Parachute [Book 4]

Chapter 38 - Move Along

For Rocklover97 - for requesting this song and also for being so nice to me! (Thank you for not giving up on talking to me when I forget to respond). Love ya!

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I hated that I was going back to New York. I hated that I was leaving Angie all alone in Lima. Even if she did have Melissa, I knew that she wouldn’t even be enough. Angie was stubborn. She didn’t even want me in her room the night it had happened and since then, she was blocking me out from her life.

It was probably for the best that I was heading back to New York – maybe just because Angie needed some time alone. But at the same time, I didn’t trust her to be alone.

As I sat in the airport, in the seats, waiting for my flight to be called, Angie sat beside me. For the first time in two days she was dressed in proper clothes. If track pants and an oversized sweater were considered “proper clothes”. But after what Angie had been wearing all week – just her bra and a different pair of underwear every two days – it probably was.

Mom was grabbing some coffee for herself at the café before I was going to leave, leaving just Ange and I. It was silent between us, besides the quiet sighs that left Angie’s mouth every few seconds.

After the silence looming around us for a few more seconds, I decided to speak. “Are you alright now, Angie?”

Angie dragged her eyes from her fluffy slippers and gazed up at me. The light had disappeared from her eyes the night Jake had broken up with her and it hadn’t come back since. “I’m fine now, I think. I’m really upset about this but I’m trying my best to stay happy, or at least not completely depressed.” One side of her face turned up in a slight scowl. “I’m going to go back to school in like, a day though.”

I smiled at her and reached my arm across to wrap around her shoulders. “I’m proud of you. You’re taking this a lot better than I did last year.” I gave her a friendly kiss on the cheek.

Angie looked up at me and shrugged her shoulders, tilting her head to the side. Her greasy hair fell over her eyes and she brushed it away frantically. “It’s because our situations aren’t exactly the same. Jake just broke-up with me… and Ryder cheated on you. It’s a different kind of heartbreak.”

I shivered at the memory of that day. All I could remember was the words Ryder had said to me, how he had broken the news, and the things I had said to him – telling him he was so many things that he really wasn’t. At the time he was maybe, but not now.

“Please don’t remind me.” I laughed, turning my head away. “But… still, you’re dealing with this super well. Please don’t ever go back to hurting yourself.”

Angie shook her head. “I wouldn’t.” From the tone of her voice, I knew I could trust her – her words sounded true, not at all like false promises. “I don’t need a guy to live my life. I’m my own person, not someone else’s. So what if I don’t have Jake in my life? I don’t need him to make my life worth living… I just love him a lot and he broke my heart. That’s all.”

Mom came walking back to the two of us, a coffee cup in her hands and a donut in the other. She sat down beside me and held the donut out to me. “I thought I’d pay for this for you before you leave – just a little present.”

“Aw, Mom,” I sighed happily and leaned over to her to kiss her on the cheek only lightly, “thank you so much.”

“It’s alright, my darling girl.” Mom said, taking a small sip of the steaming liquid in her hands. “I’m going to miss you when you go back to New York. And you’re going to have to buy your own donuts for the rest of your life now.” Mom laughed.