My Spring Break Fiasco

Chapter Seventeen - Assumptions (EDITED)

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"Today I finally worked up the nerve to say hello.

As you were standing there with him.

And I don't regret. I won't forget.

All that we've been through.

But that doesn' mean I can't move on.

That I can't let go."

From - "Goodbye" 

originally performed by Kyle King.

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            I didn’t leave the nursing home all that day, or the next either, and I didn’t sleep a wink either night. The press was still swarming outside, apparently waiting for some sort of scoop on what Eric had been doing inside. Thanks to Lois they learned nothing but I wasn’t ready to face all of those flashing cameras yet, not without Eric by my side.

            The third day the majority of the press people left, leaving only a few desperate reporters outside the door. It wasn’t too hard to slip out a side exit and have Grandpa pick me up in the parking lot usually used by the nurses. Apparently an elderly man leaving a nursing home didn’t seem suspicious enough to draw attention.

            When we pulled up to the house there was a lone figure sitting on the front steps.

            “I’ll just go in the house and leave you two to talk.” Grandpa nodded. “Otis and I will probably go to the post office later if you want to get out of the house.”

            “Thanks, Grandpa.” I leaned over and kissed his wrinkled cheek. “You’re the best.”

            The figure on the step straightened to his full, lanky, height as I stepped out of the car. I hesitated, my hand on the door, and he watched me silently, arms crossed, face shadowed by a worn baseball cap.

            “Levi—“ I began, unsure what to say. He’d called six times already and I hadn’t returned a single one.

            What could I say? I’d made my decision, even if it had blown up in my face.

            But when had that stubborn boy ever taken a decision to be set in stone. He’d try to win me back, convince me, confuse me, anything to make me change my mind, and I was simply too exhausted to put up a fight.

            With a sigh, I shut the door behind me and walked towards him. As I approached I could see the blank expression on his face, the emptiness in his eyes.

            “Levi.” I acknowledged. He nodded, his eyes on mine, piercing in their intensity. I felt as if he could see straight through me. “You’ve probably seen the tabloids by now.” I sighed, running a hand through my limp hair.

            My senior pictures had been on the front page of every magazine in the grocery store when Grandpa and I had stopped to buy Otis more dog food. Apparently, even without a picture of the two of us together, the media just couldn’t get enough of the new Kyle King story. From reading People or Seventeen you’d think we’d been planning this trip for months. Everyone seemed to focus on the fact that Eric was dating a high school girl, spinning the story like I’d ‘caught’ him or something. They’d made me sick, those magazines with their titles like:

            How Emma Black Snagged the Heart of America’s Most Reclusive Heartthrob

            Mystery In the Music Scene: Just Who Is Emma Black?