Entrapped . HS

TWENTY-NINE.

I came to my senses on the car ride to the airport and skipped catching a flight, because I'd have had to wait for longer than the time it would take to just to just rent a car and drive it. Plus, I needed some time to think and make a few phone calls. The first of which was to Atty. Actually the first SEVEN unanswered calls were to her. Of course, after the fifth call it started to go straight to voicemail.

Naturally, my next call was to Benji, because I didn't know what else to do when I couldn't get a hold of Atty. He didn't answer the first time, either, but did after the second ring. I didn't even give him any type of greeting. "What the hell is she doing interviewing with Trotter?! Did you know about this?" I asked him, angrily, as I accelerated to a little over 90 miles per hour.

"Harris, I think you need to talk to her about this and not me."

"So I'll take that as a 'yes'." Logically, I knew that he wasn't the one I was mad at, but I couldn't get a hold of her, so the next best thing was getting mad at her best friend.

"She won't answer. I don't even know if she is back here or still in California..."

"She's back. Was only there for the day yesterday. Said something about having to come home for her dad's appointments and spending time with Dillon."

"So, she just lied about the interview, then. Good to know," I said, with a bite.

Benji allowed a pause in the conversation, letting me get my bearings and my shitty rental car back down to a more reasonable cruising speed. "For what it's worth, by the time she left, she knew it was wrong not to tell you, but she didn't think she should tell you on the way to the airport. I, however, told her it was never too late to tell you about it."

My next reply was calm. "Wish she had taken your advice."

"Me, too. You have no idea."

I hung up with him and tried one last time to call Atty, but her phone was obviously still off. So, I called the last person I probably should have, but the only one who understood me and could talk to me about my situation with Atty, seeing as my brothers and dad were still in Maryland stuck in meetings.

"Hello?" Iva asks, questioning me.

"Iva, can you meet me up at Lavender Lake?"

"Sure. When?"

"I won't be home for another three hours. Can you meet me there tonight? Like 7:30?" That gave Atty enough time to call me back and if she did I could cancel meeting Iva. Hopefully I could meet with her instead to talk through everything.

"Yeah. And can you come alone? At least for a little while?" I needed to talk to her without Kesley's special version of obnoxious advice. Though I knew she would probably find her way to the bar eventually, I needed her to be there alone to start with. She agreed and I hung up. Driving the rest of the way back to Brooklyn in complete silence.

I got home and took the longest shower of my life, looking over the apartment at all of the things that belonged to Atty and I was filled with a mixture of anger and sadness. Why would she take a job in San Francisco? Without even talking to me about it? It didn't make any sense. I sat down on the bed and pulled her pillow into my chest, taking in deep inhales of her scent.

I got dressed in whatever I grabbed first and waited around, still in silence, until the clock turned over 7:00pm. I'd planned to get there before her and grab a drink with Benji and explain why Iva was meeting me there. My plan, however, didn't work out so well because it didn't appear that Benji was working. I sat down at the bar across from Amber and ordered two shots, taking them quickly and asking for a refill of both. She gave me a questioning look before pouring the liquid into the glasses once more. "You should probably slow down, buddy," she said, handing them over to me.