? My subconscious offered. Since I'd started working, Dale had become some I admired. He offered help even when I didn't and never seemed bothered by my stupid questions.
  When did he start to mean so much to me? Was it the advice? The hot chocolate while I was studying? Maybe it was the day he told me to drop out of college? I shook my head, there had to be a specific day, something that stuck out from all the rest...but yet, I was drawing a blank.
  "You there, kiddo?"
  I rubbed at my eyes and face before letting out a long breath. "Sorry. What time do you need me there?"
  My voice sounded alien. Maybe it was because I hadn't spoken all day, or maybe what was happening was taking a toll on my vocal cords. You're stupid.
  Or... maybe I was over exaggerating. There ya go. Either way, my voice sounded weird as it rang through the apartment.
  "It would be quite helpful if you could get here within the hour." He admitted.
  I raised an eyebrow as I found the small clock over the oven. 2:12 pm. "Yeah, I'll get there as soon as I can."
  "Thank you, darlin'." I was opening up my mouth to reply when the phone went dead. I figured he was just stressed out like me. I could only imagine why he'd needed me to come in on such short notice. I was already practicing my death glare for the teenager who had called out. It wasn't like Dale held crazy expectations or that it was the most difficult job in the world. For crying out loud, the hardest part of the whole thing was moving a shipment of books to their specified areas. Those cardboard boxes weighed easily 100 pounds!
  Before heading for the shower, I eyeballed the home around me. It didn't even resemble the same apartment. The furniture and the accessories were all the same, but without my things in the cluster of all that, I seemed like a model home. Like no one lived in it. It was pathetic.