City to Sticks

Chapter Three

3—Holly P.O.V.

I avoided everyone the rest of the day. After showering the mud off of me, I locked myself in my room. Grams came knocking several times, telling me I had more chores to do, but I ignored her. At one point, I heard mom asking Grams to cut me some slack for a couple days. That conversation turned heated, but everybody left me alone after that.

At some point I fell asleep, but was jarred awake by the ringing of my cell phone. I knew I should have left the stupid thing off. It was Shawna calling and I felt the bitterness threatening to swallow me whole. Desperation could make a person do crazy things though, so I found myself answering like I normally would, "Hey girl. Wait, hang on, I'm not getting a good signal. Let me go outside, real quick."

I grabbed my coat. My coat. Not Gram's old coat she'd made me wear earlier, and headed outside. It was fucking freezing, but at least I was connected to the world outside Hicksville. Acting normal I asked her, "So what's new?"

"Well girl, I've got some bad news. I think Kyle's cheating on you." Shawna stated.

I blinked, shocked that she'd bring up Kyle, especially considering he was cheating with her. I frowned, "Oh really, well, I probably need to call and end it with him anyway. I've actually met someone here and he's a million times the man Kyle is. You should see him, Shawna. He's tall and has way more muscles than Kyle. He has dark brown hair and a tan, even though it's winter."

Shawna was quiet for a moment and I could picture the rain on her parade. She had seriously been trying to hurt me with her statement about Kyle cheating and was bummed that I hadn't reacted the way she wanted. Then she asked, sounding suspicious, "What's his name?"

I frowned, but then said boldly, "Jake and oh my, Shawna, the boy knows what's he's doing with his tongue."

"I want a picture." She demanded and I knew she didn't believe me.

Suddenly the phone was taken out of my hand and I yelped, startled to find Jake standing right behind me. He put the phone to his ear and said, "Hey, so Holly has to go now. Hearing her talk about me like that really has me turned on and I have to show her how much."

Jake ended the call and I found myself blushing, "Uh, Jake I didn't...what are you doing?"

Jake was closing the distance between us and I backed up until I ran into the side of the house. He came forward, until he set my phone on the railing and then placed his palms against the house on either side of me, blocking me in. He smirked, "I figure since you're raving about my tongue capabilities I should show you."

I raised my chin, "You shouldn't eavesdrop on other people's conversations and you stink." Wrinkling my nose, I pushed against his chest, trying to move him away, but got a little distracted by the hard muscles I could feel through his clothing.

He leaned forward, placing his lips against my ear, "You shouldn't talk about things you don't know. I could be completely inadequate with my tongue."

I nervously wet my lips and shuddered, "I highly doubt that."

Jake lifted his head and grinned at me, before his eyes dipped to take in my fitted designer coat, before they rose again and looked at my makeup and perfect hair. He lost his smile and took several steps back, "I've got to get back to work."

I watched him walk away in confusion. I looked down, but didn't see anything out of place, so what was Jake's problem. I shook my head and picked up my phone when I heard it beep with several texts messages.

From Kyle: Shawna says you have something to tell me.

I frowned. What did the bitch do, call Kyle immediately?

From Shawna: OMG I am so jelly. Jake sounds super sexy. Maybe I need to come visit you soon.

Over my dead body would I let Shawna anywhere near Jake, I thought vehemently. I paused. Why did the thought of Shawna hooking up with Jake piss me off more than the fact that she was hooking up with Kyle, who was technically still my boyfriend?

Whatever, I didn't have the energy to figure it out right now. I dialed Kyle's number and waited for him to answer. When he did I said, "Kyle, it's Holly, I thought you should know that I've moved on and we should break up. So this is me breaking up with you. We're over."

I didn't wait for his response, as I disconnected. Then I walked inside, through the kitchen, where Grams had a sink full of dishwater. I stared at that water for a minute, before I purposely dropped my cell phone into. Mom, who had been peeling potatoes nearby started yelling at me about the cost of the phone.

I held up my hands, "My cell phone plan is in dad's name."

Mom stopped telling, Gram's started laughing, and I went back up to my room feeling lighter already. I had no idea what the future held, but I was done with fake people like Kyle and Shawna.