Unpredictable Love

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Karleigh's POV

Three loud knocks come from my bedroom door and I grab another pillow and yank it over my head. I have a killer fucking headache, probably from all the drinking and loud music last night. Faintly, I can hear my bedroom door open and Aunt Jocelyn pads over to my bed. Her hand lightly touches my shoulder, as if to warn me of her presence.

"Karleigh, I'm off to work. Listen I'm gonna swing by around lunchtime and I was wondering if you wanted to go out to lunch with me?" Aunt Jocelyn nervously says.

Is she really inviting me out? Her words aren't registering properly in my head because of this headache from hell that I have.

"Jesus, why are you talking so loud." I complain.

"Oh, sorry." She exaggeratedly whispers and I roll my eyes under the pillow. I remove the pillow from my head and squint at Aunt Jocelyn, the sun that is shining throughout my room is murdering my pupils.

Aunt Jocelyn looks desperate, she's still putting in an effort after all the shit I've put her through. We used to have a really good relationship until my dad...

Honestly, I don't think I can handle staying home alone all day without having anything to do. I'll just end up trapped with my thoughts about Harry and I cannot deal with that shit right now.

"Yeah I'll come. Now, please get out, my head is exploding." I ramble and Aunt Jocelyn's face lights up at my exception to her invitation. She nods her head and exits my bedroom. When she reaches my door, I call out to her. "See you at lunch."

She smiles, a wide, genuine smile.

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When I wake up again, my headache has gone away slightly. I walk into the kitchen and open up the medicine cabinet, my eyes land on a bottle of Advil. Hallelujah, I'm in desperate need of headache medicine if I'm going to make it through this lunch alive. After swallowing down two Advil gel caps and a glass of water, I walk back to my bedroom to get ready for my launch plans.

From the corner of my eye I see that my cell phone screen is lit up. Harry. I lunge for the phone and see that I have three missed calls, before I can see who the missed calls were from my phone starts to ring. Without bothering to check my caller ID, I answer the phone call.

"Hello?" I desperately speak, praying that it's Harry who's calls I've been missing.

"Karleigh." I freeze. No, no way. I must've heard wrong, there's no way this is who I think it is.

"Karleigh, why the fuck have you missed the last three fucking times I've called you?" The unwelcome voice booms through the phone.

"Uh, I was-- um." I stumble for a response, still in shock.

"How fucking selfish, I've been calling to make sure you've been okay since you're fucking dad died and you don't even have the audacity to answer my calls." The voice is screaming at me now, and tears are forming in my eyes.

"Don't you dare talk about my father, you heartless bastard. Thanks for trying to check up on me, but no thanks. I've moved on and you should too, I thought I made that fairly clear before I left to Texas, Michael." My voice is more confident then I had expected it to be.

"You know what Karleigh, I was gonna fly out to Texas and visit you. Comfort you, even. My parents are even willing to pay the plane ticket, but if you keep acting like the selfish bitch that you are, I'm not going to want to spend time with you." Michael attempts to threaten me, but it's a poor attempt, at that.

"If you really want to comfort me, you won't come to Texas. Goodbye, Michael." My thumb hits the end button on my screen and the call disconnects. My heart rate is all over the grid and I'm terrified. Knowing Michael, he really will fly out to Dallas. It's not like his parents don't have the funds, they're fucking rich.

There's no such thing as an empty threat with Michael.

My phone begins to ring again, but I ignore the calls. When my hands stop shaking, I pad over to my closet and look around. My suitcase is lying on the floor, clothes seeping out of it. I really do need to unpack, the only things that are hanging in my closet are the clothes that Travis bought me from our shopping trip, and that's only because they came with hangers.

A navy blouse with a white skull printed on it, catches my attention and I slip it on over my head, pairing it with some shorts. In the bathroom mirror, I apply a thin line of eyeliner to my eyes and toss my ratty hair up into a bun. My phone rings again and I groan, expecting it to be Michael. Much to my relief, it's Aunt Jocelyn.

*Im in the driveway.* her text reads and I grab my belongings and walk outside to meet her.

When I get inside of the car, she smiles at me annoyingly. "How are feeling?" She questions and I shrug.

"Fine, I took a shit load of medicine." I tell her and, surprisingly she laughs. Odd, not the reaction I was anticipating.

When we arrive at the restaurant I notice it's Italian and I smile. Italian food is my favorite, of course Aunt Jocelyn selected this place purposely. The waitress that is serving us is nice enough, and I can't help but notice that her name tag says Amanda. Damn, she looks familiar, but who am I kidding I've just barely moved here and I don't know anyone.

She gives me a warm smile and requests for our orders, which thankfully Aunt Jocelyn chooses both of our orders because I wasn't paying attention to the menu.

The waitress walks away and I take a long, slow sip of my cold water. "How's Harry?" Aunt Jocelyn asks and I immediately start choking on my water.

"Who?" I say, in attempt to avoid this conversation. She smiles and rolls her eyes. "Harry?" She repeats and I feign confusion.

"Doesn't ring a bell." I say nonchalantly, and a small frown appears on Aunt Jocelyn's face.

"I see," she murmurs under her breath. "Well I talked to your mother today, she's doing well and she is attending therapy weekly." Aunt Jocelyn updates me but I couldn't care less. Automatically, I nod to make it seem as though I'm listening, and she buys into it.

Blah blah blah blah blah, Aunt Jocelyn rambles on forever. I swear she just likes the sound of her own voice. As she goes on talking about every aspect of her life, my thoughts stray off to Harry. Why hasn't he called me? Should I call him? What would I say, would I apologize? Probably not, I have no reason to apologize.

"Enjoy your meal." Amanda says as she places our hot plates on to the table. Aunt Jocelyn ordered me shrimp Alfredo and it looks delicious. Now that the foods here, Aunt Jocelyn will stop talking so she can eat.

Not likely. "Hey Kalreigh, we're gonna have company over for dinner tomorrow. You remember Anne, you met her in the kitchen the other day. Yeah well she's bringing her son and husband over for dinner." She informs me with a sly smile. I internally groan, I'm not in the mood for company, let alone Anne, the police officer who nearly gave me a ticket.

I shouldn't have come to this lunch with Aunt Jocelyn. Suddenly my thoughts are caught up in tomorrow's dinner, Anne, and most importantly, Harry.

Harry, who still hasn't called me.