Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Careless Whisper"

I didn't see my mom for an entire week and a half since our last conversation. The furniture Valerie ordered came, and we all got to work carrying it up to her apartment, putting it together (which took hours), and setting it up. By the time it was all over with, the sun had set. We were all exhausted by that point, but I couldn't sleep. I hadn't heard from Arjun in forever. I didn't know where my mother had gone. What if she ended up leaving after our last conversation? I thought about calling her, but...if she wanted to prove that she was going to make things better between us, she would come to me.

"You look terrible!" Keto commented the next morning as we put the beds away.

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks, man."

"Just saying," Keto replied. "Didn't you sleep any?"

"Not really. I was...thinking about things, I guess."

Keto must have been able to tell what I had been thinking about, since he didn't say anything else. After the beds were put away, though, he stood and crossed his arms. "Were you being serious about the Boston Marathon?"

I blinked in surprise. The marathon was in a few more days, but by that point, we would be back home. Besides, I would have had to sign up for it months ago. So it didn't matter anyway, did it? "I mean... I don't know," I said. Honestly, I did want to be a part of it. Not just to spite Stephen, but to prove that I could do it. But who was I proving it to? Valerie? Myself? I couldn't be sure. But somehow...it just felt like something I should do.

"There's other things you can do to win back Valerie," he said, lowering his voice, throwing one glance over his shoulder at the others in the kitchen.

"Who ever said this was about winning her back?" I whispered, tilting my head. "Because it's not!"

He narrowed his eyes at me. Geez, I knew I wouldn't be able to change his mind from thinking that. "What else would it be about? You have nothing to prove. And it would be a waste of strength to do it just to show Stephen you can." A slight smirk appeared on his face. "But...it would be incredibly satisfying, wouldn't it?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that. "It would be, but..." Ugh, I couldn't deny that a big part of why I wanted to do it was because I wanted to get back at him.

Keto threw another glance back at Valerie, who was cooking breakfast in the kitchen with Ms. Harlow and Veronica. When he looked back, the smirk had grown. "I don't think it would take much to win her back. Like I said before, she still has feelings for you, I think."

I bit my lip. Had he really asked her if she still had feelings for me, or was he just guessing off of what things he'd seen? Then again...that one day at Arjun's house, she kissed me. That proved she still loved me, didn't it?

"Maybe you could talk to her about it?" Keto continued.

"I can't do that! She needs time right now. She just broke up with Stephen, anyway!"

"Yeah..." Keto shrugged. "It'd be nice if you guys got together again, though."

Of course I agreed with him, but still, I wasn't going to throw myself at Valerie now that she was single again. I had to give her time to breathe! Though... I had to admit there was that little part of me- the part that had wanted her back so badly- that wanted to ask her about her feelings for me right now. But I buried that part of me deep down and ignored it. There would be time for that later.

Once the air beds were put away and breakfast had been eaten, we decided to try and find something fun to do together. We would be taking the flight home tomorrow morning, and we were all a little bummed by that. But I could tell Valerie was more than bummed; she was straight up afraid. And honestly, so was I. What if Stephen tried to hurt her or something? I didn't know if he was that kind of person, but I didn't want to take any chances.

"You can always come with us," Ms. Harlow suggested. "Arjun would be happy to see you, and you could stay with us for a while until you feel good enough to come back here."

She shrugged, and a slight smile on her face. "Yeah...I may take a trip down there in the summer, but I'll see. For now, I want to get settled here. But...it would be nice to see Arjun again."

"I still can't believe he didn't come!" Keto said, crossing his arms. "What's he up to, anyway?"

"School, I guess," Ms. Harlow replied, and I hoped no one saw the look on my face, like I was hiding a lie. I mean...I was hiding a lie. Then again, the truth wasn't mine to tell. Ms. Harlow needed to hear that truth from her son- not me! Somehow, that didn't make me feel any better about hiding what Arjun was really up to.

We were all quiet for a moment, then Veronica looked up. "Does your mom know you're leaving tomorrow?" she asked timidly. "I mean...she hasn't been around in a while."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not surprised, and I don't care." There was another lie! But I really didn't want to care, and maybe if I told myself I didn't enough times, it would start to be true. But heck, I was upset that she had gone and told me all of those things. I was even more upset that I had been starting to believe her. What did I expect would happen?

"I promise I'll prove to you that I mean what I say. I'll be your mom before I die." Geez, what a joke! I should have known she was just being dramatic.

My feelings must have been showing on my face, because Valerie quickly changed the subject. "I have an idea!" she said, jumping up from the couch. "We can go down to an ice cream shop I saw if you want. It's a new place, I think!"

The others agreed, all getting up at once. I followed.

And I put a smile on my face, even though I didn't feel happy in the slightest. That was what I did best, anyway.

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Listen to "Careless Whisper" by George Michael

Peace✌️~ A.J.