Gone || ✔

XIV

"Wake up, Bells," I hear a faint voice say off in the distance. I hear footsteps approach me and I suddenly feel a warm hand on my shoulder. The person who told me to wake up is now lightly shaking me, but fast, almost like the person is in a panic. I squeeze my eyes shut and shift around, trying to become comfortable again. "Lainna, come on. Get your lazy ass up," the voice tells me, and they seem a bit querulous. I shift again, but it was to cover up my flinching.

Before I know it, the fuzzy, warm blanket gets detached from my now cold body. I snap my eyes open and the light filling the room stings my eyes like salt in an open wound. I immediately close my eyes, rubbing them, and groan. Once I feel like I can see again, I scold Jamison for torturing me like that.

He shrugs defensively. "What? There was no other way to wake you up," I roll my eyes and slowly sit up, trying not to get a headache, but that doesn't work. It feels like someone just took my head and started to shake it. I hear the pounding in my ears as I get up and grab clothes to change into for the day. "Oh, yeah. Your dad sent me up here to wake you up. We're going to have a busy day. Plus, he and your mom made us breakfast," he says and I almost choke on air. I can't believe it, dad and Jamison -and mom- getting along. That does not happen.

"Seriously?" I say, shocked at the news. He shrugs his shoulders again. "I know, I went through the whole shocked stage too. Then I went to the panicked stage, and now I'm myself again. I guess it's contagious," he jokes. I look at him with wide eyes. That was bad. I punch his shoulder lightly and smile, still a little panicked on the inside. He pulls me into a hug and I get a whiff of his sweet cologne. I've always loved his comforting hugs. Whether I'm sad, angry, happy or anything, he always makes my day better.

"Okay, go on now and get ready. Don't want to hold you up," he says, letting go of me. I nod, grab the neatly folded clothes and walk into the bathroom. Someone gently knocks on the door as I put my shirt on. "Lainna? Is that you?" I hear dad's faint voice ask me. "Yes," I reply, pulling up my tights and then putting on my shorts.

"Okay, good. I just wanted to make sure Jamison woke you up," he says and I can hear his steps walking away. I look in the mirror and put on makeup, fix my hair, and put on my beanie. I open the door and walk to my room to find James, but he's not there. Dad must have called him into the kitchen. I shrug and walk to the kitchen. It's so weird how quick dad got used to Jamison. He yelled at me for having him over the second time. He told me he didn't trust him, so I told Jamison. He started sneaking in, and almost every time dad or mom found out. They were furious, but I wanted to see my boyfriend.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Mom, dad and Jamison shout when I enter the room. They start laughing, but when I scream and they immediately stop like they were startled too. I cover my mouth and start laughing. "Oops. This is why I hate surprises," I say. They look at me sympathetically and let out a few loose laughs. Mom sets mine and Jamison's plates on the table next to each other. Dad sits down in his chair and sips his coffee while reading the paper. Mom makes herself some buttery, crisp toast.

On my plate four pancakes are stacked on top of each other, in each layer there's a little bit of syrup, on the top pancake stack is where most of the syrup is. On top of the syrup is whipped cream in a perfect swirl, on the whipped cream the number sixteen is blue berries. That's a lot of food for me.

"Is everything okay, Lainna?" Mom asks, standing behind a chair. I look up at her and she looks concerned. I nod my head, "Yeah, everything's fine. It's just too pretty to eat," I assure her. She gives me a comfortable smile and walks back into the kitchen. I cut through the pancakes and pop a piece in my mouth.

"When you guys leave, make sure you're back around four, okay? You have company coming over, Lainna and you still have presents to open," dad says once we finish up. "Okay. We'll be back," I say to dad. I hug him and mom goodbye and walk out the door with Jamison.

"So where are we going?" I ask. He reaches for my hand, and squeezes it. "My house," he says and winks. "Weirdo," I say. "No, seriously. Where are we going?" I repeat. He looks at me and looks back ahead. "The mall," he says. I raise my eyebrows. "Are we seriously going to walk? The mall takes forever to get to from my house." I complain.

"Shush child," he says putting his hand over my mouth. I lick it and he pulls his hand away from my face and wipes it on his jeans. "Lainna! Ew, oh my god! That's disgusting," he says, freaking out like I would've -making things overly dramatic- but I laugh.

"You deserved it," I cross my arms. I can see him roll his eyes. "Whatever," he says, attempting to mimic the tone of my voice. It sounds nothing like me. Now I roll my eyes. Up ahead, I can see the mall. I can faintly see the parking lot packed with cars and people. Outside the door I see a line of people waiting outside the door. When we get closer, the line of people are wrapped around the building. My jaw drops.

"Jamison, what's going on?" I ask, dazing at the line in front of my eyes. He sighs disappointingly. "Well, here's the thing," he starts. "I saw that one of your favorite bands are coming to town, so I looked into the price of the tickets and got you and me one. I didn't think that there would be this much people here." Why would they have a concert at a mall in the first place? It seems like the worst choice ever. I squint my eyes at him confused. He shrugs. "I don't know. Let's just go in. We'll just say we're not here for the concert," he suggests.

He starts to walk ahead of me, but I just stand there. This all seems like a bad idea. 1). Why would you hold a concert inside a mall? 2). I'm claustrophobic, so I would die the second someone is squished up against me. 3). We're sneaking inside without being validated to go. This is some freaky crap we're pulling here.

Once Jamison notices I'm not following, he turns around. "Lainna? Why aren't you coming?" He asks. I give him a plain look. "You know I don't like getting in trouble. Especially in these type of situations. It was sweet of you to buy the tickets and take me, but I don't know about sneaking in," by now tears are in my eyes. He walks to me and embraces me. "I'm just scared, James."

"I know, but it'll be okay. No one will find out," he tries assuring me, but I don't buy it. I know I'll never win at this and I really want to see who is playing, so I take his hand and walk to the doors with him.

"Excuse me, the end of the line is all the way behind the building," the security guard says, eyeing us. "Oh, no. We're not here to see the band. We were just going to go look around in the stores." I say. Lying comes so easy to me. I don't know when it started, but I noticed I can lie like it's nothing.

He lifts up an eyebrow. "Yeah, right. Let me check your pockets," he says. I lightly gasp. The only pockets I have are in the front and on my ass. Jamison becomes tense once he hears that. I speak up. "Um, since the only pockets I have are like, on my ass, I'd feel much more comfortable checking them on my own." I try to make it as clear as possible to let him know I don't want him near me. But instead, he bursts out laughing.

"You think I'm going to go through your pockets?" He says, laughing even more. Me and Jamison exchange looks. That's...that's clearly what he just said. Oh my god. We walk in the building with displeasure and the guard calls out to us. "Hey! Get back here!" Me and Jamison smile, trying to cover it up by tucking our lips over our teeth. We start running and we end up in DEBS. We hide in the changing room and there's clothes hung on hangers people tried on. We let out a couple of loose, breathless laughs once we know for sure we're safe.

"Okay, I'll admit it, that was fun," I say, smiling wide. He smiles back at me just the same. "See! I told you it would be fun!" He says excitedly. We get out of the changing room and walk through the mall. "Lainna?" I hear a male's voice say behind me. I feel my heart stop. Jamison puts his arm around me when we turn for protection. I see a familiar face- creases around his mouth and eyes, ruffled, brown hair, curved nose, and he has brown eyes. I raise an eyebrow. Nick is with him, this is really weird.

He looks so familiar, like I've seen him somewhere. "Lainna. It's me, your father," he says, smiling. He opens his arms, waiting for a hug. I just stand there, bewildered. How could he recognize me so easily after ten afters? Nick must have told him. I glare at Nick. Kyle puts his arms back at his sides awkwardly, Jamison only holds me tighter and closer.

Kyle furrows his eyebrows, and there becomes and deep crease. He looks a bit pained, but it's what he deserves for leaving mom. "Please just...leave me alone," I say and I can feel the lump in my throat when I swallow. I walk away, trying to hold back the tears that stab the backs of my eyes like pins and needles. I'm not going to cry. I don't need him back in my life.