turning page - nm

XIX. reaching out

august 1, 2021
storrs, connecticut

jayden stood next to geno, running drills. for the last five minutes, her phone has been dinging and now somebody was calling it.

geno looked over at the girl, "jayden... can you-"

"yeah."
she jogged over to her bag, pulling her phone out. 3 messages from her mother, and 6 calls.

normally this would be okay, but considering the fact that they hadn't spoken since the funeral it made a knot of worry form in her stomach.

she clicked on the text, heart dropping as she read the words.
i'm spreading your fathers ashes in two hours, i know your not answering any of my texts but it would be nice if you could show up.

she placed her phone back into her bag, taking a deep breath and turning around. she jogged back over to geno, "is everything okay?"

"yup, just my mom calling."

he nodded slowly, thinking about his words. "i'm gonna have the girls run the rest of practice, you can go if you would like."

"thank you so much, i'll see you tomorrow." she smiled at him and walked over to her stuff, again.

jayden slung her bag over her shoulder, turning to walk out of the gym. a sudden voice made her stop walking, "are you leaving?"

she turned around, standing face to face with nika. "yeah, i gotta go do something. i'll see you tonight though."

she leant down, whispering into her ear. "good, i'll see you then."

nikas hand brushed jayden arm as she walked passed her, leaving a slight blush on her face which she quickly shook off. she walked out the gym door, taking a deep breath as she walked to the car.

she contemplated texting her mother back, but decided it would probably be better to just show up at the house.

after a half hour of driving silently, jayden was broken out of her thoughts by her phone ringing. she expected to see her moms contact, but instead the name nika read across the screen.

her finger hovered above the screen and she hesitantly hit accept.

she couldn't help but smile as the girls sweet voice rang through the phone. "jayden?"

"hey, niks. whats up?"

"are you doing okay?" jayden went to speak but she started to talk again, "your voice is all shakey."

jayden sniffled, trying to make herself sound happier. "yeah, i'm good."

nika sighed, "yeah, okay. what time are you gonna be back?"

"later, i have some stuff to do. look i've got to go, i'll see you tonight."

"okay, goodbye."

jayden went to hang up but the girl had beaten her to it.