A Summer Romance

Chapter Sixteen - Ryan and Skylar

Chapter Sixteen - Ryan and Skylar

"In three words, I can sum up everything I've learned about life. It goes on."

-Robert Frost

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Ryan

When my step-brother, Caleb, and I met, we couldn't be in the same room together without getting into a screaming match. It didn't matter what it was, his shoes or the smell of the room, but we would find something to fight over.

Or, we wouldn't speak to each other. We wouldn't look, touch, talk, or even think about each other. It was either one or the other. There was no inbetween.

It's still like that now.

That's how this was.

The room was filled with nothing but silence and our breathing. You could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

I clapped my hands together, causing a loud crack to snap through the thick air, "So, what brings you guys to the neighborhood?"

Claire cleared her throat and clasped her hands together in her lap as she smiled over at her daughter, Madelyn. "Madi has a softball tournament in Florence."

A snort broke out. Claire, Madi, and I looked over at Skylar to see her arms crossed over her chest and biting her lip, "Of course."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Skylar rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling in annoyance. "It's supposed to mean exactly what I said. Of course, the only time that you would show up and see me is when you're here for Madelyn."

Claire stared at her for a moment in surprise. But after that passed, she shook her head, "I had planned on coming to see you a long time ago."

Skylar shook her head and leaned on her knees, "Bullshit. If you had really wanted to come and visit me, then you would've at least called me. But, do you know the last time we've talked at all, let alone a phone call?"

Claire opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water, but didn't answer Skylar's question.

"Five years and counting. We haven't talked in over five years, and you expect to just walk in here and say that you want to be apart of my life again? No."

"I've always been apart of your life Skye." Claire tried to reach over and grab Skylar's hand, but she snatched it away and wiped at her few stray tears that made my heart lurch. She then said through clenched teeth; "Don't call me that."

My heart stopped. What was wrong with Skye? Why'd she make a big deal out of her mom calling her that?

Does she feel that way when I call her that?

"And when have you ever been apart of my life? When I finished high school here, were you there for my graduation? How about when I crashed my senior year of high school and got a major concussion and broke an arm and leg? I got flowers and cards from my teachers. I didn't even get a 'Get Better' card from you. Better yet, where were you when I had to go to court and get a restraining order for my ex boyfriend because he would beat me? Huh? You weren't there for anything the past five years, better yet, almost eleven years. I needed you to be there for me, but you just shipped me off so you could have more time for your perfect angle. You've never been apart of my life, and as far as I'm concerned, you never will be."

Skylar's words dripped with so much venom and hatred and anger, that it took everything in me not to go over and her and pull her to me and just hold her. I wanted to take away all of those terrible memories and somehow replace them with better ones.