The Georgia Rule

Chapter Fourteen

The harsh sound of the rain impinging upon the earth resonated throughout the uninhabited house. I sluggishly made my way down the staircase, moving deliberately slow as the pelting of the rain lulled me back to the comforts of my bed. The faint echo of my mindless footsteps descending the staircase struggled to be heard against the clamour outside, and the feeling of detachment enveloped me within the confines of the house.

The jagged edges of the notepad paper we had stashed near the house phone stood out against the deep mahogany dining room table. It was haphazardly thrown onto the pristine surface, accompanied by a crisp twenty dollar bill, a stark contrast to the hurried scrawl it possessed.

Dodging the bullets of water, I hurriedly opened an umbrella and walked between the raindrops. After having completed my trek to my car, I grabbed a cloth I had stashed away to clean my hands whenever I ate in the car and dried the stray raindrops that splashed onto my legs.

My father's voice reverberated within the leather interior of the car. His morning segment on the radio was something that he genuinely took pleasure in hosting, and I could almost hear the smile in his voice. He was in the middle of taking calls from his listeners I noticed, and it was one of the few times I had managed to catch this portion of his segment on the radio.

The rain extended my journey to school by ten minutes and somewhere within that extended period of time a woman with an exhausted voice had called.

"Welcome new caller, how can I help you this morning?" My dad's cheery voice beckoned. A small smile tugged at my lips as my dad turned on his southern charm that he had gained in the first eighteen years of his life.

"Good morning Lucas, my teenage daughter recently experienced her first heart break. I know you have a daughter around her age, but I don't have a clue on how to help her."

I blanched. The woman was presumably in her mid-thirties and her words were laced with early morning exhaustion. I said a silent prayer hoping that my father wouldn't mention my name anywhere in his advice, but maybe it worked a little better than I had initially expected.

"Nursing a broken heart is a harrowing endeavour, and it's something we've all had to experience at one point in our lives." He took a deep breath and gave a hearty chuckle, "Kids these days eh? We try to hold onto them but they keep insisting on growing up." I inhaled sharply, anticipating the mention of my name and my break up with Jared. "In fact, I don't know one person who hasn't felt like their first heartbreak would be the death of them. Once you can accept what happened, and prepare to take care of yourself and your emotions, you'll be able to move on and grow past it. One thing to keep in mind is that you will eventually feel like yourself, and that's something I think we need to be sure our kids know."

My heart stammered in my chest as I listened to the words roll off of my father's tongue with ease. I tried to recall my time spent holed up in my bedroom, wrapped in the security of my comforter. My father hadn't once mentioned any of this to me but instead he let my mom deal with it. My mother, who was weary from a long day's work had to come home to a distraught daughter.

I jammed my finger onto the radio, effectively switching the stations with slight force, no longer wanting to hear my father's upbeat voice laced with wisdom that was hardly extended to me when needed. The rational part of my brain tried to justify the actions – or lack thereof – of my father, and every fibre of my being believed it, but I was still left inhaling a suffocating sense of inadequacy.

By the time I found a parking space, the downpour had subsided and shifted into a light drizzle. I opened my umbrella for the second time for the day and hurriedly made my way up the stairs and into the school.