Begin Again

Chapter 19

I run out of Cow Bells and down the street to a little diner called Parkside. Once safely inside, I pull out my phone and call Isabel; she picks up on the fifth ring.

"Hey Trys, what's up? I thought you were on that date with Erik?"

I feel the threatening sting of tears prick my eyes at the mention of the ruined date. I push them back though, and focus on the rooster clock they have hanging on one of the walls. I watch the second hand as it ticks.

"Um, ya, well I'll tell you about that. Can you come pick me up, please? I'll send you my location. Oh and my truck is still at school."

"Oh uh, sure, yeah. I'll come get you. You okay?"

"No", my voice cracks a little as my throat closes up.

"I'll be there as soon as possible."

With that, she hangs up, so I send her my location and sit down in the nearest chair. I try my hardest not to cry by distracting myself. My leg starts to shake and my hands start go fiddle. I stare blankly at the rooster clock. A waitress comes over to me with an uncertain expression on her face.

"Welcome to Parkside, what can I get ya hun?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just waiting on a friend to pick me up. Sorry."

"Alright, dear. Holler for me if you need anything, my name's Betty."

"Okay, thank you."

She walks off to another table which leaves just me and my thoughts. How could this happen to me? I can't believe he just sat there and didn't do anything! Did they plan that? I bet he planned everything out with her. It's probably because Isabel started hanging out with me. Kihanna couldn't handle me having just one friend, so she played with my heart.

Her and Erik have probably been planning this ever since Isabel told her off. Erik never really liked me; it was all a sick act to tear me apart. Again. That explains why he invited me to ice cream and why he publicly held my hand. What a jerk!

Suddenly, there's a hand waving in front of my face. I look up to find the owner of the hand is Isabel. She looks really worried. I stand up and grab her hand, pulling her out the door. When we reach the parking lot, she leads me over to her mom's car.

Once we are driving down the road she asks, "Trystan, what's wrong? Do I need to hunt Erik down and cut his balls off?"

I shrug. Taking a deep breath, I begin my story. Isabel listens quietly until I'm done. I told her every single detail of what happened from the moment I ran into him at my locker, up to when I ran out of Cow Bells. I also told her my theory.

"Trys, I don't think they planned it. Erik genuinely likes you a lot. You said you recognized the two girls whisperin' right?"

"Yeah, they sat at the lunch table with me and Kihanna last year."

"Well, ding ding ding! They told Kihanna about it! She probably followed you guys to Cow Bells and waited until you left for the bathroom!"

"Oh my gosh! They so did! You're right, how did I not realize that? I'm such an idiot."

"You're not an idiot, you were stressed and it made you assume the worst."

"But wait, why wasn't Erik doing anything about it?"

"I don't know, maybe she had just gotten there and he didn't have time to react. He was probably paralyzed in his seat when he saw you and realized how it must've looked."